Technology, Unilateral Commitments and Cumulative Emissions Reduction

• Main Authors: CHATTERJI, Shurojit, Ghosal, Sayantan
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2009
• Subjects: Climate; Cumulative; Emissions; Global; Negotiations; Reduction; Technology; Unilateralism; Economic Theory; Public Economics
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/1792; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soe_research/article/2791/viewcontent/Technology__unilateral_commitments_Shurojit_2008.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In this article, we argue that weak property rights over transnational pollution and the limited threat of retaliatory punishments blunts the effectiveness of a broad-based multilateral agreement to deliver the emission reductions required to mitigate climate change. Instead, we propose a policy framework that builds on unilateral commitments, endogenous innovation and technology transfer that could lead to cumulative emissions reduction by altering the participation constraints of nations over time.