The usefulness of marginal CO2-e abatement cost curves in Austria

Energy efficiency measures are manifold in all economic sectors. These measures can be pictured by a marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) which is a common way to show CO2-e abatement potential and its related costs in various fields. In this paper, we calculated the marginal CO2-e abatement cost curve for Austria for the first time to fulfill the need for country specific cost curves. One of the strengths of such curves lies in their ability to highlight that energy efficiency measures can even have negative abatement costs. The weaknesses consist of neglecting a change in energy prices, the rate of diffusion, and compatibility with existing technologies. By using a static bottom-up approach we constructed the MACC for four economic sectors (household, service, transport, energy) and found a national mitigation potential of 45.4 million tons CO2-e. The results further show that even with the measures with negative abatement costs it is possible to make the necessary CO2-e mitigation to fulfill the Kyoto Protocol. The conclusions emphasize that the curve makes a contribution to overcome one of the barriers of implementation by providing enhanced information on energy efficiency measures and its costs. •Energy efficiency measures on a national level for Austria.•First Marginal CO2-e abatement cost curve for Austria.•Reflections about the applicability of MACCs.•Measures with negative CO2-e abatement costs identified that fulfill the Kyoto Protocol.