Global Economic Sustainability Indicator: Analysis and Policy Options for the Copenhagen Process

Abstract

In the post-Kyoto process, it will be very important to face the global climate challenge on a broad scale: simply focusing on the OECD countries would not only imply the restriction of attention to a group of countries, which around 2010 will be responsible for less than 50% of global greenhouse gas emissions; it would also mean to ignore the enormous economic and political potential which could be mobilized within a more global cooperation framework. The Copenhagen Summit 2009 will effectively set a new agenda for long-term climate policy, where many observers expect commitments to not only come from EU countries, Australia, Japan and Russia, but also from the USA and big countries with modest per capita income, such as China and India. The ambitious goals envisaged for long-term reduction of greenhouse gases will require new efforts in many fields, including innovation policy and energy policy.

This paper has been previously published in International Economics and Economic Policy, Special Issue on “International Economics of Resources and Resource Policy”, Volume 7, Numbers 2–3/August 2010.

We appreciate the technical support by Samir Kadiric (EIIW) and the comments by Peter Bartelmus, New York, Columbia University and ZhongXiang Zhang, Honolulu; editorial assistance by Michael Agner, University of Odense and Lilla Voros (EIIW) are also appreciated. This research has benefited from financial support from vita foundation, Oberursel.