CFP News

Improving the economic viability of alpine solar PV in Switzerland requires robust energy policies.

Anurag Gumber has successfully defended his PhD thesis.

While the Inflation Reduction Act is an unprecedented climate policy in the U.S., it has drawbacks.

Paul Waidelich has successfully defended his PhD thesis.

Hello Summer!

Tufts University Professor Visits EPG and CFP

Paul Waidelich has published a research paper proposing a new method for projecting future global costs of climate change.

We welcome two new PhD researchers, Lingxi Tang and Alyssa Gunnemann, who joined the EPG and CFP groups in March 2024.

We welcome Darius Sultani as a visiting researcher at EPG/CFP for the month of March 2024.

Katrin Sievert has published a research paper proposing a new method for projecting the future costs of DAC technologies.

The 2nd International Conference on Negative CO2 Emissions was held at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14-17, 2022. Katrin Sievert, one of the CFP PhD candidates, represented the group as well as the ISTP Carbon Removal Lab and presented preliminary insights on the cost of direct air capture.

In May 2022, the researchers of the ongoing projects of the Institute of Science, Technology, and Policy (ISTP) met for a one-day research retreat at Lake Zurich. During the day, PhD students presented their ongoing research to receive feedback from their colleagues as well as from post-docs and professors of the Institute. The retreat provided a unique opportunity for the researchers to get to know each other in person and exchange research ideas.

CFP and EPG joined forces in this year’s SOLA run. After the event had to be cancelled the last two years due to Covid, the team ran the 114.35 km in 9:30 h and reached rank 176 of a total of 873 rated teams. The runners finished the day with a well-deserved barbecue.

In April 2022, the Climate Finance and Policy Group met for a two-day research seminar in Filzbach in the canton of Glarus, with beautiful views over the picturesque Lake Walen. For two days, the group’s researchers presented and discussed their most recent work and engaged in team-building activities before embarking on a hike along the shores of the lake.

In his blog post Paul discusses whether today’s gas network regulation is ready for the anticipated reduction of gas demand and the decommissioning of distribution networks that will likely result from pathways to net-zero.

Katrin joined the Climate Finance and Policy Group at ETH as a PhD student. She is working on an ISTP project to explore investment and financing needs along the CCS/CCU value chain and assess suitable sources of financing.

During an official UNFCCC side event co-hosted by ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich, and others, Prof. Steffen will present learnings from the climate-alignment of Multilateral Development Banks for other international finance actors, especially export credit agencies.

CFP is looking for a postdoc in energy/environmental economics or adjacent fields

Radio program and news outlets discuss new social cost of carbon paper

The Climate Finance and Policy Group held a two-day research seminar in September 2021 at Einsiedeln, known for its 1000-years old monastery. After a day of presentations and discussions, the group went on a hike in the beautiful Mythen region and concluded the visit with a delicious lunch and world-class homemade ice cream at Alpwirtschaft Furggelen.

A new study from our research group, in collaboration with ETH's Energy and Technology Policy Group, the University of Utrecht School of Economics, and E3M, was published in Climatic Change.

A new study from our research group, published in Environmental Research Letters in July 2021, compares how policymakers in OECD countries address the financial sector in order to redirect finance flows toward green investments. It finds that policy output accelerated rapidly since the Paris Agreement in some countries, though important financial centers lag behind.

Our research not only advances disciplinary and interdisciplinary research, but is often highly relevant for policymakers and private actors as well. To highlight important academic findings for practitioners, we developed one page Policy Briefs, that will accompany relevant published articles from now on. Read the first two issues on green financial policies, and on the sustainability of cryptocurrencies.

CFP welcomes Anurag Gumber and Paul Waidelich as PhD students

Paul Tautorat joins both CFP and the Energy and Technology Policy Group (EPG) to work on the DECARBIN research project funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE). He investigates the influence of energy and climate policy on industry decarbonisation.

Lena joined as a PhD student to analyze the role of the financial sector in accelerating investment in low-​carbon technologies, with a specific focus on changing investment needs for different technologies. She will be part of the GREENFIN project.

In January 2021, we start the GREENFIN project, funded by a € 1.5 million ERC Starting Grant awarded by the European Research Council. The project “GREENFIN – Effective Green Financial Policies for the Low-​Carbon Transition”. will explore how a broad transition to low-​carbon technologies will change the need for technology finance across European countries, and the role of green financial policies in that regard. Recruiting is ongoing.

Together with ETH’s Energy Politics Group, our group has been awarded funding from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy in a competitive research call “Energy–Economy–Society”. The project “DECARBIN – The impact of energy and climate policy on the decarbonization of industry in Switzerland” will run 2021–2023. 

In a radio feature by SRF, Bjarne Steffen discussed a new study by the Swiss Sustainable Finance association, and compares Swiss policy action with the higher momentum in other OECD countries.