Tipping Climate Negotiations / Geoffrey Heal, Howard Kunreuther.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heal, Geoffrey.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Kunreuther, Howard.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w16954.

NBER working paper series no. w16954

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2011.

Summary:

Thinking about tipping provides a novel perspective on finding a way forward in climate negotiations and suggests an alternative to the current framework of negotiating a global agreement on reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Recent work on non-cooperative games shows games with increasing differences have multiple equilibria and have a "tipping set," a subset of agents who by changing from the inefficient to the efficient equilibrium can induce all others to do the same. We argue that international climate negotiations may form such a game and so have a tipping set. This set is a small group of countries who by adopting climate control measures can make in the interests of all others to do likewise.

Notes:

Print version record

April 2011.