Denmark (University of Copenhagen) – Survey: Strong consensus among experts for higher CO2 prices

气候经济学

几乎所有学术专家都建议提高碳价格作为限制全球变暖的一种方式,第一次全面的全球碳定价调查得出结论。调查背后的研究人员认为,这项研究及其新的见解可以为气候政策的辩论提供信息。

实施反映气候损害造成的二氧化碳排放的真实社会成本的碳价格仍然是全球政策制定者面临的主要挑战。现在,在来自2个国家的445名专家中进行的首次碳定价综合专家调查得出的结论是,人们普遍同意将更高的碳价格作为限制全球变暖的政治工具。

在2019年被问及他们对2020年、2030年和2050年碳价格适当水平的建议时,该研究揭示了发表碳定价文章的专家(主要是经济学家)的共识,指出碳价格需要远高于现有的全球平均水平。据估计,每(公制)二氧化碳约为3美元。

该研究表明,超过98%的专家建议2020年全球碳价格超过估计的全球平均水平。此外,该调查还向每位专家询问了可接受的碳价格范围,结果显示,超过95%的专家认为每吨二氧化碳3美元或更低的价格是不可接受的(见下图)。这再次表明,专家们对提高碳价的必要性达成了明确的共识。

然而,调查还显示,专家们的碳价格建议非常多样化,反映了关于该主题的激烈学术辩论,90年全球每吨二氧化碳排放碳价格的建议中有2%从2020美元到10美元不等,到100年从20美元到250美元不等。专家建议2030年的平均价格为50美元,到2020年增加到92美元,到2030年增加到224美元。

尽管平均值存在很大的异质性,但调查还表明,大多数人可以就具体的价格水平达成一致。例如,如图所示,大多数专家认为,到50年,全球碳价格为每吨二氧化碳60美元或2美元是可以接受的。

图:专家就全球碳价(美元)达成一致的空间

全球碳价格的共识空间(美元)
该图显示了专家(纵轴)认为2020年(A组)和2030年(B组)可接受的碳价格(横轴)水平的比例。例如,50年全球碳价格为每吨二氧化碳2美元,2020年专家建议的可接受范围为56%,2020年为52%。(作者自己的计算)

哥本哈根大学助理教授弗里克·内斯耶(Frikk Nesje)是该研究背后的三位研究人员之一,他表示,这项调查提供了迄今为止最全面的了解,了解参与碳定价的学者如何看待这个复杂的问题。

该调查使我们能够更好地了解专家对该问题的看法,并使我们能够探索专家价格建议的一些潜在驱动因素。

Robert C. Schmidt,哈根大学

“无论是在政治上还是在学术界,我们都对碳价格的适当水平进行了激烈的辩论——无论是作为碳税还是通过限额与交易计划引入。这种分歧可能是气候政策的障碍,“他解释道。

来自德国哈根FernUniversität的共同作者Robert C. Schmidt教授强调,调查无法确定应对全球变暖的“正确”价格水平。

“但它让我们更好地了解专家对这个问题的看法,并使我们能够探索专家价格建议的一些潜在驱动因素,”他说。

专家建议提高国家碳价

专家们的全球碳价格建议建立在调查中使用的假设情景之上,即“世界政府”可以决定全球统一的碳价格。

然而,如今大多数碳定价计划都是由国家、国家或在欧盟等贸易集团或工会内单方面实施的。根据世界银行的一份报告,64年实施了2021项碳定价政策,覆盖了全球温室气体排放量的21.5%,价格从每吨二氧化碳几美分到超过100美元不等。

因此,除了全球情景之外,调查还要求就国家一级的单边碳定价提出建议。在这种情况下,许多专家建议,如果通过所谓的“边境碳调整”(BCA)解决竞争力问题,这意味着国内碳价格也适用于进口商品并从出口中减去,则价格会更高。然后,在单边碳定价下,2030年的平均建议碳价格从92美元(全球碳价格)上升到104美元。

BCA措施目前正在欧盟进行辩论。汉堡大学的助理教授莫里茨·德虏伯(Moritz Drupp)是该研究的另一位合著者,他强调了保护BCA等国内产业竞争力的措施对于实现更雄心勃勃的气候目标可以发挥的关键作用。

“The implementation of border carbon adjustment measures not only leads to higher carbon price recommendations by the experts – it also tends to foster higher agreement among the experts on country-level carbon prices,” he points out.

From free-riding to ride-sharing on climate change mitigation

According to the authors, these results are further intriguing as they indicate that there is little evidence for ‘free-riding’ that might induce experts to recommend less stringent policies in their home countries than at the global level. Indeed, many experts do the opposite, which contrasts with standard game theory used in climate economics arguing that the absence of harmonised climate policies should lead to less ambitious national policies.

Many experts from richer countries tend to recommend higher carbon prices to their own governments, which would benefit also the rest of the world.

Moritz Drupp, University of Hamburg

The study points at several possible explanations: like altruism towards poorer countries, or co-benefits of carbon prices, such as improved health due to cleaner air, which are valued higher in richer countries.

“Many experts from richer countries tend to recommend higher carbon prices to their own governments, which would benefit also the rest of the world. In contrast to `free-riding’, one could call this a ‘ride-sharing’ effect. The lack of evidence for the free-rider effect is an important insight, as it points to other rationales as drivers for the lack of ambition on climate policy,” Moritz Drupp explains.

Some variation across the recommendations is also mirroring the experts’ views on related policy issues. For example, experts who recommend using taxes for carbon pricing on average recommend carbon prices that are more than 30 percent higher than experts who advocate for cap-and-trade schemes.

The findings can enrich a broader debate

First and foremost, our results send a clear message for climate policy to build more strongly on the steering effect of carbon prices.

Frikk Nesje, University of Copenhagen

Overall, the researchers behind the study hope that their findings will enrich the debate on carbon pricing – not only among researchers working on related topics, but also among politicians and other practitioners looking for ways to reduce greenhouse emissions.

“From a practical point of view, our data on carbon price recommendations may be used in scenario analyses of climate-economy models, just as the experts’ price recommendations on the country level can inform policy-makers about potentially appropriate carbon price levels,” Frikk Nesje says.

“But first and foremost, our results send a clear message for climate policy to build more strongly on the steering effect of carbon prices in order to achieve more ambitious emission reduction targets.”