The Kyoto Protocol: A Cost-Effective Strategy for Meeting Environmental Objectives?

This paper has three purposes: 1) to identify the near-term costs to the United States of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol; 2) to assess the significance of the Protocol's "flexibility provisions"; and, 3) to evaluate the Kyoto targets in the context of the long-term goal of the Framework...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Energy journal (Cambridge, Mass.) Vol. 20; no. 1_suppl; pp. 1 - 23
Main Authors Manne, Alan S., Richels, Richard G.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA Energy Economics Education Foundation, Inc 01.01.1999
SAGE Publications
International Association for Energy Economics
Sage Publications Ltd. (UK)
Subjects
Air pollution caused by fuel industries
Analysis
Applied sciences
Carbon dioxide emissions
Clean Development Mechanism
Costs
Economic costs
Emissions reduction
Emissions trading
Energy
Energy. Thermal use of fuels
Environmental objective
Environmental policy
Exact sciences and technology
General, economic and professional studies
Global warming
Greenhouse gases
Gross domestic product
International trade
Kyoto Protocol
Legislation, regulations for energy use
Long term
Pollutant emissions
Pollution reduction
Studies
United States
United States > US
greenhouse gas abatement costs
Kyoto protocol
Climate policy
MERGE EMF16
Commercial law
Agreement
International policy
International cooperation
Pollution control organization
Environmental policy
Pollution control
Emission content
Pollutant emission
Environmental protection
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:This paper has three purposes: 1) to identify the near-term costs to the United States of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol; 2) to assess the significance of the Protocol's "flexibility provisions"; and, 3) to evaluate the Kyoto targets in the context of the long-term goal of the Framework Convention. We find that the short-term U.S. abatement costs of implementing this Protocol are likely to be substantial. These costs can be reduced through international trade in emission rights. The magnitude of the costs will be determined by the number of countries participating in the trading market, the shape of each country's marginal abatement cost curve, and the extent to which buyers can satisfy their obligation through the purchase of emission rights. Finally and perhaps most important: unless the ultimate concentration target is well below 550 ppmv, the Protocol seems to be inconsistent with a long-term strategy for stabilizing global concentrations.
ISSN:0195-6574
1944-9089
DOI:10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol20-NoSI-2