The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was fundamentally reformed in 2003. From 2005 on, farmers will receive decoupled income support payments instead of production premiums if basic standards for environment, food safety, animal health and welfare are met. Farmers will likely adjust production...

Subsidies linked to production have been classified to be environmentally harmful by OECD. A core element of the EU 2003 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform is to decouple income support from production. This paper estimates the environmental consequences of this policy reform. An...

This paper sets up a model of private consumption for selected EU countries with special emphasis on the consumption categories heating and transport. Sustainable consumption patterns require a "decoupling" of energy or materials use from satisfaction of consumers' needs and demands. Starting...

A comprehensive restructuring of economies and a massive increase of investments in climate-friendly technologies, infrastructures, and R&D is needed for reaching the Paris targets. The EU has launched a process for greening the financial sector emphasising the need for new instruments and...

As governments spend unprecedented sums of public money on pandemic related rescue and recovery measures, while humankind is facing mounting long-term challenges - and above all the climate crisis -, the question whether and to what extent COVID-19 recovery programmes contribute to countries'...

The existing EU system of own resources financing EU expenditures does not make any positive contribution to the various EU strategies and policies implemented to cope with the manifold long-term challenges confronting the EU. It is against this background that the European Commission as well as...

This paper provides an overview of energy and (implicit) CO2 taxation in the EU member countries. Against the background of the EU energy taxation directives, energy and implicit CO2 tax rates in the EU countries are discussed, focussing on taxation in the transport sector as a major non-ETS...