Topic Resource Markets

The Effects of Trade on CO2 Firm-Level Emission Intensity: Evidence from German Microdata

This paper examines how firms' CO2 emission intensity (CEI) responds to trade shocks. Changes in market conditions, such as trade shocks, are believed to drive specialization toward core products, foster innovation, improve productivity, and influence abatement choices. I develop a unified framework that decomposes within-firm changes in CEI into within- and between-product components and...

Non-monetary factors influence heating energy consumption much more than price increases do in the short term

Demand Response Within the Irish Wastewater Treatment Sector: Analysing Flexibility Potentials of the Aeration Process and Wastewater Pumping Within an Integrated Energy–Water System Model

Significant amounts of electricity consumed in air and water pumping make wastewater treatment energy-intensive. This study investigates the potential power system benefits of load shifting within these pumping processes. As a case study, the Irish power system and wastewater sector are studied by using an integrated modelling approach. The results show that demand flexibility within the wastewater ...

Is Russian Gas Still Needed in the European Union? Model-Based Analysis of Long-Term Scenarios

Aligned with the war in Ukraine, Russia has significantly withheld natural gas exports to Europe since 2021. As there are no EU-wide sanctions on imports of Russian natural gas, the Ukraine transit as well as imports via Turkey and LNG have remained active during 2022–24. However, the Russian-Ukrainian transit agreement expires at the end of 2024 and discussions about new sanctions on natural gas as ...

Environmentally-Responsible Households: Irresponsible Corporate Lobbying

How do firms respond to greener household preferences? We construct a novel index of environmental willingness to act on the state-quarter level based on Google Trends search data. Relating the index to firm-level information on the U.S. auto- motive sector from 2006 to 2019, we find ambiguous results. On average, firms innovate more in electric, hydrogen, and hybrid (clean) technologies and reduce ...

Contracting Matters: Hedging Producers and Consumers With a Renewable Energy Pool

Renewable energy installations are rapidly gaining market share due to falling technology costs and supportive policies. Meanwhile, the energy price crisis in 2022 shifted the energy policy debate toward the question of how consumers can better benefit from the low and stable generation costs of renewable electricity. Long-term contracts for renewable energy to link producers and consumers are an option ...

Trade Effects of Direct and Indirect Carbon Pricing Policies

This study examines how policies affecting the cost of using fossil fuels in production influence comparative advantage in the industrial sector. Firstly, we use a fixed-effects gravity model to estimate the export capabilities that determine comparative advantage. Subsequently, using data on direct (carbon taxes, ETS permit prices) and indirect (fossil fuel excise taxes and subsidies) carbon pricing ...

On Strategic Behavior in Electricity Markets during the 2022 Energy Crisis: An Ex-post Analysis for the German Power Sector

During the 2022 energy crisis, electricity prices across Europe have risen to unprecedented heights. In a case study for Germany, this work investigates to which extent price spikes can be attributed to changes in upstream commodity prices, and to which degree strategic behavior by generators may have contributed to the situation. Electricity markets are more prone to the effects of such behavior if ...

Taxonomy Disclosure in the EU: A Useful Framework, Despite Current Challenges

The EU Taxonomy is a classification system for sustainable economic activities and a framework for various regulatory initiatives. Its primary objectives are to enhance transparency, to reduce greenwashing and ultimately to redirect capital toward more sustainable activities. However, since its introduction, market participants have raised concerns about whether the benefits justify the costs. This ...

Open-source modelling of the future role of renewable hydrogen in Germany and Europe

The final workshop of the Einstein research project “Open-Source Modeling of the Role of Renewable Hydrogen in Germany and Europe” will take place as part of this year's InfraDay, a free conference organized annually by TU Berlin. The research project (project website) has been running since November 2021 and will be completed at the end of October. The aim of the project, which was carried out...