Combining multiple climate policy instruments: how not to do it

Fankhauser, Samuel ORCID: 0000-0003-2100-7888, Hepburn, Cameron and Park, Jisung (2011) Combining multiple climate policy instruments: how not to do it. Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy and Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment working papers (38). Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy and Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London, UK.

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Abstract

Putting a price on carbon is critical for climate change policy. Increasingly, policymakers combine multiple policy tools to achieve this, for example by complementing cap-and-trade schemes with a carbon tax, or with a feed-in tariff. Often, the motivation for doing so is to limit undesirable fluctuations in the carbon price, either from rising too high or falling too low. This paper reviews the implications for the carbon price of combining cap-and-trade with other policy instruments. We find that price intervention may not always have the desired effect. Simply adding a carbon tax to an existing cap-and-trade system reduces the carbon price in the market to such an extent that the overall price signal (tax plus carbon price) may remain unchanged. Generous feed-in tariffs or renewable energy obligations within a capped area have the same effect: they undermine the carbon price in the rest of the trading regime, likely increasing costs without reducing emissions. Policymakers wishing to support carbon prices should turn to hybrid instruments – that is, trading schemes with pricelike features, such as an auction reserve price – to make sure their objectives are met.

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Official URL:	http://www2.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/Home.aspx
Additional Information:	© 2011 The Authors
Divisions:	Grantham Research Institute
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance
JEL classification:	Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q3 - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation > Q38 - Government Policy Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q56 - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounting; Environmental Equity
Date Deposited:	25 Jul 2011 13:11
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 23:23
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/37573

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