The three-phases of research and engagement (2008–2023) of the ESRC-funded Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy (CCCEP) ended in December 2023. All CCCEP publications are available on this legacy website. Any new outputs will be uploaded to the site between 2024 and 2028.

Quantifying the Distributional Impact of Energy Efficiency Measures

The distributional impact of the low-carbon transition is an increasingly important topic both for academics and policymakers. Quantifying where the costs and benefits fall can provide greater insight into the equity and cost-effectiveness of government policies, and improve our understanding of household investment decisions. This paper provides new evidence on the distribution of returns from energy efficiency measures both over time and across household-type. A range of econometric techniques are applied to a database of over four million households over an eight year period to quantify heterogeneity, persistence and how these factors impact the relative cost-effectiveness of measures. Results suggest that more deprived households experience lower energy savings, the difference persists over time, and that significantly heterogeneity may be present across levels of deprivation and income deciles that can not be explained by differences in baseline consumption. Measures have been largely cost-effective but savings are much lower than previous policy evaluations using ex-ante estimates would suggest.

Daire McCoy and Raphaela A. Kotsch, 2021. Quantifying the Distributional Impact of Energy Efficiency Measures, The Energy Journal, Volume 42, DOI: 10.5547/01956574.42.6.dmcc.