1st Edition

The Evolution of Carbon Markets Design and Diffusion

Edited By Jørgen Wettestad, Lars Gulbrandsen Copyright 2018
    264 Pages 13 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    264 Pages 13 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Carbon markets are developing and expanding around the world, but how and to what extent is their design shaped by learning and interaction between them? How do these markets function and what is the role of design?

    Carrying out a ground-breaking analysis of their design and diffusion, this book covers all the major carbon market systems and processes around the world: the EU, RGGI, California, Tokyo, New Zealand, Australia, China, South Korea and Kazakhstan. It offers a systematic, in-depth discussion and comparison of the key design features in these systems with expert contributors exploring how, and to what extent, these features have been shaped by central policy diffusion mechanisms and domestic politics.

    By focussing on the specific design features of the instruments used, this volume makes important contributions to diffusion theory, highlighting how ETS diffusion processes more often have resulted in design divergence than convergence, and discussing the implications of this finding for the vision of linked systems in the post-Paris era. It will be of significant interest to a broad audience interested in the emergence, evolution, functioning and interaction of carbon markets.

    Preface

    Chapter 1 Introduction

    Jørgen Wettestad and Lars H. Gulbrandsen

    Chapter 2 Theory and Method

    Lars H. Gulbrandsen, Arild Underdal, David G. Victor and Jørgen Wettestad

    Chapter 3 EU Emissions Trading: Frontrunner – and ‘Black Sheep’?

    Jørgen Wettestad and Torbjørg Jevnaker

    Chapter 4 The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative: US Pioneer Seeking to Avoid EU Mistakes?

    Solveig Lygre and Jørgen Wettestad

    Chapter 5 California’s Cap-and-Trade Programme: The Role of Diffusion

    Guri Bang, David G. Victor and Steinar E. Andresen

    Chapter 6 Tokyo’s Emissions Trading System: Japan’s First Mandatory Cap-and-Trade Scheme

    Masahiko Iguchi

    Chapter 7 Adopting and Designing New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme

    Tor Håkon Jackson Inderberg, Ian Bailey and Nichola Harmer

    Chapter 8 Australia: Domestic Politics, Diffusion and Emissions Trading Design as a Technical and Political Project

    Ian Bailey and Tor Håkon Jackson Inderberg

    Chapter 9 South Korea: East Asian Pioneer Learning from the EU

    Katja Biedenkopf and Jørgen Wettestad

    Chapter 10 Emissions Trading in Kazakhstan: Complex Application of the ‘EU Model’

    François Sammut, Lars H. Gulbrandsen and Jørgen Wettestad

    Chapter 11 China’s Carbon-Market: In it to Learn it

    Iselin Stensdal, Gørild Heggelund and Duan Maosheng

    Chapter 12 ETS Design and Potential Effects in China: Comparison with the EU

    Christoph Böhringer, Knut Einar Rosendahl and Tang Weiqi

    Chapter 13 Comparative Analysis and Conclusions

    Jørgen Wettestad, Lars H. Gulbrandsen, David G. Victor and Arild Underdal

    Biography

    Jørgen Wettestad is Research Professor at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Oslo, Norway. He has published several books and numerous articles on international and EU environmental policy, with particular attention to emissions trading. His most recent books are Rescuing EU Emissions Trading: The Climate Policy Flagship. Palgrave 2016 (together with Torbjørg Jevnaker) and EU Climate Policy: Industry, Policy Interaction and External Environment. Ashgate, 2013 (together with Elin L.Boasson). He has been a visiting scholar at IIASA, Austria, and the Institute for International Studies, Berkeley, CA. He has also led and participated in several EU funded projects, participated in numerous international research projects, and been Programme Director at the FNI for a long period. Wettestad serves regularly as peer reviewer for international journals and national research councils, and has been editorial board member of the journal Climate Policy since 2001.

    Lars H. Gulbrandsen is a research professor and the deputy director at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway, where he also served as director of the research programme on Global Environmental Governance and Law (2000-2016). His main research interests are within the fields of global environmental politics and international political economy, with a particular focus on climate and energy policy, forest and fisheries certification, private regulation and governance, and corporate social responsibility. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Oslo and an MSc from the London School of Economics, and has been a visiting scholar at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Gulbrandsen participates in several international research projects, serves regularly as peer reviewer for international journals and national research councils, and is editorial board member of the journal Global Environmental Politics.

    "In a globalized world, characterized by competition and opportunities for emulation and learning, emissions trading systems in different jurisdictions might be expected to converge toward a common design. Instead, over the last twenty years, designs of these systems have diverged in numerous ways. The Evolution of Carbon Markets shows that "diffusion" can usefully be redefined to include learning and adaptation leading to policy divergence. Divergence – whether as a result of diffusion or autonomous action - is generated by the fact that interests and the configurations of potential winning coalitions vary across jurisdictions. The design of emissions trading systems is profoundly shaped by domestic politics." - Robert O. Keohane, Professor of Public and International Affairs, Emeritus, Princeton University

    "This is an important and enlightening book that should be required reading for students, scholars, and policy-makers interested in carbon markets and climate change. Providing an unparalleled picture of the global status of carbon markets, it is the most comprehensive examination of the politics of emissions trading systems available. By bringing together both domestic political dynamics and international diffusion processes in one analytic framework, the volume provides insight into the widespread adoption of emissions trading and the ways that is has developed in different ways in diverse places. The insights developed in the volume have significant implications for the development of global carbon markets and lay bare the opportunities and challenges for emissions trading to play a major role in the global response to climate change." - Matthew Hoffmann, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto, Canada

    "Emissions trading has emerged as a key policy response to the urgent problem of global climate change. Yet little is still known about how and why a diversity of countries, regions and cities have embraced the policy instrument. By bringing together an impressive range of case studies – from California to China – this book underscores the context-specific nature of emissions trading, and provides timely insights into the prospects for a global carbon market." - Harro van Asselt, Professor of Climate Law and Policy, University of Eastern Finland