Policy | EPFL Graph Search

Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organization. Policies can assist in both subjective and objective decision making. Policies used in subjective decision-making usually assist senior management with decisions that must be based on the relative merits of a number of factors, and as a result, are often hard to test objectively, e.g. work–life balance policy... Moreover, Governments and other institutions have policies in the form of laws, regulations, procedures, administrative actions, incentives and voluntary practices. Frequently, resource allocations mirror policy decisions. Policy is a blueprint of the organizational activities which are repetitive/routine in nature. In contrast, policies to assist in objective decision-making are usually operational in nature and can be objective

Environmental policies: designing acceptable road pricing and voluntary waste sorting schemes

Linda Melina Tesauro

Growing urban population implies many challenges for the municipalities in terms of mobility, housing, waste management or infrastructures. Public policies are thus needed to ensure a sustainable development. The main objective of this thesis is to analyze different environmental policies in the domain of mobility and waste management in order to help municipalities in designing more efficient measures.Firstly, Chapter 2 focuses on traffic congestion and in particular the acceptability of a congestion charge. We design a large survey with different plausible schemes for the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland and assess their acceptability with a discrete choice experiment (DCE). Results show that public support depends crucially on the policy design and the information provided. We find an important demand for exemptions and a preference for constant pricing. This implies a clear trade-off between efficiency and acceptability. However, the gap can be partly closed by information provision. Analyzing heterogeneity, we observe that preferences vary according to personal characteristics, especially where people live and how they commute.Chapter 3 analyzes the determinants of households' municipal waste sorting. We design a survey to investigate households' sorting motivation and use a DCE to assess households' waste sorting scheme preferences in the Canton of Geneva. We observe that households' waste sorting depends on personal characteristics such as sensitivity to the environment, guilty conscience or information level. However, it is the satisfaction with the existing sorting scheme that increases most the probability to sort waste. Our results show clear preferences for better infrastructures, but with thresholds. Interestingly, the best infrastructures and services are not always needed. By looking at heterogeneity and linking personal beliefs and characteristics with preferences, we find different groups sorting a similar number of categories, but with different underlying mechanisms like a lack of knowledge or a need for more convenient infrastructures and services.To complement our analysis on voluntary policies and in particular on the effectiveness of convenient infrastructures, Chapter 4 assesses a new voluntary environmental policy implemented in the Canton of Geneva and compares the results with a bag tax, a monetary incentive policy introduced in the neighboring canton, Vaud. The voluntary policy consists of the distribution to households of specific bins for organic waste to increase the sorting rate and decrease the amount of unsorted waste. We use a difference-in-differences methodology to assess the causal impact of the policy on organic waste as well as on overall waste generation. We find that the introduction of the voluntary policy increases significantly the proportion of households sorting organic waste. Interestingly, we observe some positive spillover effects on other waste sorted. By comparing the voluntary policy in the Canton of Geneva and the bag tax in the Canton of Vaud, we find similar effects on organic waste sorting. However, the impact of the voluntary policy is smaller on unsorted waste than the short-term effect of the bag tax.In conclusion, we show that price is not the only factor to consider in environmental policies. More stringent policies can be acceptable if well designed. Furthermore, the power of non-monetary incentives should not be underestimated.

EPFL2022

A two-step decision model on energy retrofitting buildings

Sergey Arzoyan

In standard modelling of energy and climate policies, the speed and extent of energy efficiency improvements (EEIs) are usually assumed to be unaffected, even by policies designed to foster innovation. We model endogenous EEI in a model of the Swiss housing stock. Retrofitting results from a two-step decision model for building owners. First, they decide to conduct an energy audit, then they decide for or against retrofitting based on NPV. We use the model to simulate a rising retrofit subsidy, a rising CO2 tax, an information campaign and combinations of these measures. Our results show that the CO2 tax obtains its reduction of emissions at smallest investment cost because it also encourages fuel switching. However, deep decarbonisation requires a greater step-up of the retrofit rate, which is obtained by using the revenues of the CO2 tax to subsidize retrofitting and by adding an information campaign.

2020

Endogenous energy efficiency improvements in large-scale retrofits to Swiss residential building stock

Sergey Arzoyan

In standard analyses of Swiss energy and climate policies, the speed and extent of energy efficiency improvements (EEI) are usually assumed to be unaffected, even by policies designed to foster innovation. This project introduces endogenous EEI and barriers to retrofitting in the housing sector. In order to achieve this, we explain how Swiss building stock has evolved and how retrofitting decisions and heating system improvements may reduce energy consumption. We use a two-step model to illustrate how homeowners take decisions about retrofitting, then we consider several scenarios. Our results showed that in order to achieve deep decarbonisation in the building sector, a number of different economic instruments need to be used simultaneously.

IOP Science2019

Environmental policies: designing acceptable road pricing and voluntary waste sorting schemes

Linda Melina Tesauro

EPFL2022