Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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SYCE: Intersectional Symposium Foundations and Perspectives of Climate Engineering

SYCE 1: Foundations and Perspectives of Climate Engineering

SYCE 1.3: Invited Talk

Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 11:30–12:00, HSZ 01

Geoengineering - will it change the climate game? — •Timo Goeschl — Dept. of Economics, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

Emissions reductions aimed at mitigating climate change are - from an economic point of view - an almost perfect example of a global public good. The scale of the public good is determined by aggregrate reduction efforts of all countries. The contribution of individual countries to the aggregate effort, however, can - in the absence of a global institution - only arise out of a bargaining process between individual sovereign states. This is the essence of the 'climate game'. Both theoretical analysis and empirical evidence underscore that the climate game provides problematic incentives for the individual states to jointly generate a satisfactory aggregate reduction effort. Geoengineering has the potential to alter these incentives in a radical way. The reason is that geoengineering efforts differ from emissions reduction efforts in many ways. One important difference in bargaining terms is that the actions of a single player can determine the final outcome. Combined with the very different costs and benefits associated with geoengineering activities, the availability of geoengineering option therefore poses an entirely new set of incentives for countries. This presentation weighs the arguments on the likely impacts on the process and outcome of the climate game of geoengineering options becoming available .