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As many other countries, Germany misses to exploit most of its large potential for cost-effective energy efficiency improvements. An organisation collecting funds and allocating them to the most (cost-)effective programmes could be a solution.
Therefore, political parties and trade unions as well as environmental NGOs have called for the creation of such an Energy Efficiency Fund. A recent study by the Wuppertal Institute together with a number of partners, commissioned by the Hans Böckler Foundation, analysed the feasibility of such an institution.
It has been the objective of the project, completed in March 2005, to
identify the added value of an Energy Efficiency Fund,
develop concrete proposals for the institutional setting and the financing of an Energy Efficiency Fund in Germany,
prepare and assess the benefits and costs of a portfolio of innovative but realistic energy efficiency programmes and campaigns, which the Energy Efficiency Fund would implement,
identify the effects of the fundraising and the programmes on different industries, particularly on the suppliers of energy-efficient technologies and services, and on their growth and employment perspectives,
estimate the net employment effects of such an Energy Efficiency Fund and its activities.
This paper presents the results and assesses the usefulness of the project and the participatory elements for increasing the acceptance of such a policy instrument.
Addressing opportunities and challenges of a sectoral approach to the Clean Development Mechanism
(2005)
There is an extensive potential for GHG emission reductions in the new EU member states and the EU accession countries by improving energy efficiency, investing in renewable energy supply and other measures, part of which could be tapped by JI. However, the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and especially the recently adopted "Linking Directive" is probably going to have a significant impact on this JI potential. Especially two provisions are important:
The baseline of a project has to be based on the acquis communautaire, the environmental regulations of which are substantially higher than the Accession Countries' existing ones. Projects, which directly or indirectly reduce emissions from installations falling within the scope of the EU ETS, can only generate certificates if an equal number of EU allowances are cancelled. JI is thus put into direct competition with the EU ETS. In this paper we analyse the impact of these provisions first in theory and then country by country for six Central and East European countries that recently acceded the EU or are candidates for accession. As a result, we give an overview of the potential and the limitations of JI as an instrument for achieving emission reductions in the selected Accession Countries and provide important overview information to policy makers.