Closing coal: economic and moral incentives

Abstract

Climate policy requires that much of the world's reserves of fossil fuels remain unburned. This paper makes the case for implementing this directly through policy to close the global coal industry. Coal is singled out because of its high emissions intensity, low rents per unit value, local environmental costs and sheer scale. Direct supply policythe sequenced closure of coal minesmay lead to less policy leakage (across countries and time) than other policies based on demand or price management. It also has the…