Regional Effects of CO2-Emissions Trading Policy - an Outline of the Problems

Emissions trading with carbondioxide (CO2) certificates shall probably be the market-oriented instrument of environmental policy with the broadest impact. Consequently, one should also expect considerable spatial effects. Therefore, the question, of what kind these effects will be, should be asked at an early stage so that spatial planning can prepare for them. The analyses of this paper, which due to the lack of experience and consequently of quantitative data can only be of an exploratory kind, show that the spatial effects shall vary greatly. Most probably the consequences will hit the - already disadvantaged - old-industrial regions beyond proportion. As opposed to this, modern agglomerations will be best off, not least because of their stronger power to shift the burden. Under the anyway increasing conflict of interest between national growth and interregional equalization, which spatial planning faces, this is an important result. Thus, if emissions trading increases by volume, as is to be expected, spatial planning has to be prepared early for noticeable spatial effects. To demonstrate the spatial structure and approximate relative importance of this burden, was the intention of this paper.