Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
Search Results
Item ARE CANADA’S NET-ZERO PLANS ACHIEVABLE, PRUDENT, AND DURABLE?(2024) O'Keefe, Kowan; Sprinkle, Robert; Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Canada is a major oil- and gas-producing country that has committed into law the goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions economy-wide by 2050. Yet the prospect of reduced Canadian oil production has major domestic political and economic implications. Climate change mitigation requires sustained policy engagement, and so policymakers must endeavor to make climate policy that is politically durable. Scenario analysis is a vital decision-support tool for understanding these transition dynamics associated with pursuit of net zero. The first paper in this dissertation explores transition dynamics for Canada across several scenarios with detailed policy representation for achieving net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 using the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM), an open-source multi-sector dynamics model. The results highlight the importance of effective policy implementation and the variation in transition dynamics attributable to socioeconomic and technological assumptions, carbon dioxide removal scalability, and non-CO2 mitigation. The second paper in this dissertation uses GCAM to examine the sensitivity of Canadian oil production to several external forces in pursuit of net zero. The results show that forces outside of Canada’s control are highly determinative of future oil production levels in Canada. But if Canada moves toward net-zero GHG emissions on its announced timeline, it can reduce the magnitude of the additional declines in Canadian oil production attributable to external forces. Such a move would give Canada greater autonomy to shape transition outcomes in a way that best balances domestic societal priorities. The alternative would be for external forces to thrust a transition upon Canada without regard for such domestic concerns. The third paper in this dissertation examines how these domestic political forces impact Canada’s pursuit of net zero using archival analysis followed by scenario analysis in GCAM. The results of the qualitative policy analysis highlight that a little more than one third (9 of 26) of the modeled policies are less likely to be politically durable, because they fail tests of pan-political acceptability or pan-regional acceptability or both. Reductions in net GHG emissions are significantly smaller in modeled current-policy scenarios where these nine policies are rolled back after 2025. Accordingly, the policies identified as less likely to be politically durable demand greater focus to build stronger cross-party and cross-regional support.Item The Spillover Effect of Environmental Disclosures: Evidence from Customers' Net-zero Pledges(2024) Castillo, Juan; Hann, Rebecca; Business and Management: Accounting & Information Assurance; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This paper investigates the real impact of customers’ voluntary environmental disclosures, specifically, Net-Zero Pledges (NZPs), on the direct greenhouse gas emissions of their suppliers. NZPs represent a growing trend in corporate disclosure, where companies commit to reducing carbon emissions to a minimum level by a specified date, with any remaining emissions being offset by carbon removal actions. Using firms’ connections along the supply chain and a staggered difference-in-differences design, this study provides evidence that suppliers significantly reduce their direct emissions following customers’ NZPs. This effect is more pronounced for NZPs made by customers with greater bargaining power, while suppliers’ reactions are stronger when they have higher carbon intensity and better environmental performance. Furthermore, NZPs of higher quality elicit a stronger response, especially when they limit the use of carbon offsets, set interim targets, and establish public reporting mechanisms. The evidence suggests that this reduction in emissions is achieved by suppliers’ investments in green technologies and innovation, as well as improvements in environmental policies in the years following customers’ NZPs. While these modifications do not seem to change firms’ profitability, they are associated with increased business output and capital investments, though at the expense of additional debt. These findings suggest that customers’ voluntary environmental disclosures can trigger positive spillover effects in upstream suppliers’ real operations, even in the absence of mandatory regulations.