Is European climate policy the new CAP?

Publishing date: 27 January 2011
Authors: Georg Zachmann

In its third phase (2013-20) the European Union's emissions trading system (ETS) will issue allowances for around two billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent each year. The emission rights are valued at around 30-35 billion at current prices, between one-half and two-thirds of the amount the EU spends on the Common Agricultural Policy. The redistributive effects of the allocation of emission allowances are therefore potentially significant. Quantitative indicators for the relative degree to which individual countries will be affected by the ETS suggest that economic consequences for the member states will be quite different. In this policy brief, Georg Zachmann finds that countries with less favourable initial conditions are eventually largely compensated.

Click here here to download the ETS indicators by country

Bruegel also produced a video of the author Georg Zachmann commenting on the findings of his policy brief.
Watch the video

About the authors

Georg Zachmann

Georg Zachmann is a Senior Fellow at Bruegel, where he has worked since 2009 on energy and climate policy. His work focuses on regional and distributional impacts of decarbonisation, the analysis and design of carbon, gas and electricity markets, and EU energy and climate policies. Previously, he worked at the German Ministry of Finance, the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, the energy think tank LARSEN in Paris, and the policy consultancy Berlin Economics.