Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
What about the poorest countries? On the one hand, we have seen
the importance of universal participation. On the other hand, it is un-
fair and unrealistic to expect countries struggling to provide clean
drinking water and primary schooling to make sacrifi ces for people in
richer countries many decades in the future. Fortunately, this is not a
major loss. Aside from Nigeria, the current emissions of the lowest-
income countries are negligible. As we see in Table 11, the bottom 72
countries produce only 10 percent of global emissions. If the top 100
countries plus India and China are included, this would account for 90
percent of global emissions.
The best mechanisms for encouraging the participation of low-
income countries would be a combination of fi nancial and technologi-
ca l assist a nce i n adopt i ng low-ca rbon tec h nolog ies as wel l as a ca mpa ig n
to persuade these countries to substitute carbon taxes for other taxes.
The advantage of carbon taxes relative to binding emissions reductions
is particularly applicable to countries with weak governance structures.
It seems unlikely that these countries could run a cap-and-trade system
carbon tax could meet the revenue needs of governments while reduc-
ing other burdensome taxes and would pose no especially diffi cult gov-
ernance problems.
COMBATING FREE RIDING WITH
ENFORCEMENT MECHANISMS
Whatever the international regime to slow climate change—whether
it be a revived Kyoto approach or a carbon price regime—it must con-
front the tendency of countries to free ride on the efforts of others. A
critical component of a new regime will be to design a mechanism to
overcome the free-rider problem. Countries have strong incentives to
proclaim lofty and ambitious goals—and then to ignore these goals and
go about business as usual. When national economic interests collide
with international agreements, there will be a temptation to shirk, dis-
semble, and withdraw.
Canada is an interesting case. Canada was an early enthusiast for
the Kyoto Protocol. It signed up for a 6 percent reduction in emissions
