M Pub 2020 602SPGPP#02 // S 3LP   ::248915::

Comment
Scientific evidence is clear: human activities have released enough greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere to have altered the climate, with already strong effects on ecosystems, societies and economies. On current emissions paths, climate change is set to become dramatically worse. To limit global warming, and hence avoid the worst-case scenarios predicted by climate science, the world economy must rapidly reduce its GHG emissions and reach climate neutrality within the next three decades. In this seminar, we want to learn about the complex interplay between climate change and economic activity. We will start off by asking the question, whether economic growth is compatible with declining emissions or whether, instead, societies need to accept de-growth and lower living standards to ensure rapid de-carbonization. Achieving decarbonization requires global actions: we will study the global public good and tragedy of the commons problems and solutions that have been proposed – this will help us understand why progress in the UN-based COP summits is insufficient, and why global emissions continue to rise. We will study the domestic distributional effects of climate policy. Public finance and decarbonization also interact in complex ways and will be studied. Furthermore, the role of industrial policy and innovation for decarbonization will also be explored. We also want to look at the role the financial system and central banks play in climate policy.

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