Study title

In the last ten years, the use of markets to reduce pollution, particularly carbon emissions, has come of age. When markets for emission permits emerged during the 1980s, they had elementary design features, reflecting the traditional objectives and skills of environmental economists in regulating local pollutants from limited sources. Today, emission permits markets are infinitely more complex, having evolved structurally and weathered the impacts of unexpected shocks, most notably the Financial Crisis. The evolution of markets and their reaction to shocks have raised numerous - and previously little explored - questions about the markets' responsiveness and inter-connectedness. This project developed new analytical approaches to address these questions through an inter-disciplinary collaboration between scholars in economics, mathematics and climate.CCCEP was established in October 2008 with the aim of advancing public and private action on climate change through rigorous, innovative research. Even though much of our research is ongoing, we have made several major academic contributions: - Improving understanding of the uncertainties in climate models, developing state-of-the-art economic models of decision-making under uncertainty and applying them to climate change, and pursuing novel methods of participatory assessment/modelling. - Exploring different routes to a global climate agreement and alternatives to state-based governance, all the time emphasising the role of institutions. - Advancing knowledge on the potential for climate-friendly forms of development, and development-friendly forms of adaptation. We have advanced new integrated methodologies for identifying adaptation priorities, including 'vulnerability hotspots'. - Conducting interdisciplinary research on interventions towards a low-carbon economy, including robust econometric evaluation of the impacts of existing policies, analysis of carbon markets that bridges theory and practice, and an...