Economics Portfolio

The first 200 words of this essay...

Economics Portfolio 1

The article states that the recent UN emissions report shows that the emissions has been reduced by a much lower percentage in 2006 than in 2005 whilst the emission rate has increase by 2.5 % since 2000. This is due to a number of reasons the first of which is the lack of commitment that countries have toward reducing their emissions.

This data that is presented is collected from industrialized and developing countries. This shows us that economic hardship could be due to the fact that economic hardship has contributed to the lack of commitment to reduce emissions. However economic hardship is not the only factor contributing to the lack of emissions reduction.

The recent cheap prices of oil has made it easier for developing countries to rely on this very dirty and heavily gas emitting fossil fuel. The increased use of oil has caused more emissions to be produced by the developing countries.

But why does the United Nations want to reduce emissions? The simple reason is that emissions are negative externalities. Externalities are "spill over" effects that are caused by services and goods. In this case the use of