Climate clubs: How to overcome free-riding in international climate policy

With: William Nordhaus, professor of economics at Yale University,

Scott Barrett, professor of Natural Resource Economics at Columbia University

Laurence Tubiana, Ambassador for Climate Change Negotiations and Special Representative of French Government for the Paris Climate Conference of 2015, will introduce and moderate the presentations and debates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The conference will be held in English. Participation is free but registration is required: 

 

·         Sciences Po community, please register here

·         General registration, please register here

 

Synopsis :

Great progress has been made in scientific and economic understanding of climate change; however it has proven difficult to forge international agreements because of free-riding. In the presentation here, the concept of club as a model for international climate policy is examined. Based on economic theory and empirical modelling, it is shown that without sanctions against non-participants there are no stable coalitions other than those with minimal abatements.

By contrast, a regime with small trade penalties on non-participants, i.e. a Climate Club, can induce a large stable coalition with high levels of abatement.

The New York Times has published on June 2 a long paper under the title Climate Deal Badly Needs a Big Stick. There it is reported that, in a debate a few weeks ago, Nicholas Stern lamented that “the international effort to achieve a worldwide climate agreement in Paris next December is already falling short on its most critical goal. The various pledges by nations to cut their emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases will not be enough to prevent the Earth’s temperature from rising beyond the level scientists consider the tipping point to devastating environmental disruption.”

Conclusion: more than diplomacy is required.  A big stick is required. And the only credible one on offer is in Professor Nordhaus’ Climate Clubs proposal.

 

William Nordhaus is professor of economics at Yale University. His latest book, The Climate Casino, encapsulates more than twenty years of research and communication on the economics of climate change; written without any unnecessary technicalities, it is compulsory reading for anybody who is concerned with the consequences of climate change.

Professor Nordhaus is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He has been a member of the US President’s council of Economic Advisers, and 2014 President of the American Economic Association. He has been educated at Yale University, at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Paris) and at MIT.

Scott Barrett is professor of Natural Resource Economics at Columbia University. His work focuses on institutional remedies to transnational challenges, in particular global climate change and the control of infectious diseases. In this spirit, he is the author of Why cooperate ? The incentive to supply global public goods.

Professor Barrett has been an advisor to several organtzations, including the European Commission, the OECD and the United Nations. He has also served as lead author of the second IPCC assessment report. He ha been educated at the London School of Economics and Political Science.