Integrated assessment of the policy avenues for transformative climate policies

Abstract

There are diverse approaches to climate policy that are based on different perceptions of the nature of the problem that needs to be solved and that rely on different policy instruments and governance frameworks to do so. This report presents an integrated assessment of four “policy avenues” (PA) – different combinations of policy instruments that reflect such distinct approaches to the design of climate policy. They are all geared at achieving climate neutrality in the EU, but differ in the choice of instruments, but also in the underlying regulatory philosophy. The aim of the report is to understand the respective PA’s ability to address the transformation challenges of innovation, investment, infrastructure, and integration – the 4i’s (Görlach, Hilke, et al., 2022) – and derive insights for the EU’s climate policy mix going forward.