Efficient agricultural water management is indispensable in meeting future food demands. The European Water Framework Directive promotes several measures such as the adoption of adequate water pricing mechanisms or the promotion of water-saving irrigation technologies. We apply a stochastic...

The increasing pressure resulting from the need for CO2 mitigation is in conflict with the predominance of coal in China's energy structure. A possible solution to this tension between climate change and fossil fuel consumption fact could be the introduction of the carbon capture and storage...

Electricity generation is an important source of total CO2 emissions, which in turn have been found to relate to an acceleration of global warming. Given that many OECD countries have to replace substantial portions of their electricity-generating capacity over the next 10-20 years,...

Ongoing negotiations under the UNFCCC center around the possibilities for stabilization of greenhouse gases at a “safe” level. New energy technologies are assumed to make major contributions to this goal. However, in the light of scientific uncertainty (e.g. about climate sensitivity,...

Promoting renewable energy has been a key ingredient in energy policy seeking to de-carbonize the energy mix and will continue to do so in the future given the European Union's high ambitions to further curb carbon emissions. A wide range of instruments has been suggested and implemented in...

The liberalization of electricity markets in recent years has enhanced competition among power-generating firms facing uncertain decisions of competitors and thus uncertain prices. At the same time, promoting renewable energy has been a key ingredient in energy policy seeking to de-carbonize the...

Tropical deforestation is one of the major sources of carbon emissions, but the Kyoto Protocol presently excludes avoiding these specific emissions to fulfill stabilization targets. Since the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC in 2007, where the need for policy incentives for the...