The paper presented in this seminar is co-authored by Marinella Davide.

At the end of 2015 two important summits took place whose outcomes will potentially lead to a redefinition of the international policy environment in the near future. In September, the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations defined broader and more ambitious development targets for both developed and developing countries encompassing all sustainability dimensions (economic, social, and environmental). Afterwards, in December, the 21th UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP 21) adopted the Paris Agreement, which was directly included among the SDGs in GOAL13.

This paper offers an ex-ante assessment of the co-benefits and side effects of this new policy background and, in particular, sheds some light on the influence of the Paris Agreement directly related to GOAL13 on to other SDGs pertaining to social and economic dimensions. Therefore, we focus on poverty prevalence (GOAL1) and inequality (GOAL10) for the social pillar; and for the economic pillar, on economic growth (GOAL 8) and government debt (GOAL 17).

Our framework combines empirical analyses with a modelling framework relying on the ICES CGE model. The baseline trend of selected SDG indicators is used as reference to assess ancillary costs and benefits of the Paris agreement pledges under two different carbon revenue recycling schemes: i) internal recycling and ii) creation of a Green Climate Fund (GCF) which promotes clean development in Least Developed Countries. Furthermore, the ultimate SDG aspiration, i.e. achieving simultaneously economic, social and environmental targets, is explored within a scenario combining the mitigation efforts with an increasing contribution to Official Development Assistance (ODA).

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This seminar has been jointly organized by FEEM and IEFE, Bocconi University.