Environmental and Technology Policies for Climate Mitigation

Carolyn Fischer and Richard Newell ()

Discussion Papers from Resources For the Future

Abstract: We assess different policies for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and promoting the innovation and diffusion of renewable energy. We evaluate the relative performance of policies according to incentives provided for emissions reduction, efficiency, and other outcomes. We also assess how the nature of technological progress through learning and R&D, and the degree of knowledge spillovers, affect the desirability of different policies. Due to knowledge spillovers, optimal policy involves a portfolio of different instruments targeted at emissions, learning, and R&D. Although the relative cost of individual policies in achieving reductions depends on parameter values and the emissions target, in a numerical application to the U.S. electricity sector, the ranking is roughly as follows: (1) emissions price, (2) emissions performance standard, (3) fossil power tax, (4) renewables share requirement, (5) renewables subsidy, and (6) R&D subsidy. Nonetheless, an optimal portfolio of policies achieves emissions reductions at significantly lower cost than any single policy.

Keywords: environment; technology; externality; policy; climate change; renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q21 Q28 Q48 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env and nep-ino
Date: 2004-04-28
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Related works:
Journal Article: Environmental and technology policies for climate mitigation (2008)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-04-05

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