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The chapters of this cumulative dissertation contribute to the evidence base on the effect of different policies on decarbonising energy supply, in other words reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy use while maintaining energy services. The use of fossil fuels is the most important source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. As such, the dissertation is embedded in the wider debate on climate change and its mitigation. In particular, the analyses respond to three research questions related to the energy-climate nexus. First, which are the macroeconomic impacts of promoting energy saving and low-carbon technologies, here the impacts of promoting EU biofuel use? Second, how effective are public support mechanisms in decarbonising economies, here past public energy R&D spending in the presence of energy and climate policies in OECD countries? Third, in which way can developed countries contribute to decarbonising the economies of developing countries by means of foreign aid?

AbstractAdvanced OECD countries are widely held responsible for containing global carbon emissions by providing financial and technical support to developing economies where emissions are increasing most rapidly. It is open to question, however, whether more generous official development assistance would help fight climate change effectively. Empirical evidence on the effects of foreign aid on energy and carbon emission intensities in recipient countries hardly exists. We contribute to closing this gap by considering energy use and carbon emissions as dependent climate‐related variables and the volume and structure of aid as possible determinants. In particular, we assessed the impact of aid that donors classify to be specifically related to energy issues. We performed dynamic panel Generalised Method of Moments and Least Squares Dummy Variable Corrected estimations. We found that aid tends to be effective in reducing the energy intensity of GDP in recipient countries. All the same, the carbon intensity of energy use is hardly affected. Scaling up aid efforts would thus be insufficient to fight climate change beyond improving energy efficiency. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this paper we use the CGE model DART to assess the economic impacts and optimality of different aspects of the EU climate package. A special focus is placed on the 10% biofuel target in the EU. In particular we analyze the development in the biofuel sectors, the effects on agricultural production and prices, and finally overall welfare implications. One of the main findings is that the EU emission targets alone lead to onlyminor increases in biofuel production. Additional subsidies are necessary to reach the 10% biofuel target. This in turn increases European agricultural prices by up to 7%. Compared to a cost-effective scenario in which the EU 20% emission reduction target is reached, additional welfare losses occur due to separated carbon markets and the renewable quotas. The biofuel target has relatively small negative or even positive welfare effects in some scenarios.

Biofuels and other forms of bioenergy have received increased attention in recent times: They have partly been acclaimed as an instrument to contribute to rural development, energy security and to fight global warming but have been increasingly come under attack for their potential to contribute to rising food prices. It has thus become clear that bioenergy cannot be evaluated independently of the rest of the economy and that national and international feedback effects are important. In this paper we describe how the CGE model DART is extended to include firstgeneration biofuel production technologies. DART can now be used to assess the efficiency of combined climate and bioenergy policies. As a first example the effects of a 10% biofuel target in the EU are analyzed.

Biofuels and other forms of bioenergy have received increased attention in recent times: They have partly been acclaimed as an instrument to contribute to rural development, energy security and to fight global warming but have been increasingly come under attack for their potential to contribute to rising food prices. It has thus become clear that bioenergy cannot be evaluated independently of the rest of the economy and that national and international feedback effects are important. In this paper we describe how the CGE model DART is extended to include first-generation biofuel production technologies. DART can now be used to assess the efficiency of combined climate and bioenergy policies. As a first example the effects of a 10% biofuel target in the EU are analyzed.

In the context of energy security and climate protection, biomass is given high importance. Nevertheless, land-use conflicts resulting from the cultivation of biomass and their economy-wide effects are yet to be fully understood. To shed light on this issue we link three distinctive models; a global, multi-regional general equilibrium model (DART), a regionalised agricultural sector model for Germany (RAUMIS) and a location model for biogas plants. The DART model allows capturing international and national feedback effects of an increased use of bioenergy such as increased agricultural prices. The interaction of DART and RAUMIS links global markets and connects them to the detailed specification of agricultural land use in Germany. Finally, we link this system to the newly developed location model ReSI-M that accounts for the location choices of biogas plants in Germany and the resulting regional markets for energy crop demand. As a first application of the modelling system we analyse the effects of the German Renewable Energy Source Act on German biogas production and of the EU 10%-biofuel target on German agriculture and world agricultural prices. A main result of the simulations is that accounting for existing land-use restrictions and land-use competition has a significant effect on model results.