Advancing methodological thinking and practice for development-compatible climate policy planning

S. Şerban Scrieciu, Valerie Belton, Zaid Chalabi, Reinhard Mechler, Daniel Puig

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)
290 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

There are growing calls for identifying climate mitigation and adaptation policypackages that would also support human development objectives at the national and regional levels. The literature on climate policy analysis and impact assessment continues to be driven by standard economics with its body of competitive general equilibrium optimization models and cost-benefit analysis techniques of aggregation and monetization. However, its recommendations for climate action are often based on highly restrictive underlying assumptions, which have been increasingly criticized for being too prescriptive, not adequately capturing salient observed socioeconomic realities, and not acknowledging pluralism in values. The main aim of this paper is to put forward a new methodological approach that seeks to address these deficiencies. A generic but comprehensive framework eliciting mitigation-adaptation-development interactions, accounting for institutional barriers, and drawing on a combination of an emerging body of new climate economics and multi-criteria decision analysis is suggested. We purport that, by using this framework, multi-dimensional impacts and multistakeholder interests could be better represented when planning climate policy actions. We also argue that analytical tools drawing on economic thinking which embraces interdisciplinary analysis and deep uncertainty and avoids the fallacy of unique optimal solutions, may deliver more effective strategies for pushing economies onto the transformational pathways required.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)261-288
Number of pages28
JournalMitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change
Volume19
Issue number3
Early online date7 Jan 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2014

Keywords

  • climate policy development
  • multicriteria
  • climate economics
  • planning
  • impact assessment

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