Advanced country options to accelerate decarbonisation in emerging and developing economies (EMDEs)

While the success of decarbonization efforts in advanced countries is paramount, advanced countries could potentially have an even bigger impact on global emissions reductions by supporting the decarbonization of EMDEs, where emissions continue to rise. At the same time, emissions per capita in most EMDEs remain far lower than they are in advanced countries, limiting the willingness of EMDEs to pursue aggressive mitigation. What are economically and politically feasible was to create emissions reduction incentives in EMDEs? How can free riding, as well as monitoring and verification of emissions reductions be addressed? The presentation will discuss the rationale for, and limitations of, two main approaches, based on trade-related incentives and financial incentives, respectively. It will argue that the latter shows promise, but requires a much larger financing, coordination and implementation effort than has happened so far.