Strategic Investment in Climate Friendly Technologies: The Impact of Permit Trade

By: Mads Greaker,  and Cathrine Hagem;

Published in:

Environmental and Resource Economics, Springer, August 2013

Abstract:

Our point of departure is that a group of industrialized countries invest in research and development (R&D) of greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement technologies. R&D investments influence the future GHG abatement choices of both industrialized and developing countries. We distinguish between investments that reduce industrialized countries’ abatement costs and investments that reduce developing countries’ abatement costs. Unlike earlier contributions, we include global trading in emission permits. This changes the nature of the game. With global permit trading, industrialized countries should in many  cases invest strategically in technologies that only reduce abatement costs at home. This comes in addition to investments abroad. Second, we show that R&D investments always decrease total emissions. Finally, we find that the developing region receiving investments always benefits

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Published June 26, 2014 10:06 AM