Global Emissions Trading: Ethics, Policy and Politics

 

Background

Global climate change poses significant risks for human health, wealth and security. Although some regions will escape serious climate impacts, the net impact will almost certainly be adverse and members of future generations and developing countries will be worst affected. At the same time, a consensus has emerged in favour of a co-ordinated, international, climate response to implement effective policies of mitigation to prevent adverse climate impacts that are still. The objective of these policies is to restrict the global stock of atmospheric greenhouse gases (measured in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent or CO₂^e) to no more than 500 parts per million. The size of the task ahead is underlined by the fact that global concentrations of CO₂^e reached 430 ppm in 2005 (a 64 per cent rise since 1750) and are currently rising at a rate of 2-3 ppm per year. As a first step towards avoiding dangerous climate change, the Kyoto Protocol requires 38 developed countries to reduce their greenhouse emissions by an average of 5.2 per cent by 2012. The UN has conceded, however, that despite annual emissions of the Kyoto-38 falling by 4.7 per cent from 1990-2006 (from 18,914 to 18,020 million tonnes) they rose by 2.3 per cent between 2000 and 2006.

 

The workshop

Date: Wednesday 8 July 2009

Venue: Room B1.01 Mathematics Building, University of Warwick

This workshop focuses on the question of whether the popular mechanism of emissions trading, that is, the creation of a global market for tradable allowances to emit greenhouse gases over a certain period, is a legitimate, economically efficient and politically feasible response to the threat of dangerous climate change. Four sessions will explore various problems thrown up by the growing literature on atmospheric emissions trading; and a particular focus will be on the search for ethically-informed adjustments to the scope and rules of established trading schemes designed to enhance their legitimacy amongst users of the atmosphere. It is envisaged that four external speakers will be invited to address the workshop, with a total attendance of around 35 researchers. The estimated cost of the workshop is £1750, assuming that two of our speakers will be external overseas, but the true costs may well be less assuming we can book rooms free of charge.

 *Registration for this workshop is now open*

 

Provisional schedule

09:30 - 10.00	Refreshments
10:00 - 10.10	Introduction to workshop
10.10 - 11:30	Simon Caney (Oxford): ‘Justice, Morality and Markets: what, if anything, is wrong with emissions trading?’
11:40 - 13.00	Dave Frame (Oxford): ‘ Title tbc’
13.00 - 14.00	Lunch
14:00 - 15.20	Keith Hyams (Exeter): ‘Climate Change, Justice, and Personal Carbon Allocations’
15:20 - 15:40	Coffee
15:40 - 17.00	Robert Van Der Veen (Amsterdam): ‘ Title tbc
17:00- 17:45	Concluding session and discussion
18:00	Drinks, followed by dinner, at Radcliffe House, Warwick University

 

 

 

 

 

Directions to Warwick campus

Map of campus: N.B the Mathematics building is Building No. 35