Intergenerational Fairness and Climate Change Adaptation Policy: An Economic Analysis
Journal Title: Green and Low-Carbon Economy - Year 2023, Vol 1, Issue 3
Abstract
Compared to existing needs, climate change adaptation policies are significantly deficient. Since many adaptation measures have the feature of a local public good, and since benefits accrue to later generations mainly, most environmental economists would argue that the public goods issue is the most plausible reason why incentives are often insufficient for achieving the optimal level of adaptation. Within a stylized overlapping generation model, we show that adaptation is subject to severe intergenerational consistency problems, if pure self-interest is a feature of the generation’s behavior. This explains among others why too little is invested into climate change adaptation. We also show that if the distribution of income between generations matters or if generations behave altruistic, this consistency conflict can be solved and offers possibilities for policy intervention.
Authors and Affiliations
Gunter Stephan
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP721780
- DOI 10.47852/bonviewGLCE3202670
- Views 50
- Downloads 0
Exploring the Way to Harmonize Sustainable Development Assessment Methods in Article 6.2 Cooperative Approaches of the Paris Agreement
Article 6 of the Paris Agreement provides countries with two market-based approaches to meet their mitigation targets in a cost-efficient manner. Countries engaged in Article 6 need to simultaneously pursue greenhouse ga...
New Trends in Sustainable Development for Industry 5.0: Digital Green Innovation Economy
In the context of increasing anti-globalization trends, sustainable economic development has become an inevitable and feasible solution to address the growing contradictions between social, environmental, and economic fa...
A Low Carbon Pathway for the Turkish Electricity Generation Sector
The aim of this article is to analyze the decarbonization options of Türkiye's electricity generation sector. Türkiye is an emerging economy, so its population, economic activities and overall welfare have been increasin...
Impact of Climate Change on Food Security in Northern Nigeria
Climate change is gradually transforming the globe into a difficult zone of survival for all faunas and floras owing to the existential threat that some changes are causing in the environment. The careless and unguarded...
The Role of Renewable Energy in the Transition to Green, Low-Carbon Power Generation in Asia
An essential factor in a nation's economic development is energy. Among the various energy sources, renewable energies have demonstrated that they can replace fossil fuels in electricity production without harming the en...