This week’s question from the Georgia Climate Project’s Roadmap looks at the need for research to identify how different strategies for reducing the emission of greenhouse gases will affect different constituent groups. There are trade-offs in benefits or costs for different groups, since any particular action could be good for some groups while costing others. We don’t have a full picture of how all of these trade-offs interact and so more research is needed to look at the interplay between the groups. Remember, you can read all of the Roadmap questions at https://roadmap.georgiaclimateproject.org/.
37. How do equity and justice implications of reducing greenhouse gas emissions vary for alternative policy and technology strategies?
Why this question is important: Addressing climate change through mitigation or adaptation strategies often poses tradeoffs relating to the efficiency and equity of policy outcomes (e.g., Böhringer et al. 2012). For example, mitigation policies that raise the price of electricity and heating fuel by promoting renewable energy may disproportionately increase energy cost burdens of low-income households (Johnson et al. 2017). Similarly, programs designed to address these burdens may only be accessible to certain populations in Georgia. Policies that attempt to influence transportation decisions by encouraging alternative fuel vehicles, increased public transportation supply and accessibility, or other options will have similar distributional consequences. In addition to assessing potential burdens among citizens and communities, it is important to assess potential co-benefits (e.g., health, innovation, education, job creation) of various policies and technological innovation strategies. The tradeoffs and consequences of policy options must be properly understood if technically, economically, and politically acceptable interventions are to be taken.
