Interactions between climate and energy policies: the case of Spain

Emissions trading schemes (ETS) coexist with other environmental and energy policies, such as renewable energy promotion schemes. The potential synergies and conflicts between these policies are worth analysing. Spain is used as a case study to illustrate the theoretical, practical and quantitative interactions. The existence of national policies which affect CO₂ emissions and interact with the EU ETS may lead to conflicts, which could make it more difficult to reach the objectives of emissions reductions, local sustainability benefits, dynamic efficiency and moderate consumer costs. The coordination of efforts to mitigate these conflicts is difficult and may have limited effectiveness, since the instruments employed have multiple objectives and different territorial scopes. However, the coexistence of the EU ETS with other instruments can be justified if the latter can provide social benefits or tackle problems that the former cannot provide or solve (such as ‘local’ and ‘dynamic efficiency’ benefits). The results of an interaction between an ETS and renewable electricity promotion schemes depend on the type of RES-E (electricity from renewable energy sources) support scheme being used and on the specific design features of the instrument implemented.