Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/154998 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
1999
Series/Report no.: 
Nota di Lavoro No. 44.1999
Publisher: 
Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), Milano
Abstract: 
The 1998 Kyoto protocol signalled a new earnestness of international intent toward addressing the perceived risk of climate change. Kyoto demands that developed nations turn their economies so as to hit differentiated, sub-1990 level carbon emission targets within the next decade or so. But when thinking of the Kyoto protocol imagine trying to turn a battleship on a dime with a third of the crew on-board. Improbable, but doable...but for what benefit...and at what cost? The magnitude depends on what you choose to believe about the answer to these questions: Are we on the cusp of a catastrophe? Will developing countries ever participate? What will we do with any revenues that are raised in a trading system? Should nations be forced to reduce some fixed percentage of emissions at home? Can carbon sinks reduce costs? Will people adopt new energy-efficient technologies without a price hike in energy? The answers to these questions from economic analysis say that the catastrophes have to be exceedingly likely for Kyoto to make sense.
Subjects: 
Climate change
Benefits
Costs
Technology
Flexibility
JEL: 
H4
Q0
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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