[E] Enhancing Energy Efficiency to tackle Climate Change: the impact of Environmental Policy Stringency in European OECD countries
Le 30 janv. 2025 de 13h00 à 14h00
Abstract
The increasing urgency of the climate crisis necessitates massive energy efficiency enhancement. This study investigates the impact of environmental policy stringency on energy efficiency across 18 European OECD countries from 2000 to 2020, using quantile regression analysis. Our research question centers on how different environmental policy instruments affect the level of energy efficiency across various quantiles and economic sectors. The analysis reveals that environmental policy stringency significantly enhances energy efficiency, particularly in the 50th to 90th quantiles, indicating heterogeneous effects. Non-market based (NMB) policies have the most substantial impact on countries with lower improvements in energy efficiency, suggesting these should be prioritized in such contexts. Market based (MB) policies show more pronounced effects in countries with higher energy efficiency improvements. Our findings highlight the necessity of tailored policy interventions to maximize efficiency. Policymakers should prioritize NMB policies, such as mandatory emission limits and standards on some detrimental molecules. Additionally, encouraging MB mechanisms, such as high carbon pricing, expanded energy taxes can accelerate improvements where these are already effective. Continued efforts for Technology Support (TS) instruments are also crucial across all countries. Future research could expand the temporal and geographical scope to capture the full spectrum of environmental policy impacts in energy efficiency.
