WP1: Drivers of Social and Technology Innovations

Objectives

To analyse consumer behaviour and preference heterogeneity in climate and energy models.
To examine new business/service models and innovative technologies in impact assessment modelling.
To achieve theoretical break-throughs in building behavioural foundations for climate change adaptation.
To address the challenges of rapid development of low-carbon technologies and renewable energy resources.

Task 1: Social innovation and the behaviuor of consumers and firms

Researchers explored how consumers and firms drive social and technological innovation. They approached this question primarily from the perspective of behavioural economics. For instance, they demonstrated that energy consumers ‘bunch’ just below consumption thresholds; rather than acting passively, households act strategically to maximise the benefits of energy policy. However, sudden electricity price shocks were found to have no effect on appliance efficiency choices by household. Clear regulatory changes to energy labelling tend to be more effective. Furthermore, targeted incentives, such as interest-free loans for solar panels, water-saving technology adoption, and social cues, were shown to shift household habits.

Task 2: New business and services models

The researchers examined the supply side of innovation in order to facilitate the energy transition. As one example of result, it was found that enhancing human capital in science and engineering has a greater impact on innovation than providing subsidies for research and development to firms. Innovation in green technologies also drives job creation and, over a long period of time, leads to disparities between eco-friendly districts and those still anchored in carbon-related technologies. Another interesting result pertains to financial literacy. Programmes that educate retail investors can facilitate their understanding of ESG investing. In addition, machine learning tools analysing green bond sentiment proved effective in optimising sustainable portfolio performance.

Task 3: Adaptive behaviour

Both consumers and firms are adapting their behaviour in response to environmental changes. The research work incorporated this dimension to gain a better understanding of public preferences and the acceptability of climate and energy policies. For instance, studies have shown that people are willing to pay to help protect natural areas and iconic endangered species such as lions and leopards whose habitat ic endangered by climate change. Researchers have also demonstrated that targeted information can directly influence public acceptance of climate action by correcting common misconceptions. Furthermore, integrating cognitive principles, such as optimal stopping methods, into economic models has enabled researchers to refine their predictions of individual choices in the face of evolving information about environmental risks posed by climate change. Finally, researchers analysed adaptive market behaviour by evaluating price transmission across global biofuel networks, flexible production models, and multinational impacts on sustainable nutrition.

Task 4: Renewable energy

The rapid expansion of renewable energy poses operational challenges due to the intermittent nature of solar and wind power generation. The researchers investigated how grid management and flexible storage technologies could be used to increase the proportion of renewable energy in the power mix. They demonstrated that insufficient grid infrastructure, coupled with heavy reliance on variable renewables, significantly increases the risk, frequency and duration of localised power shortages and blackouts. Moreover, studies evaluated low-carbon alternatives such as green hydrogen power plants, biogas distributed generation, and hybrid photovoltaic systems paired with battery energy storage systems. Among several models, the researchers developed a global least-cost supply optimisation model that identifies the ideal energy mixes for different regions. In short, expanding renewable energy capacity must be accompanied by smart grid investments and flexible energy storage solutions.

Published results

Alberini, Anna, Levan Bezhanishvili, Milan Scasny, Milan. 2023. Published. ‘Heterogeneous Effects of Government Energy Assistance Programs: Covid-19 Lockdowns in the Republic of Georgia.’ Working paper 2023/37. Prague: Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University.

Alsina-Pujols, Maria, Isabel Hovdahl. 2026. ‘ Charging the Transition: Directed Technical Change with Enabling Technologies.’ Working Paper 12664. Munich: Prague: Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research

Benes, Ondrej, Karel Janda. 2022. ‘Environmental dimensions of biofuels’ Working paper ZBW. Kiel: Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

Cass, Leanne, Misato Sato, and Aurélien Saussay. 2025. ‘Adoption, incidence and welfare impacts of interest-free loans: evidence from solar PV.’ CEP Discussion Papers dp2139. London: Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science.

Doile de Doyle, Gabriel Nasser, Paolo Rotella Junior, Luiz Célio Souza Rocha, Priscila França Gonzaga Carneiro, Rogério Santana Peruchi, Karel Janda, Giancarlo Aquila. 2022. ‘ Impact of Regulatory Changes on Economic Feasibility of Distributed Generation Solar Units.’ Working Paper 2/2022. Prague: Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University.

Harutyunyan, Artur, Karel Janda. 2022. ‘Multinationals and Sustainable Attitude to Nutrition and Eating Habits.’ Working paper. Kiel, Hamburg: ZBW–Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

Heidary, H., & Janda, K. (2024). The Life Cycle Assessment and Merit Order Effect of Green Hydrogen-Fueled Gas Turbine Power Plant. Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, 49, 1855–1868.

Janda, Karel, O. Benes. 2022. 'Biofuel Technologies and Policies .’ Working Paper. Kiel: ZBW-Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

Janda, Karel, E. Michalikova, L.C.S. Rocha, Paolo Rotella Junior, B. Schererova, David Zilberman. 2023. ‘Review of the Impact of Biofuels on US Retail Gasoline Prices.’ Energies, 16(1): 428.

Janda, Karel, Ladislav Krištoufek, Barbora Schererova, David Zilberman. 2022. ‘Price transmission and policies in biofuels-related global networks.’ Working paper 5/2022. Prague: Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University.

Janda, Karel, Zhang, Binyi 2022. ‘The impact of renewable energy and technology innovation on Chinese carbon dioxide emissions.’ In Regulation of Finance and Accounting: 21st and 22nd Virtual Annual Conference on Finance and Accounting. Prague: Springer, pp. 177-189.

Janda, Karel, Eva Michalikova, Luiz Célio Souza Rocha, Paulo Rotella Junior, Barbora Schererova, Jan Sila, David Zilberman. 2022. ‘Impact of Biofuels on US Retail Gasoline Prices: A Systematic Literature Review.’ Working Paper 2022/31. Prague: Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University.

Janda, Karel, Marketa Rozsahegyi, Quang Van Tran, and Binyi Zhang. 2025. ‘The Impact of Machine Learning Derived Green Bonds Sentiment on Performance of Green Bond Portfolio.’ EconStor Preprints 335550, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

Kashkarov, Daniil. 2024. 'Essays on Human Capital, Inequality and Technological Change'. Ph.D. diss. Prague: Charles University.

Kmeťková, Diana, Iva Zvěřinová, Milan Ščasný, Vojtěch Máca. 2025. ‘Acceptability of Meat Tax and Subsidy Removal by Meat Eaters: Insights from Five European Countries.’ Agricultural and Food Economics 13:13.

Kmeťková, Diana, Milan Ščasný. 2025. ’From income to diet: animal-based foods and proteins worldwide.’Applied Economics, 1–16.

Khymych, Olha. 2023. ‘Residential Energy Consumption in Ukraine: Does Energy Price Matter for Energy Savings?’ Dissertation thesis, Charles University.

Kopečná, Vědunka, Milan Ščasný, Lukáš Rečka. 2026. ‘ Elasticity in CES Production Functions: New Estimates for Europe and Different Nesting Structures.’ Energy Journal 47(4) 185–216.

Nasser Doyle de Doile, Gabriel, Paulo Rotella Junior, Luiz Célio Souza Rocha, Karel Janda, Rogério Peruchi, Giancarlo Aquila, and Pedro Paulo Balestrassi. 2023. 'Impacts of Economic Regulation on Photovoltaic Distributed Generation with Battery Energy Storage Systems.' Journal of Energy Storage 72, Part B: 108382.

Oliveira, D. d. S., Gomes, G. C., Rocha, L. C. S., Rotella Junior, P., Aquila, G., Bernardes, P. A., Janda, K. (2022). Energy and stochastic economic assessment for distributed power generation from Manipueira biogas. Environmental Technology, 45(8), 1608–1621.

Pires, Arthur Leandro Guerra, Paulo Rotella Junior, Luiz Célio Souza Rocha, Rogério Santana Peruchi, Karel Janda, Rafael de Carvalho Miranda. 2023. ‘Environmental and financial multi-objective optimization: Hybrid wind-photovoltaic generation with battery energy storage systems.’ Journal of Energy Storage 66: 107425.

Renoir, Clément. 2023. ‘Economic Development, Risk Management, and Climate Policy.’ PhD diss. Zurich: ETH Zurich.

Rocha, L. C. S., Rotella Junior, P., Aquila, G., Janda, K. (2022). Utility-scale Energy Storage Systems: World Condition and Brazilian Perspectives. Journal of Energy Storage, 52, 105066.

Sargsyan, Y., S. Turdaliev, S. van Koten. 2023. ‘The Heterogeneous Effects of Social Cues on Day Time and Night Time Electricity Usage, and Appliance Purchase: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Armenia.’ Working Paper 23/2023. Prague: Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University.

Tibanywana, J. 2025. Adoption of Water-Saving Technologies Among Urban Households in Tanzania. PhD diss. Cape Town: University of Cape Town.

Turdaliev, Salim, Karel Janda. 2023. ‘Increasing Block Tariff Electricity Pricing and Propensity to Purchase Dirty Fuels: Empirical Evidence from a Natural Experiment.’ Eastern European Economics, 1-21.

Wekhof, Tobias. 2024. ‘The role of open-ended questions in narrowing the intention behavior gap for sustainable retail investors.’ Social Science Research Network, Working paper 4838449.