The effects of R&D investments in international environmental agreements with asymmetric countries

The paper examines the stability of international environmental agreements (IEAs) in a dynamic context where abatement levels are associated with the stock pollutant evolution. We underline two meaningful aspects of this matter. Firstly, we consider asymmetry among countries, dividing them in two types: developed countries that have a considerable environmental awareness and developing ones that pay a less attention to environmental preservation. Secondly, we introduce a positive externality in the cooperation where countries coordinate their R&D activities sharing the investments in order to avoid duplication of green activities. Otherwise, the non-cooperators support completely their R&D investments for clean technologies. These two aspects encourage the formation of stable coalitions till to determine conditions for which also the grand coalition is stable.