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Introductory Comment–The Green Paradox: A Supply-Side View of the Climate Problem

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  • Hans-Werner Sinn

Abstract

Why have policies aimed at reducing the demand for carbon not succeeded in slowing down global carbon extraction and CO2 emissions, and why have carbon prices failed to increase over the last three decades? This comment argues that this is because of the Green Paradox, that is, the anticipation of sales by resource owners who try to preempt the destruction of their markets by green policies. Reviewing some of the conditions under which strong and weak versions of the Green Paradox may emerge, it is argued that there is little hope that green replacement technologies will impose hard price constraints that would keep long-run extraction within a fixed carbon budget and that, therefore, even strong versions of the paradox cannot easily be avoided.

Suggested Citation

  • Hans-Werner Sinn, 2015. "Introductory Comment–The Green Paradox: A Supply-Side View of the Climate Problem," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 9(2), pages 239-245.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:renvpo:v:9:y:2015:i:2:p:239-245.
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    1. Frederick van der Ploeg & Cees Withagen, 2015. "Global Warming and the Green Paradox: A Review of Adverse Effects of Climate Policies," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 9(2), pages 285-303.
    2. Svenn Jensens & Kristina Mohlin & Karen Pittel & Thomas Sterner, 2015. "An Introduction to the Green Paradox: The Unintended Consequences of Climate Policies," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 9(2), pages 246-265.
    3. Ngo Van Long, 2015. "The Green Paradox in Open Economies: Lessons from Static and Dynamic Models," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 9(2), pages 266-284.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Geoffrey Heal, 2022. "Economic Aspects of the Energy Transition," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(1), pages 5-21, September.
    3. Elizabeth Baldwin & Yongyang Cai & Karlygash Kuralbayeva, 2018. "To Build or Not to Build? Capital Stocks and Climate Policy," CESifo Working Paper Series 6884, CESifo.
    4. Foster, Edward & Contestabile, Marcello & Blazquez, Jorge & Manzano, Baltasar & Workman, Mark & Shah, Nilay, 2017. "The unstudied barriers to widespread renewable energy deployment: Fossil fuel price responses," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 258-264.
    5. Martin Zapf & Hermann Pengg & Christian Weindl, 2019. "How to Comply with the Paris Agreement Temperature Goal: Global Carbon Pricing According to Carbon Budgets," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-20, August.
    6. Juan Ignacio Pe~na & Rosa Rodriguez, 2022. "Are EU Climate and Energy Package 20-20-20 targets achievable and compatible? Evidence from the impact of renewables on electricity prices," Papers 2202.01720, arXiv.org.
    7. Berger, Johannes & Strohner, Ludwig & Thomas, Tobias, 2020. "Klimainstrumente im Vergleich: Herausforderungen in Hinblick auf ökologische, ökonomische und soziale Nachhaltigkeit," Policy Notes 39, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    8. Dominique Bureau & Alain Quinet & Katheline Schubert, 2020. "Cost-Benefit Analysis For Climate Action," Policy Papers 2020.03, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    9. Baldwin, Elizabeth & Cai, Yongyang & Kuralbayeva, Karlygash, 2017. "Build Today, Regret Tomorrow? Infrastructure and Climate Policy," Conference papers 332887, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    10. Parton, Lee C. & Dundas, Steven J., 2020. "Fall in the sea, eventually? A green paradox in climate adaptation for coastal housing markets," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    11. Frederick Ploeg, 2023. "Fiscal Costs of Climate Policies: Role of Tax, Political, and Behavioural Distortions," De Economist, Springer, vol. 171(2), pages 119-137, June.
    12. Baldwin, Elizabeth & Cai, Yongyang & Kuralbayeva, Karlygash, 2020. "To build or not to build? Capital stocks and climate policy∗," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    13. Marie-Catherine Riekhof & Johannes Bröcker, 2017. "Does The Adverse Announcement Effect Of Climate Policy Matter? — A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(02), pages 1-34, May.
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    15. Peszko,Grzegorz & Van Der Mensbrugghe,Dominique & Golub,Alexander Alexandrovich, 2020. "Diversification and Cooperation Strategies in a Decarbonizing World," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9315, The World Bank.

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