This article explains why policy makers should seriously consider substantial early reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as a part of any post-Kyoto framework, and sets out suggested elements of a framework for early action in a post-Kyoto agreement. Substantial early reductions are needed...

We examine the impact of a unilateral carbon tax in developed countries focusing on the expected size of carbon leakage (an increase in emissions in non-taxing regions as a result of the tax) and the effects on leakage of border tax adjustments. We start by analyzing the problem using a simple...

Congress is likely to consider domestic climate change legislation during 2009, with a cap-and-trade system continuing to draw support from the Obama Administration and many leaders in Congress. Yet cap-and-trade regulations would take years for EPA to develop and implement, the desired price...

Since the Kyoto Protocol, black carbon and other non-gaseous short lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) have played little role in global climate policy making. Over the past ten years, however, there has been an increasing recognition in the climate science literature of their importance for the...

An important source of political opposition to measures aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) arises from concerns over their negative effects on the competitiveness of domestic firms, especially those that are energy-intensive and exposed to competition from foreign producers....

With the growth of the developing world's population and economies, limiting their contribution to the global growth of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions has increased greatly in significance. The parties to the UN Climate Change Convention acknowledged this reality in the Bali Action Plan,...

This paper discusses the UN and EU regulations on the climate change in regard to CO2 emission in a perspective of the “Tragedy of the Commons”. The paper presents the objectives of the Rio Convention UNDCCC, the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement and the EU CO2 trading system. The main...

The article describes the world-wide efforts or the lack thereof to combat climate change in the last 25 years. The article asks whether the world has to wait until the adversity actually sets in before effective action is taken; whether the failure to act is caused because people have not yet...

Climate policies have often focused on the role of State as a regulator. Meanwhile, their role as leading economic actors, especially as shareholders and investors, has been neglected. State-owned enterprises control significant shares of economic sectors which are central to a carbon-intensive...

In the Tragedy of the Commons Hardin suggested that with respect to global commons we are trapped in a vicious circle where calculations of utility pushes us to keep polluting our own nest. This taken on a global scale has led to concerns about climate change and a realization that measures need...