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New Scenario Framework with CO2 Emission Reduction Targets and Less Lignite: Five Questions to Christian von Hirschhausen

Is a Market Stability Reserve Likely to Improve the Functioning of the EU ETS? Evidence from a Model Comparison Exercise

In January 2014 the European Commission proposed the introduction of a Market Stability Reserve (MSR) to improve the functioning of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). According to the European Commission, the MSR is designed to adjust the EU ETS to supply-demand imbalances and protect the system from unexpected and sudden demand shocks and by doing so, ensure an efficient abatement ...

Power System Impacts of Electric Vehicles in Germany: Charging with Coal or Renewables?

We analyze future scenarios of integrating electric vehicles (EV) into the German power system, drawing on different assumptions on the charging mode. We use a numerical dispatch model with a unit-commitment formulation which minimizes dispatch costs over a full year. While the overall energy demand of the EV fleets is rather low in all scenarios, the impact on the system’s load duration curve differs ...

The Three Domains Structure of Energy-Climate Transitions

This paper argues that the development of energy systems rests on a combination of three different domains of socio-economic processes and associated modes of decision-making. For shorthand these are termed ‘satisficing’, ‘optimising’, and ‘transforming’ domains, with corresponding underpinnings found in behavioural, neoclassical, and evolutionary economics respectively. Each domain operates at different ...

The Market Value of Energy Efficiency in Buildings and the Mode of Tenure

Concerns about global warming and growing scarcity of fossil fuels require substantial changes in energy consumption patterns and energy systems, as targeted by many countries around the world. One key element to achieve such transformation is to increase energy efficiency of the housing stock. In this context, it is frequently argued that private investments are too low in the light of the potential ...

Inclusion of Consumption into Emissions Trading Systems: Legal Design and Practical Administration

A world of unequal carbon prices requires measures aimed at preventing carbon leakage. Climate policy imperatives demand that such measures must be compatible with the goal of sending a carbon price signal down the value chain. For carbon intensive materials, the combination of dynamic free allocation combined with Inclusion of Consumption (IoC) into emissions trading systems such as the European Union ...

On the Emissions-Inequality Trade-off in Energy Taxation: Evidence on the German Car Fuel Tax

By using estimates from an Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS), we investigate how the German energy tax on car fuels changes the private households’ CO2 emissions, living standards, and post-tax income distribution. Our results show that the tax implies a trade-off between the aim to reduce emissions and vertical equity, which refers to the idea that people with a greater ability to pay taxes should ...

Modelling the Impact of Energy and Climate Policies

Climate change mitigation and the transformation to a global low-carbon economy is a pressing issue in policy discussions and international negotiations. The political debate is supported by the scientific community with a large number of projections, pathway simulations and scenario analyses of the global energy system and its development over the next decades. These studies are often based on numerical ...

Global Warming, Technological Change and Trade in Carbon Energy: Challenge or Threat?

Is it possible to combat global climate change through North-to-South technology transfer even without a global climate treaty? Or do carbon leakage and the rebound effect imply that it is possible to take advantage of technological improvements under the umbrella of a global arrangement only? For answering these questions two possible states of the world are discussed: one, where more energy efficient ...

Economics of Climate Change: Coping with Shocks in Mongolia – Vulnerability, Assets and Migration (Shocks Mongolia)

This project analyzes the impact of climate shocks on the livelihoods and welfare of households in Mongolia. Our analysis particularly focuses on extreme weather events, locally called dzud disasters (see box below). As a consequence of climate change and global warming, it is very likely that climate shocks, such as dzud, will occur more frequently and with greater intensity. As part of the...