1. Mitigation The challenge of stabilisation
Session 9

2. What is needed and how to do it?

7. Different goals and approaches
What do we want to achieve and how can we do it?
Framework questions for the design of the regime
5 types of goals:
Not mutually exclusive
Not mutually inconsistent

9. Three ways to do it Command and control Cap and trade Tax on carbon
The state imposes a limit on emissions
Cap and trade
Continuity with and learning from Kyoto
Flexibility
Cost-efficient
Differentiation possible on equity-criteria
How to ensure compliance and address equity issues?
Tax on carbon
Taxing a bad is good (pigouvian tax);
More efficient: predictability-> more investments /easier & cheaper to implement
Cons: complex to adjust, countries beset by corruption, no global coordination mechanism + to whom should the revenue accrue?
> The two latter mechanisms can be used to create a price for carbon, but issues of credibility, flexibility and predictability.

10. Four possible approaches
Grandfathering approach
Atmosphere use rights from the past
Carbon intensity approach
Advocated by US, Japan
Per capita approach
Advocated by China, India
Historical responsibility approach
Advocated by LDCs

11. A case for urgent action
Marginal costs increase with time
Issues of sensitivity and absorption
Climate sensitivity is about the timescale of change. Recent research indicates that climate sensitivity might be greater than expected
Natural carbon absorption will also weaken as the world warms.

13. Who needs to take action?

16. Cooperation or coordination?
A series of mitigation policies are undertaken outside of the UN framework
EU’s Energy & Climate Package
Chicago Climate Exchange
Actions by cities
70% of the world’s emissions are emitted in cities
After Copenhagen, some contended that it would be more useful to simply coordinate these policies
Can we trust unilateral action to fix the problem?
But cooperation also depends on domestic policies
Cfr Putnam’s two-level game
Cancun reaffirms the need for multilateralism

17. Carbon sinks Mitigation can mean two things:
Reducing the emissions
Increasing the capacity of carbon sinks
That’s the idea of REDD: Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
Every year, 13 Mio hectares of tropical forests disappear – that’s the size of Greece
REDD is a system of compensation for countries that commit to reducing deforestation
Forests as a global public good?

18. Geo-engineering
Highly controversed idea: can we manipulate the climate?
Some argue that we do so already.
Considered projects include:
Carbon capture and storage (CCS)
Sending sulfur in the atmosphere in order to create aerosols
Sending iron sulphate in the oceans
A giant umbrella in space
The solution of last resort?