Von den möglichen Auswirkungen des Klimawandels wird eine Vielzahl gesellschaftlicher Bereiche betroffen sein, wobei dem Energiesektor dabei gesamtgesellschaftlich eine große Bedeutung zukommt. Zum einen ist die Energieinfrastruktur eine sogenannte Kritische Infrastruktur, denn ihr Ausfall...

This paper first reviews the conceptual case for, and appropriate design of, fiscal policies to address major externalities associated with energy use-global warming, local air pollution, and various side effects (e.g., congestion) from motor vehicles. Techniques for (roughly) estimating the...

This paper deals with designing emissions trading in practice. After a short introduction to the general idea of emissions trading, practical requirements for the introduction of an emissions trading scheme are considered, including the temporal and spatial dimension as well as administrative...

International diffusion of advanced environment and energy-related technologies has received much attention in recent environmental economics studies. As a much needed complement to the "black box" complex numerical modelling, this paper contributes to developing a simple, intuitive analytical...

International diffusion of energy-saving technologies has received considerable attention in recent energy and climate economics studies. As a helpful methodological complement to the existing large-scale CGE/IAM-based modelling for energy and climate policy studies, this paper contributes to a...

China has shifted control over resources and decision making to local governments and enterprises as the result of the economic reforms over the past three decades. This devolution of decision-making to local levels and enterprises has placed environmental stewardship in the hands of local...

Despite political activities to foster a low-carbon energy transition, Germany currently sees a considerable number of new coal power plants being added to its power mix. There are several possible drivers for this "dash for coal", but it is widely accepted that windfall profits gained through...

We describe three essential elements of an effective post-2012 international global climate policy architecture: a means to ensure that key industrialized and developing nations are involved in differentiated but meaningful ways; an emphasis on an extended time path of targets; and inclusion of...

China had been singled out by Western politicians and media for dragging its feet on international climate negotiations at Copenhagen, the accusations previously always targeted on the U.S. To put such a criticism into perspective, this paper provides some reflections on China's stance and...

Electricity prices should fully link the consumer price to peak-period generation costs, environmental costs and the high cost of new generation, according to an expert analysis released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. The author says such pricing reform is required to reduce both financial...