Carbon pricing to fight climate change : a case study of France

It is acknowledged by most of the international community that climate change is one of the worst crises that humanity is facing nowadays. As countries keep making pledges to reduce the carbon emissions that led to global warming, carbon pricing has emerged as a cost-effective way to achieve these targets, since they turn these baneful emissions into a new commodity with a price equivalent to the cost imposed on the environment for that pollution. However, setting this price has proven to be difficult, as it needs to balance the required price to achieve ambitious mitigation goals, but also a price that is publicly accepted and not seen as unfair. This study focuses on presenting the general framework for carbon pricing as a climate change mitigation strategy, making especial reference to the case of France, where the combination of different carbon pricing mechanisms prompted several conflicts, particularly arisen by those mechanisms leading to different carbon prices. The research will attempt to econometrically assess whether the introduction of these carbon pricing mechanisms in France has led to lowered emissions since their implementation.