The Cost Structure of the Clean Development Mechanism

Rahman, Shaikh M. ; Larson, Donald F. ; Dinar, Ariel

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ABATEMENT COSTS;    ABATEMENT TECHNOLOGY;    AFFORESTATION;    AGGREGATE LEVEL;    AIR;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6262
RP-ID  :  WPS6262

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper examines the cost ofproducing emission reduction credits under the CleanDevelopment Mechanism. Using project-specific data, costfunctions are estimated using alternative functional forms.The results show that, in general, the distribution ofprojects in the pipeline does not correspond exclusively tothe cost of generating anticipated credits. Rather,investment choices appear to be influenced by location andproject type considerations in a way that is consistent withvariable transaction costs and investor preferences amonghosts and classes of projects. This implies that comparativeadvantage based on the marginal cost of abatement is onlyone of several factors driving Clean Development Mechanisminvestments. This is significant since much of theconceptual and applied numerical literature concerninggreenhouse gas mitigation policies relies on presumptionsabout relative abatement costs. The authors also find thatClean Development Mechanism projects generally exhibitconstant or increasing returns to scale. In contrast, theyfind variations among classes of projects concerningeconomies of time.