EU emissions trading in a crowded national climate policy space – some findings from the INTERACT project

Climate policy in EU Member States is becoming increasingly crowded. Multiple instruments have been introduced at both the Member State and EU levels and new instruments are regularly being proposed. As the number of instruments grows, so does the potential for interaction between them. This interaction can be complementary and mutually reinforcing, but there is also the risk that different policy instruments will interfere with one another and undermine the objectives and credibility of each. The central aim of the EU-funded research project “Interaction in EU Climate Policy” (INTERACT) has been to develop a systematic approach to analysing policy interaction and to use this approach to explore the potential interactions between the proposed EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and other instruments within both EU and Member State climate policy.