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on Resource Economics |
| By: | Shih, Jhih-Shyang (Resources for the Future); Ziegler, Ethan (Resources for the Future); Krupnick, Alan (Resources for the Future); Hafstead, Marc (Resources for the Future); Bergman, Aaron (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | The steel industry, accounting for approximately 7–9 percent of global CO2 emissions, is a critical sector for industrial decarbonization. Transitioning from coal-based blast furnaces to low-carbon pathways such as hydrogen-based direct reduced iron (DRI) and electrified furnaces offers significant mitigation potential while reducing exposure to carbon pricing and trade measures. This study develops a low-carbon steel production (LCSP) optimization model to support industry practitioners and policymakers in strategic planning for sustainable decarbonization. The model incorporates natural gas- and hydrogen-based DRI ironmaking, scrap-DRI blending in electric arc furnaces, and life cycle CO2 emissions and impurity considerations to ensure product quality requirements are met at minimum cost. The current framework is a deterministic, single-period linear programming model with decision variables including DRI feedstock blending ratios and scrap steel-(new) DRI steelmaking proportions. The objective function minimizes net system costs by accounting for revenues, operational expenditures, CO2 offset and capture costs, and renewable energy credits. The LCSP model is implemented in the GAMS programming language and provides a flexible platform for assessing trade-offs between cost, emissions, and material quality in low-carbon steelmaking. See https://www.gams.com. |
| Date: | 2025–10–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-25-23 |
| By: | Giovanni Dosi; Federico Riccio; Maria Enrica Virgillito |
| Abstract: | This paper brings new compelling regional-level evidence on the environmental degradation brought about by intra-European value chains. The paper postulates the presence of pollution havens derived as a consequence of the European production integration. We identify a neat elites-ghettos divide in carbon emission intensity per unit of production across EU regions: while capital-city and Northern regions form a carbon elites club, of contained emissions, Eastern regions converge towards systematically higher intensities. We build the intra-EU emission network, looking at the CO2 embodied in its backwards linkages to account for the extent to which the divide derives from GVC participation. The flow analysis reveals a steady decline in domestic multipliers, but persistently higher carbon intensity in foreign intermediates, with the Eastern regions dominating the most polluting linkages. The elites-ghettos regions are characterised by opposite emission paths: while the first export CO2 via the outsourcing of the most-polluting production activities toward the East, the latter import CO2 via the production of high-emission intermediaries for the West. In fact, convergence clubs display distinct specialisation profiles, with mid-stream manufacturing regions structurally locked into higher emission intensity. Overall, the paper highlights a discarded dimension of GVCs, that is, the environmental lock-in paths for regions embedded into GVCs to serve as pollution havens for the European carbon elite. |
| Keywords: | CO2 emissions; Global Value Chains; Club convergence; Regional specialisation; Carbon leakage |
| Date: | 2025–09–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2025/31 |
| By: | Paul C. Behler (University of Bonn); Paulina Schröder (Rockwool Foundation Berlin & Humboldt University of Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies ecospirituality - spiritual views that people have about the natural world. First, utilizing folklore data from around 1, 000 pre-industrial societies, we present the first comprehensive global measurement of ecospirituality. Our analysis reveals systematic cultural variation: ecospirituality is most prevalent in South America and least prevalent in Europe. Additionally, we find a strong negative correlation between ecospirituality and belief in high gods. Second, we study the potential impact of historical ecospirituality on current environmental attitudes. Combining data from the Integrated Values Survey with folklore, we find no statistically significant relationship between contemporary environmental attitudes and the prevalence of ecospirituality in the folklore of ones ancestors. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Attitudes, Ecospirituality, Folklore |
| JEL: | Q50 Z12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:377 |
| By: | Fahlén, Per (Chalmers University of Technology); Henrekson, Magnus (Research Institute of Industrial Economics); Nilsson, Mats (Södertörn University) |
| Abstract: | We examine EU and UK plans for achieving a fossil-free energy system by 2050, centered on massive electrification and large-scale deployment of wind and solar power. Using empirical trends, cost analyses, and system-function assessments, we argue that current strategies underestimate real economic, technical, and social challenges. Three scenarios for meeting 2050 electricity demand are compared: full reliance on renewables; a 50/50 split between wind-solar and nuclear; predominantly nuclear. Evidence shows that higher shares of weather-dependent generation correlate with higher electricity pric-es, greater volatility, and increased system integration costs. High renewable shares require extensive backup, storage, and grid reinforcement, raising complexity and environmental impacts. Overlooked costs are highlighted: reduced capacity value, transmission expansion, balancing services, and so-cial externalities. Sustainability must encompass environmental, economic, and social dimensions. A technologically diverse, dispatchable-power-based strategy—especially with expanded nuclear power— offers a more robust, cost-effective, and socially acceptable pathway to climate neutrality than a predominant reliance on intermittent renewables. |
| Keywords: | renewable electricity, mission-oriented policy, green transition, cispatchable electricity, climate change, rent-seeking |
| JEL: | L26 L52 L70 O38 P11 Q48 Q58 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18179 |