Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Agriculture in the EU: A Spatial Assessment of Sources and Abatement Costs

Agriculture significantly contributes to emissions of greenhouse gases in the EU. By using a farm-type, supply-side oriented, linear-programming model of the European agriculture, the baseline levels of methane and nitrous oxide emissions are assessed at the regional level in the EU-15. For a range of CO₂-equivalent prices, we assess the potential abatement, as well as the resulting optimal mix of emission sources in the total abatement. Furthermore, we show that the spatial variability of the abatement achieved at a given carbon price is large, indicating that abatement cost heterogeneity is a fundamental feature in the design of a mitigation policy. The cost savings permitted by market-based instruments relative to uniform standard are shown to be large.     

International emissions trading with endogenous allowance choices

This paper compares endogenous choices of tradable and non-tradable emission allowances by non-cooperative countries. I find that the cost savings of trading do not necessarily lead to less pollution. In particular, environmentally more concerned countries usually choose less allowances if these are tradable, but this may be offset by the choice of more allowances on the side of environmentally less concerned countries. Moreover, if the establishment of a trading system requires the unanimous approval of all countries, there may be no agreement on trading even if it were to lead to less pollution overall. Conversely, a trading system may find unanimous approval even if it induces more pollution.     

Asymmetric Regulation of Identical Polluters in Oligopoly Models

Studies of optimal second-best environmental regulation of identical polluting agents have invariably ignored potentially welfare-improving asymmetric regulation by imposing equal regulatory treatment of identical firms at the outset. Yet, cost asymmetry between oligopoly firms may well give rise to private as well as social gains. A trade-off is demonstrated for the regulator, between private costs savings and additional social costs when asymmetric treatment is allowed. Asymmetry is indeed optimal for a range of plausible parameter values. Further, it is demonstrated that for a broad class of abatement cost functions, there is scope for increasing welfare while keeping both total output and total emission constant. Some motivating policy issues are discussed in light of the results, including international harmonization and global carbon dioxide reduction.     

A Note on Tradeable Permits

This note offers a perspective on whether tradeable permits are a passing fad or an enduring trend. It does so in noting how various types of tradeable permit systems relate to conventional environmental permits, what are the unique requirements of tradeable permit systems, and why they might be preferred to alternative instruments. A final observation concerns the analogy between tradeable permits for environmental goods and private property in land. This note first appeared in the CESifo Forum, 4: 3 (Spring 2003), a quarterly publication of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Munich, Germany, as an invited article. Permission to republish is gratefully acknowledged. In forming the ideas expressed here, I am indebted to many years of discussion and collaborative research with Paul Joskow, Juan-Pablo Montero, David Harrison, and Richard Schmalensee. All errors of fact and interpretation remain mine.     

Economic Impacts of Reducing NOx Emissions in Norway

Using a multisector computable general equilibrium model for the Norwegian economy, the impacts on main macroeconomic indicators of reducing NO_x emissions are analyzed. Seven specific technical measures regarding passenger cars, trucks, ships and industrial processes are studied. The measures have somewhat different impacts on the macroeconomy. Especially the measure pertaining to light and heavy duty trucks leads to an increase in GDP, because of higher income from indirect taxes. However, the sum of value added in the production sectors is reduced. The other measures cause a decrease in GDP. All in all, we find that the costs, in terms of reductions in GDP and private consumption, incurred from the introduction of additional NO_x emissions control measures are quite small.     

Regulation of Non-Point Emissions – A Variance Based Mechanism

Non-point emission problems such as pesticide, nitrate, and phosphorus pollution of lakes and ground water are often characterised by a small number of polluters, convex damage functions, and stochastic emissions. Some regulatory mechanisms proposed in the literature for stochastic non-point emissions implement the optimal abatement vector in dominant strategies (ensuring that non-Nash conjectures cannot be rationalized). However, specification of these mechanisms requires firm level information and differentiated rates when the damage function is convex. Other mechanisms eliminate the need for firm level information and rate differentiation, but only implement optimum in Nash strategies (where non-Nash conjectures, that cause equilibrium to stray from optimum, can be rationalized). In this paper we propose a mechanism which eliminates the need for firm level information and rate differentiation, while retaining implementation in dominant strategies.     

排污权的初次配置方式及其价格问题研究

当前多数国家采用的免费分配、公开拍卖等排污权初次配置方式存在着诸多不足，文章论述了标价限量配售应当是排污权初次配置基本模式的观点，并在此基础上分析了确定排污权初次配售价格时应综合考虑的决定性经济因素、政策体制因素和一些非经济因素。     

Integrating environmental and economic performance to assess modern silvoarable agroforestry in Europe

The environmental and economic performance of silvoarable agroforestry in Europe is highly variable. Multi-criteria analysis, using the PROMETHEE outranking approach, was used to evaluate the integrated performance of silvoarable agroforestry on hypothetical farms in nineteen landscape test sites in Spain, France, and The Netherlands. The silvoarable scenarios allocated a proportion of the hypothetical farms (10 or 50%) to silvoarable agroforestry at two different tree densities (50 or 113 trees ha^− 1) on two different qualities of land (best or worst quality land). The status quo (conventional arable farming) was also assessed for comparison. The criteria used in the evaluation (soil erosion, nitrogen leaching, carbon sequestration, landscape biodiversity, and infinite net present value) were assessed at each landscape test site; infinite net present value was assessed under six levels of government support. In France, the analysis showed, assuming equal weighting between environmental and economic performance, that silvoarable agroforestry was preferable to conventional arable farming. The best results were observed when agroforestry was implemented on 50% of the highest quality land on the farm; the effect of tree density (50-113 trees ha^− 1) was small. By contrast, in Spain and The Netherlands, the consistently greater profitability of conventional arable agriculture relative to the agroforestry alternatives made overall performance of agroforestry systems dependent on the proportion of the farm planted, and the tree density and land quality used.     

On the Double Dividend under Imperfect Competition

We investigate whether, and under which conditions, a revenue-neutral environmental tax reform may yield an employment double dividend, i.e., an improvement of environmental quality and an increase in aggregate employment. Using a model with two market imperfections – a rigid real wage and imperfect competition in one industry – we show that an employment dividend is plausibly obtained. However, for countries where labor taxes are high and households spend a large share of their income in favor of environmentally harmful consumption goods a double dividend can nevertheless not be obtained, for under these conditions environmental quality deteriorates.     

碳税对我国的影响及其政策响应

二氧化碳(CO2)是引起全球气候变化的最重要的温室气体(GHG)之一。温室气体的减排是当前国际社会普遍关注的热点环境问题。碳税常常被认为是成本有效的碳减排政策工具,目前已有一些国家征收碳税或能源税。文章介绍了碳税的理论基础及其在一些国家的征收实践,总结和分析了国内外一些学者关于实施碳税对温室气体减排、对经济和能源系统的影响的研究结果,并在此基础上讨论了我国对碳税制度的政策响应和对策。