This workshop is intended for researchers and doctoral students in economics who are interested in resource and environmental economics. The webinar is led by a team of researchers composed of Geir B. Asheim (Oslo University), Hassan Benchekroun (McGill University), Sophie Bernard (Polytechnique Montréal), Etienne Billette de Villemeur (Université de Lille, UQAM), Robert Cairns (McGill University), Justin Leroux (HEC Montréal), and Charles Séguin (UQAM).

This workshop on natural resource and environmental economics will host Aude Pommeret, professor at the Université de Savoie Mont-Blanc, and CNRS researcher Adrien Fabre.

→ This event will be in English.

• Aude Pommeret (Université de Savoie Mont-Blanc)
  Fueling the energy transition with fossil (not quite) stranded assets
  Co-authored with Francesco Ricci

Abstract

The energy transition is associated with many problems, not least the high requirement for raw materials to build the infrastructure needed to supply electricity from renewable sources. In addition, climate policies push out some fossil fuel power generation capacity, generating stranded assets. However, these decommissioned structures constitute a stock of scrap, from which raw materials can be recovered and recycled to build the new infrastructure for renewable energy. In this paper, we investigate whether such a recycling process could, first, contain the rise in the price of  virgin minerals and second, ease  the  stranded assets phenomenon. To do so, we use a stylized dynamic model, featuring the brown capital decommissioning rate as a control variable: it reduces the brown stock available for energy production  but also increases the scrap that offers recycling potential. We study the effect of such recycling on decommissioning and extraction strategies. We also show that the ability to recycle reduces the cost of getting rid of fossil fuels, thus bringing forward their phase-out.

• Adrien Fabre (CNRS)
  Majority Support for Global Climate and Redistributive Policies

Abstract

We document majority support for policies entailing global redistribution and climate mitigation. Surveys on 40,680 respondents in 20 countries show strong stated support for a global carbon price funding equal cash transfers, called the "Global Climate Scheme" (GCS). Through our surveys on 8,000 respondents in the U.S., France, Germany, Spain, and the UK, we test several hypotheses that could reconcile strong stated support with scarce occurrences in public debates. Three quarters of Europeans and half of Americans support the GCS, even as they understand its cost to them. Using several experiments, we show that the support for the GCS is sincere and that political programs that include it are preferred to programs that do not. We document widespread support for other globally redistributive policies, such as increased foreign aid or a wealth tax funding low-income countries. In sum, global policies are genuinely supported by majorities, even in wealthy, contributing countries.