[en] The initiative of the European Commission to start up an emission trade system is fraught with difficulties. In order to be viable it should provide value added to justify the extra efforts it requires. A review of the draft-directive unveils many critical issues, that undermine the value added. Many proposed measures and conditions increase the cost of participation, and reduce the emission trade market volume, thereby affecting both level and volatility of the permit price. Furthermore, the proposed organisation of the system is unbalanced as it simultaneously leans on a devolution of policy planning tasks, a centralisation of decision rights and, an asymmetry in information levels and deployable specialist knowledge. As a consequence the directive proposals would complicate but not prevent gaming during the establishment and approval phase of the trade system. The paper discusses the burden sharing between trading and non-trading segments in the member countries, with special reference to Finland the possible responses of companies to increased transaction cost and uncertainty, and the consequences of the permit trade requirements for the earlier devised domestic climate policy and as a consequence for energy efficiency policies. The paper is based on a study conducted for the Ministry for the Environment, involving both an in-depth review of the directive and AGE-E3 model based calculations. The paper focuses on the analytical-qualitative clarification of effects. Some model results are added to underline the practical relevance of the identified risks and obstacles

[en] Energy saving is an important option for preventing emission of greenhouse gases. Furthermore, when energy saving is reducing the spatial and temporal density of energy consumption, it supports a rising market share of renewable energy sources. Last but not the least, energy saving plays a role in reducing the vulnerability for import dependency and supply disruptions. Despite these virtues energy saving and energy efficiency, being typically demand side options, appear to be harder to 'sell' than the other options which focus on the supply side. The currently prevailing market-based approach in energy policy initially brought setbacks for energy saving. The introductory article and the selected contributions to this special issue intend to show that markets can and should be shaped to the benefit of the uptake and of the potential of energy saving. To this end, all elements of the energy efficiency delivery context should be addressed in energy-saving policies. Learning, measurement and observation are important tools in this reshaping process. All contributions are based on papers of the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy 2003 Summer Study. (author)

[en] Decision-making for the purpose of adaptation to climate change typically involves several stakeholders, regions and sectors, as well as multiple objectives related to the use of resources and benefits. In the case of adapting to extreme events, modelling of the impact pathways and consequences need to be conducted in some way. We explore the role of event tree analysis of extreme events in the context of flood protection of critical infrastructure. Experts representing potentially affected infrastructure services are consulted on the usability of the ETA method for providing structured information on flood scenarios, system impacts and consequences, risks and counter measures. The main users of the analysis results are the asset owners and the local public decision-makers whose joint efforts are usually required to fund and prioritize such measures of adaptation

[en] Energy saving is an important option for preventing emission of greenhouse gases. Furthermore, when energy saving is reducing the spatial and temporal density of energy consumption, it supports a rising market share of renewable energy sources. Last but not the least, energy saving plays a role in reducing the vulnerability for import dependency and supply disruptions. Despite these virtues energy saving and energy efficiency, being typically demand side options, appear to be harder to 'sell' than the other options which focus on the supply side. The currently prevailing market-based approach in energy policy initially brought setbacks for energy saving. The introductory article and the selected contributions to this special issue intend to show that markets can and should be shaped to the benefit of the uptake and of the potential of energy saving. To this end, all elements of the energy efficiency delivery context should be addressed in energy-saving policies. Learning, measurement and observation are important tools in this reshaping process. All contributions are based on papers of the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy 2003 Summer Study