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Development without Carbon as Climate PolicyE3 Network working paper Author(s): Stanton, E.A.Date: January 2012 Research Area(s): Climate Economics ; Climate Equity Climate-economics models' projections of slow economic growth in the developing world create the expectation that the poorest countries will use up a relatively small share of the global 21st century emissions budget, leaving more "emissions space" for high- and middle-income countries. Making poverty reduction a central goal of climate policy, however, would require considering scenarios in which incomes converged around the world. This article reviews recent literature connecting climate, poverty and energy; establishes equity's critical role in climate policy; demonstrates the importance of economic growth assumptions in climate modeling; and concludes with several policy recommendations for climate-economics modeling.Note: This paper draws on material from the report Development Without Carbon: Climate and the Global Economy through the 21st Century. More information Download PDF External Link |
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Development without Carbon: Climate and the Global Economy through the 21st CenturySEI Report Author(s): Stanton, E.A.Date: November 2011 Research Area(s): Climate Economics ; Climate Equity Economic development and the eradication of energy poverty are increasingly seen as key components in a comprehensive strategy to prevent dangerous climate change, along with emission reductions and adaptation measures. But most climate economics models used to guide policymakers assume very little economic growth in the poorest countries. This report reviews the literature regarding the connection between energy, poverty, and emissions mitigation; sets out principles for an equitable climate policy; and explores three scenarios for future economic growth and emissions. It also includes a case study showing the impact of these three scenarios on Latin America and the Caribbean.This report is part of a package that also includes Energy-Water-Climate Planning for Development without Carbon in Latin America and the Caribbean. More information Download PDF |
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Comparison of Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 pledges under the Cancun Agreements (Policy Brief)SEI Policy Brief Author(s): Kartha, S. ; Erickson, P.Date: November 2011 Research Area(s): Climate Equity ; Climate Mitigation Policy This policy brief, which summarizes SEI Working Paper No. 2011-06, of the same title, examines four recent detailed studies of countries' mitigation pledges under the Cancún Agreements, for the purpose of comparing developed (Annex 1) country pledges to developing (non-Annex 1) country pledges. It finds that there is broad agreement that developing country pledges amount to more mitigation than developed country pledges. That conclusion applies across all four studies and across all their various cases, despite the diversity of assumptions and methodologies employed and the substantial differences in their quantification of the pledges. The studies also find that the Annex 1 pledges could be significantly diminished by several factors, such as lenient accounting rules on the use of surplus allowances, double-counting of offsets, and loose accounting methodologies for land use, land-use change, and forestry, and they note that the mitigation pledged globally is consistent with a global temperature rise of greater than 2°C – and possibly as much as 5°C.More information Download PDF |
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Political Regimes and Income InequalityEconomics Letters 113:3, 266-268 Author(s): Kemp-Benedict, E.Date: August 2011 Research Area(s): Sustainable Futures ; Climate Equity Levels of income inequality within countries vary substantially throughout the world, from the famously egalitarian Scandinavian countries to the many highly unequal countries in Latin America and Africa. Income inequality is highly stable over time, but may change abruptly, as in the former Soviet Union, or gradually, as in the United States and China. These observations have driven active research into the determinants of inequality. This paper builds and tests a quantitative model based upon social and political theories of inequality and political regimes. The proposed model relates three variables to a measure of income inequality: the size of the "selectorate," the number of people who actually choose political leaders; a measure of bias in public spending towards redistribution over reinvestment; and ethnolinguistic fragmentation. The model performs well under statistical tests, supporting the conclusion that political regimes play an important role in determining levels of income inequality within countries.External Link |
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Comparison of Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 pledges under the Cancun AgreementsSEI Working Paper 2011-06 Author(s): Kartha, S. ; Erickson, P.Date: June 2011 Research Area(s): Climate Equity ; Climate Mitigation Policy This report, based on an analysis conducted for Oxfam International, examines four recent detailed studies of countries' mitigation pledges under the Cancun Agreements, for the purpose of comparing developed (Annex 1) country pledges to developing (non-Annex 1) country pledges. It finds that there is broad agreement that developing country pledges amount to more mitigation than developed country pledges. The studies further note that the mitigation pledged globally is consistent with a global temperature rise of greater than 2°C – and possibly as much as 5°C. Avoiding this much warming would require developed countries to raise their pledges and fulfill them through actual mitigation.Note: This paper was originally published in June 2011 as SEI-US Working Paper WP-US-1107. For a summary of the key findings, download this policy brief. More information Download PDF |