Ancillary benefits of climate policy in a small open economy: The case of Sweden
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2011

It is increasingly recognised that GHG reduction policies can have important ancillary benefits in the form of positive local and regional environmental impacts. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the domestic ancillary pollution benefits of climate policy in Sweden, and investigate how these are affected by different climate policy designs. The latter differ primarily in terms of how the country chooses to meet a specific target and where the necessary emission reductions take place. The analysis relies on simulations within the energy system optimisation model TIMES-Sweden, and focuses on four non-GHG pollutants: Nitrogen Oxides (NO(x)), Non Methane Volatile Organic Compounds (NMVOC), inhalable particles (PM(2.5)), and Sulphur dioxide (SO(2)). The simulations permit detailed assessments of the respective technology and fuel choices that underlie any net changes in the estimated ancillary effects. The results indicate that the ancillary benefits constitute a far from insignificant share of total system costs, and this share appears to be highest in the scenarios that entail the largest emission reductions domestically. This result reflects the fact that carbon dioxide emission reductions abroad also implies a lost opportunity of achieving substantial domestic welfare gain from the reductions of regional and local environmental pollutants.

air-pollution

generation

electricity

mitigation policies

Climate policy

Ancillary benefits

Swedish energy system

impacts

Författare

Anna Cecilia Krook Riekkola

Chalmers, Energi och miljö, Energiteknik

Erik Ahlgren

Chalmers, Energi och miljö, Energiteknik

Patrik Söderholm

Luleå tekniska universitet

Energy Policy

0301-4215 (ISSN)

Vol. 39 9 4985-4998

Ämneskategorier

Energiteknik

DOI

10.1016/j.enpol.2011.06.015

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2018-05-14