Distributional Aspects of Energy and Climate Policies

Citation

(2013), "Distributional Aspects of Energy and Climate Policies", International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, Vol. 5 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCCSM.41405daa.010

Distributional Aspects of Energy and Climate Policies

Article Type: Books and resources From: International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, Volume 5, Issue 4

Edited by M.A. Cohen, D. Fullerton, R.H. Topel
Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
Cheltenham
2013
396 pp.
US$ 140.99
ISBN 978-1782540083

Governments around the globe have begun to implement various actions to limit carbon emissions and so, combat climate change. This book brings together some of the leading scholars in environmental and climate economics to examine the distributional consequences of policies that are designed to reduce these carbon emissions.

Whether through a carbon tax, cap-and-trade system or other mechanisms, most proposals to reduce carbon emissions include some kind of carbon pricing system – shifting the costs of emissions onto polluters and providing an incentive to find the least costly methods of abatement. This standard efficiency justification for pricing carbon also has important distributional consequences – a problem that is often ignored by economists while being a major focus of attention in the political arena. Leading scholars in environmental and climate economics take up these issues to examine such questions as: Will the costs fall on current or future generations? Will they fall on the rich, poor, middle class, or on everyone proportionally? Which countries will benefit, and which will suffer? Students and scholars interested in climate change, along with policy makers, will find this volume an useful information source on this globally important issue.