IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/diw/diwvjh/88-2-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financing Low-Carbon Transitions through Carbon Pricing and Green Bonds

Author

Listed:
  • Dirk Heine
  • Willi Semmler
  • Mariana Mazzucato
  • João Paulo Braga
  • Michael Flaherty
  • Arkady Gevorkyan
  • Erin Hayde
  • Siavash Radpour

Abstract

To finance the transition to low-carbon economies required to mitigate climate change, countries are increasingly using a combination of carbon pricing and green bonds. This paper studies the reasoning behind such policy mixes and the economic interaction effects that result from these different policy instruments. We model these interactions using an intertemporal model, related to Sachs (2015), which proposes a burden sharing between current and future generations. The issuance of green bonds helps to enable immediate investment in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the bonds would be repaid by future generations in such a way that those who benefit from reduced future environmental damage share in the burden of financing mitigation efforts undertaken today. We examine the effects of combining green bonds and carbon pricing in a three-phase model. We are using a numerical solution procedure which allows for finite-horizon solutions and phase changes. We show that green bonds perform better when they are combined with carbon pricing. Our proposed policy option appears to be politically more feasible than a green transition based only on carbon pricing and is more prudent for debt sustainability than a green transition that relies overly on green bonds. Zur Finanzierung des Klimaschutzes verwenden Länder zunehmend eine Kombination von CO2-Bepreisung und grünen Anleihen. Dieser Artikel analysiert die Gründe für einen solchen Politikmix sowie die Interaktionseffekte dieser Instrumente. Wir modellieren die Interaktionseffekte in einem intertemporalen Modell, das sich auf Sachs (2015) bezieht und eine Lastenverteilung zwischen gegenwärtigen und zukünftigen Generationen vorsieht. Die Ausgabe von grünen Anleihen trägt dazu bei, sofortige Investitionen in den Klimaschutz und die Anpassung an den Klimawandel zu ermöglichen, und die Anleihen würden von zukünftigen Generationen so zurückgezahlt, dass diejenigen, die von geringeren zukünftigen Umweltschäden profitieren, an der Last der Finanzierung der heute unternommenen Klimaschutzmaßnahmen beteiligt sind. Wir untersuchen die Auswirkungen der Kombination von grünen Anleihen und CO2-Steuern in einem Drei-Phasen-Modell. Wir verwenden ein numerisches Lösungsverfahren, das endliche Lösungen und Phasenwechsel ermöglicht. Wir zeigen, dass grüne Anleihen besser abschneiden, wenn sie mit der CO2-Besteuerung kombiniert werden. Unsere vorgeschlagene politische Option scheint politisch machbarer zu sein als ein grüner Übergang, der ausschließlich auf CO2-Steuern basiert und für die Nachhaltigkeit der Verschuldung vorsichtiger ist als eine Klimapolitik, der zu sehr auf grüne Anleihen setzt.

Suggested Citation

  • Dirk Heine & Willi Semmler & Mariana Mazzucato & João Paulo Braga & Michael Flaherty & Arkady Gevorkyan & Erin Hayde & Siavash Radpour, 2019. "Financing Low-Carbon Transitions through Carbon Pricing and Green Bonds," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 88(2), pages 29-49.
  • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwvjh:88-2-3
    DOI: 10.3790/vjh.88.2.29
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.3790/vjh.88.2.29
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3790/vjh.88.2.29?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Leonardo Bursztyn & David Hemous, 2012. "The Environment and Directed Technical Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 131-166, February.
    2. Olivier J Blanchard, 2019. "Public Debt: Fiscal and Welfare Costs in a Time of Low Interest Rates," Policy Briefs PB19-2, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    3. Olivier Blanchard, 2019. "Public Debt and Low Interest Rates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(4), pages 1197-1229, April.
    4. Malcolm Baker & Daniel Bergstresser & George Serafeim & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2018. "Financing the Response to Climate Change: The Pricing and Ownership of U.S. Green Bonds," NBER Working Papers 25194, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Maria Jua Bachelet & Leonardo Becchetti & Stefano Manfredonia, 2019. "The Green Bonds Premium Puzzle: The Role of Issuer Characteristics and Third-Party Verification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-22, February.
    6. Bento, Antonio M. & Jacobsen, Mark R. & Liu, Antung A., 2018. "Environmental policy in the presence of an informal sector," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 61-77.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Braga, Joao Paulo & Semmler, Willi & Grass, Dieter, 2021. "De-risking of green investments through a green bond market – Empirics and a dynamic model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    2. Signe Krogstrup & William Oman, 2019. "Macroeconomic and Financial Policies for Climate Change Mitigation: A Review of the Literature," IMF Working Papers 2019/185, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Peppel-Srebrny, Jemima, 2021. "Not all government budget deficits are created equal: Evidence from advanced economies' sovereign bond markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    4. Johannes Blum & Klaus Gründler & Raphael de Britto Schiller & Niklas Potrafke, 2019. "Die Schuldenbremse in der Diskussion – Teilnehmer des Ökonomenpanels mehrheitlich für Beibehaltung," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 72(22), pages 27-33, November.
    5. Schuster, Florian & Krahé, Max & Schneemelcher, Pola & Sigl-Glöckner, Philippa, 2022. "Do the MTO's cyclically adjusted budget balances serve their purpose? An analysis and a reform proposal," Papers 277894, Dezernat Zukunft - Institute for Macrofinance, Berlin.
    6. Alessandro Moro, 2021. "Can capital controls promote green investments in developing countries?," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1348, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    7. Alexander Beames & Mariano Kulish & Nadine Yamout, 2022. "Fiscal Policy and the Slowdown in Trend Growth in an Open Economy," Working Papers 143, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    8. K. Thomas Liaw, 2020. "Survey of Green Bond Pricing and Investment Performance," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-12, August.
    9. Christian Breuer, 2020. "Goverment Debt Post COVID-19: Back To Golden Rules," Chemnitz Economic Papers 041, Department of Economics, Chemnitz University of Technology, revised Feb 2020.
    10. Javier Andres & Oscar Arce & Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde & Samuel Hurtado, 2022. "Deciphering the Macroeconomic Effects of Internal Devaluations in a Monetary Union," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 18(5), pages 1-47, December.
    11. Ludger Schuknecht, 2019. "Fiscal-Financial Vulnerabilities," CESifo Working Paper Series 7776, CESifo.
    12. Daisuke Miyashita, 2023. "Public debt and income inequality in an endogenous growth model with elastic labor supply," International Journal of Economic Policy Studies, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 447-472, August.
    13. Joshua Aizenman & Hiro Ito, 2023. "Post COVID‐19 exit strategies and emerging markets economic challenges," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 1-34, February.
    14. Schuster, Florian & Krahé, Max & Sigl-Glöckner, Philippa, 2021. "Wird die Konjunkturkomponente der Schuldenbremse in ihrer heutigen Ausgestaltung ihrer Aufgabe noch gerecht? Analyse und ein Reformvorschlag," Papers 277885, Dezernat Zukunft - Institute for Macrofinance, Berlin.
    15. John Cochrane, 2022. "The fiscal root of inflation," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 45, pages 22-40, July.
    16. Husain, Shaiara & Sohag, Kazi & Wu, Yanrui, 2022. "The response of green energy and technology investment to climate policy uncertainty: An application of twin transitions strategy," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    17. Laurence Kotlikoff & Felix Kubler & Andrey Polbin & Simon Scheidegger, 2021. "Pareto-improving carbon-risk taxation [The environment and directed technical change]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 36(107), pages 551-589.
    18. Karl Whelan, 2021. "Central banks and inflation: where do we stand and how did we get here?," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 18(3), pages 310–330-3, December.
    19. Max Krahé & Florian Schuster & Philippa Sigl-Glöckner, 2021. "Wird die Konjunkturkomponente der Schuldenbremse ihrer Aufgabe noch gerecht? [Is the Cyclical Component of the Debt Brake Still Up to Its Task?]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 101(8), pages 621-628, August.
    20. Davide Furceri & Prakash Loungani & Jonathan D. Ostry & Pietro Pizzuto, 2020. "Pandemics and inequality: Assessing the impact of COVID†19," Vox eBook Chapters, in: Simeon Djankov & Ugo Panizza (ed.), COVID-19 in Developing Economies, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 200-213, Centre for Economic Policy Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Carbon pricing; green bonds; intergenerational burden sharing; nonlinear model predictive control;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment
    • H6 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt
    • O2 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

    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:diw:diwvjh:88-2-3. 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: Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/diwbede.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.