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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Kshitiz Dahal (South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment); Posh Raj Pandey (South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment) |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at the patterns, trends, and existing barriers in the trade of environmental goods and services (EGS) in South Asia. It also looks at the state of green growth in the region, with particular emphasis on carbon dioxide emission and energy supply and consumption pattern, to deduce whether the trade of EGS has been happening at a level conducive to promoting green growth. Although the trade of environmental goods has been exhibiting an increasing trend, the increase is almost exclusively the result of increasing imports. The lackluster export performance of environmental goods by South Asian countries, except for India, is indicative of a dismal state of environment industry in South Asia region. The most visible benefits of outcome of the liberalization of environmental goods would thus be increased imports. However, we did not find strong relation between import of environmental goods and level of green growth. The proximate reasons for such relation are the environmentally hazardous energy mix - coal and oil still dominate the primary energy supply, energy consumption, and electricity generation, implying unsustainable modes of consumption and production - and hence the perpetually increasing greenhouse gas emissions for all the South Asian countries. A strong commitment to green economy through legislations, policy, governing bodies as well as behavioral changes are needed to dissociate economic growth from environmental impacts. Analysis of tariffs on environmental goods in South Asia suggests some tariff barriers are present alongside non-tariff barriers. There is a lack of data to analyze the trade of environmental services in South Asia but evidence suggests that significant barriers for liberalization of environmental services are firmly in place. |
| Keywords: | Green Growth, Environmental Goods, Environmental Services, OECD List, APEC List, Friends List, Greenhouse Gases, List Approach, Project Approach, Integrated Approach, Request and Offer methodology, Hybrid Approach, Carbon dioxide emission, Total Primary Energy Supply Mix (TPES), Total Energy Consumption Mix, Electricity Generation Mix |
| JEL: | F1 O0 Q2 Q3 Q4 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:saw:wpaper:wp/18/01&r=env |
| By: | Finn Roar Aune; Rolf Golombek |
| Abstract: | In June 2018, an agreement between key EU institutions – the Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Council – was reached after a long-lasting discourse over the 2030 EU climate and energy policy package. This paper offers a comprehensive assessment of the EU package, with its three main targets: lower greenhouse gas emissions, higher renewable share in final energy consumption, and improved energy efficiency. We find that the renewable and energy-efficiency targets have been set so high that the derived emissions reduction exceeds the EU climate target. Hence, carbon prices are redundant in reaching the EU climate goal. This policy, however, is not cost efficient. |
| Keywords: | climate policy, renewables, energy efficiency, nuclear phase out, energy modeling |
| JEL: | Q28 Q41 Q48 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7364&r=env |
| By: | Richard Schmalensee; Robert N. Stavins |
| Abstract: | The U.S. Clean Air Act, passed in 1970 with strong bipartisan support, was the first environmental law to give the Federal government a serious regulatory role, established the architecture of the U.S. air pollution control system, and became a model for subsequent environmental laws in the United States and globally. We outline the Act’s key provisions, as well as the main changes Congress has made to it over time. We assess the evolution of air pollution control policy under the Clean Air Act, with particular attention to the types of policy instruments used. We provide a generic assessment of the major types of policy instruments, and we trace and assess the historical evolution of EPA’s policy instrument use, with particular focus on the increased use of market-based policy instruments, beginning in the 1970s and culminating in the 1990s. Over the past fifty years, air pollution regulation has gradually become much more complex, and over the past twenty years, policy debates have become increasingly partisan and polarized, to the point that it has become impossible to amend the Act or pass other legislation to address the new threat of climate change. |
| JEL: | Q28 Q40 Q48 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25309&r=env |
| By: | Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, ICREA & VU University Amsterdam); Arild Angelsen (Norwegian University of Life Sciences); Andrea Baranzini (University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland); W.J. Wouter Botzen (VU University Amsterdam & Utrecht University); Stefano Carattini (Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Grantham Research Institute & London School of Economics and Political Science); Stefan Drews (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Tessa Dunlop (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Eric Galbraith (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona & ICREA); Elisabeth Gsottbauer (University of Innsbruck); Richard B. Howarth (Dartmouth College); Emilio Padilla (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Jordi Roca (Universitat de Barcelona); Robert Schmidt (University of Kaiserslautern) |
| Abstract: | We argue that a global carbon price is the only way to effectively tackle free riding in international climate policy, required to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We briefly review the main reasons behind the essential role of carbon pricing, address common misunderstandings and scepticism, and identify key complementary policy instruments. Negotiating global carbon pricing is argued to be much easier than negotiating binding country-level targets, especially if it includes equitable revenue recycling. Moreover, a global carbon price can be more readily adapted to new data and insights of climate science. We propose a political strategy towards a global carbon price that consists of two tracks. The first entails assembly of a carbon-pricing club, a specific case of a climate club, to gradually move towards a full participatory agreement on carbon pricing. The second track involves putting time and energy into re-focusing UNFCCC negotiations on a carbon-pricing agreement. The two tracks reinforce one another, increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome. |
| Keywords: | Carbon Tax, Carbon Market, Cap-and-Trade, Tradable Permits, Equity, Climate Agreement, Climate Club |
| JEL: | Q54 Q58 Q48 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2018-12&r=env |
| By: | Stefano Ramelli; Alexander F. Wagner; Richard J. Zeckhauser; Alexandre Ziegler |
| Abstract: | Donald Trump's 2016 election and the subsequent nomination of Scott Pruitt, a climate skeptic, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency drastically downshifted expectations on US climate change policy. Firms' stock-price reactions to these events reveal whether their climate strategies affected their valuations. As widely reported, firms in industries with high carbon intensity benefited, at least briefly. It might be expected that companies with "responsible" strategies on climate change would also have lost value, since they were paying for actions that seemed less urgent. In fact, investors actually rewarded such firms. The analysis shows that this observed climate responsibility premium results, at least in part, from the strategic behavior of long-horizon investors who looked into the future to assess the valuation of corporations. |
| JEL: | G14 G38 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25310&r=env |
| By: | Stephen P. Holland; Erin T. Mansur; Nicholas Muller; Andrew J. Yates |
| Abstract: | We determine the change in air pollution damages from U.S. power plant emissions over 2010 to 2017. Annual damages fell from $245 billion to $133 billion over this period, with most of the decline occurring in the East. Decomposition shows that changes in emissions rates reduced damages by $63 billion, changes in generation shares reduced damages by $60 billion, and a reduction in fossil generation reduced damages by $25 billion. However, changes in damage valuations per ton of emissions increased damages by $35 billion. We estimate that marginal damages declined in the East from about 9¢ per kWh in 2010 to 6¢ in 2017. This decrease is slower than the decrease in total damages. Despite little or no change in total damages in the West and Texas, marginal damages increased. The environmental benefit of electric vehicles increased so that they are now cleaner than gasoline vehicles on average, though substantial heterogeneity remains. The environmental benefit of solar panels decreased in the East but increased elsewhere. |
| JEL: | D62 H23 Q53 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25339&r=env |
| By: | Jan Witajewski-Baltvilks; Marek Antosiewicz; Andrzej Ceglarz; Haris Doukas; Alexandros Nikas; Jakub Sawulski; Aleksander Szpor; Baiba Witajewska-Baltvilka |
| Abstract: | The Polish power sector currently stands at a crossroads, facing two alternative pathways. First, the decarbonisation pathway with radical CO2 emissions reduction, which involves a fast phase-down of coal. Second, the baseline pathway that abandons emission reduction targets, and involves a slow coal phase-down. Both pathways are associated with risks. The decarbonisation pathway requires large-scale investment in carbon-free technologies in the power sector that may crowd out investment in other sectors of the economy. Other risks associated with this pathway include the destabilisation of the power system, dependency on imported technologies and job losses in mining. The baseline pathway may involve the loss of international reputation, the waste of research and development (R&D) resources on coal technologies, and a growing dependency on imported coal. In this report we define the electricity mix associated with each pathway and compare their financial and macroeconomic costs using simulation models. We also perform a qualitative analysis of the risks that are not captured by the models. We argue that the decarbonisation pathway is unlikely to be significantly more costly than the alternative pathway of no reduction targets. Some socioeconomic risks of decarbonisation such as a potential fall in employment and increased dependency on imported technologies could be mitigated if the government communicates to firms and workers that the scale-down of coal sector is inexorable given the global commitment to combat climate change. However, it will be accompanied by a simultaneous scale-up of the sector related to carbon-free technologies. |
| Keywords: | low-carbon transition, DSGE and bottom-up modelling, stakeholder engagement |
| JEL: | Q43 Q52 Q58 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ibt:report:rr052018&r=env |
| By: | Sebastian Schaefer (University of Siegen) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of the EU ETS on CO2 reduction in the German electricity sector. We find an ETS-induced emission abatement which is not exceeding 6 % of total emissions with a maximum already in 2010. Thereafter the ETS has not induced additional reductions. This outcome is sub-optimal. It corresponds to the recent debate about sub-optimal performance of the EU ETS caused by excessive allowances. Following up on this we develop a unilateral flexible cap to eliminate demand side effects which lead to excessive allowances. The unilateral flexible cap is based on emission intensities. Using the works of Newell and Pizer (2008); Sue Wing et al. (2009) we prove in a first step that an intensity-based emission cap is advantageous in the German electricity sector when compared to an absolute cap. An ex-post analysis shows that the amount of excessive allowances resulting from the economic crisis during the second trading period could have been significantly lowered with a unilateral flexible cap. This approach also decouples the EU ETS from a simultaneous promotion of renewable energy. |
| Keywords: | Decoupling Overlapping Regulations, Promotion of Renewable Energy, Emissions Trading, Intensity Standard |
| JEL: | Q41 Q42 Q48 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201835&r=env |
| By: | Gómez-Ríos, María del Carmen; Juárez-Luna, David |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to identify the effects of including the price of CO2 emissions in the Total Levelized Cost of Generation (CTNG, in Spanish) of the combined cycle power plant. Monte Carlo simulation is used to estimate the probability densities of the CTNG and the Total Levelized Cost of Generation with Externalities (CTNGE). The effects of the price of CO2 emissions in the CTNG of the combined cycle plant are analysed through the concepts of stochastic dominance. We find that the price of CO2 emissions makes the CTNGE of the combined cycle plant to be higher and riskier than the CTNG. On the other hand, the CTNGE of the combined cycle plant is very sensitive to changes in the price of CO2 emissions. The analysis suggests that the share of electricity generation through combined cycle plants should be reduced to replace it with clean technologies. A limitation of the work is that the CTNG and CTNGE probability densities, generated through Monte Carlo simulation, depend on the data used, so they are sensitive to changes in the input parameters. |
| Keywords: | CO2 Emissions, Generation, Electricity, Levelized Cost. |
| JEL: | Q40 Q53 |
| Date: | 2018–10–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89915&r=env |
| By: | Cees A. Withagen |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to critically assess the use simple rules for the social cost of carbon (SCC) employing a rudimentary form of the Ramsey rule. Two interrelated caveats apply. First, if climate change poses a serious problem, it is hard to justify an exogenous constant growth rate of consumption. Second, to derive the SCC one needs full knowledge of the entire future. Popular assumptions to get around this, such as assuming current GDP is optimal, are difficult to justify. |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7359&r=env |
| By: | Xiyue Li (The Brattle Group); Gary Yohe (Department of Economics, Wesleyan University) |
| Abstract: | We offer results from an artificial simulation exercise that was designed to answer three fundamental questions that lie at the heart of anticipatory adaptation. First, how can confidence in projected vulnerabilities and impacts be greater than the confidence in attributing what has heretofore been observed? Second, are there characteristics of recent historical data series that do or do not portend our achieving high confidence in attribution to climate change in support of framing adaptation decisions sometime in an uncertain future? And finally, what can analysis of confidence in attribution tell us about ranges of “not-implausible” extreme futures vis a vis projections based at least implicitly on an assumption that the climate system is static? An extension of the IPCC method of assessing our confidence in attribution to anthropogenic sources of detected warming allows us to offer an answer to the first question. We can also identify characteristics that support an affirmative answer to the second. Finally, we offer some insight into the significance of our attribution methodology in informing attempts to frame considerations of potential extremes and how to respond. |
| Keywords: | adaptation, detection, attribution, uncertain, climate change |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wes:weswpa:2018-008&r=env |
| By: | Bostian, AJ A.; Bostian, Moriah B.; Laukkanen, Marita; Simola, Antti |
| Abstract: | We address the general problem of selection bias, endemic to analyzing the effects of any policy where adoption is voluntary, with empirical application to environmental policies for agriculture. Many voluntary practices for mitigating the environmental impacts of agriculture provide external benefits while lowering productivity. Policy analysis of the productivity consequences is complicated by the fact that decision-makers can choose their own policy levers, an action that ruins any notion of random assignment. We introduce an identification strategy to correct this kind of endogeneity, combining classic methods from stochastic frontier analysis and selection models. Applying it to micro-level data from Finnish grain farms, we find that more efficient producers are more likely to enroll in subsidized practices. And, because these practices tend to reduce yield, frontier analysis without the endogeneity correction greatly understates productivity losses. In other words, naively basing the frontier estimator on the subset of less productive farms leads to downward bias in the resulting frontier estimates. In fact, average inefficiency more than doubles after the correction in this case. An outlier investigation also suggests that the lowest decile of farms are responsible for most of the selection bias in the uncorrected model. |
| Keywords: | productivity, stochastic frontier analysis, endogeneity, selection model, agri-environmental policy, Environment, energy and climate policy, Q53, Q58, Q18, Q12, D24, C54, C34, C36, |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:112&r=env |
| By: | Claudia Kettner-Marx (WIFO); Daniela Kletzan-Slamanig (WIFO); Angela Köppl (WIFO); Beate Littig; Irina Zielinska |
| Abstract: | Both the UN SDGs and the Paris Agreement imply ambitious long-term targets which only can be met with a fundamental restructuring of economic and social systems. We propose a set of energy and climate policy indicators that allows informed policy making and goes beyond the approaches that mainly focus on progress based on the UN indicator set. The sustainable energy indicators cover the whole energy system as well as the three dimensions of sustainability. The approach combines an energy service centred perspective with research on energy and climate indicators and embeds the indicator framework in broader socio-ecologic context. For the four demand-side sectors a set of 118 high-level energy indicators has been assembled that can be further disaggregated to about 387 indicators. For electricity and heat supply a set of 25 energy indicators has been compiled that can be further disaggregated to about 130 indicators differentiating by energy source and plant type. Interactions (i.e., synergies and conflicts) between the different target dimensions and the corresponding indicators need to be carefully considered. Given the complexity of the issue and the lack of adequate indicators and gaps in data availability it is difficult to interpret certain observable trends. This needs to be kept in mind when using the indicator system for policy analysis. |
| Keywords: | sustainable development, indicator systems, energy policy, climate policy |
| Date: | 2018–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2018:i:573&r=env |
| By: | Eirik S. Amundsen; Lars Gårn Hansen; Hans Jørgen Whitta-Jacobsen |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study regulation of externalities involving many small-scale polluters, where the damages from emissions depend on the polluters’ locations. Examples include nutrient and pesticide emissions from farms, particulate emissions from vehicles and home heating units, emissions of hazardous chemical compounds from small business etc. With such emission problems, regulatory authorities often apply a combination of firm-level, possibly differentiated standards for ‘cleaner’ technologies, and market-level, undifferentiated dirty input regulations. We establish general principles for how such regulations should be designed and combined. We find that the optimal regulation design crucially depends on the type of cleaner technologies available to polluters. If these are ‘emission capturing’, optimal technology standards encourage the use of cleaner technologies in both high and low damage areas, while if they are ‘input displacing’, optimal technology regulation encourages cleaner technologies in high damage areas, but discourages their use in low damage areas. Regulation should always discourage the use of dirty input and the optimal regulation intensity may be substantial, particularly if the available cleaner technologies are input displacing. |
| JEL: | H23 Q58 D62 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7369&r=env |
| By: | Pearl, M. Alexander |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse18:184961&r=env |
| By: | Nordhaus, William D. (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | William D. Nordhaus delivered his Prize Lecture on 8 December 2018 at the Aula Magna, Stockholm University. |
| Keywords: | long-term growth; climate change |
| JEL: | O00 |
| Date: | 2018–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:2018_003&r=env |
| By: | Peter C.B. Phillips (Cowles Foundation, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | We discuss some conceptual and practical issues that arise from the presence of global energy balance effects on station level adjustment mechanisms in dynamic panel regressions with climate data. The paper provides asymptotic analyses, observational data computations, and Monte Carlo simulations to assess the use of various estimation methodologies, including standard dynamic panel regression and cointegration techniques that have been used in earlier research. The findings reveal massive bias in system GMM estimation of the dynamic panel regression parameters, which arise from fixed effect heterogeneity across individual station level observations. Difference GMM and Within Group (WG) estimation have little bias and WG estimation is recommended for practical implementation of dynamic panel regression with highly disaggregated climate data. Intriguingly from an econometric perspective and importantly for global policy analysis, it is shown that despite the substantial differences between the estimates of the regression model parameters, estimates of global transient climate sensitivity (of temperature to a doubling of atmospheric CO {2}) are robust to the estimation method employed and to the specific nature of the trending mechanism in global temperature, radiation, and CO {2}. |
| Keywords: | Climate modeling, Cointegration, Difference GMM, Dynamic panel, Spatio-temporal modeling, System GMM, Transient climate sensitivity, Within group estimation |
| JEL: | C32 C33 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2150&r=env |
| By: | Grey, F.; Ritz, R. |
| Abstract: | Government regulation, such as the pricing of externalities, often raises the unit costs of regulated firms, and its impact on their profits is important to its political economy. We introduce a reduced-form model (“GLM”) that nests existing models of imperfect competition under weaker assumptions. We show how a firm's cost passthrough is a sufficient statistic for the profit impact of regulation. We apply the GLM to carbon pricing for US airlines. We find large inter-firm heterogeneity in pass-through, even for a uniform cost shock. The GLM allows us to sidestep estimation of a consumer demand system, firm markups and conduct parameters. We derive the second-best emissions tax including lobbying a government “for sale”. |
| Keywords: | Cost pass-through, regulation, carbon pricing, airlines, political economy |
| JEL: | D43 H23 L51 L92 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018–10–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1859&r=env |
| By: | Henry, Miguel; Mittelhammer, Ron; Loomis, John |
| Abstract: | This study applies an information theoretic econometric approach in the form of a new maximum likelihood-minimum power divergence (ML-MPD) semi-parametric binary response estimator to analyze dichotomous contingent valuation data. The ML-MPD method estimates the underlying behavioral decision process leading to a person’s willingness to pay for river recreation site attributes. Empirical choice probabilities, willingness to pay measures for recreation site attributes, and marginal effects of changes in some explanatory variables are estimated. For comparison purposes, a Logit model is also implemented. A Wald test of the symmetric logistic distribution underlying the Logit model is rejected at the 0.01 level in favor of the ML-MPD distribution model. Moreover, based on several goodness-of-fit measures we find that the ML-MPD is superior to the Logit model. Our results also demonstrate the potential for substantially overstating the precision of the estimates and associated inferences when the imposition of unknown structural information is not accounted explicitly for in the model. The ML-MPD model provides more intuitively reasonable and defensible results regarding the valuation of river recreation than the Logit model. |
| Keywords: | Minimum power divergence, contingent valuation, binary response models, information theoretic econometrics, river recreation |
| JEL: | C14 C5 Q5 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89842&r=env |
| By: | Nicolas Wagner (International Transport Forum) |
| Abstract: | This paper puts numbers on the investment needs for urban transport infrastructure under different policy scenarios. The cities of the future will be shaped by today’s decisions about physical transport assets, and the urgent need to halt climate change makes it more important than ever to get it right. The analysis shows that a low-carbon transport system is not necessarily more expensive than today’s mobility system, and can even be more cost-efficient. |
| Date: | 2018–11–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaab:2018/20-en&r=env |
| By: | Benjam\'in Leiva |
| Abstract: | Unexpected increases of natural resource prices can generate rents, value that should be recovered by the State to minimize inefficiencies, avoid arbitrary discrimination between citizens and keep a sustainable trajectory. As a case study about private appropriation of natural resource rent, this work explores the case of copper in Chile since 1990, empirically analyzing if the 12 main private mining companies have recovered in present value more than their investment during their life cycle. The results of this exercise, applicable to other natural resources, indicate that some actually have, capturing about US$ 40 billion up to 2012. Elaborating an adequate institutional framework for future deposits remain important challenges for Chile to plentifully take advantage of its mining potential, as well as for any country with an abundant resource base to better enjoy its natural wealth. For that purpose, a concession known as Least Present Value Revenue (LPVR) is proposed. |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1812.05093&r=env |
| By: | Hellmich, Meike |
| Abstract: | Die Ressource Fläche ist weltweit begrenzt. Ein nachhaltiges Landmanagement ist, nicht nur vor dem Hintergrund des Klimawandels, erforderlich, um den verschiedenen Interessen an der Fläche gerecht zu werden. Bestehende Funktionen auf der Fläche, beispielsweise die Produktion von Nahrungsmitteln oder Rohstoffen sowie die Sicherung von Gewerbe- und Siedlungsgebieten unter Beachtung des Schutzes der Biodiversität, sind unter Anbetracht des Klimawandels zu sichern. Klimaschutzmaßnahmen wie der Schutz und die Entwicklung von Treibhausgassenken, beispielsweise Moore und Wälder, müssen neben Klimaanpassungsmaßnahmen, wie Hochwasserschutzflächen, mit den bestehenden Anforderungen an die Fläche vereint werden. Die räumliche Planung, so der Ausgangspunkt der Dissertation, kann durch die sektorübergreifende Betrachtung bei einem nachhaltigen Landmanagement vor dem Hintergrund des Klimawandels eine zentrale Aufgabe übernehmen. Die vorliegende Arbeit definiert räumliche Planung als formelle Raumordnung und informelle Raumentwicklung. Demnach umfasst räumliche Planung neben formellen planerischen Prozessen im Mehrebensystem der Raumplanung auch informelle planerische Strukturen und Prozesse. Ziel der räumlichen Planung ist es, Abwägungsprozesse zwischen den verschiedenen Interessen an einem Raum durchzuführen und damit Flächeninanspruchnahmen zu koordinieren. Durch das Mehrebenensystem der räumlichen Planung werden auf den verschiedenen Verwaltungsebenen planerische Festlegungen getroffen und in die nächste Ebene übertragen, konkretisiert oder als Grundlage verwendet. In diesem Gegenstromprinzip arbeitet die räumliche Planung auf verschiedener Maßstabsebene. Die räumliche Planung strebt in ihrem Ursprungsgedanken eine interessensabgewogene Raumgestaltung an. Sie versucht, verschiedene Sektoren und Ansprüche an den Raum zu vereinen und die Schutzgüter sowie Ressourcen langfristig zu schützen und zu sichern. [...] |
| Keywords: | Klimawandel,räumliche Planung,Evaluation,Nachhaltiges Landmanagement,climate change,spatial planning,evaluation,sustainable land management |
| JEL: | Q54 Q57 Q56 Q01 Q24 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:jhtire:61&r=env |
| By: | Jacobs, Anna; Flessa, Heinz; Don, Axel; Heidkamp, Arne; Prietz, Roland; Dechow, René; Gensior, Andreas; Poeplau, Christopher; Riggers, Catharina; Schneider, Florian; Tiemeyer, Bärbel; Vos, Cora; Wittnebel, Mareille; Müller, Theresia; Säurich, Annelie; Fahrion-Nitschke, Andrea; Gebbert, Sören; Hopfstock, Rayk; Jaconi, Angelica; Kolata, Hans; Lorbeer, Maximilian; Schröder, Johanna; Laggner, Andreas; Weiser, Christian; Freibauer, Annette |
| Abstract: | Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland hat sich als Unterzeichnerstaat mehrerer internationaler Vereinbarungen zum Klimaschutz verpflichtet, anthropogene Quellen und Senken von Treibhausgasen jährlich auf nationaler Skalenebene zu berichten. Dazu zählen auch CO2-Emissionen aus Veränderungen des Vorrates an organischem Kohlenstoff (Corg) im Boden - denn ein Verlust von Corg ist verbunden mit Emissionen des Treibhausgases CO2 aus Böden, ein Aufbau des Corg-Vorrates entspricht einer Festlegung von CO2-Kohlenstoff in Böden. Veränderungen des Corg-Vorrates von Böden sind somit klimawirksam und entsprechend im Rahmen der Treibhausgas-Emissionsberichterstattung zu bilanzieren. Das Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL) beauftragte das Thünen-Institut für Agrarklimaschutz mit der Planung und Durchführung der ersten Bodenzustandserhebung Landwirtschaft (BZE-LW), um eine bundesweit konsistente und vergleichbare Datenbasis bezüglich des Corg-Vorrates in den landwirtschaftlich genutzten Böden Deutschlands zu erhalten. Die BZE-LW dient in erster Linie der Absicherung, Verbesserung und Weiterentwicklung der Treibhausgas-Emissionsberichterstattung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in den Bereichen Landnutzung und Landnutzungsänderungen. Die Ergebnisse fließen direkt in die Treibhausgas-Emissionsberichterstattung Deutschlands ein und bilden eine transparente Ausgangsbasis für den Nachweis von Veränderungen des Corg-Vorrates in landwirtschaftlich genutzten Böden. Eine zentrale Voraussetzung für die Bewertung der klimawirksamen Veränderungen des Corg-Vorrates in Böden ist die Kenntnis über die aktuelle Höhe sowie das Verständnis darüber, wie dieser Vorrat durch Klima-, Boden- und Nutzungsfaktoren beeinflusst wird. Neben der Erfassung des Corg-Vorrates in landwirtschaftlich genutzten Böden auf der Skalenebene Deutschlands sollte daher bewertet werden, welche Standort- und Nutzungsfaktoren diesen beeinflussen. Ein weiteres Ziel war die modellgestützte Bewertung, ob bei der aktuellen Bodenbewirtschaftung Veränderungen des Corg-Vorrates in landwirtschaftlich genutzten Böden zu erwarten sind. Mit dieser ersten bundesweiten BZE-LW wird auch die methodische und strukturelle Basis für eine regelmäßige Wiederholungsinventur geschaffen werden. Für spezifische Fragen zur Wirkung der landwirtschaftlichen Bodennutzung auf den Corg-Vorrat im Boden wurden parallel zur BZE-LW Untersuchungen an gezielt ausgewählten Dauer- und Exaktversuchen sowie an Praxisflächen durchgeführt. Die BZE-LW basierte auf einer Beprobung landwirtschaftlich genutzter Böden in einem deutschlandweiten Raster von 8 × 8 Kilometern - insgesamt 3104 Beprobungspunkte. Sie wurde mit aktiver Unterstützung der Landwirte, die die beprobten Flächen bewirtschafteten und Informationen zur Bodennutzung und ihrem landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb bereitstellten, durchgeführt. Die bodenkundliche Standortaufnahme erfolgte nach Bodenkundlicher Kartieranleitung KA5. Die Probenahme erfolgte einheitlich in den Tiefenstufen 0-10, 10-30, 30-50, 50-70 und 70-100 cm. Bei Moorböden wurden auch tiefer liegende Torfhorizonte beprobt. Die Bodenaufbereitung und -analysen erfolgten zentral im Labor des Thünen-Instituts. In den Bodenproben aller Standorte und Tiefenstufen wurden folgende Bodenkenngrößen gemessen: Gehalt an Corg sowie anorganischem Kohlenstoff und Gesamtstickstoff, pH-Wert, Feinbodenanteil ( |
| Keywords: | Bodeninventur,Emissionsberichterstattung,Humus,Kohlenstoffvorrat,Landnutzungsänderung,Mineralboden,Monitoring,Moorboden,organische Bodensubstanz,organischer Kohlenstoff,Treibhausgas,carbon stocks,greenhouse gas inventory,land-use change,mineral soil,monitoring,organic carbon,organic soil,soil inventory,soil organic matter |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:jhtire:64&r=env |
| By: | World Bank Group |
| Keywords: | Environment - Carbon Policy and Trading Environment - Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases Environment - Environment and Energy Efficiency Urban Development - National Urban Development Policies & Strategies Urban Development - Urban Economic Development Urban Development - Urban Environment |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:30611&r=env |
| By: | Alex Coram (University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to consider the dynamics of growth in a two state variable and two control variable model where the environment is taken as a constraint. This captures some elements of environmental problems not covered in the cost approach. It also captures the idea that the environment may be an absolute barrier or have a catastrophe boundary. It show that, even though the environment is not a cost, it may be optimal to cut growth before the barrier is reached. It also shows that the technology of production has a strong non-linear affect on maximum attainable output. |
| JEL: | O4 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ums:papers:2018-20&r=env |
| By: | Mitomo, Hitoshi; Otsuka, Tokio |
| Keywords: | local broadcasting,disaster restoration,earthquake,CVM,contingent valuation method,PSM,price sensitivity measurement,experimental design |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse18:184956&r=env |
| By: | Bastianin, Andrea; Lanza, Alessandro; Manera, Matteo |
| Abstract: | El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a naturally occurring phenomenon that affects weather around the world. Past ENSO episodes have had severe impacts on the economy of Colombia. We study the influence of ENSO on Colombian coffee production, exports, and price. Our structural econometric specification is consistent with an economic model of the market for Colombian coffee which, in the short run, is characterized by a downward-sloping demand curve and by a vertical supply curve. We show that El Niño (i.e., positive shocks to ENSO) is beneficial for Colombian production and exports and decreases the real price of Colombian coffee. On the contrary, La Niña (i.e., negative shocks to ENSO) depresses Colombian coffee production and exports and increases price. However, the overall impact of ENSO shocks is small. Both in the short run and in the long run, shocks to international demand for Colombian coffee are more relevant than supply-side shocks in Colombia in explaining the dynamics of the price of Colombian coffee. Our results suggest that a given coffee price shock can have beneficial, detrimental, or negligible effects on the Colombian economy, depending on its underlying cause. As a consequence, policy responses to coffee price shocks should be designed by looking at the causes of the shocks. |
| Keywords: | Coffee; Colombia; El Niño; ENSO; La Niña; Structural VAR |
| JEL: | C32 O13 Q02 Q11 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89984&r=env |
| By: | Hoang Anh Nguyen-Trinh (USTH - University of sciences and technologies of hanoi); Yorgos Rizopoulos (LADYSS - Laboratoire dynamiques sociales et recomposition des espaces - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - UP8 - Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - UPD7 - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01905708&r=env |
| By: | Philippe BANCE (CRÉAM - Normandie Univ, UNIROUEN, France) |
| Abstract: | Recent developments in the economic analysis about public goods and commons, initiated notably in relation to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and to the work of Elinor Ostrom, have highlighted the social utility of their production to meet societal expectations of democracy and of sustainable development. The production of public and social economy organisations is in this perspective of crucial importance for the future, as is the outline of public policies that help develop coproduction or joint production of public goods and services. Thus, Public and Social and Solidarity Economy Partnerships (PSSEP) are the subject of analyzes in the CIRIEC book Providing public goods and commons. Towards coproduction and new forms of governance for a revival of public action that highlights: the importance of these partnerships within the framework of the current paradigm of public action; the induced behavioral transformations of the organizations; the scope that these new forms of partnership can have in terms of co-construction of public action and of responses to expectations on the territories; and the place of these partnerships in a process called here "creative destruction of public action". |
| Keywords: | public goods, commons, coproduction, joint production, public action, paradigm, destructive creation, social economy organisations, public organisations |
| JEL: | H41 L23 L31 L32 L33 L38 M14 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crc:wpaper:1808&r=env |
| By: | Offer Lieberman (Bar-Ilan University); Peter C.B. Phillips (Cowles Foundation, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | Indices of financial returns typically display sample kurtosis that declines towards the Gaussian value 3 as the sampling interval increases. This paper uses stochastic unit root (STUR) and continuous time analysis to explain the phenomenon. Limit theory for the sample kurtosis reveals that STUR specifications provide two sources of excess kurtosis, both of which decline with the sampling interval. Limiting kurtosis is shown to be random and is a functional of the limiting price process. Using a continuous time version of the model under no-drift, local drift, and drift inclusions, we suggest a new continuous time kurtosis measure for financial returns that assists in reconciling these models with the empirical kurtosis characteristics of returns. Simulations are reported and applications to several financial indices demonstrate the usefulness of this approach. |
| Keywords: | Autoregression, Diffusion, Kurtosis, Stochastic unit root, Time-varying coefficients |
| JEL: | C22 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2151&r=env |
| By: | Blessings Nyanjagha Botha; Francis Samson Nkoka; Valens Mwumvaneza |
| Keywords: | Agriculture - Agricultural Irrigation and Drainage Agriculture - Agricultural Sector Economics Agriculture - Climate Change and Agriculture Agriculture - Commodity Risk Management Agriculture - Food Security Environment - Natural Disasters Environment - Water Resources Management Science and Technology Development - Climate and Meteorology |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:30037&r=env |
| By: | Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroon); Nicholas M. Odhiambo (Pretoria, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | This study examines if enhancing ICT reduces inequality in 48 countries in Africa for the period 2004-2014. Three inequality indictors are used, namely, the: Gini coefficient, Atkinson index and Palma ratio. The adopted ICT indicators include: mobile phone penetration, internet penetration and fixed broadband subscriptions. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments. Enhancing internet penetration and fixed broadband subscriptions have a net effect on reducing the Gini coefficient and the Atkinson index, whereas increasing mobile phone penetration and internet penetration reduces the Palma ratio. Policy implications are discussed in the light of challenges to Sustainable Development Goals. |
| Keywords: | ICT; Inclusive development; Africa; Sustainable development |
| JEL: | G20 I10 I32 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:18/054&r=env |
| By: | Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroon); Nicholas M. Odhiambo (Pretoria, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | This study examines if enhancing ICT reduces inequality in 48 countries in Africa for the period 2004-2014. Three inequality indictors are used, namely, the: Gini coefficient, Atkinson index and Palma ratio. The adopted ICT indicators include: mobile phone penetration, internet penetration and fixed broadband subscriptions. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments. Enhancing internet penetration and fixed broadband subscriptions have a net effect on reducing the Gini coefficient and the Atkinson index, whereas increasing mobile phone penetration and internet penetration reduces the Palma ratio. Policy implications are discussed in the light of challenges to Sustainable Development Goals. |
| Keywords: | ICT; Inclusive development; Africa; Sustainable development |
| JEL: | G20 I10 I32 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:afe:wpaper:18/045&r=env |
| By: | Thomas Kuhn (Department of Economics, Chemnitz University of Technology); Radomir Pestow (Department of Economics, Chemnitz University of Technology); Anja Zenker (Department of Economics, Chemnitz University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to provide an axiomatic foundation to the ecological footprint developed and refined by the authors in the Global Footprint Network, among others. For this purpose, five axioms are proposed which represent general properties any ecological footprint measure should fulfill. We show that an index exists which is unique up to a coefficient to be chosen arbitrarily. As an implication, footprints have to be measured on a ratio scale. This result supports the conventional unit of measurement (land area) which itself is represented by a ratio scale. In this respect, our index differs from the compound-based ecological footprint index in which the norm is missing and, therefore, it is implicitly set equal to one. Apart from that we find, as the most important result, that the ad-hoc design of the commonly applied ecological footprint index has been given an axiomatic foundation. |
| Keywords: | Ecological Footprint Index, Axiomatic Foundation, Measurement Theory, Overshoot Day, Sustainable Welfare |
| JEL: | Q13 Q41 Q43 C43 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tch:wpaper:cep025&r=env |
| By: | Frondel, Manuel; Sommer, Stephan |
| Abstract: | Seit dem Jahr 2000 haben sich die Strompreise für private Haushalte mehr als verdoppelt. Von steigenden Stromkosten sind Millionen von armutsgefährdeten Haushalten besonders betroffen, weil diese Kosten regressive Wirkungen haben: Arme Haushalte haben einen größeren Anteil ihres Einkommens zur Finanzierung ihres Energiebedarfs aufzuwenden als wohlhabende Haushalte. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht der vorliegende Beitrag exemplarisch für einige Haushaltstypen mit geringem Einkommen, wie stark ihre Stromkostenbelastung in den Jahren 2006 bis 2016 relativ zu ihrem Einkommen zugenommen hat. Nach unseren Abschätzungen auf Basis empirischer Daten zum Energieverbrauch privater Haushalte mussten die von uns betrachteten armutsgefährdeten Haushaltstypen im Jahr 2016 allesamt mehr für Strom ausgeben als zur Deckung ihres Energiebedarfs zum Heizen und zur Warmwassererzeugung. Es muss davon ausgegangen werden, dass im Zuge der Energiewende der Strompreis auch in den kommenden Jahren weiter steigen wird. Dies gilt insbesondere angesichts der stark gestiegenen Preise für Emissionszertifikate, die sich in der Steigerung der Börsenstrompreise bemerkbar machen. Damit stellt sich immer drängender die Frage nach Maßnahmen zur Abschwächung von weiteren Strompreisanstiegen und zur sozialen Abfederung ihrer regressiven Wirkungen. |
| Keywords: | Regressive Wirkungen,Kostenverteilung,Akzeptanz |
| JEL: | D12 D31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwimat:128&r=env |