Economic policies & incentives
To achieve the required scale of Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR), policy support will be needed in the form of effective financial, price and regulatory incentives. CO2RE researchers are working with government, regulators and industry to identify and expand the set of potential economic incentives.
The research is examining the economics of different policy options, including US-style tax breaks and technology subsidies, price incentives (such as a link to emissions trading), procurement programmes (similar to renewables auctions) and mandatory obligations, such as carbon take-back obligations.
It is also looking at the standards and frameworks employed in offset markets, given their potential significance for incentivising GGR. A more robust marketplace that inspires greater confidence by consumers and corporations will enable GGR to scale more rapidly.
Furthermore, the research on economic incentives will account for the appropriate treatment of different GGR methods, given differences for example in their permanence and stability of storage. It will examine international economic and trade policy so that the accounting of UK imports (e.g. of biomass) ensures genuine GGR.
Aims
The team will deliver the following:
• Recommendations for UK carbon pricing review, 7th UK Carbon Budget and CORSIA review
• Synthesis – economic basis and advantages and disadvantages of alternative policy and governance options for GGR3
People
Professor Cameron Hepburn
University of Oxford
Professor Sam Fankhauser
University of Oxford
Dr Elizabeth Baldwin
University of Oxford
Johanna Arlinghaus
University of Oxford
