Energy inefficiency in production implies that the same level of goods and services could be produced using less energy. The potential energy inefficiency of a firm may be linked to long-term structural rigidities in the production process and/or systematic shortcomings in management (persistent inefficiency), or associated with temporary issues like misallocation of resources (transient inefficiency). Eliminating or mitigating different inefficiencies may require different policy measures. Studies measuring industrial energy inefficiency have mostly focused on overall inefficiencies and have paid little attention to distinctions between the types. The aim of this study was to assess whether energy inefficiency is transient and/or persistent in the Swedish manufacturing industry. I used a firm-level panel dataset covering fourteen industrial sectors from 1997 to 2008 and estimated a stochastic energy demand frontier model. The model included a four-component error term separating persistent and transient inefficiency from unobserved heterogeneity and random noise. I found that both transient and persistent energy inefficiencies exist in most sectors of the Swedish manufacturing industry. Overall, persistent energy inefficiency was larger than transient, but varied considerably in different manufacturing sectors. The results suggest that, generally, energy inefficiencies in the Swedish manufacturing industry were related to structural rigidities connected to technology and/or management practices.
Energy efficiency improvement (EEI) benefits the climate and matters for energy security. The potential emission and energy savings due to EEI may however not fully materialize due to the rebound effect. In this study, we measure the size of the rebound effect for fuel and electricity within the four most energy intensive sectors in Sweden: pulp and paper, basic iron and steel, chemical, and mining. We use a detailed firm-level panel data set for 2000–2008 and apply Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) for measuring the rebound effect. We find that neither fuel nor electricity rebound effects fully offset the potential energy and emission savings. Among the determinants, we find CO2 intensity and fuel/electricity share to be useful indicators for identifying firms with higher or lower rebound effect within each sector.
Energy efficiency improvement (EEI) benefits the climate and matters for energy security. The potential emission and energy savings due to EEI may however not fully materialize due to the rebound effect. In this study, we measure the size of rebound effect for the two energy types fuel and electricity within the four most energy intensive sectors in Sweden – pulp and paper, basic iron and steel, chemical, and mining. We use a detailed firm-level panel data set for the period 2000-2008 and apply Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) for measuring the rebound effect. We find that both fuel and electricity rebound effects do not fully offset the potential for energy and emission savings. Furthermore, we find CO2 intensity and fuel and electricity share as the two main determinants of rebound effect in Swedish heavy industry. Our results seems to imply that it matters both to what extent and where to promote EEI, as the rebound effect varies between sectors as well as between firms within sectors.
Energy efficiency improvement (EEI) is generally known to be a cost-effective measure for meeting energy, climate and sustainable growth targets. Unfortunately, behavioral responses to such improvements (called energy rebound effects) may reduce the expected savings in energy and emissions from EEI. Hence, the size of this effect should be considered to help set realistic energy and climate targets. Currently there are significant differences in approaches for measuring rebound effect. Here, we used a two-step procedure to measure both short- and long-term energy rebound effects in the Swedish manufacturing industry. In the first step, we used data envelopment analysis (DEA) to obtain energy efficiency scores. In the second step, we estimated energy rebound effects using a dynamic panel regression model. This approach was applied to a firmlevel panel dataset covering all 14 sectors in the Swedish manufacturing industry over the period 1997–2008. We showed that, in the short run, partial rebound effects exist within most of manufacturing sectors, meaning that the rebound effect decreased, but did not totally offset, the energy and emission savings expected from EEI. The long-term rebound effect was smaller than the shortterm effect, implying that within each sector, energy and emission savings due to EEI are larger in the long run compared to the short run.
The aim of this paper is to explore some of the theoretical and empirical aspects of an economy which includes cultural capital. We use a simple dynamic growth model and the concept of a social accounting matrix (SAM) to illustrate how the addition of income flows and net changes of various natural and cultural resources can be incorporated into a broader measure of welfare. The Swedish reindeer industry, managed by the indigenous Sami people, is used as an example since it is generally regarded to have significant cultural heritage value, beyond its contribution to conventional national accounts. We discuss a theoretically correct compensation to a cultural sector for preserving and maintaining a cultural heritage. Furthermore, we attempt to estimate the cultural value of the Sámi Reindeer sector in Sweden using a CVM survey. The results suggest that the willingness to pay (per year) to maintain cultural heritage at least at the current level may be quite substantive, estimates showing it can be several times the industry's turnover per year.
We develop a model for pollution abatement that distinguishes between prevention and treatment technologies, in order to better understand the optimal mix of abatement measures. Our model separates the production process into two stages, an initial production and prevention stage and a final treatment (or cure) stage. We allow for reallocation of abatement investment across the production stages, in order to improve overall abatement and production and to better understand the tradeoffs between abatement measures. This framework is relevant in practice for numerous industrial production processes, including manufacturing and energy, which employ different abatement measures at different stages of production. In our application to Sweden’s pulp and paper sector, we find the industry could achieve further gains to both production and emissions reductions, beyond those estimated using more common single-stage technology estimation methods, by reallocating abatement investments. These results could be used to improve firm environmental management decisions, and to better target policy incentives to specific forms of abatement.
Production theory offers a mathematical framework for modeling important relationships between production activities and the environment. These include the generation and valuation of production-related environmental effects, environmental contributions to production processes, and production effects of environmental management practices. In this chapter, we review the seminal and recent empirical work in each of these areas. We anchor our review to multi-input/multi-output production processes, as these make up a large share of environmental applications in the field, and their associated models offer the practitioner considerable flexibility in terms of specification and estimation.
This paper provides a brief overview of methods to incorporate ecosystem service values into measures of agricultural total factor productivity (TFP), both in theory and in practice. This includes a review of the academic literature, a summary of related economic index theory, and a comparison of agency guidelines. We consider areas of consensus between the agencies and the research literature, as well as open debates surrounding the implementation of a standardized ecosystem accounting framework to integrate with existing TFP measures. This helps to bridge the gap between theoretical approaches to measurement and valuation in the research literature and their implementation in practice by national accounting agencies. Better connecting theory to practice also serves to highlight common challenges in the field, including questions of definition, scope, and scale for ecosystem services, as well as data collection and dissemination. We end with a summary of recommendations for moving forward.
This study examines the role of investment in environmental production practices for both environmental performance and energy efficiency over time. We employ a network DEA approach that links successive production technologies through intertemporal investment decisions with a period by period estimation. This allows us to estimate energy efficiency and environmental performance separately, as well as productivity change and its associated decompositions into efficiency change and technology change. Incorporating a network model also allows us to account for both short-term environmental management practices and long-term environmental investments in each of our productivity measures. We apply this framework to a panel of detailed plant-level production data for Swedish manufacturing firms covering the years 2002-2008.
We update developments on modeling technology including unintended outputs and show how these can, at least to a large extent, be incorporated in a network model framework. Recently there have been efforts to specify more detailed models which include multiple functions to separately capture intended and unintended products. Yet another recent strand of the recent literature has also explicitly tried to include a material balance condition in the model. We see this general evolution as beginning with what might be called a black box technology, with inputs entering the box, and good and bad outputs exiting the box. The more sophisticated models can be thought of as filling in the black box with the more detailed processes involved with production, prevention and abatement, with production accompanied by undesirable byproducts subject to legal regulations and laws of nature. This can be modeled as a network within the black box.
This paper presents an approach for studying the socio-economic benefits and costs (CBA) of the introduction of intensified management measures in forestry. Besides from valuation of changes in timber production, assessments of different types of externalities are included in the assessment. The model is exemplified with the use of data from a Swedish governmental study undertaken in 2009 which present impacts on the Swedish forest sector if intensified management measures are applied on environmentally low-valued land and abandoned agricultural lands. The CBA shows that intensified management measures typically are private financially profitable. If these measures also become profitable from the society’s point of view depend on the size of the external effects including carbon balance.
This study investigates the effect of a CO2 tax on profitability by using firm-level data on output and inputs from Swedish industry between 1990 and 2004. The purpose of this exercise is to investigate the validity of the so-called Porter hypothesis. By utilizing a factor-demand modeling approach, and specifying a profit function that has a technology component dependent upon firm-specific effective tax on CO2, we are able to separate out the effect of regulatory pressure on technological progress. The results indicate that there is evidence of a “reversed” Porter effect in most industrial sectors, especially in energy-intensive industries; that is, after controlling for the fuel price effect, technological progress and consequently profits are further negatively affected by the CO2 tax.
This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature connected to the so-called Porter hypothesis; that is, it reviews the literature connected to the relation between environmental policy and competitiveness. According to the conventional wisdom environmental policy, aiming for improving the environment through, for example emission reductions, does imply costs since scarce resources must be diverted from somewhere else. However, this conventional wisdom has been challenged and questioned recently through what has been denoted the “Porter hypothesis”. Advocates of the Porter hypothesis challenge the conventional wisdom on the ground that resources are used inefficiently in the absence of the right kind of environmental regulations, and that the conventional neoclassical view is too static to take inefficiencies into account. The conclusions that can be drawn from this review are: (1) that the theoretical literature can identify the circumstances and mechanisms that must exist for a Porter effect to occur, (2) that these circumstances are rather non-general, hence rejecting the Porter hypothesis in general, and (3) that the empirical literature gives no general support for the Porter hypothesis. Furthermore, a closer look at the “Swedish case” reveals no support for the Porter hypothesis in spite of the fact that Swedish environmental policy the last 15–20 years seems to be in line the prerequisites stated by the Porter hypothesis concerning environmental policy.
We assess the effects on Swedish industry input demands and output of different climate policy scenarios connected to energy policy induced by the Kyoto protocol. We use a unique dataset containing firm-level data on outputs and inputs between 1991 and 2001 to estimate a factor demand model, which we use to simulate different policy scenarios. Sector-specific estimation suggests that the proposed quadratic profit function specification exhibits properties and robustness that are consistent with economic theory; that is, all own-price elasticities are negative and all output elasticities are positive. Furthermore, the elasticities show that the input demands are, in most cases, relatively inelastic. Simulation of the model for six different policy scenarios reveal that effects on the Swedish base industry of a EU-level permit-trading system depends on (i) the removal or maintenance of the current CO2 tax, (ii) the price of permits, and (iii) the future price of electricity. Our analysis shows that changes in electricity price may be more important than the price of permits for some sectors.
We analyze carbon intensity performance at firm level and the effectiveness of the Swedish CO2 tax. Carbon intensity performance is derived from a production technology and measured as changes in the CO2 emission-output production ratio. As one of the first countries to introduce a CO2 tax in 1991, Sweden serves as an appropriate "test bench" for analyzing the effectiveness of climate policy in general. Firm level data from Swedish manufacturing spanning over the period 1990-2004 is used for the analysis. Results show that EP has improved in all the sectors and there is an evidence of decoupling of output production growth and CO2 emissions. Firms' carbon intensity performance responds both to changes in the CO2 tax and fossil fuel price, but is more sensitive to the tax.
The overall objective of the paper is to analyze convergence of CO2 emission intensity across manufacturing sectors in Sweden. Our approach differs from previous work on carbon convergence in that it employs a theoretical framework to construct a CO2 performance index, which explicitly takes into account that industrial firms produce good as well as bad outputs. This index is then used as the dependent variable in a growth-type regression equation. We employ a data set covering 14 industrial sectors over the time period 1990–2008. The results suggest the presence of conditional β-convergence in CO2 performance among the industrial sectors in Sweden. Moreover, the speed of convergence varies significantly in the sense that the higher the capital intensity is, the lower is the convergence rate to the different steady states. This is likely to reflect the importance of – and in part the costs associated with – capital turnover to achieve a transition towards lower CO2 emission paths.
The overall objective of the paper is to analyze convergence of CO2 emission intensity across manufacturing sectors in Sweden. Our approach differs from previous work on carbon convergence in that it employs a theoretical framework to construct a CO2 performance index, which explicitly takes into account that industrial firms produce good as well as bad outputs. This index is then used as the dependent variable in a growth-type regression equation. We employ a data set covering 14 industrial sectors over the time period 1990-2008. The results suggest the presence of conditional β-convergence in CO2 performance among the industrial sectors in Sweden. Moreover, the speed of convergence varies significantly in the sense that the higher the capital intensity is, the lower is the convergence rate to the different steady states. This reflects the importance of – and in part the costs associated with – capital turnover to achieve a transition towards lower CO2 emission paths.
The purpose of this paper is to estimate industry-specific direct rebound effects and to relate these effects to industry energy efficiency programs. The rebound effect represents economic behavior that will offset energy savings from energy efficiency improvements. The paper focuses on four energy intense sectors in Sweden; pulp and paper, iron and steel, chemical, and mining, during 2001-2012. We apply a factor demand model that allows for asymmetric energy price responses, i.e. that firms respond differently to increasing and decreasing energy prices. The results show considerable rebound effects. For electricity and non-fossil fuels, efficiency improvements could even `backfire'. To mitigate this effect, policies, such as voluntary energy efficiency programs, should be combined with an increase in energy taxes if the ambition is to reduce overall energy use.
In this paper, we use an integrated assessment model to examine the implications of not recognizing, and partially recognizing forest carbon in climate policy. Specifically, we investigate the impact of an asymmetric carbon policy that recognizes emissions from fossil fuels while ignoring emissions from forests. We additionally investigate the relative importance of not recognizing positive emissions from a reduction in the stock of forest biomass, or of not recognizing negative emissions from the growth of forest biomass. We show that asymmetric carbon policies lead to lower levels of welfare, as well as higher emissions and carbon prices. This occurs because the forest resource will be allocated inefficiently under these carbon policies. Broadly, we find that when the social planner does not account for neither positive or negative forest emissions, the planner will set bioenergy levels that are too high and afforestation and avoided deforestation levels that are too low. Our results further reveal that not recognizing forest emissions leads to larger welfare losses than not recognizing sequestration.
Using an integrated assessment model, we examine the implications of climate policies that do not fully recognize forest carbon. Specifically, we first investigate the impact of an asymmetric policy that recognizes carbon emissions from fossil fuels while fully ignoring forest carbon. Next, we investigate the relative importance of not recognizing emissions from a reduction in the stock of forest biomass compared to not recognizing sequestration from the growth of forest biomass. We show that asymmetric carbon policies lead to lower levels of welfare, as well as higher emissions and carbon prices. This occurs because the forest resource will be allocated inefficiently under these carbon policies. Broadly, we find that when the social planner does not account for emissions or sequestration from the forest, the planner will set bioenergy levels that are too high and afforestation and avoided deforestation levels that are too low. Our results further reveal that not recognizing forest emissions leads to larger welfare losses than not recognizing sequestration.
In this paper, we study environmental efficiency (EE) within a pollution-generating technology. Good output and bad output (pollution) are explicitly modeled by imposing technology properties of disposability and null-jointness. With data on firms from Swedish manufacturing, we investigate the potential to reduce emissions, and we take a closer look at the pulp and paper sector. Dividing the firms into ‘brown’ and ‘green’ firms, we find that there is significant potential, in both categories, to improve EE, and hence lower emissions, of three air pollutants (CO2, SO2, NOx). Generally, the methods and results encourage similar and comparative studies on the manufacturing sector in other countries. If there is a comparable potential elsewhere, such as in major polluting countries like China, there is potential to promote a sustainable society by conducting effective energy and climate policies. We also suggest that treating biofuels as completely carbon neutral, as is common practice when constructing emission data in Sweden (Statistics Sweden), may lead to incorrect EE scores and consequently misleading policy implications.
This paper studies the interaction between economic and environmental performance. Applying the directional output distance function approach, the purpose is to compare estimates of Luenberger total factor productivity indicators, including and excluding bad outputs. Specifically, based on unique firm level data from Swedish manufacturing covering the period 1990 to 2008, we explore to what extent excluding bad outputs leads to erroneous productivity measurement. The main conclusion is that bad outputs should not only be included in the estimations, but also reduction in bad outputs should be credited. From this point of view the directional output distance function approach and the Luenberger indicator serves as an appropriate basis of productivity measurement.
The production of desirable (good) outputs is frequently accompanied by unintended production of undesirable (bad) outputs. If two or more of these undesirable outputs are produced as byproducts, one may ask: ‘Which bad is worst?’ By worst we mean which bad inhibits the production of desirable outputs the most if it is regulated. We develop a model based on Leif Johansen’s capacity framework by estimating the capacity limiting effect of the bads. Our model resembles what is referred to as the von Liebig Law of the Minimum, familiar from the agricultural economics literature. To illustrate our model we apply our approach to a firm level data set from the Swedish paper and pulp industry.
Environmental and transport policies based on marginal external costs, such as a kilometre tax for heavy goods vehicles, can be constrained by the risk of industries incurring higher production costs than competitors in other countries. We estimate factor demand elasticities in the wood and the pulp and paper industries using firm level data for the 1990-2001 period on input prices and quantities. The results show that the introduction of a kilometre tax for heavy goods vehicles affects transport demand as well as other factor demands, but that the effects are less pronounced in terms of changes in output.
An introduction of a kilometer tax for heavy goods vehicles can be constrained by the risk of that higher production costs than competitors in other countries will negatively affect regions and industries of policy concern. We estimate factor demand elasticities in the Swedish manufacturing industry using firm level data for the 1990 to 2001 period on input prices and quantities. The results show that the introduction of a kilometer tax for heavy goods vehicles decreases transport demand and increases labour demand. The effects are less pronounced in terms of changes in output, though some industries (e.g. wood, pulp and paper) can be expected to be affected more than others due to their dependence on road freight transport. The regional dimension regarding the consequences of a kilometer tax seems to be small or even nonexisting.
This study provides new evidence on the determinants of environmental expenditure and investment. In particular, it investigates how environmental expenditure and investment of Swedish industrial firms responded to climate policies, such as the European Union's Emission Trading System (EU ETS) and the Swedish CO2 tax, directed to mitigate air pollution. Overall, an important conclusion of this analysis is that climate policies, both on the national and international levels, were highly relevant motivations for firm environmental expenditure. However, the findings do not support the expectations that the EU ETS and the Swedish CO2 tax encouraged investment in air pollution abatement.
How to reduce the carbon footprint associated with energy use is still a major concern for most decision-makers. Against this background, a better understanding of energy intensity—the ratio of energy use to output and its convergence could be important in the design of policies targeting the reduction in the carbon footprint related to energy use. This paper analyzes the determinants of energy intensity and tests for energy intensity convergence across 14 Swedish industrial sectors. This analysis builds on a nonparametric regression analysis of an intensity index constructed at the industry sector level as well as indices constructed from a decomposition of this index. The latter isolates two key determinants of changes in energy intensity and convergence patterns: the ef- ficiency channel-fundamental improvement in the use of energy and activity channel-structural shifts in the economy. The empirical analysis relies on a detailed sectorial dataset covering the period 1990–2008. The findings indicate that input prices, including the price of energy, have been significant determinants of energy intensity in the Swedish industrial sectors. This effect can primarily be attributed to the efficiency channel and with a less profound influence from the activity channel. We also find evidence of energy intensity convergence among the industrial sectors, and this primarily stems from the activity channel rather than from the efficiency channel.
This paper explores the economic mechanisms behind corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a microeconomic model of the firm. The study’s motivation is to shed light on the potential causes of the observed phenomena of voluntary over-compliance among firms. We investigate how assumptions about costs and benefits affect CSR behavior through a stock of goodwill capital. In optimum, the firm must balance marginal costs and benefits of investing in CSR. We characterize the equilibrium and examine comparative statics and dynamics from a parameterized model. Finally, we link some of the model’s results to the empirical literature on CSR.
The study presented here considers the effects of protected land on neighboring local economies, based on a panel data analysis of its influence on economic growth, net migration, and employment in the forest and tourism sectors in 15 municipalities in northwestern Sweden from 1985 to 2001. The main findings are that increases in the area of protected land in this region seem to have promoted slight increases in per capita income growth and net migration, slight reductions in employment in the forest sector, and possible increases (not significant at the 5 percent probability level) in employment in the tourism sector. In addition, there are indications of conditional divergence in the Swedish mountain region, implying that small economies grow more slowly here than larger economies.
In this chapter, we will discuss corporate social responsibility (CSR) from an environmental economics perspective. The discussion is based on existing research and aims to illuminate some concepts and create an explanatory framework for understanding the corporate behavior referred to as CSR and especially the environmental responsibility dimension. We argue that a theory about CSR would have to include trade-offs between personal taste and values, social norms, and market imperfections. The challenge with progressing academic research about CSR would be improving environmental accounting frameworks, both at the national level and at firm level. The system of double bookkeeping needs to be accompanied by environmental, social, and material flows accounts in a more detailed manner than what we see today. If not, any proposed theory about CSR would run the risk of being moot as it would be impossible to put it to the test.
Using a growth model that accounts for environmental and climate externalities, we take a closer look at the welfare effects of promoting biomass growth and the use of bioenergy, and especially the role of carbon neutrality. As an illustration, a hypothetical intensive forest cultivation project is simulated. Costs and benefits of the project show that only determining the postive effects of promoting biomass growth and the use of bioenergy, such as substitution away from fossil fuels and carbon sequestration is not sufficient. But more importantly, to achieve a balanced measure of the effects on the climate, we must also incorporate all carbon emissions that are associated with bioenergy. Not doing so will over-estimate the positive climate effects of increasing the use of bioenergy.Read
As widely recognized, human mankind stands before the most challenging problem of preventing anthropogenic climate change. As a response to this, the European Union advocates an ambitious climate policy mix. However, there is no consensus concerning the impact of stringent environmental policy on firms’ competitiveness and profitability. From the traditional ‘static’ point of view there are productivity losses to be expected. On the other hand, the so called Porter hypothesis suggests the opposite; i.e., due to ‘dynamic’ effects, ambitious climate and energy policies within the EU could actually be beneficial to firms in terms of enhanced profitability and competitiveness. Based on Sweden’s manufacturing industry, our main purpose is to specifically assess the impact of the CO2 tax scheme of Sweden on firms’ profit efficiency. The empirical methodology is based on stochastic frontier estimations and, in general, the results suggest we can neither reject nor confirm the Porter hypothesis across industry sectors. Therefore, we do not generally confirm the argument of stringent environmental policies having positive dynamic effects that potentially offset costs related to environmental policy.
In this study we investigate how firm level environmental performance (EP) affects firm level economic performance measured as profit efficiency (PE) in a stochastic profit frontier setting. Analyzing firms in Swedish manufacturing 1990–2004, results show that EP induced by environmental policy is not a determinant of PE, while voluntary or market driven EP seem to have a significant and positive effect on firm PE in most sectors. The evidence generally supports the idea that good EP is also good for business, as long as EP is not brought on by policy measures, in this case a CO2 tax. Thus, the results provide no general support for the Porter hypothesis.
Biofuels are regarded as energy sources with the potential to solve a series of problems related to the climate and sustainability. Expectations are that pursuing policies supporting biofuels will be beneficial for welfare and sustainability in societies. It is convenient to divide the effects of such policies into four categories: Climate effects, other environmental effects, energy security effects, and net economic effects. Reviewing the literature to date reveals that the effects of converting from fossil fuels to biofuels do not necessarily have positive net welfare effects, and the argument to substitute biofuels for fossil fuels is not as obvious as it initially appears to be. Short-run stringent climate policy objectives are proposed to counteract global warming, and increasing the use of biofuels is promoted as an adequate strategy. One important conclusion drawn from recent studies is that biofuels are not entirely carbon neutral, as is commonly assumed. Therefore, the use of biofuels as an instrument in climate policy must be carefully scrutinized before set into play on a global scale.
Biofuels are increasingly regarded as energy sources with the potential to solve diverse problems related to serious concerns, including climate change, environmental degradation, energy supply, and energy security. Here we examine biofuels, primarily biofuels used for transportation (e.g., ethanol and biodiesel),
through the lens of modern resource economics and address fundamental questions, such as: Why biofuels?We then review some of the relevant literature and present a framework for analysis drawn mainly from the green accounting literature.
The literature reviewed indicates that the effects of policies promoting conversion from fossil fuels to biofuels do not necessarily promote welfare. Our theoretical framework provides indications of possible reasons for this. Based on findings obtained using the framework we propose policies that not only penalize
emissions of CO2 from all sources, but also stimulate biomass growth. Finally, we identify issues for further research.
How to significantly decrease carbon dioxide emissions has become one of the largest challenges faced by modern society. The standard recipe prescribed by most economists is to put a price on carbon, either through a tax or through emissions trading. Such measures can reduce emissions cost-effectively and create incentives for technological development. There is, however, a growing concern that the carbon prices generated through the European Union emission trading system (EU ETS) have been too low to create the incentives necessary to stimulate technological development. This paper empirically analyzes how the Swedish carbon dioxide tax and the EU ETS have affected productivity development in the Swedish pulp and paper industry 1998-2008. A Luenberger total factor productivity (TFP) indicator is computed using data envelopment analysis. How the policy measures affect TFP is assessed using a system generalized method of moments estimator. The results show that climate policy had a modest impact on technological development in the pulp and paper industry, and if significant it has been negative. The price on fossil fuels, on the contrary, seems to have created important incentives for technological development. Hence, results suggest that the carbon prices faced by the industry through EU ETS and the carbon dioxide tax have been too low.
There is concern that the carbon prices generated through climate policies are too low to create the incentives necessary to stimulate technological development. This paper empirically analyzes how the Swedish carbon dioxide (CO2) tax and the European Union emission trading system (EU ETS) have affected productivity development in the Swedish pulp and paper industry 1998-2008. A Luenberger total factor productivity (TFP) indicator is computed using data envelopment analysis. The results show that climate policy had a modest impact on technological development in the pulp and paper industry, and if significant it was negative. The price of fossil fuels, on the contrary, seems to have created important incentives for technological development. Hence, the results suggest that the carbon prices faced by the industry through EU ETS and the CO2 tax have been too low. Even though the data for this study is specific for Sweden, the models and results are applicable internationally. When designing policy to mitigate CO2 emissions, it is vital that the policy creates a carbon price that is high enough otherwise the pressure on technological development will not be sufficiently strong. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
This paper estimates firm level energy efficiency and its determinants in 14 sectors of Swedish manufacturing by using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). We derive energy demand frontiers both from cost minimizing and profit maximizing perspectives. To account for firms’ heterogeneity, Greene’s true random effects model is adopted. Results show that, from both firm behavior perspectives, there is room to improve energy efficiency in all sectors of Swedish manufacturing. The EU ETS seem to have had a moderate or no effect on Swedish firms’ efficient use of energy. Moreover, we found that energy intensity or energy productivity (energy use over production value) is not an appropriate proxy for energy efficiency.
Event study methodology is used to analyse whether bad news in the form of Environmental (EV) incidents affect firm value negatively. An international sample of firms with EV incidents is studied. It is found that EV incidents are generally associated with the loss of value. For European firms, the loss is statistically significant and the magnitude of the abnormal returns should be of economic significance to corporations and investors. The results are not sensitive to multiple variations in methodology, including the use of international versions of the market model as well as of multi-factor models of the Fama-French type. Results are also robust to different parametric and nonparametric test statistics.
Based on a formal model of how investments in corporate socialresponsibility act upon firm value through goodwill, we derive the hypothesisthat under uncertainty bad news are detrimental to goodwill, and subsequentlyhave a negative impact on value. We examine by event study methodologywhether bad news in the form of environmental (EV) incidents affect firmvalue negatively as measured by abnormal returns using a global data set. AnEV incident is a company incident allegedly in violation of international normson environmental issues. We analyse 142 EV incidents 2003–2006. The EVincidents are generally associated with loss of value, but which are notstatistically significant, except for incidents for firms in Europe. Furthermore,results indicate that firms with low goodwill capital (high EV risk rating) areassociated with relatively larger negative abnormal returns in case of an EV incident.