Collaborative Reseach: Creating Carbon Markets in Brazil and India: A Comparative Study of Firm Environmental Investment Decisions Under the Clean Development Mechanism

环境服务市场正被提倡作为解决地方和全球环境问题的办法。最具雄心的环境市场是不断发展和重叠的碳市场网络，旨在减少与气候变化有关的温室气体的全球排放。本研究考察了发展中国家企业决定参与碳市场的原因和方式。这项研究的重点是巴西和印度的制糖和水泥行业根据1997年《京都议定书》的清洁发展机制（CDM）产生和销售碳信用额的企业决策。通过比较选择启动CDM项目的企业与未启动CDM项目的同行企业，我们评估了企业参与CDM的驱动因素，追踪了企业进入新碳市场的过程，绘制了企业对CDM项目风险和收益的认知图，并确定了巴西和印度新兴碳市场的显著特征。跨国、跨部门的比较设计可以比较国家干预水平（巴西高，印度低）和部门集中度（水泥高，糖低）对企业碳市场参与的影响。数据将通过对主要碳市场信息提供者的背景访谈和对大约150家清洁发展机制和非清洁发展机制公司的访谈来收集。这项研究是在美国和国际气候政策演变的关键时刻进行的。发展中国家经济将在制定国际环境条约和决定全球环境质量方面发挥越来越重要的作用。了解发展中国家企业承担清洁发展机制项目的决策和风险管理过程，有助于提高发展中国家私营部门对持续国际气候变化行动的支持。由于后京都气候协议的谈判预计将在2009年和2010年加强，这项研究将直接关系到各国和国际气候政策谈判代表的利益。

Markets for environmental services are being advocated as solutions to local and global environmental problems. The most ambitious of environmental markets is the evolving and overlapping network of carbon markets that seek to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases linked to climate change. This research examines why and how developing-country firms decide to participate in carbon markets. The research focuses on firm decisions to generate and sell carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, in the sugar and cement sectors in Brazil and India. By comparing firms that choose to initiate CDM projects with peer firms that do not, we assess drivers of firm CDM participation, trace the processes by which firms enter new carbon markets, map firm perceptions of CDM project risks and benefits, and identify salient characteristics of the emerging carbon markets in Brazil and India. The cross-national, cross-sector comparative design enables a comparison of the effects of both level of state intervention (Brazil-high; India-low) and degree of sector concentration (cement-high; sugar-low) on firm carbon market participation. Data will be collected through context interviews with key carbon market informants and through firm interviews with approximately 150 CDM and non-CDM firms.The research comes at a critical juncture in the evolution of US and international climate policy. Developing-country economies will play increasingly important roles in shaping international environmental treaties and determining global environmental quality. Understanding the decision and risk management processes by which developing-country firms undertake CDM projects can contribute to improving developing-country private sector support for continued international action on climate change. With negotiations for a post-Kyoto climate agreement expected to intensify in 2009 and 2010, the research will be of direct interest to national and international climate policy negotiators.