Status Updates From Confronting Climate Gridloc...

Mitigation Deterrence

“Like forests, soils may provide only temporary storage of carbon.”

“…negative emissions technologies can be expensive or environmentally damaging, yielding little benefit beyond the carbon removal itself.”

Push and pull policies reinforce each other. Government procurements and incentives stimulate demand directly, whereas emissions taxes, mandates, and standards do so indirectly by making fossil fuels costlier or banned.”

“Technologies advance in three phases: inventions, innovations, and diffusions vision deployment.”

“…some negative emissions technologies would consume enormous amounts of energy and other resources.”

“Energy efficiency shrink emissions from all sectors. Decarbonize electricity. Use clean electricity to replace fossil fuels. Control potent greenhouse gases. Use carbon sinks to offset any sources that remain.”

“The more coal-rich countries commit to keeping their coal in the ground, the costlier and scarcer coal will become.”

“If owners of large fossil fuel reserves expect prices to continue falling, they could face a perverse incentive to extract them as soon as possible to avoid leaving these assets stranded…green paradox.”

“…roughly 80% of coal, half of natural gas, and a third of oil reserves globally must ultimately be kept in the ground to hold warming below 2C.”

“…developing countries must not just be given fish or taught to fish, but also empowered to develop better ways of fishing that the rest of the world can adopt.”

“…some ozone friendly substitutes for CFC refrigerants such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are potent greenhouse gases too.

“Countries could accompany the technology push with market demand pull if they set standards or incentives to drive deployment of those technologies…manufacturers may opt to follow the strongest standards globally.”

“Broader coalitions of ambitious national could pursue greater progress by forming climate clubs.”

“…create coalitions of enthusiastic ones in smaller setting…an agreement between two nations forged by bilateral diplomacy.”

“…collective action will be limited to those measures acceptable to the least enthusiastic party.”

“Reciprocity by allies and rivals might not trump whims of a rash president or prime minister but it would show persuadable legislators that there are consequences to abrogating a country’s responsibilities.”

“…the more that players expect to be interacting in the future, the greater their incentive to cooperate today.”

“If a game like the prisoners dilemma is played just once, non-cooperation is the winning strategy. Cooperation can emerge if players use their actions in each round to signal what their counterparts should do in subsequent rounds.”

“…island states and other vulnerable nations have at times been unforgiving, seeking reparations for damages from past emissions. Such demands may seek to address injustices but can stifle cooperation on mitigating future harm.”

“…the European Union has been pricing carbon through cap and trade for its own industries since 2005…it has not coupled domestic pricing with a carbon tariff as American legislation would have done.”

“Parties focus mainly on their own self-interest. They know their shared history, but not their future. Cooperation is mutually beneficial but may be individually costly. There is no central authority to impose a deal or enforce compliance.”