Cross-sector and cross-country analyses of greenhouse gas abatement costs
The guideline is clear: we must reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at all levels. But how can we achieve a holistic decrease in emissions and what are the costs involved? To effectively achieve GHG emission reductions, key measures from all (end) energy sectors around the world must be considered and implemented. Marginal abatement cost curves (MACCs) can be used to compare measures across sectors and countries. By relating the GHG reduction potential with the costs incurred, an overall picture is drawn, which can be used as a basis for steering investments, making decisions, and developing strategies. Through the identification of particularly cheap and expensive measures, it is possible to find out where it is worthwhile to start implementation quickly and where policies are needed to provide financial incentives.
Possible concrete applications of these curves include:
- Informed and effective steering of investments in low-emission technologies
- Driving the decarbonization and transformation of a company, a municipality or a region
- Developing a sustainability strategy at various decision-making levels
- Forming a basis for policy consulting and discussion, e.g., for creating incentives for CO₂ emission reduction
- Generating insights into the impact of measures, sectors, and geographies on decarbonization
Contact Andrej Guminski and his team and arrange a non-binding initial consultation.
Our offer
Wide-ranging measure evaluation
With over 100 key measures from the most emission-intensive sectors (energy, industry, transport and buildings), our analyses cover the majority of emitted greenhouse gases. To replace a fossil technology, we offer several measures as an option that can be selected and compared. Our portfolio includes energy carrier switching measures (electrification, switch to hydrogen, biofuels, synfuels, …), technology and process substitution measures, carbon capture measures and efficiency measures. Measures that are not yet in our portfolio can of course also be considered.
We can provide an international perspective by comparing the selected measures for all European countries and the United States. Other countries can also be analyzed with prior consultation. Conversely, we can also adapt the analyses individually to your company or municipality. Furthermore, our analyses can be carried out for various (future) scenario years.
Insightful analyses
Our MACCs can be used to perform a multitude of complementary analyses, some of which are outlined in the following. However, the possibilities go far beyond that: do not hesitate to get in touch with us!
In order to help with understanding the results, we can transparently break down the abatement costs into their different cost components. Besides technology-specific CapEx and OpEx, this also includes actor-specific expenditures such as taxes, carbon pricing and grid charges. Our analyses also enable an investigation of the influence of existing monetary incentive mechanisms on the economic viability of individual technologies. By means of a cost gap analysis to the set CO₂ price, the need for further regulatory instruments can further be identified. Sensitvity calculations (e.g., for different energy carrier and CO₂ price scenarios) can be used to examine the relevance of individual parameters on the resulting abatement costs. Moreover, by quantifying the CO₂ abatement gap, we can determine the residual emissions that need to be mitigated beyond the implementation of the measures in order to achieve the GHG emission reduction targets.
Our value proposition
We attach particular importance to a neutral assessment of the examined GHG abatement measures. We seek to transparently inform you of the possibilities and risks that are concealed behind the MACC methodology: they are a powerful tool with clear limitations. Thereby, we will accompany you in building up knowledge on the topic and empower you to be able to interpret the marginal abatement costs on your own.
We ensure the comparability of measures from different sectors and countries through a uniform calculation logic as well as up-to-date and consistent techno-economic input parameters. You can benefit from our extensive expertise in all (end) energy sectors and our many years of experience in the creation and analysis of MACCs, which are based, among others, on our work in the research project “Dynamis – Dynamic and Intersectoral Measure Assessment for Decarbonization”. As a team, we are at your disposal for answering any further questions.
References
RWE AG