As an increasing number of countries, regions, cities and states implement emission trading policies to limit cap CO2 emission, many turn to the experience of the European Union�s Emissions Trading System, as the largest greenhouse gas emissions trading system currently operating. The aim...

As many countries, regions, cities, and states implement emissions trading policies to limit CO2 emissions, they turn to the European Union's experience with its emissions trading scheme since 2005. As a prominent example of a regional carbon pricing policy, it has attracted significant...

Following the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change [1], countries will negotiate in Kyoto this December an agreement to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Here we examine optimal CO2 policies, given long-term constraints on atmospheric concentrations. Our analysis highlights the interplay...

This paper reviews evidence that energy technologies and systems adapt over time to accomodate external pressures: that technical innovation and systemic change in the energy sector is largely induced by need, and restrained by potentially large transitional costs. A simple integrated model of...

The UK Government has developed a carefully designed Capacity Mechanism to ensure security of supply in the GB electricity system. This paper criticises the methods used to determine the amount of capacity to procure, and argues that the amount finally proposed is likely to be excessive,...

This paper examines the overall economics of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, in three main parts. The first part explores the structure of the Protocol and how this matches against classical economic criteria of an 'optimal' climate change agreement. This discussion also considers the...

The introduction of mandatory controls and a trading scheme covering approximately half of all carbon dioxide emissions across Europe has triggered a debate about the impact of emissions trading on the competitiveness of European industry. Economic theory suggests that, in many sectors,...

Successful cap and trade programs for SO2 and NOx in the US allocate allowances to large emitters based on a historic base line for a period of up to thirty years. National Allocation Plans in Europe allocate CO2 allowances in an iterative approach first for a three then for a five-year period....

Policy to reduce the European Union’s (EU) carbon footprint needs to be grounded in an understanding of the structure and drivers of both the domestic and internationally traded components. Here we analyse consumption-based emission accounts (for the main greenhouse gases (GHGs)) for the EU,...