OECD Economics Department Working Papers
Working papers from the Economics Department of the OECD that cover the full range of the Department’s work including the economic situation, policy analysis and projections; fiscal policy, public expenditure and taxation; and structural issues including ageing, growth and productivity, migration, environment, human capital, housing, trade and investment, labour markets, regulatory reform, competition, health, and other issues.
The views expressed in these papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or of the governments of its member countries.
- ISSN: 18151973 (online)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/18151973
Co-Benefits of Climate Change Mitigation Policies
Literature Review and New Results
There are local air pollution benefits from pursuing greenhouse gases emissions mitigation policies,
which lower the net costs of emission reductions and thereby may strengthen the incentives to participate
in a global climate change mitigation agreement. The main purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to
which local air pollution co-benefits can lower the cost of climate change mitigation policies in OECD and
non-OECD countries and can offer economic incentives for developing countries to participate in a post-
2012 global agreement. The paper sets out an analytical framework to answer these questions. After a
literature review on the estimates of the co-benefits, new estimates, which are obtained within a general
equilibrium, dynamic, multi-regional framework, are presented. The main conclusion is that the co-benefits
from climate change mitigation in terms of reduced outdoor local air pollution might cover a significant
part of the cost of action. Nonetheless, they alone may not provide sufficient participation incentives to
large developing countries. This is partly because direct local air pollution control policies appear to be
typically cheaper than indirect action via greenhouse gases emissions mitigation.
Keywords: climate change, mitigation policy, co-benefits, local air pollution, health
JEL:
Q53: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Environmental Economics / Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling;
Q54: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Environmental Economics / Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming;
I10: Health, Education, and Welfare / Health / Health: General
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