Publications

On the eve of the introduction of the environmental assessment procedure for planning documents, almost all Regional Climate – Air – Energy Plans have now been published. This Climate Brief assesses regional climate strategies, which rely on significant commitment from those involved, including citizens by changing their behaviour, companies by improving their energy efficiency and […]

By Stephen LECOURT, Clement PALLIERE and Oliver SARTOR From Phase 3 (2013-20) of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, carbon-intensive industrial emitters will receive free allocations based on harmonised, EU-wide benchmarks. This paper analyses the impacts of these new rules on allocations to key energy-intensive sectors across Europe. It explores an original dataset that combines […]

By Igor Shishlov and Valentin Bellassen, I4CE According to the latest IEA World Energy Outlook, energy efficiency is a “key option” in transition to a low-carbon economy. A decade of experience with the CDM and JI demonstrates that carbon finance can be used as an effective tool to unlock private investments in energy efficiency. Capital […]

The EU ETS is the main instrument of European climate policy, and many policymakers envisage it as a driving force of the EU’s transition to a low-carbon economy. By putting a price on emissions, the scheme is expected to encourage heavy polluters to develop new low-carbon technologies. At first glance it is encouraging to notice, […]

The Doha Conference in Qatar followed two conferences that yielded relatively significant results, namely Cancun (2010) and Durban (2011). These previous conferences had most notably agreed on a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol (KP-CP2), begun a negotiation process aimed at achieving an international post-2020 agreement, as well as furthered progress on the issue […]

By Guillaume Chevaleyre et Nicolas Berghmans, I4CE As from 1 January 2013, auctions will become the main mode for distributing CO2 allowances within the EU ETS. By 2020, almost one billion EUAs will be sold every year and generate income for Member States. Although sales of Phase 3 allowances have begun, uncertainty still surrounds the […]

Everyone wonders which miraculous instrument will enable the Green Climate Fund to mobilize the pledged US$100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020. Developing countries are now asking for interim targets to quench their mounting skepticism that this level of commitment can be reached. In the meantime paradoxically, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – […]

By Romain Morel, Benoît Leguet and Valentin Bellassen, I4CE The Doha climate conference (November 26 – December 8, 2012) allowed the UN process to edge forward. Through the definition of the rules for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol with a foreseeable increase in the ambition of Annex I countries second period commitments […]

By Nicolas Berghmans and Emilie Alberola On October 4th 2012, the European Union adopted a new Directive in order to help reach the common target of a 20% improvement in energy efficiency in 2020. At a time when a major national debate on energy transition is set to take place in France, this new directive […]

By Igor SHISHLOV et Valentin BELLASSEN The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is the first and by far the largest carbon offset instrument in the world. To date, it is the only market based on an environmental commodity which managed to attract several billions of euros of private capital on an annual basis. Being the first-of-a-kind […]

By Jérémie DE CHARENTENAY, Alexia LESEUR et Cécile BORDIER The Regional Climate-Air-Energy Plan (SRCAE – Schéma Régional Climat-Air-Energie) was introduced by the Grenelle II legislation. The Plans are co-authored by the State through its decentralised services and the Conseil Regionaux (regional councils) with the objective to guide climate and energy policy in the 26 French […]

CO2 emissions from international aviation sector which represent 2% of global emissions in 2009, aren’t currently capped by any international agreement. However, the organization of the International civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has adopted in October 2010 a resolution that provides for the stabilization of CO2 emissions from international aviation from 2020 onwards, through an annual […]

By Mariana DEHEZA et Valentin BELLASSEN Reducing CO2 emissions from forests was slow to get off the ground as a subject of international climate negotiations, but it has picked up considerable momentum since 2005. In particular, agreement has been reached on the urgence to set up a global REDD+ mechanism. The mechanism aims to provide […]

On November 8, 2011, the Australian Government passed the so-called “Clean Energy Future Package”. This set of 19 Acts includes a carbon tax of 23 AUD/tCO2, to come into force on 1 July 2012, which will transition, from 1 July 2015, to a system of emissions trading. While it is based on the European model, […]

Responding to climate change involves the implementation of initiatives that require significant upfront capital investment. At a time when bank lending is squeezed, green bonds offer an alternative financing for initiatives with an environmental goal. Lately, the Ile-de-France Region’s issuance of environmentally and socially responsible bonds on March 20th 2012 demonstrates that an increasing number […]

At the March 2012 Environmental Council, Poland once again unilaterally vetoed the Commission’s Roadmap for Moving to a Low Carbon Economy in 2050. All actors now need to reflect hard on the way forward. It is time to begin a much deeper political and technical dialogue around a Climate and Energy Package to 2030. We […]

The EU ETS has moved from centerstage to the backseat of European decarbonization policy. Reform is needed in order to provide clarity on the long term emission reduction objectives (for phase 4 beyond 2020), but most importantly, to introduce some form of allowance supply management and thereby reduce the risk of future policy intervention. Following […]

Extraordinary economic circumstances and interactions between climate and energy policies have meant that the EU’s industrial CO2 emissions are now much lower than expectations when the EU ETS’ emissions reduction objectives were set. Since this has reduced the demand for EU ETS emissions allowances relative to a fixed supply, the price of allowances has fallen […]

By Julien Chevallier The reaction of the carbon price to changes in macroeconomic fundamentals can be understood from different levels. My recent academic research has identified two strong linkages. First, there is a link between the EU carbon price and financial markets, such as equity and bond markets. These analyses emphasize how the volatility of […]

By Igor SHISHLOV, Valentin BELLASSEN et Benoît LEGUET Based on specific projects rather than economy-wide emissions reductions, and driven by the demand from the installations covered by the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), Joint Implementation (JI) turned out to be a largely private sector mechanism. Besides attracting private investors in GHG abatement projects, […]