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Existing international emissions reduction policies are not sufficient to meet the internationally agreed objective of limiting average global temperature rise to ‘well below’ two degrees, resulting in an emissions gap. Materials - such as aluminium, cement, paper, plastics and steel - act as a carrier of industrial energy that allows, through trade, the transfer of embodied emissions between sectors and countries. However, the use of materials has been overshadowed by policies focusing on energy efficiency improvements and deployment of a low carbon energy supply. This article argues that policies based on material and product demand can support domestic climate change mitigation and reduce the emissions gap, yet there is little obvious integration between climate and material efficiency policies. The article investigates current ‘emissions flows’ through the EU economy and how much of these are captured and excluded from existing EU climate policies. We analyse the potential increase in emissions coverage that would be achieved by extending EU directives that currently target the energy use of products (cars, buildings and appliances) in operation, to include the emissions required to produce the goods (i.e. embodied emissions). The analysis shows that a greater integration of material efficiency strategies within climate change mitigation policy could significantly increase the emissions coverage of existing product policies. Key policy insights Consumption is a key driver of emissions and demand reduction is an important policy option in reducing emissions, at least in the short-term, to reduce the risks of a longer-term reliance on technology breakthroughs and while the EU carbon price remains low. Emissions embodied in material-intensive manufactured products consumed in the EU represent the equivalent of over 40% of EU production emissions, offering significant scope for emissions reductions along product supply chains. Consumption measures that target the use of materials and products offer complementary mitigation options to low carbon energy supply technologies alongside costs savings. Existing EU policies addressing the energy efficiency of products can be used to scale up material efficiency measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipalities in the UK are increasingly engaging in local management of one or more parts of the energy system. The municipal energy companies set up to manage this engagement have the potential to contribute to a low-carbon transition through acceleration of low-carbon energy technology roll-out and demand management. However, municipal energy companies face many constraints that limit their growth in number and scale and restrict their potential to contribute to climate change mitigation. This paper aims to develop a better understanding of why and how municipal energy companies form to help to identify how policy and regulation could better support their proliferation and their contribution to climate change mitigation. We conducted a longitudinal analysis (from 2013 to 2017) of five UK cities’ attempts to develop new institutional arrangements to engage in the national energy system and contribute to climate change mitigation. We found that the fundamental purpose of municipal energy companies was different to those of the private sector; using energy to deliver essential services and place-specific outcomes, rather than aiming to deliver energy at least cost. The scope of engagement was dependent on a city’s unique characteristics and factors driving decisions. We found that there was no blueprint for a municipal energy company, rather the final form was shaped by a city’s unique characteristics and decision drivers and emerged from a process of experimentation and learning. This ‘pathway’ towards a municipal energy company is also heavily influenced by the changing policy context, meaning that studying the evolution of municipal energy companies over time is very important. Specific changes in UK policy have significantly reduced the potential of municipal energy companies to contribute to carbon emissions reduction. We propose a framework of characteristics, decision drivers and pathways to better understand the evolution of municipal energy companies and to support the identification of policy and regulation that could enable their proliferation. We illustrate the application of this framework to maximise the contribution of municipal energy companies to climate change mitigation in cities. We identified a need for policy to recognise and enable different institutional drivers (including climate change) and institutional forms and encourage experimentation. Furthermore, new approaches to accounting and valuation are needed that capture social and environmental outcomes and outcomes that occur in the long-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]