December 13, 2023 – The German traffic light coalition began its term two years ago with ambitious energy policy goals. Halfway through the legislative period, its track record is mixed. Good progress has been made in some areas, but in others a large gap between targets and the status quo remains. The Ampel-Monitor Energiewende by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) shows...
International trade separates the location where emissions occur (production) and where they are ultimately consumed. Thus, a substantial share of emissions is embodied in international trade. Moreover, firms within narrowly defined industries differ in their emission intensity. However, most firm-level studies only consider the direct emissions released during the production process. In this...
The conversion of electricity generation to renewable energies such as wind and solar is the most important building block for a climate-neutral economy and Germany's independence from energy imports. The energy crisis in the wake of the war in Ukraine shows that an acceleration of the energy transition is urgently needed. "Contracts for Differences" (CfDs) can be an effective means of promoting the ...
Die EU-Richtlinie über die Gesamtenergieeffizienz von Gebäuden (EPBD) etabliert eine neue gesellschaftliche Norm und ein großes politisches Ziel: Bis 2033 sollten alle Wohngebäude einen Mindeststandard an Energieeffizienz erreichen. So sollen Energiekosten und Schocks für Haushalte begrenzt werden und der Energiebedarf reduziert werden, um eine klimaneutrale Energieversorgung für alle zu...
The energy and climate crisis enhance the need for energy savings. In the building sector, these savings can be achieved primarily through thermal retrofitting. So far, progress in this area has been slow. To date, less than one percent of the residential building stock in Germany is retrofitted each year. The existing support programs alone offer too little reliability for the necessary...
The influential Indian Parliamentarian Mr. Jayant Sinha envisages a global climate alliance building on the concept of the European Union and its Green Deal – a community attractive to its members because it addresses the diverse needs and ensures that joint action benefits all. To ensure the inclusive nature and broaden the political ownership of such an initiative, Mr. Sinha launched a report on...
I examine the Coasean independence property in a large multinational cap-and-trade scheme for greenhouse gas emissions, the EU Emissions Trading System. I analyze whether emissions of power producers are independent from allowance allocations by leveraging a change in allocation policy for a difference-in-differences strategy. The evidence suggests that the independence property holds overall and for ...
We fit CES and VES production functions to data from a numerical bottom-up optimization model of electricity supply with clean and dirty inputs. This approach allows for studying high shares of clean energy not observable today and for isolating mechanisms that impact the elasticity of substitution between clean and dirty energy. Central results show that (i) dirty inputs are not essential for production. ...