A cost–benefit analysis of the EU 20/20/2020 package

Tol, Richard S.J.

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2012.06.018

Cited by 77 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Data were taken from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology UK Land Cover Map 2000 (LCM2000) (66). This allowed the proportions of the land cover classes in each 1km × 1km cell of the Ordnance Survey National Grid to be estimated.…”

Section: S62: Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing Ecosystem Services into Economic Decision-Making: Land Use in the United Kingdom

Bateman

Harwood

Mace

et al. 2013

Science

892

499

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Landscapes generate a wide range of valuable ecosystem services, yet land use decisions often ignore the value of these services. Using the example of the UK, we show the significance of land use change not only for agricultural production but also for emissions and sequestration of greenhouse gases, open-access recreational visits, urban green space and wild species diversity. We use spatially explicit models in conjunction with valuation methods to estimate comparable economic values for these services, taking account of climate change impacts. We show that, while decisions which focus solely upon agriculture reduce overall ecosystem service values, highly significant value increases can be obtained from targeted planning incorporating all potential services and their values, and that this approach also conserves wild species diversity.One Sentence Summary: Valuation of ecosystem services within land-use planning creates significant gains relative to current, market-dominated, decision making. Main Text:The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (1) provided important evidence of the ongoing global degradation of ecosystem services and highlighted the need to incorporate their value into the economic analyses which underpin real-world decision-making. Previous studies have shown that the overall values of unconverted natural habitats can exceed the private benefits following conversion (2, 3), that knowledge of landscape heterogeneity and ecological processes can support cost effective land planning (4-7), that trade-offs in land-use decisions affect values from ecosystem services and biodiversity at local level (8, 9), and that current land use is vulnerable to the impacts of global change (10, 11). In the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) (12), a comprehensive assessment of the UK's ecosystems was linked to a systematic, environmental and economic analysis of the benefits they generate. Here we show how taking account of multiple objectives in a changing environment (including, but not restricted to, climate change) fundamentally alters decisions regarding optimal land use. The NEA analyses are based upon highly detailed, spatially-referenced environmental data covering all of Great Britain. These data supported the design and parameterization of models of both the drivers and consequences of land use decisions, incorporating the complexity of the natural environment and its variation across space and time (13). Model outputs provide inputs to economic analyses which assess the value of both marketed and non-marketed goods (Table 1).The NEA specifically addressed the consequences of land use change driven by either just agricultural or a wider set of values, all within the context of ongoing climate change. To assess this, raw data on land use and its determinants were drawn from multiple sources to compile a 40 year dataset, spatially disaggregated at a resolution of 2km grid squares (400ha) or finer across all of Great Britain, forming more than ½ million sets of spatially referenced, time specific...

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Section: S62: Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing Ecosystem Services into Economic Decision-Making: Land Use in the United Kingdom

Bateman

Harwood

Mace

et al. 2013

Science

892

499

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In these studies, CBA has been used to assess energy efficiency policy instruments at the national level, often including all energy consuming sectors. Some include qualitative analysis (Fraunhofer ISI et al 2012;Tol 2012) or environmental social benefits (Giraudet et al 2012), while others focus on specific sectors (Suerkemper et al 2011). …”

Section: Cost-benefit Analysis (Cba)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fraunhofer ISI et al (2012) investigated the costs and benefits of various policy schemes for energy savings in Germany. Tol (2012) evaluated the EU 20/20/20 package using CBA. Suerkemper et al (2011) and Clinch and Healy (2001) evaluated energy efficiency programs in the domestic sector for France and Ireland respectively.…”

Section: Cost-benefit Analysis (Cba)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of an energy efficiency obligation scheme for the Swedish energy-intensive industries: an evaluation of costs and benefits

2016

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Implications of an energy efficiency obligation scheme for the Swedish energy-intensive industries: an evaluation of costs and benefits. Highlights A Swedish energy efficiency obligation scheme would result in a positive benefit-to-cost ratio.  The break-even cost ranges from 83.3 €/MWh to 86.9 €/MWh in different scenarios for energy and emission allowance prices.  An energy efficiency obligation scheme can be attractive for energy intensive industries.  Implementing an efficiency obligation scheme could help Sweden meet the target of the European Energy Efficiency Directive. AbstractThe EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) aims at improving energy efficiency by implementing actions in all sectors of the economy in the EU. Article 7 of the EED sets the target of 1.5% cumulative annual energy end-use savings. An energy efficiency obligation scheme (EEO) is one of the policy mechanisms proposed to reach this target. This paper assesses the impact of implementing a Swedish EEO, and the implications that such a scheme may have for Swedish energy intensive industries. The assessment was based on Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) methodology. The Benefit to Cost Ratio (BCR) ranges from 1.56 to 2.17 and the break-even cost ranges from 83.3 €/MWh to 86.9 €/MWh with sensitivity analyses performed for the emission allowance prices and eventual costs of the EEO. The annual energy savings potential is estimated to be 1.25 TWh/year. A Swedish EEO could motivate investments in energy efficiency measures, and thus help Sweden reach the energy efficiency targets set in the EED.

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“…Values in GJ were converted to tonnes dry matter using a net calorific value of 18.5 GJ ton -1 dry matter (Alakangas et al 2007);  The value of carbon sequestration was based on the social carbon cost. The median social carbon cost (at 3% discount rate, estimated from 232 published estimates) of 14.67 euro ton -1 C (4 euro ton -1 CO 2 ) as reported by (Tol 2012) was used;  The valuation of recreation was based on the willingness-to-pay estimates for recreation in protected and unprotected forests as estimated by Giergiczny et al (2008). These values were derived from (1) a meta-regression analysis on 253 estimates from 49 studies in 8 countries across Europe to estimate what factors affect the willingness to pay for recreation, (2) the mean recreational value of forests in the United Kingdom provided by the Forestry Commission estate according to a questionnaire involving over 15,000 visitors, and (iii) using the results of the meta-analysis to transfer the mean recreational value of forests in the United Kingdom to other European countries.…”

Section: Economic Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing impacts of intensified biomass removal and biodiversity protection on European forests

Verkerk¹

2015

Diss. For.

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Verkerk P.J. (2015). Assessing impacts of intensified biomass removal and biodiversity protection on European forests. Dissertationes Forestales 197. 50 p. http://dx.doi.org/10. 14214/df.197 Forests provide many benefits to society and it is important to understand if, and how, policies affect the provisioning of ecosystem services. The objective of this dissertation was to analyze and evaluate impacts of intensified biomass production and biodiversity protection on ecosystem services provided by European forests.Article I assessed to what extent forests are protected and how felling restrictions affect the potential annual wood supply. Felling restrictions applied to currently protected forest areas reduce the long-term potential supply of wood by 35 million m 3 yr -1 . Despite these restrictions, wood harvesting is allowed to a fair extent in these protected forests.Articles II-V assessed the future woody biomass potentials and impacts of different scenarios on forests using the European Forest Information SCENario model (EFISCEN). In article II, the realisable woody biomass potential was estimated at 741 million m 3 yr -1 in 2010, including woody biomass from stems, residues, stumps and other biomass, ranging from 620 to 891 million m 3 yr -1 in 2030. Mobilising these potentials would imply drastic changes in the management of European forests.According to articles III-V intensified biomass removals could involve trade-offs with other forest ecosystem services. Carbon storage in forest biomass, as well as the amount of deadwood, was projected to decline due to measures to intensify the use of forests. An economic valuation showed that intensifying biomass removals could lead to a net economic benefit measured by the aggregated value of five ecosystem services, as compared to projections without measures to intensify use of forest biomass. Larger social benefits could potentially be obtained if biodiversity protection is enhanced in European forests.The results presented in this dissertation illustrate that careful planning is required to accommodate the need for protection of biodiversity, the expected growing demand for wood, as well as the provisioning of forest ecosystem services. Keywords: ecosystem services, EFISCEN, scenario analysis 4 ACKOWLEDGEMENTSFinally the moment is there that the preface of my dissertation can be written. This means that the work on my dissertation is soon completed, which is a liberating thought! This academic dissertation is the result of work carried out during several years in various projects in which I have been involved as part of my work at the European Forest Institute (EFI). I would like to thank EFI and especially my supervisor Marcus Lindner for providing me the opportunity to work on these projects. I also would like to thank him for all the support he provided throughout the years. It has been a real pleasure to work with him. I also would like to thank all (current and former) colleagues in Joensuu and Barcelona that have made EFI an interesting place to...

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A cost–benefit analysis of the EU 20/20/2020 package

Cited by 77 publications

References 54 publications

Bringing Ecosystem Services into Economic Decision-Making: Land Use in the United Kingdom

Bringing Ecosystem Services into Economic Decision-Making: Land Use in the United Kingdom

Implications of an energy efficiency obligation scheme for the Swedish energy-intensive industries: an evaluation of costs and benefits

Assessing impacts of intensified biomass removal and biodiversity protection on European forests

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