Case Study : Negative Externalities

What's to be done?

According to the IPCC report, if warming is not to exceed 1.5C, greenhouse gas emissions

must be reduced by 45% by 2030 and by 100% by around 2050. But is this achievable?

The commitments made in the Paris Agreement will not be nearly enough to achieve these

reductions. There needs to be a massive movement away from fossil fuels, with between 70%

and 85% of global electricity production being from renewables by 2050. There needs to be

huge investment in green technology for power generation, transport and industrial production.

In addition, the report recommends investing in atmospheric carbon extraction technologies.

Other policies to reduce carbon include massive reforestation.

Both these types of policies involve governments taking action, whether through increased

carbon taxes on either producers or consumer or both, or through increased subsidies for

renewables and other alternatives, or through the use of cap and trade with emissions

allocations (either given by government or sold at auction) and carbon trading, or through the

use of regulation to prohibit or limit behaviour that leads to emissions.

Another avenue is a change in people's attitudes, which may be influenced by education,

governments, pressure groups, news media, etc. For example, if people could be persuaded to

eat less meat, drive less (for example, by taking public transport, walking, cycling, car sharing

or living nearer to their work), go on fewer holidays, heat their houses less, move to smaller

homes, install better insulation, etc., these would all reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Finally, there is the hope that the market may provide part of the solution. The cost of

generating electricity from renewable is coming down and is becoming increasingly

competitive with electricity generated from fossil fuels. Electric cars are coming down in price

as battery technology develops; also, battery capacity is increasing and recharging is becoming

quicker, helping encourage the switch from petrol and diesel cars to electric and hybrid cars.

At the same time, various industrial processes are becoming more fuel efficient. But these

developments, although helpful, will not be enough to achieve the 1.5C target on their own.

This report must over the following session :

a) Introduction.

b) Determine the causes and effects

c) Recommendation/ Suggestion - solutions

d) Conclusion.