Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change are growing issues for governments and businesses across the globe. Climate change is widely regarded as one of the greatest environmental issues facing the planet, and arguably one of the biggest long-term business challenges as well. As governments move to enact policies and regulations that will curtail GHG emissions, firms must understand and prepare for the possibility of a reduced GHG future. But companies also can gain by taking advantage of emissions trading opportunities, or otherwise responding successfully to the changing business environment.

NERA has designed and evaluated programs to control GHG emissions across North America, Europe and Japan. This experience -- combined with our understanding of market structure, regulatory incentives, and emissions trading -- makes NERA well poised to assist firms and industries in developing strategies for dealing with GHG challenges.

New climate change policies typically create new markets and place a price on emissions of carbon dioxide and other GHGs. These new markets will create new challenges and opportunities for individual firms and industries. Understanding these new markets will be crucial for firms wishing to succeed in these new circumstances. NERA experts can help firms analyze their options for internal emissions reductions, assess the implications of initial allocation alternatives and other program design issues, assess their market position as an allowance buyer or seller, manage GHG liabilities, and design bidding strategies for allowance auctions.

The added costs of complying with climate change regulations will change the overall cost structures of many sectors, notably electric power and other energy-intensive industries. These new costs will affect the operations of individual facilities and the output of the market as a whole. NERA economists have considerable expertise analyzing market characteristics and how they affect firm and sector performance. Our experience in the energy sector gives our experts important insights into the effects of environmental regulations on input and output prices, and in the ways these affect other sectors.