Current EU Climate Policy: An Optimality Assessment

CECILIA2050 Policy Brief No 1

Publication: Policy Brief
Citation: Consortium, CECILIA2050 Project 2013: Current EU Climate Policy: An Optimality Assessment.

The European Union (EU) and its Member States are debating the shape and substance of future EU climate policy. With partners from the CECILIA2050 project, Ecologic Institute produced reports on 8 EU Member States and the EU as whole, which take stock of current policies and their performance. In all 9 cases, the policy mix currently in place can be improved. A Policy Brief summarizing the findings is available for download.

Background

The EU has set for itself the long-term target to reduce emissions by 80-95% by 2050 (from 1990 levels), which implies in essence a decarbonisation of most economic sectors in just over three decades. The project Combining Policy Instruments to Achieve Europe's 2050 Climate Targets (CECILIA2050), funded by the European Commission, DG Research & Innovation, assesses the performance of the existing climate policy mix, and maps pathways towards future climate policy instrumentation for the European Union, with a prime focus on economic instruments.

The CECILIA2050 team produced reports on the current climate policies of the EU Member States Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom, and the EU as whole. The policies are evaluated against a specifically elaborated definition of optimality, which extends beyond the application in classical economics, and integrates real-world constraints. It includes three core criteria:

(climate) effectiveness,
(economic) efficiency,
and feasibility

Results

The case studies showcased a number of individual policy instruments that were deemed to be superior to others in terms of their "optimality" as defined by this project. There were three types of measures that stood out in that respect:

feed-in tariff systems for renewable energy support (e.g. DE, ES)
loan schemes to support energy efficiency improvements (e.g. CZ, F)
pricing tools, such as environmental taxes (e.g. UK)

Bringing together the results from the case studies, the editing authors at Ecologic Institute, Benjamin Görlach and Matthias Duwe distilled the insights that are most widely applicable and relevant to the debate on future policy design:

Lesson 1: Optimal policies need acceptance and buy-in to enhance feasibility
Lesson 2: Optimality in a changing world requires both stability and flexibility to learn
Lesson 3: Optimal policies require a long-term perspective
Lesson 4: Carbon pricing is not a panacea, but it needs to be a crucial part of the policy mix
Lesson 5: EU level harmonisation can improve efficiency, but must not stifle regional and local action

The policy brief [pdf, 2.8 MB, English] is available for download.

The current EU climate policy mix has a mixed performance record so far, but many lessons to build on for the future.

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Year 2015

Publication:Policy Brief

This policy brief presents insights on the historical and future role of carbon pricing in the EU. The findings discussed are drawn from research undertaken by the CECILIA2050 and ENTRACTE projects.

The Future of Carbon Pricing in the European Union

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Year 2015

Publication:Policy Brief

Cover of the CECilia2050 Policy Brief No 5 "International dimensions of EU climate change policies"

This policy brief summarises the insights conducted under the CECILIA2050 project on the international dimensions of EU climate policy. The aims of the research were to understand the economic and political interactions between EU policies and the rest of the world, assess the effectiveness of these measures and determine the legal and political feasibility of policy responses in regard to diminishing the risk of carbon leakage.

International Dimensions of EU Climate Policy

CECILIA2050 Policy Brief No 5

Year 2015

Publication:Policy Brief

Cover page of the CECILIA2050 Policy Brief No 4 "Pathways for the evolution of existing climate policy mix"

This policy brief describes policy pathways for the evolution of the current EU climate policy mix. It defines combinations of instruments that have a reasonable chance of meeting the desired emissions targets. Policy pathways are defined based on three policy dimensions: 1) Carbon pricing, 2) Technology policies and 3) Behavioural Change promotion. Although each pathway focuses more attention in one type of instruments, all packages have a certain combination of the three policy dimensions to meet the targets. Finally, instruments to adapt EU climate policy to different international conditions are explored.

Pathways for the Evolution of the Existing Climate Policy Mix

CECILIA2050 Policy Brief No 4

Year 2015

Publication:Policy Brief

This policy brief summarises the simulation results of the three models used to track the development of climate policy scenarios in the CECILIA2050 project. In addition, the policy brief also draws insights from a study by Huppes and Huele (2014), which developed a set of building blocks for coherent instrument mixes in respect to European climate governance. Moreover, the policy brief is also based on a comparative analysis of the simulation results of the three models that was conducted by Drummond (2014).

Development of Scenarios to 2030 and 2050

CECILIA2050 Policy Brief No 3

Year 2015

Publication:Report

This report provides a conceptual, a legal and an institutional overview of the European Union as well as three Member States – Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom – to highlight prominent regulatory approaches. The three Member States were chosen for their contrasting characteristics: they represent different legal systems, different approaches to governance, and different historical attitudes towards certain regulatory approaches. Besides arguably differing in their overall approach to climate policy, they have chosen different instruments with which to accomplish EU climate and energy provisions. Lastly, while the United Kingdom and Germany are "old" Member States, Poland is one of the "new" Member States of the EU.

The Role of Law and Institutions in Shaping European Climate Policy

Institutional and legal implications of the current climate policy instrument mix

Year 2013

Publication:Policy Brief

The second CECILIA2050 policy brief summarises the insights produced by the research into the sectoral, economy-wide and cross-cutting impacts, implications and challenges of the current EU climate policy mix. These insights provide valuable lessons for the future development of the EU's climate policy mix, particularly in light of the on-going discussions surrounding the 2030 Framework for Climate and Energy Policies.

Current EU Climate Policy: Impacts, Implications and Challenges

CECILIA2050 Policy Brief No 2

Year 2014

Publication:Article

Paul Ekins, Paul Drummond & Benjamin Görlach (2017) Policy instruments for low-carbon development based on work from the EUFP7 project, CECILIA2050, Climate Policy, 17:sup1, S1-S7, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2016.1272044

Policy Instruments for Low-carbon Development

Based on work from the EUFP7 project, CECILIA2050

Year 2017

Publication:Newsletter

Ecologic Institute (2012-2015): CECILIA2050 Newsletter. Newsletter. Berlin: Ecologic Institute.

CECILIA2050 Newsletter

Year 2012 - 2015

Language

English

Authorship

Benjamin Görlach

Matthias Duwe

Credits

Media format: Brochure A5
Concept: Beáta Vargová, Matthias Duwe
Graphic design: Beáta Vargová

Funding

European Commission, Directorate-General Research & Innovation (DG Research & Innovation), International

Year

2013

Dimension

16 pp.

Project

Combining Policy Instruments to Achieve Europe's 2050 Climate Targets (CECILIA2050)

Project ID

Table of contents

Click to show full table of contents

Keywords

Climate

Communication

Evaluation

climate policy instruments, state of play of the policy mix in the EU, CECILIA2050, eco-innovation, decarbonisation, carbon pricing, ETS, GHG reduction, optimality

Europe, European Union, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom

design, layout

Further Links

ProjectFP 7Combining Policy Instruments to Achieve Europe's 2050 Climate Targets (CECILIA2050)

A new Ecologic Institute led research project on EU climate policy, called "CECILIA2050" has taken off with an internal kick-off meeting, the website launch and a first public event at the climate summit in Doha, Qatar. The three-year project is to draft recommendations... Read more

Combining Policy Instruments to Achieve Europe's 2050 Climate Targets (CECILIA2050)

Duration: Sep 2012 - Aug 2015
Funding: European Commission, Directorate-General Research & Innovation (DG Research & Innovation), International

EventWorkshopOn the Road to 2050 – Improving the EU Climate Policy

CECILIA2050 präsentiert sich auf dem Klimagipfel in Katar.

Following the successful two-day internal kick-off meeting held in Berlin in November, CECILIA2050's approach was first presented to an interested audience at the UN climate conference in Doha on 3 December 2012. The three-year project involves drafting recommendations... Read more

Workshop:On the Road to 2050 – Improving the EU Climate Policy

Date: 3 December 2012
Location: Doha, Qatar

NewsEcologic Institute at the International Climate Summit COP19 in Warsaw