Climate Change Mitigation Policy, Water Resources, and Population Migration

Climate Change Mitigation Policy, Water Resources, and Population Migration

by

Adam Rose and Dan Wei

Price School of Public Policy
University of Southern California

 

The major feature of the 2015 Paris Agreement consisted of pledges by 195 countries to take steps to reduce atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) so as to limit any further increase in global mean temperatures to 2° centigrade over pre-industrial levels. This presentation will examine three major implications of the Paris Agreement.  First, we examine how the agreement can be implemented through a globally-linked GHG emissions allowance trading system. We present the implications of this institutional arrangement in terms of cost savings and auction/revenue recycling and purchases/sales of emission allowances that can result in financial transfers that will enable low-income countries to meet their pledges.  Second, we examine the implications of GHG mitigation for water resources. This will be done by analyzing the GHG emission reductions, costs, and impacts on water quantity and quality of individual mitigation options.  Third, we present the implications of the Paris Agreement and likely water-related GHG mitigation options for population movement in the US and other countries.  The analysis is based on projections of the implications for droughts and sea-level rise associated with various increases in global mean temperatures.