Suchergebnisse

With the release of the verified emissions for installations covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme for the first trading year 2005 we are able to compare actual emissions and allowances for each installation. Based on data available for 24 Member States as of January 2007, this paper uses a thorough data analysis for about 9,900 installations to investigate evidence on three issues: first, the stringency of the total allocation cap and allocation differences both among the Member States and a selection of emission intensive sectors; second, the distribution of the size of installations; and third, the spread of allocation discrepancies and possible allocation biases regarding the size of installations.

It is estimated that 330 companies operated in the Austrian environmental technology industry in 2003, achieving a turnover of € 3.78 billion and employing 17,200 workers. They exported environmental technologies in the amount of € 2.45 billion, about half of which came from clean energy technologies. The Austrian environmental technology industry is a dynamic sector. It has moved away from its focus on end-of-pipe technologies towards integrated technologies. Austria, a small country which specialised in environmental technologies at an early stage, has achieved a good position in international competition. Growing competitive pressure on both foreign markets and the domestic market constitutes a challenge for the Austrian environmental technology industry in its aim to maintain or improve its competitive position. Supplying continually improving high-quality technologies is one way achieving this goal.

Das EU-Budget für die Periode 2021 bis 2027 muss sich stärker als bisher am europäischen Mehrwert orientieren, um angesichts der kontroversiellen Positionen der Mitgliedsländer und deren primärer Orientierung an der Nettoposition eine Einigung zu ermöglichen. Eine weitere Stärkung des Anteils von Ausgaben für Forschung, klimafreundliche grenzüberschreitende Verkehrs- und Energieversorgungsinfrastruktur und die zweite Säule der Agrarpolitik sowie von proaktiven Asyl- und Migrations- sowie Integrations- und Entwicklungsausgaben würde den europäischen Mehrwert der EU-Ausgaben erhöhen. Soll der Budgetrahmen nicht über den Vorschlag der Europäischen Kommission hinaus erhöht werden, können Spielräume durch eine stärkere Verringerung der ersten Säule der Agrarpolitik oder durch eine stärkere Fokussierung der Kohäsionspolitik geschaffen werden. Die stärkere Kopplung der Mittel an Umwelt- und Klimaziele und Ziele in der Migration und Integration sowie die Beachtung des Prinzips der Rechtsstaatlichkeit würden den europäischen Mehrwert des EU-Budgets steigern. Der europäische Nutzen des EU-Budgets könnte weiter gesteigert werden durch die Einführung eines Korbs von (steuerbasierten) Eigenmittelquellen (zusätzlich zu den diesbezüglichen Vorschlägen der Europäischen Kommission bieten sich Steuern auf den Flugverkehr sowie ein Grenzausgleichssystem für den EU-Emissionshandel an) als teilweiser Ersatz für die auf der Umsatzsteuer-Bemessungsgrundlage sowie dem Bruttonationaleinkommen basierenden nationalen Beiträgen, die derzeit überhaupt keinen Beitrag zur Umsetzung zentraler EU-Ziele und EU-Strategien leisten. Eine Erhöhung des Zielwerts für das Klima-Mainstreaming über den Vorschlag der Europäischen Kommission von 25% der Gesamtausgaben hinaus, der konsequente Ausschluss der Förderung fossiler Energien sowie die Nutzung "grüner" Eigenmittelquellen würden das EU-Budget zu einem zentralen Baustein des anvisierten "Green Deal for Europe" machen und seinen "grünen" europäischen Mehrwert stärken. Eine gesamthafte Betrachtung ist erforderlich: Regulative Eingriffe, Ausgaben- und Einnahmenseite des EU-Budgets müssen zusammen gedacht werden; angesichts der unterschiedlichen Interessen der Mitgliedsländer muss nach Paketlösungen gesucht werden. Isolierte Diskussionen über einzelne Maßnahmen (und Maßnahmenbereiche) sind nicht zielführend. Die Querverbindungen zwischen den Ausgabenbereichen des Mittelfristigen Finanzrahmens (z. B. ländliche Entwicklung und Kohäsion oder Forschung und Regionalförderung) zu anderen Politikbereichen sind stärker zu beachten und zu nutzen.

Two major international frameworks provide landmarks for future development paths: the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. Monitoring the progress towards achieving the individual goals must take into account a multitude of synergies and trade-offs. In this paper we use composite indices to analyze climate and energy policies in selected EU member countries. These results show that, in general, the improvements regarding energy efficiency, emissions and deployment of renewables have been moderate in the period under observation (2005–2015). This hints at the time needed for restructuring to take place, which underlines the importance of credible political commitments to climate targets, the implementation of ambitious instruments and the need for stability in the guiding frameworks to effectuate substantial changes. In addition, the analysis of the selected countries shows that they are characterized by very specific energy systems (complemented by specific social structures), and this determines the challenges that each country must overcome on the way to decarbonization and sustainable development. While the SDGs are to be implemented on a global scale, it is necessary to adapt them to the characteristics of a given country or region. Reliable and long-term quantitative data that is comparable across countries or regions and that takes into account the social dimension is required to be able to monitor the overall progress of SGD implementation.

Two major international frameworks provide landmarks for future development paths: the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. Monitoring the progress towards achieving the individual goals has to consider a multitude of synergies and trade-offs. In this paper we use composite indices to analyse climate and energy policy in Austria and other selected EU countries. The analysis delivers several results which are also supported by the assessment of climate and energy policies in the case study countries. In general, the improvements regarding energy efficiency, emissions and deployment of renewables have been moderate in the period under observation. This hints at the time needed for restructuring to take place. This underlines the importance of credible political commitment to climate targets, the implementation of ambitious instruments and the need for stability in the guiding frameworks in order to effectuate substantial changes. In addition, the description of the circumstances and policy frameworks in the selected countries shows, that each one is characterised by a very specific energy system (complemented by specific social structures) which determines the challenges that have to be overcome on the way to decarbonisation.

Both the UN SDGs and the Paris Agreement imply ambitious long-term targets which only can be met with a fundamental restructuring of economic and social systems. We propose a set of energy and climate policy indicators that allows informed policy making and goes beyond the approaches that mainly focus on progress based on the UN indicator set. The sustainable energy indicators cover the whole energy system as well as the three dimensions of sustainability. The approach combines an energy service centred perspective with research on energy and climate indicators and embeds the indicator framework in broader socio-ecologic context. For the four demand-side sectors a set of 118 high-level energy indicators has been assembled that can be further disaggregated to about 387 indicators. For electricity and heat supply a set of 25 energy indicators has been compiled that can be further disaggregated to about 130 indicators differentiating by energy source and plant type. Interactions (i.e., synergies and conflicts) between the different target dimensions and the corresponding indicators need to be carefully considered. Given the complexity of the issue and the lack of adequate indicators and gaps in data availability it is difficult to interpret certain observable trends. This needs to be kept in mind when using the indicator system for policy analysis.

The environmental effectiveness of an emission trading system depends on the one hand on the stringency of the cap and on the other hand on the scheme's ability to provide stable regulatory conditions and incentives for investment in emission saving technologies. However, in case of highly volatile CO2 prices no clear investment signal is provided and hence firms' decision making and planning is rendered difficult. Analyses of price developments in the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) indicate that in Phase 1 (2005-2007) fluctuations were mainly caused by incomplete information at the beginning, adjustments after the emergence of verified emission data and regulatory mechanisms. At the beginning of Phase 2 (2008-2012) in contrast a decline in carbon prices was observed as firms sold surplus allowances resulting from lower emissions due to economic recession. For Phase 3 of the EU ETS (2013-2020) hence the introduction of price stabilisation measures has been suggested by several member countries during the discussions on the EU energy and climate package. Various instruments can be integrated in a cap-and-trade scheme in order to reduce price volatility such as provisions for banking and borrowing, the approval of offsets for compliance purposes and hybrid systems, i.e., combinations of price and quantity mechanisms. Given the long-term nature of climate policy, the related uncertainties regarding technological change and political frameworks, and given a rising speculation in carbon markets, such price stabilisation approaches should be considered for the future design of emission trading schemes.