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Bringing climate policy up to date – decreasing cost projections for renewable energy and batteries and their implications: case study Canada

This case study presents the potential impact of lower battery and renewable energy costs projections in Canada’s NDC emissions target. The costs for renewable electricity generation and electric vehicles have dropped since the NDCs were developed, and future cost projections also decreased as a result. Wachsmuth and Anatolitis (2018) suggest a simple method to estimate increased RE capacities and EV penetration resulting from these cost decreases. The method assumes that lower battery costs lead to a higher market uptake of EVs and that the savings from decreased RE capacity cost are reinvested in the same technology.