National Allocation Plans in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme: Lessons and Implications for Phase II(Climate Policy Series)

The EU emissions trading scheme is the largest emissions control scheme in the world, capping almost half of European CO2 emissions. As the scheme emerges from its pilot phase, this special issue of Climate Policy journal analyses the lessons learned from the last two years and their implications for phase II. The volume presents some of the key analyses that helped inform the European Commission's decisions on national allocation plans, with research ranging from detailed country-by-country comparisons to more generic analysis that puts forward the case for harmonization. Challenging calls to seperate electricity from other sectors, a macroeconomic study suggests that the biggest efficiency gains come from inter-sectoral trading, even more than international trading. Empirical papers, which look at the expected scarcity of allowances in the market and merge models for the power and non-power sectors to project emissions and contrast these to the aggregate allocation volume, are complemented by two numerical simulations of trade and distributional effects, estimating the efficiency gains of the EU ETS in phase I and assessing allocation and distribution effects in the RGGI context.

Table of Contents:
Preface * Emissions Trading * Lessons Learnt from the 1st Phase of the EU ETS and Prospects for the 2nd Phase * EU Emissions Trading: an Early Analysis of National Allocation Plans for 2008-2012 * Emission Projections 2008-2012 Versus National Allocation Plans II * Implications of Announced Phase II National Allocation Plans for the EU ETS * New Entrant Allocation in the Nordic Energy Sectors: Incentives and Options in the EU ETS * The Environmental and Economic Effects of European Emissions Trading * Harmonization Versus Decentralization in the EU ETS: An Economic Analysis * Simple Rules for Targeting CO2 Allowance Allocations to Compensate Firms * False Confidences: Forecasting Errors and Emission Caps in CO2 Trading Systems

About the Author :
Michael Grubb, Editor-in-Chief of Climate Policy, is a leading international researcher on the economic and policy dimensions of climate change and energy policy issues. He currently holds positions as Chief Economist at The Carbon Trust (UK) Senior Research Associate at the Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London. Regina Betz is lecturer at the School of Economics and research coordinator at CEEM (Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia. Karsten Neuhoff is senior research associate at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge, where he is Assistant Director for the ESRC research project towards a sustainable energy economy. He is research affiliate of the German Institute for Economic Research.