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Efficiency and Equity of Climate Change Policy is a comprehensive assessment of the economic effects of climate change policy, addressing the issues with a quantitative modelling approach. The book thus goes beyond the usual statements on the efficiency of economic instruments to identify the way gains and losses are distributed; who gains and who loses. Both the costs and benefits of climate change policies are analyzed. Most papers also provide useful information on the economic features of the Kyoto Protocol, its possible extensions, and the effect of different implementation strategies (such as the debate on emissions trading ceilings). Readership: Scientists and policy makers, students and specialists in climate related industries, members of NGOs, and policy advisors.
Is a unique, cross-disciplinary assessment of fairness and equity issues in the context of global climate change - a crucial dimension in current international negotiations - written by a collection of leading scientists in economics, sociology and social psychology, ethics, international law and political science. How should responsibility for adapting to climate change be distributed? Who should bear the costs of mitigating its impacts and how should these costs be measured? Answers to these questions differ, often according to the vulnerability, wealth and level of industrial development of the country. Finding a fair solution is controversial, but crucial to the complex and vital negotiations over global warming. This illuminating and accessible volume explores the policy dimensions and analytical needs of the negotiation process. It is essential reading for policy makers and students and teachers of economics, sociology and social psychology, ethics, international relations, law and political science. FERENC L TOTH is project leader at the Department of Global Change and Social Systems at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany. CONTRIBUTORS H Asbjorn Aaheim Frank Biermann Samuel Fankhauser Carsten Helm Juliane Kokott Joanne Linnerooth-Bayer Volker Linneweber Elizabeth L Malone Shuzo Nishioka Originally published in 1999 David W Pearce Steve Rayner P R Shukla Dominik Thieme Michael Thompson Richard S J Tol David G Victor
Climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for-and in many cases is already affecting-a broad range of human and natural systems. The compelling case for these conclusions is provided in Advancing the Science of Climate Change, part of a congressionally requested suite of studies known as America's Climate Choices. While noting that there is always more to learn and that the scientific process is never closed, the book shows that hypotheses about climate change are supported by multiple lines of evidence and have stood firm in the face of serious debate and careful evaluation of alternative explanations. As decision makers respond to these risks, the nation's scientific enterprise can contribute through research that improves understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change and also is useful to decision makers at the local, regional, national, and international levels. The book identifies decisions being made in 12 sectors, ranging from agriculture to transportation, to identify decisions being made in response to climate change. Advancing the Science of Climate Change calls for a single federal entity or program to coordinate a national, multidisciplinary research effort aimed at improving both understanding and responses to climate change. Seven cross-cutting research themes are identified to support this scientific enterprise. In addition, leaders of federal climate research should redouble efforts to deploy a comprehensive climate observing system, improve climate models and other analytical tools, invest in human capital, and improve linkages between research and decisions by forming partnerships with action-oriented programs.
Many countries are implementing or at least considering policies to counter increasingly certain negative impacts from climate change. An increasing amount of research has been devoted to the analysis of the costs of climate change and its mitigation, as well as to the design of policies, such as the international Kyoto Protocol, post-Kyoto negotiations, regional initiatives, and unilateral actions. Although most studies on climate change policies in economics have considered efficiency aspects, there is a growing literature on equity and justice. Climate change policy has important dimensions of distributive justice, both within and across generations, but in this paper we survey only studies on the intragenerational aspect, i.e., within a generation. We cover several domains including the international, regional, national, sectoral and inter-personal, and examine aspects such as the distribution of burdens from climate change, climate change policy negotiations in general, implementation of climate agreements using tradable emission permits, and the uncertainty of alternatives to emission reductions.
This book concisely sets out the main issues and risks involved in attempting to mitigate climate change.
Markets are increasingly central to the resolution of environmental problems. They played a critical role in implementing the 1990 Clean Air Act of the United States, which has been instrumental in reducing acid rain in a cost-effective manner. They are also central to the global strategy adopted for limiting the emissions of greenhouse gases under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and are being used for resolving conflicts over the use of other environmental resources, particularly water. Environmental Markets: Equity and Efficiency represents the first systematic and in-depth study of the economic issues raised by this growing use of environmental markets. Focusing on the relationship between equity and efficiency—which is central to many of the debates between industrial and developing countries—the book explores the underlying economics and the possibilities for win-win solutions that benefit all parties to the problems. Graciela Chichilnisky and Geoffrey Heal have been instrumental in developing the economic understanding required for the operation of environmental markets and for promoting their use among policy makers leading to the Kyoto Protocol. Contributors to this volume include established experts from international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and academia, including Raúl Estrada-Oyuela, who chaired the negotiating committee of the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 1997 Kyoto meetings.
EU climate policy based on GHG emissions reduction (mitigation) is coupled with measures aimed at responding efficiently to the unavoidable consequences of climate change (adaptation). However, as the European Commission stated recently in its Green Paper on adaptation in Europe, there is still need to develop an overall EU adaptation strategy. Moreover, such a strategy should take into consideration both efficiency and equity concerns. In this article we propose a framework for EU adaptation policy that addresses both concerns and which enables a transparent decision-making process. In the proposed scheme universal weightings of the individual policy objectives have to be agreed upon prior to actual decision-making.
While there is much agreement in the climate policy literature that climate change mitigation should not interfere with humans' ability to enjoy a minimal standard of living, there is little scholarship on how to carve out such an "exemption" for poor subpopulations within large developing economies. Further, there is little analysis in developing countries of how the burdens of specific mitigation policies would be distributed. This dissertation begins to fill these gaps. This work consists of three studies, the first two of which are positive studies of the income distributional impacts of two energy policies that have climate mitigation benefits in Maharashtra, India: electricity pricing to recover low-carbon electric supply; and removal of the kerosene subsidy. In the first study I use an economic simulation model of the electricity sector and household welfare to assess the impacts of economy-wide electricity price increases under different political and institutional constraints. The analysis reveals that regulators can insulate low-income households from welfare losses without trading off aggregate welfare losses as long as they can raise prices to industry and high-income households. Mitigation may also have a co-benefit of reducing supply interruptions to the poor. In the second study, the kerosene subsidy is found to be progressive and material in urban areas, but regressive and less material in rural areas. One reason is that households' allocated quotas far exceed kerosene demand in rural areas, but fall short of many urban households' needs. A better targeted subsidy in urban areas alone would avoid high costs of the current subsidy, yet avoid the impoverishment of urban users from their complete removal. These results emphasize that protecting the interests of the poor in international climate change mitigation agreements requires some accountability from the institutions that implement mitigation policies within states. The third study questions the adequacy of burden-sharing proposals for climate mitigation that advocate an exemption for the poor without accounting for states' agency over the costs and outcomes of such an exemption. Participating states face moral hazards over the choice of future baselines of the poor's emissions. I show - using India for illustration - that the financial stakes for parties in how future growth is distributed in India can be up to tens of billions of dollars. Getting agreement on the terms of exemption may be easier if benefiting states adopt comparative benchmarks of accountability for the poor's emissions, but which do not infringe on particular policy choices. Furthermore, participating states should have shared duties to ensure that the poor receive the benefits of an awarded exemption.