Escaping carbon lock-in
2002; Elsevier BV; Volume: 30; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/s0301-4215(01)00098-2
ISSN1873-6777
Autores Tópico(s)Climate Change Policy and Economics
ResumoThis article explores the climate policy implications of the arguments made in “Understanding carbon lock-in” (Unruh, 2000), which posited that industrial countries have become locked-into fossil fuel-based energy systems through path dependent processes driven by increasing returns to scale. Carbon lock-in arises through technological, organizational, social and institutional co-evolution, “culminating” in what was termed as techno-institutional complex (TIC). In order to resolve the climate problem, an escape from the lock-in condition is required. However, due to the self-referential nature of TIC, escape conditions are unlikely to be generated internally and it is argued here that exogenous forces are probably required.
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