Open AccessA Proposal to Integrate Price Mechanisms into International Climate Negotiations
Author(s) -
McKibbin Warwick,
Morris Adele,
Wilcoxen Peter
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
asia and the pacific policy studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.529
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 2050-2680
DOI - 10.1002/app5.55
Subject(s) - comparability , negotiation , economics , verifiable secret sharing , tariff , international economics , carbon price , international trade , microeconomics , environmental economics , climate change , computer science , political science , mathematics , law , ecology , set (abstract data type) , combinatorics , biology , programming language
The P arties to the U nited N ations F ramework C onvention on C limate C hange continue their efforts to forge a new binding international agreement by 2015. This article proposes to adapt international negotiations to allow for hybrid price and quantity‐based commitments. The economic risks surrounding target‐only commitments—the current approach—are enormous. Combining a clear cumulative emissions target with price‐based limits on the cost associated with achieving that target would reduce those risks, ensure that commitments by P arties remain feasible and reduce the chance that the agreement would collapse. Moreover, we argue that adding prices into the agreement offers transparent and verifiable assurance of the comparability of effort across countries. Finally, we also show that it is possible to calculate ‘carbon price equivalents’ of quantity‐based climate commitments in a conceptually similar way to the tariff equivalents used in international trade negotiations.