Addressing the Rebound Effect

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Addressing the Rebound Effect European Commission DG ENV A project under the Framework contract ENV.G.4/FRA/2008/0112 ADDRESSING THE REBOUND EFFECT FINAL REPORT 26 April 2011 In association with & Contacts Dr. Dorothy Maxwell [email protected] Ms. Laure McAndrew [email protected] in association with & _____________________________________________________________________________________ The study has been conducted by the consortium Global View Sustainability Services (GVSS) (project lead) in association with BIO Intelligence Service (BIO) and Ecologic Institute. PROJECT TEAM & REPORT AUTHORS Lead Contractor: Dr. Dorothy Maxwell (Project Director) Dr. Paula Owen Ms. Laure McAndrew In association with: Mr. Shailendra Mudgal Mr. Frank Cachia Mr. Kurt Muehmel Mr. Alexander Neubauer Ms. Jenny Tröltzsch PROJECT WEBSITE: http://rebound.eu-smr.eu CITATION REFERENCE: Maxwell, D., Owen, P., McAndrew. L, Muehmel, K., Neubauer, A., Addressing the Rebound Effect, a report for the European Commission DG Environment, 26 April 2011 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: This report was commissioned and financed by the EUROPEAN COMMISSION DG ENVIRONMENT Unit C2 – Sustainable Consumption and Production, under the Sustainable Resource Management Framework contract. European Commission DG ENV 2 Addressing the Rebound Effect in association with & ____________________________________________________________________________________ Contents 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................... 5 1.1. PROJECT OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................. 5 1.2. KEY REBOUND EFFECT FINDINGS .......................................................................................... 6 1.3. CASE EXAMPLES .................................................................................................................. 10 1.4. RECOMMENDED MEASURES TO ADDRESS REBOUND EFFECTS .......................................... 15 2. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 23 2.1 AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND DELIVERABLES ............................................................................... 23 2.2 BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................... 24 2.3 PROJECT TEAM .................................................................................................................... 24 3. METHOD ....................................................................................................... 25 3.1 TASKS ................................................................................................................................... 25 3.2 EVIDENCE SOURCES ............................................................................................................ 26 3.3 KEY PROJECT MILESTONES .................................................................................................. 26 4. STATE OF THE ART REVIEW ............................................................................ 28 4.1 WHAT IS THE REBOUND EFFECT? ........................................................................................ 28 4.2 REBOUND EFFECT DEFINITIONS .......................................................................................... 30 4.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE REBOUND EFFECT ........................................................................... 32 4.4 APPROACHES FOR MEASURING REBOUND & LIMITATIONS ............................................... 33 4.5 DIFFERENTIATING THE REBOUND EFFECT FROM OTHER FACTORS .................................... 37 5. CASE EXAMPLES TO ILLUSTRATE REBOUND EFFECT ........................................ 40 5.1 CASE: HOUSEHOLD CARS & HEATING/COOLING (OECD) .................................................... 40 5.2 CASE: HOUSEHOLD CARS, HEATING, LIGHTING, PRODUCTION (USA) ................................ 41 5.3 CASE: ENERGY EFFICIENCY POLICIES & PROGRAMMES (EU) .............................................. 42 5.4 CASE: HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES (EU) ................................................................................. 45 5.5 CASE: LIGHTING (DEVELOPED & DEVELOPING COUNTRIES) ............................................... 46 5.6 CASE: ROAD FREIGHT .......................................................................................................... 48 5.7 CASE: PRIVATE TRANSPORT ................................................................................................ 49 5.8 CASE: FRENCH ECO PASTILLE SCHEME & VEHICLES ............................................................ 50 5.9 CASE: MOBILE DATA TRAFFIC .............................................................................................. 51 5.10 CASE: PAPERLESS OFFICE & ICT ........................................................................................... 51 6. MEASURES AND CASE EXAMPLES FOR TACKLING REBOUND EFFECT ............... 53 6.1 DESIGN, EVALUATION & PERFORMANCE OF POLICY INSTRUMENTS ................................. 53 6.2 SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLES & CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ........................................................ 59 6.3 AWARENESS RAISING & EDUCATION IN BUSINESS ............................................................. 65 European Commission DG ENV 3 Addressing the Rebound Effect in association with & _____________________________________________________________________________________ 6.4 TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION ............................................................................................ 68 6.5 FISCAL INSTRUMENTS ......................................................................................................... 68 6.6 MIXED INSTRUMENTS: TECHNOLOGY, FISCAL, BEHAVIOUR ............................................... 73 6.7 NEW BUSINESS MODELS ..................................................................................................... 79 7. CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................... 80 7.1 KEY FINDINGS STATE OF THE ART ON REBOUND EFFECTS.................................................. 80 7.2 GUIDELINE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TACKLING REBOUND EFFECTS ............................... 85 8. REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 101 ANNEX A: STAKEHOLDER QUESTIONS ....................................................................... 111 ANNEX B: STAKEHOLDER RESPONDANTS .................................................................. 112 ANNEX C: STAKEHOLDER VIEWS (GENERIC) ............................................................... 115 ANNEX D: STAKEHOLDER MEETING ........................................................................... 124 ANNEX F: FAQ ON REBOUND EFFECTS ....................................................................... 132 European Commission DG ENV 4 Addressing the Rebound Effect in association with & ____________________________________________________________________________________ 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This is the final report of the Addressing the Rebound Effect project. The overall project objectives and tasks were: 1. Review the current State of the Art knowledge and practice on the rebound effect occurring in the EU from EU policies on resource efficiency, waste prevention and Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) (direct, indirect and economy wide) as well as wider international experiences. 2. Analyse ways to prevent, reduce or counteract the rebound effect and their effectiveness. 3. Develop guideline recommendations for addressing rebound in policy in order to achieve the maximum environmental benefit through these policies. This report documents the key findings from tasks 1- 3. A key focus of the project has been to identify SCP relevant, real world case examples that illustrate rebound effects and measures to counteract them. A summary of the project (1.1), findings from the State of the Art review (1.2) and key recommendations for addressing rebound effects in policy (1.3) are summarised below. 1.1. PROJECT OVERVIEW The Task 1 State of the Art review analysed key evidence literature sources and 44 expert stakeholder responses received, mainly through interviews supplemented with email responses (15 responses was the original target). Key topics investigated include: Existence and significance of the rebound effect (direct, indirect and/or economy wide). Accurate measurement of the rebound effect (direct, indirect and/or economy wide), limitations of current approaches and any improvements required. Links between the rebound effect and other factors causing consumption e.g. pricing, income etc. Whether internalising all environmental externality costs in prices in the future (e.g. for energy, water, materials, land use etc) would make the rebound effect irrelevant? Case examples illustrating the rebound effect associated with resource, waste and SCP instruments. Measures to address the rebound effect in environmental policy making and successful use of this already. The stakeholder questions and respondents are listed in Annex A and B with their generic responses to the topics in Annex C. The evidence literature sources reviewed are in 8.0 References. Key experts that have or are involved in credible rebound effect projects in the EU, USA, India and China have provided input. The general response from experts was that the project was welcomed, timely and the
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