China's rampant environmental pollution problems and rising greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting climate change are undermining its long-term economic growth. China, from its own perspective cannot afford to and, from an international perspective, is not meant to continue on the...

We estimate the relationship between electricity, fuel and carbon prices in Germany, France, the Netherlands, the Nord Pool market and Spain, using one-year futures for base and peak load prices for the years 2009-2012, corresponding to physical settlement during the second market phase of the...

Current climate and energy policy has to operate under an ex-ante unforeseen economic crisis. An obvious consequence is the collapse of prices for carbon emission allowances as, for example, seen in the European Union. However, this price collapse may be amplified by the interaction of a carbon...

This working paper examines the adoption of environmental licensing procedures in Brazil, India and China in the construction of dams and hydropower generation. Based on bibliographical and documental analysis, this paper shows some characteristics of environmental licensing processes of three...

In July 2008, the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) launched North America’s first revenue-neutral carbon tax reform. The tax, which applied to all combustion sources of all fossil fuels, was introduced at a rate of CAD 10 per tonne of CO2, with a schedule for annual increases of CAD...

Beginning in late 2008, Ireland experienced a fiscal crisis. This resulted in November 2010 in agreement between the Irish government and the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – known collectively as ‘the Troika’ – whereby the latter...

China has gradually recognized that the conventional path of encouraging economic growth at the expense of the environment cannot be sustained. It has to be changed. This article focuses on China's efforts towards energy conservation and environmental quality. The article discusses a variety of...

Mit dem 'Gesetz zum Einstieg in die ökologische Steuerreform' hat die Bundesregierung eine Erhöhung der Energiebesteuerung beschlossen, mit deren Hilfe der Energieverbrauch in Deutschland und die daraus resultierenden Emissionen vermindert werden sollen. Mit den zusätzlichen Steuereinnahmen...

Das energie- und klimapolitische Maßnahmenpaket der EU-Kommission vom 23.Januar 2008 ist in seinen Grundzügen in das Modell GINFORS eingesetzt worden. Mit GINFORS sind im Jahr 2007 verschiedene Varianten zu Erreichung der EU-Klimaziele im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und...

This essay provides an overview of the major emissions trading programs of the past thirty years on which significant documentation exists, and draws a number of important lessons for future applications of this environmental policy instrument. References to a larger number of other emissions...