Toward a just energy transition: A distributional analysis of low-carbon policies in the USA

Distributional impacts of environmental policies have become an increasingly important consideration in policymaking. To evaluate the distributional impacts of carbon pricing with different revenue recycling schemes for the USA, we integrate national economic model for the USA with household microdata that provides consumption patterns and other socio-economic characteristics for thousands of households. Using this combined model, we explore the distributional impacts and the possible trade-offs between equity and efficiency of different revenue recycling schemes. We find that the choice of revenue recycling scheme has a limited effect on efficiency of the policy, but significant distributional impacts. Our analysis indicates that policy makers can mitigate negative distributional impacts with positive synergies on efficiency.Xaquin Garcia-Muros acknowledges financial support from the European Union's H2020-MSCA-IF-2017 Actions No 796650 (CHANCE project)

Who bears the burden of greening electricity?

Faced with the threat of climate change many countries are promoting renewable energies to decarbonize their energy system. A common policy to foster electricity from renewable energy sources are feed-in tariffs which are financed by surcharges on electricity prices. Higher electricity prices in turn raise concerns on regressive distributional impacts. In this paper, we investigate the distributional impacts of three alternative policies to subsidize renewable energy production in Spain: (i) exemptions from the electricity surcharge for residential consumers, (ii) an increase in mineral oil taxes, and (iii) an increase in value-added taxes. We find that all three options can attenuate the regressive distributional effects compared to feed-in tariffs. For our quantitative impact assessment, we couple a microsimulation model with a computable general equilibrium model to capture the incidence on heterogeneous households in an economy-wide framework.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. In addition, this study received funding from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of Spain ( RTI2018-093352-B-I00 ) and from the European Unio

Análisis de una reforma fiscal ambiental para España con devoluciones para todos los hogares. Papeles de Economía Española,

En los últimos años diversos organismos internacionales han señalado la importancia de potenciar la fiscalidad energético-ambiental en España dado su reducido uso en la actualidad. En este trabajo proponemos y analizamos una reforma o paquete fiscal ambiental en España que podría elevar su aceptabilidad política y social, inspirada en la propuesta “carbon fee and dividend” de Estados Unidos y apoyada por amplios sectores demócratas y republicanos. La reforma incluye tres impuestos (carburantes, contaminantes atmosféricos y CO2 en sectores difusos) y la devolución de la recaudación (estimada en 6800 millones €) mediante transferencias directas e iguales para todos los hogares (417 € por hogar). La propuesta generaría una notable reducción de las emisiones de CO2 (14%), NOX (13%) y SO2 (17%) y una pequeña reducción del PIB (0,2%). La medida sería claramente progresiva, viendo aumentado el primer y segundo quintil de renta su capacidad media de gasto en 302 y 69 € anuales. Los hogares por debajo del umbral de la pobreza verían aumentado su capacidad media de gasto en 301 €. No obstante, esta reforma podría ser diseñada para modular su progresividad o para incluir una mayor protección a colectivos vulnerables.Agradecemos los comentarios recibido por Xavier Labandeira, Desiderio Romero Jordán y José Félix Sanz Sanz. Los autores también reconocen la financiación recibida del programa Horizonte 2020 de la Unión Europea (Proyecto TRANSrisk, nº 642260) y del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España (ECO2015-68023). Mikel González-Eguino agradece la financiación recibida del Gobierno Vasco (IT-799-13). Los autores declaran que no tienen conflictos d

Análisis de impacto de alternativas para la financiación de las energías renovables en España

This article analyzes the economic, social and environmental impact of various financing mechanisms for the regulated costs of renewable energies in the electricity sector (RECORE) in Spain. The scenarios analysed, alternative to the current system, in which the costs are transferred in full to the electricity bill of final consumers, are the following: financing through the General State Budgets (PGE scenario), financing through a tax proportional to final energy consumption (Energy scenario) and financed through a CO2 tax in diffuse sectors (CO2 scenario). The study uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and a micro-simulation model that includes detailed information on the 22,000 households included in the Household Budget Survey. The results show that the impact at the macroeconomic level is positive but very small for all the scenarios analyzed and that the changes at the sectoral level or in emissions depend notably on the scenario. All the scenarios favor low-income households since their spending on electricity represents a relatively higher percentage of their income. Although no alternative is better in all the dimensions analyzed, taxes on energy or CO2 favor the energy transition, while the PGE alter native generates more progressive distributional effects.Este trabajo ha sido cofinanciado por Iberdrola, el programa BERC 2018-2021, el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad a través de la distinción María de Maeztu excelencia acreditación MDM-2017- 0714 y el Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades de España (RTI2018-093352-B-I00

Análisis de impacto del Plan Nacional Integrado de Energía y Clima PNIEC 2021-2030 de España

Este artículo recoge un análisis del impacto del borrador del Plan Nacional Integrado de Energía y Clima (PNIEC) 2021-2030 de España, cuyo objetivo central es reducir las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) un 23 por 100 con respecto a 1990. El estudio utiliza varios modelos (DENIO y FASTT-TM5) para abordar los impactos de una forma integrada y multidisciplinar. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que el PNIEC movilizaría 241.000 millones de euros, de los cuales un 80 por 100 provendría de financiación privada. Las medidas del PNIEC reducirían en 67.000 millones de euros la importación de combustibles fósiles, que serían sustituidos por energías renovables autóctonas, y generarían un aumento del PIB del 1,8 por 100 en 2030 y del empleo neto entre 253.000 y 348.000 empleos/año. La reducción de GEI, lleva asociada una importante reducción de emisiones de contaminantes atmosféricos que causan daño a la salud (SO2, NOX, PM2.5, entre otras), lo que supondría una reducción del 27 por 100 de las muertes prematuras. Una conclusión robusta de este trabajo, similar a la de otros estudios recientes (OCDE, 2017; Comisión Europea, 2018; FUNSEAM, 2018 o IRENA, 2019), es que las soluciones para la crisis climática además de urgentes y necesarias, son una oportunidad, si son bien aprovechadas por aquellos países importadores netos de combustibles fósiles y que además disponen de recursos renovables.Los autores/as agradecen al equipo de la Subdirección General de Energías Renovables y Estudios del MITECO, a cargo de la mode-lización energética: Patricia Bañón, Miriam Bueno, Alejandro Fernández, Javier Galar-za, Víctor Marcos y Manuel Pérez. También a Pedro Linares (Universidad P. Comillas), Antxon Olabe (MITECO), Sara Aagesen (MITECO), Hugo Lucas (IDAE) y Eduardo González (OECC) por los comentarios recibi-dos, así como a IDAE y la Oficina Española de Cambio Climático y la Unidad de Inventarios por la información proporcionada. Cualquier error es responsabilidad de los autores. Fi-nalmente, agradecen la cofinanciación del Gobierno Vasco a través del programa BERC 2018-2021 y del Gobierno de España a tra-vés de la acreditación de BC3 como centro María de Maeztu (MDM-2017-0714) y MI-NECO (RTI2018-093352-B-I00)

Climate action from a gender perspective: A systematic review of the impact of climate policies on inequality

In 1992 the United Nations committed to promoting a gender perspective in all environmental and development programs and to establishing mechanisms for assessing the impact of environmental policies on women. However, 30 years later most countries acknowledge that they have not integrated that perspective into policy assessments. This paper provides the first systematic literature review (based on the PRISMA approach) of the impacts of climate policies on inequality from a gender perspective. The results show that although this is an emerging research area, the number of works is still very low: we find only 29 papers, most of them written in the last 4 years. There is also a clear lack of quantitative analysis; and only 5 studies provide an ex ante impact assessment. A more in depth-analysis shows that the existing analyses often use gender merely as an additional explanatory variable, but key aspects for a real gender-oriented analysis such as power relations, intersectionality and gender mainstreaming are missing. The gender perspective is typically more absent in studies led by men. If science wants to contribute to the generation of knowledge that is useful for tackling some of the greatest challenges of the 21st century, such as the transition to a socioeconomic model that is more respectful with the ecological limits of the planet and gender equality, it is important to expand knowledge in this area but also to reconnect with feminist theory. © 2024 The Author(s)This research is supported by María de Maeztu Excellence Unit 2023–2027 Ref. CEX2021–001201-M, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.130 39/501100011033 and by the Basque Government through the BERC 2022–2025 program

Transport poverty indicators: A new framework based on the household budget survey

The energy transition represents an economic opportunity in many countries, but it can also disproportionately affect vulnerable households. Although increasing attention has been paid on energy poverty at homes, there is another dimension in which research has not yet placed enough emphasis: Transport poverty. This study proposes a framework for measuring transport poverty that uses information from the Household Budget Survey (HBS), a standardized database that is available every year in many countries. We develop and test 3 indicators that cover the affordability dimension of transport poverty (10%, 2 M, LHIC) and another one that also includes the accessibility dimension (VTU). Our research is supplemented by a statistical analysis that enables us to identify the drivers of transport poverty and by an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of each metric. This framework offers a new common base for measuring transport poverty in different regions and enables transport poverty to be tracked over time. © 2023 The AuthorsThis research is supported by the European Climate Foundation (grant G-2205-64027) and by the Spanish State Research Agency through María de Maeztu Excellence Unit accreditation 2018–2022 (Ref. MDM-2017-0714)

The socioeconomic future of deltas in a changing environment

Deltas are especially vulnerable to climate change given their low-lying location and exposure to storm surges, coastal and fluvial flooding, sea level rise and subsidence. Increases in such events and other circumstances are contributing to the change in the environmental conditions in the deltas, which translates into changes in the productivity of ecosystems and, ultimately, into impacts on livelihoods and human well-being. Accordingly, climate change will affect not only the biophysical conditions of deltaic environments but also their economic circumstances. Furthermore, these economic implications will spill over to other regions through goods and services supply chains and via migration. In this paper we take a wider view about some of the specific studies within this Special Issue. We analyse the extent to which the biophysical context of the deltas contributes to the sustainability of the different economic activities, in the deltas and in other regions. We construct a set of environmental-extended multiregional input-output databases and Social Accounting Matrices that are used to trace the flow of provisioning ecosystem services across the supply chains, providing a view of the links between the biophysical environment and the economic activities. We also integrate this information into a Computable General Equilibrium model to assess how the changes in the provision of natural resources due to climate change can potentially affect the economies of the deltas and linked regions, and how this in turn affects economic vulnerability and sustainability in these regions. © 2018This work was carried out under the DEltas, vulnerability and Climate Change: Migration and Adaptation (DECCMA) project which is part of Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA), with financial support from the UK Government's Department for International Development ( DfID ) and the International Development Research Centre ( IDRC ), Canada

Clima motivacional hacia el deporte y su relación con hábitos de ocio digital sedentario en estudiantes universitarios

Resumen El uso abusivo de videojuegos se asocia a consecuencias negativas para la salud, como son problemas músculo-esqueléticos, patología ocular o problemas cognitivos y emocionales. Ante esta problemática, múltiples estudios han demostrado como un estilo de vida activo mediante la práctica deportiva genera efectos positivos para la salud que rompen con las consecuencias del ocio digital sedentario. Este estudio de carácter descriptivo y corte transversal, realizado en una muestra de 490 estudiantes universitarios, tiene como objetivo analizar la relación entre el clima motivacional hacia el deporte y el uso problemático de videojuegos, usando como principales instrumentos los cuestionarios CERV, CHCV y PMCSQ-2. Los resultados revelaron que aquellos universitarios que obtenían mayores puntuaciones en Clima Tarea y sus subcategorías eran los que menos problemas patológicos presentaban. Por el contrario, los participantes que padecían problemas potenciales o problemas severos, así como un nivel de uso y atracción medio, obtenían medias más elevadas en Clima Ego, Reconocimiento Desigual y Rivalidad entre Miembros. Se concluye que los universitarios con metas de logro en el deporte orientadas al Ego pueden presentar mayores problemas asociados al uso de videojuegos, principalmente por su búsqueda de motivaciones extrínsecas como la sensación de victoria, obtener mejor rendimiento que otros rivales o alcanzar nuevos retos. De este modo, resulta vital orientar la práctica deportiva a las motivaciones intrínsecas con el fin de evitar el abandono en el deporte y desarrollar una práctica más hedonista que se aleje de hábitos sedentarios.Abusive use of video games is associated with negative health consequences, such as musculoskeletal problems, eye disease, or cognitive and emotional problems. In this sense, several studies have shown that an active lifestyle based on sport practice can generate positive health effects that discontinue the consequences of sedentary digital leisure. This descriptive and cross-sectional research was conducted on a sample of 490 university students. The main objective was to determine the relationship between problematic use of video games and motivational climate in sports, using as main instruments the CERV, CHCV, and PMCSQ-2 questionnaires. The results showed that those students who got a higher score on Task Climate and its categories were the participants who presented less pathological problems. By contrast, students who had potential or severe problems, as well as a medium level of use and attraction to video games, got a higher average in Ego Climate, Uneven Recognition, and Rivalry among Members. It is concluded that university students with achievement goals in sports that are oriented to Ego can show more problems associated with the use of video games, mainly because of its pursuit of extrinsic motivations like the feeling of victory, achievement of better performance in comparison with rivals or the quest for new challenges. Therefore, it is vital to promote a sport practice associated with intrinsic motivations in order to avoid sport abandonment and develop a more hedonistic practice to avert sedentary habits