Policy Responses and Options

The class will look at government policy development and implementation in a variety of countries as well as the economics of climate change. It starts with a description of existing policies such as the Kyoto Accord; the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (ETS); the approaches of less developed nations such as China and India with the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate; and local approaches in the United States such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) and the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) in California. The course also deals with market-based and economy-wide options for reducing carbon in the atmosphere including carbon taxes, the carbon price, cap and trade programs, carbon offsets and voluntary carbon markets as well as the use of renewable energy innovations, efficiency standards and green forest practices.