The Climate Change RPN was established in January 2020. The network has been merged in 2024 with the Climate Change and the Environment Programme Area.
Climate change has the potential to eliminate humankind from the Earth if our generation refuses to confront its responsibilities towards Humanity. In recent years, the crucial question has shifted from the nature of the climate problem to the shaping of the optimal societal answer. How should one adapt Society to address this question optimally? This CEPR network aimed at addressing this crucial question. This initiative generated, coordinated and disseminated academic research related to this existential issue. The network seeked to foster a dialogue among academics and policy makers about the optimal policies to deal with fighting climate change, both in terms of mitigation and adaptation.
The range of theory and policy questions is wide, from determining the optimal policy instruments to the estimation of the schedule of efficient carbon prices, the best strategy to solve the free-rider problem in international negotiations, the estimation of climate impacts, the issue of equity and burden-sharing, the role of green finance, the impact of risk and uncertainties in the urgency to reduce emissions, or the management of the political acceptability issue, to mention just a few items in the long list of hot topics in climate economics.