Investments in and macroeconomic costs of climate mitigation in the Working Group III contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC.

Title: Investments in and macroeconomic costs of climate mitigation in the Working Group III contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC.
Format: Journal Article
Publication Date: October 2017
Published In: Energy Policy
Publisher Elsevier
Description:

Trainer (2017) criticizes cost estimates of climate change mitigation presented in the Working Group III Report to the IPCC and is concerned by lack of transparency and dubious practices in summarizing the literature. This commentary shows that this critique is based on several mistakes. Trainer (2017) mixes evidence on investment changes and evidence on macroeconomic costs, which are discussed in two different parts of the report because they are different indicators of the economic impact of climate mitigation policy. This commentary also argues that when the report was prepared evidence on investments in mitigation technologies was limited but methodologically sound and transparently reported, contrary to what suggested by Trainer (2017).

External Contributors: Carlo Carraro, Sujata Gupta, Jochen Harnish, Raymond J. Kopp
Citation:

Energy Economics. 109. 414 - 417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.07.020

Categories:
  • Climate Change Mitigation
  • Energy, Climate and Environmental Policy
Related Departments:
  • Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory
  • School of Public Policy