There is substantial interest in promoting the emergence of a hydrogen-based energy economy. If successful, this would represent a policyled, discontinuous transition away from existing fossil fuel-based systems. Such a move has few precedents and few policy tools exist to manage such a complex...

This paper extends the arguments surrounding carbon lock-in elaborated in Unruh (Energy Policy 28 (2000) 817; 30 (2002) 317) to countries currently undergoing industrialization. It argues that, for numerous reasons, industrializing countries are unlikely to leapfrog carbon intensive energy...