Climate ChangeS

Estimates of the Social Cost of Carbon: Background and Results from the RICE-2011 Model

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 03:24:00 +0000

by William D. Nordhaus - We estimate the SCC using an updated version of the RICE-2011 model. The most important results are: First, the estimated social cost of carbon for the current time (2015) including uncertainty, equity weighting, and risk aversion is $44 per ton of carbon (or $12 per...

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Policy-Instrument Choice and Benefit Estimates for Climate-Change Policy in the United States

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:56:00 +0000

by Matthew J. Kotchen, Kevin J. Boyle and Anthony A. Leiserowitz - This paper provides the first willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates in support of a national climate-change policy that are comparable with the costs of actual legislative efforts in the U.S. Congress. Based on a survey of 2,034...

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Cost-Effectiveness of Electricity Energy Efficiency Programs

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:55:00 +0000

by Toshi H. Arimura, Shanjun Li, Richard G. Newell and Karen Palmer - We analyze the cost-effectiveness of electric utility ratepayer-funded programs to promote demand-side management (DSM) and energy efficiency (EE) investments. We specify a model that relates electricity demand to previous EE...

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Inducing Low-Carbon Investment in the Electric Power Industry through a Price Floor for Emissions Trading

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:54:00 +0000

by Alexander Brauneis and Michael Loretz - Uncertainty about long-term climate policy is a major driving force in the evolution of the carbon market price. Since this price enters the investment decision process of regulated firms, this uncertainty increases the cost of capital for investors and...

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The Natalist Bias of Pollution Control

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:53:00 +0000

by David De La Croix and Axel Gosseries - For a given technology, two ways are available to achieve low polluting emissions: reducing production per capita or reducing population size. This paper insists on the tension between the former and the latter. Controlling pollution either through...

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Sustainable Growth and Modernization Under Environmental Hazard and Adaptation

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:53:00 +0000

by Natali Hritonenko and Yuri Yatsenko - We develop an aggregated model to study rational environmental adaptation policies that compensate negative consequences of certain environmental hazards and changes. The model distinguishes three categories of adaptation measures that (a) compensate...

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Climate Change and the Ethiopian Economy: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:53:00 +0000

by Zenebe Gebreegziabher, Jesper Stage, Alemu Mekonnen and Atlaw Alemu - This paper analyses the economic impacts of climate change on Ethiopia’s agriculture using a countrywide computable general equilibrium model. The impacts on agriculture are based on results from a Ricardian model where...

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Sustainable Climate Treaties

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:53:00 +0000

by Hans Gersbach, Noemi Hummel and Ralph Winkler - We examine a global refunding scheme for mitigating climate change. Countries pay an initial fee into a global fund that is invested in long-run assets. In each period, part of the fund is distributed among the participating countries in relation...

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Optimal Carbon Capture and Storage Policies

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:50:00 +0000

by Alain Ayong Le Kama, Mouez Fodha and Gilles Lafforgue - We develop a simple growth model and exhibit the main driving forces that should determine the optimal CCS policy. We show that, under some conditions on the cost of extractions, CCS may be a long-term solution to curb carbon emissions....

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A Review of Solar Energy: Markets, Economics and Policies

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:03:00 +0000

by Govinda R. Timilsina, Lado Kurdgelashvili, Patrick A. Narbel - This study analyzes the technical, economic and policy aspects of solar energy development and deployment. While the cost of solar energy has declined rapidly in the recent past, it still remains much higher than the cost of...

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Depletion and Development: Natural Resource Supply with Endogenous Field Opening

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:02:00 +0000

by Anthony J. Venables - This paper develops a model in which supply of a non-renewable resource can adjust through two margins: the rate of depletion and the rate of field opening. Faster depletion of existing fields means that less of the resource can ultimately be extracted, and optimal...

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Unravelling the Worldwide Pollution Haven Effect

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:01:00 +0000

by Jean-Marie Grether, Nicole A. Mathys and Jaime de Melo - This paper tackles the "pollution haven" argument by estimating the pollution content of imports (PCI). The PCI is then decomposed into three components: (i) a "deep" component (i.e. traditional variables unrelated to the environmental...

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What Role for Trade in a Post 2012 Global Climate Policy Regime

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:01:00 +0000

by John Whalley - This paper discusses the role that trade can potentially play in both negotiating and operating a post Kyoto/post 2012 global climate policy regime. As an addition to the bargaining set for a global climate negotiation, trade in principle widens the range of jointly beneficial...

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The Design and Implementation of U.S. Climate Policy: An Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:00:00 +0000

by Don Fullerton and Catherine Wolfram - While economic models have already proven useful to analyze big picture questions about climate policy such as the choice between a carbon tax or cap-and-trade permit system, the 19 chapters in this book show how economic models also are useful to address...

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Prices vs Quantities with Multiple Pollutants

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:00:00 +0000

by Stefan Ambec and Jessica Coria - We examine the choice of policy instrument price, quantity, or a mix of the two when two pollutants are regulated and firms’ abatement costs are private information. A key parameter that affects this choice is the technological externality between the abatement...

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Assessing the Energy Efficiency Information Gap: Results from a Survey of Home Energy Auditors

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:57:00 +0000

by Karen L. Palmer, Margaret A. Walls, Hal Gordon and Todd Gerarden - This paper reports the results of a survey of nearly 500 home energy auditors and contractors that Resources for the Future conducted in summer 2011. The survey asked about the characteristics of these businesses and the...

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Optimal CCS and Air Capture from Heterogeneous Energy Consuming Sectors

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:56:00 +0000

by Jean-Pierre Amigues, Gilles Lafforgue and Michel Moreaux - We characterize the optimal exploitation paths of two primary energy resources, a non-renewable polluting resource and a carbon-free renewable one. Both resources can supply the energy needs of two sectors. Sector 1 is able to reduce...

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Long-term trend in global CO2 emissions. 2011 report

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:56:00 +0000

by Jos G.J. Olivier, Greet Janssens-Maenhout, Jeroen A.H.W. Peters and Julian Wilson - After a 1% decline in 2009, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions increased by more than 5% in 2010, which is unprecedented in the last two decades, but similar to the increase in 1976 when the global economy...

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A Mechanism Design Approach to Climate Agreements

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:55:00 +0000

by David Martimort and Wilfried Sand-Zantman - We analyze environmental agreements in contexts with asymmetric information, voluntary participation by sovereign countries and possibly limited enforcement. Taking a mechanism design perspective, we study how countries can agree on effort levels...

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Stable and Efficient Coalitional Networks

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:55:00 +0000

by Jean-François Caulier, Ana Mauleon, Jose J. Sempere-Monerris and Vincent Vannetelbosh - We define the notion of coalitional network to represent a network and a coalition structure, where the network specifies the nature of the relationship each individual has with her coalition members and...

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Effects of the Uncertainty about Global Economic Recovery on Energy Transition and CO2 Price

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:55:00 +0000

by Olivier Durand-Lasserve, Axel Pierru and Yves Smeers - This paper examines the impact that uncertainty over economic growth may have on global energy transition and CO2 prices. We use a general-equilibrium model derived from MERGE, and define several stochastic scenarios for economic growth....

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Emissions and targets of greenhouse gases not included in the Emission Trading System 2013-2020. Analysis of the impact of the European Effort Sharing Decision for the Netherlands

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:54:00 +0000

by Martijn Verdonk - This report evaluates the European Commission’s (EC) proposal to calculate Member States’ targets for emissions not included in the Emission Trading System (ETS). It is concluded that, for the Netherlands, the non-ETS emission caps as proposed by the EC would result in an...

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Modeling Energy and Non-Energy Substitution: A Survey of Elasticities

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:53:00 +0000

by Manuel Frondel - Estimating the degree of substitution between energy and non-energy inputs is key for any evaluation of environmental and energy policies. Yet, given the large variety of substitution elasticities, the central question arises as to which measure would be most appropriate....

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Optimal Policies to Preserve Tropical Forests

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:52:00 +0000

by Gilles Lafforgue and Helene Olliviery - We develop a North/South growth model to investigate the normative question of international transfers to preserve tropical forests. The South converts forest lands into agricultural lands to produce a final consumption good which is consumed by the...

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When Starting with the Most Expensive Option Makes Sense: Use and Misuse of Marginal Abatement Cost Curves

noreply@blogger.com (Emanuele) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:38:00 +0000

by Adrien Vogt-Schilb and Stéphane Hallegatte - The article investigates the use of expert-based Marginal Abatement Cost Curves (MACC) to design abatement strategies. It shows that introducing inertia, in the form of the "cost in time" of available options, changes significantly the message from...

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