Topic Resource Markets

Electricity Markets Stabilized Following the Energy Crisis; 80 Percent Renewable Energy and Coal Phase-out by 2030 Are Possible

The German electricity market has recovered well from the 2022 energy crisis. Policymakers should now redirect the focus of energy policy to further expanding renewable energy sources. The year 2023 showed that the German electricity supply remained secure following the shutdown of nuclear power plants. It is possible, affordable, and plausible in light of climate policy to cover 80 percent of electricity ...

Sanctions against Russian Gas Would Not Endanger EU or German Gas Supply

As a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine, natural gas prices skyrocketed in 2022 and Germany in particular felt the impact of its strong dependency on Russia. Prices have since relaxed, the European natural gas industry has overcome the uncertainty due to the energy crisis in 2022, and the industry also survived the slump in Russian natural gas imports without supply interruptions. However, Russia ...

Sustainable Finance Taxonomies: Enabling the Transition towards Net Zero? A Transition Score for International Frameworks

A plethora of sustainable finance taxonomies are emerging worldwide to support shifting trillions for climate action. Employing a qualitative research approach, we use document analysis to assess 26 sustainable finance taxonomy frameworks worldwide that are in the developing phase or have been published and/or adopted. Based on literature and data we build a transition score (TS) to evaluate the framework’s ...

Spatial Competition and Pass-through of Fuel Taxes: Evidence from a Quasi-natural Experiment in Germany

This paper analyses the pass-through rates and their determinants of the temporary German fuel discount in 2022 at its start and its termination. Based on a unique dataset of fuel station characteristics and prices, we employ a Regression Discontinuity in Time (RDiT) methodology to estimate heterogeneous pass-through rates. Our main contribution is to identify the impact of horizontal and vertical ...

Green Innovation Policies

Achieving climate neutrality and energy independence will require the accelerated diffusion ofexisting technologies, further cost reductions, as well as innovation in new technologies.However, climate related frontier innovation, as measured by patent fi lings, has been decliningsince 2012. In contrast, the deployment of existing technologies seems on the rise. The focus ondiffusion and commercialization ...

Green Macroeconomics: Time for a New Paradigm

Making macroeconomics fit for a climate-neutral future: The European Union decided to be climate-neutral by 2050 and, hence, become the first climate-neutral continent in the world. Becoming climate-neutral can be considered one of the biggest challenges in our industrial societies. This transition will shape our future tremendously. The invasion of Ukraine further reinforced the necessity to speed ...

Green Political Economy: What Is Holding up the Green Transition?

Critical discussions about decarbonising our economy: This new series brings together leading thinkers in the political economy of the environment to discuss why business as usual is still going so strong, despite the scientific evidence that urgent action is needed. In this series, we ask our guests "what is holding up the green transition"? The events explore systemic root causes of the climate crisis ...

A Renewable Energy Pool Brings Benefits of Energy Transition to Consumers

German companies view high and uncertain electricity prices a major challenge. A Renewable Energy Pool (RE-Pool), wherein the favorable conditions of competitive tenders for new wind and solar power projects are passed on to electricity consumers, could hedge such price risks. Consumers’ electricity prices are thus hedged for the share of their consumption that corresponds to the RE-Pool’s generation ...

US companies with difficulties fulfilling the local content requirements

Open Heat BE

The heat supply in the city of Berlin will have to be substantially reformed to reach the goal of climate neutrality by 2045 while it has to cope with high gas prices today. In the research project Open Heat BE, two open numerical models are combined to analyse the short term and long term challenges of heat supply in Berlin. At TU Berlin, the energy system model GENeSYS-MOD is used at municipal...