A Review of Willingness to Pay Studies for Climate Change Mitigation in the Energy Sector

Abstract

A wide range of climate change mitigation policies have been developed around the world and these policies have become one of the major concerns, however there is still debate among scientists about what are the main external benefits and how to account for them and prepare effective climate change mitigation policies that might be widely accepted by society in general. One of the main ways to assess external benefit of climate change mitigation in energy sector is to conduct Willingness to Pay (WTP) assessments for climate change mitigation options by households. There are many studies on WTP assessment for climate stability conducted in recent years. The paper surveys the existing literature on WTP for climate change mitigation policy in the energy sector. The aim of the paper is to identify the common variables across a varied set of WTP studies in order to establish a basis for comparison. The key variables selected for analysis of WTP studies for climate change mitigation in energy sector addressed in the paper are: the WTP assessment methods; the main attributes used for comparing alternatives in WTP studies, targeted climate change mitigation policies in energy sector, mathematical model used to estimate WTP, the main socio-demographic factors having impact on WTP for climate change mitigation policies. The analysis of WTP studies for climate change mitigation is grouped in two areas: renewables and energy efficiency measures in households. The paper provides analytical structure for future studies to evaluate the effects of variation in key comparative elements upon WTP.