IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mib/wpaper/425.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do sustainable energy policies matter for reducing greenhouse gas emissions?

Author

Listed:
  • Donatella Baiardi

Abstract

Yes, they matter. To reply to this question, we assess the impact of energy efficiency and renewable energy policies on six different air pollutants: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxides (N2O), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), nitrogenoxides (NOx) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) in the case of the Italian provinces in the decade 2005-2015. The empirical analysis is performed in a panel data context by means of propensity score matching with multiple treatment, since our framework is characterized by the presence of two treatments, corresponding to the two different energy policies analyzed, i.e. energy efficiency policy and renewable policy. These two policies can be applied by each province as mutually exclusive strategies or as joint strategies. Our results show that renewable policies are the most effective in terms of climate goals especially when implemented on a local scale, while energy efficiency policies alone are in effective. Moreover, the success of these policies depends on the type of pollutant to be reduced. Finally, we note that the effect of these two policies was reinforced by the counter-cyclical fiscal policies implemented to contrast the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.

Suggested Citation

  • Donatella Baiardi, 2020. "Do sustainable energy policies matter for reducing greenhouse gas emissions?," Working Papers 425, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2020.
    • Handle: RePEc:mib:wpaper:425
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.dems.unimib.it/repec/pdf/mibwpaper425.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brown, Marilyn A., 2001. "Market failures and barriers as a basis for clean energy policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(14), pages 1197-1207, November.
    2. Jalles, Joao Tovar, 2019. "Crises and emissions: New empirical evidence from a large sample," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 880-895.
    3. Hermannsson, Kristinn & McIntyre, Stuart G., 2014. "Local consumption and territorial based accounting for CO2 emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 1-11.
    4. Declercq, Bruno & Delarue, Erik & D'haeseleer, William, 2011. "Impact of the economic recession on the European power sector's CO2 emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1677-1686, March.
    5. Nick Johnstone & Ivan Haščič & David Popp, 2010. "Renewable Energy Policies and Technological Innovation: Evidence Based on Patent Counts," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 45(1), pages 133-155, January.
    6. Michalena, Evanthie & Angeon, Valrie, 2009. "Local challenges in the promotion of renewable energy sources: The case of Crete," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 2018-2026, May.
    7. Fredriksson, Per G. & Wollscheid, Jim R., 2014. "Environmental decentralization and political centralization," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 402-410.
    8. Sarrica, Mauro & Biddau, Fulvio & Brondi, Sonia & Cottone, Paolo & Mazzara, Bruno M., 2018. "A multi-scale examination of public discourse on energy sustainability in Italy: Empirical evidence and policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 444-454.
    9. Ghosh, Neal K. & Blackhurst, Michael F., 2014. "Energy savings and the rebound effect with multiple energy services and efficiency correlation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 55-66.
    10. Comodi, Gabriele & Cioccolanti, Luca & Polonara, Fabio & Brandoni, Caterina, 2012. "Local authorities in the context of energy and climate policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 737-748.
    11. Dai, Xiaoyong & Sun, Zao & Liu, Hang, 2018. "Disentangling the effects of endogenous export and innovation on the performance of Chinese manufacturing firms," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 42-58.
    12. Huang, Ming-Yuan & Alavalapati, Janaki R.R. & Carter, Douglas R. & Langholtz, Matthew H., 2007. "Is the choice of renewable portfolio standards random?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 5571-5575, November.
    13. Sánchez-Braza, Antonio & Pablo-Romero, María del P., 2014. "Evaluation of property tax bonus to promote solar thermal systems in Andalusia (Spain)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 832-843.
    14. Rajeev H. Dehejia & Sadek Wahba, 2002. "Propensity Score-Matching Methods For Nonexperimental Causal Studies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 151-161, February.
    15. Bellocchi, Sara & Gambini, Marco & Manno, Michele & Stilo, Tommaso & Vellini, Michela, 2018. "Positive interactions between electric vehicles and renewable energy sources in CO2-reduced energy scenarios: The Italian case," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 172-182.
    16. Michael Lechner, 2002. "Some practical issues in the evaluation of heterogeneous labour market programmes by matching methods," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 165(1), pages 59-82, February.
    17. Blesl, Markus & Das, Anjana & Fahl, Ulrich & Remme, Uwe, 2007. "Role of energy efficiency standards in reducing CO2 emissions in Germany: An assessment with TIMES," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 772-785, February.
    18. Economou, Agisilaos, 2010. "Renewable energy resources and sustainable development in Mykonos (Greece)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 1496-1501, June.
    19. Sobrino, Natalia & Monzon, Andres, 2014. "The impact of the economic crisis and policy actions on GHG emissions from road transport in Spain," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 486-498.
    20. Arbolino, Roberta & Boffardi, Raffaele & Ioppolo, Giuseppe, 2019. "The effectiveness of European energy policy on the Italian system: Regional evidences from a hierarchical cluster analysis approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 47-61.
    21. Costantini, Valeria & Crespi, Francesco & Palma, Alessandro, 2017. "Characterizing the policy mix and its impact on eco-innovation: A patent analysis of energy-efficient technologies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 799-819.
    22. Alberini, Anna & Bigano, Andrea & Ščasný, Milan & Zvěřinová, Iva, 2018. "Preferences for Energy Efficiency vs. Renewables: What Is the Willingness to Pay to Reduce CO2 Emissions?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 171-185.
    23. Costantini, Valeria & Mazzanti, Massimiliano & Montini, Anna, 2013. "Environmental performance, innovation and spillovers. Evidence from a regional NAMEA," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 101-114.
    24. Wüstenhagen, Rolf & Menichetti, Emanuela, 2012. "Strategic choices for renewable energy investment: Conceptual framework and opportunities for further research," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1-10.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Donatella Baiardi & Maria Gaia Soana, 2021. "Macroeconomic and microeconomic environmental and energy policies: are they effective for improving the environmental performance of listed companies?," Working Papers 478, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2021.
    2. Farooq Sher & Oliver Curnick & Mohammad Tazli Azizan, 2021. "Sustainable Conversion of Renewable Energy Sources," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-4, March.
    3. Taskin, Dilvin & Dogan, Eyup & Madaleno, Mara, 2022. "Analyzing the relationship between energy efficiency and environmental and financial variables: A way towards sustainable development," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    4. Sun, Jiamu & Xue, Jiaan & Qiu, Xiaodong, 2023. "Has the sustainable energy transition in China's resource-based cities promoted green technology innovation in firms?," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(PA).
    5. Madurai Elavarasan, Rajvikram & Nadarajah, Mithulananthan & Pugazhendhi, Rishi & Sinha, Avik & Gangatharan, Sivasankar & Chiaramonti, David & Abou Houran, Mohamad, 2023. "The untold subtlety of energy consumption and its influence on policy drive towards Sustainable Development Goal 7," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    6. Xie, Lunyu & Hu, Xian & Zhang, Xinyi & Zhang, Xiao-Bing, 2022. "Who suffers from energy poverty in household energy transition? Evidence from clean heating program in rural China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    7. Adam Sulich & Letycja Sołoducho-Pelc, 2021. "Renewable Energy Producers’ Strategies in the Visegrád Group Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-21, May.

    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. Baiardi, Donatella, 2020. "Do sustainable energy policies matter for reducing air pollution?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    2. Baiardi, Donatella, 2019. "Do sustainable energy policies matter for reducing greenhouse gas emissions?," EconStor Preprints 202077, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    3. Donatella Baiardi & Maria Gaia Soana, 2021. "Macroeconomic and microeconomic environmental and energy policies: are they effective for improving environmental performance of listed companies?," Working Paper series 21-17, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    4. Donatella Baiardi & Maria Gaia Soana, 2021. "Macroeconomic and microeconomic environmental and energy policies: are they effective for improving the environmental performance of listed companies?," Working Papers 478, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2021.
    5. Horbach, Jens & Rammer, Christian, 2018. "Energy transition in Germany and regional spill-overs: The diffusion of renewable energy in firms," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 404-414.
    6. Marques, António Cardoso & Fuinhas, José Alberto, 2011. "Drivers promoting renewable energy: A dynamic panel approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 1601-1608, April.
    7. Polzin, Friedemann, 2017. "Mobilizing private finance for low-carbon innovation – A systematic review of barriers and solutions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 525-535.
    8. Valeria Costantini & Francesco Crespi & Giovanni Marin & Elena Paglialunga, 2016. "Eco-innovation, sustainable supply chains and environmental performance in European industries," LEM Papers Series 2016/19, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    9. Hille, Erik & Althammer, Wilhelm & Diederich, Henning, 2020. "Environmental regulation and innovation in renewable energy technologies: Does the policy instrument matter?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    10. Østergaard, P.A. & Lund, H. & Thellufsen, J.Z. & Sorknæs, P. & Mathiesen, B.V., 2022. "Review and validation of EnergyPLAN," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    11. Orsatti, Gianluca & Pezzoni, Michele & Quatraro, Francesco, 2017. "Where Do Green Technologies Come From? Inventor Teams’ Recombinant Capabilities and the Creation of New Knowledge," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201711, University of Turin.
    12. João Tovar Jalles, 2024. "Financial Crises and Climate Change," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 66(1), pages 166-190, March.
    13. Hämäläinen, Kari & Ollikainen, Virve, 2004. "Differential Effects of Active Labour Market Programmes in the Early Stages of Young People's Unemployment," Research Reports 115, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    14. Che, Xiao-Jing & Zhou, P. & Chai, Kah-Hin, 2022. "Regional policy effect on photovoltaic (PV) technology innovation: Findings from 260 cities in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    15. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Martiskainen, Mari & Hook, Andrew & Baker, Lucy, 2020. "Beyond cost and carbon: The multidimensional co-benefits of low carbon transitions in Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    16. Martin Huber & Michael Lechner & Giovanni Mellace, 2017. "Why Do Tougher Caseworkers Increase Employment? The Role of Program Assignment as a Causal Mechanism," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(1), pages 180-183, March.
    17. A. Smith, Jeffrey & E. Todd, Petra, 2005. "Does matching overcome LaLonde's critique of nonexperimental estimators?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 305-353.
    18. Shahriyar Nasirov & Carlos Silva & Claudio A. Agostini, 2015. "Investors’ Perspectives on Barriers to the Deployment of Renewable Energy Sources in Chile," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-21, April.
    19. Filiou, Despoina & Kesidou, Effie & Wu, Lichao, 2023. "Are smart cities green? The role of environmental and digital policies for Eco-innovation in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    20. Lechner, Michael & Wunsch, Conny, 2006. "Active Labour Market Policy in East Germany: Waiting for the Economy to Take Off," CEPR Discussion Papers 5924, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Energy efficiency policies; Renewable energy policies; Global air pollutants; Local air pollutants; Propensity score matching with multiple treatment; Italian provinces.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • Q20 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - General

    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:mib:wpaper:425. 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: Matteo Pelagatti (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dpmibit.html .

    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.