Will Global Convergence of Per Capita Emissions Lead the Way to Meeting the UNFCCC Goal?

One of the contentious issues of the ongoing climate negotiations is the huge differences in per-capita CO2 emissions between Annex I and Non-Annex I countries. This paper analyzes the costs of reducing this gap using a global computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. A range of carbon taxes are c...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Timilsina, Govinda R.
Format: Journal Article
Language:en_US
Published: Taylor and Francis 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24612
id okr-10986-24612
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-246122021-05-25T10:54:39Z Will Global Convergence of Per Capita Emissions Lead the Way to Meeting the UNFCCC Goal? Timilsina, Govinda R. emission intensity climate change international negotiation general equilibrium model carbon tax One of the contentious issues of the ongoing climate negotiations is the huge differences in per-capita CO2 emissions between Annex I and Non-Annex I countries. This paper analyzes the costs of reducing this gap using a global computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. A range of carbon taxes are considered for Annex I countries as policy instruments. Results show that the average per-capita CO2 emissions of Annex I countries would still remain almost twice as high as those of Non-Annex I countries in 2030 even if the CO2 emissions of the former are reduced by 57% from the baseline through a heavy carbon tax of $250/tCO2. The global reduction of CO2 emissions would be only 18% due to an increase in CO2 emissions in the Non-Annex I countries. This reduction would not be sufficient to stabilize atmospheric CO2 concentration at the level implied by UNFCCC to avoid dangerous climate change. The $250/tCO2 carbon tax, on the other hand, would reduce Annex I countries’ gross domestic product by 2.4%, and global trade volume by 2%. This paper concludes that a demand for the convergence of per capita emissions between industrialized and developing countries would not be fruitful in climate change negotiations. 2016-07-05T20:42:11Z 2016-07-05T20:42:11Z 2016-05-20 Journal Article Carbon Management 1758-3004 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24612 en_US CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Taylor and Francis Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language en_US
topic emission intensity
climate change
international negotiation
general equilibrium model
carbon tax
spellingShingle emission intensity
climate change
international negotiation
general equilibrium model
carbon tax
Timilsina, Govinda R.
Will Global Convergence of Per Capita Emissions Lead the Way to Meeting the UNFCCC Goal?
description One of the contentious issues of the ongoing climate negotiations is the huge differences in per-capita CO2 emissions between Annex I and Non-Annex I countries. This paper analyzes the costs of reducing this gap using a global computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. A range of carbon taxes are considered for Annex I countries as policy instruments. Results show that the average per-capita CO2 emissions of Annex I countries would still remain almost twice as high as those of Non-Annex I countries in 2030 even if the CO2 emissions of the former are reduced by 57% from the baseline through a heavy carbon tax of $250/tCO2. The global reduction of CO2 emissions would be only 18% due to an increase in CO2 emissions in the Non-Annex I countries. This reduction would not be sufficient to stabilize atmospheric CO2 concentration at the level implied by UNFCCC to avoid dangerous climate change. The $250/tCO2 carbon tax, on the other hand, would reduce Annex I countries’ gross domestic product by 2.4%, and global trade volume by 2%. This paper concludes that a demand for the convergence of per capita emissions between industrialized and developing countries would not be fruitful in climate change negotiations.
format Journal Article
author Timilsina, Govinda R.
author_facet Timilsina, Govinda R.
author_sort Timilsina, Govinda R.
title Will Global Convergence of Per Capita Emissions Lead the Way to Meeting the UNFCCC Goal?
title_short Will Global Convergence of Per Capita Emissions Lead the Way to Meeting the UNFCCC Goal?
title_full Will Global Convergence of Per Capita Emissions Lead the Way to Meeting the UNFCCC Goal?
title_fullStr Will Global Convergence of Per Capita Emissions Lead the Way to Meeting the UNFCCC Goal?
title_full_unstemmed Will Global Convergence of Per Capita Emissions Lead the Way to Meeting the UNFCCC Goal?
title_sort will global convergence of per capita emissions lead the way to meeting the unfccc goal?
publisher Taylor and Francis
publishDate 2016
url http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24612
_version_ 1764457185925922816