International technology-oriented agreements to address climate change

Abstract

Much discussion has surrounded possible alternatives for international agreements on climate change, particularly post-2012. Among these alternatives, technology-oriented agreements (TOAs) are perhaps the least well defined. We explore what TOAs may consist of, why they might be sensible, which TOAs already exist in international energy and environmental governance, and whether they could make a valuable contribution to addressing climate change. We find that TOAs aimed at knowledge sharing and coordination, research, development, or demonstration could increase the overall efficiency and effectiveness of international climate cooperation, but are likely to have limited environmental effectiveness on their own. Technology-transfer agreements are likely to have similar properties unless the level of resources expended is large, in which case they could be environmentally significant. Technology-specific mandates or incentives could be environmentally effective within the applicable sector, but are more likely to make a cost-effective contribution when viewed as a complement to rather than a substitute for flexible emissions-based policies. These results indicate that TOAs could potentially provide a valuable contribution to the global response to climate change. The success of specific TOAs will depend on their design, implementation, and the role they are expected to play relative to other components of the policy portfolio. r

Sharing R&D investments in cleaner technologies to mitigate climate change

“…optimal emissions and investment of one country are independent of the emissions and investment of the rest of countries. 11 Notice that emissions are decreasing with respect to marginal damages. Thus, to guarantee an interior solution for the game, marginal damages must be lower than the upper bound de…ned implicitly…”

“…Thus, for an interior solution the level of investment for non-signatories is given again by (11) that is independent of the number of signatories.…”

Reassessing the Links between GHG Emissions, Economic Growth, and the UNFCCC: A Difference-in-Differences Approach

“…Other critics point out that there are better ways to combat climate change than to adopt internationally negotiated emissions targeting agreements like the KP. De Coninck et al [31] argue in favor of technology-oriented international agreements focusing on advancing research, development, demonstration, and/or deployment of low-carbon technologies. Nordhaus [32] reviews several alternative approaches to the KP that might be more effective in mitigating the risks posed by global warming, arguing especially in favor of tradable permit schemes for GHG emissions or carbon taxes.…”

The role of technology transfer for the development of a local wind component industry in Chile

“…Market pull policies influence the demand of technologies expecting cost reductions through a variety of learning processes as the installed capacity increases (Grubb, 2004). Common examples of market pull policies in the field of climate change include: carbon markets, tax credits and rebates for low-carbon consumption, energy efficiency standards, feed-in tariffs, renewable energy portfolios and taxes on competing technologies, intellectual property protection, government procurement or technology mandates (Nemet, 2009;de Coninck et al, 2008). Both demand-pull and technology-push are complementary and a mix of them is necessary for technological development (Mowery and Rosenberg, 1979).…”