Research Seminars @ Illinois

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Tailored for undergraduate researchers, this calendar is a curated list of research seminars at the University of Illinois. Explore the diverse world of research and expand your knowledge through engaging sessions designed to inspire and enlighten.

To have your events added or removed from this calendar, please contact OUR at ugresearch@illinois.edu

Speaker Eftichios S. Sartzetakis - A Unifying Framework for Climate Cooperation: The Roole of Technology and Preferences in Coalition Formation

Event Type: Seminar/Symposium
Sponsor: pERE (Program in Environmental and Resource Economics)
Location: 317 DKH
Date: Sep 4, 2025 2:00 - 3:00 pm
Speaker: Eftichios Sartzetakis, University of Macedonia
Views: 4
Originating Calendar: ACE Seminars; Abstract
This paper develops a unifying framework for analyzing international climate cooperation by explicitly modeling two technological mitigation strategies source-based abatement and carbon removal alongside behavioral mitigation options through preferences. Countries choose both their emissions and carbon removal efforts, weighing the consumption benefits of emissions against the costs of carbon removal and the damages from global net emissions. This framework bridges two major strands of the literature and shows that large, stable coalitions form only when deep emission reductions become individually rational typically under net-zero conditions. The analysis demonstrates that a coalition acting as a Stackelberg leader cannot fully overcome free-riding incentives unless at least one technological option becomes sufficiently cost-effective. While greener preferences or greater awareness of climate damages can support cooperation, they cannot substitute for technological feasibility, though they can certainly complement it. Despite declining abatement costs in sectors like energy, persistent emissions in hard-to-abate industries highlight the critical need for scalable, low-cost carbon removal. Behavioral shifts can assist, particularly while technological options remain expensive. Crucially, when mitigation becomes sufficiently inexpensive, countries may achieve net-zero independently, improving global outcomes, reducing though the relative benefits of cooperation. These findings underscore that effective climate cooperation relies on technological and behavioral shifts that make deep mitigation individually optimal.

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