The Political Economy of Climate Change Mitigation Policies : How to Build a Constituency to Address Global Warming?

Alain de Serresi ; John Llewellynii ; Preston Llewellynii iOECDiiLlewellyn Consulting

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

关键词: political economy;    cost-effectiveness;    competitiveness;    carbon tax;    climate change mitigation;   

DOI  :  https://doi.org/10.1787/5kg5d5nhcnkb-en

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: OECD iLibrary

【 摘 要 】

Developments over the past few years have shown that reforms to address climate change are no less difficult to implement than reforms in other areas, even if the objective of limiting global warming is broadly accepted. In the case of global public goods such as the climate, the political challenge is further complicated by the need to convince voters that domestic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is worth taking, notwithstanding the cost and uncertainties regarding other countries’ commitments. This paper seeks to draw a number of political-economy lessons from reform experience in other economic areas, and considers how these lessons can be applied to the particular case of climate change mitigation policy. It examines the main ingredients for building a constituency for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction policies at home, stressing the need to establish the credibility of the overall objective and intermediate targets. It also reviews the challenges faced in securing successful implementation of the least-cost set of policies, focusing on how to address the concerns raised by the uneven distribution of costs and benefits of pricing instruments without undermining their effectiveness.