One of the central tenets of this book is that governmental policies must be designed to take into account market characteristics and environmental phenomena - simultaneously. This volume contains a new research effort of the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei' and explores the theoretical underpinnings of environmental policy in a sub-optimal world. Topics considered link economic issues (oligopolistic market structures, firm heterogeneity, and the strategic behavior of governments) to environmental issues (emission abatements, cleaner technologies, and environmental taxation). The articles in this volume were chosen to achieve a balance between breadth and depth and were written by leading experts in the field. In short, this book is rich in policy implications and raises new issues and questions for future research.

The contributors argue that rare earths are essential to the information technology revolution on which humans have come to depend for communication, commerce, and, increasingly, engage in conflict. They demonstrate that rare earths are a strategic commodity over which political actors will and do struggle for control.

This authoritative but highly accessible book presents the reader with a powerful framework for understanding the critical role of the energy return on investment (EROI) in the survival and well-being of individuals, ecosystems, businesses, economies and nations. Growth and development are fundamental and ubiquitous processes at all scales, from individuals to food crops to national economies. While we are all familiar with the concepts of economic growth and living standards as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), we often take for granted the energy use that underpins GDP and our expectations for year-on-year growth. In this book, you will learn how these measures of "progress" are completely dependent on the balance that can be achieved between energy costs (inputs) and gains. Nothing is made or moved without an energy surplus, and it is the EROI of available energy sources more than any other single factor that determines the shape of civilization. Nearly all politics and economics assume that policy and market forces are the levers upon which future outcomes will hinge. However, this book presents many examples of historical and current events that can be explained much more clearly from an energetic perspective. In addition, a future scenario is developed that gives a central place to EROI in assessing the potential of governmental and private initiatives to substitute so-called renewable energy sources for diminishing stocks of fossil fuels. When cheap fossil fuels are no longer available in the abundance needed to mask economic problems and power business as usual, it will be EROI more than the plethora of "green" technologies that creates the boundary conditions for a sustainable future.

This is a book about the work of scientists in the era of the Anthropocene: where human beings appear to have become a driving force in the evolution of the planet. It is a diverse collection of empirical, methodological and theoretical chapters concerned with the practice of interdisciplinary social-ecological systems research. The aim of the contributors is to give the reader an appreciation for the range and complexity of the challenges faced by researchers, research institutions and wider communities trying to make sense of the causes and consequences of the this new era of global environmental change.

The tragedy of the Anthropocene, of the large scale anthropogenic habitat destruction and planet-wide impacts of anthropogenic climate change, is not that science has failed humanity but rather that it has served humanity all too well, making possible in just a few hundred years volumes and scales of human activity far exceeding anything ever seen before. Coming to terms with that success was the aim of the 1969 Alpbach Symposium, from which this book draws its name, where contributors including Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Bertalanffy, asked themselves: what theory, practices and standards are required to move beyond reductionism? Like those from 1969, the answers presented in this collection are hugely diverse, ranging from PhD students concerned with research methods and institutional obstacles, to mid-career scholars presenting their innovative beyond-reductionism research methods, to emeritus professors looking back over what has been achieved in the past 30 years and suggesting where things might go from here.

All the contributors begin from the premise that the challenges of the Anthropocene can only be successfully met if interdisciplinary research effectively brings together social and natural sciences, the humanities, stakeholders and decision makers. They conclude, in unison, that both the institutional and the methodological foundations needed to do this work are still sorely lacking. While this may seem a dismal position, the book is full of success stories, such as: the integrative approach of MuSIASEM (Multi-Scale Integrative Assessment of Social-Ecological Metabolism) developed by Mario Giampietro s group in Barcelona, Spain; the alternative perspectives of what Ariel Salleh calls the meta-industrial discourse in Ecofeminism; or the innovative trans-departmental status of the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden. Putting both the theoretical and methodological challenges of moving beyond reductionism on the table for discussion, this text aims to help a growing community of passionate thinkers and actors better understand themselves and their work.

Russia offers a fascinating example of the contrast between the attractions of a vast hydrocarbon resource base to major oil and gas companies and the problems that can be encountered in trying to invest in it. International Partnership in Russia provides a unique insight into the joint ventures which have been formed between domestic and international partners in Russia during the post-Soviet era. It outlines the highs and lows in their fortunes and analyses the reasons for their successes and failures, developing an original theory on the bargaining relationship between foreign and domestic partners in a weak institutional environment such as Russia. It provides a new strategy for partner engagement based on theoretical analysis, interviews with key players and the experiences of one of the authors at Russia's largest international partnership to date, TNK-BP. This book will be indispensable reading for energy economists, senior executives at oil and gas companies with exposure to Russia and other countries where local knowledge is vital for success, as well as for finance practitioners working in energy markets.

Over five decades of economic and technical assistance to the countries of Africa and the Middle East have failed to improve the life prospects for over 1.4 billion people who remain vulnerable. Billions of dollars have been spent on such assistance and yet little progress has been made. Persistent hunger and hopelessness threaten more than individuals and families. These conditions foster political alienation that can easily metastasize into hostility and aggression. Recent uprisings in the Middle East are emblematic of this problem. Vulnerable people give rise to vulnerable states. This book challenges the dominant catechism of development assistance by arguing that the focus on economic growth (and fighting poverty) has failed to bring about the promised "convergence." Poor people and poor countries have clearly not closed the gap on the rich industrialized world. Pursuing convergence has been a failure. Here we argue that development assistance must be reconstituted to focus on creating economic coherence. People are vulnerable because the economies in which they are embedded do not cohere. The absence of economic coherence means that economic processes do not work as they must if individual initiative is to result in improved livelihoods. Weak and vulnerable states must be strengthened so that they can become partners in the process of creating economic coherence. When economies do not cohere, countries become breeding grounds for localized civil conflicts that often spill across national borders.

The book reveals the changing dynamics of the helium industry on both the supply-side and the demand-side. The helium industry has a long-term future and this important gas will have a role to play for many decades to come. Major new users of helium are expected to enter the market, especially in nuclear energy (both fission and fusion). Prices and volumes supplied and expected to rise and this will prompt greater efforts towards the development of new helium sources and helium conservation and recycling.

The Low-Carbon Good Life is about how to reverse and repair four interlocking crises arising from modern material consumption: the climate crisis, growing inequality, biodiversity loss and food-related ill-health. Across the world today and throughout history, good lives are characterised by healthy food, connections to nature, being active, togetherness, personal growth, a spiritual framework and sustainable consumption. A low-carbon good life offers opportunities to live in ways that will bring greater happiness and contentment. Slower ways of living await. A global target of no more than one tonne of carbon per person would allow the poorest to consume more and everyone to find our models of low-carbon good lives. But dropping old habits is hard, and large-scale impacts will need fresh forms of public engagement and citizen action. Local to national governments need to act; equally, they need pushing by the power and collective action of citizens. Innovative and engaging and written in a style that combines storytelling with scientific evidence, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, sustainability, environmental economics and sustainable consumption, as well as non-specialist readers concerned about the climate crisis.

To understand China s climate change policy is not easy, as the country itself is a paradox actor in global climate political economy: it used to take very suspicious stand on the scientific certainty of climate change, but recently it has become a signatory and firm supporter of the Kyoto Protocol; it stubbornly refuses to accept any emission cutting obligations, but has gradually taken the lead in developing renewable energies and carbon trading business; it accuses western countries of their hypocrisy and irresponsibility, but ironically maintains close cooperation with them on low-carbon projects; it fears climate mitigation commitments may hamper the economic growth, but meanwhile spends most lavishly on the research and development of clean energy and other green technologies.

This book, unlike other researches which explain China s climate policy from pure economics or politics/foreign policy perspectives, provides a panoramic view over China s climate-related regulations, laws and policies as well as various government and non-government actors involved in the climate politics. Through analyzing the political and socioeconomic factors that influence the world s largest carbon emitter s participation into the global collective actions against climate change, the book argues that as a vast continental state with a mix of authoritarian politics and a quasi-liberalised market economy, China s climate policy process is fragmented and self-defensive, seemingly having little room for significant compromises or changes; yet in response to the mounting international pressures and energy security concerns and attracted by lucrative carbon businesses and clean energy market, the regime shows some sort of better-than-expected flexibility and shrewdness in coping with the newly-emerged challenges. Its future climate actions, whether effective or not, are vital not only for the success of the global mitigation effort, but for China s own economic restructure and sustainable development.

The book is a unique research monograph on the evolving domestic and foreign policies taken by the Chinese government to tackle climate change challenges. It concludes that instead of being motivated by concern about its vulnerability to climate change, Chinese climate-related policies have been mainly driven by its intensive attention to energy security, business opportunities lying in emerging green industries and image consideration in the global climate politics.

This volume inc1udes a selection of papers presented at the second European Research Conference (EURESCO) on "The International Dimension of Environmental Policy" held in Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy, in October 2001. We thank those who made this conference possible: the European Science Foundation (ESF), which provided financial and organizational support; the European Commission EURESCO Programme; the Fondazione ENI Enrico Mattei (FEEM) in Milan; and GLOBUS, Tilburg University. The European Science Foundation (ESF), the EURESCO Programme, FEEM and GLOBUS cannot be held responsible for the contents and/or opinions expressed in this volume. Our gratitude also goes to the people who assisted us in editing this volume: the papers' referees, the authors, our publisher Kluwer, and especially to Stefan Jost in Rostock who handled the manuscript with maximum care during the process of copy-editing. None of these persons bears any responsibilities for remaining errors or shortcomings. Laura Marsiliani, Michael Rauscher, and Cees Withagen [Marsiliani, L., Rauscher, M. and Withagen, c.] (eds.), [Environmental Policy in an International Perspective], xi. (c) 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Introduction a C Laura Marsiliani , Michael Rauscherb and Cees Withagen a University 0/ Rochester and University 0/ Durham, b University 0/ Rostock, C Free University Amsterdam and Ti/burg University 1. THE ISSUES Nowadays, the proteetion of the environment is one of the most debated issues in the international are~a. Because of the transboundary nature of pollution and the characteristic of the environment as aglobaI public good, international co- operation is highly desirable.

The international character of today's most pressing environmental problems has become a key challenge for environmental policy making. As regulation by a supranational authority is not a realistic option at present, policymakers have to rely on decentralized approaches to the management of international environmental resources.This study combines two core dimensions of international environmental policy: the traditional search for cost-effective policy instruments and the creation of incentives for voluntary cooperation among sovereign nations. The analysis offers some clear-cut policy recommendations for the design of environmental treaties and for the further development of existing international institutions to protect the global environment.

Capitalism and its Critics offers an accessible account of major theories of capitalism from the industrial revolution to the present day. The book provides a comprehensive account of the economic and social thought of key theorists from Adam Smith and Karl Marx to David Harvey and Thomas Piketty. Capitalism has long been the subject of passionate debate, and today such contestations are perhaps more timely than ever. For its advocates, capitalism brings democracy and freedom and is the cornerstone of modernity and of progress. For its critics, capitalism is based on the exploitation of labour and is responsible for the destruction of the environment as well as colonialism. Whether capitalism survives the century, or whether an alternative social system emerges, may very well determine the fate of humanity. Capitalism and its Critics gives a comprehensive critical analysis of the most important theorists of capitalism, including Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Joseph Schumpeter, Karl Polanyi, F.A. Hayek, J.M. Keynes, David Harvey, and Thomas Piketty. The book discusses some of the main debates about capitalism and considers alternatives in the twenty-first century. The 12 chapters are loosely chronologically organised around the main approaches and historical phases in the history of capitalism. Central themes of the book are the ideas of capitalist crisis and of tensions between democracy and capitalism in the making of modernity. A highly readable, informative and engaging text, Capitalism and its Critics is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding capitalism and its alternatives.

Environmental Policy is an increasingly important subject as we enter an era where environmental issues are affecting all walks of life. This informative Research Review provides a guide through the behavioral and political foundations of environmental economic policy. It discusses articles which give an in-depth view of the current economic discipline whilst also looking at research from other social and behavioral sciences. Students and scholars as well as environmental policy makers will find this an essential tool to navigate the political and behavioural issues that we have to understand in order to resolve some of the biggest political issues of our time.

India has moved along an impressive growth path over the last decade, marked with falling share of agriculture, stagnating manufacturing, expanding services segment, growing trade orientation, enhanced FDI inflows etc. The consequent growth implications are obvious as far as the numbers like GDP growth rate and Per Capita GDP trend are concerned, but how sustainable the associated development is with respect to resource management and environmental governance?

This book captures the economy-wide impacts of various activities on environment in India. The environmental impacts on water, air, soil quality and human health are captured through case studies from different parts of India. Analyzing separately the concern areas within agriculture (cultivation, aquaculture), manufacturing (industrial pollution, power generation), services (waste management, bio-medical waste, e-waste recycling) and external sector (agricultural trade, FDI inflow, trade in waste products) performance of India, the book attempts to find an answer to that crucial question. The methodology adopted to capture the environmental impacts of various economic activities is derived from the relevant branches like environmental economics, agricultural economics, and water resources economics. The book, focusing on particular sectors, indicates the concern areas and possible ways for enhancing environmental governance.

This book assembles a host of front-line insights on the role of power and inequalities in shaping patterns of land use and resource management. Most of the contributions are informed by the notion of political ecology, recognizing that human relations to the environment and human social relations are not separate phenomena but inextricably intertwined.

The volume is unique is that it sets this approach in a trans-disciplinary, global and historical framework; the contributors represent a spectrum of academic disciplines including anthropology, sociology, geography, economics, economic history, historical archaeology, human ecology, development studies, and sustainability science.

1. Environmental policy making: an introduction.- A. Decision-Making.- 2. A spatial theoretic approach to environmental politics.- 3. Green legislative politics.- 4. Regulation or taxation.- 5. Decision making about the environment; the role of information.- B. Case-Studies.- 6. Transport policies and the environment: regulation and taxation.- 7. Road pricing: a logical failure.- 8. Dutch manure policy: the lack of economic instruments.- 9. Dutch manure policy: the role of information.- C. Institutions.- 10. The role of property rights in environmental protection.- 11. The ecological social contract.- 12. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all.- About the authors.- Author index.

This is an easy-to-read textbook providing the reader with the basis to comprehend the major energy technologies from a physical and economical perspective.

The journey through the book begins with some background theory on the physics and economics of energy. Major energy technologies (fossil, nuclear and renewable) are explored in-depth, explaining how they work and the costs involved. Finally, the journey ends by exploring the technical and economic feasibility of supplying the world by 2050 with sustainable energy only.

Numerous examples are provided to allow the reader to relate important concepts to real-life. The reader s understanding of the material can then be tested using the exercises at the end of each chapter.

This textbook is the first to thoroughly present the physics and the economics of energy. It is intended for graduate students and practitioners interested in the field of energy. It also enables the general reader to distinguish between political statement and fact."

National Accounting Matrices of Environmental Accounts (NAMEA) tables are used to analyze a range of environmental pressures and economic data resulting from consumption and production patterns -- helping us gain a far better notion of the consequences of individuals', households' and firms' actions for the world we live in. This book deals with the increasingly complex issues of hybrid environmental and economic accounts. The perspective of environmental accounting for the analysis of the relationships between the economic and environmental systems, especially regarding the satellite accounts like NAMEA, is relatively recent, and partly derives from the conceptual and applied deficits that have emerged during the setting up of green GDP or GNP measures as alternative measures of accounting. NAMEA provides a comprehensive and integrated picture of the economic system in association with the environmental system (physical pressures such as emissions) by a sector classification.This book is an integrated collection of complementary papers that revolve around the issue of environment-economic accounting In the first part a historical background and empirical issues related to the NAMEA-type table definitions and estimations open the book, followed by some applications and analyses mainly applied to a sub-national level. The second part opens the window to international case studies for different EU countries and studies with methodological insights. These policy-oriented, original works are primarily from an applied perspective, although theoretical aspects are also fully developed. The book should be of use to Environmental and Ecological economics students and researchers, as well as those studying the more general field of Environment studies.

This book reflects the state of the art in nonlinear economic dynamics, providing a broad overview of dynamic economic models at different levels. The wide variety of approaches ranges from theoretical and simulation analysis to methodological study. In particular, it examines the local and global asymptotical behavior of both macro- and micro- level mathematical models, theoretically as well as using simulation. It also focuses on systems with one or more time delays for which new methodology has to be developed to investigate their asymptotic properties. The book offers a comprehensive summary of the existing methodology with extensions to the more complex model variants, since considerations on bounded rationality of complex economic behavior provide the foundation underlying choice-theoretic and policy-oriented studies of macro behavior, which impact the real macro economy. It includes 13 chapters addressing traditional models such as monopoly, duopoly and oligopoly in microeconomics and Keynesian, Goodwinian, and Kaldor-Kaleckian models in macroeconomics. Each chapter presents new aspects of these traditional models that have never been seen before. This work renews the past wisdom and reveals tomorrow's knowledge.

This companion to Accounting for Resources, 1 tracks the life cycle of specific elements, such as chlorine and heavy metals, in order to estimate the generation and dissipative losses of material wastes. The book begins with a succinct review of the life-cycle analysis methodology and evaluates some of its weaknesses in estimating the generation of waste. The authors propose a new quantitative measure of the potential for environmental harm of waste materials. They include case studies to add weight to their proposal. Four horizontal life-cycle case studies are included; one for chlorine and chlorine chemicals; one for mercury; one for arsenic and cadmium; and the other for copper, lead and zinc. The book also includes a longitudinal study of heavy metals use and dissipation, during the period 1880-1980 with reference to the Hudson-Raritan basin. The book concludes with an overview, including some recommendations for future research and for policy changes with respect to governmental statistical data collection and organization.

Environmental policy may produce effects which go beyond the scope of the specific policy's initial aim. Reforestation, for example, generates positive benefits not only in the shape of climate protection but also in the shape of the combat of biodiversity loss and it may also raise the attractiveness of a region for tourists. There are several examples of environmental policies, generating initially unintended co-effects. These co-effects are not always positive, of course. This book addresses the wide range of (co-)effects associated with environmental policies which may increase or decrease the attractiveness of these policies. Therefore, the book's scope goes beyond the standard economic analyses, which regularly postulate a specific cause-and-effect chain. The complexity and wide range of benefits is investigated from different perspectives and by means of different methodologies. Among the environmental policies discussed are climate mitigation policies as well as adaptation policies. The inclusion of all relevant effects of environmental policy (and therefore not only of the primarily intended effects) tends to have a strong impact on the efficient policy design. The areas which are covered by the book will be of great interest mainly for economists (environmental economics, ecological economics), ecologists and political scientists as well as practitioners, scientists and policy makers.

During the five decades since its origin, law and economics has provided an influential framework for addressing a wide array of areas of law ranging from judicial behaviour to contracts. This book will reflects the first-ever forum for law and economics scholars to apply the analysis and methodologies of their field to the subject of wildfire. The only modern legal work on wildfire, the book brings together leading scholars to consider questions such as: How can public policy address the effects of climate change on wildfire, and wildfire on climate change? Are the environmental and fiscal costs of ex ante prevention measures justified? What are the appropriate levels of prevention and suppression responsibility borne by private, state, and federal actors? Can tort liability provide a solution for realigning the grossly distorted incentives that currently exist for private landowners and government firefighters? Do the existing incentives in wildfire institutions provide incentives for efficient private and collective action and how might they be improved?

The battle against climate change is no longer just an environmental or social issue. As shareholders demand corporations protect assets against climate change and the economic impact of environmental disasters suck billions of dollars out of the economy, capitalism itself has become an ally. The economic impact of climate change is rattling the foundation of our economy at its very core. It's blowing up centuries-old industries from automobiles to oil and gas, creating new opportunities for investors and entrepreneurs. It's costing Americans billions of dollars each and every year. And most importantly, it's forcing politicians to pass long-overdue policies that will transform our businesses, our lives and our future like never before. The good news about this economic earthquake is that it just might be the thing that saves our planet. This is the first book to lay out how climate change has become an economic issue above all and how that has changed everything from the business to politics to the outlook for the future. Bob Keefe, executive director of E2, a national, nonpartisan organization dedicated to providing business perspectives on environmental issues, shows readers how this new reality will impact their industries, businesses, jobs, and communities and transform our country's economy. Climatenomics will be essential reading for anyone who cares about business, politics, or the future of our planet.

This text provides a comprehensive introduction to the important issues of land use and forest economics. The authors employ economic tools to study the allocation of land among alternative activities such as agriculture, grazing and forestry which impact upon the landscape. The book begins by explaining general economic concepts of well-being, welfare measurement and economic rents before providing a synopsis of various environmental economic issues including non-market valuation, cost-benefit analysis and sustainable development. The authors then move on to address several critical topics relating to land use, the conservation of nature and the protection of agricultural land. These include an analysis of agricultural land use from the perspective of urban expansion and the interface between crop production and nature. They also discuss the economics of public lands, range and ranching, forestry, and global climate change in a comprehensive fashion. Throughout the book, the focus is on enhancing welfare for society as a whole, rather than for particular individuals, interest groups or sectors. In this way, the authors present a balanced and just approach to policy decisions regarding the allocation of scarce land resources. Accessible and self-contained, this text will become indispensable to postgraduate and undergraduate students on a range of courses including agricultural and environmental economics, geography and resource management. Although primarily a textbook, it will also provide a useful overview for policymakers, range scientists, public land managers and anyone with an interest in the economic evaluation of rural land use and forestry.

This book challenges the assumption that it is bad news when the economy doesn't grow.For decades, it has been widely recognised that there are ecological limits to continuing economic growth and that different ways of living, working and organising our economies are urgently required. This urgency has increased since the financial crash of 2007-2008 - but mainstream economists and politicians are unable to think differently. The authors demonstrate why our economic system demands ecologically unsustainable growth and the pursuit of more 'stuff'. They believe that what matters is quality, not quantity - a better life based on having fewer material possessions, less production and less work. Such a way of life will emphasize well-being, community, security, and what Ivan Illich rightly called 'conviviality'. That is, more real wealth. The book will therefore appeal to everyone curious as to how a new post-growth economics can be conceived and enacted. It will be of particular interest to policy makers, politicians, business people, trade unionists, academics, students, journalists and a wide range of people working in the not for profit sector. All of the contributors are leading thinkers on Green issues and members of the new think tank Green House.