Suchergebnisse

ABSTRACTThis paper evaluates the effectiveness of the Program for Pollution Control Evaluation and Rating (PROPER) in Indonesia. PROPER, the first major public disclosure program in the developing world, was launched in June 1995; though it collapsed in 1998 with the Asian financial crisis, it is currently being revived. There have been claims of success for this pioneering scheme, yet little formal and conclusive analysis has been undertaken. We analyze changes in emissions concentrations (mg/L) using panel data techniques with plant-level data for participating firms and a control group. The results show that there was indeed a positive response to PROPER, especially among firms with poor environmental compliance records. The response was immediate, and firms pursued further emissions reductions in the following months. The total estimated reductions in biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were approximately 32 per cent.

Climate change represents a serious threat to the economic growth potential in low income countries. Instead of investing in growth, they may be drawn into strife and conflict. Climate change and the global politics to deal with it, could however also present a number of interesting opportunities for developing countries. Such opportunities may arise in sustainable forestry, new forms of solar, wind or bioenergy and related industries, agriculture or in the programs for abatement and mitigation that are likely to be created. It is an important priority for low-income countries to develop local knowledge and understanding concerning climate change in order to better prepare for both the costs and challenges posed by climate change, as well as to defend their national interests and participate in international negotiations. Creating academic capacity is however a long and painstaking process. We discuss a number of existing initiatives but conclude that more is needed, particularly at the higher level of PhD studies.

A zero-carbon society requires dramatic change everywhere including in buildings, a large and politically sensitive sector. Technical possibilities exist but implementation is slow. Policies include many hard-to-evaluate regulations and may suffer from rebound mechanisms. We use dynamic econometric analysis of European macro data for the period 1990–2018 to systematically examine the importance of changes in energy prices and income on residential energy demand. We find a long-run price elasticity of −0.5. The total long-run income elasticity is around 0.9, but if we control for the increase in income that goes towards larger homes and other factors, the income elasticity is 0.2. These findings have practical implications for climate policy and the EU buildings and energy policy framework. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10584-021-03164-3.

We use economic analysis to evaluate grandfathering, auctioning, and benchmarking approaches for allocation of emissions allowances and then discuss practical experience from European and American schemes. In principle, auctions are superior from the viewpoints of efficiency, fairness, transparency, and simplicity. In practice, auctions have been opposed by important sectors of industry, which argue that carbon pricing without compensation would harm international competitiveness. In the European Union's Emissions Trading System, this concern led to grandfathering that is updated at various intervals. Unfortunately, updating gives industry an incentive to change behavior to influence future allocation. Furthermore, the wealth transferred to incumbent firms can be significantly larger than the extra costs incurred, leading to windfall profits. Meanwhile, potential auction revenues are not available to reduce other taxes. By circumscribing free allocation, benchmarking can target competitiveness concerns, incur less wealth transfer, and provide a strategy consistent with transitioning to auctions in the long run.

We evaluate the impact of a variety of energy efficiency policies on residential energy demand in six major EU economies (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and Sweden) from 1990 to 2015. We find that both financing policies, such as loan facilities and subsidies, and building codes, as approximated by U-Values, have been effective at reducing energy demand for space heating. We additionally find the short term price and income effects to be inelastic, with elasticity coefficients of-0.2 and 0.2 respectively.

We evaluate the impact of a variety of energy efficiency policies on residential energy demand in six major EU economies (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and Sweden) from 1990 to 2015. We find that both financing policies, such as loan facilities and subsidies, and building codes, as approximated by U-Values, have been effective at reducing energy demand for space heating. We additionally find the short term price and income effects to be inelastic, with elasticity coefficients of-0.2 and 0.2 respectively.

We evaluate the impact of a variety of energy efficiency policies on residential energy demand in six major EU economies (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and Sweden) from 1990 to 2015. We find that both financing policies, such as loan facilities and subsidies, and building codes, as approximated by U-Values, have been effective at reducing energy demand for space heating. We additionally find the short term price and income effects to be inelastic, with elasticity coefficients of-0.2 and 0.2 respectively.

We evaluate the impact of a variety of energy efficiency policies on residential energy demand in six major EU economies (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and Sweden) from 1990 to 2015. We find that both financing policies, such as loan facilities and subsidies, and building codes, as approximated by U-Values, have been effective at reducing energy demand for space heating. We additionally find the short term price and income effects to be inelastic, with elasticity coefficients of-0.2 and 0.2 respectively.