The incidence of carbon pricing: Norway, Russia and the Middle East

Russia, Norway and the Middle East are three regions that have distinct histories in energy policies. Current situations will make it more challenging for Russia and the Middle East to implement greenhouse gas abatement than it will be for Norway, even though all three are major energy producers. Relative to the world as a whole, Russia is most heavily impacted, with the Middle East less so but still significantly affected. Norway’s potential economic loss is only a little larger than the world average. This asymmetry implies that if the differences in impacts are not broadly understood, then international negotiations may be subjected to bargaining under asymmetric information. If so, they may not be able to reach agreement. The result reported here is thus a step in overcoming information asymmetries and facilitating successful negotiation. The results also have clear implications for the speed at which Russia undertakes energy market reforms, and for the manner in which Middle Eastern countries implement diversification of their economies.