An Advantage of Emission Intensity Regulation for Emission Cap Regulation in a Near-Zero Emission Industry

Abstract

We revisit command-and-control regulations and compare their efficiencies, in particular, an emission cap regulation that restricts total emissions and an emission intensity regulation that restricts emissions per unit of output under emission equivalence. We find that in both the most stringent target case, when the target emission level is close to zero, and the weakest target case, when the target emission level is close to business as usual, emission intensity yields greater welfare, although the same may not be true in moderate target cases