The Role of Environmental Economics in Recent Policy Making at the European Commission

This article examines the use of environmental economics at the European Commission in recent policy making concerning climate change, energy, and air pollution. In particular, we describe economic analysis of policy options designed to help the European Union (EU) to achieve its objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent and increasing the share of renewable energy to 20 percent by 2020. This analysis looked at cost-effectiveness and emission trading options as well as equity issues. We also discuss an economic analysis of policy options for including carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. The analysis finds that CCS could result in significant cost savings. The additional costs of making CCS mandatory or using subsidies were also estimated. Economic assessments prepared for the revision of the national emission ceiling directive suggest that air pollution objectives can be met at modest costs and that monetary benefits exceed costs. The assessments also find that limiting the additional costs for poorer Member States does not increase overall costs significantly and that when limited to regional zones, emissions trading of air pollutants could save costs but might lead to hot spots.