IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v205y2023ics0921800922003780.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A descriptive framework to evaluate instrument packages for the low-carbon transition

Author

Listed:
  • Vollebergh, Herman
  • van der Werf, Edwin
  • Vogel, Johanna

Abstract

We develop a descriptive framework to facilitate policy instrument evaluation in relation to the low-carbon transition. The framework consists of a stock-taking and mapping analysis based on five questions. Four questions allow the policy maker to take stock of the existing set of instruments and provide a description of the key attributes and incentive of individual instruments. These attributes are subsequently mapped to identifiers of market failures related to the transition. A fifth question considers the coherence of the mix or package of policy instruments that the instruments constitute. The result is an overview of the incentives for firms and households to contribute to the transition towards a decarbonised economy. This can then be used to evaluate whether the set of policy instruments can be improved. We apply our framework to the residential and commercial (buildings) sector in an ambitious country, Austria.

Suggested Citation

  • Vollebergh, Herman & van der Werf, Edwin & Vogel, Johanna, 2023. "A descriptive framework to evaluate instrument packages for the low-carbon transition," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:205:y:2023:i:c:s0921800922003780
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107717
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800922003780
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107717?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marc Dijk & Paula Kivimaa, 2020. "Introduction to the Special Issue: Policy for Low-Carbon Transformations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-6, September.
    2. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Leonardo Bursztyn & David Hemous, 2012. "The Environment and Directed Technical Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 131-166, February.
    3. Giliberto Capano & Michael Howlett, 2020. "The Knowns and Unknowns of Policy Instrument Analysis: Policy Tools and the Current Research Agenda on Policy Mixes," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440199, January.
    4. Raphael Calel, 2020. "Adopt or Innovate: Understanding Technological Responses to Cap-and-Trade," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 170-201, August.
    5. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Directed Technical Change," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(4), pages 781-809.
    6. Kern, Florian & Rogge, Karoline S. & Howlett, Michael, 2019. "Policy mixes for sustainability transitions: New approaches and insights through bridging innovation and policy studies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(10).
    7. Lori Bennear & Robert Stavins, 2007. "Second-best theory and the use of multiple policy instruments," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 37(1), pages 111-129, May.
    8. Philippe Aghion & Antoine Dechezleprêtre & David Hémous & Ralf Martin & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Carbon Taxes, Path Dependency, and Directed Technical Change: Evidence from the Auto Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(1), pages 1-51.
    9. Neil Gandal, 2002. "Compatibility, Standardization, and Network Effects: Some Policy Implications," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 18(1), pages 80-91, Spring.
    10. Greaker, Mads & Midttømme, Kristoffer, 2016. "Network effects and environmental externalities: Do clean technologies suffer from excess inertia?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 27-38.
    11. Hahn, Robert W., 1995. "Government markets and the theory of the Nth best," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 219-234, June.
    12. Popp, David, 2019. "Environmental Policy and Innovation: A Decade of Research," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 13(3-4), pages 265-337, September.
    13. Kenneth Gillingham & David Rapson & Gernot Wagner, 2016. "The Rebound Effect and Energy Efficiency Policy," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 10(1), pages 68-88.
    14. Sam Fankhauser & Alex Bowen & Raphael Calel & Antoine Dechezlepr�tre & David Grover & James Rydge & Misato Sato, 2012. "Who will win the green race? In search of environmental competitiveness and innovation," GRI Working Papers 94, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    15. Böhringer, Christoph & Rutherford, Thomas F. & Tol, Richard S. J., 2009. "The EU 20/20/2020 Targets: An Overview of the EMF22 Assessment," Papers WP325, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    16. Hoel, Michael, 1991. "Global environmental problems: The effects of unilateral actions taken by one country," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 55-70, January.
    17. Brink, Corjan & Vollebergh, Herman R.J. & van der Werf, Edwin, 2016. "Carbon pricing in the EU: Evaluation of different EU ETS reform options," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 603-617.
    18. Nicholas Stern & Joseph Stiglitz & Charlotte Taylor, 2022. "The economics of immense risk, urgent action and radical change: towards new approaches to the economics of climate change," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 181-216, July.
    19. Grischa Perino, 2018. "New EU ETS Phase 4 rules temporarily puncture waterbed," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(4), pages 262-264, April.
    20. Herman Vollebergh & Jan Vries & Paul Koutstaal, 1997. "Hybrid carbon incentive mechanisms and political acceptability," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 9(1), pages 43-63, January.
    21. Nick Johnstone & Ivan Haščič & David Popp, 2010. "Renewable Energy Policies and Technological Innovation: Evidence Based on Patent Counts," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 45(1), pages 133-155, January.
    22. Kenneth Arrow, 1962. "Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention," NBER Chapters, in: The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity: Economic and Social Factors, pages 609-626, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Katz, Michael L & Shapiro, Carl, 1985. "Network Externalities, Competition, and Compatibility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(3), pages 424-440, June.
    24. Herman R. J. Vollebergh & Edwin van der Werf, 2014. "The Role of Standards in Eco-innovation: Lessons for Policymakers," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 8(2), pages 230-248.
    25. van der Werf, Edwin & Di Maria, Corrado, 2012. "Imperfect Environmental Policy and Polluting Emissions: The Green Paradox and Beyond," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 6(2), pages 153-194, March.
    26. Jaffe, Adam B. & Newell, Richard G. & Stavins, Robert N., 2005. "A tale of two market failures: Technology and environmental policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2-3), pages 164-174, August.
    27. Arjan Ruijs & Herman Vollebergh, 2013. "Lessons from 15 Years of Experience with the Dutch Tax Allowance for Energy Investments for Firms," Working Papers 2013.56, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    28. George R. Zodrow, 2019. "Optimal Tax Reform in the Presence of Adjustment Costs," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: George R Zodrow (ed.), TAXATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE Selected Essays of George R. Zodrow, chapter 2, pages 33-58, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    29. David Popp, 2019. "Environmental policy and innovation: a decade of research," CESifo Working Paper Series 7544, CESifo.
    30. Noailly, Joëlle & Batrakova, Svetlana, 2010. "Stimulating energy-efficient innovations in the Dutch building sector: Empirical evidence from patent counts and policy lessons," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(12), pages 7803-7817, December.
    31. Claire Brunel & Arik Levinson, 2016. "Measuring the Stringency of Environmental Regulations," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 10(1), pages 47-67.
    32. Rogge, Karoline S. & Reichardt, Kristin, 2016. "Policy mixes for sustainability transitions: An extended concept and framework for analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 1620-1635.
    33. David Popp, 2019. "Environmental Policy and Innovation: A Decade of Research," NBER Working Papers 25631, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    34. Claudia Kettner-Marx & Daniela Kletzan-Slamanig, 2018. "Energy and Carbon Taxes in the EU. Empirical Evidence with Focus on the Transport Sector," WIFO Working Papers 555, WIFO.
    35. Requate, Till & Unold, Wolfram, 2003. "Environmental policy incentives to adopt advanced abatement technology:: Will the true ranking please stand up?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 125-146, February.
    36. Cameron Hepburn, 2006. "Regulation by Prices, Quantities, or Both: A Review of Instrument Choice," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 22(2), pages 226-247, Summer.
    37. Rik L. Rozendaal & Herman R. J. Vollebergh, 2021. "Policy-Induced Innovation in Clean Technologies: Evidence from the Car Market," CESifo Working Paper Series 9422, CESifo.
    38. Kemp, René & Pontoglio, Serena, 2011. "The innovation effects of environmental policy instruments — A typical case of the blind men and the elephant?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 28-36.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vollebergh, Herman, 2023. "Evaluating policy packages for a low-carbon transitions – Principles and applications," Other publications TiSEM 0a3c8aaf-2b01-4fe9-bfe7-a, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Yang, Lisi & Liu, Linqing & Yan, Kai & Cai, Chunhua & Geng, Yannan, 2023. "“Carrot and stick”: Green fiscal policy, upper echelons expertise, and the green mergers and acquisitions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).
    3. Yingying Xu & Wen Wang & Honggui Gao & Huaxiong Zhu, 2024. "The Impact of Green Mergers and Acquisitions on Corporate Environmental Performance: Evidence from China’s Heavy-Polluting Industries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-24, April.
    4. Denisa Szabo & Mihai Dragomir & Mihail Țîțu & Diana Dragomir & Sorin Popescu & Silvia Tofană, 2023. "Sustainable Low-Carbon Production: From Strategy to Reality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rik L. Rozendaal & Herman R. J. Vollebergh, 2021. "Policy-Induced Innovation in Clean Technologies: Evidence from the Car Market," CESifo Working Paper Series 9422, CESifo.
    2. Edwin van der Werf & Herman R. J. Vollebergh & Johanna Vogel, 2021. "Designing Instrument Packages for the Low-Carbon Transition: An Evaluation Framework with an Application to Austria," CESifo Working Paper Series 9192, CESifo.
    3. Barbieri, Nicolò & Marzucchi, Alberto & Rizzo, Ugo, 2023. "Green technologies, interdependencies, and policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    4. Nicolò Barbieri & Alberto Marzucchi & Ugo Rizzo, 2021. "Green technologies, complementarities, and policy," SEEDS Working Papers 1021, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Sep 2021.
    5. Stern, Nicholas & Valero, Anna, 2021. "Innovation, growth and the transition to net-zero emissions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    6. Massimiliano Mazzanti & Antonio Musolesi, 2020. "Modeling Green Knowledge Production and Environmental Policies with Semiparametric Panel Data Regression models," SEEDS Working Papers 1420, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Sep 2020.
    7. Samant, Shantala & Thakur-Wernz, Pooja & Hatfield, Donald E., 2020. "Does the focus of renewable energy policy impact the nature of innovation? Evidence from emerging economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    8. Chakraborty, Saptorshee Kanto & Mazzanti, Massimiliano, 2020. "Energy intensity and green energy innovation: Checking heterogeneous country effects in the OECD," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 328-343.
    9. Felix Groba & Barbara Breitschopf, 2013. "Impact of Renewable Energy Policy and Use on Innovation: A Literature Review," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1318, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    10. Grafström, Jonas & Poudineh, Rahmat, 2023. "No evidence of counteracting policy effects on European solar power invention and diffusion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    11. Johan Lilliestam & Anthony Patt & Germán Bersalli, 2022. "On the quality of emission reductions: observed effects of carbon pricing on investments, innovation, and operational shifts. A response to van den Bergh and Savin (2021)," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(3), pages 733-758, November.
    12. Cameron Hepburn & Jacquelyn Pless & David Popp, 2018. "Policy Brief—Encouraging Innovation that Protects Environmental Systems: Five Policy Proposals," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 12(1), pages 154-169.
    13. Graf, Holger & Kalthaus, Martin, 2018. "International research networks: Determinants of country embeddedness," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(7), pages 1198-1214.
    14. Feng, Siyu & Lazkano, Itziar, 2022. "Innovation trends in electricity storage: What drives global innovation?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    15. Jeroen den Bergh & Ivan Savin, 2021. "Impact of Carbon Pricing on Low-Carbon Innovation and Deep Decarbonisation: Controversies and Path Forward," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 80(4), pages 705-715, December.
    16. Aliénor Cameron & Marc Baudry, 2023. "The case for carbon leakage and border adjustments: where do economists stand?," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 25(3), pages 435-469, July.
    17. Littlejohn, Christina & Proost, Stef, 2022. "What role for electric vehicles in the decarbonization of the car transport sector in Europe?," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    18. Massimiliano Mazzanti & Antonio Musolesi, 2020. "A Semiparametric Analysis of Green Inventions and Environmental Policies," SEEDS Working Papers 0920, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Jun 2020.
    19. Acemoglu, Daron & Rafey, Will, 2023. "Mirage on the horizon: Geoengineering and carbon taxation without commitment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    20. Grégoire-Zawilski, Myriam & Popp, David, 2024. "Do technology standards induce innovation in environmental technologies when coordination is important?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(1).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:205:y:2023:i:c:s0921800922003780. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.