The Effect of Allowing Pollution Offsets with Imperfect Enforcement
15 Pages Posted: 11 Sep 2010
There are 2 versions of this paper
The Effect of Allowing Pollution Offsets with Imperfect Enforcement
The Effect of Allowing Pollution Offsets with Imperfect Enforcement
Date Written: September 9, 2010
Abstract
Several pollution control regimes, including climate change policies, allow polluters in one sector subject to an emissions cap to offset excessive emissions in that sector with pollution abatement in another sector. The government may often find it more costly to verify offset claims than to verify compliance with emissions caps, and concerns about difficulties in enforcement may lead regulators to restrict the use of offsets. In this paper, we demonstrate that allowing offsets may increase pollution abatement and reduce illegal pollution, even if the government has a fixed enforcement budget. We explore the circumstances that may make it preferable to allow offsets when enforcement is costly.
Keywords: Environmental Law and Economics, Climate Change, Emission Trading System
JEL Classification: K32, K42, Q53, Q54
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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