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Climate policy and equity principles: fair burden sharing in a dynamic world

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2013

Lucas Bretschger
Lucas Bretschger*
Affiliation:
Centre of Economic Research at ETH Zurich (CER-ETH), ZUE F7, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland. Tel: + 41 44 632 21 92. Fax:  + 41 44 632 13 62. E-mail: lbretschger@ethz.ch
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Abstract

The paper argues that negotiation costs can prevent the international community from finding a new international climate agreement. To define a feasible way of facilitating the negotiation process, I analyze basic equity principles and their relationship to climate policy and economic development. Based on the most relevant principles, I propose a general synthetic rule for burden sharing in international climate policy. The rule avoids complexity and comprises both egalitarian and cost-sharing aspects, which appears to be crucial for achieving a climate agreement. Carbon budgets for the different countries are calculated under different parameter assumptions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 18 , Issue 5 , October 2013 , pp. 517 - 536
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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