Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data

https://www.pik-potsdam.de/members/edenh/publications-1/CausesoftheEUETSpricedrop.pdf

Causes of the EU ETS price drop: Recession, CDM, renewable policies or a bit of everything? - New evidence

Information linkage, dynamic spillovers in prices and volatility between the carbon and energy markets

Price determination in the EU ETS market: Theory and econometric analysis with market fundamentals

This paper empirically investigates the factors driving the adoption of energy-efficiency measures by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Our analyses are based on cross-sectional data from SMEs which participated in a German energy audit program between 2008 and 2010. In general, our findings appear robust to alternative model specifications and are consistent with the theoretical and still scarce empirical literature on barriers to energy efficiency in SMEs. More specifically, high investment costs, which are captured by subjective and objective proxies, appear to impede the adoption of energy-efficient measures, even if these measures are deemed profitable. Similarly, we find that lack of capital slows the adoption of energy-efficient measures, primarily for larger investments. Hence, investment subsidies or soft loans (for larger invest-ments) may help accelerating the diffusion of energy-efficiency measures in SMEs. Other barriers were not found to be statistically significant. Finally, our findings provide evidence that the quality of energy audits affects the adoption of energy-efficiency measures. Hence, effective regulation should involve quality standards for energy au-dits, templates for audit reports or mandatory monitoring of energy audits.

Adoption of energy-efficiency measures in SMEs - An empirical analysis based on energy audit data

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/88944/1/776033271.pdf

Nonlinearity in cap-and-trade systems: The EUA price and its fundamentals

The impacts of the EU ETS on efficiency and economic performance – An empirical analyses for German manufacturing firms

Designing an EU Energy and Climate Policy Portfolio for 2030: Implications of Overlapping Regulation under Different Levels of Electricity Demand

Proposals to increase environmentally related taxes are often challenged on competitiveness grounds. The concern is that value creation in certain sectors might decline domestically if a country introduces environmentally related taxes unilaterally. Furthermore, environmental goals might not be reached if pollution shifts abroad. A competing view argues that properly implemented environmentally related taxes foster innovation, thereby boosting productivity and competitiveness. Empirical research is needed to gain insight into the strength of these various effects. This paper provides evidence on the short-term competitiveness impacts of the German electricity tax introduced unilaterally in 1999.
Germany’s manufacturing sector uses significant amounts of electricity, and to counteract potential negative effects on competitiveness, relief was provided: firms using more electricity than specified thresholds benefitted from reduced electricity tax rates. The tax reduction amounted up to EUR 14.6 per megawatt hour, about 80% of the full tax rate. When measured as an effective rate on the carbon content in the average unit of electricity, the electricity tax translates into EUR 44.4 per tonne of carbon dioxide, indicating the magnitude of the tax.
The econometric analysis – a regression discontinuity design – shows no robust effects in either direction of the reduced electricity tax rates on firms’ competitiveness. Firms subject to the full tax rates, but otherwise similar to firms facing reduced rates, did not perform worse in terms of turnover, exports, value added, investment and employment. The analysis questions the relevance of the tax reduction for competitiveness reasons and suggests that it could be gradually removed. The energy use threshold, above which a reduced tax rate applies, could be raised over time and competitiveness impacts monitored.

/pdf/competitiveness-impacts-of-the-german-electricity-tax-24wk7wedbn.pdf

Competitiveness Impacts of the German Electricity Tax

I study the causal effect of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) on the productivity of German manufacturing firms. Using administrative
firm-level data, I estimate robust production functions for narrowly defined industries. This approach allows for an endogenous dynamic productivity process and corrects for simultaneous changes in input use or productivity after a firm is regulated
by the EU ETS. After estimating the firm specific productivity, I employ a difference-in-differences framework in order to identify and quantify the average
treatment effect of the EU ETS on the productivity of regulated firms. The results suggest no significant negative effect of the EU ETS on productivity. In contrast, the EU ETS had a positive effect on productivity during the first compliance period.
An alternative identification strategy based on a combination of the difference-indifferences framework and nearest neighbor matching supports this finding. A subsample analysis provides evidence that the effect of the EU ETS is heterogeneous across industries.

/pdf/emissions-trading-and-productivity-firm-level-evidence-from-fmddczfavl.pdf

Benjamin Johannes Lutz

Papers

Nonlinearity in cap-and-trade systems: The EUA price and its fundamentals

The impacts of the EU ETS on efficiency and economic performance – An empirical analyses for German manufacturing firms

Designing an EU Energy and Climate Policy Portfolio for 2030: Implications of Overlapping Regulation under Different Levels of Electricity Demand

Competitiveness Impacts of the German Electricity Tax

Emissions trading and productivity : firm-level evidence from German manufacturing