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Environmental Protection for Sale: Strategic Green Industrial Policy and Climate Finance

Author

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  • Fischer, Carolyn

    (Resources for the Future)

Abstract
Industrial policy has long been criticized as subject to protectionist interests; accordingly, subsidies to domestic producers face disciplines under World Trade Organization agreements, without exceptions for environmental purposes. Now green industrial policy is gaining popularity as governments search for low-carbon solutions that also provide jobs at home. The strategic trade literature has largely ignored the issue of market failures related to green goods. I consider the market for a new environmental good (such as low-carbon technology) whose downstream consumption provides external benefits (such as reduced emissions). Governments may have some preference for supporting domestic production, such as by interest-group lobbying, introducing a political distortion in their objective function. I examine the national incentives and global rationales for offering production (upstream) and deployment (downstream) subsidies in producer countries, allowing that some of the downstream market may lie in nonregulating third-party countries. Restraints on upstream subsidies erode global welfare when environmental externalities are large enough relative to political distortions. Climate finance is an effective alternative if political distortions are large and governments do not undervalue carbon costs. Numerical simulations of the case of renewable energy indicate that a modest social cost of carbon can imply benefits from allowing upstream subsidies.

Suggested Citation

  • Fischer, Carolyn, 2016. "Environmental Protection for Sale: Strategic Green Industrial Policy and Climate Finance," RFF Working Paper Series dp-16-13, Resources for the Future.
    • Handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-16-13
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    File URL: http://www.rff.org/research/publications/environmental-protection-sale-strategic-green-industrial-policy-and-climate
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    23. Petros C. Mavroidis, 2014. "A Turquoise Mess: Green Subsidies, Blue Industrial Policy and Renewable Energy: the Case for Redrafting the Subsidies Agreement of the WTO," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers p0368, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
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    Cited by:

    1. Fischer, Carolyn & Greaker, Mads & Rosendahl, Knut Einar, 2018. "Strategic technology policy as a supplement to renewable energy standards," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 84-98.
    2. Kotchen, Matthew J. & Costello, Christopher, 2018. "Maximizing the impact of climate finance: Funding projects or pilot projects?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 270-281.
    3. Cui, Li & Chan, Hing Kai & Zhou, Yizhuo & Dai, Jing & Lim, Jia Jia, 2019. "Exploring critical factors of green business failure based on Grey-Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL)," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 450-461.
    4. Fischer, Carolyn, 2016. "Strategic Subsidies for Green Goods," RFF Working Paper Series dp-16-12, Resources for the Future.
    5. Lin, Boqiang & Li, Minyang, 2024. "Micro Mechanisms Driving China's Clean Energy Flourish: Business Expansion and Financing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    6. Haiqian Ke & Bo Yang & Shangze Dai, 2022. "Does Intensive Land Use Contribute to Energy Efficiency?—Evidence Based on a Spatial Durbin Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Ge, Tao & Cai, Xuesen & Song, Xiaowei, 2022. "How does renewable energy technology innovation affect the upgrading of industrial structure? The moderating effect of green finance," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 1106-1114.
    8. Lidia Vidal-Meliá & Eva Camacho-Cuena & Miguel Ginés-Vilar, 2019. "Market size asymmetry and industrial policy in an international duopoly: Environmental tax vs. production subsidy," Working Papers 2019/01, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    9. Avenyo, Elvis Korku & Tregenna, Fiona, 2022. "Greening manufacturing: Technology intensity and carbon dioxide emissions in developing countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    10. Juanjuan Qin & Yuhui Zhao & Liangjie Xia, 2018. "Carbon Emission Reduction with Capital Constraint under Greening Financing and Cost Sharing Contract," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-32, April.
    11. Yen-Ju Lin & Yan-Shu Lin & Tsung-Han Chou & Pei-Cyuan Shih, 2024. "Environmental policy, licensing strategy, and social welfare," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 141-159, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Green Industrial Policy; Emissions Leakage; Externalities; International Trade; Renewable Energy; Subsidies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F18 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Environment
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

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