Project: Cost efficiency of climate policy measures

The Swedish Parliament has decided on a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from domestic transport (excluding aviation) by 70 percent by 2030 compared with 2010, and that the transport sector must be fossil-free by 2045. With currently decide policy measures, these targets will not be met.

The purpose of this research project is to develop methods for evaluating the combination of policy instruments and measures that can lead to the targets being reached at the lowest overall cost to society. The methods will be based on the existing methods and theories developed for socio-economic cost-benefit analysis and impact assessment, and also integrate sustainability aspects. The project will further develop a systematic framework that authorities can use to provide the government with decision support for efficiently steering towards climate targets while taking other political objectives into account. The framework will be based on well-established microeconomic theory, demand models and parameters.

The tools and methods developed in the project will be designed so that they can be implemented by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and other relevant authorities. The project will analyze policy instruments in a first-best world, but also in second-best situations, where we take into account restrictions such as legislation and EU regulations. Distributive effects and issues of justice will be analyzed. We will perform sensitivity analyses with respect to input parameters.

The project also aims to try to operationalize the concepts of social, economic and environmental sustainability so that they can be used in the analysis of economic instruments, as well as identify synergies between different instruments and goal conflicts.

Brief facts about the project

Project title: Cost efficiency of climate policy measures in the transport sector
Project leader at VTI: Maria Bratt Börjesson
Duration: 2021 – 2023
Funder: Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
Budget: 2 531 000

  • Maria Bratt Börjesson, Professor of Economics at VTI and associate professor at Linköping University.
  • Jonas Eliasson, visiting professor of transport systems at Linköping University.

  • Johanna Farelius, Head of Unit Environmental Economy, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (NV)
  • Eric Sjöberg, Economist NV
  • Karl-Anders Stigzelius Economist NV
  • Sara Forsstedt, Economist Swedish transport Administration (TrV);
  • Gunnar Isacsson, Economist TrV,
  • Svante Mandell, Head of division at Konjunkturinstitutet,
  • Pia Sundbergh, Senior Adviser, Transport Analysis

Professor Stef Proost, KU Leuven will be consulted at a regular basis

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