IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bon/boncrc/crctr224_2024_504.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Climate Policies and Electricity Prices: To Abate or to Generate?

Author

Listed:
  • Kathrine von Graevenitz
  • Elisa Rottner

Abstract

Climate change is the result of global market failure and remedying the situation requires effective policy action. Climate policies often increase energy prices thereby affecting all actors in the economy. Concerns about competitiveness impacts of unilateral policies hamper the development of effective policies. We provide causal evidence on how industrial plants respond to electricity price increases. Our research design uses exogenous variation in German electricity prices in combination with detailed administrative data on German manufacturing plants. We find that rising electricity prices led German manufacturing plants to significantly reduce their electricity procurement with an own-price elasticity of -0.4 to -0.6 on average and substantial variation across procurement levels. They also induced industrial users to replace electricity procurement by electricity generated onsite contributing to a decentralization of electricity generation. We find no statistically significant negative effects on competitiveness indicators.

Suggested Citation

  • Kathrine von Graevenitz & Elisa Rottner, 2024. "Climate Policies and Electricity Prices: To Abate or to Generate?," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2024_504, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2024_504
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp504
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan Colmer & Ralf Martin & Mirabelle Muûls & Ulrich J. Wagner, 2020. "Does pricing carbon mitigate climate change? Firm-level evidence from the European Union emissions trading scheme," CEP Discussion Papers dp1728, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    2. Marin, Giovanni & Vona, Francesco, 2021. "The impact of energy prices on socioeconomic and environmental performance: Evidence from French manufacturing establishments, 1997–2015," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    3. Hille, Erik & Möbius, Patrick, 2019. "Do energy prices affect employment? Decomposed international evidence," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 1-21.
    4. Naegele, Helene & Zaklan, Aleksandar, 2019. "Does the EU ETS cause carbon leakage in European manufacturing?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 93, pages 125-147.
    5. Clemens Fuest & Andreas Peichl & Sebastian Siegloch, 2018. "Do Higher Corporate Taxes Reduce Wages? Micro Evidence from Germany," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(2), pages 393-418, February.
    6. Natalia Fabra & Mar Reguant, 2014. "Pass-Through of Emissions Costs in Electricity Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2872-2899, September.
    7. Kurt Schmidheiny & Sebastian Siegloch, 2023. "On event studies and distributed‐lags in two‐way fixed effects models: Identification, equivalence, and generalization," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(5), pages 695-713, August.
    8. Mar Reguant, 2019. "The Efficiency and Sectoral Distributional Impacts of Large-Scale Renewable Energy Policies," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(S1), pages 129-168.
    9. Garth Heutel, 2012. "How Should Environmental Policy Respond to Business Cycles? Optimal Policy under Persistent Productivity Shocks," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 15(2), pages 244-264, April.
    10. Sharat Ganapati & Joseph S. Shapiro & Reed Walker, 2020. "Energy Cost Pass-Through in US Manufacturing: Estimates and Implications for Carbon Taxes," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 303-342, April.
    11. Severin Borenstein & James B. Bushnell, 2022. "Do Two Electricity Pricing Wrongs Make a Right? Cost Recovery, Externalities, and Efficiency," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 80-110, November.
    12. Severin Borenstein, 2017. "Private Net Benefits of Residential Solar PV: The Role of Electricity Tariffs, Tax Incentives, and Rebates," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(S1), pages 85-122.
    13. Jinyong Hahn & Whitney Newey, 2004. "Jackknife and Analytical Bias Reduction for Nonlinear Panel Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(4), pages 1295-1319, July.
    14. Bardazzi, Rossella & Oropallo, Filippo & Pazienza, Maria Grazia, 2015. "Do manufacturing firms react to energy prices? Evidence from Italy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 168-181.
    15. Machado, José A.F. & Santos Silva, J.M.C., 2019. "Quantiles via moments," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 213(1), pages 145-173.
    16. Cox, Michael & Peichl, Andreas & Pestel, Nico & Siegloch, Sebastian, 2014. "Labor demand effects of rising electricity prices: Evidence for Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 266-277.
    17. Martin, Ralf & de Preux, Laure B. & Wagner, Ulrich J., 2014. "The impact of a carbon tax on manufacturing: Evidence from microdata," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 1-14.
    18. Marshall Burke & Kyle Emerick, 2016. "Adaptation to Climate Change: Evidence from US Agriculture," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 106-140, August.
    19. Curtis, E. Mark & Lee, Jonathan M., 2019. "When do environmental regulations backfire? Onsite industrial electricity generation, energy efficiency and policy instruments," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 174-194.
    20. Kenneth Gillingham & James H. Stock, 2018. "The Cost of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 53-72, Fall.
    21. Nordhaus, William D, 1977. "Economic Growth and Climate: The Carbon Dioxide Problem," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(1), pages 341-346, February.
    22. Koichiro Ito, 2014. "Do Consumers Respond to Marginal or Average Price? Evidence from Nonlinear Electricity Pricing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(2), pages 537-563, February.
    23. Lutz, Benjamin Johannes, 2016. "Emissions trading and productivity: Firm-level evidence from German manufacturing," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-067, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    24. Hahn, Robert W, 1989. "Economic Prescriptions for Environmental Problems: How the Patient Followed the Doctor's Orders," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 95-114, Spring.
    25. Beat Hintermann, 2016. "Pass-Through of CO2 Emission Costs to Hourly Electricity Prices in Germany," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(4), pages 857-891.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. von Graevenitz, Kathrine & Rottner, Elisa, 2022. "Do manufacturing plants respond to exogenous changes in electricity prices? Evidence from administrative micro-data," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-038, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    2. Arjan Trinks & Erik Hille, 2023. "Carbon costs and industrial firm performance: Evidence from international microdata," CPB Discussion Paper 445, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    3. Beat Hintermann & Maja Žarković & Corrado Di Maria & Ulrich J. Wagner, 2020. "The Effect of Climate Policy on Productivity and Cost Pass-Through in the German Manufacturing Sector," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2020_249, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    4. Gert Bijnens & John Hutchinson & Jozef Konings & Arthur Saint Guilhem, 2021. "The interplay between green policy, electricity prices, financial constraints and jobs. Firm-level evidence," Working Paper Research 399, National Bank of Belgium.
    5. Gert Bijnens & Jozef Konings & Stijn Vanormelingen, 2022. "The impact of electricity prices on European manufacturing jobs," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(1), pages 38-56, January.
    6. Hindriks, Jean & Serse, Valerio, 2022. "The incidence of VAT reforms in electricity markets: Evidence from Belgium," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Jonathan Colmer & Ralf Martin & Mirabelle Muûls & Ulrich J. Wagner, 2020. "Does pricing carbon mitigate climate change? Firm-level evidence from the European Union emissions trading scheme," CEP Discussion Papers dp1728, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    8. Gregor Singer, 2024. "Complementary Inputs and Industrial Development: Can Lower Electricity Prices Improve Energy Efficiency?," CESifo Working Paper Series 10944, CESifo.
    9. von Graevenitz, Kathrine & Rottner, Elisa & Richter, Philipp M., 2023. "Is Germany becoming the European pollution haven?," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-069, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    10. Rottner, Elisa, 2023. "Do climate policies lead to outsourcing? Evidence from firm-level imports," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-070, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2022. "Rendre acceptable la nécessaire taxation du carbone. Quelles pistes pour la France ?," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(1), pages 15-53.
    12. Marin, Giovanni & Vona, Francesco, 2021. "The impact of energy prices on socioeconomic and environmental performance: Evidence from French manufacturing establishments, 1997–2015," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    13. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1jrfjrj6fp8t6q12fv5lra520c is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Reinhard Ellwanger & Hinnerk Gnutzmann & Piotr Śpiewanowski, 2023. "Cost Pass-Through with Capacity Constraints and International Linkages," Staff Working Papers 23-16, Bank of Canada.
    15. Ferrara, Antonella Rita & Giua, Ludovica, 2022. "Indirect cost compensation under the EU ETS: A firm-level analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    16. Aleksandar Zaklan, 2023. "Coase and Cap-and-Trade: Evidence on the Independence Property from the European Carbon Market," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 526-558, May.
    17. Rafaty, Ryan & Dolphin, Geoffroy & Pretis, Felix, 2021. "Carbon Pricing and the Elasticity of CO2 Emissions," RFF Working Paper Series 21-33, Resources for the Future.
    18. Bruno, Ellen M. & Jessoe, Katrina K. & Hanemann, Michael, 2023. "The Dynamic Impacts of Pricing Groundwater," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt2mx8q1td, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    19. Wozny, Florian, 2024. "Tax Incidence in Heterogeneous Markets: The Pass-through of Air Passenger Taxes on Airfares," IZA Discussion Papers 16783, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Abajian, Alexander & Pretnar, Nick, 2023. "Subsidies for Close Substitutes: Evidence from Residential Solar Systems," MPRA Paper 118171, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Leroutier, Marion, 2022. "Carbon pricing and power sector decarbonization: Evidence from the UK," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Electricity use; firm performance; climate policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2024_504. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CRC Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.crctr224.de .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.