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31. Economic Performance in US Fossil Fuel Communities

Author:
Noah Kaufman, Ariane Desrosiers, and Sarah Doctor
Publication Date:
12-2024
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), Columbia University
Abstract:
Rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels to address the severe threats of climate change requires economic transformations that pose challenges for regions heavily dependent on coal, oil, natural gas, or other carbon-intensive industries. The United States is the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas and the fourth-largest producer of coal, and communities across the country depend heavily on fossil fuel industries for jobs, investments, and public revenues that fund schools and other critical services. These communities will need considerable support to successfully navigate a global transition away from fossil fuels, and a better understanding of their local economies will help policymakers design and implement pragmatic support. However, scant evidence exists for such use today. This report, part of the Resilient Energy Economies initiative co-led by the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA, uses a novel dataset and case studies to establish a baseline of local economic performance in fossil fuel–dependent communities between 2004 and 2019. This period captures the peak and first decade of decline of the US coal industry as well as the shale revolution that boosted US oil and gas production.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Finance, Fossil Fuels, and Carbon Emissions
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

32. Designing conditionality in the supply of European public goods

Author:
Roel Beetsma and Marco Buti
Publication Date:
12-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
The European Union will need in the coming years to invest a substantial amount of resources in European public goods (EPGs), including for the digital and climate transitions, and for defence and security. Funding for this could be provided in a centralised way at EU level, via either a fund or from the EU budget, but for this to be politically viable, and to create the necessary trust, national budgetary policies need to comply with the common EU fiscal rules. Setting adequate conditions for access to central financing is, however, not straightforward. The tightness of the conditionality needs to balance the desirability of a country pursuing sound fiscal policies with the need to deliver on the provision of EPGs that benefit several or all EU countries. The optimal tightness should reassure fiscally-conservative countries that EU money would not result in opportunistic behaviour that results in less discipline at national level. More fiscally fragile countries should be reassured that their fiscal retrenchment efforts will be duly rewarded.
Topic:
Governance, Budget, European Union, Finance, and Macroeconomics
Political Geography:
Europe

33. Financing European air defence through European Union debt

Author:
Armin Steinbach and Guntram B. Wolff
Publication Date:
09-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
Europe is vulnerable to air attacks by both state and non-state actors. Russia has substantially increased its production of hypersonic missiles, missiles and drones, while European air defence capacities remain patchy with little improvement in coverage in recent years. Air defence is a classic European public good. No individual nation alone can provide it comprehensively, while air defence provided individual European Union countries can offer significant benefits to Europe as a whole. Joint EU funding for the build-up of greater air defence capabilities would be thus justified and help ensure rapid and sufficient provisioning. Debt funding would be economically justified as air defence systems, such as Patriot and IRIS-T, involve large upfront costs – debt would allow the cost of the investment to be smoothed over longer periods. Issuing EU debt, similarly to what was done with the NextGenerationEU post-pandemic recovery instrument, would be justified given the level of the air-attack threat. EU debt funding of air defence system is legally possible. Debt funding for air defence would respect the EU’s limited competence in defence and such a scheme would maintain the exceptional character of debt funding, with EU countries responding to a security threat in an act of solidarity. Joint debt issuance would not imply changing the command structure of air defence as foreseen under NATO and the European Sky Shield Initiative, but it would impact procurement processes. Procurement could be organised in the framework of the EU’s existing Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) system. Additional EU debt would benefit the development of European industrial capacities in air defence, even if in the short term some funds were used to buy systems from the United States. Significant funds for research and the development of the domestic industrial base should be part of the initiative.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Debt, European Union, Finance, Macroeconomics, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Europe and Ukraine