Biens publics globaux et changement climatique

Global change has the nature of a global public good. This has two main consequences : first, being a public good, private markets mechanisms are unable to provide a correct level of provision for the good, and second : States have to resign parts of their sovereignty to reach a global agreement concerning a desirable level for provision of the global public good. First, the paper defines global public goods and summarizes the main characteristics of such goods. Next, it describes alternative mechanisms for provision of global public goods. The final section investigates the prominent issues raised by global warming, discusses the Kyoto Protocol, and proposes an alternative approach which might be more efficient and practical.