Global Climate Change Policy

“From Thunberg to Trump: there are many voices in climate policy. This is a highly recommendable and rational contribution with a focus on economic aspects of an effective and internationally oriented climate policy. Many new insights!”

- Prof. Dr. Raimund Bleischwitz, Chair in Sustainable Global Resources, University College London, till December 2021. Scientific Director, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen, since January 2022.

This book considers climate change from an economic and international policy perspective. It argues that an emissions trading systems (ETS) should first be adopted in all G20 countries with those national ETS then integrated into a global ETS. The topic of global warming is at the forefront of international discussions, especially given recent environmental policy changes in the US under Presidents Trump and Biden and the emergence of the Fridays For Future movement.

Combatting climatechange does not necessitate a trade-off between economic growth and climate policy provided that the latter is consistently linked to new economic policy. Policymakers should support innovation, effective redistribution policies and modern mobility concepts. Moreover, there are crucial links between financial market dynamics and price dynamics in ETS. If measures discussed here are coordinated effectively in the EU/G20, and at the global level, then climate neutrality could be achieved.


Paul JJ Welfens is President of the European Institute for International Economic Relations (EIIW) at the University of Wuppertal, Germany, where he holds the Chair for Macroeconomics and Jean Monnet Professorship for European Economic Integration. He is a Research Fellow at IZA, Bonn, and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at AICGS/Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC.