Download General Agreement on Climate Change

General Agreement on
Climate Change
Burlington, Canada
General Agreement on Climate
Change
As a United Nations, your task is to reduce global greenhouse
gas emissions.
The General Agreement on Climate Change measures emission
reductions in simple units. Under the GACC, eighteen countries
have pledged to reduce their emissions by 1 unit a year. Six
countries have made larger commitments. The United
Kingdom, France, and Russia have pledged 2 units of reduction
per year.
Germany had pledged 4 units, Japan 5 units and the United
States 7
Each year, these six countries may reduce by any whole number
of units up to their pledge. For example, Japan may reduce by
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 units.
Remember, if you pledge all of your
credits, your economy will “decrease”
by 10% that year.
However, the more other
countries give up their credits,
the less it will cost you in the end.
Therefore, the maximum world
emission reduction that is possible in
any round, which is achieve if every
country makes it’s full promised
reduction, is 40 units
Objectives of the Participants
Each of your confidential instructions
include a table, TABLE A, that shows
how your cost each round depends on
the decisions made by you and others.
These costs represent, on a scale of 0 –
100 scale, that total annual economic
and environmental loss to your country
for a round of the GACC negotiations.
You should think of the large numbers
in the table as representing very large
decreases in your national welfare.
A cost of 100 points might, for example,
represent a loss of as much as 10% of
your countries Gross National Product
(measure of a countries total economic
well-being).
All numbers in the table are positive… this
represents the assumption that global
warming is bound to result in a loss to your
country through environmental damage.
Table A shows how your costs depend on two
factors..
Whether and how much you reduce your own
emissions
To total emission reduction achieved by all
countries.
We will keep track of each countries “pledge”
every year.
You will fill out a tracking sheet (see next
slide).
This information is confidential until you hand
the sheet into Mrs. Fletcher
At this time, we will all see how many credits
are pledged by the United Nations
Remember, the more credits that are
pledged, the better it is for each country in
the end.
Your job is to decide whether and how much
to reduce your national emissions, with the
goal of making the total costs to your country
over the whole simulation as small as
possible.
You must figure out how to resolve the
tension between your preference for not
reducing your own emissions and your
preference that would emissions be reduces
as much as possible.
To win, you must the smallest running
total as this number represents the
impact to your economy.
Decision
Record Sheet
DECISION RECORD SHEET
AMBASSADOR FROM:
______________________
ROUND
NUMBER
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
REDUCTION
DECISION
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
Random Environmental Effects
Every three years, a natural disaster
strikes.
The number of countries affected
depend on the number of credits
pledged.
Random Environmental Effects
IF 3 – YEAR
AVERAGE
SHORTFALL (AS)
IS
NUMBER OF
RANDOM LOSERS
NUMBER OF
RANDOM
WINNERS
AS  3
0
0
3  AS  6
1
0
6  AS  9
2
0
9  AS  12
3
1
AS  12
4
2
Confidentiality Restriction
Remember, that your Confidential Instructions
are CONFIDENTIAL and may not be shown to
other participants.
This is especially true for Table A and C.
However, you are free to relate your “costs”
verbally or write down information for sharing
as desired.
This preserves the real-life possibility that
Ambassadors might exaggerate their
country’s plight and independent verification
is difficult or impossible.
Questions
Can I emit A partial Unit?
no
Can I reduce my emissions by more
that I promised in the GACC?
no
Can I trade emissions for money?
no
But what am I supposed to do?
Don’t worry… if you are confused about what
exactly you are supposed to do. Your instructions
are intentionally don’t tell you whether and how
much to reduce your emissions. Your job is to do
as well as you can FOR YOUR COUNTRY. This
means you must do your best to persuade others
to reduce their emissions and decide when and
under what circumstances to reduce yours.
What is my score for the game?
The sum of your costs for each round.
Have Fun!!!