Climate policy under political pressure
构建理论框架研究政治压力对最优气候政策的影响，发现绿色游说会削弱污染监管，而污染行业和公众的政治压力反而促进清洁能源投资和技术转型。
It is widely acknowledged that there is an urgent need for policies that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, the policies implemented by governments are far from sufficient to reach their long-term climate targets. In this paper, we propose a theoretical framework to study the implications of political pressure on optimal climate policy. A key feature of the framework is its ability to capture dynamic inconsistency, which naturally arises from the long time horizon of climate policies and their susceptibility to modifications due to political pressure. Our findings offer a new rationale for why green lobbying can make pollution regulation less stringent. We also show that political pressure from the polluting sector leads to a higher rate of clean energy investment chosen by the government and can facilitate the transition from dirty to clean technologies. Similarly, this transition can be facilitated by political pressure from members of the public who care only about immediate consumption.