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Climate Policy for Coordination

Author

Listed:
  • Inge van den Bijgaart
  • Åsa Löfgren

Abstract

Decarbonizing basic materials industries requires coordinated investment between downstream firms adopting abatement technologies and upstream input providers. We model the resulting indirect network effects, which generate a no-investment equilibrium alongside a coordinated one. Carbon pricing and non-discriminatory subsidies cannot resolve this coordination failure without overshooting the optimum. Subsidies targeted at firms below a cost threshold implement the optimal coordinated equilibrium without distortion. We further show that excluding the lowest-cost firms, who invest voluntarily once others lead, shrinks the subsidized group, and that targeting remains effective under imperfect observability and imprecise targeting. Our results provide formal support for targeted industrial policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Inge van den Bijgaart & Åsa Löfgren, 2026. "Climate Policy for Coordination," CESifo Working Paper Series 12916, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12916
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • 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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