The German Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz EEG) promotes the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources by a feedin tariff scheme. In general, renewables are considered to be environment-friendly with respect to climate change and other environmental harm associated with fossil-nuclear energy provision. In fact, renewables themselves cause new environmental costs regarding space requirements, related land-use conflicts and the need for scarce raw materials. Therefore, support policies should not only take into account economic but also ecological criteria.

The objective of this study is to assess whether or not environmental criteria are reflected in the German photovoltaic support scheme stipulated by the EEG. It thereby aims to establish a connection between the economic investment stimulus of renewable electricity support schemes and the environmental performance of their supported technologies taking photovoltaic as an example.