IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/euv/dpaper/011.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Investment and Adaptation as Commitment Devices in Climate Politics

Author

Listed:
  • Clemens Heuson
  • Wolfgang Peters

    (Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder))

  • Reimund Schwarze

    (Europa University Viadrina and Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ))

  • Anna-Katharina Topp

    (Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder))

Abstract

It is well established that adaptation and technological investment in each case may serve as a commitment device in international climate politics. This paper for the first time analyzes the combined impact of these two strategic variables on global mitigation within a non-cooperative framework where countries either decide on mitigation before or after adaptation. By investment, which is assumed to be made in the first place due to its considerable lead time, countries commit to lower national contributions to the global public good of mitigation. We find that the sequencing of adaptation before mitigation reinforces this strategic effect of technological investments at least for sufficiently similar countries. As a consequence, the subgame-perfect equilibrium yields a globally lower level of mitigation, and higher global costs of climate change when adaptation is decided before mitigation. Besides this theoretical contribution, the paper proposes some strategies to combat the unfortunate rush to adaptation which can be currently observed in climate politics.

Suggested Citation

  • Clemens Heuson & Wolfgang Peters & Reimund Schwarze & Anna-Katharina Topp, 2013. "Investment and Adaptation as Commitment Devices in Climate Politics," Discussion Paper Series RECAP15 011, RECAP15, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder).
    • Handle: RePEc:euv:dpaper:011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.europa-uni.de/de/forschung/institut/recap15/downloads/recap15_DP011.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2013
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ficre Zehaie, 2009. "The Timing and Strategic Role of Self-Protection," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 44(3), pages 337-350, November.
    2. Ingham, Alan & Ma, Jie & Ulph, Alistair, 2007. "Climate change, mitigation and adaptation with uncertainty and learning," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 5354-5369, November.
    3. Karen Pittel & Dirk Rübbelke, 2013. "Improving Global Public Goods Supply through Conditional Transfers - The International Adaptation Transfer Riddle," CESifo Working Paper Series 4106, CESifo.
    4. Buob, Seraina & Stephan, Gunter, 2011. "To mitigate or to adapt: How to confront global climate change," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 1-16, March.
    5. Heike Auerswald & Kai A. Konrad & Marcel Thum, 2018. "Adaptation, mitigation and risk-taking in climate policy," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 269-287, July.
    6. Edward B. Barbier, 2010. "Green Stimulus, Green Recovery and Global Imbalances," World Economics, World Economics, 1 Ivory Square, Plantation Wharf, London, United Kingdom, SW11 3UE, vol. 11(2), pages 149-177, April.
    7. Roger Pielke & Gwyn Prins & Steve Rayner & Daniel Sarewitz, 2007. "Lifting the taboo on adaptation," Nature, Nature, vol. 445(7128), pages 597-598, February.
    8. Christoph Böhringer & Carsten Vogt, 2003. "Economic and environmental impacts of the Kyoto Protocol," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 36(2), pages 475-496, May.
    9. Wolfgang Buchholz & Kai Konrad, 1994. "Global environmental problems and the strategic choice of technology," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 299-321, October.
    10. Lecocq, Franck & Shalizi, Zmarak, 2007. "Balancing expenditures on mitigation of and adaptation to climate change : an exploration of Issues relevant to developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4299, The World Bank.
    11. Jean Tirole, 1988. "The Theory of Industrial Organization," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262200716, December.
    12. John Stranlund, 1996. "On the strategic potential of technological aid in international environmental relations," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 1-22, February.
    13. Clemens Heuson, 2010. "Weitzman Revisited: Emission Standards Versus Taxes with Uncertain Abatement Costs and Market Power of Polluting Firms," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 47(3), pages 349-369, November.
    14. Christoph Böhringer & Carsten Vogt, 2003. "Economic and environmental impacts of the Kyoto Protocol," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(2), pages 475-496, May.
    15. Udo Ebert & Heinz Welsch, 2012. "Adaptation and Mitigation in Global Pollution Problems: Economic Impacts of Productivity, Sensitivity, and Adaptive Capacity," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 52(1), pages 49-64, May.
    16. Bohringer, Christoph & Vogt, Carsten, 2004. "The dismantling of a breakthrough: the Kyoto Protocol as symbolic policy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 597-617, September.
    17. Seraina Buob & Gunter Stephan, 2013. "On The Incentive Compatibility Of Funding Adaptation," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(02), pages 1-18.
    18. Gary Yohe & Kenneth Strzepek, 2007. "Adaptation and mitigation as complementary tools for reducing the risk of climate impacts," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 12(5), pages 727-739, June.
    19. Aggarwal, Rimjhim M. & Narayan, Tulika A., 2004. "Does inequality lead to greater efficiency in the use of local commons? The role of strategic investments in capacity," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 163-182, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrew Kliskey & Paula Williams & John T. Abatzoglou & Lilian Alessa & Richard B. Lammers, 2019. "Enhancing a community-based water resource tool for assessing environmental change: the arctic water resources vulnerability index revisited," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 183-197, June.
    2. Heike Auerswald & Kai A. Konrad & Marcel Thum, 2018. "Adaptation, mitigation and risk-taking in climate policy," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 269-287, July.
    3. Santiago J. Rubio, 2018. "Self-Enforcing International Environmental Agreements: Adaptation and Complementarity," Working Papers 2018.29, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    4. Wolfgang Peters & Reimund Schwarze & Anna-Katharina Topp, 2017. "Pareto Improvements Induced by Climate Funding in a Strategic Adaptation-Mitigation Framework," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Anil Markandya & Ibon Galarraga & Dirk Rübbelke (ed.), Climate Finance Theory and Practice, chapter 9, pages 191-212, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Habla, Wolfgang & Roeder, Kerstin, 2017. "The political economy of mitigation and adaptation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 239-257.
    6. Christian Feige & Karl-Martin Ehrhart & Jan Krämer, 2018. "Climate Negotiations in the Lab: A Threshold Public Goods Game with Heterogeneous Contributions Costs and Non-binding Voting," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 70(2), pages 343-362, June.
    7. Finus, Michael & Furini, Francesco & Rohrer, Anna Viktoria, 2021. "The efficacy of international environmental agreements when adaptation matters: Nash-Cournot vs Stackelberg leadership," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    8. Michèle Breton & Lucia Sbragia, 2019. "The Impact of Adaptation on the Stability of International Environmental Agreements," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(2), pages 697-725, October.
    9. Michael Finus & Bianca Rundshagen, 2015. "Game Theory and Environmental and Resource Economics–In Honour of Alfred Endres," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 62(4), pages 657-664, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peters, Wolfgang & Heuson, Clemens & Schwarze, Reimund & Topp, Anna-Katharina, 2013. "Investment and adaptation as commitment devices in climate policy deteriorate mitigation," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79719, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Heuson, Clemens & Gawel, Erik & Gebhardt, Oliver & Hansjürgens, Bernd & Lehmann, Paul & Meyer, Volker & Schwarze, Reimund, 2012. "Ökonomische Grundfragen der Klimaanpassung: Umrisse eines neuen Forschungsprogramms," UFZ Reports 02/2012, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ).
    3. Heuson, Clemens & Gawel, Erik & Gebhardt, Oliver & Hansjürgens, Bernd & Lehmann, Paul & Meyer, Volker & Schwarze, Reimund, 2012. "Fundamental questions on the economics of climate adaptation: Outlines of a new research programme," UFZ Reports 05/2012, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ).
    4. Martin Farnham & Peter Kennedy, 2015. "Adapting to Climate Change: Equilibrium Welfare Implications for Large and Small Economies," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 61(3), pages 345-363, July.
    5. Johan Eyckmans & Sam Fankhauser & Snorre Kverndokk, 2016. "Development Aid and Climate Finance," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 63(2), pages 429-450, February.
    6. Wolfgang Peters & Reimund Schwarze & Anna-Katharina Topp, 2017. "Pareto Improvements Induced by Climate Funding in a Strategic Adaptation-Mitigation Framework," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Anil Markandya & Ibon Galarraga & Dirk Rübbelke (ed.), Climate Finance Theory and Practice, chapter 9, pages 191-212, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Karen Pittel & Dirk Rübbelke, 2013. "Improving Global Public Goods Supply through Conditional Transfers - The International Adaptation Transfer Riddle," CESifo Working Paper Series 4106, CESifo.
    8. Michèle Breton & Lucia Sbragia, 2017. "Adaptation to Climate Change: Commitment and Timing Issues," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(4), pages 975-995, December.
    9. Claudia Schwirplies, 2015. "Adaptation vs. climate protection: Responses to climate change and policy preferences of individuals in China, Germany, and the USA," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201502, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    10. Ingmar Schumacher, 2019. "Climate Policy Must Favour Mitigation Over Adaptation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(4), pages 1519-1531, December.
    11. Habla, Wolfgang & Roeder, Kerstin, 2017. "The political economy of mitigation and adaptation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 239-257.
    12. Johan Eyckmans & Sam Fankhauser & Snorre Kverndokk, 2013. "Equity, Development Aid and Climate Finance," GRI Working Papers 123, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    13. Konrad, Kai A. & Thum, Marcel, 2012. "The role of economic policy in climate change adaptation," EIB Working Papers 2012/02, European Investment Bank (EIB).
    14. Bréchet, Thierry & Hritonenko, Natali & Yatsenko, Yuri, 2016. "Domestic environmental policy and international cooperation for global commons," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 183-205.
    15. Ralph Winkler, 2023. "On the Relationship between Adaptation and Mitigation," CESifo Working Paper Series 10371, CESifo.
    16. Bayramoglu, Basak & Finus, Michael & Jacques, Jean-François, 2018. "Climate agreements in a mitigation-adaptation game," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 101-113.
    17. Kounetas, Konstantinos & Zervopoulos, Panagiotis D., 2019. "A cross-country evaluation of environmental performance: Is there a convergence-divergence pattern in technology gaps?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 273(3), pages 1136-1148.
    18. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet & Céline Guivarch, 2016. "Global warming as an asymmetric public bad," Working Papers 2016.26, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    19. Gunter Stephan & Georg Müller-Fürstenberger, 2015. "Global Warming, Technological Change and Trade in Carbon Energy: Challenge or Threat?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 62(4), pages 791-809, December.
    20. Hiroaki Sakamoto & Masako Ikefuji & Jan R. Magnus, 2020. "Adaptation for Mitigation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 75(3), pages 457-484, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    adaptation; climate policy; investment; mitigation; non-cooperative behavior;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:euv:dpaper:011. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Daniel Becker (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fwffode.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.