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Benefits and Costs of Kyoto

  • Chapter
Efficiency and Equity of Climate Change Policy

Abstract

You have probably read or heard the reviews about the climate change protocol emerging from Kyoto in December 1998 — some experts in the rules of civilized engagement see the accord as a crucial first step, others see it as a serious misstep, few see it as the answer. The Protocol’s short-term comeback to a long-term question has left most reviewers demanding either deeper emissions reductions or broader emissions coverage, or both. The complexities and frustrations are manifest in the comment from Bert Bolin, former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: “The Kyoto conference did not achieve much with regard to limiting the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.... Only if the new co-operation among countries succeeds will the Kyoto conference represent a step toward the ultimate objective of the convention.”1

Sebastian: What a strange drowsiness possesses them! Antonio: It is the quality o’ the climate. The Tempest Act 2, Scene 1

This paper draws on work with M. Toman forthcoming in: P. Portney and R. Stavins, eds, Climate Change Policy, Public Policies for Environmental Protection 2nd edition, Washington, D.C., Resources for the Future. All views herein are mine. Thanks to Joe Aldy, Bob Hahn, Sally Kane, Randy Lutter, David Montgomery, Al McGartland, Ray Squitieri, Rob Stavins, Bob Tuccillo, Jonathan Weiner, and participants at the AEI conference on Climate Change Policy for their helpful comments.

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Authors
  1. Jason Shogren
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Venice, Italy

    Carlo Carraro

  2. Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Milan, Italy

    Carlo Carraro

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Shogren, J. (2000). Benefits and Costs of Kyoto. In: Carraro, C. (eds) Efficiency and Equity of Climate Change Policy. Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) Series on Economics, Energy and Environment, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9484-4_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9484-4_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5439-5

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