Green International Political Economy: Issues And Policy Concerns

Abstract

olicy-makers across the global spectrum and in the United States (US) in particular, are grappling with the classic problem of an ‘environment-economy tradeoff.‘ The phenomenal increase in the emission of greenhouse gases has contributed to erratic climate changes. The insatiable appetite for energy due to an exploding global population has also led to a gross mismatch of energy demand-supply dynamics. With the US struggling to recover from the global financial crisis, there is an ever-increasing pressure on the US government to take urgent measures culminating in economic recovery. But any such acceleration could also come at the cost of our environment. So how does government effectively design optimal policies that would simultaneously address both of these problems? This policy brief suggests economically viable and politically feasible policy instruments that the US could consider in order to solve this conundrum.