The cognitive and experiential effects of flood risk framings and experience, and their influence on adaptation investment behaviour

This study explores how decision makers invest in adaptation to protect against flood risks in response to a) different framings of flood risk information, and b) after experiencing losses from a hypothetical flood event. An incentivised economic lab experiment is conducted on a sample of students in Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain). A 2 × 2 between-subject design is used to measure investment behaviour with and without exposure to a flood risk map and after exposure to impacts framed as economic losses versus number of persons affected. Experience is measured through a 2-period repeated game within-subject design. Flood risk maps and impacts framed as number of persons affected were conducive to more experiential forms of decision-making, while decisions based on impacts framed as economic losses were more cognitive in nature. Those that saw text-only framings used a combination of cognitive and experiential factors for making decisions. While exposure to maps evoked more affect-driven responses, they were associated with lower ratings of positive affect and self-efficacy, and resulted in lower investments in protection compared to text-only framings. Greater experiential processing was found for impact framings based on persons affected, but they were not especially effective at increasing personal relevance of the issue or in driving investments. Individuals who experienced losses from a hypothetical flood event had greater ratings of negative affect, and made subsequent decisions that were more affect-driven in nature. In contrast, individuals who did not experience losses had greater ratings of positive affect, and made subsequent decisions based on primarily cognitive factors. Investments in protection reduced for those who did not experience losses, and remained the same for those who did experience losses. Results suggest that changes in adaptation investments between decision points may be dependent on both the experience (or lack thereof) of losses, as well as the extent to which individuals were risk-averse or risk-taking in previous investment decisions. © 2021This research was supported by the Horizon 2020 COACCH Project (grant agreement no. 776479). Additionally, it was also supported by the Basque Government through the BERC 2018-2021 program and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness MINECO through the BC3 María de Maetzu excellence accreditation MDM-2017-0714

A CRITICAL REVIEW of COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS for CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION in CITIES

his study systematically reviews the scientific literature (n=56) on cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of adaptation measures in cities and similar urban environments. The review is conducted to assess existing or proposed actions for dealing with impacts of drought, heat waves, sea-level rise, and pluvial and fluvial flooding. It includes over 30 measures related to structural, services, technological, informational and ecosystem-based approaches. The main findings demonstrate that CBA of adaptation measures across urban environments must contend with numerous long-term socioeconomic and climate change uncertainties. Subsequently, this has led to inconsistencies in valuation frameworks related to, for example, planning horizons, discount rates, non-market considerations and future scenarios. Results also indicate a clear gap in the literature on the economic valuation of adaptation measures in the Global South. Furthermore, few studies integrate equity dimensions while planning for adaptation. Extensions of CBA to account for key uncertainties will help policy makers to allocate (often scarce) resources more efficiently and limit the likelihood of maladaptation. Further inclusion of the magnitude and distributional effects of non-market impacts and greater civil society engagement in policy dialogues will also be vital for promoting just and equitable measures that balance adaptation alongside other policy goals such as mitigation, economic development, health and well-being. © 2019 World Scientific Publishing Company.The authors are grateful for support received from the Horizon 2020 RESIN project (EC-H2020, grant agreement No. 653522). Additionally, this work is also supported by the Basque Government through the BERC 2018-2021 program and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness MINECO through the BC3 Mar a de Maeztu excellence accreditation MDM-2017-0714. The authors would also like to thank the referee of the journal, whose detailed comments have led to major changes that have improved the paper

Flight delays in Germany: a model for evaluation of future cost risk

Air traffic has been increasing in Germany over the last decades reaching in 2018 an all-time high with more than 3 million flights. This increase has led to a rise in delays, which generate different costs to airlines, passengers, and Air Navigation Service Providers. This paper focuses on understanding and predicting these costs. For this purpose, a stochastic modelling method is proposed to estimate future air traffic, delays and the cost of future delays. The model allows to better understand what the full distribution of the delay costs may look like. To that end, the paper analyses 1,826 daily items (from 1/1/2014 to 12/31/2018) with information of air traffic and delays for German airspace. Findings suggest that overall mean delay costs for 2019 may be up to 280 million €, while in the 5% worst cases this value could go up to an average of 319 million €. © 2022 Luis Mª Abadie, Ibon Galarraga, Itziar Ruiz-Gauna.This research is supported by the Basque Government through the BERC 2018-2021 program and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness MINECO through BC3 María de Maeztu excellence accreditation MDM-2017-0714

THE ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS of TIED AID and LOCAL CONTENT REQUIREMENTS for CLIMATE FINANCE

The Paris Agreement states that from 2020 developed countries will mobilize at least USD 100 billion per year to support climate action in developing countries. The attainment of this objective involves decisions by donor countries about the channel and destination of climate finance disbursements. This paper explores how the spending conditions associated to different disbursement options can affect the opportunities for donors to expand their exports. In particular, using a Multiregional Input-Output Model, it finds that donors have an economic incentive for choosing bilateral channels that enable to tie aid to the detriment of multilateral ones, such as the Green Climate Fund. On the other hand, local content requirements imposed by recipient countries do not substantially affect donors' exports, since they do not reduce intermediate exports, which represent a relevant share of the total exports generated by the mitigation and adaptation actions analysed. © 2020 World Scientific Publishing Company.The participation of María Victoria Román and Ibon Galarraga on this paper has been funded by CICEP (Strategic Challenges in International Climate and Energy Policy), one of three centres for social science based research on environment-friendly energy established by the Research Council of Norway in 2011 (http://www.cicep.uio.no/). Alberto Ansuategi also thanks financial support from Economy and Competitiveness Ministry of Spain (ECO2015-68023) and the Basque Government (IT-799-13)

Determinants of travel mode choice in Europe: Results from a survey on routine mobility

Understanding the differences in travel behaviour across different countries underlined by trip and individual characteristics are paramount to develop effective policies to nudge a shift towards sustainable mobility. In this study we present a descriptive analysis of the results of a mobility household survey, collecting information on citizen travel behaviour, travel mode choices and the factors influencing them. The study involves five European countries: Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. Results describe how travel mode choice fluctuates with users’ heterogeneity and that different mobility transition policies receive different support from citizens. Instruments implying a direct financial cost are much less accepted than technology- and infrastructure-based policies. Support to policies such as road expansion is also observed. The transition in mobility should then have to deal with households’ beliefs to make them revise their travel behaviours. But the mobility transition is also closely linked to the city development and the distribution of workplace and grocery shopping in the cit

Regional climate change policies: An analysis of commitments, policy instruments and targets

Regional governments represent an increasingly relevant component in climate change policies, which showcase a high interest in the climate change sphere and provide several benefits connected with their governance. This study aims to shed light on this scale of governance by describing the climate change policies of 61 regions from all over the world and by analysing the possible connections between the regional environmental policy instruments and the level of mitigation and adaptation commitment. The results show that the regional governments of this work appear to be an active component in climate policy, since they all have their own GHG emission reduction targets, devise their own climate policies and instruments and participate in international climate networks. All regions have reported mitigation and adaptation commitments, with different levels of ambition. In addition, it is observable that while some regions (mainly the North) focus mostly on mitigation targets, other (the South) focus on adaptation. Finally, there does not seem to be a connection between the level of climate commitment and the preference for some policy instruments. © 2020 FrancoAngeli

Factors affecting energy-efficiency investment in the hotel industry: survey results from Spain

Increasing energy efficiency is a major way of saving energy and thus reducing energy expenses. However, adoption of energy efficiency is generally low, as demonstrated by the energy efficiency gap. To understand that gap, this paper analyses the factors that affect how the energy efficiency attribute is rated in investment in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in the hotel industry in Spain. A survey conducted on two hundred owners of hotels, hostels and holiday cottages (referred to jointly here for the sake of convenience as the hotel industry ) shows that the value placed on energy efficiency is influenced not just by climate conditions, environmental concern and type of hotel but also by other attributes of the HVAC system such as brand reliability, price and performance. The hotel industry may also be identifying EE as a proxy for quality rather than savings. Designing the right energy-efficiency policy entails accounting for potential responses by agents, and this analysis helps identify those drivers to which they may or may not respond. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. part of Springer Nature.This study was undertaken as a part of the CONSumer Energy Efficiency Decision making (CONSEED) project, an EU-funded H2020 research project under grant agreement number 723741. This research is also supported by the Spanish State Research Agency through María de Maeztu Excellence Unit accreditation 2018-2022 (Ref. MDM-2017- 0714) and the Basque Government BERC programme. Financial support from the Government of Spain and the European Regional Development Fund through grants RTI2018-093692-B-I00, RTC2019- 007315-3 and RED2018-102794-T is gratefully acknowledged

The price of energy efficiency in the Spanish housing market

The housing sector is a substantial consumer of energy, and therefore a focus for energy savings efforts. The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), introduced in 2002 and revised in 2010, is a key instrument to increase the energy performance of buildings across the European Union. Following the implementation of the EPBD into Spanish law, all properties offered for sale or rented out in Spain are required to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). Given that the implementation of the EPC scheme for new, existing and advertised properties is still very low in Spain, unlike other European housing markets, the Spanish one lacks market data on energy efficiency (EE) labels and their impact on housing price. To overcome this gap, we determine the EE ratings of a sample of 1507 homes across Spain on the basis of information collected previously through household surveys. This allowed us to answer the question of whether or not, and to what extent, Spanish housing markets capitalise the value of EE. We apply the hedonic-price technique and observe that more energy efficient dwellings have a price-premium between 5.4% and 9.8% compared to those with the same characteristics but lower EE level. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd.The authors acknowledge the PURGE Project (Grant Agreement no. 265325 ) of the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission for financial support in carrying out the survey work. Additionally, Ibon Galarraga wishes to recognise the support of the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Government of Spain (Project ECO2013–41183–P : Economía de la Eficiencia Energética en el Sector Residencial y de Transporte en España)

Promoting energy efficiency at household level: a literature review

The household sector is one of the most energy-intensive sectors in Europe, and thus a focal point for reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy consumption. Energy efficiency is considered a key measure to reduce household energy consumption, but several factors could lead to an underinvestment in energy efficiency. This is the so-called energy efficiency gap or paradox. The factors in question are grouped under market failures (including informational failures), behavioural failures and other factors. Various policies can be used to address these failures and promote the adoption of energy-efficient technologies, including energy standards and codes, economic incentives and information instruments. This paper reviews the empirical evidence to date on energy efficiency policies and discusses their effectiveness. On the one hand, command and control instruments seem to be effective policies, but they have to overcome several barriers. In the case of price instruments, subsidies and taxes do not seem to be effective while rebates present mixed results as they sometimes are effective and in other cases, they could present significant shortcomings. Finally, the effectiveness of informational policies is not always ensured as they depend on the country, sector and product category. Information feedback tools also seem to be effective as they work as a constant reminder of energy-efficient behaviour. Some limitations of energy efficiency policies are also identified, such as the difficulties of implementing codes and standards given that a minimum level need to be achieved, differences in the effectiveness of rebate programmes and non-conclusive results in regard to the effectiveness of monetary energy efficiency labels. © 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. part of Springer Nature.This study was conducted as part of the CONSumer Energy Efficiency Decision making (CONSEED) project, an EU-funded H2020 research project under grant agreement number 723741. This research is also supported by the Spanish State Research Agency through María de Maeztu Excellence Unit accreditation 2018-2022 (Ref. MDM-2017-0714). The project leading to these results has received funding from ‘la Caixa’ Foundation under the project SR0435 led by Ibon Galarraga. Amaya de Ayala also acknowledges the support of Fundación Ramon Areces under XVIII Concurso Nacional para la Adjudicación de Ayudas a la Investigación en Ciencias Sociales. Marta Escapa is grateful for financial support from the University of the Basque Country (Grant GIU18/136) and from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Grant RTI2018-093352-B-I00)

The Effect of Providing Monetary Information on Energy Savings for Household Appliances: A Field Trial in Spain

Energy labels are one of the most widely used policies in the European Union for increasing the energy efficiency of household appliances. However, their effectiveness in promoting energy-efficient purchases has sometimes been called into question. One of the reasons for this is that consumers may have difficulties in fully understanding the energy consumption information provided on labels (in kilowatt-hour per year). Some authors argue that to avoid this problem energy consumption information should be converted into monetary information. We analyse whether providing monetary information on lifetime energy savings can significantly increase purchases of energy-efficient appliances. To that end, a field experiment was carried out with small retailers in Spain. The experiment involved three types of appliances: washing machines, fridges and dishwashers. The impact of monetary information on actual purchases of appliances was tested in different ways: (i) by including a monetary label to display energy savings during the lifetime of the product; (ii) by the monetary information provided by sales staff; and (iii) by combining (i) and (ii). We find that the effectiveness of providing monetary information depends on the appliance and the specific way in which the information is provided. For washing machines, providing monetary information through a monetary label seems effective in promoting the purchase of highly energy-efficient appliances. However, for fridges, both monetary information provided by staff alone and the combination of the monetary label and information from sales staff seem to be effective in promoting purchases of A+++ fridges. Surprisingly, no effect is found for dishwashers. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.This study was conducted as part of the CONSumer Energy Efficiency Decision making (CONSEED) project, an EUfunded H2020 research project under grant agreement number 723741. This research is also supported by the Spanish State Research Agency through María de Maeztu Excellence Unit accreditation 2018-2022 (Ref. MDM-2017-0714). This study was conducted as part of the CONSumer Energy Efficiency Decision making (CONSEED) project, an EU-funded H2020 research project under grant agreement number 723741. This research is also supported by the Spanish State Research Agency through María de Maeztu Excellence Unit accreditation 2018-2022 (Ref. MDM-2017-0714). Financial support from the Government of Spain and the European Regional Development Fund through grant RTI2018-093692-B-I00 is gratefully acknowledged by Amaia de Ayala and Ibon Galarraga. Amaya de Ayala also acknowledges the support of Fundación Ramon Areces under XVIII Concurso Nacional para la Adjudicación de Ayudas a la Investigación en Ciencias Sociales