The Kyoto Protocol is now a legally binding treaty signed by 141 nations, although not by major polluting nations such as the United States, China and India. Can nuclear power, which is carbon free, save Kyoto and solve the global warming problem? Nuclear energy is a tough sell in the developed...

Environmental agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol aim to stabilize the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, which is mainly caused by the burning of nonrenewable resources such as coal. We characterize the solution to the textbook Hotelling model when there is a ceiling on the stock of...

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) seems an appealing option to meet the ambitious objectives of the Paris Agreement. Captured CO 2 emissions can also be injected in active fields to enhance recovery: Carbon capture and utilization (CCU). We study a dynamic model of CCS and CCU of an economy...

We model capacity-building investments in a homogeneous product duopoly facing uncertain demand growth. Capacity building is achieved through the addition of production units that are durable and lumpy and whose cost is irreversible. While building their capacity over time, firms compete à la...

We study how environmental regulation in the form of a cap on aggregate emissions from a fossil fuel (e.g., coal) interacts with the arrival of a clean substitute (e.g., solar energy). The cost of the substitute is assumed to decrease with cumulative use because of learning-by-doing. We show...

More than 40% of US grain is now used to produce biofuels, which are used as substitutes for gasoline in transportation. Biofuels have been blamed universally for recent increases in world food prices. Many studies have shown that these energy mandates in the US and EU may have a large (30-60%)...