Climate Policy

Climate Policy 6 (2006) 295–312

Research Article

How consistent are alternative short-term climate policies with long-term goals?

Valentina Bosetti, Marzio Galeotti and Alessandro Lanza

A central issue in tackling climate change is to understand to what extent different short-term mitigation strategies are consistent with long-term stabilization targets. The present article aims at cross-comparing emission paths derived by plausible short-term policies against those implied by long-term climate targets, comparing, for example, differences in peak periods. Short-term policies considered are, for instance, Kyoto-type targets with or without participation by the USA and/or by developing countries. Long-term targets focus instead on stabilization of CO₂ concentrations, radiative forcing and the increase in atmospheric temperature relative to pre-industrial levels. In order to account for the uncertainty surrounding the climate cycle, for each long-term goal multiple paths of emission – the most probable, the optimistic and the pessimistic projections – are considered in the comparison exercise. Comparative analysis is performed using the FEEM-RICE model, a regional economy–climate model. The results suggest that some early policy action should take place for short-term emissions to be compatible with long-term targets. In particular, the Kyoto-type regimes appear to be on a compatible emission path, at least up to the second commitment period. However, this is no longer the case when assuming a pessimistic realization of the uncertain climate parameters.

Keywords: Climate policy; Long-term climate targets; Integrated assessment modelling

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