For the foreseeable future, the international climate regime will include some countries that execute emissions commitments on an economy-wide basis and others that take more limited action. This distinction is already raising some tricky political concerns, particularly the fear that the resulting costs will cause the off-shoring of industrial activity and the associated 'leakage' of carbon emissions from regulated to unregulated jurisdictions.
"Global Warming: Addressing Competitiveness and Carbon Leakage" explores a range of viable policy options for addressing these concerns. This book starts with a comprehensive 'bottoms-up' assessment of the industries most likely to be affected, how impacts vary between countries given differences in the carbon-intensity of production, and how attaching a price to carbon would change global industry allocation and influence international trade flows. Based on this foundation, it assesses the effectiveness of a number of international policy approaches in addressing emissions leakage.
Building on a similar exercise conducted for Leveling the Carbon Playing Field that looked narrowly at US industry and national climate policy, this timely volume expands on this proven methodology and applies it globally.
Trevor Houser is a partner at Rhodium Group where he leads the Energy and Climate Practice division. He is also an adjunct professor at the City College of New York. His areas of research include energy markets, climate change, and the role emerging Asian nations play in both. He is the author of Leveling the Carbon Playing Field (2008) and a contributor to China's Rise: Challenges and Opportunities (2008).