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Climate Change Economics: Vol. 05, No. 01
Print ISSN: 2010-0078
Online ISSN: 2010-0086

 
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A MACROECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION: MEETING THE FINANCING CHALLENGE

ALEX BOWEN

Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics, UK

EMANUELE CAMPIGLIO

Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics, UK

MASSIMO TAVONI

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) and Centro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), Italy

Published: 18 March 2014

Transitioning to a low-carbon economy will require significant investment to transform energy systems, alter the built environment and adapt infrastructure. A strategy to finance this investment is needed if the limit of a 2°C increase in global mean temperatures is to be respected. Also, high-income countries have pledged to pay the "agreed full incremental costs" of climate-change mitigation by developing countries, which are not necessarily the same as incremental investment costs. Building on simulations using Integrated Assessment Models and historical evidence, this paper explores some of the issues posed by this dual financing challenge. We discuss the "fiscal self-reliance" of the energy sector, finding that carbon pricing would generate sufficient fiscal revenues within each region to finance total investment in energy supply. Even when allowing for trade in emission permits, regional carbon fiscal revenues should still suffice to cover both their own investment in energy supply and permit purchases from abroad. We show that incremental energy-supply investment (and saving) needs are well within the range of past variation of aggregate investment, and argue that the challenge is rather to ensure that revenues from carbon pricing and other sources are complemented by investment in the appropriate sectors. But fairness and equity are likely to warrant transfers from advanced industrial countries to developing nations.

Keywords: Macroeconomics; climate change; Integrated Assessment Models; savings; investments; tax revenues
JEL: E20, F40, H23, O44
Cited by (9):
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, , . (2015) An ‘equal effort’ approach to assessing the North–South climate finance gap. Climate Policy, 1-15. Online publication date: 12-Oct-2015. [CrossRef]
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . (2014) Post-2020 climate agreements in the major economies assessed in the light of global models. Nature Climate Change 5:2, 119-126. Online publication date: 15-Dec-2014. [CrossRef]
, , , . (2014) CLIMATE POLICY IN PRACTICE: A TYPOLOGY OF OBSTACLES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT MODELING. Climate Change Economics 05:01. Online publication date: 1-Feb-2014. [Abstract | PDF (492 KB) | PDF Plus (554 KB)]
, , , , , , , . (2013) A CROSS-MODEL COMPARISON OF GLOBAL LONG-TERM TECHNOLOGY DIFFUSION UNDER A 2°C CLIMATE CHANGE CONTROL TARGET. Climate Change Economics 04:04. Online publication date: 1-Nov-2013. [Abstract | PDF (888 KB) | PDF Plus (732 KB)]