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Thematic Guide to Integrated Assessment Modeling

Reproduced, with permission, from: Edmonds, Jae, Marshall Wise and David W. Barns. 1995. "Carbon Coalitions: The Cost and Effectiveness of Energy Agreements to Alter Trajectories of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Emissions". Energy Policy 23:309.

Carbon coalitions

The cost and effectiveness of energy agreements to alter trajectories of atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions

Jae Edmonds, Marshall Wise and David W Barns
Global Environmental Change Program, Pacific Northwest Laboratories, 901 D Street SW, Suite 900, Washington, DC 20024-2115, USA

This paper examines the potential regional costs and benefits of participation in a set of hypothetical protocols to stabilize fossil fuel carbon emissions. We show that the particular construct of a stabilization agreement can greatly influence the potential acceptability and stability of that agreement. Any agreement to control fossil fuel carbon emissions, no matter how skillfully crafted, will require a process of constant revision in the terms of participation, because the economic needs of its participants will be evolving.

Keywords: International agreements; Carbon emissions; Tradable permits


1 Such studies include Grubb (1989); Anderson (1990); Epstein and Gupta (1990); Rose and Stevens (1992); Solomon and Ahuja (1991); Okada and Yamaji (1993).

2 The research results presented in this paper served as background for a report produced by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) on climate treaties and modeling: OTA ( 1994).


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