Green innovation policies

Mar
24

Livestream

Economics of Global Challenges

Climate change already has a negative impact on the environment and our societies, and this impact will get worse over the course of this century. How much worse? This will depend on our ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Achieving the necessary reduction in emissions, while maintaining (and improving) worldwide living standards can only be achieved through innovation. How should global climate policy be designed to leverage this innovation response?

David Hémous reviewed recent economic research on the role of innovation in the design of climate policy and took questions in his webinar on March 24 at 17:00 CET. Your host was Nir Jaimovich (University of Zurich).

This was a public event with free access via livestream on our website.

This session was presented in association with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).

Climate change already has a negative impact on the environment and our societies, and this impact will get worse over the course of this century. How much worse? This will depend on our ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Achieving the necessary reduction in emissions, while maintaining (and improving) worldwide living standards can only be achieved through innovation. How should global climate policy be designed to leverage this innovation response?

David Hémous reviewed recent economic research on the role of innovation in the design of climate policy and took questions in his webinar on March 24 at 17:00 CET. Your host was Nir Jaimovich (University of Zurich).

David Hémous is UBS Foundation Associate Professor of Economics of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)
David Hémous is UBS Foundation Associate Professor of Economics of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Green innovation policies

Our ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will determine how fast we can stop global warming. In his Public Paper, UBS Foundation Professor David Hémous explains that achieving the necessary reduction in emissions – while maintaining (and improving) worldwide living standards – can only be accomplished through innovation. Innovation has the potential to combine the necessary decline in greenhouse gas emissions with sustained economic growth; and it responds largely and rapidly to price signals. However, innovation is not a silver bullet. It is conducted by scientists and firms, it reacts to market and policy incentives, and needs therefore be regulated by governments. Hémous reviews recent economic research on the role of innovation in the design of climate policy, he evaluates the effectiveness of current technological trends, and introduces a new economic climate policy innovation framework.

Download your free copy here.

Our ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will determine how fast we can stop global warming. In his Public Paper, UBS Foundation Professor David Hémous explains that achieving the necessary reduction in emissions – while maintaining (and improving) worldwide living standards – can only be accomplished through innovation. Innovation has the potential to combine the necessary decline in greenhouse gas emissions with sustained economic growth; and it responds largely and rapidly to price signals. However, innovation is not a silver bullet. It is conducted by scientists and firms, it reacts to market and policy incentives, and needs therefore be regulated by governments. Hémous reviews recent economic research on the role of innovation in the design of climate policy, he evaluates the effectiveness of current technological trends, and introduces a new economic climate policy innovation framework.

Download your free copy here.

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Speakers

UBS Foundation Associate Professor of Economics of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

David Hémous received his PhD from Harvard University in 2012. He is a macroeconomist working on economic growth, climate change and inequality. His work highlights that innovation responds to economic incentives and that public policies should be designed taking this dependence into account. In particular, he has shown in the context of climate change policy that innovations in the car industry respond to gas prices and that global and regional climate policies should support clean innovation to efficiently reduce CO2 emissions. His work on technological change and income distribution shows that higher labor costs lead to more automation, and that the recent increase in labor income inequality and in the capital share can be explained by a secular increase in automation. He has also shown that innovation affects top income shares. He was awarded an ERC Starting Grant on 'Automation and Income Distribution – a Quantitative Assessment' and he received the 2022 'European Award for Researchers in Environmental Economics under the Age of Forty'.

Professor of Economics, Affiliated Professor at the UBS Center
Prof. Nir Jaimovich

Nir Jaimovich ist ein Makroökonom, der sich mit Konjunkturzyklen und der Dynamik des Arbeitsmarktes befasst. Er ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) und Mitherausgeber des Journal of Monetary Economics und des Journal of Economic Theory. Bevor er an die Universität Zürich kam, war Professor Jaimovich an der Fakultät der Marshall School of Business an der USC, der Duke University, der Stanford University und der University of California, San Diego, tätig. Darüber hinaus war er wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter im Rahmen des Programms "Economic Fluktuationen und Wachstum" des National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

UBS Foundation Associate Professor of Economics of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

David Hémous received his PhD from Harvard University in 2012. He is a macroeconomist working on economic growth, climate change and inequality. His work highlights that innovation responds to economic incentives and that public policies should be designed taking this dependence into account. In particular, he has shown in the context of climate change policy that innovations in the car industry respond to gas prices and that global and regional climate policies should support clean innovation to efficiently reduce CO2 emissions. His work on technological change and income distribution shows that higher labor costs lead to more automation, and that the recent increase in labor income inequality and in the capital share can be explained by a secular increase in automation. He has also shown that innovation affects top income shares. He was awarded an ERC Starting Grant on 'Automation and Income Distribution – a Quantitative Assessment' and he received the 2022 'European Award for Researchers in Environmental Economics under the Age of Forty'.

Professor of Economics, Affiliated Professor at the UBS Center
Prof. Nir Jaimovich

Nir Jaimovich ist ein Makroökonom, der sich mit Konjunkturzyklen und der Dynamik des Arbeitsmarktes befasst. Er ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) und Mitherausgeber des Journal of Monetary Economics und des Journal of Economic Theory. Bevor er an die Universität Zürich kam, war Professor Jaimovich an der Fakultät der Marshall School of Business an der USC, der Duke University, der Stanford University und der University of California, San Diego, tätig. Darüber hinaus war er wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter im Rahmen des Programms "Economic Fluktuationen und Wachstum" des National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).