Social Aspects of Environmental Policies

Client: Umweltbundesamt, Berlin

Project partner: RWI – Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung e.V., Essen

Duration: 2020-2022

Instruments and measures of environmental and climate policy must be effective and cost-efficient on the one hand, and socially acceptable on the other. The social effects of environmental pollution and environmental policy measures have so far been discussed only marginally. It seems all the more necessary to improve research knowledge in this area as environmental impacts and financial burdens of environmental policy measures are distributed very differently from region to region, and lower earners are often more strongly affected (for example, by higher commuting costs or particulate pollution in conurbations). Conversely, the benefits of environmental policy initiatives are also distributed differently across social groups, for example in the form of new job creation or improved inner-city air quality. The research project focuses on obtaining data to provide environmental policies with better information about the social consequences of its actions and possible trade-offs.