The Global Development of Policy Regimes to Combat Climate Change

The year 2015 will be a landmark year for international climate change negotiations. Governments have agreed to adopt a universal legal agreement on climate change at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris in 2015. The agreement will come into force no later than 2020.

This book focuses on the prospects for global agreement, how to encourage compliance with any such agreement and perspectives of key players in the negotiations — the United States, India, China, and the EU. It finds that there is strong commitment to the established UN institutions and processes within which the search for further agreed actions will occur. There are already a myriad of local and regional policies that are helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build mutual confidence. However, the chapters in the book also highlight potential areas of discord. For instance, varying interpretations of the “common but differentiated responsibilities” of developing countries, agreed as part of the UNFCCC, could be a major sticking point for negotiators. When combined with other issues, such as the choice of consumption or production as the basis for mitigation commitments, the appropriate time frame and base date for their measurement and whether level or intensity commitments are to be negotiated, the challenges that need to be overcome are considerable. The authors bring to bear insights from economics, public finance and game theory.

Sample Chapter(s)
Introduction (52 KB)
Chapter 1: Global Cooperation and Understanding to Accelerate Climate Action (416 KB)

• Introduction (Alex Bowen, Nicholas Stern and John Whalley)
• Global Cooperation and Understanding to Accelerate Climate Action (James Rydge and Samuela Bassi)
• The US and Action on Climate Change (Samuela Bassi and Alex Bowen)
• Challenges and Reality: China's Dilemma on Durban Platform Negotiation (Mou Wang, Huishan Lian and Yamin Zhou)
• Sustainable Growth and Climate Change: Evolution of India's Strategies (Ruth Kattumuri and Darshini Ravindranath)
• After Copenhagen and the Economic Crisis: Does the EU Need to Go Back to the Drawing Board? (Christian Egenhofer and Monica Alessi)
• The Scope for “Green Growth” and a New Technological Revolution (Alex Bowen)
• Negotiating to Avoid “Dangerous” Climate Change (Scott Barrett)
• Unilateral Measures and Emissions Mitigation (Shurojit Chatterji, Sayantan Ghosal, Sean Walsh and John Whalley)
• Compliance Mechanisms in Global Climate Regimes: Kyoto and Post-Kyoto (Sean Walsh and John Whalley)

Nicholas Stern is IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government at the London School of Economics, head of the LSE India Observatory and Chairman of both the LSE's Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy. From 1994 until late 1999, Lord Stern was Chief Economist and Special Counselor to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. From 2000–2003, he was World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, Development Economics. Lord Stern was Second Permanent Secretary to Her Majesty's Treasury, 2003–2005; Head of the Government Economic Service, 2003–2007; and produced the landmark Stern Review on the economics of climate change in 2006. He has worked extensively in China and India.

Dr Alex Bowen joined the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE in 2008 as a Principal Research Fellow, after many years as an economist at the Bank of England, most recently as Senior Policy Adviser. He first became involved in climate change issues when seconded to work on the Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change. His research interests include the design of public policies for a low-carbon economy and the macroeconomic aspects of climate-change policies. He has been a consultant to the EBRD, OECD, World Bank, ADBI, UK DFID and UK DECC among other organizations.

John Whalley is Professor of Economics and Co-Director of Centre for the Study of International Economic Relations at Western University, Research Associate at National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Coordinator of Global Economy Group at the CESifo, Distinguished Fellow at Centre for Global Governance Innovation (CIGI). John Whalley is ranked No.1 in Canada among publishing economists in the RePEc rankings. He won Hellmuth Prize for Achievement in Research, and also is 2012 Killam Prize Winner.

Sample Chapter(s)
Introduction (52 KB)
Chapter 1: Global Cooperation and Understanding to Accelerate Climate Action (416 KB)