In the context of climate protection policy it has been suggested that global CO2 emissions should be reduced significantly (contraction) and that per capita emissions should gradually be equalized across countries (convergence). This paper uses a dynamic multi-region computable general...

This paper contributes to the economic literature on pure and impure public goods by considering two alternatives for contributing to the public good climate protection: compensating carbon emissions from conventional consumption or paying higher prices for climate-friendly products. We...

This paper provides theoretical and empirical insights on the extent to which the availability of carbon offsetting may substitute the individual use of other carbon-reducing measures. Theoretically, we demonstrate an ambiguous impact of offsetting on the use of other measures and derive...

The electricity generation mix of many European countries is strongly dominated by fossil fuelled power plants. Given that CO2-emissions are responsible for a major part of the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, emission trading has been introduced in the EU in 2005. Under the European emissions...

This paper examines the determinants of voluntary individual carbon offsetting, i.e. the financial compensation of emissions from energy use. In contrast to former studies in this field, we particularly consider a comprehensive set of factors that are discussed in the context of voluntary...

Climate protection scenarios are a key part of long-term climate policy planning, which has been given a further boost by the Paris Agreement. The modelling performed in such scenarios informs the development of 2050 national climate strategies—which themselves serve as roadmaps for the...

In November 2018, the European Commission published its Strategic Long-Term Vision entitled “A Clean Planet for all” calling for the target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This proposal was subsequently agreed upon by EU heads of state and government, it features centrally in...

Power generation from lignite and hard coal was responsible for more than a quarter of German greenhouse gas emissions in 2016. Of all federal states, North Rhine-Westphalia is by far the largest carbon emitter. The Growth, Structural Change and Regional Development Commission (also known as...

The success of climate and natural resource protection depends amongst others on the expansion of renewable energies. The policy paper describes the central results of the RESCUE study as well as the challenges and steps required to expand renewable energies in order to achieve greenhouse gas...