April 26, 2009

Green Serves the Dirtiest. On the Interaction between Black and Green Quotas

by Christoph Böhringer and Knut Einar Rosendahl

- Tradable black (CO2) and green (renewables) quotas gain in popularity and stringency within climate policies of many OECD countries. The overlapping regulation through both instruments, however, may have important adverse economic implications. Based on stylized theoretical analysis and substantiated with numerical model simulations for the German electricity market, we show that a green quota imposed on top of a black quota does not only induce substantial excess cost but serves the dirtiest power technologies as compared to a black quota regime only.

Böhringer, C. K. E. Rosendahl (2009). "Green Serves the Dirtiest. On the Interaction between Black and Green Quotas." Discussion Papers 581 - Statistics Norway, April 2009.