Greening electricity more than necessary: On the cost implications of overlapping regulation in EU climate policy

Abstract

Without tangible prospects for a global deal on climate protection the EU is under domestic policy pressure to justify stringent unilateral emissions reduction targets. Cost effectiveness of EU-wide emission abatement becomes increasingly important in order to sustain EU leadership in climate policy. We argue that administered EU targets for renewable energies are likely to make emission reduction much more costly than necessary. Therefore, they could rather hinder than promote public support to unilateral climate policy unless a convincing case for additional benefits of renewable energy targets can be put forward.