Climate Change and Economic Policies in APEC Economies : Synthesis Report

World Bank

World Bank

关键词: ABSOLUTE EMISSIONS;    ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE;    AIR;    AIR POLLUTION;    AIR TEMPERATURE;   

RP-ID  :  56562

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Drawing on several studies on APECeconomies, this report discusses economic policy choices formitigating and adapting to climate change effects.Ithighlights that APEC economies will have a central role inboth sides of climate change.These economies include someof the largest emitters and also those among the mostvulnerable to the impact of climate change.The reportsuggests that action on climate change will require a widerange of economic policy interventions, including mostimportantly fiscal policies. These will include settingcarbon prices that cost emissions properly, liberalizing andstrengthening markets so that prices and costs can bepassed- through, offsetting other biases towards capital andemissions intensive economic growth and supportingtechnology based policies.On the adaptation side, thereport emphasizes the importance of fiscal policy andinvestment choice tools that incorporate the uncertaintysurrounding the nature and location of climate changeeffects. The report discusses how emissions reductionthrough appropriate climate friendly technologies (CFTs) canbe an important complement to more politically sensitivemitigation measures (like carbon pricing). At the same time,CFTs can provide co-benefits like rural electrification.The current status of CFTs in APEC economies - theirproduction, use and trade - are discussed along withtechnology neutral and technology specific policies andtrade and investment policies that can support thesetechnologies.Financing these policy interventions - bothtechnology based and otherwise - will require variousmeasures, including efficient market mechanisms that createincentives to reduce mitigation costs, facilitate financingof mitigation efforts through crediting mechanism andemissions trading, and setting up the necessaryinstitutions. This report also considers policy responses toextreme climate events and their impact on the poor at thecommunity level.Finally, since climate change isinherently of a cross-border, regional and even globalnature, there is substantial scope for regional cooperationby APEC economies to address climate change issues. Thisreport concludes with some initial thoughts on some keyareas for this cooperation.