Seminar

Geongineering in the Lab

Valentina Bosetti (University of Bocconi)

November 26, 2018, 11:00–12:15

Toulouse

Room MS 003

Environment Economics Seminar

Abstract

In the event that we are unable to hit our climate targets, a possible method for counteracting disastrous climate change is through geoengineering - the deliberate large-scale manipulation of the Earth’s natural system. Geoengineering is as controversial and under investigated as it is straightforward and potentially costless in its implementation. Assuming we are able to identify and resolve all side-effects of geoengineering, we are still left with the challenge that different countries will aim for different levels of geoengineering and as such, will suffer from any upward or downward deviation from their ideal level. Under this scenario, geoengineering is the perfect example of a public good or bad (GoB) with heterogeneous ideal points (Weitzman, 2015). The Nash equilibrium production prediction is an overproduction of geoengineering relative to the social optimum level and in line with the production of the country with the highest ideal level of geoengineering. This gives rise to “free-driving”. Anna Lou Abatayo, Valentina Bosetti, Marco Casari, Riccardo Ghidoni, and Massimo Tavoni