World Scientific Publishing Co. eBooks, May 24, 2014
International climate change negotiations continue to be slow and problematic, with long-standing... more International climate change negotiations continue to be slow and problematic, with long-standing differences between rich and developing countries difficult to overcome. Emission reduction pledges put forward at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Copenhagen in 2009 provided a strong foundation for progress, but a major gap remains between what is planned and emissions reductions consistent with a 2°C path. Despite some advance since COP 15 in Copenhagen, progress remains too slow if the world is to achieve a strong global deal by 2015; all countries need to do more. This chapter reviews recent progress in international climate change negotiations, explores prospects for global emissions to 2030 given current commitments, and discusses how to accelerate action, which will need to be on the scale of a new industrial revolution. There is already much action in the developed and developing world, but stronger policy is needed if we are to act on the scale required. This will involve both bottom-up (national policies) and top-down (collective international action) approaches, which support and encourage each other.
This paper estimates the share of jobs in the US that would benefit from a transition to the gree... more This paper estimates the share of jobs in the US that would benefit from a transition to the green economy, and presents different measures for the ease with which workers are likely to be able to move from nongreen to green jobs. Using the US O * NET database and its definition of green jobs, 19.4% of US workers could currently be part of the green economy in a broad sense, although a large proportion of green employment would be 'indirectly' green, comprising existing jobs that are expected to be in high demand due to greening, but do not require significant changes in tasks, skills, or knowledge. Analysis of task content also shows that green jobs vary in 'greenness', with very few jobs only consisting of green tasks, suggesting that the term 'green' should be considered a continuum rather than a binary characteristic. While it is easier to transition to indirectly green rather than directly green jobs, greening is likely to involve transitions on a similar scale and scope of existing job transitions. Non-green jobs generally appear to differ from their green counterparts in only a few skill-specific aspects, suggesting that most retraining can happen on-thejob. Network analysis shows that the green economy offers a large potential for short-run growth if job transitions are strategically managed.
OECD ENVIRONMENT WORKING PAPERS OECD Working Papers should not be reported as representing the of... more OECD ENVIRONMENT WORKING PAPERS OECD Working Papers should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the author(s). OECD Working Papers describe preliminary results or research in progress by the author(s) and are published to stimulate discussion on a broad range of issues on which the OECD works. This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected studies on environmental issues prepared for use within the OECD. Authorship is usually collective, but principal author(s) are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language-English or French-with a summary in the other language.
This article explores the principles that should guide efforts to raise finance for climate actio... more This article explores the principles that should guide efforts to raise finance for climate action in developing countries. The main conclusions are that, first, there is an important role for private finance, which would be facilitated by having pervasive and broadly uniform emissions pricing around the world. Second, public finance is warranted by a range of market-and policy-failures associated with climate change and its mitigation. Third, raising tax revenues may be preferable to borrowing as a means of raising public finance, although the economics is not clear-cut. Public finance theory advocates taxing 'bads,' of which a number have escaped the tax base so far. But it discourages hypothecation of specific revenue streams to particular uses. Fourth, how much could or should be raised by the many specific proposals for finance for climate action in developing countries is often uncertain. So is how multiple schemes would interact. Several schemes could depress carbon prices. Earmarking is often assumed to be justified despite the arguments to the contrary. Fifth, two sets of proposals do particularly well judged against this analysis: (i) expanding the scale and scope of the CDM (ii) expanding the use of international financial institutions' balance sheets.
‘Green growth ’ is almost tautologically required for global welfare to rise in the long run. Eco... more ‘Green growth ’ is almost tautologically required for global welfare to rise in the long run. Economic growth is desirable, not least because over 1 billion people still live in conditions of pov-erty. Undermining the ecological basis for human civilization will damage human welfare and fur-ther undermine economic growth. There are large adverse environmental externalities from economic activity that affect human welfare directly and indirectly through lower measured output. Finding ways to tackle these externalities will enhance wellbeing and allow continued growth of GDP while preserving aggregate natural capital. However, achieving this goal presents societies with major chal-lenges. The composition of GDP is likely to have to change significantly, with more emphasis on new ideas and less on increased material throughputs. The role of the state in a ‘green growth ’ transition will have to go beyond internalizing externalities to ‘get prices right’. The necessary transformation wi...
Market-based instruments such as Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) are increasingly favoured as ... more Market-based instruments such as Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) are increasingly favoured as an alternative to command-and-control legislation to increase the uptake of renewable energy. Focusing on the renewable energy industry and policy situation in Asia, this paper analysed the strengths and weaknesses of market-based approaches in the long-term interest of developing Asia. It found that approaches such as REC are disadvantaged by a lack of both market acceptance and a strong institutional and programme support. To identify gaps in the REC system in India, a comparative analysis with the United Kingdom (UK) model was made. This revealed some fundamental issues around market-based approaches in Asia, underscoring the need for a policy design to address the concerns of buyers and sellers in the market.
Chapter 7 reviews the policy measures required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They constitut... more Chapter 7 reviews the policy measures required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They constitute the core content of climate change legislation. The starting point of the chapter is an understanding of the market, policy and behavioural failures that prevent private decision makers from adopting low-carbon solutions on their own accord. The chapter advocates carbon pricing as an effective way of incentivizing emission reductions, although command-and-control interventions are equally possible and have often been successful. Additional problems that need to be addressed include failures in capital markets, externalities related to low-carbon innovation, network issues and barriers preventing the uptake of energy efficiency measures. There are also policy distortions, not least the subsidization of fossil fuels and the underpricing of energy. The chapter further recommends interventions to mitigate the wider socioeconomic impacts of carbon policies, in particular their effect on competitiveness and fuel poverty. These measures do not directly reduce emissions, but they make climate change policy fairer, less disruptive and more acceptable to the public.
This study employs a number of Integrated Assessment Models to determine what the optimal financi... more This study employs a number of Integrated Assessment Models to determine what the optimal financial transfers between high-income and developing economies would be if climate mitigation effort, measured as mitigation costs as a share of GDP, were to be divided equally across regions. We find these to be larger than both current and planned international climate finance flows. Four out of six models imply that a North-South annual financial transfer of around US$ 400 billion is required by 2050, while the other two models imply larger sums, up to US$ 2 trillion. The equal effort constraint means that current oil exporting regions – Middle East and Former Soviet Union in particular – would receive relatively large amounts as a share of GDP. However, transfers never exceed 1-2% of GDP for high-income country regions in any model. Some potential sources of funds are reviewed, including carbon markets, public aid, private investment, development banks and special climate-related faciliti...
The Low Carbon Transition – a special report on climate change mitigation in the countries from c... more The Low Carbon Transition – a special report on climate change mitigation in the countries from central Europe to central Asia – looks back at the determinants of emission reductions in the region over the past 20 years and analyses the policies and institutions necessary to make the transition to a low carbon future.
World Scientific Publishing Co. eBooks, May 24, 2014
International climate change negotiations continue to be slow and problematic, with long-standing... more International climate change negotiations continue to be slow and problematic, with long-standing differences between rich and developing countries difficult to overcome. Emission reduction pledges put forward at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Copenhagen in 2009 provided a strong foundation for progress, but a major gap remains between what is planned and emissions reductions consistent with a 2°C path. Despite some advance since COP 15 in Copenhagen, progress remains too slow if the world is to achieve a strong global deal by 2015; all countries need to do more. This chapter reviews recent progress in international climate change negotiations, explores prospects for global emissions to 2030 given current commitments, and discusses how to accelerate action, which will need to be on the scale of a new industrial revolution. There is already much action in the developed and developing world, but stronger policy is needed if we are to act on the scale required. This will involve both bottom-up (national policies) and top-down (collective international action) approaches, which support and encourage each other.
This paper estimates the share of jobs in the US that would benefit from a transition to the gree... more This paper estimates the share of jobs in the US that would benefit from a transition to the green economy, and presents different measures for the ease with which workers are likely to be able to move from nongreen to green jobs. Using the US O * NET database and its definition of green jobs, 19.4% of US workers could currently be part of the green economy in a broad sense, although a large proportion of green employment would be 'indirectly' green, comprising existing jobs that are expected to be in high demand due to greening, but do not require significant changes in tasks, skills, or knowledge. Analysis of task content also shows that green jobs vary in 'greenness', with very few jobs only consisting of green tasks, suggesting that the term 'green' should be considered a continuum rather than a binary characteristic. While it is easier to transition to indirectly green rather than directly green jobs, greening is likely to involve transitions on a similar scale and scope of existing job transitions. Non-green jobs generally appear to differ from their green counterparts in only a few skill-specific aspects, suggesting that most retraining can happen on-thejob. Network analysis shows that the green economy offers a large potential for short-run growth if job transitions are strategically managed.
OECD ENVIRONMENT WORKING PAPERS OECD Working Papers should not be reported as representing the of... more OECD ENVIRONMENT WORKING PAPERS OECD Working Papers should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the author(s). OECD Working Papers describe preliminary results or research in progress by the author(s) and are published to stimulate discussion on a broad range of issues on which the OECD works. This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected studies on environmental issues prepared for use within the OECD. Authorship is usually collective, but principal author(s) are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language-English or French-with a summary in the other language.
This article explores the principles that should guide efforts to raise finance for climate actio... more This article explores the principles that should guide efforts to raise finance for climate action in developing countries. The main conclusions are that, first, there is an important role for private finance, which would be facilitated by having pervasive and broadly uniform emissions pricing around the world. Second, public finance is warranted by a range of market-and policy-failures associated with climate change and its mitigation. Third, raising tax revenues may be preferable to borrowing as a means of raising public finance, although the economics is not clear-cut. Public finance theory advocates taxing 'bads,' of which a number have escaped the tax base so far. But it discourages hypothecation of specific revenue streams to particular uses. Fourth, how much could or should be raised by the many specific proposals for finance for climate action in developing countries is often uncertain. So is how multiple schemes would interact. Several schemes could depress carbon prices. Earmarking is often assumed to be justified despite the arguments to the contrary. Fifth, two sets of proposals do particularly well judged against this analysis: (i) expanding the scale and scope of the CDM (ii) expanding the use of international financial institutions' balance sheets.
‘Green growth ’ is almost tautologically required for global welfare to rise in the long run. Eco... more ‘Green growth ’ is almost tautologically required for global welfare to rise in the long run. Economic growth is desirable, not least because over 1 billion people still live in conditions of pov-erty. Undermining the ecological basis for human civilization will damage human welfare and fur-ther undermine economic growth. There are large adverse environmental externalities from economic activity that affect human welfare directly and indirectly through lower measured output. Finding ways to tackle these externalities will enhance wellbeing and allow continued growth of GDP while preserving aggregate natural capital. However, achieving this goal presents societies with major chal-lenges. The composition of GDP is likely to have to change significantly, with more emphasis on new ideas and less on increased material throughputs. The role of the state in a ‘green growth ’ transition will have to go beyond internalizing externalities to ‘get prices right’. The necessary transformation wi...
Market-based instruments such as Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) are increasingly favoured as ... more Market-based instruments such as Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) are increasingly favoured as an alternative to command-and-control legislation to increase the uptake of renewable energy. Focusing on the renewable energy industry and policy situation in Asia, this paper analysed the strengths and weaknesses of market-based approaches in the long-term interest of developing Asia. It found that approaches such as REC are disadvantaged by a lack of both market acceptance and a strong institutional and programme support. To identify gaps in the REC system in India, a comparative analysis with the United Kingdom (UK) model was made. This revealed some fundamental issues around market-based approaches in Asia, underscoring the need for a policy design to address the concerns of buyers and sellers in the market.
Chapter 7 reviews the policy measures required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They constitut... more Chapter 7 reviews the policy measures required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They constitute the core content of climate change legislation. The starting point of the chapter is an understanding of the market, policy and behavioural failures that prevent private decision makers from adopting low-carbon solutions on their own accord. The chapter advocates carbon pricing as an effective way of incentivizing emission reductions, although command-and-control interventions are equally possible and have often been successful. Additional problems that need to be addressed include failures in capital markets, externalities related to low-carbon innovation, network issues and barriers preventing the uptake of energy efficiency measures. There are also policy distortions, not least the subsidization of fossil fuels and the underpricing of energy. The chapter further recommends interventions to mitigate the wider socioeconomic impacts of carbon policies, in particular their effect on competitiveness and fuel poverty. These measures do not directly reduce emissions, but they make climate change policy fairer, less disruptive and more acceptable to the public.
This study employs a number of Integrated Assessment Models to determine what the optimal financi... more This study employs a number of Integrated Assessment Models to determine what the optimal financial transfers between high-income and developing economies would be if climate mitigation effort, measured as mitigation costs as a share of GDP, were to be divided equally across regions. We find these to be larger than both current and planned international climate finance flows. Four out of six models imply that a North-South annual financial transfer of around US$ 400 billion is required by 2050, while the other two models imply larger sums, up to US$ 2 trillion. The equal effort constraint means that current oil exporting regions – Middle East and Former Soviet Union in particular – would receive relatively large amounts as a share of GDP. However, transfers never exceed 1-2% of GDP for high-income country regions in any model. Some potential sources of funds are reviewed, including carbon markets, public aid, private investment, development banks and special climate-related faciliti...
The Low Carbon Transition – a special report on climate change mitigation in the countries from c... more The Low Carbon Transition – a special report on climate change mitigation in the countries from central Europe to central Asia – looks back at the determinants of emission reductions in the region over the past 20 years and analyses the policies and institutions necessary to make the transition to a low carbon future.
Uploads
Papers by Alex Bowen