Work in progress
- "From (micro-)circularity to (macro-)mitigation"
Co-authored with Cristina Cattaneo & Elena Verdolini (RFF-EIEE, CMCC)
Communication: ISIE Leiden, 2023
ABSTRACT: This paper explores the impact of circular economy strategies on climate change mitigation by jointly considering their impacts on material and energy use. Existing literature reveals potential challenges, such as the `rebound effect', that prevent the translation of firm-level resource efficiency gains into a reduction in overall resource use and emissions. Our paper proposes a novel framework for understanding the conditions under which circular practices at the firm level lead to tangible benefits at the macro level. By analyzing the trade-offs between micro-level circular economy practices and macro-level impact on resource use and, ultimately, with climate mitigation, we provide a nuanced understanding of how circularity can align with climate goals. - "Empirical evaluation of the economic and environmental efficiency of Extended Producer Responsibility in Quebec"
Co-authored with Karima Afif & Bocar Samba Ba (Université de Laval)
Communications: IAERE 2023, Naples; IBEO Workshop 2023, Corte; TSE Environmental Seminar, 2023, Toulouse
ABSTRACT: Quebec's Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system for packaging has been in place since 2005, requiring producers to financially contribute for their packaging end-of-life. This contribution varies based on packaging material and weight, encouraging packaging reduction and material substitution. As producers adapt to added EPR costs, their responses range from material efficiency improvements to price adjustments, potentially affecting consumer demand. In this research, we study the upstream environmental and economic efficiency of EPR in Québec using firm-level data for over 2000 companies. In our evaluation, we consider an environmental impact if we observe a causal impact on reduction and substitution of packaging. This reduction can be due to material efficiency (e.g., shrinkage, thinning of packaging, avoidance of group packaging, etc.) or to a reduction in sales of packaged products. We declare the policy economically efficient if it allows the reduction of packaging without a negative impact on sales at the Province level. To do so, our research plan includes a diff-in-diff on the consumption data of the Province of Alberta.
- "Tax-subsidy schemes for recycling when quantity and quality of waste matter" [submitted]
Co-authored with Karima Afif & Bocar Samba Ba (Université de Laval)
Communication: EIEE Brown-Bag seminar, IAERE 2023, Naples
ABSTRACT: This paper seeks to theoretically understand the impact of a tax-subsidy system (as implemented in Extended Producer Responsibility) on packaging source reduction, waste generation, and recycling in the presence of economies of scale and quality concerns in the recycling industry. We use a static equilibrium and a non-homothetic technology function to study asymmetric substitution between the virgin and the recycled material. The model displays a trade-off between recycled content and material productivity, and between waste generation and the recycling industry’s profitability. A tax-subsidy scheme in the form of an excise charge and a dual subsidy restores the social optimum, providing that the recy- cler reaches a positive profit. We find that the excise tax favors virgin material and packaging refinement, all else equal. At the same time, it decreases the use of recycled material, sales, and total waste generation. The subsidy granted to the producer has the opposite effect. The subsidy granted to the recycler increases its profit and the recycling rate.
- Joltreau, E. "Recycling in a Globalised Economy"
Communications: IPWSD 2021 Columbia University, New-York City (online); IAERE 2021, Brescia (online); EAERE 2021, Berlin (online); EEA-ESEM 2021 (online); FAERE 2021, Grenoble; EAERE Summer-School Seggau 2021; CIRED seminar, 2022, Paris; ESCP seminar, 2022, Paris; CEEM seminar, 2022, Montpellier; FSR Climate Conference 2023, Florence
ABSTRACT: Developing a circular economy (CE) through waste recycling has become the new paradigm to sustain non-renewable resources. But, what does implementing a CE in a globalised economy mean, after all? Waste generated by consumption, i.e. including imports, will not necessarily coincide with material needs of the national production, i.e., including exports. Furthermore, countries may have access to cheap virgin materials. This material mismatch, as well as country heterogeneity in waste disutility and costs, will give rise to international trade strategies or interactions with the environment. In this paper, I offer a new perspective on recycling policies, taking into account international trade and national material imbalances.
- Fleckinger, P., Joltreau, E., "Implementing a Circular Economy with Producer Responsibility Organisations".
Communications: EAERE 2020, Berlin (online); FAERE 2020, Grenoble (online)
ABSTRACT: Recycling, reuse, and reduction of exhaustible resources has become a major goal in developed economies, which entails the active participation of producers. The implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility, whereby firms are financially responsible for their products end-of-life costs, is commonly delegated to a Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO). PROs collect fees from producers to organize collection, sorting and recycling of waste. These fees hence have a twofold role of financing the PROs operations and inducing better prod- uct design and reasoned material use by the producers. We propose a theoretical framework to study the salient features of this dominant industry organization. The crucial PROs pricing decisions are determined in particular by their status (nonprofit or for profit), the degree of ownership by the producers, and the coarseness of pricing depending on the material. We show that the complex interplay of budget-balance for the PRO and incentive provisions for the producers is key to address policy questions and provide guidance for the design of EPR programs.
Publications.
- Joltreau, E. (2022) "Extended Producer Responsibility, Packaging Waste Reduction and Eco-design", Environmental and Resource Economics.
ABSTRACT: The main policy addressing the packaging waste issue in the countries of the European Union has been to define recycling objectives along with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). With EPR, producers finance the recycling and management of waste generated by their products. Within this framework they are expected to internalise waste management costs and engage in eco-design of their packaging, i.e., use less packaging and increase packaging recyclability (e.g., through substitution of materials). EPR has been extended worldwide over recent decades and applied to various waste streams. In this paper, by exploiting temporal variation of an original panel dataset of EPR compliance costs from 25 European countries (1998-2015) and four packaging materials, I evaluate for the first time whether these costs have led to packaging waste reduction and substitution of packaging materials. I find that the EPR financial incentive has resulted in very little (though statistically significant) packaging reduction and no systematic substitution effects between packaging materials.
-> pour une présentation vidéo de l'article en français, cliquez ici
- Chiappinelli, O., Gerres, T., Neuhoff, K., Lettow, F., de Coninck, H., Felsmann, B., Joltreau, E., Khandekar, G., Linares, P., Richstein, J., Śniegocki, A., Stede, J., Wyns, T., Zandt, C. & Zetterberg, L. (2021) "A green COVID-19 recovery of the EU basic materials sector: identifying potentials, barriers and policy solutions", Climate Policy
- Joltreau, E., (2018): "Pricing products’ negative externalities at end-of-life using eco-modulation. Discussion from case studies." Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment.
Communications: OECD Workshop on EPR, Paris 2023 - Joltreau, E. and Sommerfeld, K. (2018): "Why Does Emissions Trading Under the EU ETS not Affect Firms’ Competitiveness? Empirical Findings from the Literature." Climate Policy.
Reports and other.
- Joltreau, E. (2022) : Five Years after China’s Plastic Import Ban: Have Europeans Taken Responsibility?, Briefings de l'Ifri, July 4, 2022
- Joltreau. E. (2019). "(De)globalisation of International Plastic Waste Trade. Stakes at Play and Perspectives". Édito Énergie, Ifri, 18 September 2019
- Neuhoff, K., Chiappinelli, O., Bataille, C., Haußner, M., Ismer, R., Joltreau, E., Jürgens, I., Piantieri., C., Richstein., J., Sartor, O., Singhal, P., Stede, J. (2018) "Filling gaps in the policy package to decarbonise production and use of materials" DIW & Climate Strategies.
- OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2017.
BSI economics (Think Tank in Economics, in French)
- Étude, 2023, "Economie circulaire et neutralité carbone dans l'industrie"
- Étude, 2021, "L'économie des plastiques"; podcast pour Melchior
- Étude, 2020, "Le réemploi et la réutilisation solidaire"
- Rédaction du chapitre sur les monnaies locales complémentaires dans le livre Je comprends enfin l'économie, éditions DUNOD 2019.
- Étude, 2018, "Le commerce international des déchets"