Suchergebnisse

Chapter 1 (Energy Use Patterns in German Industry: Evidence from Plant-level Data): This paper analyzes energy use and CO2 emissions of more than 78 000 German industrial plants between 1995 and 2006. It is the first study to exploit exceptionally rich energy data that were recently matched to official micro datasets. We document that both energy use and intensity are highly dispersed across plants. When isolating the between-sector variation in energy intensity, there is a strong positive correlation with energy use, CO2 emissions and emission intensity. Yet there is no evidence that the scale of an industry determines its energy intensity. The dispersion of energy use across plants of a given sector, normalized by the median, is positively correlated with that of gross output, but not with the median energy use. Similarly, there is no evidence that the median energy intensity is correlated with the within-sector dispersion of energy intensity or with that of CO2 emissions. Looking at the fuel mix across sectors, we find that more energy intensive industries rely more on fuels other than electricity, although the variability among plants in those industries is extremely high. We also demonstrate that average fuel shares are sensitive to the skewness of the underlying distribution and recommend the use of median fuel shares for better representativeness. Chapter 2 (Carbon Efficiency, Technology, and the Role of Innovation Patterns: Evidence from German Plant-Level Microdata): We describe the determinants of energy intensity, carbon intensity, and CO2 emissions in the German manufacturing sector between 1995 and 2007, applying the LMDI index decomposition technique to micro data. We decompose changes in total CO2 emissions from manufacturing to changes in activity level, structural change between sectors, shifting market shares within sectors, energy intensity at the firm level, fuel mix, and emission factors. Our results show that competition between firms within one sector, although so far widely ignored as a driver of emissions and energy use, is energy- and emission-saving. Contrary to wide-spread beliefs, energy intensity improvements at the firm level do not play a significant role in reducing emissions. We use sector-level results on the relative importance of improvements in firm-level energy intensity and intra-sectoral structural change to distinguish two different innovation channels: innovation by technology and by entrants. We show that incumbent firms in a number of sectors, including some of the most energy intensive, do not significantly improve their energy efficiency. Innovation takes place via new entrants instead, rendering policies targeted at incumbents' firm-level energy efficiency ineffective. Chapter 3 (The Impact of Carbon Trading on Industry: Evidence from German Manufacturing Firms): We estimate the causal impact of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme on manufacturing firms using comprehensive panel data from the German production census. Semiparametric matching estimators yield robust evidence that the policy caused treated firms to abate one-fifth of their CO2 emissions between 2007 and 2010 relative to non-treated firms. This reduction was achieved predominantly by improving energy efficiency and by curbing the consumption of natural gas and petroleum products, but not electricity use. We find no evidence that emissions trading lowered employment, gross output or exports of treated firms. Chapter 4 (The Impact of Temperature Changes on Residential Energy Consumption): In order to explore the impact of climate change on energy use, we estimate an energy demand model that is driven by temperature, prices and income. The estimation is based on an unbalanced panel of 62 countries over three decades. We limit the analysis to the residential sector and distinguish four different fuel types (coal, electricity, natural gas and oil). Compared to previous papers, we have a better geographical coverage and consider both a heating and cooling threshold as well as further non-linearities in the impact of temperature on energy demand and temperature-income interactions. We find that oil, gas and electricity use are driven by a non-linear heating effect: Energy use decreases with rising temperatures due to a reduced demand for energy for heating purposes, but the speed of that decrease declines with rising temperature levels. We cannot find a significant impact of temperature on the demand for cooling energy.

We estimate the causal impact of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme on manufacturing firms using comprehensive panel data from the German production census. Semiparametric matching estimators yield robust evidence that the policy caused treated firms to abate one fifth of their CO2 emissions between 2007 and 2010, relative to non-treated fi rms. This reduction was achieved predominantly by improving energy efficiency and by curbing the consumption of natural gas and petroleum products, but not electricity use. We find no evidence that emissions trading lowered employment, turnover or exports of treated fi rms.

We estimate the causal impact of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme on manufacturing firms using comprehensive panel data from the German production census. Semiparametric matching estimators yield robust evidence that the policy caused treated firms to abate onefifth of their CO2 emissions between 2007 and 2010 relative to non-treated firms. This reduction was achieved predominantly by improving energy efficiency and by curbing the consumption of natural gas and petroleum products, but not electricity use. We find no evidence that emissions trading lowered employment, turnover or exports of treated firms.

Weltweit werden etwa 3 Billionen US-Dollar staatlicher Hilfen ausgegeben, um den Absturz der Weltwirtschaft abzubremsen. Dieser Nachfrageschub von 4,7 Prozent des Welteinkommens hat zuallererst die Aufgabe, die Spirale gestrichener Investitionspläne, reduzierter Produktion, gesunkener Beschäftigung, gepaart mit schrumpfenden Einkommen und damit weiter sinkender Nachfrage, zu stoppen. Gleichzeitig sollten die Programme aber die Weltwirtschaft nach der Krise wieder auf einen nachhaltigen Wachstumspfad bringen.

Weltweit werden etwa 3 Billionen US-Dollar staatlicher Hilfen ausgegeben, um den Absturz der Weltwirtschaft abzubremsen. Dieser Nachfrageschub von 4,7 Prozent des Welteinkommens hat zuallererst die Aufgabe, die Spirale gestrichener Investitionspläne, reduzierter Produktion, gesunkener Beschäftigung, gepaart mit schrumpfenden Einkommen und damit weiter sinkender Nachfrage, zu stoppen. Gleichzeitig sollten die Programme aber die Weltwirtschaft nach der Krise wieder auf einen nachhaltigen Wachstumspfad bringen.

The ongoing global financial crisis has been preceded by a steady rise in global current account imbalances. Recently, in the course of the global recession, global imbalances have declined, albeit without having disappeared completely. As the outlook for global growth gets brighter, it is important to be aware of the possibility of again arising global imbalances in the future, since many of the structural reasons for the foregoing build up of imbalances remain largely in place. This is particularly important against the background of a close relationship between the global imbalances and the financial crisis. Important steps that would help to avoid the reoccurrence of unsustainable global imbalances and contribute to stabilize the global economy in the medium run are a tighter regulation of financial markets, the strengthening of the role of the IMF in monitoring global capital markets, and the development of social security systems and financial markets in emerging economies.

Zum Schutz des Klimas ergreift die Politik in Deutschland und Europa eine Vielzahl an Maßnahmen. So wird der europäische Emissionshandel durch zahlreiche Maßnahmen zur Innovations- und Investitionsförderung ergänzt, aber auch durch Informationsbereitstellung und Regulierungsmaßnahmen zur Nutzung neuer Technologien. Dieser Politikmix wirft die Frage auf, welche Politikinstrumente benötigt werden und nach welchen Kriterien diese bewertet werden sollten. Dieser Beitrag geht dieser Frage nach und präentiert als Resultat der Begleitaktivitäten des Förderschwerpunkts "Ökonomie des Klimawandels" des Bundesforschungsministeriums (BMBF) einen Konsens über grundsätzliche Handlungsempfehlungen für die konkrete Ausgestaltung von Klimaschutzpolitik. Es herrscht insbesondere Einigkeit darüber, dass ein Politikmix notwendig ist, um die klimapolitischen Ziele zu erreichen. Allerdings sollte nicht jedes Instrument vorbehaltlos zum Einsatz kommen. Vielmehr sollte ein jedes Instrument in Bezug auf Effektivität, Effizienz, aber auch politische und institutionelle Umsetzbarkeit bewertet, durch ein zeitnahes Monitoring überprüft und gegebenenfalls auch abgeschafft werden. Diesbezüglich ist zu kritisieren, dass moderne Evaluationsmethoden in Deutschland bislang kaum angewandt werden, obwohl die Wissenschaft in den vergangenen Jahren erhebliche Fortschritte bei der Evaluierung von Politikmaßnahmen erzielt hat. Es wäre daher wichtig, dass zukünftig ein besonderes Augenmerk auf die empirische Evaluation von Klimaschutzmaßnahmen auf Basis umfangreicher, auf die jeweilige Maßnahme speziell zugeschnittener Datenerhebungen gelegt würde. ; Policy makers in Germany and Europe have availed a variety of instruments to protect the climate. A centerpiece is the European Emission Trading System, which has been accompanied by several additional measures to foster innovation and investment, as well as to improve the provision of information and to regulate the application of new technologies. The resulting policy mix raises the question as to which policy measures are needed and by which criteria should they be evaluated. This article addresses these questions by presenting a consensus of recommendations emerging from the project "Ökonomie des Klimawandels (Economics of Climate Change)", funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Although consensus prevails that no single policy is sufficient to reach the multitude of climate policy goals, it is also recognized that each instrument should be evaluated on its own terms. Effectiveness, efficiency and political as well as institutional feasibility are among the key evaluation criteria. Moreover, instruments should be regularly monitored and, if necessary, removed. In this regard, it is regrettable that modern evaluation methods are rarely applied in Germany to date, although there has been considerable methodological progress in the recent past. Moving forward, it will be crucial to employ such methods, ideally drawing on comprehensive data sets tailored for the evaluation of the particular climate policy instrument in question.

Zum Schutz des Klimas ergreift die Politik in Deutschland und Europa eine Vielzahl an Maßnahmen. So wird der europäische Emissionshandel durch zahlreiche Arten der Innovations- und Investitionsförderung ergänzt, aber auch durch andere Anreize sowie Informationsbereitstellung und durch Regulierungsmaßnahmen zur Nutzung neuer Technologien. Dieser Politikmix wirft die Frage auf, welche Politikinstrumente benötigt werden und nach welchen Kriterien diese bewertet werden sollten. Dieser Beitrag geht diesen Fragen nach und präsentiert als Resultat der Begleitaktivitäten des Förderschwerpunkts "Ökonomie des Klimawandels" des Bundesforschungsministeriums (BMBF) einen Konsens zwischen den Autoren über grundsätzliche Handlungsempfehlungen für eine konkrete Ausgestaltung von Klimaschutzpolitik. Die Autoren sind sich insbesondere einig, dass ein Politikmix notwendig ist, um die klimapolitischen Ziele zu erreichen. Allerdings sollte nicht jedes Instrument vorbehaltlos zum Einsatz kommen. Vielmehr sollte ein jedes Instrument in Bezug auf Effektivität, Effizienz, aber auch politische und institutionelle Umsetzbarkeit bewertet, durch ein zeitnahes Monitoring überprüft und gegebenenfalls auch abgeschafft werden. Diesbezüglich ist zu kritisieren, dass moderne Evaluationsmethoden in Deutschland bislang kaum angewandt werden, obwohl die Wissenschaft in den vergangenen Jahren erhebliche Fortschritte bei der Evaluierung von Politikmaßnahmen erzielt hat. Es wäre daher besonders wichtig, dass bei der geplanten Fortsetzung des BMBF-Förderschwerpunktes "Ökonomie des Klimawandels" ein besonderes Augenmerk auf die empirische Evaluation von Klimaschutzmaßnahmen auf Basis umfangreicher, auf die jeweilige Maßnahme speziell zugeschnittene Datenerhebungen gelegt würde.

This report aims to develop a set of indicators that measure sustainable development of Arctic seafood production. It builds on an environmental, a social, and an economic dimension, three dimensions of sustainable development. Our indicator system provides decision support information and monitoring tool for relevant decision makers. It aims to facilitate orientation in a complex multitude of social and ecological systems as well as their intersection. The indicator set is structured as a pyramid made up of the three dimensions of sustainable development, subdivided into policy categories, each described by one or few indicator target areas, supplemented by a number of more contextual indicators. We give a short presentation of each indicator and assess data availability. While this report provides decision support it cannot stand alone and is part of the synthesis of the European Union project Arctic Climate Change Economy and Society.