In Brief

NEW STUDY LINKS FIFTH OF GLOBAL CARBON EMISSIONS TO TRADE

A new study has added data to a growing body of literature on the so-called 'embodiment' of carbon in international trade.

Highlighting the role of international trade in the carbon emissions profiles of various countries, the study entitled "CO2 Embodied in International Trade with Implications for Global Climate Policy" concluded that international trade embodies approximately twenty percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

Responding to the new findings, Chris Field of the Carnegie Institution of Washington noted that, "if you're trying to figure out an international regime for managing carbon, especially if you have one like Kyoto... there are a number of ways that a country that faces binding limits might appear to reduce its emissions by essentially [importing] emissions from another country." This is particularly the case for developed countries that are net importers of carbon dioxide emissions, which is being fuelled by their consumption patterns and the outsourcing of production to developing countries.

To eliminate carbon leakage problems affiliated with climate mitigation strategies premised on production-based emissions inventories, and to link a countries' consumption with the global production system, the study advocated a switch away from production-based emissions inventories, as currently used in the Kyoto Protocol, to a consumption-based emissions inventory.

Overall, the authors - Glen Peters and Edgar Hertwich at Industrial Ecology Programme at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology - stressed that "a better understanding of the role that trade plays in a country's economic and environmental development will help design more effective and participatory climate policy post-Kyoto."

In related news, another recent study published by WWF Norway and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology looked at the link between Norwegian consumption and Chinese pollution as an example of how OECD imports generate carbon dioxide emissions in developing countries. The study found that Norway's carbon footprint has increased by 65 percent from 2001 to 2006 in developing countries, with the largest footprint and growth in China. It also found that imports from China have lead to "more than 2 million tonnes of annual carbon dioxide emissions from coal fired power plants in China." One of the recommendations was for Norway to take "an amount equal to the cost of its carbon dioxide footprint in developing countries" and place it "in a pilot climate venture capital fund providing risk capital to new companies focusing on providing low carbon solutions, in order to stimulate innovation."

Additional information

Copies of "CO2 Embodied in International Trade with Implications for Global Climate Policy," can be accessed at http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/esthag/asap/pdf/es072023k.pdf

The study ""Norwegian Consumption, Chinese pollution: An example of how OECD imports generate CO2 emissions in developing countries," is available at http://www.ntnu.no/eksternweb/multimedia/archive/00030/Norwegian_Consumptio_30439a.pdf

ICTSD reporting; "Carbon embodied in international trade," ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ONLINE, 30 January 2008.

ACTIVISTS URGE END TO LIVE ANIMAL TRADE

'Handle With Care' - a coalition of over 900 animal welfare charities from 147 countries - has initiated a campaign to "end the transportation of millions of animals over long distances for slaughter." Their aim is for animals to be "taken to slaughterhouses near where they are reared," putting an end to the unnecessary trade in live animals.

The transport of live animals can occur over thousands of miles. For example, sheep are exported from Australia to the Middle East and pigs from Canada to Hawaii. The coalition claims that tens of thousands of animals die each year as a result of disease, hunger and poor transportation conditions, and is calling on governments to end the trade. After two years of filming, the group has released undercover footage of the journeys.

Leah Garces, campaign director for the World Society for the Protection of Animals said, "we were determined to show people the truth of this hidden and brutal traffic in animals: if you see it for yourself, you just know it must be stopped." Philip Lymbery, chief executive of Compassion in World Farming, added "the cruelty these animals endure is completely unacceptable in the 21st century." In fact, the technology exists to replace live animal transport with transport fresh chilled and frozen meat.

Australia has become a main target of this new campaign, with the government criticised for opposing Japanese whaling while supporting live animal exports. Lyn White of campaign group Animals Australia said "we cannot condemn these terrible animal atrocities perpetuated by other nations when we are the world leader in this horrendous trade in animals." Australia has the world's largest live animal trade with annual exports valued at over AUS$1 billion.

'Handle with Care' is particularly concerned with Australian exports of live animals to the Middle East. However, Cameron Hall, chief of LiveCorp, a company involved in the trade, and Tony Burke, Australia's minister for agriculture, both supported the trade as a way to "[improve] animal welfare standards in the region through training."

Additional information

For more detail on the campaign, see http://www.handlewithcare.tv/

"'Cruel' Animal Transport Targeted," BBC, 12 February 2008; "Australia Faces Hypocrisy Charge over Live Exports," THE AGE, 13 February 2008; "End of Animal Transportation Urged," THE PRESS ASSOCIATION, 12 February 2008.

SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY HOTSPOTS FOR NEW DISEASES

A recent study has identified global hotspots for new infectious diseases. The emergence of novel diseases has quadrupled over the last 50 years, and thanks to massive increases in trade and travel, these diseases make their way around the globe at unprecedented speed.

Sixty percent of the new diseases have been zoonoses, or diseases transmitted from animals (primarily wild animals) to humans. According to the scientists behind a three-year investigation "the next pandemic is likeliest to come out of poor tropical countries, where burgeoning human populations come into contact with wildlife." Their results were published on 21 February in the online version of the journal Nature in an article entitled "Global trends in emerging infectious diseases." Study co-author Marc Levy of the Center for International Earth Science Information Network said, "we are crowding wildlife into ever-smaller areas, and human population is increasing" and "where those two things meet, that is a recipe for something crossing over." Examples of zoonoses include HIV/AIDS, SARS and bird flu.

The implications of emerging zoonoses for international trade are significant. Millions of animals are traded legally and illegally each year. A previous study has estimated that "at least some multiple of 1 billion direct and indirect contacts among wildlife, humans, and domestic animals result from the wildlife trade annually." Each contact allows for the potential transmission of infectious agents.

A series of outbreaks has already interrupted international trade, costing the global economy "hundreds of billions of dollars," and the "[destabilization of trade]." For example, mad cow disease, bird flu and other disease outbreaks led to meat embargoes estimated at one-third the global meat trade by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Peter Daszak, Executive Director of the Consortium for Conservation Medicine at the Wildlife Trust and one of the co-authors of the Nature article, stressed that "the priority should be to set up monitoring networks in developing countries that would identify a threat from the outset and circumscribe it, rather than let it spread like wildfire around the globe thanks to jet travel and trade."

ICTSD reporting; "Next Human Plague Likely to Come From Wildlife," AFP, 21 February 2008.

BIOFUELS MAY BE INCREASING GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, NEW STUDIES SUGGEST

The growing popularity of biofuels may actually be hurting the environment, according to two papers recently published in the journal Science.

Biofuels have long been considered 'carbon-neutral', as the emissions from consumption are believed to be offset by the plants from which the fuel is made. The studies argue that this conception is overly simplistic, and fails to account for the carbon costs of biofuel-related land use changes.

Both studies focus on cropland. The first study finds that converting rainforests or grasslands to produce biofuels releases much more carbon dioxide into the air than the plants are able to absorb. Similarly, using currently productive farmland to grow biofuel crops will also use more carbon then it saves, according to Princeton's Timothy Searchinger, the lead author of the other study.

Ten prominent ecologists authored a letter to US President George W. Bush in response to these new findings, asking for new a policy "that ensures biofuels are not produced on productive forests, grassland or cropland," according to the Los Angeles Times. Last year, legislation was passed in the US calling for the production of ethanol, derived mostly from maize, to double over the next 10 years.

The UN announced the formation of a panel to analyse the study's findings, saying that biofuels could still be useful in the global environmental effort. Bob Dinneen, the president of the Renewable Fuels Association, issued a statement saying that, despite the new studies, "we must all remember where we are today, how world demand for liquid fuels is growing, and what the realistic alternatives are to meet those growing demands. Biofuels like ethanol are the only tool readily available that can begin to address the challenges of energy security and environmental protection."

Searchinger's study says that the "extraordinary productivity" of Brasilian sugarcane means that it would need only four years to "pay back the upfront carbon emissions" when grown on tropical grazing land. However, this payback period would rise more than ten-fold if displaced ranchers then proceed to convert rainforest to grazing land.

"The Science articles underscore the great risks of unintended consequences associated with subsidising and mandating biofuels", noted Tara Laan, Assistant Researcher of the Global Subsidies Initiative. "The implications of the study by Searchinger et al. are especially important - namely, that developing sustainability standards for biofuels that do NOT account for indirect GHG emissions arising from the displacement of crop production is about as effective as re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic."

The abstracts of the two papers can be found at http://www.sciencemag.org

ICTSD reporting; "Biofuel crops increase carbon emissionsonline," LOS ANGELES TIMES, 8 February 2008. "Simplistic View of Land Use Change Excludes Consequences of Continuing Petroleum Dependence," RFA NEWS RELEASE, 7 February 2008.