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Climate tipping points and solar geoengineering

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  • Heutel, Garth
  • Moreno-Cruz, Juan
  • Shayegh, Soheil

Abstract

We study optimal climate policy in the presence of climate tipping points and solar geoengineering. Solar geoengineering reduces temperatures without reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Climate tipping points are irreversible and uncertain events that can alter the dynamics of the climate system. We analyze three different rules related to the availability of solar geoengineering, and we model three distinct types of tipping points. Before reaching the tipping point, the introduction of solar geoengineering reduces the amount of mitigation, lowers temperatures and increases carbon concentrations. The capacity of solar geoengineering to deal with climate damages depends on the type of tipping point. Solar geoengineering is most effective at dealing with tipping points that affect the responsiveness of temperature to carbon, and it is least effective at dealing with tipping points that cause direct economic losses.

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  • Heutel, Garth & Moreno-Cruz, Juan & Shayegh, Soheil, 2016. "Climate tipping points and solar geoengineering," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 132(PB), pages 19-45.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:132:y:2016:i:pb:p:19-45
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2016.07.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Johannes Emmerling & Vassiliki Manoussi & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2016. "Climate Engineering under Deep Uncertainty and Heterogeneity," Working Papers 2016.52, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    2. Moreno-Cruz, Juan B. & Wagner, Gernot & Keith, David w., 2017. "An Economic Anatomy of Optimal Climate Policy," Working Paper Series rwp17-028, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    3. Traeger, Christian P. & Meier, Felix D., 2023. "Uncertain Remedies to Fight Uncertain Consequences: The Case of Solar Geoengineering," RFF Working Paper Series 23-37, Resources for the Future.
    4. Yongyang Cai, 2020. "The Role of Uncertainty in Controlling Climate Change," Papers 2003.01615, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2020.
    5. Fabien Prieur & Martin Quaas & Ingmar Schumacher, 2019. "Mitigation strategies under the threat of solar radiation management," EconomiX Working Papers 2019-3, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    6. Christos Karydas & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2019. "Climate change risks: pricing and portfolio allocation," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 19/327, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    7. Wei Jin & Rick van der Ploeg & Lin Zhang, 2020. "Do We Still Need Carbon-Intensive Capital When Transitioning to a Green Economy?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8745, CESifo.
    8. Manoussi, Vassiliki & Xepapadeas, Anastasios & Emmerling, Johannes, 2018. "Climate engineering under deep uncertainty," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 207-224.
    9. Heutel, Garth & Moreno-Cruz, Juan & Shayegh, Soheil, 2018. "Solar geoengineering, uncertainty, and the price of carbon," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 24-41.
    10. William Brock & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2019. "Regional Climate Policy under Deep Uncertainty: Robust Control, Hot Spots and Learning," DEOS Working Papers 1903, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    11. Brock, William & Xepapadeas, Anastasios, 2021. "Regional climate policy under deep uncertainty: robust control and distributional concerns," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(3), pages 211-238, June.
    12. Garth Heutel & Juan Moreno-Cruz & Katharine Ricke, 2016. "Climate Engineering Economics," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 99-118, October.
    13. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Baum, Chad M. & Low, Sean, 2023. "Beyond climate stabilization: Exploring the perceived sociotechnical co-impacts of carbon removal and solar geoengineering," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PA).
    14. Sandra Gschnaller, 2020. "The albedo loss from the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and the social cost of carbon," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 163(4), pages 2201-2231, December.
    15. Wei Jin & ZhongXiang Zhang, 2018. "Capital Accumulation, Green Paradox, and Stranded Assets: An Endogenous Growth Perspective," Working Papers 2018.33, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    16. Sandra Gschnaller, 2020. "The Albedo Loss from the Melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Social Cost of Carbon," ifo Working Paper Series 332, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    17. Moreno-Cruz, Juan B. & Smulders, Sjak, 2017. "Revisiting the economics of climate change: the role of geoengineering," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 212-224.
    18. Jin, Wei & Shi, Xunpeng & Zhang, Lin, 2021. "Energy transition without dirty capital stranding," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    19. Johannes Emmerling & Ulrike Kornek & Valentina Bosetti & Kai Lessmann, 2021. "Climate thresholds and heterogeneous regions: Implications for coalition formation," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 293-316, April.
    20. William Brock & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2019. "Regional Climate Policy under Deep Uncertainty," DEOS Working Papers 1901, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    21. Todd L. Cherry & Stephan Kroll & David M. McEvoy, 2023. "Climate cooperation with risky solar geoengineering," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(10), pages 1-14, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Solar geoengineering; Climate tipping points; Climate policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C6 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling
    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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