IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/eth/wpswif/16-243.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Higher Price, Lower Costs? Minimum Prices in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Abrell

    (ETH Zürich, Switzerland)

  • Sebastian Rausch

    (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

  • Hidemichi Yonezawa

    (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

Abstract

This paper examines the efficiency and distributional impacts of introducing a price floor in an emissions trading system (ETS) when environmental regulation is partitioned. We theoretically characterize the conditions under which a price floor enhances welfare. Using a multi-country multi-sector numerical general equilibrium model of the European carbon market, we find that moderate minimum price levels in the EU ETS can reduce the costs of EU climate policy by up to thirty percent and yield outcomes close to uniform carbon pricing. Moreover, most of the EU Member States would gain. Our results are robust with respect to parametric uncertainty in production and consumption technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Abrell & Sebastian Rausch & Hidemichi Yonezawa, 2016. "Higher Price, Lower Costs? Minimum Prices in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 16/243, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    • Handle: RePEc:eth:wpswif:16-243
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.cer.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/mtec/cer-eth/cer-eth-dam/documents/working-papers/WP-16-243.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Denny Ellerman & Vanessa Valero & Aleksandar Zaklan, 2015. "An Analysis of Allowance Banking in the EU ETS," RSCAS Working Papers 2015/29, European University Institute.
    2. Abrell, Jan & Rausch, Sebastian, 2017. "Combining price and quantity controls under partitioned environmental regulation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 226-242.
    3. Boeters, Stefan, 2014. "Optimally differentiated carbon prices for unilateral climate policy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 304-312.
    4. Rutherford, Thomas F., 1995. "Extension of GAMS for complementarity problems arising in applied economic analysis," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 19(8), pages 1299-1324, November.
    5. de Bovenberg, A Lans & Mooij, Ruud A, 1994. "Environmental Levies and Distortionary Taxation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 1085-1089, September.
    6. Jean-Charles Hourcade & Frederic Ghersi, 2002. "The Economics of a Lost Deal: Kyoto - The Hague - Marrakesh," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3), pages 1-26.
    7. Harrison Fell & Richard Morgenstern, 2010. "Alternative Approaches to Cost Containment in a Cap-and-Trade System," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 47(2), pages 275-297, October.
    8. Kollenberg, Sascha & Taschini, Luca, 2016. "Emissions trading systems with cap adjustments," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 20-36.
    9. Pizer, William A., 2002. "Combining price and quantity controls to mitigate global climate change," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(3), pages 409-434, September.
    10. Richard S. J. Tol, 2009. "The Economic Effects of Climate Change," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(2), pages 29-51, Spring.
    11. Bohringer, Christoph & Hoffmann, Tim & Manrique-de-Lara-Penate, Casiano, 2006. "The efficiency costs of separating carbon markets under the EU emissions trading scheme: A quantitative assessment for Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 44-61, January.
    12. Michael Grubb & Karsten Neuhoff, 2006. "Allocation and competitiveness in the EU emissions trading scheme: policy overview," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 7-30, January.
    13. Fischer, Carolyn & Preonas, Louis, 2010. "Combining Policies for Renewable Energy: Is the Whole Less Than the Sum of Its Parts?," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 4(1), pages 51-92, June.
    14. Rutherford, Thomas F, 1999. "Applied General Equilibrium Modeling with MPSGE as a GAMS Subsystem: An Overview of the Modeling Framework and Syntax," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 14(1-2), pages 1-46, October.
    15. Knopf, Brigitte & Koch, Nicolas & Grosjean, Godefroy & Fuss, Sabine & Flachsland, Christian & Pahle, Michael & Jakob, Michael & Edenhofer, Ottmar, 2014. "The European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS): Ex-Post Analysis, the Market Stability Reserve and Options for a Comprehensive Reform," Climate Change and Sustainable Development 184856, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    16. Wood, Peter John & Jotzo, Frank, 2011. "Price floors for emissions trading," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1746-1753, March.
    17. Böhringer, Christoph & Rosendahl, Knut Einar, 2009. "Strategic partitioning of emission allowances under the EU Emission Trading Scheme," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 182-197, August.
    18. Florian Landis & Sebastian Rausch & Mirjam Kosch, 2018. "Differentiated Carbon Prices and the Economic Cost of Decarbonization," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 70(2), pages 483-516, June.
    19. Stefan Boeters, 2014. "Optimally Differentiated Carbon Prices for Unilateral Climate Policy," CPB Discussion Paper 283.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    20. Sascha Kollenberg & Luca Taschini, 2015. "The European Union Emissions Trading System and the Market Stability Reserve: Optimal Dynamic Supply Adjustment," CESifo Working Paper Series 5380, CESifo.
    21. Böhringer, Christoph & Dijkstra, Bouwe & Rosendahl, Knut Einar, 2014. "Sectoral and regional expansion of emissions trading," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 201-225.
    22. Christoph Böhringer & Knut Rosendahl, 2010. "Green promotes the dirtiest: on the interaction between black and green quotas in energy markets," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 316-325, June.
    23. Roberts, Marc J. & Spence, Michael, 1976. "Effluent charges and licenses under uncertainty," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(3-4), pages 193-208.
    24. Perino, Grischa & Willner, Maximilian, 2016. "Procrastinating reform: The impact of the market stability reserve on the EU ETS," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 37-52.
    25. Christoph Böhringer & Thomas Rutherford, 2002. "Carbon Abatement and International Spillovers," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 22(3), pages 391-417, July.
    26. Bouwe Dijkstra & Edward Manderson & Tae-Yeoun Lee, 2011. "Extending the Sectoral Coverage of an International Emission Trading Scheme," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 50(2), pages 243-266, October.
    27. Jacoby, Henry D. & Ellerman, A. Denny, 2004. "The safety valve and climate policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 481-491, March.
    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. Osorio, Sebastian & Pietzcker, Robert Carl & Pahle, Michael & Edenhofer, Ottmar, 2018. "How to deal with the risks of phasing out coal in Germany through national carbon pricing," EconStor Preprints 190771, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. Latorre, Maria C. & Yonezawa, Hidemichi & Olekseyuk, Zoryana, 2022. "The EU-Mercosur agreement: An in-depth analysis of CO2 emissions and labor market results," Conference papers 333488, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    3. Yonglei Zhang & Huanchen Tang & Donghai Yan, 2024. "The Impact of Carbon Emission Trading Policy on Industrial Structure Adjustment: A Perspective of Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-17, August.
    4. Marcin Rabe & Dalia Streimikiene & Yuriy Bilan, 2019. "EU Carbon Emissions Market Development and Its Impact on Penetration of Renewables in the Power Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-20, August.

    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. Abrell, Jan & Rausch, Sebastian, 2017. "Combining price and quantity controls under partitioned environmental regulation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 226-242.
    2. Olli-Pekka Kuusela & Jussi Lintunen, 2020. "A Cap-and-Trade Commitment Policy with Allowance Banking," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 75(3), pages 421-455, March.
    3. David M. Newbery & David M. Reiner & Robert A. Ritz, 2018. "When is a carbon price floor desirable?," Working Papers EPRG 1816, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    4. Quemin, Simon & Trotignon, Raphaël, 2021. "Emissions trading with rolling horizons," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    5. Brauneis, Alexander & Mestel, Roland & Palan, Stefan, 2013. "Inducing low-carbon investment in the electric power industry through a price floor for emissions trading," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 190-204.
    6. repec:grz:wpsses:2011-01 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Lintunen, Jussi & Kuusela, Olli-Pekka, 2018. "Business cycles and emission trading with banking," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 397-417.
    8. Yolanda Fernández Fernández & María Angeles Fernández López & David González Hernández & Blanca Olmedillas Blanco, 2018. "Institutional Change and Environment: Lessons from the European Emission Trading System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-16, March.
    9. Wood, Peter John & Jotzo, Frank, 2011. "Price floors for emissions trading," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1746-1753, March.
    10. Timothy N. Cason & John K. Stranlund & Frans P. de Vries, 2022. "Investment Incentives in Tradable Emissions Markets with Price Floors Approach," Purdue University Economics Working Papers 1331, Purdue University, Department of Economics.
    11. Christoph Böhringer & Carolyn Fischer, 2020. "Kill Bill or Tax: An Analysis of Alternative CO2 Price Floor Options for EU Member States," CESifo Working Paper Series 8631, CESifo.
    12. Burmeister, Johannes & Peterson, Sonja, 2016. "National climate policies in times of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)," Kiel Working Papers 2052, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    13. Warwick McKibbin & Adele Morris & Peter Wilcoxen, 2014. "A Proposal to Integrate Price Mechanisms into International Climate Negotiations," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(3), pages 600-608, September.
    14. Edenhofer, Ottmar & Flachsland, Christian & Kalkuhl, Matthias & Knopf, Brigitte & Pahle, Michael, 2019. "Optionen für eine CO2-Preisreform," Working Papers 04/2019, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung.
    15. Florian Habermacher & Paul Lehmann, 2017. "Commitment vs. Discretion in Climate and Energy Policy," CESifo Working Paper Series 6355, CESifo.
    16. Friesen, Lana & Gangadharan, Lata & Khezr, Peyman & MacKenzie, Ian A., 2022. "Mind your Ps and Qs! Variable allowance supply in the US Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    17. Richstein, Jörn C. & Chappin, Emile J.L. & de Vries, Laurens J., 2014. "Cross-border electricity market effects due to price caps in an emission trading system: An agent-based approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 139-158.
    18. Jan Abrell & Sebastian Rausch & Giacomo A. Schwarz, 2016. "Social Equity Concerns and Differentiated Environmental Taxes," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 16/262, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    19. Abrell, Jan & Rausch, Sebastian & Schwarz, Giacomo A., 2018. "How robust is the uniform emissions pricing rule to social equity concerns?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 783-814.
    20. Florian Landis & Sebastian Rausch & Mirjam Kosch, 2018. "Differentiated Carbon Prices and the Economic Cost of Decarbonization," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 70(2), pages 483-516, June.
    21. Böhringer, Christoph & Fischer, Carolyn, 2023. "Tax, kill or bill: An analysis of unilateral CO2 price floor options in multilateral emissions trading systems," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Emissions Trading; Price Floors; EU ETS; Partitioned Environmental Regulation; General Equilibrium;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • C68 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computable General Equilibrium Models

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eth:wpswif:16-243. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwethch.html .

    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.