Sustainable Climate Treaties

41 Pages Posted: 11 Apr 2017

See all articles by Hans Gersbach

Hans Gersbach

ETH Zurich - CER-ETH -Center of Economic Research; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Noemi Hummel

ETH Zürich - CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research at ETH Zurich

Ralph Winkler

University of Bern - Department of Economics; University of Bern - Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: March 13, 2017

Abstract

We examine long-run treaties for mitigating climate change. Countries pay an initial fee into a global fund that is invested in long-run assets. In each period, part of the fund is distributed among the participating countries in relation to the emission reductions they have achieved in this period suitably rescaled by a weighting factor. We show that a suitably selected refunding scheme implements the globally optimal reductions of greenhouse gases in all periods as a unique subgame perfect equilibrium. The country-specific initial fees can be chosen to engineer a Pareto improvement and to ease participation. We also show that any planned abatement path as e.g. the one envisioned by the Paris Agreement in 2015 can be implemented by an appropriately chosen refunding scheme. Finally, we suggest ways for countries to raise money for the payment of initial fees that are neutral to tax payers and international capital markets.

Keywords: climate change mitigation, refunding scheme, international agreements, sustainable treaty

JEL Classification: Q540, H230, H410

Suggested Citation

Gersbach, Hans and Hummel, Noemi and Winkler, Ralph, Sustainable Climate Treaties (March 13, 2017). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 6385, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2951010 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2951010

Hans Gersbach

ETH Zurich - CER-ETH -Center of Economic Research ( email )

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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United Kingdom

Noemi Hummel

ETH Zürich - CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research at ETH Zurich ( email )

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Zurich, 8092
Switzerland

Ralph Winkler (Contact Author)

University of Bern - Department of Economics ( email )

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Bern, 3001
Switzerland
+41 31 631 4508 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.ralph-winkler.de

University of Bern - Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research ( email )

Zähringerstrasse 25
Bern, 3012
Switzerland

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