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Transaction costs and tradable permits: Empirical evidence from the EU emissions trading scheme

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  • Heindl, Peter

Abstract

In this paper, transaction costs in the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) are examined empirically based on survey data from German companies. Transaction costs from measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of emissions, permit trading and general informational costs are considered. Transaction costs from MRV and permit trading are of non-linear form and dependent on annual emission and trading volumes based on OLS and nonparametric estimation. As a consequence of non-linear transaction costs, welfare losses occur compared to a first-best setup under zero transaction costs. In practice, smaller emitters will emit less (abate more) compared to larger emitters and vice versa due to economies of scale in the management of emissions trading. The results further imply that optimal firm size might be influenced by transaction costs in the EU ETS because of relatively high average transaction costs amongst smaller emitters. Overall annual transaction costs in the EU ETS in Germany are estimated to be EUR 8.7 million.

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  • Heindl, Peter, 2012. "Transaction costs and tradable permits: Empirical evidence from the EU emissions trading scheme," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-021, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:12021
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    Cited by:

    1. Rajesh Singh & Quinn Weninger, 2017. "Cap-and-trade under transactions costs and factor irreversibility," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 64(2), pages 357-407, August.
    2. Hintermann, Beat & Peterson, Sonja & Rickels, Wilfried, 2014. "Price and market behavior in Phase II of the EU ETS," Kiel Working Papers 1962, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    3. Christos Constantatos & Eleftherios Filippiadis & Eftichios Sartzetakis, 2014. "Using the allocation of emission permits for strategic trade purposes," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 259-280, June.
    4. Helene Naegele, 2015. "Offset Credits in the EU ETS: A Quantile Estimation of Firm-Level Transaction Costs," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1513, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Baudry, Marc & Faure, Anouk & Quemin, Simon, 2021. "Emissions trading with transaction costs," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    6. Hintermann, Beat & Ludwig, Markus, 2023. "Home country bias in international emissions trading: Evidence from the EU ETS," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Kim, Jeonghyun & Seo, Byeongseon, 2015. "Transaction Costs And Nonlinear Mean Reversion In The Eu Emission Trading Scheme," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 56(2), pages 281-296, December.
    8. Jessica Coria & Jūratė Jaraitė, 2019. "Transaction Costs of Upstream Versus Downstream Pricing of $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ CO 2 Emissions," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 72(4), pages 965-1001, April.
    9. Heindl, Peter, 2012. "Financial intermediaries and emissions trading market development and pricing strategies," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-064, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    10. Jūratė Jaraitė-Kažukauskė & Andrius Kažukauskas, 2015. "Do Transaction Costs Influence Firm Trading Behaviour in the European Emissions Trading System?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 62(3), pages 583-613, November.
    11. 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.
    12. Wolfgang Buchholz & Jonas Frank & Hans-Dieter Karl & Johannes Pfeiffer & Karen Pittel & Ursula Triebswetter & Jochen Habermann & Wolfgang Mauch & Thomas Staudacher, 2012. "Die Zukunft der Energiemärkte: Ökonomische Analyse und Bewertung von Potenzialen und Handlungsmöglichkeiten," ifo Forschungsberichte, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 57.
    13. Beat Hintermann & Sonja Peterson & Wilfried Rickels, 2016. "Price and Market Behavior in Phase II of the EU ETS: A Review of the Literature," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 10(1), pages 108-128.
    14. Naegele, Helene, 2015. "Offset Credits in the EU Emissions Trading System : A Firm-Level Evaluation of Transaction Costs," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112817, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    15. Brockmann, Karl Ludwig & Heindl, Peter & Löschel, Andreas & Lutz, Benjamin & Schumacher, Jan, 2012. "KfW/ZEW CO2 Barometer 2012: Anreizwirkung des EU-Emissionshandels auf Unternehmen gering – Klimapolitische Regulierung wenig relevant für Standortentscheidungen," KfW/ZEW-CO2-Barometer, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, number 109796.
    16. Claudine Foucherot & Valentin Bellassen, 2013. "More than 800 agricultural and agri-food sites affected by the EU ETS," Working Papers hal-03271322, HAL.
    17. Koesler, Simon & Achtnicht, Martin & Köhler, Jonathan, 2012. "Capped steam ahead: A case study among ship operators on a maritime ETS," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-044, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    18. Peter Heindl & Sebastian Voigt, 2012. "Supply and demand structure for international offset permits under the Copenhagen Pledges," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 343-360, November.
    19. Regina A. Betz & Tobias S. Schmidt, 2016. "Transfer patterns in Phase I of the EU Emissions Trading System: a first reality check based on cluster analysis," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 474-495, May.
    20. Coria, Jessica & Jaraite, Jurate, 2015. "Carbon Pricing: Transaction Costs of Emissions Trading vs. Carbon Taxes," Working Papers in Economics 609, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    21. Berger, Johannes & Strohner, Ludwig & Thomas, Tobias, 2020. "Klimainstrumente im Vergleich: Herausforderungen in Hinblick auf ökologische, ökonomische und soziale Nachhaltigkeit," Policy Notes 39, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    22. Koesler, Simon & Achtnicht, Martin & Köhler, Jonathan, 2015. "Course set for a cap? A case study among ship operators on a maritime ETS," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 20-30.
    23. Heindl, Peter, 2012. "Mitigating market power under tradeable permits," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-065, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    24. Heindl, Peter & Lutz, Benjamin, 2012. "Carbon management: Evidence from case studies of German firms under the EU ETS," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-079, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Emissions Trading; Transaction Costs; EU ETS;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights

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