The degradation of the environment due to climate change and pollution can harm living standards and damage growth prospects. In Belgium, one of the most densely populated OECD countries, pressure on the environment is particularly strong, and is reinforced by the high energy intensity of the...

Energy is an area of strategic and vital importance for Romania's economic development. At national level there is a wide activity of using biomass for the production of electricity and heat, determined by the requirements of the European Union's energy policy to reduce CO2 emissions. The...

This paper explores demand side management (DSM) strategies, including both demand response and energy efficiency policies. The aim is to uncover what features might strengthen DSM effectiveness. We first look at key features of residential energy demand and the limits to energy indicators. We...

The topic of nearly zero-energy buildings (n-ZEB), introduced by the Directive 2010/31/EU will direct the building market toward ever greater energy efficiency of new buildings. In some contexts, however, the building market for high-efficiency buildings has evolved, in recent years, on the...

Energy is an area of strategic and vital importance for Romania's economic development. At national level there is a wide activity of using biomass for the production of electricity and heat, determined by the requirements of the European Union's energy policy to reduce CO2 emissions. The...

We examine how Green governments influence macroeconomic, education, and environmental outcomes. Our empirical strategy exploits that the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan gave rise to an unanticipated change in government in the German state Baden-Wuerttemberg in 2011. The incumbent rightwing...

As an important step towards building a "harmonious society" through "scientific development", China has incorporated for the first time in its five-year economic plan an energy input indicator as a constraint. While it achieved a quadrupling of its GDP while cutting its energy intensity by...

In what format and under what timeframe China would take on climate commitments is of significant relevance to China because it is facing great pressure both inside and outside international climate negotiations to exhibit greater ambition and is being confronted with the threats of trade...

Korea, which has had the highest growth rate of greenhouse gas emissions in the OECD area since 1990, adopted an ambitious Green Growth Strategy in 2009. It aims at reducing emissions by 30% by 2020 relative to a “business as usual” scenario, implying a 4% cut from the 2005 level. The...