Know-how deficiencies in emissions trading
Practise makes perfect - this sums up a business management game commissioned by Baden-Württemberg's Ministry for the Environment and Transport, in which 12 companies tested trading with greenhouse gases. The participants at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Karlsruhe, acted out nine years of emissions trading in fast motion on three afternoons. The results are encouraging, but there is still a need for urgent action. "If you don't know the rules of the game, you won't achieve any efficiency gains" project leader, Dr. Joachim Schleich of Fraunhofer ISI warns every company which has put off the topic of emissions trading so far. Time is short Since the decision of the Council of the European Union of 9 December it is now clear that trading with emission certificates is a real option. At their meeting, the Environment Ministers agreed to introduce the trading of carbon dioxide certificates in 2005 in order to achieve the targets set in the Kyoto Protocol on climate protection. If a company is unable to present enough certificates to cover its CO2 emissions, it has to reckon with hefty penalties. To start with, the decision affects at least a thousand German companies from energy-intensive sectors. They hope to be among the winners because the Federal Republic of Germany holds the leading position in reducing greenhouse gases in Europe. Greater willingness to take risks The fact that all 12 companies entered the game with real data on their energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions shows how serious the participants were. In spite of their initial scepticism, the players gave a positive judgement of the business game after it finished. Their use of trading became more frequent in the course of the simulation and their willingness to take risks grew. Despite their commitment, Joachim Schleich ascertained a certain reluctance among the companies to use emission trading actively to increase efficiency and to save costs. That this is possible was proven by students at Karlsruhe University: they achieved better results under the same conditions., ,Strategy for greater efficiency Whether purchasing emission allowances is more favourable, or whether the money should be invested in energy conservation measures cannot be predicted with certainty. Therefore the project partners' advice (alongside the Fraunhofer ISI, Karlsruhe University and the Karlsruhe management consultancy, Takon) is to work out a strategy in plenty of time. First of all, a stock-taking has to have taken place in which a company should clarify how much carbon dioxide it emits and from which sources the gas originates. At the end, it is assessed with which measures the costs can best be reduced.The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI complements the techno-scientific spectrum of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft with economic and societal aspects, analysing technological developments, their market potentials and their impacts on economy, state and society. The Institutes interdisciplinary teams focus their work especially on the fields of energy, environment, production, communication and biotechnology, as well as regional research and research policy.