The Demand for Climate Protection – An Empirical Assessment for Germany

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the real demand for climate protection. For this purpose we conducted a framed field experiment with a sample of the residential population in Mannheim, Germany. Participants were endowed with € 40 and given the opportunity to contribute to climate protection by purchasing European Union Allowances. Purchased allowances were withdrawn from the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). While the median willingness to pay (WTP) for climate protection is zero the mean WTP is approximately € 12/tCO2. We analyse determinants of the observed individual demand behaviour and discuss the potential consequences, which result from the remarkably low WTP and its distribution for German climate policy.

Keywords: Experimental economics, demand for climate protection, climate change, willingness to pay

JEL Classification: Q51, Q54, C93