Suchergebnisse

Emission trading has been the key instrument in the EU's climate policy since its introduction in 2005. According to economic literature, emissions trading should ensure the achievement of a given reduction target at the lowest possible costs, by equalising marginal abatement costs of the installations covered. According to previous studies, however, only a limited number of companies have engaged in trading pointing at a limited economic efficiency of the scheme. This paper contributes to the growing body of empirical literature on allowance transactions by providing an analysis for Austria. For this purpose, two approaches are combined - a quantitative analysis of data on allowance transactions from the EUTL and a survey among Austrian firms in the EU ETS on their trading behaviour, motivations, and strategies. Our results show that allowance transactions have increased over time and that Austrian companies in the EU ETS tend to mainly acquire allowances in the market. The majority of Austrian companies reported compliance as the main motive for purchasing allowances. However, they stated that the time horizon of buying allowances for compliance purposes has been rather short so far, but some Austrian ETS participants intend to emphasise earlier purchases and consider a longer period in their purchasing strategy. Moreover, our analysis shows that it is a limited number of large companies (trading companies and large energy suppliers) that is very active in the market. Market actors have gotten accustomed to this new market for emissions over the past 16 years which is illustrated by increasing quantities and volumes traded. Nevertheless, for Austrian companies there is some potential for adapting their trading strategies in order to incorporate the future challenges, primarily for those companies not used to trading on international energy or resource markets.

Literaturverz. S. 20 - 23

The EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is a key instrument in European climate policy. Evidence from the first trading period (2005-2007) and the first year of the Kyoto period 2008 dampened, however, ex-ante enthusiasm: because of substantial over-allocation of emissions allowances in the first trading period the overall emissions cap was not stringent which caused a sharp drop in carbon prices. In 2008 a more stringent cap but still high price volatility was observed. Based on experience from the first years of the EU ETS the design of the EU ETS will be changed for the post-Kyoto period (2013-2020) including an EU-wide cap and the use of auctioning as the main allocation principle. So far, no measures to control price volatility are envisaged. This issue however gains in importance in the political and economic debate as prices are an important signal for investment decisions. More or less stable price signals are essential for the environmental effectiveness of an emissions trading scheme. As evidence shows, this is not necessarily guaranteed by the market process. Based on an analysis of the first trading years the paper provides an argumentation for the implementation of price stabilisation measures in the post-Kyoto period.

The European Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is a key instrument in European climate policy and covers emitters from the energy and manufacturing sector. The ETS pilot phase (2005-2007) was characterised by an oversupply of emission allowances mainly due to the "generous" allocation of allowances by member countries. For the second trading phase (2008-2012) the European Commission aimed at increasing the stringency of the overall emission cap and took a more active role in approving member countries' National Allocation Plans. Due to the decline in economic activity and emissions in the course of the economic crisis, the cap, however, was only stringent in 2008 whereas 2009 and 2010 both showed a long position for EU total. Differences in national and sectoral caps are found for all years. In this paper, we analyse differences in allocation patterns, i.e., in the stringency of the cap and in the spread between installations, until 2010. We focus on general sectoral allocation patterns and perform an in-depth analysis for three emission intensive sectors: "power and heat", "cement and lime" and "pulp and paper". Furthermore, we discuss the impact of the economic crisis on the emissions of these sectors in detail.

The EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) that covers emitters from industry and the energy sector representing 40 percent of the EU's total greenhouse gas emissions is the biggest implementation worldwide of a cap-and-trade scheme. The EU ETS has been the core instrument of European climate policy since its start in 2005. Based on a database comprising more than 10,000 installations in 26 EU countries, this paper provides a thorough analysis of the performance of the EU ETS in the period 2005 to 2010. In the first part, we analyse allocation patterns - i.e., the stringency of allocation caps and distribution issues - on EU country and sector level comparing the results of the EU ETS pilot phase and the first three years of the Kyoto phase. In the second part of the paper, we assess trading flows of European Allowance Units (EUAs) between EU countries comparing the results for the first and second trading period. Furthermore, we analyse the use of credits from flexible mechanisms - Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) from CDM projects and Emission Reduction Units (ERUs) from JI projects - that installations may surrender since the beginning of the second trading period on country level.

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.

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.