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Can ambitious climate policies in the European Green Deal succeed when faced with rising societal divisions between Europeans? This paper undertakes an empirical analysis using data from the European Social Survey to see whether the divisions between cosmopolitan and communitarian Europeans evident in other policy fields like migration are also found in relation to climate and energy. The results show that political ideology is most important determinant of individual attitudes, and that differences in attitudes between Eastern and Western Europe may be explained by energy security and economic development issues. The EU has maintained an ambitious policy since the mid-2010s, and with the Green Deal appears to be framing climate ambition in ways that the data suggests may reduce communitarian opposition, but not the differences between EU Member States resulting from security concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU has long pursued relatively ambitious climate and energy policies, often against the backdrop of what has been termed the EU 'polycrisis'. This paper introduces a special issue which seeks to develop a better understanding of why, how and with which consequences the polycrisis and EU climate and energy governance have influenced each other. It draws on a novel framework of five broad crisis trends underlying the polycrisis. Most of the contributions suggest that EU climate and energy governance have advanced significantly despite, and sometimes even because of, the crisis trends. The countervailing effects of the trends and the effectiveness of actors' strategies to advance EU policy against opponents go a long way to explaining this puzzling finding. As the EU seeks to fully decarbonise itself by 2050, interactions with the crisis trends are likely to intensify in ways which future research could fruitfully investigate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Space & Society / Tér és Társadalom is the property of Centre for Economic & Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In 2018, an agreement between the key EU institutions--the Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Council--was reached after a long-lasting discourse over the 2030 EU climate and energy policy package. This paper offers a comprehensive assessment of the EU package, with its three main targets: lower greenhouse gas emissions, higher renewable share in final energy consumption, and improved energy efficiency. We find that the renewable and energy efficiency targets have been set so high that the derived emissions reduction (50 percent) exceeds the EU climate target (40 percent). Hence, there is no need for an EU climate policy, for example, to use carbon prices to reach the EU climate goals. It is, however, not cost-efficient to achieve the climate target by imposing the three EU targets. We demonstrate that a cost-efficient policy that obtains a 50 percent GHG emissions reduction would increase annual welfare (relative to the Reference scenario) by an amount corresponding to 0.6 percent of GDP in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines China's policy and position in relation to the evolving climate change negotiations in order to explain how China is dealing with the dilemma of meeting its growing development needs while reducing GHG emissions. It argues that global climate governance requires steering and leadership to deal with the interlocked political process; that the developing countries (DCS) right to develop is challenged by the need for ecosystemic standards especially as climate change is seen as a zero-sum game as the more one country emits the less another one can. This is especially problematic as Industrialized countries (ICS) appear to be both unwilling and unable to increase growth without increasing emissions. This explains China's policy of insisting on its right to develop, of demanding that ics reduce their emissions and that they fulfil their obligations under the FCCC, while expressing its willingness to take on a voluntary target. The paper argues that China's state-led transition has eight unique characteristics that may allow it to lead as it moves beyond a no-regrets policy to a circular and green economy, cooperating with other DCS and mobilizing conscious green values in citizens. The question remains--will the initial success and scale of state-led transition lead the global green transition to a sustainable world? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on Freudenburg's concept of "privileged accounts" and Hajer's work on the discourse of environmental policy by analyzing the debate over coal-fired power in the United States before and after the 2016 presidential election. A mixed-methods analysis of qualitative interviews with federal energy policy actors shows that anti-regulation narratives were central to the discourse. Results highlight shifts in pro-coal narratives as members and supporters of the coal industry adapted their discursive strategies to align with political and market transitions: whereas respondents used varied narratives during the pre-election period, the core arguments in the post-election period revolved around a more cohesive set of narratives about legal opposition to regulations and the importance of coal as a source of affordable, reliable energy. Additionally, the themes of climate denial and coal jobs—documented as dominant in previous research—were relatively rare and remained peripheral to the central discourse coalitions identified in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the 2030 energy and climate objectives of the European Union, there is a need to evaluate the different options to shape the future framework for renewable energy sources (RES) policies and targets. The Special Issue focuses in seven papers on the following dimension of this future framework: (i) interactions between support for RES in the electricity sector and other climate and energy instruments in the European Union, (ii) challenges related to renewable energy technologies that have achieved a certain level of maturity, (iii) assessment of renewable and energy efficiency policies on natural gas markets and supply security, (iv) contribution of increasing district heating based on renewables to the renewable target achievements of Central and Eastern European, (v) how to support the successful achievement of renewable energy targets in the short and medium term and in a time horizon up to 2030, and how to share the efforts required among individual countries or groups of European Member States, (vi) influence of the rapidly increasing shares of variable renewable on the price on electricity markets as well as flexibility requirements in the electricity system, (vii) principal design features and context factors which increase or reduce the effectiveness and efficiency of RES-E auctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climate policy is an inter-sectoral policy area which requires integration of climate policy with several policy areas. This paper looks at the Climate Policy Integration (CIP) from the perspective of climate and energy policy integration. Initially, it is aimed to make conceptual clarification of policy integration and to analyze the main features of CIP. Furthermore, in this paper the role of energy market liberalisation as a milestone for climate and energy integration within the overall process of EU Climate Policy is also examined. By considering the energy market liberalisation as a crucial stage for EU climate-energy policy integration, Turkey's climate policy in general and the results of energy market liberalisation by taking into account the share of renewable energy sources of the country are explored in order to evaluate Turkey's ability to align itself to EU Climate Policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Utilizes 111 expert interviews and 50 site visits to examine UK industrial decarbonization. • Explores sociotechnical pathways, capabilities, and learning processes. • Harnesses a challenge-oriented regional innovation systems (CoRIS) framework. • Reflects on deeper issues of incumbency, innovation, and incremental vs. transformative change. Few sectors in the global economy need deep decarbonization as much as heavy industry, which is currently the largest and fastest growing source of global carbon emissions. Based on an original dataset of 111 expert interviews and 52 site visits, this paper asks: what sociotechnical pathways, capabilities, and regional innovation systems are emerging to support industrial decarbonization? It combines and applies insights from evolutionary economic geography and transitions studies, such as sociotechnical capabilities and learning, as well as spatial frameworks such as challenge-oriented regional innovation systems (CoRIS) and green industrial restructuring. It utilizes these collective concepts of pathways, capabilities and CoRIS to explore the organizational and technological, individual, and systems level dimensions of industrial decarbonization efforts ongoing across Great Britain. We find that within industrial net-zero clusters, spatial and technological proximities are being effectively leveraged, especially through new forms of networking, collaboration, and partnerships. CoRIS provides the basis for greater reflection on perennial transitions issues, both within and across clusters, related to incumbency and innovation, in addition to spotlighting emergent issues such as light versus deep green restructuring and incremental versus transformative change. In simpler terms, industrial decarbonization unfolds as a multi-scalar process. Industrial decarbonization exhibits both incremental and transformative patterns of change. Industrial decarbonization lastly involves dynamic processes that coevolve across a spectrum of sociotechnical attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though there is no common energy policy, EU energy strategy sets the background of the energy landscape in Europe. EU energy policy responds to different challenges in the energy market. One of them is climate change. Growing emissions of greenhouse gases aroused world's interest aimed at reducing the harmful impact of the energy industry on the environment. The European Union has undertaken a low-emission strategy set out in the package called "3x20". The aim of the study is on one hand to present program measures and regulations taken in the EU in the recent period for sustainable energy management and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and on the other try to assess program's implementation by Member States. The article presents the current state in terms of achieving the objectives of the "3x20" package in 2017, with a special diagnosis of conditions and trends in the Central and Eastern Europe countries that joined the EU after 2004.Paper includes the analysis of the official EU documents within energy policy and empirical evidence on their implementation. The analysis uses the literature review and data from the Passport, Eurostat and OECD databases. Methods employed in this study include critical literature review and secondary data analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. Clean Power Plan stipulates a state-specific performance-based CO2 emission standard, delegating states with considerable flexibility for using either a tradable performance-based or a mass-based permit program. This paper analyzes these two standards under imperfect competitive. We limit our attention to (1) short-run analyses and (2) a situation in which all states are subject to the same type of standard. We show that while the cross-subsidy inherent in the performance- based standard might effectively reduce power prices, it could also inflate energy consumption. A dominant firm with a relatively clean endowment under the performance-based standard would be able to manipulate the electricity market as well as to elevate permit prices, which might worsen market outcomes compared to its mass-based counterpart. On the other hand, the "cross-subsidy" could be the dominant force leading to a higher social welfare if the leader has a relatively dirty endowment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shifting from fossil to renewable energy sources is a major global challenge, and in this context, the European Union has promoted sustainable and environmentally friendly growth as early as the Maastricht Treaty of 1992. To date, European institutions have promulgated a series of environmental regulations and directives aimed at promoting and imposing adoption by member states of internal regulations. This paper is focused on Western Europe, and it explores, for each state under analysis, energy policies adopted, the results achieved and recommendations for the future growth of renewable energy. The results show that in countries where energy policy is not fragmented, the yield in renewable energies has been higher, and also in the states where more and various forms of subsidies are foreseen, growth seems to be greater. Finally, the paper provides useful recommendations and future policy implications for states that have not met the 2020 targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explains the relatively successful performance of the European Union (EU) in climate and energy governance by two factors: (1) multi-level reinforcement and (2) the mobilization of economic interests at different levels of governance through low-carbon industrial policy. The article adds to the literature by further developing existing arguments on multi-level reinforcement in climate and energy policy. We stress the point that economic co-benefits of climate protection have been successfully mobilized at all levels of governance, including the sub-national level, in recent times. This is illustrated by examples from pioneer countries as well as laggards and waverers in terms of national climate and energy policy. While it is far from certain whether the EU will indeed deliver the needed CO2 reductions to reach its internationally agreed targets, this paper, nevertheless, highlights why the EU system of climate governance remains relatively robust in light of the various challenges it currently faces. © 2017 The Authors. Environmental Policy and Governance published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU climate and energy policy landscape is characterized by a combination of instruments to achieve the EU 2020 and 2030 targets. In this paper, some of the most relevant interactions between RES-E support and a wide array of other climate and energy policies including the EU ETS, the Energy Taxation Directive and the Effort Sharing Directive in the European Union are assessed. A qualitative methodology is applied considering different assessment criteria such as effectiveness and efficiency of RES-E support and support costs but also distribution of costs between different stakeholder groups. Our analysis shows that, despite a common perception that interactions lead to conflicts, this is not really the case when the discussion is broadened and considers different assessment criteria. While adding one instrument or policy to another worsens one criterion, it usually improves another. Furthermore, the results of the interactions are not only specific to the policy, but also depend on the choice of instruments and design elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Resistance to clean energy policy in the United States stems partly from public hesitancy and skepticism toward anthropogenic climate change. This article examines self-declared climate change skeptics' views of clean energy policy along a continuum of skeptical thought, spanning from epistemic denial to attribution doubt. To perform this, we use data from an online survey administered in the US Pacific Northwest and a series of pilot interviews conducted with skeptics in the same region. Results reveal that skeptics' support for clean energy policy is consistently linked with their environmental concern across the skepticism continuum. Conspiracy ideation and distrust in science lead to a reduction in support. However, the positive effect of environmental concern trumps the effects of these beliefs. Important and hopeful implications of these findings for climate change communication and policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve European Union (EU) greenhouse gas emissions of 80–95% below 1990 levels by 2050, CO2emissions from residential energy consumption must be substantially reduced. Recognition of this has led to the introduction of a range of policy instruments at both EU and member state level. These policies are examined for the EU and the UK, first by grouping them into three ‘pillars of policy’ – standards and engagement, markets and pricing, and strategic investment (each of which focus on different ‘domains of change’ embodying different economic processes) – and then by assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each pillar in terms of instrument coverage and effectiveness. Strengths and weaknesses common to both UK and EU policy landscapes are found, including a comprehensive but broadly ineffective standards and engagement pillar of policy, and an ineffective markets and pricing landscape (including effective subsidization of energy consumption in the UK, permitted by the EU), with poor coverage. The strategic investment landscape is found (until recently) to be substantially stronger in the UK compared with EU instruments and requirements. Priority reform actions are also proposed to address the weaknesses identified. The paper also offers discussion of recent policy developments in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper offers sector-based qualitative evidence concerning the climate and energy policy effects on eco innovations in the EU. Through interviews with industry associations of Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) sectors, it analyses the extent to which past innovation adoption dynamics were influenced by policy and regulatory levers, by looking at the single and interaction effects of policies. As could be expected from the neo-Schumpeterian theory on innovation, differences emerge across sectors. Policies appear to be relevant in some sectors, namely energy, coke and refinery, and paper, but energy costs considerations dominate over the potential effects of CO 2 targeted policies. Overall, technological and organisational levels are both relevant: organisational innovations emerged as important in most sectors, often operating as a leading force in technological development. We expect this ‘complementarity’ to play a crucial role in the future path towards 2030 and 2050 aims, whose achievement is possible only by integrating technological, organisational and behavioural innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the direct and indirect effects of financial development on CO2 emissions, using a global sample of 100 countries from 1990 - 2012. Our main contribution to the literature lies in the identification and explanation of possible transmission channels that allow financial development to affect environmental quality. The paper employs 2SLS and 3SLS estimators to investigate these channels. Empirical results confirm the positive direct effect of financial development on environmental degradation. Development of the financial system also gives rise to more energy demand and consequently leads to more pollutant emissions. Besides, there is evidence about a trade-off between income inequality and environmental quality. Financial development can help redistribute income more effectively. However, high living standards will put pressure on environmental conservation. The paper also considers the nonlinear effects of financial development on carbon emission rates. Only a small proportion of the population receive the benefits at the early stages of financial development. After a certain amount of time, financial development benefits a more significant part of the population and reduces income inequality.

• The UK's and Germany's coal phase-out pathways diverge in timing and measures. • Different powers of actor groups contribute to diverging trends in UK and Germany. • Influential German coal corporations and unions slow down coal's decline. • Energy security concerns, domestic mining and economic dependence create resistance. • Reducing the influence incumbents have on policy making might enable coal phase-out. Political decisions and trends regarding coal use for electricity generation developed differently in the UK and Germany, despite being subject to relatively similar climate protection targets and general political and economic conditions. The UK agreed on a coal phase-out by 2024. In Germany, a law schedules a coal phase-out by 2038 at the latest. This paper investigates reasons for the different developments and aims to identify main hurdles and drivers of coal phase-outs by using the Triple Embeddedness Framework. The comparative case study approach reveals that policy outcomes regarding coal consumption are deeply influenced by several actor groups, namely, coal companies, unions, environmental NGOs, and the government. The most discussed aspects of a coal phase-out in both countries are energy security concerns, whether coal is mined domestically, (regional) economic dependence, as well as the relative power of actors with vested interests in coal consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of climate policy concerns in other policy areas where decisions are taken that determine greenhouse gas emissions is a prerequisite for effectively mitigating climate change. There are particularly strong interlinkages between energy and climate policy as the major part of greenhouse gas emissions is related to energy supply and use. We compile a set of five output‐focused indicators for assessing climate policy integration (political commitment, functional overlap, policy instruments, weighting, and time perspective). We then apply the criteria for an appraisal of climate policy integration in European Union (EU) energy policy during the last decade; that is, we focus on climate policy integration from a horizontal perspective. The focus of our research lies on the comparison of the Renewable Energy and the Energy Efficiency Directives of the Energy Union Package with their predecessors. Our results show that climate change mitigation is a key objective in these documents. The energy policy objectives are generally synergetic with climate policy. The Energy Union Package makes progress in some areas like the more stringent EU targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency or the more stringent sustainability criteria for biofuels. However, some conflicting issues arise. The shift from national to an overall EU renewables target and the change towards more market‐oriented support schemes might together with the elimination of preferential grid access for renewable electricity entail negative impacts on renewable investment and on achieving emission reductions. It remains to be seen whether the adaptations in EU energy policy will lead to the required acceleration of the energy transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon taxation is a highly debated environmental policy tool and can contribute to tackling climate change. Before the advent of the emission trading system in the European Union, forms of carbon taxation were present in some EU member states; furthermore, after the approval of the well-known EU Green Deal, carbon taxes can gain momentum in addressing emissions from sectors not involved in the EU Emissions Trading System. Due to this historical evolution of environmental policies over the last decades and in the presence of a system that assigns to EU member states, the governance of energy and fiscal issues, heterogeneous carbon/energy policy settings may determine the impact on growth and trade. This article provides food for thought for a policy through an empirical evaluation of the impact on the gross domestic product of trade spillovers related to carbon taxation in the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The application of big data to energy economy modelling is a critical research gap. • Big data has the potential to reduce multiple blind spots in energy economy models. • Bottom-up hybrid models are a logical starting point for big data integration. • Moving from data scarcity to data abundance could completely transform the field. • We explore the research possibilities for revolutionising the state-of-the-art. Abstract Energy economy models are central to decision making on energy and climate issues in the 21st century, such as informing the design of deep decarbonisation strategies under the Paris Agreement. Designing policies that are aimed at achieving such radical transitions in the energy system will require ever more in-depth modelling of end-use demand, efficiency and fuel switching, as well as an increasing need for regional, sectoral, and agent disaggregation to capture technological, jurisdictional and policy detail. Building and using these models entails complex trade-offs between the level of detail, the size of the system boundary, and the available computing resources. The availability of data to characterise key energy system sectors and interactions is also a key driver of model structure and parameterisation, and there are many blind spots and design compromises that are caused by data scarcity. We may soon, however, live in a world of data abundance , potentially enabling previously impossible levels of resolution and coverage in energy economy models. But while big data concepts and platforms have already begun to be used in a number of selected energy research applications, their potential to improve or even completely revolutionise energy economy modelling has been almost completely overlooked in the existing literature. In this paper, we explore the challenges and possibilities of this emerging frontier. We identify critical gaps and opportunities for the field, as well as developing foundational concepts for guiding the future application of big data to energy economy modelling, with reference to the existing literature on decision making under uncertainty, scenario analysis and the philosophy of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable energy statistics serve as the foundation and starting point for understanding the climate policies of any country. As the most comprehensive sources of energy data for China, China Energy Statistics Yearbooks (ESY), published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), underwent three major revisions since 2005. This paper analyzes how these three major revisions correspond to data on China's energy use from 1996 to 2012, and theirs impacts on CO 2 emissions, emission intensity and the share of non-fossil energy in total energy consumption, which are key indicators of China's climate policies. Some notable changes include CO 2 emissions for 2012, which increased by 594 Million tons – a figure equivalent to South Korea's annual emissions, which implies that China's emissions at peak level will be higher than previous estimation. Meanwhile, revised emission intensity data show a higher amount and lower decreasing rate, which means that China's achievements in decreasing emission intensity during 2005–2012 have been overestimated, while future difficulties for achieving the goal of 40–45% reduction will be greater. On the share of non-fossil fuel energy in China's total energy mix, the adjustments increased the indicator by 1.26%, reflecting the fact that China's effort in developing non-fossil energy had been underestimated. Discrepancies in reported scattered coal in different statistics versions are the main contributors to these changes. To further enhance the reliability of its energy statistics, and thereby its climate policies, China should remove incentives for misreporting through legal means, and make the technical system for data collection more comprehensive and accurate, with particular emphasis on scattered coal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Although governments have launched energy performance certification (EPC) programs to increase residential energy efficiency, residents’ perception and acceptance of these programs have been little studied. This study contextualizes residents’ intentions to participate in EPC programs in terms of their attributions to and attitudes toward climate change to find mediating factors and effects to help trigger collective action to reduce residential sector energy demand. Methods: This study employed a partial least squares structural equation modeling approach to empirically analyze a survey conducted on 400 residents of Edmonton, Canada, who participated in the Canadian energy efficiency rating and labeling program, EnerGuide. Results and Discussion: Using EnerGuide, a Canadian energy efficiency rating and labeling program, as an example, this study establishes a framework to explain that local residents’ internal and external attributions to climate change elicit positive attitudes (need to take action), increasing their recognition of energy efficiency program benefits, which further promotes their EnerGuide program acceptance and participation intentions. This study also reveals the mediating effects between variables. Residents’ attitudes toward climate change mediate the relationship between internal/external attributions and EnerGuide program acceptance, and they indirectly impact residents’ program acceptance and participation intentions, with this effect moderated by energy efficiency program benefits. Residents’ program acceptance also mediates the relationship between climate change attitudes/energy efficiency program benefits and the intention outcome. Implication: The study provides an example of the use of climate change discourse to motivate residents’ energy efficiency program participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper Kenya’s climate change mitigation ambitions are analysed from an energy system perspective, with a focus on the role of renewable and other low-carbon energy technologies. At COP-21 in 2015 in Paris, Kenya has committed to a ‘nationally determined contribution’ of reducing domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 30% in 2030 in comparison to a business-as-usual projection. An efficient exploitation of the country’s renewable energy resources is key to achieving this target. We use the TIAM-ECN model to characterize plausible development pathways for the Kenyan energy mix until 2050 under different climate change mitigation scenarios. We conclude that the power sector can expand with mostly renewable energy options even in the absence of stringent greenhouse gas abatement targets. On the contrary, on the demand side a substantial deployment of low-carbon technologies is triggered only when ambitious emission reduction objectives are in place. The introduction of these technologies entails additional energy system costs, ranging in 2050 from 0.5% to 2% of the country’s GDP. Our analysis supports the feasibility of Kenyan climate management goals, provided that adequate investments in renewable and other low-carbon energy technologies are timely made available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Canada has committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by increasing the non-emitting share of electricity generation to 90% by 2030. As solar energy costs have plummeted, agrivoltaics (the co-development of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and agriculture) provide an economic path to these goals. This study quantifies agrivoltaic potential in Canada by province using geographical information system analysis of agricultural areas and numerical simulations. The systems modeled would enable the conventional farming of field crops to continue (and potentially increase yield) by using bifacial PV for single-axis tracking and vertical system configurations. Between a quarter (vertical) and more than one third (single-axis tracking) of Canada's electrical energy needs can be provided solely by agrivoltaics using only 1% of current agricultural lands. These results show that agrivoltaics could be a major contributor to sustainable electricity generation and provide Canada with the ability to render the power generation sector net zero/GHG emission free. It is clear that the potential of agrivoltaic-based solar energy production in Canada far outstrips current electric demand and can, thus, be used to electrify and decarbonize transportation and heating, expand economic opportunities by powering the burgeoning computing sector, and export green electricity to the U.S. to help eliminate their dependence on fossil fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming is pressuring policymakers to change climate policies in shifting the global economy onto a net-zero pathway. While financial assets are responsive to policy changes and development, climate change policies are becoming increasingly unpredictable, making policy decision less certain. This study investigates connectedness and spillover effects of US climate policy uncertainty on energy stocks, alternative energy stocks, and carbon emissions futures. We analyzed spillover and connectedness before and after the Paris Agreement. We employed monthly frequency data from August 2005 to March 2021 and applied DY (2012) method and MGARCH approach. We found that world energy stocks and carbon emissions futures are connected to US climate policy uncertainty. Uncertainty in climate policy and world energy stocks act as information transmitters in return spillover, while global alternative energy and carbon market are shock receivers. On volatility spillover, climate policy uncertainty, energy stocks, and carbon emissions future are shocks transmitters, while alternative energy stocks are receivers. We observe increase in connectedness following the Paris Agreement suggesting strengthened global efforts in tackling climate change. DCC and ADCC estimations revealed spillover effects of climate policy on futures returns and volatilities of world energy stocks and carbon emissions futures and the shocks could be transmitted through to the energy sector. During period of uncertainty in US climate policy, carbon allowances can potentially serve as a safe haven for energy stocks and provide downside protection for alternative energy stocks, hence hedging against climate transition risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming is an existential threat to humanity and the rapid energy transition, which is required, will be the defining social, political and technical challenge of the 21st century. Practical experience and research results of recent years have showed that our actions to cover the gap between real situation and aims of climate agreements are not enough and that improvements in climate policy are needed, primarily in the energy sector. It is becoming increasingly clear that hydrocarbon resources, which production volume is increasing annually, will remain a significant part of the global fuel balance in the foreseeable future. Taking this into account, the main problem of the current climate policy is a limited portfolio of technologies, focused on replacement of hydrocarbon resources with renewable energy, without proper attention to an alternative ways of decreasing carbon intensity, such as carbon sequestration options. This study shows the need to review the existing climate policy portfolios through reorientation to CO2 utilization and disposal technologies and in terms of forming an appropriate appreciation for the role of hydrocarbon industries as the basis for the development of CO2-based production chains. In this paper we argue that: (1) focusing climate investments on a limited portfolio of energy technologies may become a trap that keeps us from achieving global emissions goals; (2) accounting for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions losses, without taking into account the potential social effects of utilization, is a barrier to diversifying climate strategies; (3) with regard to hydrocarbon industries, a transition from destructive to creative measures aimed at implementing environmental projects is needed; (4) there are no cheap climate solutions, but the present cost of reducing CO2 emissions exceeds any estimate of the social cost of carbon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adopts an ex ante perspective to investigate the potential techno-organisational dynamics related to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the EU by 2030 and 2050. We provide a qualitative analysis based on interviews with representatives from the main manufacturing sectors in the EU. Path dependency and enhanced carbon pricing may support the ‘incremental path’. More radical changes are achievable through strong techno-organisational reorganisation and new policy support. It follows that technological innovation is sufficiently effective only if coupled with organisational innovation. Earmarking ‘environmental revenues’ to support sector R&D is a way to enhance the governance of the innovation-policy realm and create opportunities for radical innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]