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In this World Development Report 2025 seminar series, Stefan Ambec (INRAE Research Professor, Toulouse School of Economics) discusses "Environmental Standards: A Key Policy Instrument for Fostering Sustainable Development" with chair Xavier Giné (Director, World Development Report 2025),
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00:00 Hello,

00:00 everyone,

00:00 and,

00:01 and welcome to the first seminar of the WDR 2025 seminar series.

00:05 I'm Xavi Jinne.

00:06 I'm the director of this year's WDR which,

00:09 uh,

00:09 as you may know,

00:10 it's entitled Leveraging Standards for Development.

00:13 So,

00:13 as preparation for the report,

00:15 we've commissioned a series of background

00:17 papers on various topics around standardization.

00:20 And so we want the seminar series to allow the authors of the,

00:23 of the papers to present their,

00:25 their work.

00:25 So,

00:26 we're very delighted to have

00:28 Stefan Ambek,

00:29 who's a professor at uh Toulouse School of Economics

00:31 and director of the TSC Energy and Climate Center.

00:35 So,

00:35 Professor Ambeg will talk about

00:37 when and how standards can be used as a

00:39 tool for public policy in addressing environmental concerns.

00:43 So,

00:44 Professor,

00:44 you have around 40 minutes,

00:46 but,

00:47 but we,

00:47 as,

00:48 as,

00:48 as mentioned,

00:48 we welcome questions along the way.

00:50 So for the audience,

00:52 uh,

00:52 you know,

00:52 if you want to ask a question,

00:54 simply raise your hand and I'll,

00:56 I'll call your name in the order you,

00:57 you raise a hand.

00:58 And so,

00:59 so let's hope to have a lively,

01:01 lively debate.

01:02 Uh,

01:03 so,

01:03 uh,

01:04 Stefan,

01:04 professor,

01:04 the,

01:05 the,

01:05 the floor is yours.

01:06 Thank you.

01:07 Thank you,

01:08 Javier.

01:09 Thank you everybody for

01:10 this opportunity to share my research and

01:14 topics and

01:16 Uh,

01:16 well,

01:17 topics I'm working on for quite a long time.

01:22 So,

01:23 um,

01:24 the,

01:25 my background,

01:26 uh,

01:27 report is really about environmental standards.

01:30 So the focus is on

01:32 standards as a way to

01:34 Improve

01:36 the environment,

01:37 to reduce pollution and to manage the exploitation of natural resources.

01:44 So then the,

01:44 the,

01:45 this is the,

01:46 the,

01:47 well,

01:47 the,

01:48 the outline of,

01:49 of,

01:49 of the,

01:49 of the report.

01:51 Uh,

01:52 so first,

01:53 the first question is,

01:54 um,

01:55 Uh,

01:55 how you place the environmental standard in the mix of policy instruments.

02:01 So then the question is,

02:02 what are the policy instruments to tackle environmental issues?

02:06 Uh,

02:07 so then I will talk about the typology of

02:09 3 types of instruments and define those instruments,

02:12 provide examples

02:13 and see how standard

02:15 fit on,

02:16 on these,

02:17 uh,

02:18 background.

02:20 Then the next question is,

02:22 uh,

02:22 well,

02:23 given we have several instruments to reduce pollution,

02:28 when do we should use standard?

02:29 When standard should be part of the solution for uh

02:33 improving the environment?

02:36 Uh,

02:36 that's the first point.

02:37 The second point is,

02:38 uh,

02:39 if we use standard,

02:41 then,

02:41 uh,

02:42 should we use other instruments to complement the policy?

02:47 Um,

02:47 so the question is,

02:48 what are the mechanisms?

02:49 Are there complement substitute?

02:53 Then I will talk about two ways to see standards,

02:57 uh,

02:57 voluntary standards and mandatory standards.

03:02 So,

03:02 um,

03:03 uh,

03:04 what,

03:04 what are they?

03:05 How do they work?

03:07 Should we make standard voluntary or mandatory?

03:10 Um,

03:11 are there complement or substitute?

03:15 And then at the last,

03:16 the last part of the report,

03:18 I'll talk about the interplay between

03:21 environmental standards and international trade.

03:28 OK.

03:29 So what about the policy instruments to reduce

03:32 pollution and improve the management of natural resources?

03:36 So usually in economics,

03:38 we distinguish between

03:40 2 or 3

03:42 types of instruments.

03:44 The command and control instruments that are,

03:47 you know,

03:47 everything which is related to the technology.

03:49 So these are really engineering type of instruments.

03:52 So

03:53 basically you impose some constraint on the technology,

03:57 uh,

03:58 directly or

04:00 through some

04:02 constraint on input on,

04:04 on pollution levels.

04:08 The second type of instrument are what is called the market-based,

04:13 so you relied on market mechanisms to induce a reduction

04:17 of pollution to incentivize firms and consumers to reduce their

04:22 polluting emissions.

04:24 So this is kind of instrument that talks to economists.

04:30 Uh,

04:30 because you,

04:31 we actually,

04:31 we,

04:32 you,

04:32 you,

04:32 you rely on economic mechanism.

04:36 And then the third type of instrument,

04:38 which is something that has been

04:41 analyzed in the last 20 years in economics,

04:44 which was well known in psychology.

04:47 are what are called the information-based instruments.

04:50 Everything which is related to

04:53 information,

04:53 the,

04:54 the framing of product,

04:56 uh

04:57 sometimes,

04:57 they are called nudges.

04:59 So the idea here is that you,

05:01 you don't.

05:03 Put any

05:04 technical constraint,

05:05 you don't put

05:07 any price,

05:08 so you don't rely on

05:10 prices,

05:11 but you rely on information.

05:13 You,

05:13 you,

05:13 you give information.

05:15 Uh,

05:16 and you're given them information in the way that you would change,

05:18 you would like to change the behavior of

05:21 stakeholders,

05:22 firms,

05:23 or consumers in the right way,

05:25 in the way of reducing their pollution.

05:28 Oh,

05:28 you say they are the pollution or they are

05:30 harmful impact on the environment.

05:35 So let's be,

05:36 let's me talk,

05:38 start with the command and control instruments.

05:42 So as I said,

05:43 there are,

05:43 these are mostly technical standards.

05:47 So you impose some technology,

05:50 you ban some pesticides,

05:52 some inputs,

05:53 you ban other technology,

05:55 you put some restriction on the technology used.

05:58 So for instance,

05:59 you oblige a coal power plant to

06:03 install some kind of scrubber

06:06 to filter their CO2 and NOx emissions.

06:11 Are you um

06:13 And oblige them to use less.

06:17 polluting inputs like coal with a low sulfur content

06:22 or like fuel with less

06:25 no lead or

06:27 less sulfur.

06:30 So these are,

06:31 you know,

06:32 very specific measures on the technology.

06:36 Uh,

06:36 you have some light

06:39 way to restrict standards which are emission

06:43 standards.

06:44 So instead of

06:45 specifying the technology to use,

06:48 you

06:49 set limits on

06:53 polluting emissions.

06:55 So you can uh

06:57 limit particulate matters emission,

06:59 docks,

07:00 SO2,

07:01 uh,

07:01 you can set uh

07:03 energy efficiency standard expressed in terms of uh kilowatt per square or

07:08 in terms of CO2 emissions.

07:11 Uh,

07:11 so these are

07:13 usually mandatory,

07:14 so you impose this.

07:17 Um,

07:17 and when I would talk about the voluntary standard is

07:20 more than you have a different level of emission standards,

07:25 for instance,

07:26 and you distinguish product according to those levels

07:30 and you let firms decide about which level they

07:33 would like to,

07:34 to implement.

07:37 She fit

07:39 The citizens watching,

07:42 I am the leader the G20 by 4.

07:47 I'm sorry,

07:48 uh,

07:49 could you,

07:50 could you please mute yourself?

07:51 Let world leaders strip away the rights of their citizens.

07:58 OK.

07:59 So what about market-based instruments?

08:02 So there are two

08:04 types of market-based instruments.

08:07 So either you decide on prices,

08:09 uh,

08:10 positive or negative prices like subsidies.

08:14 So a classical example is the carbon tax

08:18 or subsidy for investing in

08:22 Um,

08:23 low carbon technologies like in the inflation Reduction Act in the US,

08:27 for instance.

08:28 So,

08:29 so you reward,

08:30 um,

08:31 decarbonization,

08:32 for instance,

08:33 of like

08:34 less polluting technologies,

08:36 for instance,

08:38 or you penalize,

08:40 um,

08:42 um,

08:42 emissions.

08:43 So you charge pollution in the

08:47 Piguvian way,

08:48 I mean,

08:48 like,

08:49 in the logic of,

08:50 of Arthur Pigo.

08:53 Another way to do that is you work with quantities.

08:57 So uh you set limits on pollution,

09:00 but the difference with emission standard is

09:04 now you allow

09:06 firms to trade emissions.

09:09 Uh,

09:10 quota or emission allowances.

09:13 So you actually design a market,

09:16 you should assign property rights on emission permits,

09:20 and you design a market in which

09:24 firms can trade.

09:26 So,

09:26 um,

09:27 in both cases,

09:29 what you do,

09:29 you leave a lot of flexibility

09:32 about how to deal with pollution,

09:36 so you don't impose any technology.

09:39 But you incentivize firms

09:41 to reduce their emitting pollution.

09:45 Um,

09:46 so,

09:46 um,

09:48 One specific example of this kind of market-based instrument which

09:52 has a little bit of the flavor of a standard.

09:57 Is um.

09:59 The tradable emission standard or

10:02 what is called performance standard.

10:05 So one example is this uh corporate average fuel

10:08 economy

10:10 standard

10:11 in the US.

10:12 So,

10:13 in the US,

10:14 uh,

10:15 car manufacturer

10:17 have an obligation to uh reach uh an emission intensity,

10:23 an average emission intensity for their

10:25 car fleet.

10:27 Um,

10:28 that they can,

10:29 um.

10:31 They,

10:31 they can,

10:32 they can achieve by

10:35 buying a certificate from other car manufacturers,

10:38 for example,

10:39 electric car manufacturers.

10:41 In the same way,

10:42 uh,

10:43 some states in the US have implemented the

10:47 um

10:48 um renewable portfolio standards

10:51 that are obligation of utilities,

10:54 electricity retailers

10:56 to um.

10:58 rely on.

11:01 to have a share of their electricity.

11:04 Relying on renewables,

11:06 let's say 30% of what they sell to final consumer should come from

11:11 renewable energy source,

11:13 uh,

11:13 renewable energy sources like

11:15 wind and solar power.

11:17 So in order to achieve this target,

11:19 what they do,

11:20 they um

11:22 by certificate

11:23 to uh

11:24 solar and wind power producers

11:27 uh if they don't issue the certificate certificate themselves.

11:31 So it's not an obligation to invest and to have 30% of their production capacity

11:37 with renewables

11:39 because they can just buy certificates from renewable producers

11:43 and if they have more than that,

11:44 they can sell the certificate to other retailers.

11:47 So it's a startup with some flexibility

11:51 about how to achieve it.

11:53 And,

11:53 and then at the end,

11:54 the incentives are more

11:56 with the price incentive because at the end,

11:59 your decision whether to invest or not

12:02 should depend on the price of those certificates.

12:06 In Europe for car manufacturing,

12:09 we have what's called feebates,

12:12 so it's it used to be

12:15 a tax subsidies based on the

12:18 energy efficiency of cars or CO2 emissions per 100 kilometers of cars.

12:24 So it's

12:26 It is defined

12:28 from one average

12:30 CO2 emission

12:32 standard per 100 kilometers and then

12:36 um

12:36 cars that are emitting more are taxed proportional to their

12:41 emission standard emission.

12:44 Well,

12:45 emission ratio

12:46 per 100 kilometer.

12:48 And those who are eating less get a subsidy from that and and.

12:54 The Fibet was designed originally

12:57 to be budget balanced.

12:59 So again,

13:00 you set a standard like emission per

13:03 100 kilometers,

13:04 emission per kilowatt hour.

13:07 And then you have like prices to adjust around the standard.

13:12 So it's a

13:14 mix of

13:15 market-based and instrumental standards.

13:19 And the third type of instrument are information-based instruments.

13:24 So you provide information to stakeholders.

13:29 Usually like consumers,

13:30 but also firms and also investors,

13:33 for instance.

13:35 Uh,

13:35 so these are a couple of examples.

13:37 Of course,

13:37 eco labels are the more straightforward.

13:40 Another

13:42 information is um

13:44 the certified environmental management procedures

13:48 like ISO certification 90,000.

13:51 So

13:52 firms can uh decided to adopt this um

13:57 man Amaton management procedure and be certified

14:01 in order to get some comparative advantage,

14:03 for instance,

14:04 um.

14:05 Uh,

14:06 to,

14:06 to,

14:07 to be able to sell their product to,

14:09 to,

14:09 to certified company if you are self-certified

14:14 ISO 40,000,

14:16 then you commit to buy from a

14:18 supplier that are certified.

14:21 Or to have access to uh

14:23 uh

14:24 public procurements because often it's part of the regulation.

14:29 Uh,

14:30 so,

14:30 so then

14:31 it's also one way to report emissions and um.

14:36 You have also,

14:37 you know,

14:38 some a lot of information that are

14:42 mandatory to provide to regulation regulators that are becoming public

14:48 and that will have an impact on

14:51 the image of company or products.

14:54 And some also programs

14:56 are managed by regulation agencies.

15:00 So one example is the 3050 program

15:04 that has been managed by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

15:09 In which uh

15:11 manufacturing plants volunteer to report their emissions

15:16 and in exchange what they have,

15:18 they have some sharing of best,

15:19 best practices,

15:21 uh,

15:22 some also

15:25 target on emission reduction,

15:28 uh,

15:28 and,

15:29 and,

15:29 and,

15:29 and,

15:30 um,

15:31 privilege,

15:32 privilege.

15:33 Well,

15:34 a,

15:34 a,

15:34 a good relationship with,

15:35 with,

15:36 I would say with,

15:36 with the,

15:37 with the regulator.

15:40 So again,

15:41 you know,

15:41 these market-based,

15:43 the information-based instruments,

15:45 uh,

15:46 they,

15:46 they don't

15:48 have any monetary impact really

15:51 direct monetary impact.

15:52 So there are no prices,

15:55 uh,

15:55 no obligation,

15:56 but,

15:57 but everything is about information.

16:00 So these are example of the just,

16:02 yes.

16:03 So,

16:03 sorry,

16:04 sorry to,

16:04 uh,

16:05 yeah,

16:05 sorry,

16:05 just,

16:06 uh,

16:06 uh,

16:06 a minor point to take issue on,

16:08 on ISO 14,000.

16:10 So,

16:10 I mean,

16:12 So,

16:12 you,

16:13 you,

16:13 you,

16:14 you call it a,

16:15 an,

16:15 just an information instrument information-based instrument,

16:18 but,

16:19 but in order to comply with ISO 14,000,

16:21 I may have to change the way I produce,

16:23 right?

16:24 I mean,

16:24 you know,

16:25 uh,

16:25 so I may not,

16:26 you know,

16:26 I may not,

16:27 you know,

16:27 uh,

16:27 from the get-go,

16:28 I may not comply with everything that ISO 14,000 requires me to do.

16:33 Um,

16:33 uh,

16:34 and so,

16:34 you know,

16:35 may have to hire a consultant and the guy will

16:38 walk around the plant and will say,

16:40 OK,

16:40 you know,

16:40 you're,

16:41 you know,

16:41 you're,

16:42 you're,

16:42 you're not treating the water properly,

16:44 or,

16:45 or,

16:45 or whatever,

16:46 you know,

16:46 or,

16:47 you know,

16:47 you're needing too much or,

16:48 or something.

16:49 And so,

16:50 and so,

16:50 basically,

16:51 I will have to take action in order to be certified.

16:54 I will have to take some action,

16:56 right,

16:56 and,

16:56 and,

16:56 and so,

16:57 and to curb,

16:58 curb some,

16:59 curb some pollution.

17:00 So it's,

17:01 so you know it's,

17:02 it's different from,

17:03 you know,

17:03 posting my emissions and actually

17:06 being certified with ISO

17:08 140,000,

17:08 right,

17:09 because I may feel the same,

17:13 yeah,

17:13 so um,

17:14 yeah,

17:16 so I'm,

17:16 I'm not saying that it is costless.

17:19 I'm not saying it is,

17:20 it does not cost.

17:21 What I'm saying is that this is voluntary.

17:25 So that's,

17:26 um,

17:27 so,

17:27 so you,

17:28 you don't have any obligation to come to,

17:31 to,

17:32 uh to,

17:33 to be ISO certified.

17:35 You may decide not to,

17:37 to go to launch this process.

17:39 The same way if you want to have the organic label as a farmer,

17:44 you need also to comply with many,

17:47 many rules,

17:48 and this is costly.

17:50 But you're not obliged to to to turn your production organic.

17:55 Um,

17:56 and so what,

17:57 and then what you get,

17:57 what do you get out of it,

17:59 after that,

18:00 you don't get,

18:00 uh,

18:01 well,

18:03 you don't get a subsidy,

18:04 for instance,

18:04 you don't get,

18:05 uh,

18:06 you don't avoid taxes,

18:08 but what you get is some,

18:09 some,

18:10 some label that,

18:11 that you can use to get some,

18:13 some that's.

18:17 So,

18:17 so I mean that,

18:18 that's the general idea,

18:19 of course,

18:20 I mean,

18:20 sometimes you have subsidy to turn organic or to certified.

18:24 Also,

18:25 in some countries,

18:26 you have an obligation to report their emissions

18:29 and be ISO certified is one way,

18:31 a cheap way to comply with this reporting.

18:35 But,

18:35 but the certification itself,

18:38 uh,

18:39 it's,

18:40 it's,

18:40 it's,

18:40 it's,

18:41 it's not associated to,

18:42 to some,

18:43 to some tax or subsidy or to some certificate

18:46 or some,

18:46 to some,

18:47 uh,

18:48 some monetary outcome

18:50 and,

18:51 uh,

18:51 and it is no

18:53 technical obligation related to,

18:56 I mean,

18:56 you,

18:56 you're not,

18:57 you're free not to,

18:58 to be certified,

18:58 so you're free not to

19:00 uh implement those technology,

19:02 for instance.

19:04 Did I answer well to your point,

19:06 or

19:07 Yeah,

19:07 yeah,

19:07 thank you.

19:08 Thank you so much.

19:11 So just like this is a slide that I use for teaching

19:15 example of,

19:15 of these information-based technologies like Dutches.

19:19 Um,

19:19 so,

19:20 another example is,

19:21 you know,

19:22 you compare your consumption,

19:25 as energy consumption in,

19:25 in the,

19:26 in the

19:27 electricity bill compared to your neighbor and you,

19:30 you may have some

19:31 target,

19:32 and you may have some objective in reducing

19:35 consumption.

19:37 These are kind of labels

19:39 that you see that

19:41 on

19:43 electric appliances related to

19:47 energy efficiency.

19:48 Or carbon emissions.

19:51 So again,

19:51 that it is a formation.

19:54 Uh

19:55 You,

19:56 you are free to be A,

19:57 B,

19:57 C,

19:58 D,

19:58 E,

19:58 F,

19:58 G,

20:00 uh,

20:00 that's or to have the Energy Star label or not.

20:03 Um.

20:04 But if you do have,

20:06 then there's a cost of doing that,

20:07 then the reward is you can have a price premium

20:10 by attacking.

20:12 The demand of some consumers.

20:17 So these are

20:19 well-known labels.

20:22 My product

20:24 OK,

20:25 so

20:26 now,

20:28 When standard should be used

20:30 as a command and control instrument.

20:33 So,

20:34 generally,

20:35 economists think that

20:37 market-based instruments are more efficient.

20:41 In reducing pollution at a lower cost.

20:45 For two reasons.

20:46 One is.

20:48 You don't constrain the type of technology you use.

20:53 So,

20:54 then,

20:54 then each firm can decide to use the,

20:57 the,

20:58 the,

20:58 the best technology

21:00 and that you can have heterogeneity in terms of best response to uh

21:06 This reduction of pollution,

21:08 uh,

21:09 you can innovate,

21:10 uh,

21:11 you can

21:12 do different things.

21:13 So there's no

21:14 obligation to implement one type of technology.

21:18 So this flexibility,

21:20 uh,

21:21 implies that you will go for the less costly and the more efficient technology.

21:27 And the second reason is that,

21:29 you know,

21:29 the,

21:30 the issue with the,

21:31 the emission standard,

21:33 you know,

21:33 this cap on emission

21:36 is that once you achieve the standard,

21:39 you don't have an incentive to go beyond to reduce further your emissions

21:44 to be more energy efficient,

21:46 for instance.

21:47 Whereas with the,

21:48 with the tax or subsidy

21:50 for every

21:52 CO2 ton of CO2 you avoid,

21:54 you are rewarded because you avoid paying a tax,

21:57 for instance,

21:58 or you get a subsidy

22:00 for

22:01 investing more in renewable,

22:03 for instance.

22:05 So that one,

22:06 the reason why

22:08 Uh,

22:09 economists tend to think that market-based

22:11 treatments are more efficient.

22:14 Uh,

22:15 but,

22:15 um,

22:16 noted that,

22:17 um,

22:18 this is in the standard

22:21 economic model in which

22:23 consumers don't care about uh.

22:26 The harmful impact of their

22:29 decision when they

22:30 buy goods.

22:32 I have a joint paper with one of my colleagues in which we make the point that

22:38 If we do have,

22:39 we have green consumers,

22:41 consumers that are willing to pay

22:44 a higher price for greener products like organic food,

22:47 for instance.

22:50 Then

22:51 the dominance of the market-based

22:53 treatment

22:54 on standard.

22:56 It's not any more true.

22:59 The reason is because

23:00 in this case,

23:01 you don't have,

23:02 we don't have cost effectiveness,

23:04 that is,

23:05 we don't have the minimized cost of achieving one reduction of pollution.

23:11 Because

23:12 um what the

23:14 market-based instrument tend to do with green consumer

23:18 is to increase the gap

23:20 between the cost of reducing pollution,

23:23 the marginal abatement cost.

23:26 Among consumers.

23:28 Which is inefficient.

23:29 So the higher the gap between the marginal apartment cost,

23:33 the cost of avoiding 1 ton of CO2,

23:36 the,

23:37 the,

23:37 the more costly this

23:39 to

23:40 CO2 emissions are.

23:42 Are,

23:43 are low,

23:44 the total emissions are lower or higher cost

23:47 when you have a higher gap between marginal abutment cost.

23:51 So what Markets Bet and are doing

23:53 in the standard model,

23:54 uh,

23:54 with,

23:54 with the same type of consumers

23:57 is that you,

23:58 you have,

23:59 you avoid one ton of CO2 as the same cost and minimize cost.

24:03 But you have different consumers,

24:05 and you have

24:07 the

24:07 green consumers that are buying high

24:09 quality products with more energy efficient product

24:13 and the the other consumers are buying.

24:17 The,

24:17 the less energy efficient product and what the

24:21 carbon tax is doing,

24:22 it increases the gap between these two types of products and that reduces the,

24:26 that increases the cost of

24:27 achieving the same reduction of CO2 emissions.

24:32 So that's one reason why you should prefer

24:34 standard when you have these green consumers.

24:37 Another reason you should prefer standards,

24:41 especially limits on emissions

24:43 in when you have um

24:47 Pollutants for which

24:49 local concentration of pollution matters.

24:53 Um,

24:55 So the problem with market-based instruments is that

24:58 you don't control the localization of polluting activities.

25:04 So if you have,

25:05 for instance,

25:06 an emissions trading schemes in which firms are buying and selling

25:11 emission permits,

25:13 you may end up having all the

25:16 more polluting production plants at the same place.

25:21 In the same location,

25:22 so have a very high concentration of pollution in this place.

25:26 So it's not a big issue when it

25:29 When this

25:31 pollution is related to greenhouse gasses like when CO2 emissions.

25:36 But it is for air quality,

25:39 for particulate matters,

25:40 knocks or socks.

25:44 Uh,

25:45 so,

25:45 so then if you have standard,

25:47 then you limit,

25:48 uh,

25:49 you can control the more easily the local

25:52 concentration of,

25:53 of pollution.

25:58 There's

25:59 another

26:00 argument which is a little bit related to this idea of uh.

26:05 Uh,

26:06 high damage for

26:08 local concentration.

26:10 There is a

26:11 seminal paper by Martin Weitzmann,

26:14 which is comparing market-based versus quantity-based instruments.

26:20 And making the point that quantity-based instruments are

26:24 better

26:25 when you have

26:27 a

26:27 steeply sloped marginal damage

26:30 compared to the slope of marginal abatement cost

26:34 and basically the idea that if you have like a

26:38 The damage

26:39 from pollution is becoming

26:43 quickly very high

26:46 above some level.

26:48 So like if you have tipping points,

26:50 then you want to be sure not to exceed this level.

26:54 Uh,

26:55 and this is,

26:55 um,

26:57 what you can do with stand up,

26:59 but,

26:59 but not with market-based instruments.

27:02 Um,

27:05 OK.

27:05 So,

27:05 so just by,

27:06 by the way,

27:07 In,

27:08 in the.

27:10 So in the comment you sent me by email,

27:13 there was something about

27:18 Uh,

27:18 is it consistent with the other,

27:21 other

27:22 work by Martin Weitzmann?

27:25 That

27:25 he published afterward about climate change.

27:30 So I think in this other paper,

27:32 the following paper that he published about

27:35 uncertainty of,

27:36 of,

27:37 of climate change and tipping point.

27:39 He was making a very different.

27:42 argument

27:44 which was more about

27:47 intergenerational equity,

27:49 what should be the

27:50 The cost we have to pay now and the benefit later

27:54 and pushing for having a

27:57 very high.

27:59 And very stringent

28:02 policy now to avoid the catastrophic events.

28:06 But that's,

28:07 that argument

28:08 um

28:09 holds for market-based,

28:11 I mean,

28:12 instrument also and so,

28:14 so the type of instrument,

28:16 uh whether it's a

28:18 standard or market-based doesn't matter for this uh

28:22 this point.

28:23 So here really it's about um

28:26 more about um

28:28 uh

28:28 pollution now and more about uh

28:31 uh local pollution.

28:33 So this is about local pollution for which at some point you want to avoid the

28:39 pollution concentration above some level.

28:44 Stefan,

28:44 uh,

28:44 just to follow up on that.

28:47 Uh,

28:48 I,

28:48 I guess

28:49 one question is what happens if the regulator does not have

28:53 the information that about

28:55 or complete information about marginal damage and cost,

28:58 you know,

28:58 if there's uncertainty on

29:01 how bad it can be if,

29:02 uh,

29:04 the temperature,

29:04 uh,

29:05 reaches some level and so on.

29:07 So is it fair to say that this type of uncertainty is pushing

29:12 Towards standard because we really don't want to go in

29:15 a region in which we cannot assess the risk.

29:18 Yes.

29:20 I think it is fair to say that because

29:22 um

29:23 111 way

29:26 like uh

29:28 To model this is to say that

29:31 there's some probability that the marginal damage is

29:34 infinitively sloped.

29:38 It's a vertical line at some point.

29:41 Uh,

29:42 and so,

29:43 so,

29:44 so you have a

29:46 very steeply,

29:46 there's a,

29:47 there's a probability that you have very steeply slow marginal damages.

29:52 But,

29:52 but then another issue,

29:54 well,

29:55 so,

29:55 so,

29:55 yes,

29:56 but

29:56 when it comes to climate change,

29:59 And greenhouse gas emissions,

30:01 then you still have the problem of like global pollutants and the issue of

30:06 what is the marginal impact of

30:10 One country,

30:11 one firm

30:13 on.

30:15 On the marginal damage.

30:18 So,

30:19 so,

30:19 um,

30:20 it's difficult to

30:23 To imagine that uh.

30:26 A country,

30:27 the,

30:27 the impact of one country,

30:29 a small country or,

30:30 or,

30:30 or,

30:31 or a manufacturing plant.

30:34 Will

30:36 Will,

30:36 will make you

30:37 uh

30:39 Reach this uh

30:41 this tipping point,

30:42 for instance,

30:43 or this vertical line.

30:45 And that's why you want to have a standard to be

30:48 sure at this manufacturing plant level or the country level,

30:52 to be sure not to,

30:53 to reach this

30:55 vertical line.

30:58 So I think that this argument is fair in general.

31:01 The uncertainty at the risk of having

31:05 very irreversible or very high damage call for

31:09 a standard,

31:10 but,

31:10 but it applies only for local pollution and not so much for

31:15 global pollution because the marginal impact of,

31:17 of,

31:18 of the polluter

31:19 that you want to regulate

31:21 is,

31:22 is very small.

31:27 OK,

31:28 uh,

31:28 so another very well.

31:32 A different problem that

31:34 standard I tried to

31:35 fixing.

31:37 are somehow fixing the problem of

31:41 environmental accident or potential harm.

31:45 So it's,

31:46 so you don't,

31:46 you don't,

31:48 you don't pollute,

31:49 but there's a risk that you have,

31:51 you are polluting,

31:52 like for,

31:52 for instance,

31:53 you,

31:54 there's a risk of an explosion or

31:57 a nuclear accident.

32:00 And in which case the,

32:02 the damage is huge for instance.

32:04 And you want to avoid it.

32:07 In this case,

32:08 it makes sense to impose safety standards

32:12 to oblige the

32:14 potential polluter,

32:15 the firms.

32:17 To

32:19 implement some technologies,

32:20 some safety procedures.

32:23 Um,

32:26 It's costly,

32:28 but,

32:28 but

32:29 the,

32:29 and also,

32:30 and the one reason is that.

32:32 In case of accident.

32:35 Uh,

32:36 the making label

32:38 the firm.

32:41 may not be sufficient to incentivize this firm to invest in safety

32:46 because it's in case of accident,

32:48 the damage is so big.

32:51 So that you cannot

32:52 make the firm pay for this damage.

32:56 So you cannot discipline the firm from investing in safety.

33:00 Uh,

33:02 because the firm gets bankrupt basically,

33:04 or

33:06 because it takes time or because

33:08 the

33:10 institutional background is such that

33:12 you,

33:12 it's difficult to make the firm liable in case of accident.

33:16 So what is called export regulation,

33:18 making firms liable in case of accident

33:21 is not sufficient to,

33:23 to,

33:23 to invest optimally in safety.

33:25 So you,

33:25 you need to implement standard.

33:28 Today's a paper by Steven Chavell making nicely this point.

33:34 Another reason to implement standards because it's more

33:39 easy to implement.

33:41 So it's

33:42 good if you,

33:44 it's,

33:44 it's difficult to track emissions.

33:47 So for instance,

33:48 uh,

33:49 in environmental economy,

33:50 we,

33:50 we call non-point source pollutions,

33:52 pollution that

33:55 is difficult to track

33:57 like water pollution from agriculture or air pollution for

34:02 transportation

34:04 from cars,

34:05 trucks,

34:06 so it's difficult to set the

34:09 Uh,

34:09 to,

34:09 to monitor what's,

34:11 what's is emitted.

34:12 So that's why you,

34:14 you cannot tax uh easily,

34:16 uh,

34:17 the,

34:17 the drivers on their

34:19 pollution by driving.

34:21 So there's an experiment doing that,

34:22 but

34:23 it's more easy to,

34:24 to have an,

34:26 uh,

34:26 an emission standard.

34:28 For dogs

34:30 or particulate for cars.

34:33 Uh,

34:33 Stefan,

34:34 just a point on the,

34:36 on safety.

34:37 I,

34:37 I,

34:38 I understand this,

34:39 uh,

34:39 limits of exposed,

34:40 uh,

34:40 regulation,

34:41 but

34:42 another way to go would be to mandate some insurance,

34:46 uh,

34:47 on firms,

34:49 and,

34:49 uh,

34:50 I,

34:50 I'm raising this because,

34:51 uh,

34:51 in,

34:51 in another paper that we have commissioned it,

34:54 it,

34:54 it was about the development of,

34:56 uh,

34:57 during the first industrial revolution,

34:59 uh,

34:59 the of steam engine.

35:01 And you know we had standard in the in the in France

35:05 on the

35:07 that that

35:08 would uh require

35:10 some

35:11 you know thickness of the of the boiler and so on some some safety standard

35:14 and in the UK we had the

35:17 uh

35:18 insurance uh you know insurance company which will go and and and uh

35:22 uh

35:23 basically

35:24 uh you know

35:25 provide compensation in case of accidents.

35:29 So we'll try to discuss the,

35:30 the,

35:32 you know,

35:32 the,

35:32 the,

35:33 the compare the two systems,

35:35 and I would say the second one is more market-based,

35:37 uh,

35:37 uh than,

35:38 than,

35:39 than the French one,

35:42 So I just wanted to point this out in case,

35:44 uh,

35:44 and you know we can discuss this later in case you had the

35:47 further reference on this,

35:48 uh,

35:49 you know,

35:49 safety issue and,

35:50 and,

35:50 and standard,

35:51 uh.

35:54 Yeah.

35:56 So what was uh Chavel is,

35:58 is,

35:58 well,

36:00 is concluding that you should have two,

36:01 the two expo uh

36:04 safety standard,

36:04 ex ante safety standard and expose liability rules.

36:09 What you are saying that you can use an insurance.

36:13 Uh

36:15 To pay for

36:17 To

36:19 of course

36:20 but but then the question.

36:23 The question is whether the insurance company

36:26 will incentivize firms to invest in safety.

36:32 Well,

36:32 it should,

36:33 right,

36:33 because,

36:34 uh,

36:34 yeah,

36:34 exactly.

36:35 So you use the insurance company as a way to discipline

36:39 the firms and make it investing in safety.

36:43 That's right.

36:44 Because in this kind of model,

36:46 at the end,

36:46 you want uh

36:48 And there's an optimal investment in safety,

36:50 and you want to induce this investment.

36:53 So the question is what is the so again standard is

36:55 not the only way to get to get to this investment

36:59 and

36:59 you could have no.

37:03 And also the,

37:03 the,

37:04 sorry,

37:04 in the paper.

37:07 Standard has the same limit that you

37:09 impose the same investment to all

37:11 firms.

37:12 So the same technology to all

37:15 firms,

37:15 but,

37:15 but there are a lot of exaggerated among firms

37:18 and maybe it's not the best,

37:20 the best technology adapted to each firm.

37:22 So that's.

37:23 You have this limitation of harmonization.

37:25 When you harmonize,

37:26 then you don't adapt to the specificity of the film,

37:29 which is one

37:30 limitation of standards.

37:33 Perfect.

37:35 Sorry,

37:35 uh,

37:35 I think Rosie,

37:36 Rosie has a question as well.

37:37 So Rosie,

37:38 you wanna,

37:38 you wanna jump in?

37:40 Yes,

37:41 uh,

37:41 thank you,

37:41 Shelby,

37:42 and thank you,

37:42 Stefan,

37:43 for the presentation.

37:44 So can you just go back to the previous slide?

37:47 So,

37:47 I have one question for the investment argument.

37:50 So,

37:50 I'm not sure whether

37:52 based on investment argument you're reaching,

37:54 you know,

37:54 standards are better when

37:56 the slope of marginal damage is steeper

37:59 because even think about cap and trade,

38:01 uh,

38:01 policy,

38:02 you have a reg you have a cap on emissions.

38:04 So it's also

38:08 Yeah,

38:08 that's a good point,

38:09 so.

38:11 So Whiteman was talking about price versus quantities

38:15 instrument.

38:16 So you,

38:17 you think that cap and trade is a quantity instrument because you said

38:21 quantities,

38:23 uh,

38:24 but,

38:24 but for the firm itself,

38:27 I think the firm of my,

38:29 my view is that the firm see the

38:31 instrument

38:32 cap and trade instrument as a price instrument because at the end.

38:36 In the decision of the firm whether to abate,

38:38 to reduce emissions,

38:40 or whether to buy permits,

38:43 the,

38:43 the,

38:44 the what matters is the price,

38:45 right?

38:47 So I would say that um.

38:51 Um,

38:52 at the aggregate level,

38:53 it's a quantity instrument,

38:54 but,

38:55 uh,

38:55 uh,

38:56 at the individual level,

38:57 it's a price instrument.

38:59 OK,

39:00 yeah,

39:00 thank you.

39:00 And so,

39:01 another question is about overall,

39:03 uh,

39:04 like to think about when to adopt standards.

39:07 So can you comment a little bit on the political economy of adopting standards?

39:11 So for example,

39:12 maybe it's very hard or or like adopting any policies,

39:15 for example.

39:15 It,

39:16 it can be hard to adopt

39:17 gasoline taxes because you will face a lot of pushback from,

39:21 from the public,

39:22 but probably it's easier to adopt standards in practice.

39:25 So do you have any like comments on,

39:27 on the,

39:28 on the adoption of standards in terms of political economy?

39:31 Yeah,

39:31 thank you.

39:34 Yeah,

39:34 so,

39:35 um,

39:36 on the political and economic dimension,

39:39 I agree with you that,

39:40 well,

39:42 Well,

39:44 the,

39:44 the good thing with,

39:45 with standard is that it talks to engineer and so people understand what it is about.

39:52 was a carbon tax,

39:53 they don't,

39:54 a lot of people don't understand that with the carbon tax,

39:56 you,

39:57 you reduce emissions.

39:59 So that's one thing.

40:00 So,

40:01 it's easy to understand

40:02 and,

40:03 and uh

40:04 also the

40:07 People,

40:07 it,

40:08 you may have a more acceptance also

40:10 because you don't see the,

40:13 the distributional impact and the cost of the standards,

40:17 which is,

40:17 I think a limitation of standard that

40:20 so there's paper that,

40:21 uh,

40:22 for instance,

40:22 there are some paper that have,

40:24 I know a paper that

40:25 evaluated the

40:27 standards on um.

40:30 Uh,

40:31 energy efficiency or

40:34 Emissions for cars in the US.

40:39 And then showing that

40:43 the cost was important and those who suffered,

40:47 those who incurred the higher costs were the poorest people.

40:52 So with the tax,

40:53 for instance,

40:53 you can

40:54 easily compute

40:56 how much each driver will have to pay

40:59 if you increase the tax on gas

41:02 and who will pay more than others.

41:05 But if you impose that some cars have a higher

41:09 energy efficiency

41:11 and you ban those with lower in efficiency or if you impose some

41:15 um

41:16 um

41:18 emission standard for NOx particulates.

41:21 Uh,

41:22 you don't know what will be the cost

41:24 for producing the cars that are complying with this standard and the added value

41:29 of the car and how much people have to pay and so on.

41:32 So it's more difficult to,

41:35 to,

41:36 to get the cost of standards.

41:39 Uh,

41:39 so here in France,

41:40 for instance,

41:40 what's happening is that they are.

41:43 Now they're trying to,

41:44 uh,

41:44 so now for all the apartment and the housing,

41:48 we have a labeling

41:50 on energy efficiency,

41:52 and now they are starting to forbid the renting

41:56 of apartment with the lowest rating,

41:59 the FG rating.

42:02 And then people try to figure out that,

42:04 well,

42:05 it would cost them some money.

42:09 So,

42:09 so,

42:10 so,

42:10 but,

42:10 but

42:11 they tried to realize this,

42:12 but at the beginning they didn't know that.

42:14 Whereas if you have a carbon

42:16 tax,

42:17 then you have an increase of the price of energy and

42:19 then people can figure out how much you have to pay.

42:22 So that the other,

42:23 other reason maybe standard are more

42:27 uh

42:27 easier to implement and to be,

42:30 to be accepted,

42:31 but

42:32 up to the point that they figure out how much,

42:34 how costly it is for them to adopt the standard.

42:41 Or maybe I'll skip.

42:42 So I have a couple of examples.

42:44 I don't have time to.

42:48 Sorry,

42:49 Steph,

42:50 I'm interrupting you with questions.

42:52 Yeah.

42:54 Go ahead.

42:55 Um,

42:55 it's OK if I

42:57 Um,

42:58 I think one question,

42:59 um,

43:00 it's like now we're like comparing standards to different,

43:02 uh,

43:02 policy instruments.

43:04 Um,

43:04 but of course,

43:04 there's also like a big discussion about

43:07 what kind of standards to use,

43:08 whether it's more,

43:10 um,

43:11 performance-based standards versus uh technology standards.

43:15 Is there like any um guidance that you have on,

43:19 you know,

43:19 to achieve environmental objectives,

43:21 when to use

43:23 performance-based standards versus technology standards.

43:26 Um,

43:26 I can only think of like one example,

43:28 maybe like for more from safety,

43:30 uh,

43:31 where

43:31 I believe that in the EU,

43:33 uh,

43:34 New cars have to have an airbag,

43:37 right?

43:38 And you kind of like determine,

43:39 you specify the technology that the car needs to have as a safety feature,

43:43 even though you could also,

43:44 you know,

43:45 think of like a performance standard that defines you know what safe car

43:49 means and then,

43:50 you know,

43:50 let the,

43:51 let the,

43:52 let the engineers figure out a techno techno technology solution.

43:55 Like what is the

43:57 What is the um

43:58 an academic consensus on when to use

44:02 a like a technology-specific standard versus like a performance standards in,

44:06 in biometric context?

44:10 Well,

44:10 conceptually,

44:11 I mean,

44:11 if you look at the

44:13 economic view of the problem,

44:16 uh,

44:17 it's

44:19 The

44:20 performance standards are better because what you say that you live.

44:25 Our freedom to the firms

44:28 on how to comply with this performance standard,

44:31 which kind of technology to implement.

44:33 Um,

44:34 and you,

44:35 you,

44:35 you,

44:36 you expect that the,

44:38 the firm will be,

44:39 uh,

44:40 or

44:40 the manufacturing,

44:42 well,

44:42 the,

44:42 the,

44:42 well,

44:43 firms are in better position to,

44:46 to pick the best solution.

44:48 Um,

44:52 But

44:53 it's OK for safety,

44:54 maybe it's more difficult because then the regulator,

44:57 you have to think about uh

44:59 what,

44:59 what your,

44:59 your goal in terms of safety.

45:02 So,

45:03 so it's,

45:03 it would,

45:03 I think it's more difficult to,

45:05 to set a standard.

45:06 So for instance,

45:07 you can set standard on NOx emissions

45:09 or particulate emissions,

45:12 but for safety about uh how to avoid the accident.

45:17 Then maybe as a regulator you need to be more specific.

45:21 And,

45:21 but,

45:21 but even for emission standard,

45:24 usually it's,

45:25 well in practice,

45:25 it's really negotiated with the,

45:28 with the firms,

45:28 right?

45:29 So you think about um

45:31 uh

45:32 car ammunition standard and so what the regulator have done

45:37 everywhere is

45:39 To

45:40 Increase the stringencies of those standards over time.

45:45 And negotiate with car manufacturers about how to achieve those standards.

45:50 And then the car manufacturers

45:53 went

45:54 with different solutions.

45:56 Uh,

45:57 the catalytic converters,

45:58 for instance,

45:59 was the first one,

46:00 and then the catalytic reduction

46:02 with the,

46:03 this fluid,

46:04 uh,

46:04 that was another

46:06 solution.

46:07 And then you have electric cars also,

46:09 that is one way to comply.

46:12 So at the end,

46:12 it's also a negotiation between the regulator and the firms,

46:16 I would say.

46:18 But,

46:19 but for the economists,

46:20 then the

46:21 emission standard define the constraint

46:24 and let firms decide about how to optimize given these constraints.

46:29 Instead of imposing some technology,

46:32 um.

46:35 I guess maybe just take 11 explanatory note.

46:38 Um,

46:39 I,

46:39 I guess like what I've heard sometimes in,

46:42 in our client countries is the argument that firms don't have

46:46 like a lot of capacity to like figure out a solution.

46:49 So it's

46:50 kind of like more effective to kind of like tell them what to use.

46:54 Um,

46:55 and I'm wondering like if there's like any research on that,

46:57 whether,

46:57 you know,

46:58 this argument deserves merit in,

47:00 in some cases and,

47:02 you know,

47:02 might be better if the technology solution is very clear.

47:05 And we can just like,

47:06 you know,

47:06 assume that there's like mature technology that's not gonna be locked in,

47:09 we're not gonna kill innovation,

47:12 um,

47:12 that this is actually like a,

47:14 a better solution in that in certain circumstances,

47:17 but

47:18 it's a difficult question as well

47:19 to generalize,

47:20 I guess.

47:22 Well,

47:22 the,

47:22 the question is whether you,

47:24 the,

47:24 the,

47:24 the regulator would like to push some technologies.

47:28 Is this the idea you have in mind or?

47:33 Yes,

47:33 right,

47:34 yeah,

47:35 so,

47:36 OK.

47:38 I mean,

47:39 there may,

47:40 maybe some rationale for that,

47:41 some reasons,

47:43 um.

47:45 But,

47:46 but again,

47:46 the,

47:47 the,

47:47 the big question is

47:48 whether the regulator is in a better position

47:51 to identify what are the best technologies to push

47:54 compared to firms.

47:57 Um,

48:01 Yeah,

48:01 sometime in the while,

48:02 they do,

48:03 uh,

48:04 but I don't know.

48:06 I,

48:06 I have no clear idea about that.

48:11 I,

48:11 I think in,

48:12 in practice,

48:12 it's really about uh,

48:14 uh,

48:15 a gameplay between the regulator and firms and,

48:17 and consumer.

48:19 And,

48:20 and

48:21 It's,

48:22 you know.

48:24 You,

48:25 you also need to.

48:27 The to

48:28 to.

48:30 To put all your eggs in the same basket,

48:32 so you need to invest in different technologies,

48:34 so.

48:36 So in practice also.

48:40 The part of the public policy is to um

48:43 foster

48:44 innovation in with diff different tracks.

48:50 Um,

48:50 you have also a literature about,

48:52 um,

48:53 what's called a directed technical change,

48:56 the fact that

48:57 once you do research in one track,

49:00 like,

49:01 um,

49:02 you rely on fossil energy,

49:05 then it's,

49:05 it's,

49:06 it's,

49:07 um,

49:07 you have economic economical scale in

49:10 investing in this kind of technology and then it's difficult to

49:14 change of,

49:14 uh,

49:14 to think out of the box and

49:17 outside the box.

49:18 And to change with another

49:20 kind of technology.

49:22 But that will call for more subsidies

49:25 and more rather than imposing technologies about that one.

49:31 Uh,

49:32 I don't,

49:32 I.

49:34 I think you,

49:34 you,

49:34 you have an argument in,

49:36 in favor of having the regulator.

49:39 Um,

49:41 Um,

49:42 say something about the technology.

49:46 But it should be well uh.

49:48 Well,

49:50 well,

49:51 well,

49:52 uh,

49:52 well,

49:53 well,

49:54 well,

49:55 well discussed,

49:56 I would say,

49:56 well,

49:57 well,

49:57 uh,

49:58 justified.

50:03 OK.

50:05 How much time do,

50:06 do I have left?

50:11 Yes,

50:11 uh,

50:12 till 2.

50:12 So,

50:13 um,

50:15 Uh,

50:15 36 minutes.

50:18 OK.

50:20 So,

50:21 um,

50:21 I have

50:22 a couple of case studies from um

50:26 Developing countries,

50:27 uh,

50:27 one which is,

50:28 so,

50:29 so you know,

50:29 you will see in the,

50:30 in the report that I'm relying a lot on

50:34 research papers

50:35 because this is what I'm reading.

50:38 So,

50:38 uh,

50:38 there's a,

50:40 a series of 3 papers by a very well-known

50:44 economists including a Nobel Prize and

50:47 a top

50:49 environmental economist.

50:51 Uh,

50:52 who was,

50:53 they have launched a series of random control trials.

50:58 Uh,

51:00 In India,

51:01 On air quality regulation,

51:04 uh.

51:06 From,

51:07 uh,

51:09 dealing with the pollution from a textile manufacturing plant.

51:14 So the starting point of the study is to show that um well,

51:18 they,

51:18 they start by uh providing evidence that uh there is some

51:23 corruption and um

51:25 fake self-reporting of emissions.

51:27 So the

51:29 Those

51:31 manufacturing plants are regulated with standards,

51:35 emission standards.

51:37 And the way it is implemented is by self-reporting,

51:42 so they have to

51:43 hire.

51:45 Uh,

51:47 an auditing company to take samples and to measure

51:51 their emission and to report their emission to the

51:53 regulation authority.

51:56 And what they show is that,

51:58 well,

51:59 well the first evidence of

52:01 misreporting and corruption is that the fact that um

52:05 The price charged by this auditing company was

52:09 lower than the cost of measuring emissions themselves.

52:14 Uh,

52:15 and

52:16 also there was

52:17 something called a bunching of reports

52:20 just below the standard.

52:21 So,

52:21 so the auditing company

52:23 tend to report that emissions are just below the standard.

52:28 So these are suggests that they don't do any measurement and report

52:33 what leads to the regulator.

52:37 So they,

52:38 they did the first theory of RCT in which they

52:45 They randomly assigned the manufacturing plants into several groups,

52:49 one in which

52:51 the auditors were selected by the experimenters.

52:57 Um,

52:58 and then they compare the reading of the auditor selected

53:02 by the experimenter and also selected by the thumbs.

53:07 And then also they

53:10 They also have an uh um treatment in which they selected

53:14 the plan randomly rather than the discretion of the regulator,

53:19 because that was also an issue.

53:21 Uh

53:23 Maybe because of corruption,

53:25 the selection was an issue.

53:28 Um,

53:29 and then they also did a back check of

53:32 measurement,

53:33 reading of the emissions after the experiment to compare with the,

53:38 uh,

53:39 emissions reported by the auditors.

53:43 So what they do,

53:44 they find that um.

53:46 Ah,

53:47 in the.

53:49 A Group of

53:50 batter factoring implants

53:54 treated the one,

53:56 the one there where auditor was selected by the experimenters.

53:59 There was no more bunching,

54:01 so the more spread of different

54:04 emission

54:06 reports

54:07 below or above the the standard.

54:11 And those reports were more consistent with the,

54:14 what is called the back check reading.

54:16 So uh

54:17 after that,

54:18 they,

54:19 they check uh

54:21 the emissions and the,

54:23 the report emissions were more consistent.

54:27 And

54:28 they also showed that

54:30 by

54:31 selecting auditor,

54:33 they

54:34 experienced a reduction of emissions.

54:38 So that one paper and the other paper and they look more about these.

54:43 This process of selecting randomly the plants that are to be audited.

54:49 Compared to leaving

54:51 the selection of the audited plan to the discretion of the

54:55 of the regulator or the public authority.

54:59 And then they showed that even

55:02 If,

55:03 if you have like

55:05 better reading of uh.

55:09 The,

55:09 the random selection was not so good because

55:13 the public authority were targeting the more polluting plants.

55:16 So,

55:17 uh,

55:18 at the end.

55:20 You have the same level of

55:23 out of compliance in the two groups with a selected plan randomly or

55:29 plan selected by the auditor,

55:31 sorry,

55:31 by the regulator.

55:34 But

55:36 the regulator tended to select those who are more out of compliance,

55:41 so at the end,

55:43 you have more penalty

55:45 and more enforcement.

55:48 With the

55:48 with the plan selected by the by by the regulator.

55:54 So,

55:55 so letting the regulators selected the plant is better because

55:58 they want tend to selected the more polluting plant.

56:06 And then they have like a more recent paper in which they

56:11 instead of having emission standard.

56:14 They implemented um

56:16 an emission trading scheme.

56:18 And apparently this,

56:19 this um emission trading scheme was successful in reducing emissions.

56:24 And they provide evidence that this emissions trading scheme reduced the,

56:28 the cost of achieving this uh

56:31 minimize or reduce the cost of achieving this reduction of pollution.

56:39 OK,

56:39 now,

56:40 um,

56:41 which instrument to complement standards?

56:45 So usually,

56:45 you know,

56:46 standards are complemented by other instruments.

56:50 So,

56:50 for instance,

56:51 uh,

56:52 one way to,

56:54 uh,

56:55 Increase,

56:56 uh,

56:56 increase,

56:57 um,

56:58 adherence to standard to

57:00 uh.

57:02 To have a subsidy.

57:04 Uh

57:06 Associated to a standard for adoption of new technologies,

57:10 so you were obliged to install a

57:14 wastewater treatment plant at the manufacturing plant level,

57:18 but you subsidize this waste treatment plant.

57:22 So it's,

57:22 it's a subsidy is a price instrument.

57:26 Um,

57:27 it buys you,

57:28 it's,

57:29 it buys you,

57:30 uh,

57:31 acceptability,

57:31 adherence,

57:32 uh,

57:33 and reduces the cost of,

57:34 uh,

57:35 of the standard.

57:37 Another way

57:38 to see the

57:40 complementarity of price instrument to standard is that well,

57:44 usually,

57:45 if you violate the standard,

57:46 there's a penalty,

57:47 and the penalty is a price instrument.

57:51 And usually the penalty is proportional to the deviation of the standard.

57:56 The more you exceed pollution compared to the standard,

57:58 the higher the penalty.

58:01 So,

58:01 so in one sense,

58:02 it's uh somehow similar than the,

58:04 an emission tax for

58:07 exceeding the standard.

58:11 Um,

58:13 There's a clear case in which you should have both types of instrument.

58:19 It's a case of

58:21 local pollution that uh.

58:24 Local pollutants that are crossing the border of

58:30 Jurisdictions.

58:33 So then you need to have

58:35 two instruments,

58:36 one to deal with uh local pollution concentration,

58:40 the,

58:40 the,

58:40 the pollution that is at the jurisdiction level,

58:44 and that's,

58:44 as I said,

58:46 standard,

58:46 the right instrument to deal with that.

58:49 But part of this pollution is moving

58:52 to other jurisdictions,

58:53 crossing borders.

58:56 Uh,

58:57 so like county border,

58:58 for instance,

58:59 or

59:00 state border or for federal states,

59:03 for instance.

59:04 And then for this um

59:07 um

59:08 moving pollution,

59:09 transboundary pollution flows.

59:12 Having a a price instrument,

59:14 a carbon,

59:15 sorry,

59:15 a tax or an emissions trading scheme,

59:17 for instance.

59:19 Can be one way to deal with this flow.

59:23 So there's a literature about what's called environmental federalism that try to,

59:27 to see what is the best combination of,

59:28 of two.

59:31 Uh,

59:31 so one example of this is,

59:33 um,

59:35 a stand knock.

59:36 So I have worked with uh co Jessica Kya about,

59:39 uh,

59:41 An

59:41 x emission for manufacturing plant in Sweden.

59:45 So in Sweden,

59:46 the way

59:48 those

59:49 plants are regulated is with uh emission standard at the,

59:54 at the plant level.

59:55 So,

59:56 so these are,

59:56 for instance,

59:57 um thermal power plant for

1:00:00 And

1:00:01 and the way they are regulated that county decide about uh

1:00:06 emission

1:00:08 standard in terms of

1:00:11 K NOx emission per kilowatt hour or per

1:00:17 energy unit

1:00:18 at the at the

1:00:20 boiler level.

1:00:23 Uh,

1:00:23 so that's not to deal with local NOO concentration.

1:00:28 And in addition,

1:00:30 there's a national tax on knocks.

1:00:34 And this national tax is to

1:00:37 Deal with this uh

1:00:40 pollution that is crossing a

1:00:42 border.

1:00:43 So the,

1:00:43 because the problem that the country by deciding about the emission standard

1:00:48 does not take into account the impact of the

1:00:52 standard on

1:00:53 emission outside the country.

1:00:55 So you need to have a

1:00:57 Uh,

1:00:58 an authority at the highest level to,

1:01:01 to analyze these and transbounding externalities.

1:01:06 So we work on this and we provide another.

1:01:11 The reason why the

1:01:14 bucket-based and standard instrument can be complemented.

1:01:18 Is the fact that

1:01:20 with a tax on emissions.

1:01:24 You learn

1:01:25 about the cost of reducing pollution

1:01:29 by farms to have a better idea of how much it costs to farm and production plant.

1:01:35 To

1:01:36 reduce their

1:01:37 NOx emissions.

1:01:39 And

1:01:40 this information is important to decide about

1:01:43 how stringent should be the

1:01:46 emission cap.

1:01:47 So basically,

1:01:48 when you set a tax on emission,

1:01:51 you charge emission and by seeing how much,

1:01:54 by observing how much the firm

1:01:57 is emitting,

1:01:57 you have a better idea about the cost of

1:02:00 reducing emissions.

1:02:03 And this costs will tell you whether you should make the

1:02:07 emission cap and the emission standard more stringent or not.

1:02:11 So we have,

1:02:12 we have a paper that's making this point.

1:02:15 So that's,

1:02:16 uh,

1:02:16 so you use

1:02:17 the carbon price,

1:02:19 oh sorry,

1:02:20 the emission tax

1:02:21 as one way to tailor your emission standard.

1:02:25 And the same applies for emissions trading schemes.

1:02:29 And it's happened also

1:02:31 for co-pollutants.

1:02:33 You have sometime,

1:02:34 you know,

1:02:35 often

1:02:37 in a lot of manufacturing industry,

1:02:39 you pollute,

1:02:40 you have

1:02:41 multiple pollutants

1:02:43 and what,

1:02:43 what's happening for one pollutant

1:02:46 and the way one pollutant is regulated

1:02:49 can tell you something about how you should

1:02:50 regulate the other pollutants because they are,

1:02:53 uh,

1:02:54 they interact in the pollution process and also in,

1:02:57 in the,

1:02:57 in the damage function.

1:03:03 OK,

1:03:04 now what about,

1:03:05 uh,

1:03:07 making the stand up.

1:03:08 Yes,

1:03:09 sorry,

1:03:09 sorry,

1:03:09 just a quick point.

1:03:10 So we,

1:03:10 we wanna make sure that we leave,

1:03:12 uh,

1:03:12 1015 minutes,

1:03:13 uh,

1:03:14 at the end,

1:03:15 uh,

1:03:15 and so,

1:03:17 uh,

1:03:17 for,

1:03:17 for que for questions,

1:03:19 uh,

1:03:19 questions and answers.

1:03:20 So,

1:03:20 uh,

1:03:21 yeah,

1:03:22 so do you,

1:03:22 do you think you can,

1:03:23 you can finish up in 5,

1:03:25 10 minutes?

1:03:27 Yeah,

1:03:28 I'll do.

1:03:28 OK.

1:03:29 Fantastic.

1:03:29 Thank you.

1:03:31 OK,

1:03:32 so

1:03:34 So should standard will mandate,

1:03:36 should be mandatory or voluntary?

1:03:38 So it's,

1:03:39 it's related to the question to,

1:03:42 to the question why do firms adopt

1:03:45 vol standard if standards are not mandatory,

1:03:49 why firms go beyond what is mandatory by

1:03:53 reducing air pollution

1:03:55 beyond.

1:03:57 Uh,

1:03:57 so then there's a couple of good reasons to do that.

1:04:01 Attracing consumer,

1:04:03 attract investment from socially responded investment,

1:04:06 investors,

1:04:08 demand for

1:04:09 ISO,

1:04:10 40,000 35 firms.

1:04:13 Improve relationship with stakeholders.

1:04:15 So I have like a,

1:04:17 a survey paper on that uh

1:04:20 with my quarter uh.

1:04:23 Paul Danois

1:04:25 The,

1:04:26 now there's another literature of trying to measure

1:04:29 what is the impact of those voluntary standards.

1:04:31 So these are,

1:04:32 these are voluntary.

1:04:33 Are they

1:04:34 effective in reducing pollution?

1:04:37 And uh you know,

1:04:39 in the literature,

1:04:40 um,

1:04:41 a lot of those papers are based on survey of self reporting reduction of pollution.

1:04:47 Uh,

1:04:49 And,

1:04:50 and with the limitation of this is what

1:04:53 the firm self-reported,

1:04:54 so it's not clear that you should trust them.

1:04:58 And,

1:04:59 and

1:04:59 a couple of papers are.

1:05:02 Uh,

1:05:02 I've tried to answer the question based on the

1:05:05 actual measurement of pollution.

1:05:07 There's,

1:05:07 for instance,

1:05:08 one paper on the paper mill industry.

1:05:11 In Canada,

1:05:12 um,

1:05:14 and showing that ISO 40,000 certification has a

1:05:17 very low or no impact on wastewater emission

1:05:22 from pepper mill industry in Quebec.

1:05:24 So,

1:05:25 so usually the impact is very low this standard.

1:05:28 So that raises the question is whether you

1:05:30 should have voluntary standard or monetary standard.

1:05:32 If you have voluntary standard,

1:05:34 you may achieve something,

1:05:35 but usually

1:05:36 there's a lot of greenwashing,

1:05:37 though they pretend to reduce pollution,

1:05:39 those farms to get the standard,

1:05:41 but it's not very effective.

1:05:46 So

1:05:47 often they are complements in the sense that you can have voluntary standards,

1:05:50 you are

1:05:51 firms are free to go beyond what is imposed and you have a minimal

1:05:56 requirement in terms of emission standard.

1:05:59 But there can be a substitute,

1:06:01 and there are two reasons why.

1:06:03 Sometimes,

1:06:04 you know,

1:06:04 adopting.

1:06:06 Voluntary standard is one way for firms to

1:06:09 preempt the adoption of most recent standards by regulators.

1:06:14 So there are anecdotical evidence that uh

1:06:18 of that and,

1:06:19 and,

1:06:19 and,

1:06:19 and you,

1:06:20 you can,

1:06:21 I mean,

1:06:21 there are,

1:06:22 there's a

1:06:23 conceptual literature and economic making this point.

1:06:26 Uh,

1:06:27 we,

1:06:28 uh,

1:06:28 with the quota,

1:06:29 we're also making the point that

1:06:31 On the consumer perspective,

1:06:33 uh,

1:06:34 it's

1:06:35 Uh,

1:06:36 given that the,

1:06:37 the,

1:06:37 at the end of the day,

1:06:38 the citizens are decided about the regulation.

1:06:42 What you have also is that um,

1:06:46 Citizens or consumer may free ride on the fact that green consumers are

1:06:51 adopt buying greener products.

1:06:54 So at the end there's because of the greener product,

1:06:57 you have a reduction of pollution that is maybe sufficient for the other consumer.

1:07:02 So

1:07:04 having this free riding of

1:07:07 pollution reduction

1:07:09 from

1:07:10 paid by cleaner product may um.

1:07:14 Uh,

1:07:15 make,

1:07:16 may reduce,

1:07:17 reduce the probability of adopting more stent regulations.

1:07:20 So

1:07:21 you can have this also the effect that

1:07:24 Because

1:07:25 some firms are more.

1:07:28 Um,

1:07:29 uh,

1:07:29 um,

1:07:30 those,

1:07:30 those firms are,

1:07:32 uh,

1:07:32 reducing their pollution.

1:07:34 The other firm can live without any,

1:07:36 uh,

1:07:37 stringent regulation.

1:07:38 So this is showing the,

1:07:40 this,

1:07:40 this point is made in the political economy model showing that.

1:07:44 You may have less stringent standards when you have green consumers.

1:07:50 OK.

1:07:50 So I will get you this one.

1:07:53 Let's,

1:07:53 let's skip that.

1:07:56 And the last part of the report,

1:07:58 it's about the interplay between standards and trade.

1:08:03 So this is something which is general

1:08:05 for all standards,

1:08:07 bar standardization of goods and processes.

1:08:12 Uh,

1:08:12 uh,

1:08:13 then you make trade more easy.

1:08:16 And you,

1:08:16 you,

1:08:17 you may comply uh more easily to uh

1:08:21 foreign regulation.

1:08:23 For instance,

1:08:24 by reporting your CO2 emissions,

1:08:26 you can,

1:08:27 uh,

1:08:27 for instance,

1:08:29 um,

1:08:30 Uh,

1:08:31 comply with the

1:08:33 Well,

1:08:34 you can make easily

1:08:36 the importer

1:08:38 of your goods,

1:08:38 uh,

1:08:39 so

1:08:40 in,

1:08:40 in the EU.

1:08:42 Complying with the

1:08:44 carbon border adjustment mechanism that is

1:08:48 Is going to be implemented

1:08:51 next year.

1:08:53 Uh,

1:08:53 that's an example.

1:08:54 So if you have this reporting of CO2,

1:08:56 then it's easier for the importer to report the CO2 of steel that is coming from your

1:09:02 manufacturing plant.

1:09:05 It's used also to have tech technical transfer because uh

1:09:10 So,

1:09:10 so there's also some,

1:09:12 some empirical evidence that uh

1:09:14 standard facilitate technical technological transfers.

1:09:18 So in,

1:09:18 in,

1:09:18 in,

1:09:18 in the report,

1:09:20 I'm making the point that

1:09:23 adopting more stringent standards to have market assets

1:09:27 can somehow solve solve the trade-off between

1:09:31 sovereignty and increased market asset.

1:09:34 So basically it's a story that,

1:09:36 you know,

1:09:37 in some countries,

1:09:38 some countries may

1:09:40 have more stringent regulation.

1:09:43 Because

1:09:43 they care about some issues like think about the

1:09:47 genetic modified organisms.

1:09:49 It's a big issue in Europe but not in the US or Latin America

1:09:54 or,

1:09:55 you know,

1:09:56 the,

1:09:56 I,

1:09:56 I provide the example of the

1:09:59 The growth hormones

1:10:02 for cattle

1:10:04 that are forbidden or some pesticides that are forbidden in the EU

1:10:09 but are allowed in other countries.

1:10:12 So if the

1:10:13 other countries are also implementing these standards to have a market asset,

1:10:19 it goes against their preferences because they,

1:10:21 they don't think that it's a big issue,

1:10:23 but they,

1:10:24 what they do that to increase their export.

1:10:27 Um,

1:10:28 they may decide to have two different

1:10:32 supply chains,

1:10:33 one for export and one for local market with different regulations.

1:10:38 But that's it,

1:10:39 but then there's a problem of traceability.

1:10:42 You want to make sure that um

1:10:45 the,

1:10:45 the,

1:10:45 the,

1:10:46 the two supply chains are really separated.

1:10:49 And um

1:10:51 and it's not always the case.

1:10:52 So,

1:10:53 I provided an example with the

1:10:56 So at some point I was

1:10:58 involved uh.

1:11:00 In,

1:11:00 uh,

1:11:00 I was leading actually leading

1:11:03 a committee in charge of uh evaluating the free

1:11:06 trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur

1:11:10 area,

1:11:11 to Brazil,

1:11:11 Argentina,

1:11:12 Paraguay,

1:11:13 Uruguay.

1:11:15 For the French government,

1:11:17 um,

1:11:19 And then uh so it's it's what the KBT.

1:11:22 Launched in 2019.

1:11:25 And then we figure out that

1:11:28 about 1/3 of the pesticides used in the Berco cedar area are banned in the EU.

1:11:35 And for instance,

1:11:35 there's no regulation on animal welfare in Mercosur,

1:11:38 but there's a regulation on

1:11:40 the side of transportation.

1:11:43 I mean,

1:11:44 there's a regulation about transportation of animals

1:11:47 in,

1:11:47 in,

1:11:47 in,

1:11:48 in France.

1:11:48 So,

1:11:49 so you have really different standards

1:11:52 on,

1:11:52 on those issues.

1:11:54 Um,

1:11:54 we also banned the,

1:11:56 the.

1:11:57 The use of hormones for promoting

1:12:00 growth

1:12:02 in the EU,

1:12:03 but it's used in Brazil.

1:12:06 Um,

1:12:07 and,

1:12:07 and it,

1:12:08 and there was

1:12:10 an audit of the European Commission making the point that

1:12:14 There's no way to be sure that

1:12:17 the beef that is imported from Brazil in Europe

1:12:21 is not coming from farms that are using these hormones.

1:12:26 There was a similar issue in the free trade agreement between Canada and the EU.

1:12:33 So in the EU we forbid the.

1:12:37 Animals that are fed with

1:12:41 Uh

1:12:42 Constituent of animal origin,

1:12:44 so meat or bones.

1:12:47 And it's,

1:12:48 it's allowed in Canada and it's not clear that we are sure that

1:12:53 the meat that is coming are not coming from farms that are using.

1:12:58 Meat and bone to feed their cattle.

1:13:01 Um,

1:13:03 So that's uh

1:13:04 one reason you,

1:13:05 you

1:13:07 country may

1:13:08 go beyond their preferences to adopt

1:13:11 more region standards to,

1:13:13 to be sure to comply with the EU

1:13:16 regulation,

1:13:16 for instance.

1:13:20 So

1:13:22 That's uh

1:13:25 About all I wanted to say,

1:13:26 so just to summarize,

1:13:27 some are essential to address environmental challenges.

1:13:32 Standards are suitable to deal with local pollution.

1:13:35 So,

1:13:35 uh,

1:13:36 standards are very good

1:13:37 adapted to local pollution.

1:13:39 They are good because they are easier to enforce than market-based instrument.

1:13:44 They are also

1:13:46 good when they are complemented with market-based instruments

1:13:50 and nudges.

1:13:51 So they are part of the

1:13:53 uh

1:13:54 uh of,

1:13:55 of the policy mix.

1:13:58 They can be voluntary,

1:13:59 but when they are voluntary,

1:14:01 they are less effective,

1:14:03 and sometimes they can be counterproductive.

1:14:05 So

1:14:06 it's good also to have mandatory standards,

1:14:09 not only voluntary standards,

1:14:11 and standards are key component

1:14:13 of international trade.

1:14:16 Thank you.

1:14:21 Thank you,

1:14:22 thank you so much,

1:14:23 uh,

1:14:23 Stefan.

1:14:24 Uh,

1:14:24 yeah,

1:14:24 Milo,

1:14:25 go ahead,

1:14:25 yeah.

1:14:28 Uh,

1:14:29 hi,

1:14:29 Stefan,

1:14:29 uh,

1:14:30 thanks a lot for the

1:14:32 For the presentation and.

1:14:34 I just wanted to,

1:14:36 to

1:14:39 To discuss a little bit as you as you know,

1:14:41 the perspective of the of the report

1:14:43 will be uh standard from developing countries perspective

1:14:47 and I wanted to

1:14:50 discuss a little bit the trade off that you that you explained,

1:14:53 uh,

1:14:55 from that perspective.

1:14:56 So

1:14:57 when we think for example at

1:14:59 market based versus uh

1:15:01 command and control measure,

1:15:04 is there something that

1:15:05 research can say

1:15:07 on.

1:15:08 Which one are uh

1:15:11 maybe preferable in context in which there is

1:15:13 limited state capacity or you know the regulator

1:15:16 uh the limited enforcement capacity

1:15:19 uh

1:15:20 you you mentioned in the report that that standards are easier

1:15:23 to enforce than than uh taxes or other instruments and uh

1:15:28 I was wondering

1:15:30 if if there is

1:15:31 some evidence on that.

1:15:33 Uh,

1:15:35 or,

1:15:35 or,

1:15:35 you know,

1:15:36 more generally I would,

1:15:36 I would be thinking about all this trade

1:15:38 off more from a developing country's perspective.

1:15:42 Well,

1:15:45 So,

1:15:45 so I'm making the point that,

1:15:47 uh,

1:15:48 yeah,

1:15:48 as you say,

1:15:49 the

1:15:50 When you have a limited uh state capacity,

1:15:54 institutional capacity,

1:15:55 then this is one reason to go for standards.

1:15:58 Uh,

1:15:59 and,

1:16:00 and

1:16:00 the argument is just,

1:16:02 um,

1:16:03 Straightforward because

1:16:05 it's,

1:16:06 well,

1:16:06 first,

1:16:07 you,

1:16:07 you only need

1:16:08 to check the technology.

1:16:11 So for technical standard,

1:16:12 it's,

1:16:13 you just uh

1:16:14 check what which technology is used and you ban some,

1:16:17 some input and some technology.

1:16:20 For emission standard it's more difficult because you have to measure.

1:16:24 You have to measure and penalize if you exceed the standard.

1:16:29 But it's easier than charging taxes or

1:16:35 providing subsidies,

1:16:36 I would say,

1:16:37 particularly especially

1:16:39 because in,

1:16:39 in,

1:16:40 well,

1:16:41 in developing countries there's the tax base is low and a lot of

1:16:45 there's a big informal sector,

1:16:47 for instance.

1:16:49 Um,

1:16:50 and,

1:16:50 and when you want,

1:16:51 if you want to go to up to cap and trade emissions trading scheme,

1:16:55 that it's even more complex because you need to set up.

1:17:00 Emission rights,

1:17:01 you need to set up a platform for trading.

1:17:05 Um,

1:17:06 so that requires a lot of,

1:17:08 uh,

1:17:08 institutional background.

1:17:10 So I don't,

1:17:12 I don't think there's a big literature on that,

1:17:14 but

1:17:15 it's just only on practical instrument.

1:17:18 In practice,

1:17:19 how will I,

1:17:19 how,

1:17:20 how you will do

1:17:21 to,

1:17:21 to,

1:17:22 to implement those

1:17:23 different types of instruments.

1:17:25 And it,

1:17:26 it's just

1:17:27 more easy to implement standard compared to

1:17:31 tax and

1:17:32 and subsidy and tax and subsidies compared to emission trading schemes.

1:17:39 OK,

1:17:39 thank you,

1:17:40 and maybe you can,

1:17:41 you want to stop sharing because we see.

1:17:44 Ah,

1:17:44 OK.

1:17:48 No.

1:17:51 Mm

1:17:55 OK.

1:17:58 So,

1:17:58 uh,

1:17:58 I,

1:17:59 I mean,

1:17:59 sorry,

1:18:00 uh,

1:18:00 oh,

1:18:00 chubby,

1:18:00 chubby,

1:18:01 chubby,

1:18:01 go ahead,

1:18:02 chubby sit it up.

1:18:05 Can you hear me?

1:18:07 Yes.

1:18:08 All right,

1:18:09 um,

1:18:09 just a quick question on,

1:18:11 on the part on the,

1:18:13 on the trade-off

1:18:14 on sovereignty that I guess it,

1:18:17 it,

1:18:17 it refers to consumer preferences,

1:18:19 right,

1:18:19 in Europe,

1:18:20 in the context of the,

1:18:21 the example of the Mercosur,

1:18:22 right?

1:18:22 And

1:18:23 And increased market taxes,

1:18:26 I think.

1:18:27 Well,

1:18:27 it's a proof that they haven't agreed,

1:18:30 right?

1:18:30 So

1:18:31 there is no market access so far,

1:18:33 right?

1:18:33 And I was wondering

1:18:35 if you could just develop a little bit more into the distinction

1:18:40 between the mandatory standard and the

1:18:42 voluntary in terms of technical regulations,

1:18:44 right?

1:18:44 Because

1:18:45 You could think that if there is no risk for health,

1:18:49 um,

1:18:50 instead,

1:18:50 making a technical regulation a mandatory standard.

1:18:53 You allow a voluntary standard.

1:18:55 So for those consumers in Europe that are not sure,

1:18:59 they can,

1:19:00 the signaling can occur through a voluntary standard

1:19:03 rather than uh a mandatory standard that can act as a

1:19:08 As a barrier to trade,

1:19:09 right?

1:19:10 So if you could develop a little bit this different in the use between

1:19:14 uh the voluntary versus mandatory standard and when is more or less justified.

1:19:22 Yeah,

1:19:23 so

1:19:25 what the point I was making is that

1:19:27 for instance,

1:19:28 Brazil may

1:19:30 decide to ban these

1:19:32 these growth hormones just to have access to the

1:19:35 European market because it's otherwise it's not possible,

1:19:39 even though the citizen in general or

1:19:42 farmers and consumer,

1:19:44 they may not care.

1:19:47 It's important also for

1:19:50 the acceptability of the trade agreement for

1:19:53 the European farmers

1:19:56 because

1:19:57 most of the process

1:19:59 we experienced,

1:20:00 especially in fall in France,

1:20:02 was because they had the feeling that

1:20:06 The competition is unfair because they have less stringent standards,

1:20:10 so then that they have lower costs because of their strident standards.

1:20:15 Now,

1:20:15 um,

1:20:17 Something which is um.

1:20:19 was maybe disappointing in this trade agreement

1:20:24 is that there was not much on voluntary standards

1:20:28 and in particular there was no.

1:20:32 No,

1:20:32 nothing that would differentiate products on voluntary standards.

1:20:38 So,

1:20:38 um,

1:20:39 I think one way to foster um.

1:20:43 Uh

1:20:44 Well,

1:20:45 environmental protection in this case also the

1:20:48 The fight against deforestation is to reward voluntary standards

1:20:54 and to get lower tariffs or

1:20:58 promote

1:20:59 products with voluntary standards.

1:21:02 So for instance,

1:21:02 in Brazil you have these

1:21:05 Uh,

1:21:05 soya mon

1:21:07 it's called Soya.

1:21:09 Uh,

1:21:10 memorandum,

1:21:12 which was a standard

1:21:14 for beef,

1:21:15 not coming from,

1:21:17 not from soya,

1:21:18 for instance,

1:21:19 not coming from the Amazon area.

1:21:21 That was a party very successful.

1:21:24 Um,

1:21:26 The issue is it should be recognized as a different product.

1:21:31 When you set tariffs,

1:21:33 uh,

1:21:34 and you should have a preferential tariff for this kind of,

1:21:37 uh,

1:21:38 uh,

1:21:39 label products,

1:21:40 and,

1:21:41 and this is not,

1:21:42 uh,

1:21:42 what is,

1:21:43 what is in the agreement.

1:21:53 All right.

1:21:53 There's,

1:21:54 there's time maybe for one more question.

1:21:56 Uh,

1:21:57 Anyone,

1:21:58 he's not,

1:21:59 uh,

1:22:00 If not I,

1:22:01 I,

1:22:01 I do have a question.

1:22:02 Sorry,

1:22:02 Stefan.

1:22:03 So,

1:22:04 um,

1:22:05 So,

1:22:06 so,

1:22:06 I mean,

1:22:07 is there cross-country data that,

1:22:09 that basically showcases,

1:22:11 you know,

1:22:11 what you've been saying that,

1:22:13 that basically,

1:22:13 you know,

1:22:14 low-income countries

1:22:16 would,

1:22:16 would rather

1:22:18 set up standards rather than,

1:22:20 say,

1:22:20 uh,

1:22:21 market-based mechanisms and,

1:22:23 and,

1:22:23 and again,

1:22:24 you know,

1:22:25 and,

1:22:25 and,

1:22:25 and,

1:22:25 you know,

1:22:26 some,

1:22:26 some literature trying to understand,

1:22:28 again,

1:22:28 why,

1:22:29 why that might be the case.

1:22:30 I mean,

1:22:30 you,

1:22:30 you,

1:22:31 you know,

1:22:31 you spoke about

1:22:32 You know,

1:22:33 the,

1:22:33 the difficulty of implementing maybe market-based policies because,

1:22:36 you know,

1:22:36 maybe there's a,

1:22:37 a fixed cost of doing that.

1:22:39 I mean,

1:22:39 this reminds me,

1:22:40 you know,

1:22:41 when in the context of taxation,

1:22:43 right?

1:22:43 So,

1:22:44 VAT versus income-based taxation,

1:22:48 right?

1:22:48 And so,

1:22:49 you know,

1:22:50 in VAT of course,

1:22:51 you can,

1:22:51 you know,

1:22:52 you,

1:22:52 you,

1:22:52 you know,

1:22:53 the base,

1:22:53 the tax base is a lot

1:22:54 wider than,

1:22:55 than income base because only,

1:22:57 only

1:22:58 former workers are,

1:22:59 are.

1:22:59 Can,

1:23:00 you know,

1:23:00 can,

1:23:00 are gonna pay income-based taxes,

1:23:02 right?

1:23:03 So,

1:23:03 but,

1:23:04 but,

1:23:04 but so in the context of,

1:23:05 of whether standards or,

1:23:07 so I,

1:23:08 I want you to,

1:23:08 to,

1:23:09 you know,

1:23:09 uh,

1:23:09 to elaborate a bit more on the,

1:23:11 on the,

1:23:12 on the,

1:23:12 uh,

1:23:13 the role of informality here.

1:23:14 Uh,

1:23:15 uh,

1:23:15 you know,

1:23:15 is it easier to impose a standard on an informal firm?

1:23:19 Rather than taxes,

1:23:20 uh,

1:23:21 uh,

1:23:22 and,

1:23:22 and,

1:23:22 and again,

1:23:23 what,

1:23:23 and what are the,

1:23:24 so,

1:23:25 so one of the,

1:23:26 you know,

1:23:26 on the structure of the,

1:23:27 of the industry,

1:23:28 but also,

1:23:29 you know,

1:23:29 going back to Milo's point about

1:23:32 What are the informational requirements

1:23:34 and,

1:23:35 and expertise requirements to,

1:23:37 to set either

1:23:39 a market-based policy versus a,

1:23:42 a standard,

1:23:42 right?

1:23:43 I mean,

1:23:43 so are there differences there

1:23:45 that,

1:23:45 that make uh standards more,

1:23:48 more,

1:23:48 uh,

1:23:50 you know,

1:23:50 uh,

1:23:51 you know,

1:23:51 more,

1:23:51 more useful

1:23:53 or,

1:23:53 uh,

1:23:54 for,

1:23:54 you know,

1:23:54 for,

1:23:54 for low-income countries

1:23:56 that might have these,

1:23:57 uh,

1:23:58 the,

1:23:58 the,

1:23:58 you know,

1:23:58 that might face these more these higher constraints.

1:24:03 OK,

1:24:03 so,

1:24:05 So to answer this question,

1:24:07 if you have some more empirical evidence on that,

1:24:10 uh,

1:24:10 there are two ways to go,

1:24:12 I will say.

1:24:13 One is to go into case studies

1:24:16 because for each particular case,

1:24:18 each particular

1:24:19 source of pollution industry,

1:24:22 then you can list what are the potential standard you can implement,

1:24:26 technical standard,

1:24:27 emission standard,

1:24:29 how you can tax the pollution,

1:24:31 how you can subsidize

1:24:33 better practices and which kind of

1:24:36 And then you go into the details about uh

1:24:39 what what the cost,

1:24:40 how to implement this,

1:24:41 and uh you know,

1:24:42 waste,

1:24:43 waste

1:24:44 treatment is not the same that air quality for cars,

1:24:47 which is not the same for coal power plant,

1:24:49 and

1:24:49 you know,

1:24:50 so it's really practical,

1:24:51 you know,

1:24:52 how,

1:24:53 what does it mean in practice

1:24:55 and what are the

1:24:56 different costs and really accounting

1:24:59 what is required in terms of information,

1:25:01 you need to have a monitor tracker at the.

1:25:04 At the chimney or the muffler or.

1:25:08 Or to track the car,

1:25:09 you know,

1:25:10 that's,

1:25:10 that's very practical.

1:25:12 The other way to go is um

1:25:15 to see,

1:25:15 you know,

1:25:16 how,

1:25:17 uh

1:25:19 Firms and

1:25:20 consumers respond to different

1:25:23 types of instruments in developing countries.

1:25:27 So for instance,

1:25:28 uh,

1:25:28 if you want to have an idea about the impact of the

1:25:32 carbon

1:25:32 tax,

1:25:33 for instance.

1:25:34 You can look at uh how uh

1:25:39 Consumers and firms respond to the variation of the price of fuel,

1:25:43 for instance.

1:25:45 Which gives you a sense about if you increase the price of fuel due to the carbon tax,

1:25:50 uh,

1:25:50 how effective will be this increase in terms of

1:25:53 reducing emissions.

1:25:56 Uh,

1:25:57 uh,

1:25:57 things like that,

1:25:58 or how they adopt technologies and how they are good in adopting technologies,

1:26:03 uh,

1:26:03 the division of technology,

1:26:04 I don't know.

1:26:06 How,

1:26:06 what are the,

1:26:07 the

1:26:08 plan.

1:26:09 The leakage of if you have a subsidy program or

1:26:13 the level of corruption,

1:26:14 uh,

1:26:15 so if you spend €1 in adopting tech subsidizing some technology.

1:26:20 How much of this euro will be,

1:26:22 uh,

1:26:23 will be waste in terms of administrative,

1:26:25 well,

1:26:26 will go into administrative cost or maybe,

1:26:28 uh,

1:26:29 waste in,

1:26:29 uh,

1:26:30 other issues.

1:26:33 So you,

1:26:33 so maybe you can extrapolate with this kind of data

1:26:36 to tell something

1:26:38 more general.

1:26:39 Mm

1:26:41 Another way is to go into the details of the of of the pollution topics.

1:26:48 All right.

1:26:49 Sorry.

1:26:49 So,

1:26:49 uh,

1:26:50 I think we're,

1:26:50 we're out of time.

1:26:51 Thank you so much,

1:26:52 uh,

1:26:53 uh,

1:26:53 Stefan,

1:26:53 for,

1:26:54 for this,

1:26:54 uh,

1:26:54 very nice,

1:26:55 uh,

1:26:55 talk and lively,

1:26:56 lively discussion.

1:26:58 And,

1:26:58 uh,

1:26:59 yeah,

1:26:59 I'll,

1:26:59 I'll see you all in the,

1:27:01 in the next,

1:27:01 uh,

1:27:01 in the next seminar.

1:27:03 Thank you again and,

1:27:04 uh,

1:27:04 have a great,

1:27:05 have a great evening.

1:27:06 Thank you.

1:27:07 Thank you.

1:27:09 All right.

1:27:09 Thank you.

1:27:09 Bye.

1:27:10 Dr.

1:27:11 Stefan.

1:27:17 So,

1:27:17 so,

1:27:18 Milo,

1:27:18 OK,

1:27:18 do you have 5 minutes?

1:27:20 Sure.

1:27:21 So for the,

1:27:22 for the next step,

1:27:24 so you send me a lot of comments.

1:27:27 Let,

1:27:28 let me call back

1:27:29 Chavi online.

1:27:31 Give me a stuff,

1:27:31 or it's actually,

1:27:33 can you connect?

1:27:35 Stefan wants to have a question.

1:27:38 Oh,

1:27:38 just a sec.

1:27:40 Sorry,

1:27:40 can you reconnect or,

1:27:41 or you wanna go ahead.

1:27:47 Yeah,

1:27:47 I know,

1:27:48 so I think

1:27:49 If you

1:27:52 I mean some of them we discussed today but

1:27:55 uh so the idea would be to to have a

1:27:58 a draft which we consider finished that we can.

1:28:01 Uh,

1:28:02 if you agree post

1:28:03 on,

1:28:03 on our website.

1:28:06 OK.

1:28:06 Um

1:28:09 So in order to do that,

1:28:11 if you know,

1:28:12 if,

1:28:12 if you could incorporate some of the comments that we that that that uh.

1:28:17 That we send.

1:28:21 You know,

1:28:22 if

1:28:25 We can go in more details if you want of which one

1:28:29 or you think are priority or not but but uh.

1:28:33 Um,

1:28:39 Yeah,

1:28:39 so,

1:28:40 so there's one I,

1:28:41 so I started to,

1:28:44 so you wanted to have one example in different topics.

1:28:48 So I've,

1:28:48 uh,

1:28:49 I wrote a table,

1:28:50 so I just,

1:28:51 uh,

1:28:52 a table in which you have different like,

1:28:54 uh,

1:28:55 air quality,

1:28:55 CO2 emissions,

1:28:57 uh,

1:28:57 waste,

1:28:58 uh,

1:28:58 pollution.

1:29:00 Wastewater

1:29:01 and so on in which I have different examples

1:29:03 of different of the three types of policy instruments.

1:29:08 So I've done that

1:29:10 Um,

1:29:12 So

1:29:13 There was this point about a consistency between the fact that

1:29:20 I write in the one party that

1:29:22 usually market business are considered more efficient.

1:29:26 Than standard,

1:29:27 but then I think that

1:29:29 standard are easier to implement,

1:29:31 monitoring for that market-based instrument.

1:29:33 I don't think it is inconsistent.

1:29:35 It's,

1:29:35 there are two different properties where they are cost effective

1:29:38 and what they are easy to implement.

1:29:42 Oh.

1:29:46 Then there's a suggestion to,

1:29:47 to write a table

1:29:48 with local versus global pollutants,

1:29:51 um.

1:29:54 We should have a

1:29:56 market base versus standards?

1:29:59 Ah

1:30:01 So I,

1:30:01 I

1:30:03 I'm,

1:30:04 I'm not,

1:30:04 I'm,

1:30:05 I'm not very comfortable with this idea because

1:30:07 when we talk about local pollutants like,

1:30:10 uh,

1:30:10 as I said,

1:30:11 particulate NOx and SO2,

1:30:14 they also

1:30:16 diffuse like a little bit global because they,

1:30:18 as I said,

1:30:19 they cross the county borders.

1:30:22 So usually you need

1:30:23 both instruments.

1:30:26 But,

1:30:26 um,

1:30:28 but in the table of the different.

1:30:31 Type of instrument.

1:30:32 What I can say is that,

1:30:33 you know,

1:30:33 if you move from a

1:30:35 particulate to CO2,

1:30:38 carbon

1:30:39 dioxide,

1:30:40 then you move from local to global.

1:30:42 So that's one way to do that.

1:30:47 Uh,

1:30:47 what else?

1:30:48 Uh,

1:30:50 011 thing

1:30:53 Uh,

1:30:53 we are really

1:30:54 I mean it was really related to the last question I have on.

1:31:00 Enforcement capacity and so on.

1:31:02 This is something that I think we want to take a position in the report.

1:31:08 on

1:31:09 You know how to adapt the policy instrument based on the fact that uh.

1:31:14 That

1:31:14 we

1:31:16 You know,

1:31:16 regulators in,

1:31:17 in many developing countries do not have the

1:31:20 ability to

1:31:22 uh

1:31:23 to enforce.

1:31:25 So either you know either you,

1:31:26 you want to go for a weaker standard or you want to go for other type of policy or what.

1:31:33 So you know,

1:31:33 I,

1:31:33 I,

1:31:34 I understood your,

1:31:35 your,

1:31:35 uh,

1:31:36 your reply and uh I,

1:31:38 I also read what you wrote and the.

1:31:40 Yeah,

1:31:41 so I need.

1:31:43 If you have other

1:31:44 papers that come to your mind on this point,

1:31:45 I think that's gonna be super,

1:31:47 super,

1:31:47 super useful.

1:31:48 So you,

1:31:48 you,

1:31:49 you had this point about,

1:31:50 uh,

1:31:51 in the future with.

1:31:53 Artificial intelligence and automation,

1:31:57 it will be more easy to measure.

1:31:59 Hm.

1:32:00 So,

1:32:00 so this is something that,

1:32:02 that is

1:32:03 part of this Duflo and Griston paper.

1:32:07 So what they did in the last RCT,

1:32:09 they installed automatic

1:32:11 measurement devices

1:32:13 at the,

1:32:13 at the manufacturing plant.

1:32:16 So they didn't have to,

1:32:18 to hire auditors to measure emissions.

1:32:21 So that's something that is going to be the case.

1:32:26 Now what I can do on that

1:32:28 is I

1:32:30 So they,

1:32:31 they,

1:32:31 you do you remember Alipio Ferreira,

1:32:35 was a PhD student.

1:32:36 Yeah,

1:32:37 yeah,

1:32:37 yeah,

1:32:37 yeah.

1:32:37 He,

1:32:37 he has this paper on the impact of the

1:32:40 technical project in

1:32:42 satellite image

1:32:43 on the fight against deforestation in Brazil.

1:32:47 Mm.

1:32:48 Showing that uh

1:32:51 so basically the argument would be that

1:32:54 AI

1:32:56 or technical progress will be a way to substitute the.

1:33:01 The fact that in many developing countries we lack uh

1:33:05 technical resources or financial resources to enforce.

1:33:09 Yeah,

1:33:09 exactly.

1:33:12 So,

1:33:12 so

1:33:13 satellite image,

1:33:14 for instance,

1:33:15 is one way to improve enforcement.

1:33:18 Mhm.

1:33:18 So you can track the high level of pollution with satellite image

1:33:23 or

1:33:24 deforestation.

1:33:26 And then you can just uh

1:33:28 detect uh

1:33:29 out of compliance.

1:33:32 And then you can send some,

1:33:33 someone to,

1:33:34 to check and to,

1:33:36 to,

1:33:36 to set a fine or.

1:33:38 OK.

1:33:43 So this is further

1:33:45 pushing the idea that standard would be the appropriate tool there because it.

1:33:50 It becomes easier to enforce.

1:33:53 Thanks to,

1:33:53 well,

1:33:54 but,

1:33:54 but,

1:33:54 but that's the place of photo

1:33:56 market based instrument,

1:33:57 right,

1:33:57 or

1:33:59 Because

1:34:00 also if you,

1:34:01 if,

1:34:01 if you are measuring pollution more easily,

1:34:04 then you can charge more easily

1:34:06 emissions,

1:34:07 yeah,

1:34:07 yeah,

1:34:07 but the market based then there's all this part about collecting,

1:34:10 collecting the tax and,

1:34:11 and.

1:34:13 But OK,

1:34:14 you can think about,

1:34:15 uh,

1:34:16 no,

1:34:17 it's just making the point that enforcing regulation,

1:34:19 it's,

1:34:19 it's easier.

1:34:21 Yeah,

1:34:22 there's a paper for Iceland in which they uh by uh

1:34:25 Perin Terman in which they

1:34:27 implement the Piguvian

1:34:30 carbon tax on car driving

1:34:33 by tracking how much people drive.

1:34:36 OK.

1:34:38 Yeah.

1:34:40 So instead of having an emission,

1:34:41 well,

1:34:42 yeah,

1:34:42 then you can tax the CO2 emission

1:34:45 or NOx emission,

1:34:46 everything.

1:34:49 Bye.

1:34:51 No,

1:34:52 that sounds good.

1:34:52 I mean,

1:34:54 Uh,

1:34:55 Chavi,

1:34:56 we were,

1:34:56 Stefan was asking the next step,

1:34:58 and I told him that

1:34:59 we are

1:35:00 planning to,

1:35:00 to,

1:35:01 to publish the paper

1:35:03 on the website,

1:35:04 so.

1:35:06 Uh,

1:35:06 if you can send us

1:35:08 a revised version

1:35:10 including,

1:35:11 you know,

1:35:11 taking into account some of the comments,

1:35:13 uh,

1:35:14 you received in the.

1:35:16 I

1:35:19 I don't know,

1:35:20 maybe a couple of weeks or something.

1:35:24 Yeah,

1:35:24 yeah,

1:35:25 no,

1:35:25 I mean,

1:35:25 I,

1:35:25 I don't think we're in a rush,

1:35:26 but,

1:35:27 but yeah,

1:35:27 no,

1:35:27 that would be,

1:35:28 and,

1:35:29 and,

1:35:29 and just,

1:35:29 just on my,

1:35:30 on my,

1:35:31 on my last point,

1:35:32 uh,

1:35:33 Stefan,

1:35:33 so if you take

1:35:35 One

1:35:36 type of pollution,

1:35:38 um,

1:35:39 you know,

1:35:40 and,

1:35:40 and you look at how that is being regulated

1:35:44 across the

1:35:46 income,

1:35:46 you know,

1:35:46 the GDP per capita or sort of the,

1:35:49 you know,

1:35:49 the income distribution of the country,

1:35:52 whether there's any patterns that,

1:35:53 that,

1:35:54 that,

1:35:54 that can be,

1:35:55 you know,

1:35:55 that can,

1:35:56 you know,

1:35:56 can trace out,

1:35:57 you know.

1:35:58 And you know,

1:35:59 I hear you,

1:35:59 right?

1:36:00 I mean,

1:36:00 you know,

1:36:00 of course,

1:36:01 technology is gonna,

1:36:02 you know,

1:36:02 help in,

1:36:03 in,

1:36:04 in measurement and,

1:36:05 and that,

1:36:06 that has implications for whether you wanna set up

1:36:09 uh one system or another,

1:36:10 but,

1:36:10 but.

1:36:11 But yeah,

1:36:11 I wonder whether there's,

1:36:13 uh,

1:36:13 of course,

1:36:14 you know,

1:36:14 the type of industry also matters,

1:36:16 right?

1:36:16 I mean,

1:36:17 you know,

1:36:17 cause,

1:36:17 cause some countries don't,

1:36:18 uh,

1:36:19 you know,

1:36:19 you don't have,

1:36:20 you know,

1:36:20 if there's no steel production,

1:36:22 you know,

1:36:22 in some countries,

1:36:23 or,

1:36:24 you know,

1:36:24 then,

1:36:25 then,

1:36:25 you know,

1:36:26 uh,

1:36:27 then,

1:36:27 then,

1:36:27 you know,

1:36:28 but,

1:36:28 um.

1:36:30 Yeah,

1:36:30 so,

1:36:30 so,

1:36:31 you know,

1:36:31 I guess,

1:36:31 also having a sense of

1:36:33 who are the big emitters,

1:36:34 you know,

1:36:35 the big,

1:36:35 big polluters or not,

1:36:36 but,

1:36:37 but,

1:36:38 but I don't know,

1:36:38 like garments,

1:36:39 you know,

1:36:39 garment,

1:36:40 for example,

1:36:40 which is,

1:36:41 you know,

1:36:41 manufacturing and,

1:36:42 and this would be,

1:36:43 you know,

1:36:43 I think you,

1:36:44 you would have it in quite a,

1:36:45 you know,

1:36:46 garment.

1:36:46 You know,

1:36:47 it's there's a lot of pollution in terms of,

1:36:49 uh,

1:36:50 dyes and stuff in the,

1:36:51 you know,

1:36:52 that goes out in the river,

1:36:53 and so,

1:36:54 so,

1:36:54 you know,

1:36:54 and I believe you,

1:36:55 you might have some informal,

1:36:57 you know,

1:36:57 informal firms there.

1:36:58 So,

1:36:59 you know,

1:36:59 how countries are are solving this,

1:37:02 this issue of

1:37:03 Uh,

1:37:04 is,

1:37:04 you know,

1:37:04 might be interesting along the,

1:37:06 but,

1:37:06 but,

1:37:07 but for all we know,

1:37:07 I mean,

1:37:08 there might be no data,

1:37:08 so I guess,

1:37:09 I guess I was asking as to whether there's,

1:37:11 you know,

1:37:12 you know,

1:37:12 any,

1:37:13 you know,

1:37:13 cross-country data set

1:37:15 that,

1:37:15 that can,

1:37:15 or,

1:37:16 you know,

1:37:16 that,

1:37:16 that,

1:37:16 that can,

1:37:18 you know,

1:37:18 can,

1:37:18 can help us,

1:37:19 uh,

1:37:19 uh,

1:37:20 understand

1:37:21 how governments are tackling these,

1:37:23 these,

1:37:23 this problem,

1:37:25 you know,

1:37:25 across time and across,

1:37:26 across,

1:37:27 uh,

1:37:27 the income distribution.

1:37:29 But,

1:37:29 but,

1:37:29 you know,

1:37:30 but,

1:37:30 but the answer could just be,

1:37:31 look,

1:37:31 uh,

1:37:31 you know,

1:37:32 that doesn't exist,

1:37:33 right?

1:37:33 And so,

1:37:34 And

1:37:34 I mean,

1:37:36 there are data,

1:37:38 uh,

1:37:38 survey data on,

1:37:41 um,

1:37:43 so there's a professor the ECD have the policy

1:37:47 stringency index,

1:37:49 environmental regulations stringency and act

1:37:52 on different type of pollutants.

1:37:55 The you have the also the World

1:37:57 Values survey about the perception of environmental issues

1:38:01 in different countries,

1:38:02 how

1:38:03 people perceive nuclear power or

1:38:07 GMO or

1:38:08 but even,

1:38:09 even if you take the stringency though,

1:38:10 it's all based on standards,

1:38:13 right?

1:38:13 So

1:38:13 whether countries used a market-based approach or a standard or more uh

1:38:19 As,

1:38:19 you know,

1:38:20 standards,

1:38:21 um,

1:38:21 you know,

1:38:22 is there really,

1:38:23 uh,

1:38:24 you know,

1:38:25 is there a level in which,

1:38:27 you know,

1:38:27 you want to switch.

1:38:29 You know,

1:38:30 again,

1:38:30 you said,

1:38:30 you know,

1:38:31 standards are easy to implement,

1:38:33 but maybe

1:38:34 market-based are more efficient.

1:38:36 So,

1:38:36 is there a way when there's,

1:38:38 you know,

1:38:38 there's a critical mass of,

1:38:40 of

1:38:41 that,

1:38:41 that,

1:38:41 you know,

1:38:42 that,

1:38:42 that country somehow switch from one

1:38:45 to,

1:38:45 to another or,

1:38:46 or not?

1:38:47 I mean,

1:38:47 you know,

1:38:48 any

1:38:49 You know,

1:38:49 any,

1:38:50 any sense of whether that is happening

1:38:52 because again I think the stringency,

1:38:54 the OECD stringency stuff,

1:38:55 it's,

1:38:55 it's all about standards,

1:38:57 right?

1:38:57 But,

1:38:57 but,

1:38:58 but not,

1:38:58 it doesn't tell me,

1:38:59 I think it's,

1:38:59 it's also about tax.

1:39:01 It's also market based also

1:39:03 they collect those information about the level of a carbon tax of taxes,

1:39:06 emission taxes,

1:39:07 and so on and collection,

1:39:08 or,

1:39:09 OK,

1:39:09 OK,

1:39:09 OK,

1:39:10 OK,

1:39:11 OK,

1:39:11 also stand out we can explore that a bit.

1:39:13 OK,

1:39:14 OK.

1:39:15 All right,

1:39:15 no,

1:39:16 that's,

1:39:16 that's good.

1:39:18 Yeah

1:39:23 You can have concrete comparison about

1:39:24 the perception of environmental issues and the

1:39:27 stringency of environmental regulations and type of instruments that are used.

1:39:33 That's also interesting,

1:39:34 right?

1:39:34 I mean,

1:39:35 in terms of,

1:39:35 uh,

1:39:36 You know,

1:39:37 preference,

1:39:37 consumer preferences because,

1:39:39 I mean,

1:39:39 I guess if you're,

1:39:40 you know,

1:39:40 I mean,

1:39:41 if you're,

1:39:42 you know,

1:39:42 low income,

1:39:43 you can,

1:39:44 you,

1:39:44 you know,

1:39:44 you tolerate pollution just because,

1:39:46 you know,

1:39:46 you're hand to mouth,

1:39:47 right?

1:39:47 I mean,

1:39:47 you need to,

1:39:48 but then when you reach certain income,

1:39:50 and I think that's what happened in,

1:39:51 in China,

1:39:52 right?

1:39:52 I mean,

1:39:52 in China at some point,

1:39:53 you know,

1:39:54 they were,

1:39:55 they said,

1:39:55 you know,

1:39:55 enough is enough and,

1:39:56 and,

1:39:57 and,

1:39:57 you know,

1:39:57 that's when the government

1:39:58 cracked down on,

1:39:59 on pollution,

1:40:00 right?

1:40:00 And so,

1:40:02 and so.

1:40:03 Yeah,

1:40:04 so do you know any papers that kind of look at these,

1:40:07 kind of,

1:40:07 you know,

1:40:07 consumer preferences by,

1:40:09 by income?

1:40:10 I mean,

1:40:10 you know,

1:40:10 these are

1:40:11 probably not gonna be super well identified because,

1:40:14 you know,

1:40:14 we're comparing across countries,

1:40:16 but,

1:40:16 but maybe,

1:40:17 maybe there's some studies

1:40:18 looking at a country over time and,

1:40:21 you know,

1:40:21 any,

1:40:22 any literature that you've looked,

1:40:24 that you've come across on,

1:40:25 on,

1:40:25 on,

1:40:26 on looking at that.

1:40:28 Well,

1:40:28 I can send you a couple of references,

1:40:30 uh,

1:40:30 if you want,

1:40:31 yeah,

1:40:31 OK,

1:40:32 uh,

1:40:32 excellent.

1:40:33 OK,

1:40:33 OK.

1:40:34 Very good,

1:40:35 yeah,

1:40:36 I know,

1:40:36 that's kind of fun.

1:40:37 Thanks,

1:40:37 uh,

1:40:38 for all this,

1:40:39 uh,

1:40:40 and,

1:40:40 and,

1:40:41 uh,

1:40:41 it's super helpful.

1:40:44 OK,

1:40:45 so good luck for the,

1:40:46 so that's a big project is uh

1:40:48 annual report.

1:40:50 I can imagine.

1:40:52 Keeps you busy full time,

1:40:53 I guess.

1:40:55 OK.

1:40:57 Thank you for the opportunity.

1:40:59 Bye-bye.

1:41:00 Thank you.

showAllTimestamps
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transcript
Hello, everyone, and, and welcome to the first seminar of the WDR 2025 seminar series. I'm Xavi Jinne. I'm the director of this year's WDR which, uh, as you may know, it's entitled Leveraging Standards for Development. So, as preparation for the report, we've commissioned a series of background papers on various topics around standardization. And so we want the seminar series to allow the authors of the, of the papers to present their, their work. So, we're very delighted to have Stefan Ambek, who's a professor at uh Toulouse School of Economics and director of the TSC Energy and Climate Center. So, Professor Ambeg will talk about when and how standards can be used as a tool for public policy in addressing environmental concerns. So, Professor, you have around 40 minutes, but, but we, as, as, as mentioned, we welcome questions along the way. So for the audience, uh, you know, if you want to ask a question, simply raise your hand and I'll, I'll call your name in the order you, you raise a hand. And so, so let's hope to have a lively, lively debate. Uh, so, uh, Stefan, professor, the, the, the floor is yours. Thank you. Thank you, Javier. Thank you everybody for this opportunity to share my research and topics and Uh, well, topics I'm working on for quite a long time. So, um, the, my background, uh, report is really about environmental standards. So the focus is on standards as a way to Improve the environment, to reduce pollution and to manage the exploitation of natural resources. So then the, the, this is the, the, well, the, the outline of, of, of the, of the report. Uh, so first, the first question is, um, Uh, how you place the environmental standard in the mix of policy instruments. So then the question is, what are the policy instruments to tackle environmental issues? Uh, so then I will talk about the typology of 3 types of instruments and define those instruments, provide examples and see how standard fit on, on these, uh, background. Then the next question is, uh, well, given we have several instruments to reduce pollution, when do we should use standard? When standard should be part of the solution for uh improving the environment? Uh, that's the first point. The second point is, uh, if we use standard, then, uh, should we use other instruments to complement the policy? Um, so the question is, what are the mechanisms? Are there complement substitute? Then I will talk about two ways to see standards, uh, voluntary standards and mandatory standards. So, um, uh, what, what are they? How do they work? Should we make standard voluntary or mandatory? Um, are there complement or substitute? And then at the last, the last part of the report, I'll talk about the interplay between environmental standards and international trade. OK. So what about the policy instruments to reduce pollution and improve the management of natural resources? So usually in economics, we distinguish between 2 or 3 types of instruments. The command and control instruments that are, you know, everything which is related to the technology. So these are really engineering type of instruments. So basically you impose some constraint on the technology, uh, directly or through some constraint on input on, on pollution levels. The second type of instrument are what is called the market-based, so you relied on market mechanisms to induce a reduction of pollution to incentivize firms and consumers to reduce their polluting emissions. So this is kind of instrument that talks to economists. Uh, because you, we actually, we, you, you, you rely on economic mechanism. And then the third type of instrument, which is something that has been analyzed in the last 20 years in economics, which was well known in psychology. are what are called the information-based instruments. Everything which is related to information, the, the framing of product, uh sometimes, they are called nudges. So the idea here is that you, you don't. Put any technical constraint, you don't put any price, so you don't rely on prices, but you rely on information. You, you, you give information. Uh, and you're given them information in the way that you would change, you would like to change the behavior of stakeholders, firms, or consumers in the right way, in the way of reducing their pollution. Oh, you say they are the pollution or they are harmful impact on the environment. So let's be, let's me talk, start with the command and control instruments. So as I said, there are, these are mostly technical standards. So you impose some technology, you ban some pesticides, some inputs, you ban other technology, you put some restriction on the technology used. So for instance, you oblige a coal power plant to install some kind of scrubber to filter their CO2 and NOx emissions. Are you um And oblige them to use less. polluting inputs like coal with a low sulfur content or like fuel with less no lead or less sulfur. So these are, you know, very specific measures on the technology. Uh, you have some light way to restrict standards which are emission standards. So instead of specifying the technology to use, you set limits on polluting emissions. So you can uh limit particulate matters emission, docks, SO2, uh, you can set uh energy efficiency standard expressed in terms of uh kilowatt per square or in terms of CO2 emissions. Uh, so these are usually mandatory, so you impose this. Um, and when I would talk about the voluntary standard is more than you have a different level of emission standards, for instance, and you distinguish product according to those levels and you let firms decide about which level they would like to, to implement. She fit The citizens watching, I am the leader the G20 by 4. I'm sorry, uh, could you, could you please mute yourself? Let world leaders strip away the rights of their citizens. OK. So what about market-based instruments? So there are two types of market-based instruments. So either you decide on prices, uh, positive or negative prices like subsidies. So a classical example is the carbon tax or subsidy for investing in Um, low carbon technologies like in the inflation Reduction Act in the US, for instance. So, so you reward, um, decarbonization, for instance, of like less polluting technologies, for instance, or you penalize, um, um, emissions. So you charge pollution in the Piguvian way, I mean, like, in the logic of, of Arthur Pigo. Another way to do that is you work with quantities. So uh you set limits on pollution, but the difference with emission standard is now you allow firms to trade emissions. Uh, quota or emission allowances. So you actually design a market, you should assign property rights on emission permits, and you design a market in which firms can trade. So, um, in both cases, what you do, you leave a lot of flexibility about how to deal with pollution, so you don't impose any technology. But you incentivize firms to reduce their emitting pollution. Um, so, um, One specific example of this kind of market-based instrument which has a little bit of the flavor of a standard. Is um. The tradable emission standard or what is called performance standard. So one example is this uh corporate average fuel economy standard in the US. So, in the US, uh, car manufacturer have an obligation to uh reach uh an emission intensity, an average emission intensity for their car fleet. Um, that they can, um. They, they can, they can achieve by buying a certificate from other car manufacturers, for example, electric car manufacturers. In the same way, uh, some states in the US have implemented the um um renewable portfolio standards that are obligation of utilities, electricity retailers to um. rely on. to have a share of their electricity. Relying on renewables, let's say 30% of what they sell to final consumer should come from renewable energy source, uh, renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. So in order to achieve this target, what they do, they um by certificate to uh solar and wind power producers uh if they don't issue the certificate certificate themselves. So it's not an obligation to invest and to have 30% of their production capacity with renewables because they can just buy certificates from renewable producers and if they have more than that, they can sell the certificate to other retailers. So it's a startup with some flexibility about how to achieve it. And, and then at the end, the incentives are more with the price incentive because at the end, your decision whether to invest or not should depend on the price of those certificates. In Europe for car manufacturing, we have what's called feebates, so it's it used to be a tax subsidies based on the energy efficiency of cars or CO2 emissions per 100 kilometers of cars. So it's It is defined from one average CO2 emission standard per 100 kilometers and then um cars that are emitting more are taxed proportional to their emission standard emission. Well, emission ratio per 100 kilometer. And those who are eating less get a subsidy from that and and. The Fibet was designed originally to be budget balanced. So again, you set a standard like emission per 100 kilometers, emission per kilowatt hour. And then you have like prices to adjust around the standard. So it's a mix of market-based and instrumental standards. And the third type of instrument are information-based instruments. So you provide information to stakeholders. Usually like consumers, but also firms and also investors, for instance. Uh, so these are a couple of examples. Of course, eco labels are the more straightforward. Another information is um the certified environmental management procedures like ISO certification 90,000. So firms can uh decided to adopt this um man Amaton management procedure and be certified in order to get some comparative advantage, for instance, um. Uh, to, to, to be able to sell their product to, to, to certified company if you are self-certified ISO 40,000, then you commit to buy from a supplier that are certified. Or to have access to uh uh public procurements because often it's part of the regulation. Uh, so, so then it's also one way to report emissions and um. You have also, you know, some a lot of information that are mandatory to provide to regulation regulators that are becoming public and that will have an impact on the image of company or products. And some also programs are managed by regulation agencies. So one example is the 3050 program that has been managed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. In which uh manufacturing plants volunteer to report their emissions and in exchange what they have, they have some sharing of best, best practices, uh, some also target on emission reduction, uh, and, and, and, and, um, privilege, privilege. Well, a, a, a good relationship with, with, I would say with, with the, with the regulator. So again, you know, these market-based, the information-based instruments, uh, they, they don't have any monetary impact really direct monetary impact. So there are no prices, uh, no obligation, but, but everything is about information. So these are example of the just, yes. So, sorry, sorry to, uh, yeah, sorry, just, uh, uh, a minor point to take issue on, on ISO 14,000. So, I mean, So, you, you, you, you call it a, an, just an information instrument information-based instrument, but, but in order to comply with ISO 14,000, I may have to change the way I produce, right? I mean, you know, uh, so I may not, you know, I may not, you know, uh, from the get-go, I may not comply with everything that ISO 14,000 requires me to do. Um, uh, and so, you know, may have to hire a consultant and the guy will walk around the plant and will say, OK, you know, you're, you know, you're, you're, you're not treating the water properly, or, or, or whatever, you know, or, you know, you're needing too much or, or something. And so, and so, basically, I will have to take action in order to be certified. I will have to take some action, right, and, and, and so, and to curb, curb some, curb some pollution. So it's, so you know it's, it's different from, you know, posting my emissions and actually being certified with ISO 140,000, right, because I may feel the same, yeah, so um, yeah, so I'm, I'm not saying that it is costless. I'm not saying it is, it does not cost. What I'm saying is that this is voluntary. So that's, um, so, so you, you don't have any obligation to come to, to, uh to, to be ISO certified. You may decide not to, to go to launch this process. The same way if you want to have the organic label as a farmer, you need also to comply with many, many rules, and this is costly. But you're not obliged to to to turn your production organic. Um, and so what, and then what you get, what do you get out of it, after that, you don't get, uh, well, you don't get a subsidy, for instance, you don't get, uh, you don't avoid taxes, but what you get is some, some, some label that, that you can use to get some, some that's. So, so I mean that, that's the general idea, of course, I mean, sometimes you have subsidy to turn organic or to certified. Also, in some countries, you have an obligation to report their emissions and be ISO certified is one way, a cheap way to comply with this reporting. But, but the certification itself, uh, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's not associated to, to some, to some tax or subsidy or to some certificate or some, to some, uh, some monetary outcome and, uh, and it is no technical obligation related to, I mean, you, you're not, you're free not to, to be certified, so you're free not to uh implement those technology, for instance. Did I answer well to your point, or Yeah, yeah, thank you. Thank you so much. So just like this is a slide that I use for teaching example of, of these information-based technologies like Dutches. Um, so, another example is, you know, you compare your consumption, as energy consumption in, in the, in the electricity bill compared to your neighbor and you, you may have some target, and you may have some objective in reducing consumption. These are kind of labels that you see that on electric appliances related to energy efficiency. Or carbon emissions. So again, that it is a formation. Uh You, you are free to be A, B, C, D, E, F, G, uh, that's or to have the Energy Star label or not. Um. But if you do have, then there's a cost of doing that, then the reward is you can have a price premium by attacking. The demand of some consumers. So these are well-known labels. My product OK, so now, When standard should be used as a command and control instrument. So, generally, economists think that market-based instruments are more efficient. In reducing pollution at a lower cost. For two reasons. One is. You don't constrain the type of technology you use. So, then, then each firm can decide to use the, the, the, the best technology and that you can have heterogeneity in terms of best response to uh This reduction of pollution, uh, you can innovate, uh, you can do different things. So there's no obligation to implement one type of technology. So this flexibility, uh, implies that you will go for the less costly and the more efficient technology. And the second reason is that, you know, the, the issue with the, the emission standard, you know, this cap on emission is that once you achieve the standard, you don't have an incentive to go beyond to reduce further your emissions to be more energy efficient, for instance. Whereas with the, with the tax or subsidy for every CO2 ton of CO2 you avoid, you are rewarded because you avoid paying a tax, for instance, or you get a subsidy for investing more in renewable, for instance. So that one, the reason why Uh, economists tend to think that market-based treatments are more efficient. Uh, but, um, noted that, um, this is in the standard economic model in which consumers don't care about uh. The harmful impact of their decision when they buy goods. I have a joint paper with one of my colleagues in which we make the point that If we do have, we have green consumers, consumers that are willing to pay a higher price for greener products like organic food, for instance. Then the dominance of the market-based treatment on standard. It's not any more true. The reason is because in this case, you don't have, we don't have cost effectiveness, that is, we don't have the minimized cost of achieving one reduction of pollution. Because um what the market-based instrument tend to do with green consumer is to increase the gap between the cost of reducing pollution, the marginal abatement cost. Among consumers. Which is inefficient. So the higher the gap between the marginal apartment cost, the cost of avoiding 1 ton of CO2, the, the, the more costly this to CO2 emissions are. Are, are low, the total emissions are lower or higher cost when you have a higher gap between marginal abutment cost. So what Markets Bet and are doing in the standard model, uh, with, with the same type of consumers is that you, you have, you avoid one ton of CO2 as the same cost and minimize cost. But you have different consumers, and you have the green consumers that are buying high quality products with more energy efficient product and the the other consumers are buying. The, the less energy efficient product and what the carbon tax is doing, it increases the gap between these two types of products and that reduces the, that increases the cost of achieving the same reduction of CO2 emissions. So that's one reason why you should prefer standard when you have these green consumers. Another reason you should prefer standards, especially limits on emissions in when you have um Pollutants for which local concentration of pollution matters. Um, So the problem with market-based instruments is that you don't control the localization of polluting activities. So if you have, for instance, an emissions trading schemes in which firms are buying and selling emission permits, you may end up having all the more polluting production plants at the same place. In the same location, so have a very high concentration of pollution in this place. So it's not a big issue when it When this pollution is related to greenhouse gasses like when CO2 emissions. But it is for air quality, for particulate matters, knocks or socks. Uh, so, so then if you have standard, then you limit, uh, you can control the more easily the local concentration of, of pollution. There's another argument which is a little bit related to this idea of uh. Uh, high damage for local concentration. There is a seminal paper by Martin Weitzmann, which is comparing market-based versus quantity-based instruments. And making the point that quantity-based instruments are better when you have a steeply sloped marginal damage compared to the slope of marginal abatement cost and basically the idea that if you have like a The damage from pollution is becoming quickly very high above some level. So like if you have tipping points, then you want to be sure not to exceed this level. Uh, and this is, um, what you can do with stand up, but, but not with market-based instruments. Um, OK. So, so just by, by the way, In, in the. So in the comment you sent me by email, there was something about Uh, is it consistent with the other, other work by Martin Weitzmann? That he published afterward about climate change. So I think in this other paper, the following paper that he published about uncertainty of, of, of climate change and tipping point. He was making a very different. argument which was more about intergenerational equity, what should be the The cost we have to pay now and the benefit later and pushing for having a very high. And very stringent policy now to avoid the catastrophic events. But that's, that argument um holds for market-based, I mean, instrument also and so, so the type of instrument, uh whether it's a standard or market-based doesn't matter for this uh this point. So here really it's about um more about um uh pollution now and more about uh uh local pollution. So this is about local pollution for which at some point you want to avoid the pollution concentration above some level. Stefan, uh, just to follow up on that. Uh, I, I guess one question is what happens if the regulator does not have the information that about or complete information about marginal damage and cost, you know, if there's uncertainty on how bad it can be if, uh, the temperature, uh, reaches some level and so on. So is it fair to say that this type of uncertainty is pushing Towards standard because we really don't want to go in a region in which we cannot assess the risk. Yes. I think it is fair to say that because um 111 way like uh To model this is to say that there's some probability that the marginal damage is infinitively sloped. It's a vertical line at some point. Uh, and so, so, so you have a very steeply, there's a, there's a probability that you have very steeply slow marginal damages. But, but then another issue, well, so, so, yes, but when it comes to climate change, And greenhouse gas emissions, then you still have the problem of like global pollutants and the issue of what is the marginal impact of One country, one firm on. On the marginal damage. So, so, um, it's difficult to To imagine that uh. A country, the, the impact of one country, a small country or, or, or, or a manufacturing plant. Will Will, will make you uh Reach this uh this tipping point, for instance, or this vertical line. And that's why you want to have a standard to be sure at this manufacturing plant level or the country level, to be sure not to, to reach this vertical line. So I think that this argument is fair in general. The uncertainty at the risk of having very irreversible or very high damage call for a standard, but, but it applies only for local pollution and not so much for global pollution because the marginal impact of, of, of the polluter that you want to regulate is, is very small. OK, uh, so another very well. A different problem that standard I tried to fixing. are somehow fixing the problem of environmental accident or potential harm. So it's, so you don't, you don't, you don't pollute, but there's a risk that you have, you are polluting, like for, for instance, you, there's a risk of an explosion or a nuclear accident. And in which case the, the damage is huge for instance. And you want to avoid it. In this case, it makes sense to impose safety standards to oblige the potential polluter, the firms. To implement some technologies, some safety procedures. Um, It's costly, but, but the, and also, and the one reason is that. In case of accident. Uh, the making label the firm. may not be sufficient to incentivize this firm to invest in safety because it's in case of accident, the damage is so big. So that you cannot make the firm pay for this damage. So you cannot discipline the firm from investing in safety. Uh, because the firm gets bankrupt basically, or because it takes time or because the institutional background is such that you, it's difficult to make the firm liable in case of accident. So what is called export regulation, making firms liable in case of accident is not sufficient to, to, to invest optimally in safety. So you, you need to implement standard. Today's a paper by Steven Chavell making nicely this point. Another reason to implement standards because it's more easy to implement. So it's good if you, it's, it's difficult to track emissions. So for instance, uh, in environmental economy, we, we call non-point source pollutions, pollution that is difficult to track like water pollution from agriculture or air pollution for transportation from cars, trucks, so it's difficult to set the Uh, to, to monitor what's, what's is emitted. So that's why you, you cannot tax uh easily, uh, the, the drivers on their pollution by driving. So there's an experiment doing that, but it's more easy to, to have an, uh, an emission standard. For dogs or particulate for cars. Uh, Stefan, just a point on the, on safety. I, I, I understand this, uh, limits of exposed, uh, regulation, but another way to go would be to mandate some insurance, uh, on firms, and, uh, I, I'm raising this because, uh, in, in another paper that we have commissioned it, it, it was about the development of, uh, during the first industrial revolution, uh, the of steam engine. And you know we had standard in the in the in France on the that that would uh require some you know thickness of the of the boiler and so on some some safety standard and in the UK we had the uh insurance uh you know insurance company which will go and and and uh uh basically uh you know provide compensation in case of accidents. So we'll try to discuss the, the, you know, the, the, the compare the two systems, and I would say the second one is more market-based, uh, uh than, than, than the French one, So I just wanted to point this out in case, uh, and you know we can discuss this later in case you had the further reference on this, uh, you know, safety issue and, and, and standard, uh. Yeah. So what was uh Chavel is, is, well, is concluding that you should have two, the two expo uh safety standard, ex ante safety standard and expose liability rules. What you are saying that you can use an insurance. Uh To pay for To of course but but then the question. The question is whether the insurance company will incentivize firms to invest in safety. Well, it should, right, because, uh, yeah, exactly. So you use the insurance company as a way to discipline the firms and make it investing in safety. That's right. Because in this kind of model, at the end, you want uh And there's an optimal investment in safety, and you want to induce this investment. So the question is what is the so again standard is not the only way to get to get to this investment and you could have no. And also the, the, sorry, in the paper. Standard has the same limit that you impose the same investment to all firms. So the same technology to all firms, but, but there are a lot of exaggerated among firms and maybe it's not the best, the best technology adapted to each firm. So that's. You have this limitation of harmonization. When you harmonize, then you don't adapt to the specificity of the film, which is one limitation of standards. Perfect. Sorry, uh, I think Rosie, Rosie has a question as well. So Rosie, you wanna, you wanna jump in? Yes, uh, thank you, Shelby, and thank you, Stefan, for the presentation. So can you just go back to the previous slide? So, I have one question for the investment argument. So, I'm not sure whether based on investment argument you're reaching, you know, standards are better when the slope of marginal damage is steeper because even think about cap and trade, uh, policy, you have a reg you have a cap on emissions. So it's also Yeah, that's a good point, so. So Whiteman was talking about price versus quantities instrument. So you, you think that cap and trade is a quantity instrument because you said quantities, uh, but, but for the firm itself, I think the firm of my, my view is that the firm see the instrument cap and trade instrument as a price instrument because at the end. In the decision of the firm whether to abate, to reduce emissions, or whether to buy permits, the, the, the what matters is the price, right? So I would say that um. Um, at the aggregate level, it's a quantity instrument, but, uh, uh, at the individual level, it's a price instrument. OK, yeah, thank you. And so, another question is about overall, uh, like to think about when to adopt standards. So can you comment a little bit on the political economy of adopting standards? So for example, maybe it's very hard or or like adopting any policies, for example. It, it can be hard to adopt gasoline taxes because you will face a lot of pushback from, from the public, but probably it's easier to adopt standards in practice. So do you have any like comments on, on the, on the adoption of standards in terms of political economy? Yeah, thank you. Yeah, so, um, on the political and economic dimension, I agree with you that, well, Well, the, the good thing with, with standard is that it talks to engineer and so people understand what it is about. was a carbon tax, they don't, a lot of people don't understand that with the carbon tax, you, you reduce emissions. So that's one thing. So, it's easy to understand and, and uh also the People, it, you may have a more acceptance also because you don't see the, the distributional impact and the cost of the standards, which is, I think a limitation of standard that so there's paper that, uh, for instance, there are some paper that have, I know a paper that evaluated the standards on um. Uh, energy efficiency or Emissions for cars in the US. And then showing that the cost was important and those who suffered, those who incurred the higher costs were the poorest people. So with the tax, for instance, you can easily compute how much each driver will have to pay if you increase the tax on gas and who will pay more than others. But if you impose that some cars have a higher energy efficiency and you ban those with lower in efficiency or if you impose some um um emission standard for NOx particulates. Uh, you don't know what will be the cost for producing the cars that are complying with this standard and the added value of the car and how much people have to pay and so on. So it's more difficult to, to, to get the cost of standards. Uh, so here in France, for instance, what's happening is that they are. Now they're trying to, uh, so now for all the apartment and the housing, we have a labeling on energy efficiency, and now they are starting to forbid the renting of apartment with the lowest rating, the FG rating. And then people try to figure out that, well, it would cost them some money. So, so, so, but, but they tried to realize this, but at the beginning they didn't know that. Whereas if you have a carbon tax, then you have an increase of the price of energy and then people can figure out how much you have to pay. So that the other, other reason maybe standard are more uh easier to implement and to be, to be accepted, but up to the point that they figure out how much, how costly it is for them to adopt the standard. Or maybe I'll skip. So I have a couple of examples. I don't have time to. Sorry, Steph, I'm interrupting you with questions. Yeah. Go ahead. Um, it's OK if I Um, I think one question, um, it's like now we're like comparing standards to different, uh, policy instruments. Um, but of course, there's also like a big discussion about what kind of standards to use, whether it's more, um, performance-based standards versus uh technology standards. Is there like any um guidance that you have on, you know, to achieve environmental objectives, when to use performance-based standards versus technology standards. Um, I can only think of like one example, maybe like for more from safety, uh, where I believe that in the EU, uh, New cars have to have an airbag, right? And you kind of like determine, you specify the technology that the car needs to have as a safety feature, even though you could also, you know, think of like a performance standard that defines you know what safe car means and then, you know, let the, let the, let the engineers figure out a techno techno technology solution. Like what is the What is the um an academic consensus on when to use a like a technology-specific standard versus like a performance standards in, in biometric context? Well, conceptually, I mean, if you look at the economic view of the problem, uh, it's The performance standards are better because what you say that you live. Our freedom to the firms on how to comply with this performance standard, which kind of technology to implement. Um, and you, you, you, you expect that the, the firm will be, uh, or the manufacturing, well, the, the, well, firms are in better position to, to pick the best solution. Um, But it's OK for safety, maybe it's more difficult because then the regulator, you have to think about uh what, what your, your goal in terms of safety. So, so it's, it would, I think it's more difficult to, to set a standard. So for instance, you can set standard on NOx emissions or particulate emissions, but for safety about uh how to avoid the accident. Then maybe as a regulator you need to be more specific. And, but, but even for emission standard, usually it's, well in practice, it's really negotiated with the, with the firms, right? So you think about um uh car ammunition standard and so what the regulator have done everywhere is To Increase the stringencies of those standards over time. And negotiate with car manufacturers about how to achieve those standards. And then the car manufacturers went with different solutions. Uh, the catalytic converters, for instance, was the first one, and then the catalytic reduction with the, this fluid, uh, that was another solution. And then you have electric cars also, that is one way to comply. So at the end, it's also a negotiation between the regulator and the firms, I would say. But, but for the economists, then the emission standard define the constraint and let firms decide about how to optimize given these constraints. Instead of imposing some technology, um. I guess maybe just take 11 explanatory note. Um, I, I guess like what I've heard sometimes in, in our client countries is the argument that firms don't have like a lot of capacity to like figure out a solution. So it's kind of like more effective to kind of like tell them what to use. Um, and I'm wondering like if there's like any research on that, whether, you know, this argument deserves merit in, in some cases and, you know, might be better if the technology solution is very clear. And we can just like, you know, assume that there's like mature technology that's not gonna be locked in, we're not gonna kill innovation, um, that this is actually like a, a better solution in that in certain circumstances, but it's a difficult question as well to generalize, I guess. Well, the, the question is whether you, the, the, the regulator would like to push some technologies. Is this the idea you have in mind or? Yes, right, yeah, so, OK. I mean, there may, maybe some rationale for that, some reasons, um. But, but again, the, the, the big question is whether the regulator is in a better position to identify what are the best technologies to push compared to firms. Um, Yeah, sometime in the while, they do, uh, but I don't know. I, I have no clear idea about that. I, I think in, in practice, it's really about uh, uh, a gameplay between the regulator and firms and, and consumer. And, and It's, you know. You, you also need to. The to to. To put all your eggs in the same basket, so you need to invest in different technologies, so. So in practice also. The part of the public policy is to um foster innovation in with diff different tracks. Um, you have also a literature about, um, what's called a directed technical change, the fact that once you do research in one track, like, um, you rely on fossil energy, then it's, it's, it's, um, you have economic economical scale in investing in this kind of technology and then it's difficult to change of, uh, to think out of the box and outside the box. And to change with another kind of technology. But that will call for more subsidies and more rather than imposing technologies about that one. Uh, I don't, I. I think you, you, you have an argument in, in favor of having the regulator. Um, Um, say something about the technology. But it should be well uh. Well, well, well, uh, well, well, well, well discussed, I would say, well, well, uh, justified. OK. How much time do, do I have left? Yes, uh, till 2. So, um, Uh, 36 minutes. OK. So, um, I have a couple of case studies from um Developing countries, uh, one which is, so, so you know, you will see in the, in the report that I'm relying a lot on research papers because this is what I'm reading. So, uh, there's a, a series of 3 papers by a very well-known economists including a Nobel Prize and a top environmental economist. Uh, who was, they have launched a series of random control trials. Uh, In India, On air quality regulation, uh. From, uh, dealing with the pollution from a textile manufacturing plant. So the starting point of the study is to show that um well, they, they start by uh providing evidence that uh there is some corruption and um fake self-reporting of emissions. So the Those manufacturing plants are regulated with standards, emission standards. And the way it is implemented is by self-reporting, so they have to hire. Uh, an auditing company to take samples and to measure their emission and to report their emission to the regulation authority. And what they show is that, well, well the first evidence of misreporting and corruption is that the fact that um The price charged by this auditing company was lower than the cost of measuring emissions themselves. Uh, and also there was something called a bunching of reports just below the standard. So, so the auditing company tend to report that emissions are just below the standard. So these are suggests that they don't do any measurement and report what leads to the regulator. So they, they did the first theory of RCT in which they They randomly assigned the manufacturing plants into several groups, one in which the auditors were selected by the experimenters. Um, and then they compare the reading of the auditor selected by the experimenter and also selected by the thumbs. And then also they They also have an uh um treatment in which they selected the plan randomly rather than the discretion of the regulator, because that was also an issue. Uh Maybe because of corruption, the selection was an issue. Um, and then they also did a back check of measurement, reading of the emissions after the experiment to compare with the, uh, emissions reported by the auditors. So what they do, they find that um. Ah, in the. A Group of batter factoring implants treated the one, the one there where auditor was selected by the experimenters. There was no more bunching, so the more spread of different emission reports below or above the the standard. And those reports were more consistent with the, what is called the back check reading. So uh after that, they, they check uh the emissions and the, the report emissions were more consistent. And they also showed that by selecting auditor, they experienced a reduction of emissions. So that one paper and the other paper and they look more about these. This process of selecting randomly the plants that are to be audited. Compared to leaving the selection of the audited plan to the discretion of the of the regulator or the public authority. And then they showed that even If, if you have like better reading of uh. The, the random selection was not so good because the public authority were targeting the more polluting plants. So, uh, at the end. You have the same level of out of compliance in the two groups with a selected plan randomly or plan selected by the auditor, sorry, by the regulator. But the regulator tended to select those who are more out of compliance, so at the end, you have more penalty and more enforcement. With the with the plan selected by the by by the regulator. So, so letting the regulators selected the plant is better because they want tend to selected the more polluting plant. And then they have like a more recent paper in which they instead of having emission standard. They implemented um an emission trading scheme. And apparently this, this um emission trading scheme was successful in reducing emissions. And they provide evidence that this emissions trading scheme reduced the, the cost of achieving this uh minimize or reduce the cost of achieving this reduction of pollution. OK, now, um, which instrument to complement standards? So usually, you know, standards are complemented by other instruments. So, for instance, uh, one way to, uh, Increase, uh, increase, um, adherence to standard to uh. To have a subsidy. Uh Associated to a standard for adoption of new technologies, so you were obliged to install a wastewater treatment plant at the manufacturing plant level, but you subsidize this waste treatment plant. So it's, it's a subsidy is a price instrument. Um, it buys you, it's, it buys you, uh, acceptability, adherence, uh, and reduces the cost of, uh, of the standard. Another way to see the complementarity of price instrument to standard is that well, usually, if you violate the standard, there's a penalty, and the penalty is a price instrument. And usually the penalty is proportional to the deviation of the standard. The more you exceed pollution compared to the standard, the higher the penalty. So, so in one sense, it's uh somehow similar than the, an emission tax for exceeding the standard. Um, There's a clear case in which you should have both types of instrument. It's a case of local pollution that uh. Local pollutants that are crossing the border of Jurisdictions. So then you need to have two instruments, one to deal with uh local pollution concentration, the, the, the pollution that is at the jurisdiction level, and that's, as I said, standard, the right instrument to deal with that. But part of this pollution is moving to other jurisdictions, crossing borders. Uh, so like county border, for instance, or state border or for federal states, for instance. And then for this um um moving pollution, transboundary pollution flows. Having a a price instrument, a carbon, sorry, a tax or an emissions trading scheme, for instance. Can be one way to deal with this flow. So there's a literature about what's called environmental federalism that try to, to see what is the best combination of, of two. Uh, so one example of this is, um, a stand knock. So I have worked with uh co Jessica Kya about, uh, An x emission for manufacturing plant in Sweden. So in Sweden, the way those plants are regulated is with uh emission standard at the, at the plant level. So, so these are, for instance, um thermal power plant for And and the way they are regulated that county decide about uh emission standard in terms of K NOx emission per kilowatt hour or per energy unit at the at the boiler level. Uh, so that's not to deal with local NOO concentration. And in addition, there's a national tax on knocks. And this national tax is to Deal with this uh pollution that is crossing a border. So the, because the problem that the country by deciding about the emission standard does not take into account the impact of the standard on emission outside the country. So you need to have a Uh, an authority at the highest level to, to analyze these and transbounding externalities. So we work on this and we provide another. The reason why the bucket-based and standard instrument can be complemented. Is the fact that with a tax on emissions. You learn about the cost of reducing pollution by farms to have a better idea of how much it costs to farm and production plant. To reduce their NOx emissions. And this information is important to decide about how stringent should be the emission cap. So basically, when you set a tax on emission, you charge emission and by seeing how much, by observing how much the firm is emitting, you have a better idea about the cost of reducing emissions. And this costs will tell you whether you should make the emission cap and the emission standard more stringent or not. So we have, we have a paper that's making this point. So that's, uh, so you use the carbon price, oh sorry, the emission tax as one way to tailor your emission standard. And the same applies for emissions trading schemes. And it's happened also for co-pollutants. You have sometime, you know, often in a lot of manufacturing industry, you pollute, you have multiple pollutants and what, what's happening for one pollutant and the way one pollutant is regulated can tell you something about how you should regulate the other pollutants because they are, uh, they interact in the pollution process and also in, in the, in the damage function. OK, now what about, uh, making the stand up. Yes, sorry, sorry, just a quick point. So we, we wanna make sure that we leave, uh, 1015 minutes, uh, at the end, uh, and so, uh, for, for que for questions, uh, questions and answers. So, uh, yeah, so do you, do you think you can, you can finish up in 5, 10 minutes? Yeah, I'll do. OK. Fantastic. Thank you. OK, so So should standard will mandate, should be mandatory or voluntary? So it's, it's related to the question to, to the question why do firms adopt vol standard if standards are not mandatory, why firms go beyond what is mandatory by reducing air pollution beyond. Uh, so then there's a couple of good reasons to do that. Attracing consumer, attract investment from socially responded investment, investors, demand for ISO, 40,000 35 firms. Improve relationship with stakeholders. So I have like a, a survey paper on that uh with my quarter uh. Paul Danois The, now there's another literature of trying to measure what is the impact of those voluntary standards. So these are, these are voluntary. Are they effective in reducing pollution? And uh you know, in the literature, um, a lot of those papers are based on survey of self reporting reduction of pollution. Uh, And, and with the limitation of this is what the firm self-reported, so it's not clear that you should trust them. And, and a couple of papers are. Uh, I've tried to answer the question based on the actual measurement of pollution. There's, for instance, one paper on the paper mill industry. In Canada, um, and showing that ISO 40,000 certification has a very low or no impact on wastewater emission from pepper mill industry in Quebec. So, so usually the impact is very low this standard. So that raises the question is whether you should have voluntary standard or monetary standard. If you have voluntary standard, you may achieve something, but usually there's a lot of greenwashing, though they pretend to reduce pollution, those farms to get the standard, but it's not very effective. So often they are complements in the sense that you can have voluntary standards, you are firms are free to go beyond what is imposed and you have a minimal requirement in terms of emission standard. But there can be a substitute, and there are two reasons why. Sometimes, you know, adopting. Voluntary standard is one way for firms to preempt the adoption of most recent standards by regulators. So there are anecdotical evidence that uh of that and, and, and, and you, you can, I mean, there are, there's a conceptual literature and economic making this point. Uh, we, uh, with the quota, we're also making the point that On the consumer perspective, uh, it's Uh, given that the, the, at the end of the day, the citizens are decided about the regulation. What you have also is that um, Citizens or consumer may free ride on the fact that green consumers are adopt buying greener products. So at the end there's because of the greener product, you have a reduction of pollution that is maybe sufficient for the other consumer. So having this free riding of pollution reduction from paid by cleaner product may um. Uh, make, may reduce, reduce the probability of adopting more stent regulations. So you can have this also the effect that Because some firms are more. Um, uh, um, those, those firms are, uh, reducing their pollution. The other firm can live without any, uh, stringent regulation. So this is showing the, this, this point is made in the political economy model showing that. You may have less stringent standards when you have green consumers. OK. So I will get you this one. Let's, let's skip that. And the last part of the report, it's about the interplay between standards and trade. So this is something which is general for all standards, bar standardization of goods and processes. Uh, uh, then you make trade more easy. And you, you, you may comply uh more easily to uh foreign regulation. For instance, by reporting your CO2 emissions, you can, uh, for instance, um, Uh, comply with the Well, you can make easily the importer of your goods, uh, so in, in the EU. Complying with the carbon border adjustment mechanism that is Is going to be implemented next year. Uh, that's an example. So if you have this reporting of CO2, then it's easier for the importer to report the CO2 of steel that is coming from your manufacturing plant. It's used also to have tech technical transfer because uh So, so there's also some, some empirical evidence that uh standard facilitate technical technological transfers. So in, in, in, in the report, I'm making the point that adopting more stringent standards to have market assets can somehow solve solve the trade-off between sovereignty and increased market asset. So basically it's a story that, you know, in some countries, some countries may have more stringent regulation. Because they care about some issues like think about the genetic modified organisms. It's a big issue in Europe but not in the US or Latin America or, you know, the, I, I provide the example of the The growth hormones for cattle that are forbidden or some pesticides that are forbidden in the EU but are allowed in other countries. So if the other countries are also implementing these standards to have a market asset, it goes against their preferences because they, they don't think that it's a big issue, but they, what they do that to increase their export. Um, they may decide to have two different supply chains, one for export and one for local market with different regulations. But that's it, but then there's a problem of traceability. You want to make sure that um the, the, the, the two supply chains are really separated. And um and it's not always the case. So, I provided an example with the So at some point I was involved uh. In, uh, I was leading actually leading a committee in charge of uh evaluating the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur area, to Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay. For the French government, um, And then uh so it's it's what the KBT. Launched in 2019. And then we figure out that about 1/3 of the pesticides used in the Berco cedar area are banned in the EU. And for instance, there's no regulation on animal welfare in Mercosur, but there's a regulation on the side of transportation. I mean, there's a regulation about transportation of animals in, in, in, in France. So, so you have really different standards on, on those issues. Um, we also banned the, the. The use of hormones for promoting growth in the EU, but it's used in Brazil. Um, and, and it, and there was an audit of the European Commission making the point that There's no way to be sure that the beef that is imported from Brazil in Europe is not coming from farms that are using these hormones. There was a similar issue in the free trade agreement between Canada and the EU. So in the EU we forbid the. Animals that are fed with Uh Constituent of animal origin, so meat or bones. And it's, it's allowed in Canada and it's not clear that we are sure that the meat that is coming are not coming from farms that are using. Meat and bone to feed their cattle. Um, So that's uh one reason you, you country may go beyond their preferences to adopt more region standards to, to be sure to comply with the EU regulation, for instance. So That's uh About all I wanted to say, so just to summarize, some are essential to address environmental challenges. Standards are suitable to deal with local pollution. So, uh, standards are very good adapted to local pollution. They are good because they are easier to enforce than market-based instrument. They are also good when they are complemented with market-based instruments and nudges. So they are part of the uh uh of, of the policy mix. They can be voluntary, but when they are voluntary, they are less effective, and sometimes they can be counterproductive. So it's good also to have mandatory standards, not only voluntary standards, and standards are key component of international trade. Thank you. Thank you, thank you so much, uh, Stefan. Uh, yeah, Milo, go ahead, yeah. Uh, hi, Stefan, uh, thanks a lot for the For the presentation and. I just wanted to, to To discuss a little bit as you as you know, the perspective of the of the report will be uh standard from developing countries perspective and I wanted to discuss a little bit the trade off that you that you explained, uh, from that perspective. So when we think for example at market based versus uh command and control measure, is there something that research can say on. Which one are uh maybe preferable in context in which there is limited state capacity or you know the regulator uh the limited enforcement capacity uh you you mentioned in the report that that standards are easier to enforce than than uh taxes or other instruments and uh I was wondering if if there is some evidence on that. Uh, or, or, you know, more generally I would, I would be thinking about all this trade off more from a developing country's perspective. Well, So, so I'm making the point that, uh, yeah, as you say, the When you have a limited uh state capacity, institutional capacity, then this is one reason to go for standards. Uh, and, and the argument is just, um, Straightforward because it's, well, first, you, you only need to check the technology. So for technical standard, it's, you just uh check what which technology is used and you ban some, some input and some technology. For emission standard it's more difficult because you have to measure. You have to measure and penalize if you exceed the standard. But it's easier than charging taxes or providing subsidies, I would say, particularly especially because in, in, well, in developing countries there's the tax base is low and a lot of there's a big informal sector, for instance. Um, and, and when you want, if you want to go to up to cap and trade emissions trading scheme, that it's even more complex because you need to set up. Emission rights, you need to set up a platform for trading. Um, so that requires a lot of, uh, institutional background. So I don't, I don't think there's a big literature on that, but it's just only on practical instrument. In practice, how will I, how, how you will do to, to, to implement those different types of instruments. And it, it's just more easy to implement standard compared to tax and and subsidy and tax and subsidies compared to emission trading schemes. OK, thank you, and maybe you can, you want to stop sharing because we see. Ah, OK. No. Mm OK. So, uh, I, I mean, sorry, uh, oh, chubby, chubby, chubby, go ahead, chubby sit it up. Can you hear me? Yes. All right, um, just a quick question on, on the part on the, on the trade-off on sovereignty that I guess it, it, it refers to consumer preferences, right, in Europe, in the context of the, the example of the Mercosur, right? And And increased market taxes, I think. Well, it's a proof that they haven't agreed, right? So there is no market access so far, right? And I was wondering if you could just develop a little bit more into the distinction between the mandatory standard and the voluntary in terms of technical regulations, right? Because You could think that if there is no risk for health, um, instead, making a technical regulation a mandatory standard. You allow a voluntary standard. So for those consumers in Europe that are not sure, they can, the signaling can occur through a voluntary standard rather than uh a mandatory standard that can act as a As a barrier to trade, right? So if you could develop a little bit this different in the use between uh the voluntary versus mandatory standard and when is more or less justified. Yeah, so what the point I was making is that for instance, Brazil may decide to ban these these growth hormones just to have access to the European market because it's otherwise it's not possible, even though the citizen in general or farmers and consumer, they may not care. It's important also for the acceptability of the trade agreement for the European farmers because most of the process we experienced, especially in fall in France, was because they had the feeling that The competition is unfair because they have less stringent standards, so then that they have lower costs because of their strident standards. Now, um, Something which is um. was maybe disappointing in this trade agreement is that there was not much on voluntary standards and in particular there was no. No, nothing that would differentiate products on voluntary standards. So, um, I think one way to foster um. Uh Well, environmental protection in this case also the The fight against deforestation is to reward voluntary standards and to get lower tariffs or promote products with voluntary standards. So for instance, in Brazil you have these Uh, soya mon it's called Soya. Uh, memorandum, which was a standard for beef, not coming from, not from soya, for instance, not coming from the Amazon area. That was a party very successful. Um, The issue is it should be recognized as a different product. When you set tariffs, uh, and you should have a preferential tariff for this kind of, uh, uh, label products, and, and this is not, uh, what is, what is in the agreement. All right. There's, there's time maybe for one more question. Uh, Anyone, he's not, uh, If not I, I, I do have a question. Sorry, Stefan. So, um, So, so, I mean, is there cross-country data that, that basically showcases, you know, what you've been saying that, that basically, you know, low-income countries would, would rather set up standards rather than, say, uh, market-based mechanisms and, and, and again, you know, and, and, and, you know, some, some literature trying to understand, again, why, why that might be the case. I mean, you, you, you know, you spoke about You know, the, the difficulty of implementing maybe market-based policies because, you know, maybe there's a, a fixed cost of doing that. I mean, this reminds me, you know, when in the context of taxation, right? So, VAT versus income-based taxation, right? And so, you know, in VAT of course, you can, you know, you, you, you know, the base, the tax base is a lot wider than, than income base because only, only former workers are, are. Can, you know, can, are gonna pay income-based taxes, right? So, but, but, but so in the context of, of whether standards or, so I, I want you to, to, you know, uh, to elaborate a bit more on the, on the, on the, uh, the role of informality here. Uh, uh, you know, is it easier to impose a standard on an informal firm? Rather than taxes, uh, uh, and, and, and again, what, and what are the, so, so one of the, you know, on the structure of the, of the industry, but also, you know, going back to Milo's point about What are the informational requirements and, and expertise requirements to, to set either a market-based policy versus a, a standard, right? I mean, so are there differences there that, that make uh standards more, more, uh, you know, uh, you know, more, more useful or, uh, for, you know, for, for low-income countries that might have these, uh, the, the, you know, that might face these more these higher constraints. OK, so, So to answer this question, if you have some more empirical evidence on that, uh, there are two ways to go, I will say. One is to go into case studies because for each particular case, each particular source of pollution industry, then you can list what are the potential standard you can implement, technical standard, emission standard, how you can tax the pollution, how you can subsidize better practices and which kind of And then you go into the details about uh what what the cost, how to implement this, and uh you know, waste, waste treatment is not the same that air quality for cars, which is not the same for coal power plant, and you know, so it's really practical, you know, how, what does it mean in practice and what are the different costs and really accounting what is required in terms of information, you need to have a monitor tracker at the. At the chimney or the muffler or. Or to track the car, you know, that's, that's very practical. The other way to go is um to see, you know, how, uh Firms and consumers respond to different types of instruments in developing countries. So for instance, uh, if you want to have an idea about the impact of the carbon tax, for instance. You can look at uh how uh Consumers and firms respond to the variation of the price of fuel, for instance. Which gives you a sense about if you increase the price of fuel due to the carbon tax, uh, how effective will be this increase in terms of reducing emissions. Uh, uh, things like that, or how they adopt technologies and how they are good in adopting technologies, uh, the division of technology, I don't know. How, what are the, the plan. The leakage of if you have a subsidy program or the level of corruption, uh, so if you spend €1 in adopting tech subsidizing some technology. How much of this euro will be, uh, will be waste in terms of administrative, well, will go into administrative cost or maybe, uh, waste in, uh, other issues. So you, so maybe you can extrapolate with this kind of data to tell something more general. Mm Another way is to go into the details of the of of the pollution topics. All right. Sorry. So, uh, I think we're, we're out of time. Thank you so much, uh, uh, Stefan, for, for this, uh, very nice, uh, talk and lively, lively discussion. And, uh, yeah, I'll, I'll see you all in the, in the next, uh, in the next seminar. Thank you again and, uh, have a great, have a great evening. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Bye. Dr. Stefan. So, so, Milo, OK, do you have 5 minutes? Sure. So for the, for the next step, so you send me a lot of comments. Let, let me call back Chavi online. Give me a stuff, or it's actually, can you connect? Stefan wants to have a question. Oh, just a sec. Sorry, can you reconnect or, or you wanna go ahead. Yeah, I know, so I think If you I mean some of them we discussed today but uh so the idea would be to to have a a draft which we consider finished that we can. Uh, if you agree post on, on our website. OK. Um So in order to do that, if you know, if, if you could incorporate some of the comments that we that that that uh. That we send. You know, if We can go in more details if you want of which one or you think are priority or not but but uh. Um, Yeah, so, so there's one I, so I started to, so you wanted to have one example in different topics. So I've, uh, I wrote a table, so I just, uh, a table in which you have different like, uh, air quality, CO2 emissions, uh, waste, uh, pollution. Wastewater and so on in which I have different examples of different of the three types of policy instruments. So I've done that Um, So There was this point about a consistency between the fact that I write in the one party that usually market business are considered more efficient. Than standard, but then I think that standard are easier to implement, monitoring for that market-based instrument. I don't think it is inconsistent. It's, there are two different properties where they are cost effective and what they are easy to implement. Oh. Then there's a suggestion to, to write a table with local versus global pollutants, um. We should have a market base versus standards? Ah So I, I I'm, I'm not, I'm, I'm not very comfortable with this idea because when we talk about local pollutants like, uh, as I said, particulate NOx and SO2, they also diffuse like a little bit global because they, as I said, they cross the county borders. So usually you need both instruments. But, um, but in the table of the different. Type of instrument. What I can say is that, you know, if you move from a particulate to CO2, carbon dioxide, then you move from local to global. So that's one way to do that. Uh, what else? Uh, 011 thing Uh, we are really I mean it was really related to the last question I have on. Enforcement capacity and so on. This is something that I think we want to take a position in the report. on You know how to adapt the policy instrument based on the fact that uh. That we You know, regulators in, in many developing countries do not have the ability to uh to enforce. So either you know either you, you want to go for a weaker standard or you want to go for other type of policy or what. So you know, I, I, I understood your, your, uh, your reply and uh I, I also read what you wrote and the. Yeah, so I need. If you have other papers that come to your mind on this point, I think that's gonna be super, super, super useful. So you, you, you had this point about, uh, in the future with. Artificial intelligence and automation, it will be more easy to measure. Hm. So, so this is something that, that is part of this Duflo and Griston paper. So what they did in the last RCT, they installed automatic measurement devices at the, at the manufacturing plant. So they didn't have to, to hire auditors to measure emissions. So that's something that is going to be the case. Now what I can do on that is I So they, they, you do you remember Alipio Ferreira, was a PhD student. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He, he has this paper on the impact of the technical project in satellite image on the fight against deforestation in Brazil. Mm. Showing that uh so basically the argument would be that AI or technical progress will be a way to substitute the. The fact that in many developing countries we lack uh technical resources or financial resources to enforce. Yeah, exactly. So, so satellite image, for instance, is one way to improve enforcement. Mhm. So you can track the high level of pollution with satellite image or deforestation. And then you can just uh detect uh out of compliance. And then you can send some, someone to, to check and to, to, to set a fine or. OK. So this is further pushing the idea that standard would be the appropriate tool there because it. It becomes easier to enforce. Thanks to, well, but, but, but that's the place of photo market based instrument, right, or Because also if you, if, if you are measuring pollution more easily, then you can charge more easily emissions, yeah, yeah, but the market based then there's all this part about collecting, collecting the tax and, and. But OK, you can think about, uh, no, it's just making the point that enforcing regulation, it's, it's easier. Yeah, there's a paper for Iceland in which they uh by uh Perin Terman in which they implement the Piguvian carbon tax on car driving by tracking how much people drive. OK. Yeah. So instead of having an emission, well, yeah, then you can tax the CO2 emission or NOx emission, everything. Bye. No, that sounds good. I mean, Uh, Chavi, we were, Stefan was asking the next step, and I told him that we are planning to, to, to publish the paper on the website, so. Uh, if you can send us a revised version including, you know, taking into account some of the comments, uh, you received in the. I I don't know, maybe a couple of weeks or something. Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, I, I don't think we're in a rush, but, but yeah, no, that would be, and, and, and just, just on my, on my, on my last point, uh, Stefan, so if you take One type of pollution, um, you know, and, and you look at how that is being regulated across the income, you know, the GDP per capita or sort of the, you know, the income distribution of the country, whether there's any patterns that, that, that, that can be, you know, that can, you know, can trace out, you know. And you know, I hear you, right? I mean, you know, of course, technology is gonna, you know, help in, in, in measurement and, and that, that has implications for whether you wanna set up uh one system or another, but, but. But yeah, I wonder whether there's, uh, of course, you know, the type of industry also matters, right? I mean, you know, cause, cause some countries don't, uh, you know, you don't have, you know, if there's no steel production, you know, in some countries, or, you know, then, then, you know, uh, then, then, you know, but, um. Yeah, so, so, you know, I guess, also having a sense of who are the big emitters, you know, the big, big polluters or not, but, but, but I don't know, like garments, you know, garment, for example, which is, you know, manufacturing and, and this would be, you know, I think you, you would have it in quite a, you know, garment. You know, it's there's a lot of pollution in terms of, uh, dyes and stuff in the, you know, that goes out in the river, and so, so, you know, and I believe you, you might have some informal, you know, informal firms there. So, you know, how countries are are solving this, this issue of Uh, is, you know, might be interesting along the, but, but, but for all we know, I mean, there might be no data, so I guess, I guess I was asking as to whether there's, you know, you know, any, you know, cross-country data set that, that can, or, you know, that, that, that can, you know, can, can help us, uh, uh, understand how governments are tackling these, these, this problem, you know, across time and across, across, uh, the income distribution. But, but, you know, but, but the answer could just be, look, uh, you know, that doesn't exist, right? And so, And I mean, there are data, uh, survey data on, um, so there's a professor the ECD have the policy stringency index, environmental regulations stringency and act on different type of pollutants. The you have the also the World Values survey about the perception of environmental issues in different countries, how people perceive nuclear power or GMO or but even, even if you take the stringency though, it's all based on standards, right? So whether countries used a market-based approach or a standard or more uh As, you know, standards, um, you know, is there really, uh, you know, is there a level in which, you know, you want to switch. You know, again, you said, you know, standards are easy to implement, but maybe market-based are more efficient. So, is there a way when there's, you know, there's a critical mass of, of that, that, you know, that, that country somehow switch from one to, to another or, or not? I mean, you know, any You know, any, any sense of whether that is happening because again I think the stringency, the OECD stringency stuff, it's, it's all about standards, right? But, but, but not, it doesn't tell me, I think it's, it's also about tax. It's also market based also they collect those information about the level of a carbon tax of taxes, emission taxes, and so on and collection, or, OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, also stand out we can explore that a bit. OK, OK. All right, no, that's, that's good. Yeah You can have concrete comparison about the perception of environmental issues and the stringency of environmental regulations and type of instruments that are used. That's also interesting, right? I mean, in terms of, uh, You know, preference, consumer preferences because, I mean, I guess if you're, you know, I mean, if you're, you know, low income, you can, you, you know, you tolerate pollution just because, you know, you're hand to mouth, right? I mean, you need to, but then when you reach certain income, and I think that's what happened in, in China, right? I mean, in China at some point, you know, they were, they said, you know, enough is enough and, and, and, you know, that's when the government cracked down on, on pollution, right? And so, and so. Yeah, so do you know any papers that kind of look at these, kind of, you know, consumer preferences by, by income? I mean, you know, these are probably not gonna be super well identified because, you know, we're comparing across countries, but, but maybe, maybe there's some studies looking at a country over time and, you know, any, any literature that you've looked, that you've come across on, on, on, on looking at that. Well, I can send you a couple of references, uh, if you want, yeah, OK, uh, excellent. OK, OK. Very good, yeah, I know, that's kind of fun. Thanks, uh, for all this, uh, and, and, uh, it's super helpful. OK, so good luck for the, so that's a big project is uh annual report. I can imagine. Keeps you busy full time, I guess. OK. Thank you for the opportunity. Bye-bye. Thank you.
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