Documents energy policy 408 results

"This paper attempts to bring some central insights from behavioural economics into the economics of climate change. In particular, it discusses (i) implications of prospect theory, the equity premium puzzle, and time-inconsistent preferences in the choice of discount rate used in climate-change cost assessments, and (ii) the implications of various kinds of social preferences for the outcome of climate negotiations. Several reasons are presented for why it appears advisable to choose a substantially lower social discount rate than the average return on investments. It also seems likely that taking social preferences into account increases the possibilities of obtaining international agreements, compared to the standard model. However, there are also effects going in the opposite direction, and the importance of sanctions is emphasized."

"While the scientific evidence for climate change grows, the policy responses have so far had little or no impact on the build-up of emissions. Current trends in emissions are adverse. The paper considers why the disconnect between science and policy exists and, in particular, why the Kyoto Protocol has achieved so little. Some contributing factors considered are: the focus on carbon production rather than consumption in the architecture of Kyoto; the flaws in the analysis presented in the Stern Report (notably on the impacts of climate change on economic growth, on the costs of mitigation, and on discounting); and the political economy of the choice of policy instruments, the politics of the rents that arise, and the technology bias. The challenges facing the Copenhagen conference are noted, and it is concluded that, with a recasting of the economics of climate change, the prospects for closing the gap between the science and policy are grim."

"The EU's biofuels policy has made a full normative turn: introduced to advance sustainable development, it was curtailed as a threat to the global environment. Central to the crisis of legitimation was a contested scientific idea, emissions from indirect land-use changes. This article takes up the large impact of this small idea to discuss a central question of contemporary institutionalist and constructivist scholarship: Why and under what conditions can ideas and events become catalysts for change? Tracing the rise and crisis of the EU's biofuels policy, my central theoretical intervention is to conceptualize the fragile legitimacy of policies and institutions. In addition, I specify the scope condition that heighten or reduce a policy's fragility, arguing that it depends on: (a) a tight/loose coupling of legitimacy to underlying authoritative discourses, (b) the volatility of these sources of authority and (c) the agenda-setting power of groups opposing the status quo."

"The discussion on ‘The comparative institutional analysis of energy transitions' gives us a state-of-the-art overview of the main theoretical and conceptual developments within the field of political economy. It invites us to broaden our knowledge on the changing realities of different geographical regions in energy transition. In this discussion forum, Finnegan discusses emerging themes in the comparative political economy literature of climate change. He identifies gaps and offers an outline for further research. Allen, Allen, Cumming and Johan take a closer look at the links between different types of capitalism and the natural environment. The authors stress the importance of adopting an institutional perspective to explain differences in environmental outcomes. Wood compares the transitions of energy usage and mixes between liberal and coordinated market economies from a historical perspective. He looks for parallels between the energy transition from coal to oil and gas to the current renewables. Nicklich and Endo answer the question ‘Do globalization and globally perceived occurrences of environmental problems lead to a convergence of energy supply?'. They compare the fields of German and Japanese wind power with a particular focus on Greenpeace after the Fukushima disaster in 2011. Finally, Lim and Tanaka focus on the question ‘When do energy transition policies enjoy broad-based acceptance?'. They conclude that the public acceptance of energy transition varies between Western and non-Western societies."

"In order to avoid environmental catastrophe we need to move to a post-growth economy that can deliver rapid reductions in environmental impacts and improve well-being, independent of GDP growth. Such a move will entail considerable structural change in the economy, implying different goals and strategies for different economic sectors. So far there are no systematic approaches for identifying the desired shape of structural change and sectoral goals in terms of output, demand and employment. We present a novel analysis that addresses this gap by classifying economic sectors into groups with similar structural change goals. Our framework for the classification considers sectoral characteristics along three dimensions, which are (a) the final energy intensity, (b) the potential and desirability for labour productivity growth and (c) the relationship between labour productivity and the energy-labour ratio. We present empirical evidence on the three framework dimensions for economic sectors in the UK and Germany and derive structural change goals for the four sector groups representing particular combinations of the sector characteristics. Our analysis allows us to discuss the specific role of different economic sectors in the structural change envisioned in the post-growth transition and the most important challenges they might be facing."

"Despite some progress, the Group of 7 (G7) have yet to act collectively to foster a low-carbon transition of their economies. This paper outlines such a strategy, which would also encourage other economies to follow suit. This strategy has three elements: fossil fuel pricing reforms; recycling revenues to fund green innovation and to offset any adverse income or employment impacts; and developing the proposed G7 Climate Club to promote compliance by other countries. This must be accompanied by comprehensive assistance to emerging market and developing economies to help accelerate their clean energy transition, facilitate their participation in the Climate Club, and attain climate, poverty and development goals."

"The European Union (EU) relies on imported raw materials to manufacture renewable energy, digital, mobility, aerospace, and defence technologies. A circular economy can mitigate this critical dependency, for example by recycling materials or remanufacturing products locally. These resource efficiency strategies, however, require new supply chain configurations supported by research and innovation. While this is taking place in few selected supply chains, notably lithium-ion battery technology, little is known about circularity for most critical raw materials and their applications. Information is scattered across industry players and disciplinary competences, or not publicly available due to confidentiality concerns. This article presents a case study on titanium metal circularity in the aviation and defence sectors. The results inform three industrial policy recommendations to mitigate the risk of supply disruption in the EU, aggravated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Based on the case study, a methodological framework is proposed to guide future research on circularity for resource security. This subject requires urgent attention to achieve EU strategic autonomy objectives, against the background of climate change, resource depletion and waste management challenges in a complex geopolitical landscape."