Major European Climate Project ENTRACTE Launched at ZEW

The Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) will host the kick-off meeting of the research project ENTRACTE (Economic iNsTRuments to Achieve Climate Targets in Europe) on 24 and 25 September, 2012. Researchers of renowned research institutions from six European countries will participate in the event in Mannheim.

On behalf of the EU Commission, ENTRACTE is supposed to work on recommendations for making the European climate policy more effective and more efficient. The project focuses on the interactions between different policy instruments employed in Europe. Within the framework of the project, ZEW cooperates with institutions such as the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the London School of Economics, and with further partners from Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands. Professor Andreas Löschel, head of the ZEW Research Department “Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Management”, coordinates ENTRACTE.

The project is financed under the EU's Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development which provides a research budget of three million euros over a period of 36 months. With ENTRACTE, ZEW once again acquired a major EU research project, and in doing so, the institute's third-party funding surpassed the 100 million euro threshold since its foundation in 1990.

Starting from the kick-off meeting, ZEW and its eight partner institutions will examine the interactions between the individual parts of the EU climate policy portfolio. The European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) requires improvements and complementary policies if it is to play its intended key role in promoting the transition towards a low-carbon economy.

"It takes closer links between various policy areas to achieve a successful and sustainable European climate policy. First, however, we have a lot more to learn about the resulting interactions", says Prof. Andreas Löschel. ENTRACTE hence examines the EU-ETS' effects as well as the interplay of complementary policy instruments such as standards of energy efficiency, the promotion of renewable energies, CO2 emissions taxation, innovation policy and trade policy measures. A goal of the project is to develop policy recommendations regarding the EU climate targets based on the research findings.

For further information please contact

Prof. Dr. Andreas Löschel, Phone +49 621/1235-200, E-mail loeschel@zew.de