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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 ...

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...

Sufficiency as a “Strategy of the Enough”: Curbing Ecological Crises and Injustices: A Summary of the German Advisory Council on the Environment’s Discussion Paper

A recent discussion paper Sufficiency as a “Strategy of the Enough”: A Necessary Debate by the German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) aims to intensify the debate on sufficiency, a central but neglected element of future-oriented policy. It defines sufficiency as the need to limit the consumption and production of ecologically critical goods and services, mainly by the economically rich, ...

The Political Economy of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Removal: Evidence from Bolivia and Mexico

We study the impact of fossil fuel subsidy removal on presidential popularity using difference-indifference approaches and a stylized theoretical model. Analyzing macro level data for two subsidy removal events in Mexico and Bolivia in the early 2010s, we find evidence of a negative impact on presidential approval. Our theoretical probabilistic voting model predicts that the decline in popularity is ...

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 ...

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 ...

Loss of Russian natural gas can be compensated for

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 ...