Analysis: Technology in a post-2012 transatlantic perspective

In this paper, the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) contrasts EU and US approaches to climate change mitigation in a post-Kyoto context. The paper concludes that he US ‘technology push’ approach and the EU ‘market pull’ approach are not contradictory but complementary. 

The following is taken from the CEPS paper: “Technology in a post-2012 transatlantic perspective” by Christian Egenhofer 

“The EU and the US have found themselves supporting two polar views on which strategy is the most effective in achieving stabilisation of greenhouse (GHG) emissions: ‘technology push’ vs ‘market pull’. As an advocate of the former, the US asserts that the principal emphasis should be on technology development, financed through typical public R&D programmes. In supporting the ‘market-pull’ approach, the EU argues that technological change is an incremental process emanating primarily from business and industry, induced by government incentives. This paper argues that these two opposing positions can be explained by the respective political economies in the EU and the US but that changes are afoot that can improve the prospects for cooperation. In order to foster the convergence of views, additional conditions need to be fulfilled in both the EU and the US”.

Click here to read the full paper by Christian Egenhofer