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This study examines the empirical performance of emission allowance option pricing models, concentrating on the EU-ETS markets. For option pricing, we use parameters estimated from option market data whereas few papers in the extant literature use parameters from underlying asset data. As results, it is shown that the most appropriate is the one-factor model in which the EUA logarithmic spot prices follow the mean-reverting process of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck type. Also, the addition of jumps is not shown to make any significant improvement in the model performance. These results are quite striking in the sense that existing papers report the addition of jumps is necessary to improve option pricing on the EU-ETS markets. In sum, this paper is meaningful in the sense that it extends the growing empirical literature on the behavior of emission allowance spot prices

Objective – This chapter examines the performance of the market to discover efficient equilibrium under alternative auction designs.

Background – Auctions are increasingly being used to allocate emissions allowances (“permits”) for cap and trade and common-pool resource management programs. These auctions create thick markets that can provide important information about changes in current market conditions.

Methodology – This chapter uses experimental methods to examine the extent to which the predicted increase in the Walrasian price due to a shift in willingness to pay (perhaps due to a shift in costs of pollution abatement) is reflected in observed sales prices under alternative auction formats.

Results – Price tracking is comparably good for uniform-price sealed-bid auctions and for multi-round clock auctions, with or without end-of-round information about excess demand. More price inertia is observed for “pay as bid” (discriminatory) auctions, especially for a continuous discriminatory format in which bids could be changed at will, in part because “sniping” in the final moments blocked the full effect of the demand shock.

Conclusion – Uniform-price auctions (clock and sealed-bid uniform-price, and continuous uniform-price) generate changes in purchase prices that are reasonably close to predicted changes. There is some evidence of tacit collusion causing prices to be too low relative to predictions in most cases. The worst price tracking was observed for discriminatory auctions.

Application – Uniform-price auctions appear to perform at least as well as other auction designs with respect to discovery of efficient market prices when there are unexpected and unannounced changes in willingness to pay for permits.

This paper seeks to analyze stylized statistical properties of the recent traded asset CO₂ emission allowances, for spot and futures returns, examining also the relation linking convenience yield and risk premium, for the German European Energy Exchange (EEX) between October 2005 and October 2009.

The study was conducted through empirical estimations of CO₂ allowances risk premium, convenience yield, and their relationships.

Future prices from an ex-post perspective are examined to show evidence for significant negative risk premium, or a positive forward premium. A positive relationship between risk premium and time-to-maturity is found. Both financial concepts are found to be negatively affected by spot price volatility. Convenience yield is positively influenced by CO₂ price, while influencing the risk premium positively.

From a financial perspective, allowances seem to be producing the desired effects in terms of environmental policies, although a lot more remains to be done. The presence of risk premium and convenience yield makes it clear that agents act in this commodity market according to risk consideration. Results change depending on phase and futures contracts used for the determination of both financial terms, indicating that uncertainties over the future of EU-ETS seem to be decreasing.

Previous research has mainly focused on the first phase of the EU-ETS (2005-2007), whereas this paper extends the analysis period here. The paper finds some opposite results compared with previous commodities theories and designs some policy implications, given the results attained.

Purpose – This study constitutes a first attempt to experimentally test the performance of a 100% auction versus a 100% free allocation of CO2 permits under the rules and parameters that mimic the EU ETS (imperfect competition, uncertainty in emissions' control, and allowing banking), with environmental targets more restrictive than the current ones but foreseeable for the near future.

Methodology/approach – Two experimental treatments were run to achieve our goal. Both included the rules and the parameters that parallel the EU ETS structure, the only difference being the rule for the primary allocation of permits.

Findings – Our experimental results indicate that the EU ETS has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions, achieving targets considerably more restrictive than the current ones at high efficiency levels, both with auctioned and free emission permits.

Practical implications – Concerns about undue scarcity, and corresponding high prices, in secondary markets generated by a primary auction market are not warranted under the proposed dynamic auction format. This adds arguments favoring auctioning over grandfathering as the rule for the initial allocation of emission permits in the EU ETS.

Originality/value of chapter – This study implements a theoretically appropriate auction format for the primary allocation of emission permits (the Ausubel (2004) auction) and incorporates a first attempt to include in the analysis measures of the risk preferences of subjects participating in emission permits experiments. These characteristics are for the first time implemented under a complex experimental design (including uncertainty of emission abatement, and banking), trying to parallel the EU ETS trading environment.

This paper discusses a case of truck sharing as an application of the sharing economy. This case study examines a real mixed feed company with multiple factories. In this company’s operation, bulk trucks located in a factory had not previously been shared for delivery with other factories to their pre-assigned customers of stock farms. Therefore, this paper suggests a new delivery system that facilitates truck-sharing and analyzes its effects on the transport cost and trucks’ CO₂ emissions. To this end, this paper develops vehicle routing models to represent the current delivery practice and the new truck-shared delivery (TSD). In addition, models are developed for a carbon control policy of an emission trading scheme (ETS) and the effects of the ETS on truck-sharing are investigated. Numerical analysis is conducted to identify the effects of the TSD and the carbon control policy and draw practical implications.

Purpose – To examine the cost-effectiveness of UK government policy with respect to the mitigation of carbon emissions from the transport sector.

Methodology/approach – Existing policy as set out by the Department for Transport in Low Carbon Transport: A Greener Future is examined. This document elaborates a Low Carbon Transport Strategy intended to achieve annual emissions savings of 17.7 MtCO2 by 2020. A wide range of policy areas where further action could be taken to reduce carbon emissions are examined and their cost-effectiveness considered.

Findings – Measures that influence behaviour including smarter choices, eco-driving across modes, freight best practice and modest price increases are highly cost-effective. More cost-effective routes to saving 17.7 MtCO2 are identified, as are further cost-effective savings.

Originality/value – It appears that government targets could be delivered and indeed exceeded at lower cost than the Low Carbon Transport Strategy. However, policy development is influenced by a wide range of factors which help to explain why cost-effective measures are not always fully exploited.

This paper investigates the static and dynamic directional return spillovers and dependence among green investments, carbon markets, financial markets and commodity markets from January 2013 to September 2020.

This study employed both the quantile vector autoregression (QVAR) and time-varying parameter VAR (TVP-VAR) technique to examine the magnitude of static and dynamic directional spillovers and dependence of markets.

Results show that the magnitude of connectedness is extremely higher at quantile levels (q = 0.05 and q = 0.95) compared to those in the mean of the conditional distribution. This connotes that connectedness between green bonds and other assets increases with shock size for both negative and positive shocks. This further indicates that return shocks spread at a higher magnitude during extreme market conditions relative to normal periods. Additional analyses show the behavior of return transmission between green bond and other assets is asymmetric.

The findings of this study offer significant implications for portfolio investors, policymakers, regulatory authorities and investment community in terms of carefully assessing the unique characteristics offered by each markets in terms of return spillovers and dependence and diversifying the portfolios.

The study, first, uses a relatively new statistical technique, the QVAR advanced by Ando et al. (2018), to capture upper and lower tails’ quantile price connectedness and directional spillover. Therefore, the results possess adequate power against departure from mean-based conditional connectedness. Second, using a portfolio of green investments, carbon markets, financial markets and commodity markets, the uniqueness of this study lies in the examination of the static and dynamic dependence of the markets examined.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of structural breaks on the conditional variance of carbon emission allowance prices.

The authors employ the symmetric GARCH model, and two asymmetric models, namely the exponential GARCH and the threshold GARCH.

The authors show that the forecast performance of GARCH models improves after accounting for potential structural changes. Importantly, we observe a significant drop in the volatility persistence of emission prices. In addition, the effects of positive and negative shocks on carbon market volatility increase when breaks are taken into account. Overall, the findings reveal that when structural breaks are ignored in the emission price risk, the volatility persistence is overestimated and the news impact is underestimated.

The authors are the first to examine how the conditional variance of carbon emission allowance prices reacts to structural breaks.

This study scrutinizes the impact of economic globalization on ecological footprint while endogenizing economic growth and energy consumption during 1990–2018 in India.

For time series analysis, the standard unit root test has been employed to unveil the integration order. Then, the cointegration was confirmed using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) analysis. Further, the study executed the dynamic ARDL simulation model to estimate long-run and short-run results along with simulation and robotic prediction.

The cointegration analysis confirms the existence of a long-run association among variables. Further, economic globalization reduces the ecological footprint in the long-run. Similarly, energy consumption decreases the ecological footprint. In contrast, economic growth spurs the ecological footprint in India.

The present study makes valuable and original contributions to the literature by applying a multivariate ecological footprint function, assessing the impact of economic globalization on ecological footprint while considering economic growth and energy consumption in India.

Under the Kyoto Protocol Ireland is committed to ensuring that its greenhouse gas emission levels are at or below 113 per cent of 1990 levels for the years 2008–2012. Irish emissions have already exceeded this limit by approximately 10 to 15 per cent and must be reduced if the Kyoto Protocol targets are to be met. In this context, and drawing on relevant theory and research, this paper discusses the rationale for, and the potential impact of, government intervention in the market for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The use of a Carbon Tax as a policy tool in reducing CO2 emissions is examined from both economic and taxation perspectives. Particular attention is paid to the Irish National Climate Change Strategy formulated in 2000 and the consultation process on implementing a Carbon Tax initiated by the Department of Finance in 2003. In September 2004 the Irish Government decided not to implement the proposed Carbon Tax. Submissions from interested parties on the carbon tax consultation process are reviewed against the rationale for implementation of such a tax. The body of evidence presented in this paper supports the implementation of a Carbon Tax—suggesting that the decision not to implement such a tax may have been a lost opportunity. The paper argues that a well‐designed Carbon Tax for Ireland, a simple levy on a close proxy for emissions, would be effective in influencing taxpayer behaviour bringing about a reduction in Ireland's CO2 emissions and supporting the polluter pays principle. In the absence of a carbon tax Ireland's Kyoto target is unlikely to be met and the consequent financial penalties will fall on all taxpayers. The paper concludes that the Irish Government should revisit this decision.