Introduction to the ESR Special Issue on Energy, Environment and Climate Change Economics

This special issue contains four papers that highlight key economic issues in Irish climate and energy policy. The first paper tackles the decision to install a home energy retrofit, identifying factors that influence the financial viability of investment. The second paper quantifies the air pollution impacts of domestic and EU-level carbon pricing. The third paper shifts the focus to climate adaptation, showing that firms in flood-prone areas face higher credit costs, indicating that climate-related physical risks are at least partially priced into the cost of credit for Irish firms. However, the authors find that some firms in flood-prone areas face greater difficulty in accessing credit. The final paper of this special issue provides a comparison of Irish emissions from production and consumption-based measurement techniques, revealing that Ireland’s carbon footprint is larger under consumption-based measurement, offering insights for domestic policy design.