Optimal Goods Production Subject to Emissions Trading with Price Floor

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to study the production of consumption goods within a price floor carbon emission trading scheme. A stochastic Stackelberg game is set up between the environment authority (Player 1), and the manufacturer/producer (Player 2). In such a hybrid emission trading scheme, the authority sets an emissions target and producers will choose to participate in carbon trading on this basis, subject to a stochastic demand with information delayed. When the stochastic demand is determined by the market sale price and the scale of carbon emission reduction, we apply the maximum principle to obtain both the optimal production and market price. We show when the demand is determined by both the market sales price and carbon emission reduction, manufacturers are persuaded to set the market sales price first (ex ante incentive) and then proceed to a carbon trading scheme, thus providing a backward-looking advantage to manufacturers. Consequently, the manufacturer and the environmental authority can find a subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium via backward induction.