Policy Instruments for Decarbonizing Energy (Climate Governance)
In the decades to come, the current movement toward global environmental governance will likely become stronger, but it is unlikely in the short term that any international regime will have the power to stipulate and enforce the energy mix of individual countries. What can evolve more quickly than global governance are the relative prices of different energy technologies, with wind and concentrated solar power expected to become economically competitive with coal in about 15 years.
This project looks at climate governance at national and regional scales, examining the theoretical and empirical justifications for different strategic approaches and policy instruments to respond to climate change. The basic question is whether an approach built around carbon pricing is suited to the immediate challenges associated with decarbonization of the energy supply, or whether instruments more commonly associated with technology policy are likely to be more effective.
