DECK 10

Question 1

What was Pope Francis’ argument in the Laudato Si’: ON Care for our Common Home

Answer 1

• Markets cannot solve environmental problems and indeed are their source
• As long as the clearing of a forest increases production, no one calculated the losess entailed in the desertification of the land
• Thinks carbon credits are not good

Question 2

What was Willian Nordhaus’ opinion on the tension between the encyclical’s critique and the perceived importance of market-based mechanisms in combating climate change?

Answer 2

He highlights that the encyclical undervalues the role of market-based policies, such as carbon pricing and cap-and-trade, while critiquing their effectiveness in addressing climate change

Question 3

Explain the concept of cap-and-trade

Answer 3

• Government sets a maximum level of total emission
• Emission permits are distributed or auctioned
• Those needing permits buy permits
• Those able to switch to less carbon intensive technologies, sell their permits

Question 4

What is William Nordhaus’ take on the usefulness of cap-and-trade?

Answer 4

He thought that it was successful

Example: The phase out lead from gasoline, to limit sulfur dioxide emission in the US by more than half, and to limit carbon dioxide emissions both in the European Union and more recently in major Chinese municipalities.

Question 5

According to Willian Nordhaus what is an alternative to cap and trade?

Answer 5

• Carbon Taxation
• This raises carbon prices by taxing carbon emissions. Such tax is simpler and avoids any if the potential corruption, market volatility, and distributional issues that might arise with cap and trade systems

Question 6

What are climate change issues with minimal progress over the last 2+ decades?

Answer 6

• 1997 Kyoto Agreement
• 2015 Paris Accord

Question 7

What are the types of international agreements?

Answer 7

• Low degree of difficulty (universally beneficial and have strong incentives)
• Medium difficulty (agreements that rely on reciprocity, a central examples being treaties on international trade)
• High degree of difficulty (those involving global public goods whose impacts are indivisibly spread around the entire globe)

Question 8

What difficulty class falls into Climate Treaties?

Answer 8

Climate treaties that address hard problems fall into the high level of difficulty