This event, co-hosted by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) in San Francisco on 16 April 2013, was part of an ongoing series of workshops designed to inform key constituencies about experience to date with greenhouse gas (GHG) emission offset policies, and to provide a forum in which participants representing a wide variety of stakeholders and perspectives can discuss important elements of possible future offset policies and program design issues. Dr. David Harrison, Senior Vice President and Co-Head of NERA's Environment Group, was invited to present "The Interactions of Complementary Policies with a GHG Cap and Trade Program: The Case of Europe," which he co-authored with NERA Associate Director Daniel Radov. Dr. Harrison provided an overview of European energy and climate  policies, and explained how renewable and energy efficiency programs (and other complementary policies) can affect the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), a cap-and-trade program that has been in place since 2005. He also provided some results modeling the effects of different combinations of policies on the European economy. Dr. Harrison then summarized various potential (non-cost) reasons for creating complementary EU policies, including international competitiveness concerns, interest in objectives other than climate change (such as energy security), and distrust in the market to provide enough investment opportunities.

Learn more about the EPRI-IETA Joint Symposium.