Energy and Climate

Richard Tol

Working Paper Series from Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School

Abstract: Carbon dioxide emissions have grown less fast than the economy because of improvements in energy efficiency. Switching to less carbon-intensive fuels and climate policy have played a minor role. Scenarios of future emissions are optimistic about economic growth and energy efficiency, and the higher scenarios assume resurgent coal use at odds with current trends. Climate policy is cheap for moderate targets and smart implementation. Costs are much higher for more realistic policies and for more stringent targets. The negative emission required by the Paris Agreement would need large subsidies. Greenhouse gas emission reduction is a global public good that is hard to provide. Key players in the climate debate benefit from the rents created by inefficient policies, from causing confusion, and from mixing climate with other matters.

Keywords: climate change; energy; climate policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q42 Q48 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-reg and nep-res
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sus:susewp:1618

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