Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

A balanced-efforts approach for climate cooperation

Focusing on policies and effort costs rather than emissions may facilitate climate negotiations and improve the chances of reaching a successful agreement. The effort costs of a country comprise investments in low-carbon technologies, in addition to direct mitigation costs.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Stiglitz, J. E. Economist's Voice 3, http://dx.doi.org/10.2202/1553-3832.1210 (2006).

  2. Schelling, T. C. Am. Econ. Rev. 82, 1–14 (1992).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Höhne N., den Elzen, M. & Escalante, D. Clim. Policy 14, 122–147 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Jaffe, A. B., Newell, R. G. & Stavins, R. N. Ecol. Econ. 54, 164–174 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Gerlagh, R., Kverndokk, S. & Rosendahl, K. E. Environ. Resour. Econ. 43, 369–390 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Goulder, L. H. & Mathai, K. J. Environ. Econ. Manage. 39, 1–38 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Jotzo, F. Carbon Manage. 2, 9–12 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Benedick, R. E. Iss. Sci. Technol. 18, 71–76 (2001).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Aldy, J. E., Barrett, S. & Stavins, R. N. Clim. Policy 3, 373–397 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Stavins, R. et al. Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change (eds Edenhofer, O. et al.) Ch.13 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Stern, D. I. & Jotzo, F. Energy Policy 38, 6776–6783 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I have benefitted from discussions with and/or received very helpful comments from the following people: Scott Barrett, Ottmar Edenhofer, Larry Karp, and Robert Marschinski. I also thank the members of the CREW-project for inspiring discussions. Financial support by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research is gratefully acknowledged (FKZ01LA1121C).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert C. Schmidt.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Schmidt, R. A balanced-efforts approach for climate cooperation. Nature Clim Change 5, 10–12 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2447

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2447

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing