The policy instrument many economists favor to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to shift new investment towards low carbon technologies is the tradable allowance system. Experience with this instrument has been mixed, with a crucial design issue being the choice of whether to auction...

Coal power coupled with Carbon [Dioxide] Capture and Storage (CCS), and Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technologies are often included in the portfolio of climate change mitigation options intended to decarbonize electricity systems. Both of these technologies can provide baseload electricity,...

Concentrating solar power (CSP) has the potential to become a leading sustainable energy technology for the European electricity system. In order to reach a substantial share in the energy mix, European investment in CSP appears most profitable in North Africa, where solar potential is...

The adoption of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies has expanded rapidly in recent years, leading to suggestions that this growth, which occurred mostly in high-latitude countries with often low levels of sunshine, may have come at an unnecessarily high price. However, the factors influencing...

The European Union took its first strategic step on the topic of climate adaptation in 2009 with publication of a White Paper on Adaptation. Since its publication, many researchers and analysts have criticized the White Paper for its lack of concrete and enforceable actions. In this paper, we...

This paper presents a case study about the perception of landslide risk. Following a major set of landslides in the eastern part of Austria in June 2009, we surveyed local experts, residents who had suffered losses from the landslides, and others living in the affected communities. Overall, the...

Climate protection targets for mid-century imply a need to scale up European renewable power production to a level that may exceed the available land area within Europe's borders. One attractive solution, from a cost and feasibility perspective, is the development of large-scale concentrating...

Technical and institutional capacities are strongly related and must be jointly developed to guarantee effective natural risk governance. Indeed, the available technical solutions and decision support tools influence the development of institutional frameworks and disaster policies. This paper...