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Reduced deforestation and the carbon market: the role of market regulations and future commitments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2012

Niels Anger ,
Alistair Dixon  and
Erich Livengood
Niels Anger
Affiliation:
Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), P.O. Box 10 34 43, 68 034 Mannheim, Germany. Email: [email protected]
Alistair Dixon
Affiliation:
KEA 3 Limited, New Zealand. Email: [email protected]
Erich Livengood
Affiliation:
KEA 3 Limited, New Zealand. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) has been proposed as an economic and extensive source of emission abatement to supplement other long-term climate policies. However, critics suggest an excess supply of REDD credits may disrupt emerging carbon markets and raise north–south equity concerns. In this context, we investigate the economic implications of REDD regulations and future emissions reduction commitments. Numerical model simulations show that unrestricted exchange of REDD units reduces the international carbon price by half and cuts compliance costs by roughly one-third. Developed nations’ requirements for policy supplementarity, which restrict demand for REDD credits, reduce such price impacts but go at the expense of both economic efficiency and benefits to rainforest areas. Instead, unlimited REDD access facilitates climate policy targets to be tightened by almost a quarter at constant compliance cost, tripling the environmental ambition of the Kyoto Protocol and providing considerable wealth transfers to developing countries.

Type
Theory and Applications
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 17 , Issue 3 , June 2012 , pp. 269 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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