Synergies and Welfare Effects of Combining Carbon Pricing and Renewable-Energy Policies : A Meta-Analysis
Midões, Catarina (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Van den Bergh, Jeroen (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Savin, Ivan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Alessandri, Gregorio de (Università Ca' Foscari. Dipartimento di Economia)

Data:	2026
Resum:	Many countries combine carbon pricing with renewable-energy policies. Microeconomic theory predicts this combination yields no additional emissions reductions under cap-and-trade and only potentially under carbon taxation, but at a social welfare loss. We undertook a systematic literature review of emissions-reduction synergy, identifying many ex-ante but only one ex-post study - explained by the lack of policy counterfactuals. In 72% of ex-ante 127 estimates from 80 studies, combining instruments reduces emissions more than either instrument alone. Additional reductions are more common under carbon taxation, as theory predicts, but also occur under cap-and-trade. Across 85 exact synergy estimates, the policy combination yields about 22% greater emissions reductions on average. Regarding welfare effects, 74 of 119 ex-ante estimates from 79 papers indicate some benefit from adding a second instrument. Deviations from theory reflect model assumptions, such as incomplete emissions coverage, implementation constraints, social welfare metrics limited to consumer utility, and market or government failures including fossil fuel subsidies. While ex-post estimates are less likely to detect non-zero synergy, the single ex-post study broadly supports our findings.
Ajuts:	European Commission 956107
Nota:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2024-001506-M
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Instrument interaction ; Carbon tax ; Carbon market ; Cap-and-trade ; Renewable-energy target
Publicat a:	Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 89 (September 2026) , art. 65, ISSN 1573-1502

DOI: 10.1007/s10640-026-01098-x

29 p, 2.6 MB

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Documents de recerca > Documents dels grups de recerca de la UAB > Centres i grups de recerca (producció científica) > Ciències > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA) > Environmental and Climate Economics (ECE)
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