Laure de Preux of Imperial College London will present her paper The Co-Pollution Impact of Climate Policy: Evidence from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Abstract

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are known to cause global climate change but no damage to the local environment. However, because CO2 is often jointly produced with other substances that pollute the environment, CO2 abatement may generate ancillary benefits, especially for human health. Previous research suggests that these co-benefits can offset a substantial share of the economic costs of mitigation policies. This paper lays the groundwork for testing this hypothesis in the context of the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) for CO2. We compile a new dataset on discharges of more than 90 different pollutants into air, water and soil, at more than 6,000 ETS regulated installations in 29 European countries. We track installation-level changes in emissions of major air pollutants between 2001 and 2013. We compare those to changes at more than 23,000 unregulated installations and explore causal attribution. We derive stylized facts for the spatial redistribution of air pollution across European countries and explore correlations with income and demographics. Some implications for efficiency and environmental justice of the EU ETS are discussed.

Please email gri.events@lse.ac.uk with the name of the presenter in order to request the Zoom joining details for this workshop by 5pm on Tuesday 19 January 2021.

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