@article{MontroneSteckelKalkuhl2022, author = {Montrone, Lorenzo and Steckel, Jan Christoph and Kalkuhl, Matthias}, title = {The type of power capacity matters for economic development}, series = {Resource and energy economics}, volume = {69}, journal = {Resource and energy economics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0928-7655}, doi = {10.1016/j.reseneeco.2022.101313}, pages = {17}, year = {2022}, abstract = {We examine the relationship between different types of power investments and regional economic dynamics. We construct a novel panel dataset combining data on regional GDP and power capacity additions for different technologies between 1960 and 2015, which covers 65\% of the global power capacity that has been installed in this period. We use an event study design to identify the effect of power capacity addition on GDP per capita, exploiting the fact that the exact amount of power capacity coming online each year is determined by random construction delays. We find evidence that GDP per capita increases by 0.2\% in the 6 years around the coming online of 100 MW coal-fired power capacity. We find similar effects for hydropower capacity, but not for any other type of power capacity. The positive effects are regionally bounded and stronger for projects on new sites (green-field). The magnitude of this effect might not be comparable to the total external costs of building new coal-fired power capacity, yet our results help to explain why policymakers favor coal investments for spurring regional growth.}, language = {en} } @techreport{SteckelMissbachOhlendorfetal.2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Steckel, Jan Christoph and Missbach, Leonard and Ohlendorf, Nils and Feindt, Simon and Kalkuhl, Matthias}, title = {Effects of the energy price crisis on European households}, publisher = {Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) gGmbH}, address = {Berlin}, pages = {30}, year = {2022}, language = {en} } @article{DiluisoWalkManychetal.2021, author = {Diluiso, Francesca and Walk, Paula and Manych, Niccolo and Cerutti, Nicola and Chipiga, Vladislav and Workman, Annabelle and Ayas, Ceren and Cui, Ryna Yiyun and Cui, Diyang and Song, Kaihui and Banisch, Lucy A. and Moretti, Nikolaj and Callaghan, Max W. and Clarke, Leon and Creutzig, Felix and Hilaire, Jerome and Jotzo, Frank and Kalkuhl, Matthias and Lamb, William F. and L{\"o}schel, Andreas and M{\"u}ller-Hansen, Finn and Nemet, Gregory F. and Oei, Pao-Yu and Sovacool, Benjamin K. and Steckel, Jan Christoph and Thomas, Sebastian and Wiseman, John and Minx, Jan C.}, title = {Coal transitions - part 1}, series = {Environmental research letters}, volume = {16}, journal = {Environmental research letters}, number = {11}, publisher = {Institute of Physics Publishing (IOP)}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {1748-9326}, doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/ac1b58}, pages = {40}, year = {2021}, abstract = {A rapid coal phase-out is needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, but is hindered by serious challenges ranging from vested interests to the risks of social disruption. To understand how to organize a global coal phase-out, it is crucial to go beyond cost-effective climate mitigation scenarios and learn from the experience of previous coal transitions. Despite the relevance of the topic, evidence remains fragmented throughout different research fields, and not easily accessible. To address this gap, this paper provides a systematic map and comprehensive review of the literature on historical coal transitions. We use computer-assisted systematic mapping and review methods to chart and evaluate the available evidence on historical declines in coal production and consumption. We extracted a dataset of 278 case studies from 194 publications, covering coal transitions in 44 countries and ranging from the end of the 19th century until 2021. We find a relatively recent and rapidly expanding body of literature reflecting the growing importance of an early coal phase-out in scientific and political debates. Previous evidence has primarily focused on the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, while other countries that experienced large coal declines, like those in Eastern Europe, are strongly underrepresented. An increasing number of studies, mostly published in the last 5 years, has been focusing on China. Most of the countries successfully reducing coal dependency have undergone both demand-side and supply-side transitions. This supports the use of policy approaches targeting both demand and supply to achieve a complete coal phase-out. From a political economy perspective, our dataset highlights that most transitions are driven by rising production costs for coal, falling prices for alternative energies, or local environmental concerns, especially regarding air pollution. The main challenges for coal-dependent regions are structural change transformations, in particular for industry and labor. Rising unemployment is the most largely documented outcome in the sample. Policymakers at multiple levels are instrumental in facilitating coal transitions. They rely mainly on regulatory instruments to foster the transitions and compensation schemes or investment plans to deal with their transformative processes. Even though many models suggest that coal phase-outs are among the low-hanging fruits on the way to climate neutrality and meeting the international climate goals, our case studies analysis highlights the intricate political economy at work that needs to be addressed through well-designed and just policies.}, language = {en} } @article{EdenhoferKalkuhlRequateetal.2020, author = {Edenhofer, Ottmar and Kalkuhl, Matthias and Requate, Tilman and Steckel, Jan Christoph}, title = {How assets get stranded}, series = {Journal of environmental economics and management}, volume = {100}, journal = {Journal of environmental economics and management}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0095-0696}, doi = {10.1016/j.jeem.2020.102300}, pages = {4}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Internalizing external costs of carbon is a fundamental goal of climate policy. Since the seminal work of Arthur Pigou in 1920, economic theory has analyzed the efficiency gains arising from various instruments that internalize externalities and lead to Pareto-improvements. It is widely recognized in environmental economics that a carbon price would effectively reflect the scarcity of the atmospheric disposal space for carbon depending on the temperature target that is to be achieved. The question of how to organize the transition process, i.e. moving from inefficient to efficient allocations, and implementing the necessary policies, has gained increasing attention in recent years. Arguably, the transition process is tightly interwoven with political processes that include complex interactions between societal stakeholders, such as households and firms, on the one hand, and political decision makers, on the other. Accordingly, understanding political-economy aspects of the transition process, including distributional outcomes, is becoming increasingly relevant. While a growing literature discusses the distributional implications of climate policy on households, it is less well understood how asset owners might be affected by climate policy and how these potential impacts would interact with the transition process. This Special Section focuses on public policy challenges related to this transition problem, with special emphasis on asset owners. A core theme is the special role of stranded assets, i.e. a devaluation of capital stocks or financial assets either by introducing a stringent carbon price or by omitting a pre-announced policy of this kind.}, language = {en} } @article{KalkuhlSteckelEdenhofer2020, author = {Kalkuhl, Matthias and Steckel, Jan Christoph and Edenhofer, Ottmar}, title = {All or nothing}, series = {Journal of environmental economics and management}, volume = {100}, journal = {Journal of environmental economics and management}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {San Diego}, issn = {0095-0696}, doi = {10.1016/j.jeem.2019.01.012}, pages = {21}, year = {2020}, abstract = {This paper develops a new perspective on stranded assets in climate policy using a partial equilibrium model of the energy sector. Political-economy related aspects are considered in the government's objective function. Lobbying power of firms or fiscal considerations by the government lead to time inconsistency: The government will deviate from a previously announced carbon tax which creates stranded assets. Under rational expectations, we show that a time-consistent policy outcome exists with either a zero carbon tax or a prohibitive carbon tax that leads to zero fossil investments - an "all-or-nothing" policy. Although stranded assets are crucial to such a bipolar outcome, they disappear again under time-consistent policy. Which of the two outcomes (all or nothing) prevails depends on the lobbying power of owners of fixed factors (land and fossil resources) but not on fiscal revenue considerations or on the lobbying power of renewable or fossil energy firms.}, language = {en} } @article{DorbandJakobKalkuhletal.2019, author = {Dorband, Ira Irina and Jakob, Michael and Kalkuhl, Matthias and Steckel, Jan Christoph}, title = {Poverty and distributional effects of carbon pricing in low- and middle-income countries - A global comparative analysis}, series = {World development}, volume = {115}, journal = {World development}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0305-750X}, doi = {10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.11.015}, pages = {246 -- 257}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Even though concerns about adverse distributional implications for the poor are one of the most important political challenges for carbon pricing, the existing literature reveals ambiguous results. For this reason, we assess the expected incidence of moderate carbon price increases for different income groups in 87 mostly low- and middle-income countries. Building on a consistent dataset and method, we find that for countries with per capita incomes of below USD 15,000 per year (at PPP-adjusted 2011 USD) carbon pricing has, on average, progressive distributional effects. We also develop a novel decomposition technique to show that distributional outcomes are primarily determined by differences among income groups in consumption patterns of energy, rather than of food, goods or services. We argue that an inverse U-shape relationship between energy expenditure shares and income explains why carbon pricing tends to be regressive in countries with relatively higher income. Since these countries are likely to have more financial resources and institutional capacities to deal with distributional issues, our findings suggest that mitigating climate change, raising domestic revenue and reducing economic inequality are not mutually exclusive, even in low- and middle-income countries. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.}, language = {en} } @misc{KalkuhlSteckelMontroneetal.2019, author = {Kalkuhl, Matthias and Steckel, Jan Christoph and Montrone, Lorenzo and Jakob, Michael and Peters, J{\"o}rg and Edenhofer, Ottmar}, title = {Successful coal phase-out requires new models of development}, series = {Nature Energy}, volume = {4}, journal = {Nature Energy}, number = {11}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2058-7546}, doi = {10.1038/s41560-019-0500-5}, pages = {897 -- 900}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Different energy sources have different spillovers on economic development and industrialization. Pathways of economic development based on renewable energy sources might require additional policies to support industrial development.}, language = {en} } @misc{DorbandJakobKalkuhletal.2018, author = {Dorband, Ira Irina and Jakob, Michael and Kalkuhl, Matthias and Steckel, Jan Christoph}, title = {Poverty and distributional effects of carbon pricing in low- and middle- income countries}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {103}, issn = {1867-5808}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42459}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-424592}, pages = {12}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Even though concerns about adverse distributional implications for the poor are one of the most important political challenges for carbon pricing, the existing literature reveals ambiguous results. For this reason, we assess the expected incidence of moderate carbon price increases for different income groups in 87 mostly low- and middle-income countries. Building on a consistent dataset and method, we find that for countries with per capita incomes of below USD 15,000 per year (at PPP-adjusted 2011 USD) carbon pricing has, on average, progressive distributional effects. We also develop a novel decomposition technique to show that distributional outcomes are primarily determined by differences among income groups in consumption patterns of energy, rather than of food, goods or services. We argue that an inverse U-shape relationship between energy expenditure shares and income explains why carbon pricing tends to be regressive in countries with relatively higher income. Since these countries are likely to have more financial resources and institutional capacities to deal with distributional issues, our findings suggest that mitigating climate change, raising domestic revenue and reducing economic inequality are not mutually exclusive, even in low- and middle-income countries.}, language = {en} } @article{WardWenzSteckeletal.2018, author = {Ward, Hauke and Wenz, Leonie and Steckel, Jan Christoph and Minx, Jan Christoph}, title = {Truncation error estimates in process life cycle assessment using input-output analysis}, series = {Journal of Industrial Ecology}, volume = {22}, journal = {Journal of Industrial Ecology}, number = {5}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {1088-1980}, doi = {10.1111/jiec.12655}, pages = {1080 -- 1091}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Process life cycle assessment (PLCA) is widely used to quantify environmental flows associated with the manufacturing of products and other processes. As PLCA always depends on defining a system boundary, its application involves truncation errors. Different methods of estimating truncation errors are proposed in the literature; most of these are based on artificially constructed system complete counterfactuals. In this article, we review the literature on truncation errors and their estimates and systematically explore factors that influence truncation error estimates. We classify estimation approaches, together with underlying factors influencing estimation results according to where in the estimation procedure they occur. By contrasting different PLCA truncation/error modeling frameworks using the same underlying input-output (I-O) data set and varying cut-off criteria, we show that modeling choices can significantly influence estimates for PLCA truncation errors. In addition, we find that differences in I-O and process inventory databases, such as missing service sector activities, can significantly affect estimates of PLCA truncation errors. Our results expose the challenges related to explicit statements on the magnitude of PLCA truncation errors. They also indicate that increasing the strictness of cut-off criteria in PLCA has only limited influence on the resulting truncation errors. We conclude that applying an additional I-O life cycle assessment or a path exchange hybrid life cycle assessment to identify where significant contributions are located in upstream layers could significantly reduce PLCA truncation errors.}, language = {en} } @article{WenzKalkuhlSteckeletal.2016, author = {Wenz, Leonie and Kalkuhl, Matthias and Steckel, Jan Christoph and Creutzig, Felix}, title = {Teleconnected food supply shocks}, series = {Environmental research letters}, volume = {11}, journal = {Environmental research letters}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {1748-9326}, doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/11/3/035007}, pages = {10}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The 2008-2010 food crisis might have been a harbinger of fundamental climate-induced food crises with geopolitical implications. Heat-wave-induced yield losses in Russia and resulting export restrictions led to increases in market prices for wheat across the Middle East, likely contributing to the Arab Spring. With ongoing climate change, temperatures and temperature variability will rise, leading to higher uncertainty in yields for major nutritional crops. Here we investigate which countries are most vulnerable to teleconnected supply-shocks, i.e. where diets strongly rely on the import of wheat, maize, or rice, and where a large share of the population is living in poverty. We find that the Middle East is most sensitive to teleconnected supply shocks in wheat, Central America to supply shocks in maize, and Western Africa to supply shocks in rice. Weighing with poverty levels, Sub-Saharan Africa is most affected. Altogether, a simultaneous 10\% reduction in exports of wheat, rice, and maize would reduce caloric intake of 55 million people living in poverty by about 5\%. Export bans in major producing regions would put up to 200 million people below the poverty line at risk, 90\% of which live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our results suggest that a region-specific combination of national increases in agricultural productivity and diversification of trade partners and diets can effectively decrease future food security risks.}, language = {en} }