Climate Change at Times of Economic Crisis

The aim of this paper is to explore the implications of the current economic crisis for climate change trajectories and climate change policies. It is argued that, contrary to what many would expect, the economic recession negatively affects emissions reduction efforts through its discouraging effects on investments in low-carbon technologies. It is also argued that, although the growing climate change concerns justify public intervention even at times of economic hardship, there are reciprocal influences between the economic crisis and climate policy-making. Indeed, given the greater competition on scarce resources and short-term priorities for the use of those resources, the economic crisis strengthens the case for a suitable design of climate policies which leads to cost-effective emissions reductions in an intertemporal perspective. This calls for clear, long-term and stable policy frameworks in order to reduce the risks for investors. At the international level this requires more, and not less, collaboration between countries. There are also implications in terms of the choice of instruments. Traditional market-based climate policy instruments, such as taxes and emissions trading schemes are particularly attractive on their own for several reasons, but should be integrated with technology-policy instruments using the revenues of the former to fund the later. Furthermore, the economic crisis provides an opportunity to apply an environmental tax reform. Finally, the counter-cyclical effects of a low-carbon investment package should not be underestimated.