Have international pollution protocols made a difference?

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Forfattere:

Isaksen, Elisabeth T.

År:

2018

Referanse:

Andre skrifter
Grantham Research Institute on Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment Working Paper No. 310

Sammendrag (engelsk)

Evaluating the effectiveness of international agreements is inherently difficult due to the problems of self-selection, spillovers, and aggregate-level data. In this paper, I provide new and arguably more credible estimates on the effects of the Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) protocols on three different pollutants: SO2, NOx, and VOCs. I address the problem of non-parallel emission trends by constructing "synthetic" controls that mimic the pre-treatment development of each affected country. Using a new dataset covering more regions and a longer period than previously applied, I find that all three protocols induced emissions reductions well beyond a (synthetic) counterfactual development.