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More and more countries are incorporating the instrument of emissions trading into their national climate policies. This emerging mosaic of emissions trading schemes (ETS) raises the question of whether they should be linked with each other. From an economic point of view, linking of domestic schemes is supposed to increase the economic efficiency of carbon markets. In addition, linking is also expected by some to yield substantial political benefits in terms of the evolution of the UNFCCC/Kyoto regime. However, these optimistic prospects are based on a best-case scenario where all major countries establish environmentally effective emissions trading systems and then link them with each other. Real-life politics might develop rather differently. This paper therefore examines to what extent the current status of emissions trading in industrialised countries provides a basis for reinforcing and moving forward the international climate regime through linking domestic ETS. After comparing emerging emissions trading schemes from an institutional perspective, it emerges that not only emissions trading is at a very early stage in most countries, in addition the emerging systems are probably going to be designed very differently from the EU ETS. While for some design features such as the coverage design differences do not matter, there are some areas where the plans in many non-EU countries look crucially different from the EU system. The outlook for a linked international ETS is therefore currently still very uncertain. Given this state of affairs, the EU should pro-actively engage with the non-EU countries to try to harmonise their developing national emissions trading schemes with the EU ETS, widely disseminate the lessons it has learned from the EU ETS, strongly make the case for environmental integrity and at the same time make clear that systems that want to link to the EU ETS will need to meet certain quality criteria.
The study "A Green New Deal for Europe" consists of two basic elements: Firstly it aims to cope with the economic crisis through intensive measures in order to systematically stimulate the eco-industries, to create jobs and to boost economic recovery. Secondly it aims at establishing the foundation for a green modernisation of the European economy. The study examines existing EU strategies policies and programs concerning their suitability to implement the Green New Deal. It proposes exemplary measures in the field of energy, mobility and resource use. The study has been compiled by the Wuppertal Institute on behalf of the Greens/European Free Alliance (EFA) Group in the European Parliament.
Towards an effective and equitable climate change agreement : a Wuppertal proposal for Copenhagen
(2009)
This paper presents comprehensive proposals for the post-2012 climate regime: the scale of the challenge, emission targets for industrialised countries, increased actions by Southern countries, financing, technology, adaptation and deforestation. The proposals are based on ongoing research by the Wuppertal Institute.
Energy efficiency watch : final report on the evaluation of national energy efficiency action plans
(2009)
The German contribution to limiting global warming to two degrees has to be - as in other developed countries, too - a reduction of 80 to 95 percent of CO2 emissions by 2050 compared to 1990. The project "Low Carbon City Wuppertal 2050" has analysed how such a drastic reduction of CO2 could be achieved on a municipal level in the transportation and residential sector by also working on the land use and material flows dimension. The focus of this paper lies on the space heating in the residential sector.
Wuppertal is a city with about 350,000 inhabitants in the West of Germany. According to the CO2 balance (2007) of the city that was adjusted to the year 2010, the emissions that were caused by space heating in the residential sector remained almost the same since 1990. They decreased slightly from 693,000 tons CO2 in 1990 to 691,000 tons in 2010, although final energy use for space heating increased by about 15 percent. But the shift of energy sources especially from coal to gas avoided an increase of emissions. However, the reduction target of 95 percent means that CO2 emissions have to be reduced to 35,000 tons per year until 2050.
A reference scenario shows that the city could achieve about 30 percent of the reduction required with the current trend of renewable energy development and energy efficiency measures such as retrofitting the building stock. But looking at the difficult financial conditions of the municipality as well as at the socio-economic situation of the inhabitants it becomes clear that the remaining 65 percent of the target to a 95 percent reduction will be difficult to reach and that innovative measures of energy efficiency and sufficiency1 need to be developed.
But which social-ecological effects does the implementation of comprehensive climate protection measures have on the inhabitants of a city? How do people live in a "Low Carbon City"? In this paper qualitative and quantitative scenarios will be developed since the combination of both is promising to show both effects: what share could renewable energies, energy efficiency and sufficiency measures have in reaching the target of 95 percent, and how could life look like in an almost CO2 free city in Germany in 2050.