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751. The economic and environmental effects of border tax adjustments for climate change policy

Author:
Warwick McKibbin and Peter J. Wilcoxen
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
For the foreseeable future, climate change policy will be considerably more stringent in some countries than in others. Indeed, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change explicitly states that developed countries must take meaningful action before any obligations are to be placed on developing countries. However, differences in climate policy will lead to differences in energy costs, and to concerns about competitive advantage. In high-cost countries, there will be political pressure to impose border adjustments, or “green tariffs”, on imports from countries with little or no climate policy and low energy costs. The adjustments would be based on the carbon emissions associated with production of each imported product, and would be intended to match the cost increase that would have occurred had the exporting country adopted a climate policy similar to that of the importing country. In this paper, we estimate how large such tariffs would be in practice, and then examine their economic and environmental effects using G-Cubed, a detailed multi-sector, multi-country model of the world economy. We find that the tariffs would be small on most traded goods, would reduce leakage of emissions reduction very modestly, and would do little to protect import-competing industries. We conclude that the benefits produced by border adjustments would be too small to justify their administrative complexity or their deleterious effects on international trade.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Environment, International Cooperation, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, and United Nations

752. Refining the G-20 agenda

Author:
Stephen Grenville
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
What began as the sub-prime crisis in America is now universally recognised as a Global Financial Crisis (GFC). While the consequences are clearly global, however, the required policy responses may be largely domestic, as indeed they have been so far. Nevertheless, financial markets are looking to the forthcoming G-20 Leaders' London meeting in April, in the hope that it will produce confidence-boosting measures. Realistically, what can be done at the international level? The central issue to be explored here is the extent to which an international response is relevant to the GFC, in the form of policy coordination or cooperation in rule-setting of the kind that could be orchestrated by the G-20 Leaders.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, International Cooperation, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
Political Geography:
America and London

753. Climate Change Negotiating Positions of Major Developing Country Emitters

Author:
Jan von der Goltz
Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Developing countries with large greenhouse gas emissions play a decisive role in negotiating a post-Kyoto climate agreement. No effective program to reduce global emissions is possible without their support. At the same time, developing countries face a delicate task in balancing their growing responsibility for a livable climate with the pursuit of continued economic development. This article discusses the negotiating positions major developing country emitters are taking on core issues. Among the most vital unsettled questions are burden sharing between developed and developing countries, the role of the market in the international climate architecture, as well as implementation arrangements. An annex discusses current mitigation policies of major developing country emitters, and argues that developing countries are already taking meaningful action to limit the growth of their greenhouse gas emissions.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Environment, Treaties and Agreements, and Third World

754. Global Welfare Implications of Carbon Border Taxes

Author:
Daniel Gros
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
This paper presents a simple, basic model to compute the welfare consequences of the introduction of a tariff on the CO 2 content of imported goods in a country that already imposes a domestic carbon tax. The main finding is that the introduction of a carbon import tariff increases global welfare (and not just the welfare of the importing country) if there is no (or insufficient) pricing of carbon abroad. A higher domestic price of carbon justifies a higher import tariff. Moreover, a higher relative intensity of carbon abroad increases the desirability of high import tariff imposed by the home country because a border tax shifts production to the importing country, which in this case leads to lower environmental costs.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, and Environment

755. Financing Environmental Improvements: A Literature Review of the Constraints on Financing Environmental Innovation

Author:
Daniel K. N. Johnson and Kristina M. Lybecker
Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Department of Economics and Business, Colorado College
Abstract:
In an effort to explore the potential for financing environmental innovation, this paper examines different forms of financing and attempts to evaluate their effectiveness. The study considers both public and private forms of funding as well as providing policy suggestions for the support of appropriate financing for eco-innovation.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, and Globalization

756. Emerging U.S. Climate Policy: Where We are and How We Got Here

Author:
Geoffrey Clemm and Mark Griffin Smith
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Department of Economics and Business, Colorado College
Abstract:
After eight years of non-engagement, the new administration and the U.S. Congress, led by a majority in the President's party, are rapidly developing climate policy legislation. This paper summarizes past efforts to establish a national climate policy in the United States as well as the major forces influencing the current debate. While this debate is largely shaped by domestic considerations, it takes place as the international community moves to agree on a post-Kyoto policy regime in Copenhagen next December. Whether the United States is willing to take strong action will significantly influence the actions of other nations.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Globalization, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
United States

757. Environmental Change and Security Report: Issue 13

Author:
Geoffrey D. Dabelko, editor
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
"We are not your traditional environmentalists," General Gordon Sullivan (USA, Ret.), former U.S. Army chief of staff, wryly told reporters as he presented the Center for Naval Analysis' (CNA) report National Security and the Threat of Climate Change in April 2007 (Eskew, 2007). Arguing for more aggressive U.S. action on climate change, Sullivan said the incomplete scientific understanding of global warming was no excuse for delay. Military leaders make battlefield decisions based on partial information all the time-otherwise, more lives would be lost. Penned by Sullivan and 10 other former U.S. generals and admirals, the launch of the CNA report is but one event that marked the return of environmental security to the world stage in 2007 and 2008.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States

758. Addressing the Leakage/Competitiveness Issue in Climate Change Policy Proposals

Author:
Jeffrey A. Frankel
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
We will likely see increasing efforts to minimize leakage of carbon to non-participating countries and to address concerns on behalf of the competitiveness of carbon-intensive industry. Environmentalists on one side and free traders on the other side fear that border measures such as tariffs or permit-requirements against imports of carbon-intensive products will collide with the WTO. There need not necessarily be a conflict, if the measures are designed sensibly. There are precedents -- the shrimp-turtle case and the Montreal Protocol -- that could justify border measures to avoid undermining the Kyoto Protocol or its successors, if the measures are carefully designed. But if the design is dominated by politics, as is likely, import penalties are likely to run afoul of the WTO, to distort trade, and perhaps even to fail in the goal of preventing leakage.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
China

759. What Happened to the Seasons? Changing seasonality may be one of the major impacts of climate change

Author:
Steve Jennings and John Magrath
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The timing of rain, and intra-seasonal rainfall patterns are critical to smallholder farmers in developing countries. Seasonality influences farmers' decisions about when to cultivate and sow and harvest. It ultimately contributes to the success or failure of their crops. Worryingly, therefore, farmers are reporting that both the timing of rainy seasons and the pattern of rains within seasons are changing. These perceptions of change are striking in that they are geographically widespread and because the changes are described in remarkably consistent terms. In this paper, we relate the perceptions of farmers from several regions(East Asia, South Asia, Southern and East Africa, and Latin America) of how seasons are changing, and in some cases, how once distinct seasons appear to be disappearing altogether, and the impacts that these changes are having. We then go on to ask two critical questions. Firstly, do meteorological observations support farmers' perceptions of changing seasonality? Secondly, to what extent are these changes consistent with predictions from climate models? We conclude that changing seasonality may be one of the major impacts of climate change faced by smallholder farmers in developing countries over the next few decades. Indeed, this may already be the case. Yet it is relatively unexplored in the literature. We also suggest some of the key adaptation responses that might help farmers cope with these changes.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Development, and Energy Policy
Political Geography:
Africa, East Asia, and Latin America

760. Climate change: time to get down to business

Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Climate change affects poor people first and worst. It is a major obstacle to development and poverty alleviation, as well as a serious threat to business supply chains and markets in developing countries.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, and Poverty