In an economy no longer dependent on increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to grow economically, the paper discusses strategies to reduce the financial burden of further, costly, decarbonization.
9 February 2011: The OECD has released a new economics working paper, titled “Enhancing the Cost-Effectiveness of Climate Change Mitigation Policies in Sweden,” which discusses next steps in Swedish mitigation policies now that the country has decoupled GDP growth from emissions growth.
Starting with the premise that Sweden has already made significant progress in reducing per capita greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and that the economy is no longer dependent on increasing emissions to grow economically, this paper discusses strategies to reduce the financial burden of further, costly decarbonization. To this aim, the paper suggests, inter alia: harmonizing carbon pricing across sectors; increasing the role of market mechanisms; reducing policy redundancy; and increasing participation in overseas emissions reductions. [Publication: Enhancing the Cost-Effectiveness of Climate Change Mitigation Policies in Sweden]