The Great Acceleration: How the World is Getting Faster, Faster

Description

Economic textbooks predict that taxes and emission trading systems are the cheapest way for societies to reduce emissions of CO2. This book shows that this is also the case in the real world. It estimates the costs to society of reducing CO2 emissions in 15 countries using a broad range of policy instruments in 5 of the sectors that generate most emissions: electricity generation, road transport, pulp & paper and cement, as well as households' domestic energy use. It finds wide variations in the costs of abating each tonne of CO2 within and among countries, as well as in the sectors examined a.;Foreword; Acknowledgments; Table of contents; Executive summary; Chapter 1. Methodologies for estimating effective carbon prices; 1. Introduction and background; 2. Different approaches to estimate effective carbon prices; Box 1.1. Alternative estimates of effective carbon prices; Box 1.2. Different approaches to weighing together different carbon price estimates; 3. Key elements of a methodological approach; What should be the measure of costs of a policy?; Should either, or both of, demand- and supply-side abatement be included? Foreword Acknowledgments Table of contents Executive summary Chapter 1. Methodologies for estimating effective carbon prices 1. Introduction and background 2. Different approaches to estimate effective carbon prices Box 1.1. Alternative estimates of effective carbon prices Box 1.2. Different approaches to weighing together different carbon price estimates 3. Key elements of a methodological approach What should be the measure of costs of a policy? Should either, or both of, demand- and supply-side abatement be included? What should be the counterfactual applied to assess the impact of the policy?Which weights should be used to combine policy-level measures into a sectoral aggregate? Notes References Chapter 2. OECD's approach to estimate effective carbon prices 1. Selection of policies for assessment 2. Strengths and weaknesses of the approach used Short-term vs. long-term estimates The marginal source of electricity generation Other benefits of the policies assessed Voluntary policy approaches The scope of the policies assessed Comparability of the present carbon price estimates. 3. Coverage of the projectTable 2.1. Country and sector coverage of effective carbon price data and sources Reference Annex 2.A1. Further description of the methodology used Figure 2.A1.1. A stylised electricity market with an explicit carbon price Figure 2.A1.2. A stylised electricity market with a production subsidy for renewable generation Chapter 3. Estimated effective carbon prices 1. Electricity generation Comparisons across countries Table 3.1. Abatement and abatement costs related to the electricity sector. Figure 3.1. Estimated average effective carbon prices in the electricity sector, by countryFigure 3.2. Total costs of carbon-related policies applied in the electricity sector Figure 3.3. Total costs of individual policy instruments applied in the electricity sector Figure 3.4. Abatement achieved with instruments addressing electricity generation, national averages Comparisons across instrument categories Figure 3.5. Estimated average effective carbon prices in the electricity sector, by instrument type. Figure 3.6. Abatement achieved with individual instruments addressing electricity generationFigure 3.7. Estimated effective carbon prices in the electricity sector, by instrument category Figure 3.8. Share of countries in which a given instrument type is used in the electricity sector 2. Road transport Comparisons across countries Table 3.2. Abatement and abatement costs related to the road transport sector Figure 3.9. Estimated effective carbon prices in the road transport sector, by country Figure 3.10. Total costs of policy instruments applied in the road transport sector.