Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

Game Theory and Climate Change
Game theory is an attempt to display strategic situations in which the success or outcome for an
individual, group or a nation depends and varies according to the choices made by others
...

Game theory in its most basic understanding is viewed in terms of the ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’
...
The figure shows that the minimum time in jail is nothing, whereas the maximum is a year
...
This
means that each decision is made independently and although the two people might know each
other, they have no experience in the decision the other might come to
...
However if just one defects,
one prisoner goes free whereas the other spends a year in prison
...


Game theory is an extremely interesting and useful part of economics as it is so relevant to various
applications in the everyday world, one being climate change
...
On a basic level climate change is caused by greenhouse gases
...
There are several ways in which an increase in
greenhouse gases is brought about by humans: CO2 emissions through burning fuel for cars and
planes, deforestation leading to a smaller uptake of CO2 and also then the burning of the trees
causing a rise in the amount of CO2
...


This graph shows the exponential rise in carbon dioxide as shown through ice cores
...
This has been caused
principally by a rise in the amount of fossil fuels that humans burn across the world and if we don’t
stop soon not only will our fossil fuels, which we rely on, run out, but also many civilisations across
the world will be damaged
...
Due to scale of these ice caps their
deterioration has caused and has the potential to further affect the sea levels
...
This shows a very small sea level rise of less than 0
...
12m in 2010
...


The scale of impacts of the sea level rises vary, but there are many potential impacts if the sea level
continues to rise to ever threatening rates
...
As well as this there is an implication that many of these impacts will
be detrimental to a huge number of the world’s population, especially for the ¾ of the world’s poor
who depend on agriculture as a means of living
...
It is a race to the bottom, to the lowest
common denominator
...
”
The Copenhagen Accord which was signed by 138 countries as a result of the Copenhagen Climate
Change Conference is not legally binding and does not contain any legally binding commitments for
reducing CO2 emissions
...

Game theory comes into play when assessing the decisions and outcomes of the various countries
legally bound by the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference
...
However as soon
as it looks like even one country might not be able to complete this, or isn’t even trying to reach a
cut of 20% in emissions, it leads to other countries then believing than they then don’t have to
‘waste’ their money if other countries aren’t, leading to a downward spiral effect in the efforts to
combat climate change
...
But in such a case one would hope that either
the UN or EU do intervene and continue promoting and perhaps start to enforce a reduction in CO2
emissions
...




---