New approach in educating about innovative climate policy : A case study at the ISDRS

Abstract

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C requires ambitious actions and systematic change, which need to be underpinned by a combination of innovative price and non-price policy instruments and a redirection of financial flows towards low-emission investments. Current public, financial, institutional and innovation capabilities however fall short of implementing ambitious actions in all countries. Policies including greening the economy, enhancing efficiency and Carbon Taxing proved to be inadequate to reach the 1.5°C target so far, but innovative policy instruments, having the potential to reach the target while addressing trade-offs with other policies have been already proposed. Among those, the Energy Budget Scheme (EBS) (RCC, 2015) is based on national proposals, which were debated (though eventually rejected) by national parliaments. The EBS would set an absolute limit for absolute fossil energy use, under which end users would receive energy entitlements to cover their energy consumption. End users could trade with their entitlements, for which they would gain an interest free currency. This so-called quota money could only be spent in a newly created secondary market for products and services with environmental and ethical certification. The EBS would include a Transition Fund, which would provide interest free loans on energy saving investments to everyone in need without requiring their own financial contribution. Even though the EBS has the potential to deliver systemic change in energy use, and thus reach 1.5°C target in a socially just manner, it has not caught significant attention from decision-makers, researchers or from the public. Therefore, we aim to communicate the effectiveness and sustainability impacts of EBS through a software-based strategy game, through which participants could also compare EBS with other tools aiming for CO2 emission reduction while considering broader sustainability impacts. We believe that this innovative approach would not only bring education benefits but would also help to create a window of opportunity to debate and introduce policy innovation on a systemic level.