Andreas Papandreou

This paper examines central themes in climate economics by addressing three interlinked questions: Why has the economy failed to protect us from climate change? What is the optimal level of climate change mitigation? What are the best means to achieve these goals? The evolving debates and approaches economists have taken to answer these questions have profoundly shaped the broader discussion on the strength and strategies of climate action.

This chapter articulates renewable energy’s critical role in enhancing Greece’s resilience and catalyzing sustainable development during the ongoing global energy crisis. Employing the prepositions of Resilience theory and Complex Systems Theory, the chapter presents a fossil-dependent country at the crossroads amid environmental and economic disruption. It reveals the potential characterized by the country’s renewable resources –solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal- and the consequent prospective transformation of the energy portfolio toward sustainability and resilience. Through the propositions of resilience analysis frameworks, the adaptive cycle, and the panarchy concept, the analysis exposes Greece’s quest for renewable energy adoption. The systemic barriers to the transition to renewable energy are identified, the potential solutions are discussed and recommendations for developing a path for the continued transformation of Greece’s energy sector while drawing lessons applicable to the Mediterranean and Europe are offered.

The proliferation and growing variety of climate-economy models and what are known as integrated assessment models (IAMs) can make it difficult for someone interested in following the debate to place any specific model, or the discussion about the merits of one or another, into a broader context. The literature related to climate-economy modelling is already vast: apart from a very large number of models and an even larger number of applications, there already exist many good surveys comparing—inter alia—modelling frameworks, model assumptions and model results. The objective of this chapter is to provide a simple overview and organising scheme of this modelling world by delving into the characteristics of more than 60 individual IAMs towards describing the main ways in which certain classes or groups of climate-economy models differ from one another. In contrast to other more detailed or narrowly focused “overviews” and literature reviews, this analysis takes less for granted and aims at providing an initial understanding of generic model structures. After briefly discussing some principles of classification that can help organise this often daunting modelling world, the chapter offers descriptions and comparisons of the main classes of models.