Thematic Platform "Green Transformation and Energy Systems"

Die österreichischen Bundesländer haben umfangreiche Kompetenzen in für die grüne Transformation wesentlichen Bereichen, es gibt aber in Hinblick auf den energetischen Endverbrauch auch beträchtliche bundesländerspezifische Unterschiede. Für die Wahrnehmung der gesamtstaatlichen Aufgabe Klimaschutz ist die Beteiligung aller gebietskörperschaftlichen Ebenen in einem kohärenten Politikrahmen erforderlich. Der Finanzausgleich wird als Hebel zur Implementierung der österreichischen Klimaziele bislang nur wenig genutzt. Die Studie stellt Überlegungen konzeptionell-theoretischer Natur an, um die Basis für eine Entwicklung konkreter Maßnahmen und Instrumente für eine stärkere Ökologisierung des Finanzausgleichs zu schaffen. Abschließend werden grob kurz- und mittelfristig umsetzbare Optionen für die Ökologisierung des österreichischen Finanzausgleichs skizziert.

For the project "Social Aspects of Market-Based Instruments for Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions – SoMBI" Austria and Poland were chosen as case study countries to compare the impacts of an EU-wide carbon price combined with different revenue recycling policies. The detailed analysis will focus on the macroeconomic and greenhouse gas emission effects of the introduction of the carbon pricing and revenue recycling schemes as well as the distributional effects of such price mechanisms for different household types. The two countries were chosen as they differ considerably in terms of their energy systems and economic conditions. Further differences regard the level of ambition of the respective domestic climate policies as well as the priorities set in energy policies. The aim of this paper is to provide indications of the sectors that are emission-intensive and/or labour-intensive and are likely to gain or lose from the chosen revenue recycling mechanisms. Moreover, the findings will provide background information for the interpretation of modelling results for the various carbon pricing and recycling options.

This research brief provides an overview of the characteristics of households potentially at risk of double energy vulnerability. First, we ask what determines low-income households that are particularly affected by pricing CO₂ emissions. Based on this, we identify characteristics that are considered relevant for mapping households' vulnerability to rising carbon prices and look for suitable indicators that can quantify these categories. From the sum of identified characteristics, we identify vulnerable households and present preliminary results on how many households in Austria are potentially significantly affected by rising fuel and carbon prices.

A concerted worldwide effort to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement brings about a substantial increase in raw material demand for the production and deployment of clean energy technologies. Yet, raw materials required for the energy transition show high emissions intensities in mining and production. Producing secondary resources, in particular metals and critical raw materials (CRMs) like rare earth metals, from recycling End-of-Life (EoL) waste streams of PV panels, e-vehicles, and wind turbines (PEW) involves substantially less energy input than converting it from ore. With this background the aim of our project was 1) to quantify the potential of EoL waste streams of PEW, including the CRMs for recycling, 2) to project the future secondary resource potential assuming a decarbonising scenario of the Austrian economy, and 3) to assess the economic impacts from potential recycling loops using the macroeconomic model WIFO.DYNK. Results show that from an investor's point of view, recycling plants appear not profitable under the selected price assumptions. Introducing a minimum "gate-fee" for EoL waste streams can yet ensure the profitability and investments for recycling plants. From a macroeconomic perspective, recycling of EoL PEW devices generates value-added, employment as well as dividends in climate mitigation and resource or energy security.

In this paper, we present a novel approach of linking the technical model of the continental European electricity system ATLANTIS with the macroeconomic model DYNK to provide comprehensive integrated power and socio-economic analyses. We thoroughly describe both models and explain the work that has been done to interlink the models. Further, we take Austria's generation expansion plans to transform the electricity sector to 100 percent renewable energy sources (national balance) by 2030 and analyse the effects of different CO₂ prices on the electricity demand that couples the two models via a feedback loop. As the electricity price and demand are interlaced and influence each other, the linked models are solved iteratively until convergence, i.e., until the change of the electricity demand from the DYNK model does not affect the electricity price in the ATLANTIS model anymore. The results show that coupling a technical and macroeconomic model is possible and convergence is achieved after just a few iterations.

In the "Fit for 55" package of July 2021, the European Commission proposed inter alia a revision of the energy taxation directive with the intent of increasing tax rates for fossil fuels that should contribute to achieving the EU's emission reduction targets for 2030. Since then, climate policy challenges in the EU have been amplified by sharp increases in electricity and gas prices mainly as a result of the war in Ukraine. Energy price spikes have led to the implementation of numerous compensation measures for households and firms in EU member countries. In this article, we provide an overview of the discussion on energy taxation in the EU and analyse compensation measures implemented during the energy crisis. We find that energy cost related compensation measures counter climate policy efforts. A stronger focus on vulnerable groups would have reduced the overall costs of measures and entailed stronger energy efficiency incentives.

We analyse the (techno- and macro-)economic and distributive effects of a transformation to a renewable electricity system in Austria by 2030, as stipulated by the Austrian government. For the analysis, the macroeconomic model DYNK and ATLANTIS, a partial model of the electricity market, were expanded and linked. Four transformation scenarios conforming with the 100 percent renewable electricity target in Austria on a national balance are examined, integrated into a consistent scenario for the development of the European electricity system. Additionally, sensitivity analyses with respect to the gas price are performed. Although all scenarios achieve 100 percent RES-E on a national balance, the analysis shows that electricity from gas-fired power plants will still be needed in 2030 to balance variable renewable generation, to avoid grid congestion, and for heat generation from combined heat and power plants in winter months. Another main conclusion from the simulations is that the transition towards a renewable electricity sector is almost neutral from a socio-economic perspective. It does neither reveal harmful impacts nor lead to high multiplier effects from additional investment. With high natural gas prices in the sensitivity scenarios a decrease in GDP and household income, which might motivate redistributive policies, can be observed.

Im Rahmen der Revision der Effort-Sharing-Verordnung (Effort Sharing Regulation – ESR) werden die Verpflichtungen der EU-Mitgliedsländer zur Reduktion der Treibhausgasemissionen für die nicht dem EU-Emissionshandelssystem (EU-ETS) angehörenden Sektoren – den Nicht-Emissionshandelssektoren (Non-ETS) – festgelegt. Die für die Mitgliedsländer bisher festgelegten Reduktionsziele für 2030 reichen aufgrund der Anhebung des EU-weiten Reduktionsziels der Treibhausgasemissionen auf 55% bis zum Jahr 2030 gegenüber 1990 für die Zielerreichung nicht aus. Das betrifft auch das bisherige österreichische Reduktionsziel für die Effort-Sharing-Sektoren von 36% bis 2030 gegenüber den CO2-Emissionen 2005. Die EU schlägt als neues Ziel für Österreich eine Verringerung der Treibhausgasemissionen von 48% vor. Die Kurzanalyse stellt dar, welche Reduktionspfade für einzelne Sektoren aus einer Anhebung des Reduktionsziels für den gesamten Effort-Sharing-Sektor folgen würden.