Well-intended policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions may have unintended undesirable consequences. Recently, a large literature has emerged showing that such a 'green paradox' may occur in response to particular policies. We review this literature and identify four different...

Just energy transition is key to South Africa's inclusive and sustainable growth. It is necessary to unlock large pools of private capital and attract foreign investment to drive low-carbon transition. Despite downside risks, South Africa has strong macroeconomic fundamentals and commitment to...

A sufficiently rapidly rising carbon tax may increase near-term emissions compared with the case of no carbon tax. Even so, such a carbon tax path may reduce total costs related to climate change, since the tax may reduce total carbon extraction. A government cannot commit to a speci.c carbon...

If governments cannot commit to future carbon tax rates, investments in greenhouse gas mitigation will be based on uncertain and/or wrong predictions about these tax rates. Predictions about future carbon tax rates are also important for decisions made by owners of nonrenewable carbon resources....

Climate catastrophe throws into stark relief the extreme, life-threatening inequalities that affect millions of lives worldwide. The poorest and most marginalized, who are least responsible for the consumption and emissions that create climate change, are the first and hardest impacted, and the...

We study the effectiveness of environmental policy in a model with nonrenewable resources and an unavoidable implementation lag. We find that a time lag between the announcement and the implementation of an emissions quota induces an increase in emissions in the period between the policy's...

Policies aimed at reducing emissions from fossil fuels may increase climate damages. This “Green Paradox” emerges if resource owners increase near-term extraction in fear of stricter future policy measures. Hans-Werner Sinn (2008) showed that the paradox occurs when increasing resource taxes...

A carbon tax may be the most efficient means to limit climate change - eventually mankind's largest externality. When discussing the effects of such a tax, today most climate economics research focuses on the demand, reducing the energy supply side to a static process. However, supply side...

Optimal climate policy is studied in a Ramsey growth model. A developing economy weighs global warming less, hence is more likely to exhaust fossil fuel and exacerbate global warming. The optimal carbon tax is higher for a developed economy. We analyze the optimal time of transition from fossil...