|
on Environmental Economics |
|
Issue of 2017‒11‒26
thirty-one papers chosen by Francisco S. Ramos Universidade Federal de Pernambuco |
| By: | Baranzini, Andrea; van den Bergh, Jeroen C. J. M.; Carattini, Stefano; Howarth, Richard B.; Padilla, Emilio; Roca, Jordi |
| Abstract: | Carbon pricing is a recurrent theme in debates on climate policy. Discarded at the 2009 COP in Copenhagen, it remained part of deliberations for a climate agreement in subsequent years. As there is still much misunderstanding about the many reasons to implement a global carbon price, ideological resistance against it prospers. Here, we present the main arguments for carbon pricing, to stimulate a fair and well-informed discussion about it. These include considerations that have received little attention so far. We stress that a main reason to use carbon pricing is environmental effectiveness at a relatively low cost, which in turn contributes to enhance social and political acceptability of climate policy. This includes the property that corrected prices stimulate rapid environmental innovations. These arguments are underappreciated in the public debate, where pricing is frequently downplayed and the erroneous view that innovation policies are sufficient is widespread. Carbon pricing and technology policies are, though, largely complementary and thus are both needed for effective climate policy. We also comment on the complementarity of other instruments to carbon pricing. We further discuss distributional consequences of carbon pricing and present suggestions on how to address these. Other political economy issues that receive attention are lobbying, co-benefits, international policy coordination, motivational crowding in/out, and long-term commitment. The overview ends with reflections on implementing a global carbon price, whether through a carbon tax or emissions trading. The discussion goes beyond traditional arguments from environmental economics by including relevant insights from energy research and innovation studies as well. |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:84042&r=env |
| By: | Dietz, Simon; Gollier, Christian; Kessler, Louise |
| Abstract: | How does climate-change mitigation affect the aggregate consumption risk borne by future generations? In other words, what is the ‘climate beta’? In this paper we argue using a combination of theory and integrated assessment modelling that the climate beta is positive and close to unity for maturities of up to about one hundred years. This is because the positive effect on the climate beta of uncertainty about exogenous, emissions-neutral technological progress overwhelms the negative effect on the climate beta of uncertainty about the carbon-climate-response, particularly the climate sensitivity, and the damage intensity of warming. Mitigating climate change therefore has no insurance value to hedge the aggregate consumption risk borne by future generations. On the contrary, it increases that risk, which justifies a relatively high discount rate on the expected benefits of emissions reductions. However, the stream of undiscounted expected benefits is also increasing in the climate beta, and this dominates the discounting effect so that overall the net present value of carbon emissions abatement is increasing in the climate beta. |
| Keywords: | beta; climate change; discounting; integrated assessment; mitigation; risk; social cost of carbon |
| JEL: | G32 |
| Date: | 2017–07–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:83605&r=env |
| By: | Derya KELES; Johanna CHOUMERT (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International(CERDI)); Pascale COMBES MOTEL (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International(CERDI)); Eric Nazindigouba KERE |
| Abstract: | In this article, we explore the role of biofuel production on deforestation in developing and emerging countries. Since the 2000s biofuel production has been rapidly developing to address issues of economic development, energy poverty and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, the sustainability of biofuels is being challenged in recent research, particularly at the environmental level, due to their impact on deforestation and the GHG emissions they can generate as a result of land use changes. In order to isolate the impact of bioethanol and biodiesel production among classic determinants of deforestation, we use a fixed effects panel model on biofuel production in 112 developing and emerging countries between 2001 and 2012. We find a positive relationship between bioethanol production and deforestation in these countries, among which we highlight the specificity of Upper-Middle-Income Countries (UMICs). An acceleration of incentives for the production of biofuels, linked to a desire to strengthen energy security from 2006 onwards, enables us to highlight higher marginal impacts for the production of bioethanol in the case of developing countries and UMICs. However, these results are not significant before 2006 for developing countries, and biodiesel production appears to have an impact on deforestation before 2006 on both subsamples. These last two results seem surprising and could be related to the role of biofuel production technologies and the crop yields used in their production. |
| Keywords: | Biofuel production, Land use change, Forest cover loss, Panel data. |
| JEL: | Q55 Q23 Q16 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1894&r=env |
| By: | Johanna Choumert (EDI); Pascale Combes Motel (CERDI); Derya Keles (INRA – LEF); Eric Kere (African Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | In this article, we explore the role of biofuel production on deforestation in developing and emerging countries. Since the 2000s biofuel production has been rapidly developing to address issues of economic development, energy poverty and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, the sustainability of biofuels is being challenged in recent research, particularly at the environmental level, due to their impact on deforestation and the GHG emissions they can generate as a result of land use changes. In order to isolate the impact of bioethanol and biodiesel production among classic determinants of deforestation, we use a fixed effects panel model on biofuel production in 112 developing and emerging countries between 2001 and 2012. We find a positive relationship between bioethanol production and deforestation in these countries, among which we highlight the specificity of Upper-Middle-Income Countries (UMICs). An acceleration of incentives for the production of biofuels, linked to a desire to strengthen energy security from 2006 onwards, enables us to highlight higher marginal impacts for the production of bioethanol in the case of developing countries and UMICs. However, these results are not significant before 2006 for developing countries, and biodiesel production appears to have an impact on deforestation before 2006 on both subsamples. These last two results seem surprising and could be related to the role of biofuel production technologies and the crop yields used in their production. |
| Keywords: | Biofuel production, land use change, forest cover loss, , |
| JEL: | Q16 Q23 Q55 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fae:wpaper:2017.24&r=env |
| By: | Rabi H. Mohtar |
| Abstract: | Renewable energy technologies are projected to have substantial growth in the coming decades, especially given the environmental, social and economic drivers observed globally. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region encloses abundant alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and hydropower. The concern is more whether the Arab region will be able to respond to and manage the growth opportunities in this emerging sector. This Policy Brief explores opportunities and challenges for the MENA region to adopt and increase the production of alternative energy in an existing national portfolio and the role this renewable sources of energy can help in water and food securities in remote areas that are not serviced by the electric grid. As such renewable energy can help the MENA region towards its quest to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and in particular Water, Energy, climate goals. |
| Keywords: | renewable, energy, water, food security, MENA, Morocco |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ocp:ppaper:pb-1728&r=env |
| By: | Sofien, Tiba; Omri, Anis |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an extensive survey of the great progress in the literature of energy- environment-growth nexus for both specific- and multi-county studies covering the period from 1978 to 2014. The survey focuses on country (ies) coverage, periods, modeling methodologies, and empirical conclusions. Our survey is based on the direction of causality between (i)energy consumption (electricity, nuclear, renewable and non-renewable) and economic growth; (ii) between economic growth and environment; and between the three variables at the same time. As a general remark from these studies is that the literature produced paradoxical and not conclusive results which energy consumption can boost economic growth through the productivity enhancement and it can boost also the environmental damages through the enhancement of pollutant emissions. This survey gives researchers a ‘snap shot’ of the literature on the causality between the four types of energy, environment and economic growth for both individual and collective cases. Understanding the causal links between environment, economic growth and different types of energy consumption provides a basis for discussion in order to design and implementating effective energy and environmental policies. |
| Keywords: | Literature survey, economic growth, energy consumption, environment. |
| JEL: | O4 O44 Q4 |
| Date: | 2016–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:82555&r=env |
| By: | Aurélie Méjean (CNRS-CIRED); Antonin Pottier (Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne – CNRS); Stéphane Zuber (PSE-CNRS); Marc Fleurbaey (Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | Climate change raises the issue of intergenerational equity. As climate change threatens irreversible and dangerous impacts, possibly leading to extinction, the most relevant trade-off may not be between present and future consumption, but between present consumption and the mere existence of future generations. To investigate this trade-off, we build an integrated assessment model that explicitly accounts for the risk of extinction of future generations. We compare different climate policies, which change the probability of catastrophic outcomes yielding an early extinction, within the class of variable population utilitarian social welfare functions. We show that the risk of extinction is the main driver of the preferred policy over climate damages. We analyze the role of inequality aversion and population ethics. Usually a preference for large populations and a low inequality aversion favour the most ambitious climate policy, although there are cases where the effect of inequality aversion is reversed. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Catastrophic risk, Equity, Population, Climate-economy model |
| JEL: | D63 Q01 Q54 Q56 Q5 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fae:wpaper:2017.25&r=env |
| By: | Jung Joon Lee (Korea Institute of Industrial Technology); Sunjong Lee (Korea Institute of Industrial Technology) |
| Abstract: | Azodicarbonamide (ADCA) is commonly used as typical chemical foaming agent through thermal decomposition. However, development of eco-friendly chemical foaming agent is acutely required due to ammonia gas generated from ADCA. Furthermore, the market demand is also occurring rapidly by international regulation on human health such as ?REACH?(European super-environment regulation), environmental pollutant emission regulation and increase interest of companies for improving working conditions. Therefore, the size effect of porous inorganic particle on ammonia gas deodorization was studied for development of eco-friendly chemical foaming agent. First, ammonia gas deodorizing effect of the inorganic particle was confirmed over 90% by test analysis on Korea Far Infrared Association (KFIA). The thermal and morphological properties of the inorganic particle were measured by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) respectively. Also, the surface area of the inorganic particle was analyzed by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET).Then after fabrication of foaming body using ADCA foaming agent depending on the content and size of the inorganic particle, the foaming efficiency, whiteness and ammonia gas emission were measured and analyzed by hydrometer, color difference meter and ammonia gas detector tube respectively. |
| Keywords: | Chemical foaming agent, ammonia gas reduction, porous inorganic particle |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:5808273&r=env |
| By: | Paolo Melindi-Ghidi; Tom Dedeurwaerdere; Giorgio Fabbri |
| Abstract: | The activities of intermediary organisations in the context of payments for agri-environmental services have broadly increased in all European countries over the last two decades. However, the impact of this new governance mechanism on environmental protection and changes in individuals’ behavior has not yet studied in the economic literature. To explore this issue, we develop a new theoretical economic framework that allows us to compare the main environmental effects of an incentive mechanism with intermediaries, such as environmental knowledge brokers and information providers, as compared to those of a standard central governance mechanism. This paper bridges the knowledge-brokering theory developed in the literature in environmental science with the process of individual preferences formation and transmission developed in the economic literature. The analysis shows that the emergence of knowledge intermediaries is particularly valuable in the context of payments for agri-environmental services in a situation where individuals, such as farmers, initially have a low level of environmentally awareness. The same conclusion holds when the public institution organizing the scheme is not sufficiently apprised of individuals’ characteristics. This allows us to give a theoretical justiï¬ cation for previous empiric results on payment schemes for agri-environmental measures. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge Brokers, Pro-environmental Culture, Cultural Transmission, Moral Hazard, Principal-agent |
| JEL: | Q51 Q58 Z13 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2017-48&r=env |
| By: | BEN YOUSSEF, Adel; Hammoudeh, Shawkat; Omri, Anis |
| Abstract: | The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis has been recognized in the environmental economics literature since the 1990's. Various statistical tests have been used on time series, cross section and panel data related to single and groups of countries to validate this hypothesis. In the literature, the validation has always been conducted by using a single equation. However, since both the environment and income variables are endogenous, the estimation of a single equation model when simultaneity exists produces inconsistent and biased estimates. Therefore, we formulate simultaneous two-equation models to investigate the EKC hypothesis for fifty-six countries, using annual panel data from 1990 to 2012, with the end year is determined by data availability for the panel. To make the panel data analysis more homogeneous, we investigate this issue for a three income-based panels (namely, high-, middle-, and low-income panels) given several explanatory variables. Our results indicate that there exists a bidirectional causality between economic growth and pollution emissions in the overall panels. We also find that the relationship is nonlinear and has an inverted U-shape for all the considered panels. Policy implications are provided. |
| Keywords: | Environment, economic growth, EKC hypothesis, Simultaneous-equation models. |
| JEL: | O4 Q5 |
| Date: | 2016–10–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:82609&r=env |
| By: | - |
| Abstract: | A partir de 2008, la CEPAL ha colaborado con el Gobierno de Honduras en la iniciativa «La Economía del Cambio Climático en Centroamérica» (ECC CA) con el propósito de evidenciar los impactos de la variabilidad y el cambio climático y propiciar la discusión sobre políticas públicas en sectores clave. Los análisis multisectoriales realizados con la colaboración de equipos técnicos de funcionarios y expertos de la región han resaltado la alta vulnerabilidad al cambio climático de la región centroamericana y de Honduras en particular. Las discusiones realizadas entre socios sobre las respuestas de políticas públicas generaron propuestas para priorizar la adaptación al cambio climático, explícitamente favoreciendo cobeneficios para la sostenibilidad y la inclusión social, y coordinar con programas de reducción de la vulnerabilidad y la pobreza. Y en este marco de prioridades, transitar a economías ambientalmente sostenibles y bajas en emisiones de los gases de efecto invernadero (GEI). El cambio climático requiere prestar mayor atención a bienes y servicios públicos e intergeneracionales, como el clima, recursos hídricos, ecosistemas, la seguridad alimentaria y nutricional, seguridad energética, y el transporte público. Por el efecto multisectorial de este fenómenoy la necesidad de una mayor articulación entre instituciones en la respuesta, los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible y la Agenda 2030 nos proporcionan un marco valioso de trabajo. |
| Keywords: | CAMBIO CLIMATICO, ASPECTOS ECONOMICOS, DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE, RECURSOS HIDRICOS, ENERGIA HIDROELECTRICA, AGRICULTURA, SEGURIDAD ALIMENTARIA, ECOSISTEMAS, ENFERMEDADES TRANSMISIBLES, GAS DE EFECTO INVERNADERO, COSTOS, INDICADORES AMBIENTALES, INDICADORES ECONOMICOS, CLIMATE CHANGE, ECONOMIC ASPECTS, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, WATER RESOURCES, HYDROELECTRIC POWER, AGRICULTURE, FOOD SECURITY, ECOSYSTEMS, COMMUNICABLE DISEASES, GREENHOUSE GASES, COSTS, ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS, ECONOMIC INDICATORS |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col022:42355&r=env |
| By: | Vera Danilina (Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS, EHESS, Centrale Marseille, AMSE) |
| Abstract: | Growing ecological concerns give rise to salient discussions of green policy impact within different social sciences domains. This research studies the outcomes of voluntary environmental labelling in autarky and upon trade integration in the presence of two types of heterogeneity, across countries and across producers. It investigates the impact of the two main types of eco-labels – multiple-criteria-based programmes (ISO Type I) and self-declared environmental claims (ISO Type II), both of which are simultaneously introduced due to the environmental concerns of consumers. The model illustrates the polarisation of eco-labels when the least productive firms tend to avoid green strategies, lower-middle productive and the most efficient firms are incentivized to greenwash, and the upper-middle productive firms choose trustful programmes. It also shows that voluntary green restrictions lead to substantial productivity effects in the market upon opening to international trade, conditionally, depending on the type of the labelling and the relative degree of environmental awareness across trading countries. The model predicts average market productivity losses and within segments productivity gains for the relatively more eco-concerned country, while the effects for the relatively less eco-concerned country are the opposite. |
| Keywords: | eco-labelling, trade integration, voluntary environmental regulation, firms productivity, firm heterogeneity |
| JEL: | F18 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fae:wpaper:2017.26&r=env |
| By: | Fernández-Amador, Octavio; Francois, Joseph; Oberdabernig, Doris; Tomberger, Patrick |
| Abstract: | We analyze the drivers of methane emissions per capita, both economy-wide and across sectors, paying attention to the form of the relation between emissions and growth. There is relative decoupling between methane and growth, and the relationship is non-linear. The effect of economic growth on emissions is likely to worsen when moving from lower to middle levels of development, and only improves as countries reach high levels of income. There is substantial heterogeneity in this relationship at a sectoral level, and sectoral transformation accompanying economic growth also leads to increased emissions. Together, relative decoupling and sectoral diversity challenge the design and implementation of environmental instruments to mitigate methane emissions. Methane also poses challenges to the overall management of greenhouse gas levels. |
| Date: | 2017–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wti:papers:1102&r=env |
| By: | Francesco Lamperti (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy); Giovanni Dosi (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy); Mauro Napoletano (OFCE Sciences Po Paris France); Andrea Roventini (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy); Alessandro Sapio (Parthenope University of Naples, Naples, Italy) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we develop the first agent-based integrated assessment model, which offers an alternative to standard, computable general-equilibrium frameworks. The Dystopian Schumpeter meeting Keynes (DSK) model is composed of heterogeneous firms belonging to capital-good, consumption-good and energy sectors. Production and energy generation lead to greenhouse gas emissions, which affect temperature dynamics in a non-linear way. Increasing temperature triggers climate damages hitting, at the micro-level, workers’ labor productivity, energy efficiency, capital stock and inventories of firms. In that, aggregate damages are emerging properties of the out-of-equilibrium interactions among heterogeneous and boundedly rational agents. We find the DSK model is able to account for a wide ensemble of micro and macro empirical regularities concerning both economic and climate dynamics. Moreover, different types of shocks have heterogeneous impact on output growth, unemployment rate, and the likelihood of economic crises. Finally, we show that the magnitude and the uncertainty associated to climate change impacts increase over time, and that climate damages much larger than those estimated through standard IAMs. Our results point to the presence of tipping points and irreversible trajectories, thereby suggesting the need of urgent policy interventions |
| Keywords: | Climate change , agent-based models, integrated assessment, macroeconomics dynamics, climate damages. |
| JEL: | C63 Q40 Q50 Q54 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1710&r=env |
| By: | Fernández-Amador, Octavio; Oberdabernig, Doris; Tomberger, Patrick |
| Abstract: | We find evidence for country- specific conditional convergence in all emission inventories, implying a half-life of 2.8 - 3.1 years for emissions per capita and 3.2 - 5 years for emission intensities. When testing for global convergence without allowing for individual-specific convergence paths, the half-life of CO2 intensities increases to 20 - 24 years, whereas emissions per capita do not show convergence towards global steady states. Our results highlight the current incompatibility between emission targets and economic growth and the need for greener technologies. Moreover, there is no evidence for specific convergence dynamics in the European Union, the OECD, or the countries that rati ed the Kyoto Protocol. The institutional frameworks implemented in industrialized countries did not induce faster convergence among developed economies. |
| Date: | 2017–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wti:papers:1101&r=env |
| By: | Lea Skræp Svenningsen (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen); Bo Jellesmark Thorsen (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | What role do people think distributional aspects should play in design of climate policy? The literature assessing climate policies has shown that assumptions regarding peoples’ distributional preferences for climate change policy impacts are central for policy assessment, but empirical evidence for such preferences is lacking. We design a discrete choice experiment that varies how climate policies affect the income of people living in the future in three geographical regions. The experiment is implemented on a representative sample of the Danish population and preferences are modelled in a latent class model. Our results show that i) a small majority of Danes expresses preferences for climate policies consistent with inequity aversion, ii) a group expresses preferences resembling simple warm glow, while iii) a small group prefers not to support additional climate policies. Finally a somewhat larger group expresses some form of distributional preferences, but shows positive preferences for costs, suggesting that responses could be influenced by strategic behaviour and over-signalling of commitment. Our results provide support for the inclusion of social preferences regarding distributional effects of climate change policies in policy assessments, and hence for the significant impact on policy this inclusion have. |
| Keywords: | choice experiment, social preferences, inequity aversion, warm glow, altruism, climate change impacts, latent class, social cost of carbon |
| JEL: | D30 H41 Q51 Q54 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:foi:wpaper:2017_10&r=env |
| By: | Kyritsis, Evangelos (Dept. of Business and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics); Serletis, Apostolos (Dept. of Economics, University of Calgary) |
| Abstract: | Energy security, climate change, and growing energy demand issues are moving up on the global political agenda, and contribute to the rapid growth of the renewable energy sector. In this paper we investigate the effects of oil price shocks, and also of uncertainty about oil prices, on the stock returns of clean energy and technology companies. In doing so, we use monthly data that span the period from May 1983 to December 2016, and a bivariate structural VAR model that is modified to accommodate GARCH-in-mean errors, and it is used to generate impulse response functions. Moreover, we examine the asymmetry of stock responses to oil price shocks and compare them accounting for oil price uncertainty, while effects of oil price shocks of different magnitude are also investigated. Our evidence indicates that oil price uncertainty has no statistically significant effect on stock returns, and that the relationship between oil prices and stock returns is symmetric. Our results are robust to alternative model specifications and stock prices of clean energy companies. |
| Keywords: | Renewable energy; Transition; Oil prices; Uncertainty; GARCH-in-Mean model; Asymmetric responses |
| JEL: | C32 G15 Q42 |
| Date: | 2017–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2017_015&r=env |
| By: | Kanibhatti Nitirojntanad (Chulalongkorn University); Chantanee Jaiwattanasawat (Chulalongkorn University) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between corporate sustainability disclosure level and the profitability of petrochemicals and chemicals industry. The sample is selected from listed companies in the Stock Exchange of Thailand with sustainability disclosure according to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines during the year 2013 to 2015. This study used content analysis to evaluate the sustainability disclosure in sustainability reports, annual reports and annual registration statements according to 91 indicators of GRI G4 related to economic, environmental, and social performance. The study shows that the sustainability disclosure level of companies in petrochemicals and chemicals industry have been relatively low but slightly improved over time. The correlation analysis results indicate no relationship between the disclosure level related to economic and profitability ratios. The disclosure levels related to environmental and social performance have been found negatively related to return on assets and return on equity but not related to net profit ratio. Since GRI G4 guidelines has been recently used in petrochemicals and chemicals industry in Thailand, future study may need to examine long-term value of sustainability disclosure. |
| Keywords: | sustainability, economic, environmental, social performance, profitability, GRI |
| JEL: | M14 M49 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:5808218&r=env |
| By: | Global Nexus |
| Abstract: | Since inception nearly a century ago, corporations and industries have coevolved with Morocco’s legacy of peace and prosperity. With a growing pressure on agricultural production and natural resources, exacerbated with climate change, there is urgency to define sustainable strategies that would reassure corporations and industries for longterm prosperity and for a healthy economy. Studies have highlighted the perilous state of our natural environment, the exhaustion of our aquifers, the challenges facing our GDP growth, and the unraveling of our social fabric. The underlying science is well established striving to search for new solutions, for us to better manage our resources and improve the industrial processes, through research and on-going creativity. In fact, it has become important to take pragmatic measures to ensure that Morocco adapts to escalating crisis, and lays the foundations of a climate-proof culture. The industrial sector should take the lead to the road of resilience. Not only will it make it possible to endure the coming shocks of stress and scarcity, but to prevail over them. This policy brief will demonstrate how resilience will spread. |
| Keywords: | productivity, optimzation, efficiency, water scarcity, industrial water use, integrity |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ocp:ppaper:pb-1734&r=env |
| By: | Daniel PUIG (UNEP DTU Partnership, Copenhagen, Denmark); Oswaldo Morales-Napoles (Delft University of Technology, Netherlands); Fatemeh Bakhtiari (UNEP DTU Partnership, Copenhagen, Denmark); Gissela Landa Rivera (OFCE, Sciences Po Paris, France) |
| Abstract: | Governmental climate change mitigation targets are typically developed with the aid of forecasts of greenhouse-gasemissions. The robustness and credibility of such forecasts depends, among other issues, on the extent to which forecasting approaches can reflect prevailing uncertainties. We apply a transparent and replicable method to quantify the uncertainty associated with projections of gross domestic product growth rates for Mexico, a key driver of greenhouse-gasemissions in the country. We use those projections to produce probabilistic forecasts of greenhouse-gas emissions forMexico. We contrast our probabilistic forecasts with Mexico’s governmental deterministic forecasts. We show that, because they fail to reflect such key uncertainty, deterministic forecasts are ill-suited for use in target-setting processes. We argue that (i) guidelines should be agreed upon, to ensure that governmental forecasts meet certain minimum transparency and quality standards, and (ii) governments should be held accountable for the appropriateness of the forecasting approach applied to prepare governmental forecasts, especially when those forecasts are used to derive climate change mitigation targets. |
| Keywords: | Uncertainty, projections, structured expert judgment, accountability, emission-reduction targets, gross domestic product growth rates |
| JEL: | Q25 Q38 Q48 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1717&r=env |
| By: | Krellenberg, Kerstin; Turhan, Ethemcan |
| Abstract: | The overall aim of this project was threefold. By organizing workshops at the science-policy interface, the project wanted to: 1. Raise awareness for climate change in Turkish cities and the necessity to develop response action at the local level; 2. Further the exchange between different actors such as academicians, politicians, representatives from the private sector, and civil society as well as between Germany and Turkey in particular; 3. Work on the transfer of solutions to combat climate change at the local level. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ufzrep:032017&r=env |
| By: | Khobai, Hlalefang; Le Roux, Pierre |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the causal relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth in South Africa. It incorporates carbon dioxide emissions, capital formation and trade openness as additional variables to form a multivariate framework. Quarterly data is used for the period 1990 – 2014 and is tested for stationarity using the Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF), Dickey Fuller Generalised Least Squares (DF-GLS) and Phillips and Perron (PP) unit root tests. The study employs the Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to examine the long run relationship among the variables. Lastly, the study determines the direction of causality between the variables using the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The results validated an existence of a long run relationship between the variables. Moreover, a unidirectional causality flowing from renewable energy consumption to economic growth was established in the long run. The short run results suggested a unidirectional causality flowing from economic growth to renewable energy consumption. The findings of the study suggest that an appropriate and effective public policy is required in the long run, while considering sustainable economic growth and development |
| Keywords: | Renewable energy consumption; Economic growth; Causality; South Africa |
| JEL: | Q2 Q21 Q27 Q4 Q42 Q43 Q48 |
| Date: | 2017–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:82464&r=env |
| By: | Ronald R. Gutierrez (Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru); Jose H. Cabrera (Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru); Frank Escusa (Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru); Richard Pehovaz (Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru) |
| Abstract: | Water resources management plays an important role in achieving sustainable development and economic growth. The physical aspect of water management is associated to water resources engineering, which is mainly founded in fluid mechanics. We coupled computer fluid dynamics (CFD) and flipped classroom practices to improve the learning and teaching processes of an undergraduate course focused on the experimental aspect of fluid mechanics in Peru, an upper-middle-income economy. Under the light of our results, we believe that such combined application also results on a viable alternative for universities that may face limitations on implementing a physical fluid mechanics laboratory, and encourages the formation of cooperative clusters of academic institutions around high-performing ones, to create common-pool fluid mechanics sources of educational information. |
| Keywords: | Water resources and development, engineering teaching |
| JEL: | I00 O13 Y80 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:5808139&r=env |
| By: | Mark E. Eiswerth; G. Cornelis van Kooten |
| Keywords: | payments for ecosystem services; water quality; best management practices; externalities; dynamic optimization; uncertainty; principal-agent problems. |
| JEL: | Q25 Q57 C61 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rep:wpaper:2017-06&r=env |
| By: | Schmidt, Emily; Tadesse, Fanaye |
| Abstract: | Agricultural productivity in Ethiopia’s highlands, the country’s breadbasket, is threatened by severe land degradation. To mitigate ongoing soil erosion and soil nutrient loss, the government of Ethiopia initiated the Sustainable Land Management Program (SLMP). We evaluated the program’s impact on the value of agricultural production in select kebeles (administrative sub-districts) in which it was implemented using a two-round survey of farm households. |
| Keywords: | sustainability; land management; land degradation; productivity; agricultural development; water management |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:essprn:68&r=env |
| By: | Alonso-Rodriguez, Agustin |
| Abstract: | In this paper a dynamic relationship between the CO2 emissions in Finland, Norway and Sweden is presented. With the help of a VAR(2) model, and using the Granger terminology, it is shown that the emissions in Finland are affecting those in Norway and Sweden. Other aspects of this dynamic relationship are presented as well. |
| Keywords: | Paris 2015 Agreement,CO2 emissions,VAR models,Granger causality,impulse response functions,forecast error variance decomposition,software R MTS, RATS |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:171259&r=env |
| By: | Rodríguez, Adrián G. |
| Abstract: | Este documento propone una metodología para apoyar la formulación de políticas integrales para abordar cuestiones que requieren un enfoque sistémico, tomando como marco de referencia la Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible (Agenda 2030). La metodología tienen como fundamento el análisis de redes y se aplica a dos ámbitos de políticas: a) políticas para fomentar el desarrollo de sistemas alimentario sostenibles; y b) políticas para apoyar la implementación del Plan de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y del Caribe para la Seguridad Alimentaria, Nutrición y Erradicación del Hambre 2025 (Plan San CELAC 2025), desde una perspectiva de sistema sistema alimentario sostenible. |
| Keywords: | AGENDA 2030 PARA EL DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE, POLITICA ALIMENTARIA, SEGURIDAD ALIMENTARIA, OBJETIVOS DE DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE, PROGRAMAS DE ACCION, 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, FOOD POLICY, FOOD SECURITY, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS, PROGRAMMES OF ACTION |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col026:42356&r=env |
| By: | Anna Bruederle; Roland Hodler |
| Abstract: | Oil spills can lead to irreversible environmental degradation and pose hazards to human health. We are the first to study the causal effects of onshore oil spills on neonatal and infant mortality rates. We use spatial data from the Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor and the Demographic and Health Surveys, and rely on the comparison of siblings conceived before and after nearby oil spills. We find that nearby oil spills double the neonatal mortality rate. These effects are fairly uniform across locations and socio-economic backgrounds. We also provide some evidence for negative health effects of nearby oil spills on surviving children. |
| Keywords: | Oil spills; Nigeria; infant mortality; child health. |
| JEL: | I10 I18 J13 Q53 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nva:unnvaa:wp03-2017&r=env |
| By: | Ferreira, S.; Cabral, M.; da Cruz, Nuno F.; Simões, P.; Marques, R. C. |
| Abstract: | Local authorities are generally in charge of household packaging waste management operations, particularly in countries with Green Dot schemes or similar extended producer responsibility systems. This leads to the need of establishing a system of financial transfers between the packaging industry and the local authorities (regarding the costs involved in selective collection and sorting). In the present study, the costs and benefits of recycling from the perspective of local authorities are compared for Portugal, Belgium and Italy (in Lombardia region), adopting the same economic-financial methodology. The results show that the industry is not paying the net cost of packaging waste management. If the savings attained by diverting packaging waste from other treatment operations are not considered, it seems that the industry should increase the financial support to local authorities. However, if the avoided costs with other treatment are considered as a benefit for local authorities, the costs are generally outweighed by the benefits and the financial support could, therefore, be reduced. |
| Keywords: | environmental valuation; financial analysis; Green Dot systems; LCA; packaging waste; recycling |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2017–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:67484&r=env |
| By: | - |
| Abstract: | Este documento presenta las recomendaciones de los países sobre la potencialidad de los censos de la ronda 2020 para medir los indicadores de las agendas de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) y del Consenso de Montevideo (CdeM). Una propuesta analítica elaborada por el Centro Latinoamericano y Caribeño de Demografía (CELADE) y el Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas (UNFPA) fue presentada en Panamá en noviembre de 2016 a través del Grupo Censos de la Conferencia Estadística de las Américas (CEA-CEPAL) y discutida exhaustivamente por los países. Ellos revisaron las definiciones conceptuales y operacionales asociadas a cada indicador de los 50 seleccionados en base a experiencias previas de censos anteriores y a supuestos que posibilitarían su medición en la fuente censal. La región tiene la posibilidad de establecer, a partir de información censal, líneas de base y evaluar, particularmente hacia 2030 en qué medida los países han alcanzado las metas asumidas por ambas iniciativas. |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col045:42394&r=env |
| By: | Baojing Sun |
| Keywords: | Pricing weather options; weather-based derivatives; stochastic process and econometric modeling; growing degree days; agricultural finance |
| JEL: | Q14 G11 G12 G32 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rep:wpaper:2017-05&r=env |