Adaptation to Climate Change: Commitment and Timing Issues

Breton, M.; Sbragia, L.

doi:10.1007/s10640-016-0056-9

Adaptation to Climate Change: Commitment and Timing Issues

Breton, M.; Sbragia, L.

Authors

M. Breton

Dr Lucia Sbragia lucia.sbragia@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Abstract

We study the impact of timing and commitment on adaptation and mitigation policies in the context of international environmental problems. Adaptation policies present the characteristics of a private good and may require a prior investment, while mitigation policies produce a public good. In a stylized model, we evaluate the impact of strategic commitment and leadership considerations when countries with different attitudes towards environmental cooperation coexist. We obtain equilibrium abatement and adaptation levels and environmental costs under partial cooperation for various timing and leadership scenarios. Crucially, global environmental costs suffered by countries are found to be greater when adaptation measures can be used strategically.

Citation

Breton, M., & Sbragia, L. (2017). Adaptation to Climate Change: Commitment and Timing Issues. Environmental and Resource Economics, 68(4), 975-995. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-016-0056-9

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jul 22, 2016
Online Publication Date	Aug 3, 2016
Publication Date	2017-12
Deposit Date	Mar 22, 2017
Publicly Available Date	Mar 23, 2017
Journal	Environmental and Resource Economics
Print ISSN	0924-6460
Electronic ISSN	1573-1502
Publisher	Springer
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	68
Issue	4
Pages	975-995
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-016-0056-9
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1390379