- Graz, Styria, Austria
Karl Steininger
University of Graz, Economics, Faculty Member
Research Interests:
The Alps and their population are particularly vulnerable to geomorphological and hydrological hazards and this problem might be amplified by ongoing climate change. Natural disasters cause severe monetary damage which often leads to the... more
The Alps and their population are particularly vulnerable to geomorphological and hydrological hazards and this problem might be amplified by ongoing climate change. Natural disasters cause severe monetary damage which often leads to the difficult question whether it socially pays to protect settlements at high costs or whether alternatively settlement areas should better be abandoned. By investigations in the Johnsbachtal and the Kleinsölktal (Styria), the interdisciplinary project " Economic and Ethical Consequences of Natural Hazards in Alpine Valleys " (EE-Con), funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, seeks to answer the following questions: (1) Are natural hazards and associated damages in fact increasing, and is this due to meteorological triggers, to anthropogenic factors or to internal process dynamics? (2) What is the perception and knowledge of local people, how is risk and risk prevention communicated? (3) What is the respective cost ratio between protection...
In many ways, the Copenhagen summit of December 2009 marked an important departure from the practice of multilateral climate cooperation over the previous two decades. The Copenhagen Accord, which was driven by the US and China, is... more
In many ways, the Copenhagen summit of December 2009 marked an important departure from the practice of multilateral climate cooperation over the previous two decades. The Copenhagen Accord, which was driven by the US and China, is characterized by a voluntary pledge and review system for emission reductions, and therefore a fundamental change of the current UN based multilateral approach. Within a multilateral agreement science-based emission reduction requirements could be the basis for ...
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT
Nationwide Car Road Pricing Schemes are discussed across Europe. This paper analyses the distributional impacts across income groups of such schemes. It has been argued that the poor households (and obviously the commuters) would have to... more
Nationwide Car Road Pricing Schemes are discussed across Europe. This paper analyses the distributional impacts across income groups of such schemes. It has been argued that the poor households (and obviously the commuters) would have to take an unproportional share of the burden. The paper focuses on the CGE modelling structure of private transport and gives detailed empirical analysis for
Research Interests:
New economic geography has so far focused mainly on issues of interaction of location of production and transport costs. Building on a two-region (within NUTS III) spatial computable general equilibrium model of the core- periphery type,... more
New economic geography has so far focused mainly on issues of interaction of location of production and transport costs. Building on a two-region (within NUTS III) spatial computable general equilibrium model of the core- periphery type, we extend the analysis to focus on the consumersdecisions of location of residence. Centripetal forces originate from increasing returns to scale and the implied distribution of jobs, with consumers minimizing commuting effort, centrifugal forces from the spatial differentiation in land rents and environmental quality. Urban sprawl is triggered inter alia by environmental preferences, but resulting commuting levels and especially mode choice is counteracting environmental quality, predominantly in the centre (PM10), re-enhancing urban sprawl. Particular spatial planning elements (e.g. increasing living density in the periphery to support public transport feasibility) are found to foster development towards a social optimum.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In Austria, as in the majority of EU countries, greenhouse gas emissions are currently rising most strongly in the transport sector. In view of the Kyoto commitments and the EU's greenhouse-gas policy, the reduction of... more
In Austria, as in the majority of EU countries, greenhouse gas emissions are currently rising most strongly in the transport sector. In view of the Kyoto commitments and the EU's greenhouse-gas policy, the reduction of transport-related emissions therefore is a matter of great urgency. This article first identifies a dozen transport policy measures that Austria can implement on its own
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the Member States requiring a fundamental change of energy systems. This paper analyses restructuring options for the energy system starting from energy services instead of... more
EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the Member States requiring a fundamental change of energy systems. This paper analyses restructuring options for the energy system starting from energy services instead of energy flows. In order to provide the energy services in a sustainable way the guidelines "low energy – low carbon – low distance" should be used. This refers to an increase in energy efficiency, the reduction of fossil fuels and the reduction of (redundant) transport. An extended technology wedges approach is applied for Austria to illustrate emission reduction potentials of technological and behavioural changes. Two portfolios of technology wedges are quantified regarding their effects on energy flows and emissions as well as the economic impacts of investments required.
Research Interests:
In this study CO2 emissions embodied in Austrian international trade are quantified employing a 66-region input output model of multidirectional trade. We find that Austria’s final demand CO2 responsibilities on a global scale are 38 %... more
In this study CO2 emissions embodied in Austrian international trade are quantified employing a 66-region input output model of multidirectional trade. We find that Austria’s final demand CO2 responsibilities on a global scale are 38 % higher than conventional statistics report (110 Mt-CO2 versus 79 Mt-CO2 in 2004). For each unit of Austrian final demand, currently two thirds of the thus triggered CO2 emissions occur outside Austrian borders. We then develop a 19-region computable general equilibrium model of Austria and its major trading partners and world regions to find that future Austrian climate policy can achieve the EU 20-20 emission reduction targets, but that its carbon trade balance would worsen considerably. Both unilateral EU and internationally coordinated climate policies affect Austrian international trade stronger than its domestic production. The FIW Research Reports 2009/10 present the results of four thematic work packages ‘Microeconomic Analysis based on Firm-Le...
Die Wirtschaftspolitik bedient sich einer Reihe von Maßnahmen, um die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit bestimmter Produkte, Prozesse oder Regionen zu erhöhen. Innerhalb der OECD, und zwar zunächst initiiert durch die Fach minister der G7-Länder, und... more
Die Wirtschaftspolitik bedient sich einer Reihe von Maßnahmen, um die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit bestimmter Produkte, Prozesse oder Regionen zu erhöhen. Innerhalb der OECD, und zwar zunächst initiiert durch die Fach minister der G7-Länder, und in der Folge übernommen von der OECD ins gesamt, wurden auf Basis umfangreicher Forschungsarbeiten auch zu sammenfassend die potentiell beträchtlichen Vorteile herausgestrichen, die aus einer Reform bzw. Elimination jener "support measures" erwachsen, die umweltkontraproduktiv wirken. OECD (1998) analysiert the benefits and costs of all kinds of financial supports and regulations that are put in place to enhance the competitiveness of certain products, processes or re gions, and that, together with the prevailing taxation regime, (unintentionally) discriminate against sound environmental practices 1 Die zusammenfassende Studie betont, dass Support removal has been identified as a potentiaíwin-winolicy in that it may benefit both the ec...
Research Interests:
The Alps and their population are particularly vulnerable to geomorphological and hydrological hazards and this problem might be amplified by ongoing climate change. Natural disasters cause severe monetary damage which often leads to the... more
The Alps and their population are particularly vulnerable to geomorphological and hydrological hazards and this problem might be amplified by ongoing climate change. Natural disasters cause severe monetary damage which often leads to the difficult question whether it socially pays to protect settlements at high costs or whether alternatively settlement areas should better be abandoned. By investigations in the Johnsbachtal and the Kleinsölktal (Styria), the interdisciplinary project " Economic and Ethical Consequences of Natural Hazards in Alpine Valleys " (EE-Con), funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, seeks to answer the following questions: (1) Are natural hazards and associated damages in fact increasing, and is this due to meteorological triggers, to anthropogenic factors or to internal process dynamics? (2) What is the perception and knowledge of local people, how is risk and risk prevention communicated? (3) What is the respective cost ratio between protection...
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the Member States, requiring a fundamental change in energy systems. In an interdisciplinary approach, starting with welfare-generating energy services instead of... more
ABSTRACT EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the Member States, requiring a fundamental change in energy systems. In an interdisciplinary approach, starting with welfare-generating energy services instead of energy flows, we analyse restructuring options for the Austrian energy system. We extend the concept of stabilization wedges by Pacala and Socolow and integrate technological and behavioural options into a structural energy model, complemented by an economic evaluation in an input-output analysis. We apply the energy service based approach to a transformation of the Austrian energy system that meets the EU 2020 emission targets. We estimate that this would require on average additional investment of about 6 billion € p.a. over a twelve year period. This investment allows to tap savings in operating costs (predominantly energy costs) of up to 4.3 billion € at the end of the period, when using a conservative assumption of non-rising energy prices.
Research Interests:
In mature economies new transport infrastructure (beyond bottle-neck elimination) is considered to hardly influence overall growth, but well so its spatial distribution. In a sectorally diversified spatial computable general equilibrium... more
In mature economies new transport infrastructure (beyond bottle-neck elimination) is considered to hardly influence overall growth, but well so its spatial distribution. In a sectorally diversified spatial computable general equilibrium (SCGE) model of the Lower Austrian - Burgenland new highway (opened in 1991) to the now new member state Hungary, we analyse land use development. Sufficiently regionally footloose activities (such
Research Interests:
In Austria, as in the majority of EU countries, greenhouse gas emissions are currently rising most strongly in the transport sector. In view of the Kyoto commitments and the EU's greenhouse-gas policy, the reduction of... more
In Austria, as in the majority of EU countries, greenhouse gas emissions are currently rising most strongly in the transport sector. In view of the Kyoto commitments and the EU's greenhouse-gas policy, the reduction of transport-related emissions therefore is a matter of great urgency. This article first identifies a dozen transport policy measures that Austria can implement on its own
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Im Rahmen der Klimarahmenkonvention der UNO treffen die Vertragsstaaten zu ihren Verhandlungen (Conference of Parties, COP 16) von 29. November bis 10. Dezember 2010 in Cancun, Mexiko zusam-men. Die naturwissenschaftlichen Grundlagen für... more
Im Rahmen der Klimarahmenkonvention der UNO treffen die Vertragsstaaten zu ihren Verhandlungen (Conference of Parties, COP 16) von 29. November bis 10. Dezember 2010 in Cancun, Mexiko zusam-men. Die naturwissenschaftlichen Grundlagen für die Szenarien des Klimawandels haben sich über die letzten Jahre weiter erhärtet und weisen auf die Notwendigkeit einer umfassenden Reduktion der Treibhausgasemissionen hin – einer Reduktion um ein Vielfaches der im Kyoto-Vertrag vereinbarten Ziele und unter Einbeziehung von wesentlich mehr als der damaligen Vertragsstaaten. Die Vorgänger-Vertragsstaaten-Konferenz in Kopenhagen 2009 markierte eine fundamentale Änderung in der inter-nationalen Klimapolitik-Architektur, statt völkerrechtlich verbindlichen gemeinsamen Zielen dürfte es nun den einzelnen Staaten überlassen bleiben welche Handlungen sie setzen. Einzelstaatliche Klimapolitik läuft ohne gemeinsame Ziele aber Gefahr mit wesentlichen Wettbewerbseffekten im internatio-nalen Handel verbunden zu...
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Multidisciplinary, Urban Sprawl, General Equilibrium, CGE modelling, Spatial planning, and 9 moreComputable General Equilibrium, Environmental Effect, Housing Market, Environmental Impact, ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT, New Economic Geography, Environmental quality, Location Choice, and Urban Area
EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the EU member countries requiring a fundamental change of energy systems. This paper suggests basing the analysis of restructuring options on energy services instead of energy... more
EU climate and energy policy defines ambitious objectives for the EU member countries requiring a fundamental change of energy systems. This paper suggests basing the analysis of restructuring options on energy services instead of energy flows. In order to provide the energy services in a sustainable way the guidelines "low energy – low carbon – low distance" should be used. This refers to an increase in energy efficiency, the reduction of fossil fuels and the reduction of (redundant) transport. An extended technology wedges approach is applied for Austria to illustrate emission reduction options through technological and behavioural changes. Two portfolios of technology wedges are quantified regarding their effects on energy flows and emissions as well as the economic impacts of investments required.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
... employment. There is considerable debate over whether farm-based bioenergy development is a boon or a boondoggle. We assess ... supply costs. Finally, the instruments chosen to foster bioenergy development are important. While ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Economics, Climate Change, Carbon, Risk, Coal, and 15 morePersistence, Comparative Study, Multidisciplinary, Power Plant, Environmental science and technology, Electricity, global Climate change, Risk factors, Power Plants, Climatic Change, Greenhouse Gas, Greenhouse gases, Greenhouse Effect, Risk Factors, and Power Stations Operations
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Das Ziel dieser Studie ist es, die zukünftigen Anforderungen an österreichische Treibhausgasemissionsreduktion auf Basis normativer, Top-down Ansätze zu ermitteln. Diese werden Bottom-up ermittelten Reduktionspotenzialen... more
Das Ziel dieser Studie ist es, die zukünftigen Anforderungen an österreichische Treibhausgasemissionsreduktion auf Basis normativer, Top-down Ansätze zu ermitteln.
Diese werden Bottom-up ermittelten Reduktionspotenzialen gegenübergestellt und
daraus die Beiträge einzelner Energieverbrauchergruppen (bzw. Bereiche) bestimmt.
Die globalen Top-down bestimmten Emissionstrajektorien werden so bestimmt, dass diese mit globalen Temperaturstabilisierungsszenarien von +2, 2,5 und 3 °C konsistent sind. Daraus abgeleitet ergeben sich für Österreich bis 2050 normative Treibhausgas
(THG)-Emissionsreduktionsvorgaben (gegenüber 1990) von 68 % (3°C-Ziel) bis 80 % (2°C-Ziel).
Die Analyse der Bottom-up Emissionsreduktionspotenziale wird für die Bereiche: Verkehr, Gebäude, Strom- und Wärmeerzeugung sowie die Industriesektoren Eisen- und Stahlerzeugung
sowie Zementherstellung durchgeführt und damit 65 % der Emissionen von 2010 berücksichtigt.
Diese werden Bottom-up ermittelten Reduktionspotenzialen gegenübergestellt und
daraus die Beiträge einzelner Energieverbrauchergruppen (bzw. Bereiche) bestimmt.
Die globalen Top-down bestimmten Emissionstrajektorien werden so bestimmt, dass diese mit globalen Temperaturstabilisierungsszenarien von +2, 2,5 und 3 °C konsistent sind. Daraus abgeleitet ergeben sich für Österreich bis 2050 normative Treibhausgas
(THG)-Emissionsreduktionsvorgaben (gegenüber 1990) von 68 % (3°C-Ziel) bis 80 % (2°C-Ziel).
Die Analyse der Bottom-up Emissionsreduktionspotenziale wird für die Bereiche: Verkehr, Gebäude, Strom- und Wärmeerzeugung sowie die Industriesektoren Eisen- und Stahlerzeugung
sowie Zementherstellung durchgeführt und damit 65 % der Emissionen von 2010 berücksichtigt.