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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Peter Morrell |
| Abstract: | There has been a growing interest in the environmental impact of aviation, both in terms of noise and aircraft engine emissions. Discussions have included both mitigation measures and methods of internalisation of these environmental costs also described as the principle of polluter pays. This paper focuses on CO2 emissions from aircraft engines, which have both local and climate change implications, and where the emphasis of most recent discussions has centred. These have taken place at an international, regional and local level. |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaaa:2009/29-en&r=env |
| By: | Daiju Narita |
| Abstract: | Control of carbon dioxide emissions in developing countries is becoming a key issue in the international climate policy. A critical element for achieving substantial emission reduction in those countries is the installment of new energy technologies. Drawing on the framework of poverty-trap models in development economics, we discuss how climate policy affects the transition of energy technologies in a developing economy. We show that while a moderate carbon policy could promote transition to low-emission energy technology, too stringent policy in a relatively poor economy may rather hinder the process by reducing the economy’s financing capacity as to building new energy infrastructure – there, the barrier is not the long-run costs of the new technology but the availability of financial resources for initial investment, which could be constrained not only by the domestic saving but also by the imperfection of credit market. The possibility of such a trapping may provide a justification for financial support towards the deployment of alternative energy technologies in low-income economies |
| Keywords: | Climate policy, technology choice, credit market imperfection, climate funds |
| JEL: | O16 O33 Q54 Q56 |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1590&r=env |
| By: | Per Kageson |
| Abstract: | Many governments in different parts of the world are investing in high speed rail. Some of them do so thinking that it will be an important part of climate change mitigation. Intercity traffic over medium distances is particularly interesting in the environmental context as it constitutes the only transport segment where aircraft, trains, coaches and cars naturally compete for market shares. This report calculates the effect on emissions from building a new high speed link that connects two major cities located 500 km apart. It assumes that emissions from new vehicles and aircraft in 2025 can be used as a proxy for the emissions during a 50 year investment depreciation period. The emissions from the marginal production of electricity, used by rail and electric vehicles, are estimated to amount on average to 530 gram per kWh for the entire period. Fuels used by road vehicles are assumed to be on average 80 percent fossil and 20 per cent renewable (with a 65% carbon efficiency in the latter case). |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaaa:2009/28-en&r=env |
| By: | Asheim, Geir B. (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | Strategic use of environmental information may have as consequence that a benevolent environmental agency will choose not to disclose information leading to reduced moral motivation. Thus, decision makers will not have access to such information, implying that they will not be able to adjust their decisions to available information on the state of the environment. In contrast, if the benevolent environmental agency instead bases its regulation on standard economic instruments, these instruments will incorporate all available information. Keywords and Phrases: Environmental regulation, voluntary contributions, moral motivation, hard information. |
| Keywords: | environmental regulation; voluntary contributions; moral motivation; hard iformation |
| JEL: | D11 H41 |
| Date: | 2009–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2009_021&r=env |
| By: | Yongfu Huang |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of economic volatility on global sustainability in a dynamic panel data model allowing for error cross section dependence. It finds that output volatility and financial market volatility exert strong negative impacts on sustainable development, with the impacts exacerbated in some subsamples such as higher energy intensity countries and lower trade share countries. The paper also identifies a financial development channel through which output volatility impedes global sustainability, highlighting the interaction between global financial markets and the wider economy as a key factor influencing the low carbon development path. The finding is significant for the conduct of macroeconomic and environmental policies in an integrated global green economy. |
| Keywords: | Output Volatility; Financial Market Volatility; Global Sustainability; Genuine Savings; Cross Section Dependence |
| JEL: | E32 O11 O16 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lnd:wpaper:472010&r=env |
| By: | Rodrigo Jiliberto Herrera |
| Abstract: | At the turn of the new millennium, therefore, the initial work on SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) and transport are eliciting work to evaluate the interest, specifics and feasibility of applying this new tool when formulating transport policy; and a positive appreciation is consolidating of its use and relevance as a tool to support decision-making in this sector. This initial positive assessment is responsible for increasing use of SEA in the design of transport plans and programmes, and a wide ranging analytical toolkit has been developed to adapt to the specifics of the relation between transport planning and the environment — in terms of its main environmental effects, the scales of planning work, the diversity of planning models and the typology of strategic transport decisions. Rather than considering the singularity or specific nature of SEA as applied to decision-making on transport policy, subsequent developments have sought to facilitate and promote the use of this tool by disseminating specific cases or producing guides. This relatively strong development of SEA in the transport sector does not, however, mean that it is free from controversy and ambiguities, because, as shown in the literature (Dalal-Clayton and Sadler, 2005) and by the international SEA community (Wallington et al, 2007, 2008), there is still an ongoing debate on key aspects of SEA, including the definition of its basic objectives. |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaaa:2009/30-en&r=env |
| By: | Mario R. Partidário |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the advocacy role that SEA can strategically play towards more sustainable and environmental decision-making and how this can be achieved. It discusses the required conditions for this performance and also the frustrations of SEA when such conditions are absent or insufficient. The paper shares the experience with the case of an SEA on the strategic decision on the location of the new international airport in Lisbon, particularly with respect to how SEA made a difference to infrastructure development decisions and the conditions that were met to make it possible. |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaaa:2009/31-en&r=env |
| By: | Akli Berri (INRETS, Department of Transport Economics and Sociology (DEST)); Stéphanie Vincent Lyk-Jensen (SFI - The Danish National Centre for Social Research); Ismir Mulalic (University of Copenhagen and Technical University of Denmark); Theodoros Zachariadis (University of Cyprus) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate household transport consumption inequalities in France, Denmark and Cyprus, investigate their temporal dynamics and estimate the redistributive effects of taxes on different commodity categories. A comparative analysis is carried out in light of the differences between these countries, most notably in terms of car taxation systems and car ownership levels. A decomposition by expenditure component of the Gini index is applied, using household-level data from repeated cross-sections of expenditure surveys spanning long time periods. The results highlight the effect of car social diffusion. The relative contribution of vehicle use items to total expenditure inequality decreases over time, thus reflecting the more and more widespread use of the car. Moreover, fuel taxes become regressive (i.e. they affect the poor more than the rich), while the progressive character of taxes on the remaining car use commodities weakens with time. Taxes on transport goods and services as a whole are progressive (i.e. they affect the rich more than the poor). However, this is principally due to the progressivity of taxes on automobile purchases. The progressivity of taxes on car purchases is by far much stronger in Denmark. In this country, these taxes are so high that car purchase costs can be afforded only by high incomes. These findings underline the fact that equity issues should not be overlooked when designing policies to attenuate the environmental impact of cars. Increasing car use costs, notably fuel prices, through an increase of uniform taxes would be particularly inequitable. |
| Keywords: | Inequality; transport consumption; household expenditure surveys; Gini index; decomposition by component; redistributive effects of taxes |
| JEL: | D12 H23 H24 R41 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2010-159&r=env |
| By: | Christian R. Jaramillo H. |
| Abstract: | Large natural disasters (LNDs) are ubiquitous phenomena with potentially large impacts on the infrastructure and population of countries and on their economic activity in general. Using a panel of 113 countries and 36 years of data, I examine the relationship between different measures of natural disaster impact and long-run economic growth. The sample is partitioned in two separate ways: according to the amount and type of disasters that countries have experienced and to the size of those disasters. For each partition, I present two sets of econometric estimations. The first regressions identify short-run and longer-lasting effects of LNDs. However, these first estimations do not distinguish between temporary but persistent effects and truly permanent ones. I thus estimate a structural model that allows me to identify permanent changes. The results of the first regressions show that for some of the groups of countries the disaster impact persists beyond the 2-5 years in which reconstruction and adaptation are expected to have an effect on the economy. However, the estimates using the structural model show that only for a very small number of countries which share a history of highly devastating natural disasters the negative effects are truly permanent. |
| Date: | 2009–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:006647&r=env |