Project

Climate Change is seen as one of the central challenges for mankind.

To curb the negative effects of global warming, many countries are taking environmental and energy policy measures. The measures introduced or intensified in Germany in the course of energy transition aim on renewable energies and the more efficient use of energy. This doesn't only mean a technological transformation at all levels of energy supply and consumption, but in many cases it will also make energy consumption more expensive, especially for for private household. To what extent the citizens will accept the resulting increase in their cost of living in the long run depends on the one hand on the already existing burden of energy costs on households, and on the other on their preferences for an environmentally friendly and risk-free energy supply. According to findings of social science behaviour, these preferences are determined by the perceived fairness of distributing the burdens of climate change and the energy transition.
The question of social acceptance of the cost burdens associated with climate change and the energy transition for the citizens and the related equity in the distribution are thecore of the research and development project AKZEPTANZ. The aim of the research and developöment project AKZEPTANZ is to derive statements on the social acceptance of the energy transition on the basis of a systematic recording of climate protection preferences at the individual level. It thus combines ethical-normative considerations with empirical investigations of the real behaviour of individuals based on economic incentives and social considerations.

Concretely, these project goals operationalised through

the observation and measurement of real, and not just stated, individual behaviour in the field of tension between subjective environmental and justice attitudes and cost restrictions;the reflection of emprically oberservable individual behaviour on philosophical theories of justice;the extrapolation of the micro data into representative statements that serve as an empirical basis for a general, interdisciplinary model of AKZEPTANZ;the development of concrete recommendations for action in a transdisciplinary dialogue with the social groups affected by the energy transition.

Project-related publications

refereed journals

Andor, M.A., M. Frondel, C. Vance (2015) Installing Photovoltaics in Germany: A License to Print Money? Economic Analysis and Policy 48: 106-116.

Andor, M.A., M. Frondel, C.M. Schmidt, M. Simora, S. Sommer (2015) Klima- und Energiepolitik in Deutschland: Dissens und Konsens. List Forum für Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik41 (1): 3-21.

Frondel, M., S. Sommer, C. Vance (2015) The Burden of Germany's Energy Transition - An Empirical Analysis of Distributional Effects. Economic Analysis and Policy45: 89-99.

Discussion paper

Andor, M.A., M. Frondel, C. Vance (2015) Installing Photovoltaics in Germany: A LIcense to Print Money? Ruhr Economic Papers #590. RUB, RWI.

Frondel, M., S. Sommer, C. Vance (2015) The Burden of Germany's Energy Transition - An Empirical Analysis of Distributional Effects. Ruhr Economic Papers #542. RUB, RWI.

Monographs

Andor, M.A., M. Frondel, S. Sendler (2015) Diskussionspapier: Photovoltaik-Anlagen in Deutschland - Ausgestattet mit der Lizenz zum Gelddrucken? RWI Materialien94. Essen: RWI.

Andor, M.A, M. Frondel, S. Rinne (2015) Diskussionspapier: Wie unbeliebt ist Kohle und wie beliebt sind die Erneuerbaren? Eine empirische Regionalanalyse der energiepolitischen Präferenzen deutscher Haushalte. RWI Materialien93. Essen: RWI.

Andor, M.A., M. Frondel, C.M. Schmidt, M. Simora, S. Sommer (2015) Diskussionspapier: Klima- und Energiepolitik in Deutschland: Dissens und Konsens. RWI Materialien91. Essen: RWI.

Project management:
Prof. Dr. Manuel Frondel, Dr. Mark A. Andor

Project staff:
Dr. Mark A. Andor, Prof. Dr. Stephan Sommer

Project partners:
Universität Bremen, Institut für Philosophie, Universität Bremen, Lehrstuhl für Volkswirtschaftslehre insb. Finanzwissenschaft, Helmut-Schmidt-Universtität Hamburg, Lehrstuhl für Volkswirtschaftslehre insb. Behavioral Economics

Funding:
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung