Environmental economics and the main challenges for economic policy in the Czech Republic in 2015–2025

The master’s thesis analyses environmental policy in the Czech Republic between 2015 and 2025 in terms of its economic impacts, efficiency and long-term sustainability. It focuses primarily on European climate policy, the EU ETS, regulatory and investment costs, and their impacts on business competitiveness, households and public budgets. The analysis is complemented by a semi-structured interview with a representative of an energy- intensive industrial company. The results show that environmental policy contributes to emission reductions and technological change, while at the same time generating significant direct and indirect economic costs. A major concern is its impact on the competitiveness of energy-intensive industries and the risk of carbon leakage resulting from differences in the stringency of climate regulation across countries. The added value of the thesis lies in combining economic, institutional and political- economy perspectives with practical experience from an industrial company. The thesis concludes that environmental policy should be assessed not only according to the environmental outcomes achieved, but also with regard to the associated costs, their distribution and the global effectiveness of the measures adopted.