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The Costs of Kyoto for the US Economy

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  • Terry Barker and Paul Ekins

Abstract

The high costs for the US economy of mitigating climate change have been cited by the Bush administration as one of the reasons for rejecting US ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. A range of cost estimates are assessed in the IPCC s third report (2001), but they are hedged with so many qualifications that it is not easy to reach useful conclusions. This paper organises some of the quantitative information on costs of greenhouse gas mitigation for the US published before the US rejection of Kyoto. The aim is to put them in a wider context, e.g., allowing for non-climate benefits, and to draw conclusions that are robust in the face of the uncertainties. Important lessons can be drawn for how costs can be reduced in any future international commitment by the US to reduce emissions. Provided policies are expected, gradual and well designed (e.g., through auctioned Annex I tradable permits with revenues used to reduce burdensome tax rates) the net costs for the US of mitigation are likely to be insignificant, that is within the range +/-1% of GDP.

Suggested Citation

  • Terry Barker and Paul Ekins, 2004. "The Costs of Kyoto for the US Economy," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3), pages 53-72.
  • Handle: RePEc:aen:journl:2004v25-03-a04
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Terry Barker and Katie Jenkins, 2007. "The Costs of Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change: Estimates Derived from a Meta-Analysis of the Literature," Human Development Occasional Papers (1992-2007) HDOCPA-2007-02, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    2. Lachman, Daniël A., 2011. "Leapfrog to the future: Energy scenarios and strategies for Suriname to 2050," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 5035-5044, September.
    3. Tulkens, Philippe & Tulkens, Henry, 2006. "The White House and the Kyoto Protocol: Double Standards on Uncertainties and Their Consequences," Climate Change Modelling and Policy Working Papers 12063, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    4. Norman, Catherine S. & DECANIO, STEPHEN J & Fan, Lin, 2007. "Opportunities and Challenges for the 20th Anniversary of the Montréal Protocol," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series qt3t90g0gr, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara.
    5. Hanemann, W. Michael, 2008. "What is the economic cost of climate change?," CUDARE Working Papers 46999, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    6. Terry Barker & Jonathan Köhler & Marcelo Villena, 2002. "Costs of greenhouse gas abatement: meta-analysis of post-SRES mitigation scenarios," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 5(2), pages 135-166, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F0 - International Economics - - General

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