1. Structuring your paper
Key point: Structure by CONCEPT, not by CASE
Why? Because comparisons are easier across concepts
Example:
Research question: why did one country have a stronger policy at Paris than another?
Want to compare France and Germany
Scholars/literature show that policy explained by economic wealth and national institutions (plus ecological vulnerability and abatement costs)
How do you structure the paper?

2. Two options: Madeup Example
Bad option
Good option
Intro
Literature explaining policy position
Abatement costs/ ecovulnerability
Economic wealth
National institutions
France
Germany
Conclusion
Intro
Literature explaining policy position
Abatement costs/ ecovulnerability
Economic wealth
National institutions
France compared to Germany
Conclusion

3. What are the Possible Responses to Climate Change?

4. Gardiner’s view of options
Source: Gardiner, S. Perfect Moral Storm. Oxford UP, 2011, p. 224.

5. Four basic response options
Mitigation
Reduce our generation of GHGs
“Many impacts can be reduced, delayed or avoided by mitigation” (IPCC, 2007)
Adaptation
Change how we live when climate changes do occur
“Unmitigated climate change would, in the long term, be likely to exceed the capacity of natural, managed and human systems to adapt” (IPCC, 2007)
Geo-engineering
Develop technologies to reduce incoming solar energy or “store” carbon we emit
Grief
Accept losses, changes we can’t avoid or adapt to

6. Some of the options

7. Carbon Taxes Tax carbon at fossil fuel source
Need analysis to identify level of tax that will achieve desired carbon reduction
Set tax, live with carbon outcome
Politically challenging, if not impossible
Easy to identify costs and cost incidence in advance
Likely to be “regressive,” posing greater costs on poor

8. Cap and Trade
Goals: a) achieve environmental goal, b) avoid command/control, c) create incentives for emission reductions at lowest cost, d) foster innovation
Hard to identify costs and cost incidence in advance
Process
Identify facilities covered
Set carbon goal, let costs be what they are
Distribute tradable emission allowances
Allow trading
Monitor if submitted allowances equal actual emissions
Impose penalties if emissions exceed allowances
Isn’t this just “granting the right to pollute”?

10. Conservation Nudges
Sending “Home Energy Reports” to utility “customers comparing their electricity use to that of their neighbors. … The average program reduces energy consumption by 2.0%. … Non-price interventions can substantially and cost effectively change consumer behavior: the effect is equivalent to an … electricity price increase of 11 to 20%... Effects are heterogeneous: households in the highest decile of pre-treatment consumption decrease usage by 6.3%, while consumption by the lowest decile decreases by only 0.3%.” (Alcott, 2011)

11. Framework to Compare Options Cap & Trade, Carbon Tax, or Nudge?
CRITERIA OF COMPARISON
Cap & Trade
Carbon Tax
Nudge
Environmental Effectiveness
Set goal, not price
Set price, not goal
Set neither
Cost Effectiveness
Government Cost vs. Corporate Cost
High government, low corporate
Low government, high corporate
Both low
Distributional Equity ??
Likely to be inequitable
…. Other criteria?