Environmental Economics and Policy Studies最新文献

In a third-country market model in which two export countries adopt environmental policies (taxes and subsidies), this article analyses how an abatement (“green”) subsidy can become a potential strategic trade policy tool. When governments set the optimal policy considering their local environmental damages, a rich set of equilibria arises. In contrast to the standard result, it is shown that subsidising pollution abatement can 1) emerge as the unique Pareto-efficient Nash equilibrium of the policy game, 2) be the only feasible environmental policy when environmental awareness is low, irrespective of the efficiency of the cleaning technology, and 3) emerge as the unique Pareto-inefficient Nash equilibrium of the policy game at the end of the ecological transition. The article also tackles some dynamic issues that the policy game implies.

The Western Climate Initiative cap-and-trade program is presented as a substantial contributor to reach the climate targets set by the governments in California and Québec, by constraining emissions through declining caps. Some doubts have however been cast on the effectiveness of this program. Using a supply–demand model and published data for the third compliance period (2018–2020), we estimate five scenarios for future emissions and changes in the program’s features, and we analyse the resulting price path for compliance instruments. Our key contribution rests in the identification of the key drivers of the existing overallocation. Caps were set too high, and less emissions are actually covered compared to what is officially announced (76% in California, against a claimed 80%). Offset credits also contribute to the availability of compliance instruments. These drivers result in an excess of available instruments until 2030, preventing the cap-and-trade program to play its constraining role: caps will be exceeded and emission targets missed, while fully complying with the cap-and-trade requirements. However, putting an end to overallocation would not be sufficient to reach climate targets. Governments should either reduce the level of existing allowance caps by 19–24%, or about 385 Mt, or increase the amount of covered emissions without changing the level of current caps.

This study examines the impact of domestic fuel prices, population, and economic activity on transport CO₂ emissions, employing Saudi Arabia as a case study. The research uncovers statistically significant long-term associations between these variables. Despite transport CO₂ emissions demonstrating slight responsiveness to fuel price alterations, with estimated elasticity values between – 0.1 and – 0.15, the study affirms the relevance and timeliness of the Saudi government's strategy to curtail fuel incentives. Projections for a 2030 scenario, encompassing heightened economic activity aspirations and further escalations in domestic fuel prices to mirror true market costs, revealed a 1.8 percent annual reduction in transport CO₂ emissions from 2021 to 2030 compared to a scenario with unchanging fuel prices. The insights from this study bear significance not only for Saudi Arabia but also for other oil-rich nations striving to pave the way toward a sustainable transportation future.

As a result of the past failures in centralized management, community-based management approach was evolved as a better alternative in Mangrove management. However, effectiveness of community-based Mangrove management is remained as an important policy question with limited empirical evidence. This study aims to empirically investigate the effectiveness of community participation on Mangrove restoration using the village-level data collected from lagoon-based fishing villages in northern Sri Lanka during 2009–2020. In addition to the field data, this study adopts satellite imagery data of Landsat-7 and Landsat-8 to estimate the extent of Mangrove cover as an indicator of Mangrove restoration performance. The results show that community participation has a significant and positive impact on Mangrove restoration, suggesting the importance of strengthening community management practices for future Mangrove management.

In the residential housing sector, energy conservation issues may arise in the relationship between landlords and renters (a.k.a. tenants) due to principal-agent and information problems. An example is the split incentive, where one party makes the energy efficiency decisions while the other pays the energy bill. Herein, we investigate whether the landlord and renter split incentive problem may be more likely and more challenging for college student renters than those who are not college students. This may occur from landlords perceiving that college renters lack sufficient demand for energy efficient improvements.

There is a lack of studies regarding the possibility that college renters may face greater exposure to the split incentive problem. We surveyed landlords to better understand their prior energy efficiency investment decisions and used a contingent valuation question to further investigate their choices for a hypothetical return on investment scenario. The landlords had various mixes of college students and non-students in their properties. Landlords renting one single-family property exclusively to college students had, on average, completed fewer major upgrades to their rental properties and were less likely to invest in a hypothetical insulation upgrade.

This paper investigates the connection between climate change and energy security in Europe and provides empirical evidence that these issues are the two faces of the same coin. Using a panel of 39 European countries during the period 1980–2020, the empirical analysis presented in this paper indicates that increasing the share of nuclear, renewables, and other nonhydrocarbon energy and improving energy efficiency could lead to a significant reduction in carbon emissions and improve energy security throughout Europe. Accordingly, policies and reforms aimed at shifting away from hydrocarbons and increasing energy efficiency in distribution and consumption are key to mitigating climate change, reducing energy dependence, and minimizing exposure to energy price volatility.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between climate shocks and agri-food and overall inflation in Tunisia for the period 1985–2000. Climate shocks represent extreme weather phenomena such as droughts, heat waves, and floods To address this question, the paper uses an extensive Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model that incorporates a Pesaran cointegration test, enabling the exploration of potential asymmetric effects stemming from positive and negative climate shocks on both general and agri-food inflation in the short and the long run. The key findings of the paper indicate that positive temperature shocks exert a significant inflationary impact on all agricultural products, the food industry, and, more broadly, the entire Tunisian economy, both in the short and long term. Conversely, a sudden shortage in rainfall does not significantly affect either agricultural or food prices, nor does it influence the general price index. This result is rather unexpected since long-term rainfall trends significantly affect agricultural production, emphasizing the importance of appropriate agricultural policies such as irrigation.

This study aims to explore the dynamic return and volatility spillover among oil, sectoral clean energy markets, and green equity across different tails spanning from January 2014 to May 2023. The investigation utilizes a spillover approach based on the QVAR model. The empirical results highlight the time-varying nature of return and volatility spillover indices, influenced by significant events. Notably, the interconnection intensified during pivotal periods, including the oil shale revolution, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Russia–Ukraine conflict, observed across the median, lower, and upper tails. The quantile spillover analysis reveals asymmetric behavior at both the left and right tails, emphasizing the increased impact of large shocks compared to smaller ones. Additionally, the directional spillover exhibits variability across quantiles. In conclusion, we present several diversification benefits for environmentally conscious investors to reduce portfolio risk without compromising sustainability goals. This is achieved by strategically investing in eco-friendly assets to maintain portfolios with low carbon. Indeed, policymakers should consider the impact of global events, such as economic crises and geopolitical conflicts, on financial market dynamics, recognizing the need for measures that enhance stability and facilitate a smooth transition to green finance.