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Sustainable Finance and Climate Change: Wasteful but a Political Commitment Device?

Author

Listed:
  • Clemens Fuest
  • Volker Meier
Abstract
Promoting investment in low carbon “clean” sectors has gained popularity over the last years under the heading of sustainable finance, at the same time raising concerns about adverse welfare effects of such policies. We analyze the economic impact of subsidizing investment in “clean” industries in a stylized two-sector small open economy model. Such a reform increases gross wages, but reduces national income due to the distortion of capital. At given national emissions cap, worldwide emissions rise because imports of the high-carbon good will increase. When adapting the emissions cap, the environmental policy becomes laxer if it is dominated by income effects or by mitigating losses arising from the distortion of the allocation of capital. At the same time, the shrinking high carbon sector reduces income gains from a higher cap and thus works toward a stricter policy. Results are similar if capital in “dirty” industries is taxed. Though sustainable finance policies do seem wasteful, we provide a rationalization in a setting with irreversible investment, where a “green” government” uses such a policy to induce stricter environmental measures after a possible switch to a “conservative” government.

Suggested Citation

  • Clemens Fuest & Volker Meier, 2022. "Sustainable Finance and Climate Change: Wasteful but a Political Commitment Device?," CESifo Working Paper Series 9537, CESifo.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9537
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    Cited by:

    1. Fuest Clemens & Meier Volker, 2022. "Green Finance and the EU-Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities: Why Using More Direct Environmental Policy Tools Is Preferable," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 19(2), pages 261-266, December.
    2. Monasterolo, Irene & Pacelli, Antonia & Pagano, Marco & Russo, Carmine, 2024. "A European Climate Bond," CEPR Discussion Papers 18988, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Emanuele Campiglio & Alessandro Spiganti & Anthony Wiskich, 2023. "Clean Innovation, Heterogeneous Financing Costs, and the Optimal Climate Policy Mix," CAMA Working Papers 2023-25, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, revised May 2024.
    4. Giovanardi, Francesco & Kaldorf, Matthias, 2024. "Climate change and the macroeconomics of bank capital regulation," Discussion Papers 13/2024, Deutsche Bundesbank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    climate change; global externalities; sustainable finance; small open economy; political economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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