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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Environmental economics > General
Over the last three decades the world economy has grown strongly on the back of 'globalization' supported by the policies of free-trade, open markets and privatisation. Support has also grown for the concept of 'sustainability', meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. But as the Earth's systems come under increasing strain, the inherent conflict between sustainability and globalization has been exposed. Green Outcomes in a Real World examines the shift in thinking required to reconcile these two important areas of policy. In this ground breaking book, Peter McManners has coined the term 'Proximization' to define a new policy framework. The principles of Proximization are: 'sustainability', 'subsidiarity', 'primacy of the state' and 'market economics' and the application of these familiar concepts towards a sustainable globalised world is novel and different. The author argues that adherence to the principles of proximization will return world society to a stable natural order, and will mean changes. Global commodity flows will reduce and barriers to migration will increase. National governments will demand more control over their finances leading to restrictions on capital flows. Indeed, Peter believes that an element of 'selfish determination' is needed. The new world order will be sustainable by design. Global organisations such as the UN, national governments and global corporations will have to understand and apply a different paradigm. The arguments in this book do not reflect the idealism or even naivety of some of the green movement. This book is about hard-edged reality presented by an author with huge experience and a deep understanding of the business perspective. It will appeal to a wide range of professionals involved in setting policy and future direction for businesses, governments, and non-governmental bodies, as well as to those with an academic interest in business, economics, social and environmental issues, and public policy.
This book serves as a guide for local governments and private enterprises as they navigate the unchartered waters of investing in climate change adaptation and resilience. This book serves not only as a resource guide for identifying potential funding sources but also as a roadmap for asset management and public finance processes. It highlights practical synergies between funding mechanisms, as well as the conflicts that may arise between varying interests and strategies. While the main focus of this work is on the State of California, this book offers broader insights for how states, local governments and private enterprises can take those critical first steps in investing in society's collective adaptation to climate change.
Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution of land and water, land-use changes, lack of equality and other problems at local, national and global levels represent a challenge for economics as a social science. Mainstream neoclassical economics may be able to contribute to a more sustainable society but it has also played a dominant role in a period where problems have been aggravated. A pluralist and democratic view of economics is therefore very much warranted. This book presents a multidimensional and ideologically more open view of economics: understanding economics in multidimensional terms is in accordance with the 17 sustainable development goals recognized by nations at the UN-level in 2015. Accordingly, approaches to decision making and accounting at the national- and business levels have to be reconsidered. Neoclassical Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) with focus on the monetary dimension and an assumed consensus about a specific market ideology to be applied is not compatible with democratic societies where citizen and actors in other roles normally differ with respect to ideological orientation. Environmental Impact Statements and Multi-Criteria methods are used to some extent to broaden approaches to decision-making. In this book, Positional Analysis is advocated as a multidimensional and ideologically open approach. Positional Analysis is based on a political economic conceptual framework (as part of ecological economics) that differs from neoclassical ideas of individuals, firms and markets. And since approaches to decision-making and to accounting are closely connected, a new theoretical perspective in economics similarly raises issues of how national and business accounting can be opened up to meet present demands among various actors in society. This perspective raises also numerous ethical questions at the science and policy interface that need to be properly addressed for sustainability decision making.
First published in 2005, this book examines the contribution of planning and integrated landscape management to the process of reversing the continuing deterioration of our natural environment. Planning for integrated buffer zones is important to conserve national parks, nature reserves, threatened habitats, other ecologically sensitive areas and heritage sites. This book begins with an examination of the role and nature of planning. It identifies the main types of planning problems and details a 'model' planning process that can be usefully applied to resolve them. Several theoretical and practical approaches to buffering environmentally sensitive areas are evaluated and a classification of existing approaches is detailed. Case studies are included to illustrate and test some of these approaches. The book concludes by recommending that integrated buffer zone planning should become a standard tool in real-life environmental planning and management. To facilitate this, an innovative approach to the design and implementation of integrated buffers is offered, including a step-by-step planning guide.
First published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
This insightful book discusses the use of Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) for transport policy options from an ethical perspective.Each detailed chapter deals with issues such as; the use and ethical aspects of CBA in transport, social exclusion, the environment and long term sustainability, safety, ethics of research and modeling transport. It summarizes ethics-based critics on CBA and discusses their relevance for accessibility, the environment and safety. In addition it explores ethical dilemmas of doing CBAs and CBA related research. The book concludes with possible avenues for furthering exploring the links between transport and ethics. Transport and Ethics will appeal to researchers in the area of CBA for transport, postgraduate and undergraduate students in transport economics, transport policy, transport planning and transport geography, as well as policy makers in the area of transport. Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. The Opinion of the Target Group; 3. How Suitable is CBA for the Ex-ante Evaluation of Transport Projects and Policies?; 4. Social Exclusion; 5. Long Term Sustainability and Transport Evaluation; 6. Safety: Indicators, Pricing Humans and Democracy; 7. The Ethics of Doing Transport Research; 8. The Use of Models; 9. Epilogue and Discussion; Index
There is widespread agreement that climate change is a serious problem. If we fail to regulate greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, or use alternative strategies for addressing the problem, the damages could be significant, and perhaps catastrophic. After several international meetings in which nation-states have tried unsuccessfully to address the climate change problem, there is a sense of frustration and urgency: frustration at the slow pace at which countries are moving toward an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; urgency because of the growing evidence that climate change is a serious problem that should be addressed globally and quickly. This book takes a close look at the fundamental political and economic processes driving climate change policy. It identifies institutional arrangements and policies that are needed to design more effective climate change policy. It also examines ethical and distributional arguments that are critical in understanding and framing the climate debate. The book is built around a conference honouring Tom Schelling that took place at the Sustainable Consumption Institute at The University of Manchester. Each chapter represents a significant contribution to the literature on the political economy of climate change.
`This book sheds helpful light on the options individual countries and the world community face in the wake of the Copenhagen climate conference. Not only academics, but policymakers and journalists will find it useful reading as they prepare for domestic climate policy debates and the international negotiations scheduled for December 2010 in Cancun, Mexico.' - Robert N. Stavins, Harvard University, US `If you want to know the latest thinking about the economics of climate change, then this timely book is the best compendium currently out there.' - Martin Weitzman, Harvard University, US Written by leading international experts in the field, this book reveals the various economic effects from climate change policies introduced at national and international levels. They describe actual applications of climate change policies in the main emitting countries. After the Copenhagen climate change summit, it was clear that there was a requirement for a comprehensive analysis of climate change policies - costs and benefits. Climate Change Policies is an eloquent insight into the foundations, design and effects of climate change policies. It includes chapters on public policies and climate change impacts, adaptation, mitigation, effects on competitiveness, new technologies, distributional concerns and the international dimension. With an emphasis on the economic aspects associated with climate change policies, this book will be invaluable for academics and researchers of environment economics and climate change policy. Policymakers, journalists and scientists will also find much to interest them in this enlightening resource.
Using primarily Russian sources, this book explains the political and economic aspects of nuclear power. The nuclear fuel cycle is described, from the mining of natural uranium to the ultimate power generation, and to reprocessing to produce plutonium which is essential for both electricity generation and for weapons production. Historical aspects of nuclear developments in Germany, the USA, India, China and the Soviet Union are also considered and explained. The book then proceeds to argue that Russia is more powerful today in its nuclear weapons system and delivery than ever before, and that it is precisely this which has provoked President Trump to cancel the strategic nuclear weapons reduction treaty.
'The Economics of Pollution Control is a seminal contribution that is strongly recommended as a core addition to professional, governmental, and academic library "environmental studies" reference collections and supplemental reading lists.' - The Midwest Book Review This volume includes a series of previously published papers that both illustrate basic principles in the economics of pollution control and represent recent advances in the field over the last fifteen years. This authoritative collection includes seminal papers, written by leading scholars in the field, which relate to the overarching issue of designing pollution control policies to reduce environmental threats. The editor successfully covers a wide range of contemporary contexts and issues and includes both theoretical papers and empirical analyses of the impacts of pollution control policies. This volume will serve as an excellent source of reference for researchers, advanced students and practicing economists interested in a contemporary overview of the field.
This book describes a fresh approach to climate change communication: five core principles for public engagement that can propel climate change discourse out of the margins and into the mainstream. The question of how to communicate about climate change, and build public engagement in high-consuming, carbon-intensive Western nations, has occupied researchers, practitioners, and campaigners for more than two decades. During this time, limited progress has been made. Socially and culturally, climate change remains the preserve of a committed but narrow band of activists. Public engagement is stuck in second gear. By spanning the full width of the space between primary academic research and campaign strategies, this book will be relevant for academics, educators, campaigners, communicators and practitioners.
This book presents a new approach to recurrent property taxation based on occupancy, size, and location, that will strengthen local governments. Reflecting on the concept of "beneficial property taxation" first proposed by Alfred Marshall, the political economy constraints faced by traditional property taxation are examined and compared with evidence for beneficial property tax seen in China, Mexico, and sub-Saharan Africa. The benefits of this form of taxation are highlighted in relation to the financing of local public services and infrastructure that are required for sustainable development. This book provides a policy-oriented look at property taxation that engages with the sustainable development goals and lay the foundations for a post-pandemic recovery. It will be relevant to researchers and policymakers interested in development economics and the governance of taxation.
This major new reference work includes a selection of the most important articles and papers on urban economic theory published during the last twenty years. Analytical Urban Economics focuses on a branch of urban economic theory that attempts to analyze economic behaviour in cities by referring to geographical space rather than dealing with a spaceless world. The contributing authors to this volume are drawn from some of the most prominent urban economists in the world and from leading economic journals, especially those focusing on urban economics. This volume, with a new introduction written by the editors, is divided into ten sections including 'The Distribution of Income and Utility over Space', 'Dynamics' and 'Alternatives to Monocentric Models'. This book will be an essential reference text for urban economists and will be important background reading for graduate courses on urban economics.
The book is a civil engineering handbook on winch and cable systems. The handbook may be used as textbook for university studies in civil engineering and forestry and as the basis for studies in schools on a technical level. It should be a useful reference book for construction engineers, civil engineers, logging engineers, foresters and leaders of operational activities under difficult terrain conditions. The content in the book is based on more than 35 years experience with practical winch and cable operations. As a leader of the Norwegian Institute of Forest Operations, the author has carried out research work in this field since 1947. The Institute is the owner of yarders, winches, cable cranes etc., and with its own cable crews the Institute operates as a contractor in its own research forests as well as in other state or privately owned forests throughout Norway. The research work also includes other cable crane operations in Norway and other countries. As the leader of the Joint FAO/ECE/ILO Study Group on Mechanized Forest Operations the author studied cable operations in most of the Eastern and Western European countries. As president of the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations the author visited most forest countries in the world. Information from research and practical cable crane operations were collected. The handbook is based on material on winch and cable systems used in Japan, New Zealand, Soviet Union, Central Europe, Northern Europe, Eastern United States, Western United States and British Columbia.
'The Jevons Paradox', which was first expressed in 1865 by William Stanley Jevons in relation to use of coal, states that an increase in efficiency in using a resource leads to increased use of that resource rather than to a reduction. This has subsequently been proved to apply not just to fossil fuels, but other resource use scenarios. For example, doubling the efficiency of food production per hectare over the last 50 years (due to the Green Revolution) did not solve the problem of hunger. The increase in efficiency increased production and worsened hunger because of the resulting increase in population. The implications of this in today's world are substantial. Many scientists and policymakers argue that future technological innovations will reduce consumption of resources; the Jevons Paradox explains why this may be a false hope. This is the first book to provide a historical overview of the Jevons Paradox, provide evidence for its existence and apply it to complex systems. Written and edited by world experts in the fields of economics, ecological economics, technology and the environment, it explains the myth of efficiency and explores its implications for resource usage (particularly oil). It is a must-read for policymakers, natural resource managers, academics and students concerned with the effects of efficiency on resource use.
This volume spotlights some of the most important economic issues confronting today's emerging developing countries. The topics studied in the book include the importance of productivity to economic growth, international trade and its relationship to productivity; immigration and brain drain; pollution havens, climate change, and the carbon tax; the effectiveness of foreign aid, the efficiency of education, and governance. Written by some of the most respected scholars in their respective fields, the individual chapters apply both economic theory and the most current empirical tools in rigorous but accessible exposition. Researchers can find value in the modeling and empirical techniques that can be applied to other countries and datasets. Policy makers can benefit from the intellectual foundation on which decisions on important issues can be based; and students of international trade, economic development, and environmental economics can gain knowledge of different country settings that give context to their fields of study.
Environmental Problems in the Shortage Economy is one of the first books to analyse environmental disruption under the Soviet economic system. Using original Soviet data the author shows that considerable damage has been done to the environment and that measures which were intended to protect it have been largely ineffective.A detailed account of environmental problems in the Soviet economy is followed by discussion of two specific problems: the ineffectiveness of measures to protect the environment and the general mismanagement of natural resource extraction. In order to explain these problems, a framework is adopted which views the former Soviet Union as a shortage economy with environmental problems as part of its general functioning. Further insight into the impact of the shortage economy on the management of natural resources is provided by a case study on the use of forestry resources. The book also includes an account of Soviet academic work in the field of environmental economics. This rigorous and authoritative assessment of the implications of Soviet environmental policy will be welcomed by environmental economists and political scientists concerned with the wider legacy of the Soviet Union and its economic policy.
Sustainable capitalism knowledge is often assumed for exclusively association with information about some forms of environmental crises. When we speak of sustainable, and unsustainable, we speak of a systemic crisis of both long-term dimension in the economy and business models, on all levels. We talk of local to the global crisis, with detrimental effects on humans and the environment, as well as economic organizations, of various kinds, often forfeiting any economic, social, and environmental future. The long-term crisis is a crisis of long-term investment, but it is also a crisis of human and ecological capital. The authors propose a new conceptual business model, polycentric at many levels. This research is an attempt to contribute to the global alliance for such sustainable capitalism in the making. In part, this is an ambitious undertaking, as the authors analyzed vital United Nations (UN) documents on sustainable development, as part of what they advocate as sustainable capitalism, as a systemic response to existing shortcomings of the present model. This text attempts to educate global stakeholders about the importance, the rationale, and the pathway to introduce sustainable capitalism into global economics and business models.
Countries around the world are spending up to $500 billion per year on subsidising fossil fuel consumption. By some estimates, the G20 countries alone are spending around another $450 billion on subsidising fossil fuel production. In addition, the indirect social welfare costs of these subsidies have been shown to be substantial - for instance due to air pollution, road congestion, climate change, and economic inefficiency, to name a few. Considering these numbers, there is no doubt that fossil fuel subsidies cause severe economic distortions that compromise countries' prospects of achieving equitable and sustainable development. This book provides a guide to the complex challenge of designing, assessing, and implementing effective fossil fuel subsidy reforms. It shows that subsidy reform requires a careful balancing of complex economic and political trade-offs, as well as measures to mitigate adverse effects on vulnerable households and to assist firms with implementing efficiency enhancing measures. Going beyond the purely fiscal perspective, this book emphasises that smart subsidy reforms can contribute to all three dimensions of sustainable development - environment, society, and economy. Over the course of eight chapters, this book considers a wide range of agents and stakeholders, markets, and policy measures in order to distil the key principles of designing effective fossil fuel subsidy reforms. This book will be of great relevance to scholars and policy makers with an interest in energy economics and policy, climate change policy, and sustainable development more broadly.
This book highlights the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) of the energy and textile sectors. It also presents a range of models, indices, impact categories, etc. for SLCA that are currently being developed for industrial applications. Though SLCA was introduced in 2010, it is still relatively new compared to environmental life cycle assessment (ELCA).
Migration and Climate Change provides the first authoritative overview of the relationship between climate change and migration. It brings together both case studies and syntheses from different parts of the world and critically discusses empirical evidence, methodological challenges, conceptual gaps, policy responses, and normative issues. The book constitutes a unique and thorough introduction to one of the most discussed but least understood consequences of climate change and brings together experts from a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, climatology, demography, geography, law, political science and sociology.
Little is known about the volume of international recycling in Asia, the problems caused and the struggle to properly manage the trade. This pathbreaking book addresses this gap in the literature, and provides a comprehensive overview of the international trade flow of recyclable waste in Asia and related issues. The expert contributors discuss the various types of recyclable waste that Asian countries import, and illustrate that there are consequently higher numbers of cheaper informal recyclers with lower pollution control costs than formal recyclers with more expensive but environmentally sound technologies. They explore how governments across China, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan are therefore struggling to minimize the negative impact from informal recycling via trade regulation of recyclable and hazardous waste and comprehensive cooperation mechanisms to promote efficient use of resources. Preventive measures against illegal and/or improper transboundary movement of hazardous waste in Asia are also analyzed. This unique and fascinating book aims to facilitate a common understanding of the issues caused by international recycling in Asia to encourage effective international and regional cooperation in order to establish a sound recycling system. As such, it will prove an invaluable resource to academics, researchers and students with an interest in Asian studies, economics, environmental studies, international economics and industrial economics. Contributors: V. Atienza, S. Chung, M. Kojima, E. Michida, S. Sakata, S. Sasaki, T. Terao, J. Tsuruta, A. Yoshida
China and Taiwan are two of the fastest growing economies of the newly industrialized countries. Much of this growth has come from multinational companies; partly, it has often been assumed, because the region provides a "pollution haven" multinationals would not enjoy elsewhere. Tsai tests this hypothesis with detailed empirical research. Focusing on the chemical sector, he compares the policies and behavior of three multinational corporations with three large local firms. His research shows that multinationals have created more enviromentallhy sound operations through local companies.
This timely research review discusses a selection of key articles on the economics of renewable energy. From a modest role as a backstop technology in the 1970s to a central role in low carbon transitions today, the review reveals the emergence and growing importance of this sub-field of economics. Topics covered include the costs of renewable power (taking account of issues related to technological development, intermittency and interconnection), policies that promote renewable energy development, its public and private demand, and its impact on the environment and the economy. This comprehensive and indispensible review serves as an essential source of reference for students and researchers.
Modelling Transitions shows what computational, formal and data-driven approaches can and could mean for sustainability transitions research, presenting the state-of-the-art and exploring what lies beyond. Featuring contributions from many well-known authors, this book presents the various benefits of modelling for transitions research. More than just taking stock, it also critically examines what modelling of transformative change means and could mean for transitions research and for other disciplines that study societal changes. This includes identifying a variety of approaches currently not part of the portfolios of transitions modellers. Far from only singing praise, critical methodological and philosophical introspection are key aspects of this important book. This book speaks to modellers and non-modellers alike who value the development of robust knowledge on transitions to sustainability, including colleagues in congenial fields. Be they students, researchers or practitioners, everyone interested in transitions should find this book relevant as reference, resource and guide. |
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