Carbon & Climate Law Review is welcoming abstracts for a special issue on Carbon Finance, the Financial Crisis, and the Re-regulation of Markets, scheduled for publication in June 2009. It will be edited by Jacob Werksman and Christina Voigt. The deadline is Feb. 15, 2009.
Governments and business worldwide are preparing to adjust to a carbon constrained future, in the context of a near term financial crisis. The policy links between combating global warming, jump-starting the global economy, and re-regulating markets to prevent future financial crises, demand deeper analysis. Reaching ambitious climate goals will require caps on greenhouse gas emissions that may prove politically unpalatable in the midst of an economic down turn. Competitiveness concerns already raised by differentiated climate policies may be exacerbated by the fragility of domestic economies and trade-dependent industries. Nonetheless many governments have signalled that publicly financed green recovery schemes will be a central part of economic stimulus packages. Many governments are also likely to rely on carbon finance which rewards investors in low carbon alternatives with carbon offsets to incentivize and lower the costs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, carbon offsets and allowances are complex financial instruments that are not closely regulated, and recent experiences with sub-prime mortgages have raised concerns about an over-dependency on sub-prime carbon. Finally, the auctioning, sale and taxation of carbon allowances and offsets promise to provide significant new sources of government revenue, and may play a role in controlling government deficits.
Contributions should contribute to an understanding of how existing and proposed national, regional or international law and policy can help address such questions as:
Can climate change concerns be integrated into domestic green recovery schemes and stimulus packages?
Can new sources of finance — from additional ODA, to the auctioning of emissions allowances to taxes on aviation and maritime transport, to debt instruments –encourage climate friendly investments while reducing government deficit?
What role can existing and new international financial institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF, the Adaptation Fund Board, and the Climate Investment Funds play in responding to both the financial and climate change crises?
Can efforts to re-regulate of financial markets provide an opportunity to strengthen the environmental integrity of carbon markets? Require the disclosure of climate-related risks?
How might WTO and other free trade rules accommodate trade measures put in place to address climate related competitiveness concerns? Climate friendly stimulus packages?
Abstracts should be sent to christina.voigt [at] jus.uio.no by 15 February 2009.
Authors will be informed by 28 February 2009 on the outcome of the initial review process. Final manuscripts will be due by 31 March 2009. In order to ensure quick turnaround and policy relevance, articles should be concise, ranging from 2,500-4,500 words in length.
Commentaries on recent judicial decisions, new legislation, and other developments can range from 1,500 to 2,500 words.
For further information on the editorial process, submissions on other topics or general questions relating to the journal, kindly contact the editor at mehling [at] lexxion.de. Please feel free to forward this call for papers to interested colleagues.
