Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
17
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
ON CLIMATE POLICY
Earlier parts have examined different aspects of the climate-change puz-
zle: climate science, climate-change impacts, and the costs of abatement.
We concluded that the only reliable way to avoid dangerous climate
change is to reduce the concentrations of CO
2
and other greenhouse gases.
However, doing so is potentially costly, particularly if nations do not act
in concert and use effi cient control mechanisms. It is now time to put all
the pieces together.
• How can governments set a sensible temperature target for climate-
change policy? This involves the question of how much emissions
should be reduced.
• How will policies relate to the declarations that have been signed
at Kyoto, Copenhagen, Cancun, and other environmental sum-
mit meetings?
• Does effective action on climate change require that all countries
coordinate their policies? What enforcement mechanism will bring
in the reluctant free riders?
• How can governments ensure that people and fi rms take the nec-
essary steps?
• What policies will produce the inventions, innovations, and de-
ployment of the low-carbon technologies essential for making a
transition to a stabilized climate?
Scientists and policymakers have been struggling for many years to
understand the dangers of unchecked climate change. A U.S. National
