This book analyses the potentials and consequences of a change from production-based to
consumption-based approaches in international climate policy. With the help of an analytical
model the author investigates the effects of different policy variants on environmental
effectiveness cost-effectiveness carbon leakage competitiveness and the global distribution
of income. The economic legal and political background and the often contradictory findings on
consumption-based approaches are reviewed in great detail. In the final chapters options for
practical policy design are developed. The book concludes that a switch to consumption
orientation is not a policy tool whereby industrialized countries can unilaterally improve
climate policy effectiveness but should rather be seen as a possible intermediate step on the
way to a fully multilateral mitigation strategy.
