The impact of administrative transaction costs in the EU emissions trading system

Arbeitspapier

This paper empirically investigates the impact of transaction costs for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of emissions on companies regulated by the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) in Germany. Based on a unique panel dataset, we investigate if MRV costs are dependent on the amount of annual emissions of regulated companies and if there are differences in transaction costs between economic sectors. The results indicate that administrative costs are dependent on the amount of annual emissions for larger companies which has implications for the economic efficiency of the EU ETS. The most important finding, however, is that there are significant differences in MRV transaction costs dependent on the 'type' and 'size' of companies. This implies the existence of considerable economies of scale. Overall, the EU ETS could benefit from reforms by means of a push towards upstream regulation as this would likely increase administrative efficiency.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: ZEW Discussion Papers ; No. 15-076

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis ; Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights ; Environmental Economics: Government Policy
• Subject: EU Emissions Trading System ; Cap-and-Trade ; Transaction Costs ; Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Heindl, Peter
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW)
• (where): Mannheim
• (when): 2015

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/122187
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET