Abstract
The objective of this paper is to study in which way the strategies to combat climate change, as prescribed in the UN SDG number 13, are influenced by ambiguity aversion. Countries can tailor the UN SDGs to their priorities and situations, but the urgency in their planned actions to combat climate change and its impact is affected by the form of uncertainty surrounding their decisions. Following a Choquet-Brownian process to model ambiguity aversion on the dynamics of environmental damage, we study an international pollution control problem where countries may behave cooperatively or non-cooperatively. We show that carbon emissions decrease, as perceived ambiguity increases, in keeping with the precautionary principle, and such decrease is lower if countries behave non-cooperatively. We also examine the interrelation between the precautionary principle and the effects of a declining social discount rate and increase in population, and find that optimal policies induce more precaution. Our results have important implications for national strategies and actions to combat climate change.
Highlights
The UN Sustainable Development Goals were agreed upon at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in 2015, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN, 2015), and since progress has been made toward including them in the political debate worldwide
While it is recognized that global warming is one of the biggest challenges of the planet, and emissions of a broad range of greenhouse gases (GHGs) of varying lifetimes and radiative forcing are major contributors, one important issue is “how to implement meaningfully and productively the UN SDGs to which so many countries have committed” (Rosen, 2017, page 2)
The objective of this paper is to study in which way the strategies to combat climate change, as prescribed in the UN SDG number 13, are influenced by ambiguity aversion
Summary
The UN Sustainable Development Goals were agreed upon at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in 2015, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN, 2015), and since progress has been made toward including them in the political debate worldwide They encompass many sustainable development concepts, which have been formulated in seventeen specific goals, and among them, Goal number 13 prescribes countries to “take urgent actions to combat climate change and its impact” (UN, 2015). This result has important implication for national strategies and actions to combat climate change.
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