Environmental Economics and Policy Studies最新文献

Using firm-level patent data from 1978 to 2015, I examine the impact of market-based environmental policies on innovation in energy storage. My results highlight the role of environmental taxes, feed-in tariffs for solar energy and tradable certificates for CO(_2) emission to promote firms’ patenting activity, whereas renewable energy certificates and energy efficiency certificates discourage it. These results imply the need for more stringent market-based environmental policies to incentivize innovation in energy storage.

In the pursuit of sustainable development, the presence of a robust financial sector plays a crucial role in the advancement of the green movement. However, the green bond market faces vulnerability due to the existence of geopolitical threats. This study employs empirical methods to investigate the quantile dependence of geopolitical risks originating from Russia and Ukraine on green finance. Specifically, the cross-quantilogram and partial cross-quantilogram approaches are utilized, analyzing daily data spanning from February 24, 2022, to May 26, 2023. The findings obtained from the cross-quantilogram approach reveal a pronounced negative quantile dependence between the geopolitical risks of both countries and green finance during bearish market conditions (q.10–q.40) in the short-term memory. Conversely, during the initial memory, a strong positive dependence is observed at the bullish (q.70–q.95) market conditions. However, no significant dependence is detected at either bearish or bullish market states concerning long-term memory. Interestingly, when employing the partial cross-quantilogram approach, a slightly negative association is observed at both bearish and bullish market conditions for long-term memory. These empirical findings provide valuable insights into the decision-making process for green investments, taking into account the dynamic nature of market conditions influenced by geopolitical risks stemming from the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Therefore, it is prudent for the governments to establish collaborations with private sectors and international agencies to fund green projects, thereby expediting green investment and mitigating geopolitical risks, with a focus on long-term investment, given the current absence of significant long-term detrimental effects of geopolitical risks on green bonds at the global level.

This study employs the event study method on the daily closing prices of 385 listed firms in Turkey from December 2020 to December 2022 to examine the market reactions to two significant climate-related events: the Glasgow Climate Pact (GCP) and the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan (SSIP). The GCP event triggered predominantly adverse market reactions, with significant and negative abnormal returns observed before and after the event and an adverse event day return. Conversely, the SSIP event generated a mixed market response, characterized by significant negative abnormal returns before the event and significant positive abnormal returns after the event. Additionally, the energy sector firms have been vulnerable to the SSIP, given their declining returns, while other sectors experienced significant positive returns. The cross-sectional regression analysis highlights the impact of firm-level characteristics on abnormal returns. For the GCP event, firm leverage, firm size, book-to-market ratio, and past returns exhibit significant associations with abnormal returns during different periods. Similarly, for the SSIP event, firm size, book-to-market ratio, past returns, and past volatility demonstrate significant relationships with abnormal returns. The findings suggest that firms should align their strategies with climate goals and capitalize on emerging clean energy and sustainability opportunities to maintain share prices. Investors must carefully evaluate climate-related events’ impact and consider firm-level characteristics when making investment decisions. This study contributes to understanding market reactions to climate events and provides insights for firms and investors in navigating the evolving landscape of climate change.

Abstract

The available literature has ignored farmers’ perceptions on the benefits and drawbacks of adopting climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in favor of focusing primarily on profitability and economic constraints. We use the Ethiopian Socioeconomic Survey (ESS) and the General Household Survey from 2018 and 2019 to compare Nigeria and Ethiopia, both of which have sizable rural populations to assess farmers’ climate change perception and their adaptation options in promoting CSA. We first hypothesize that farmers with high tolerance for risk and stable financial resources are more likely to adopt CSA techniques, relying on the adopter perception theory of agricultural innovations and technologies. We address potential selection bias using the Heckman selection model, and estimate our data using multinomial logistic estimator, as well as standard logistic regression for robustness checks. We find that in both Ethiopia and Nigeria, household income and plot size influence farmers’ adaptations to climate change mitigation practices. However, farmers with bigger plots who run the risk of massive production loss tend to adopt measures of coping with climate change. We show that in both Ethiopia and Nigeria, rural farmers’ adaptation decisions are heavily influenced by agricultural extension programs and community social networks. Overall, our work highlights the important role of income, farm size, and climate-related information for investing in climate-smart agricultural methods to curb food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The surge in economic and human development has led to increasing concerns about environmental degradation, thus necessitating effective strategies to enhance sustainability and environmental quality. Therefore, this study empirically examines the impact of environmental fiscal policies, environmental technologies, and research and development (R&D) expenditures on achieving environmental sustainability in the G7 countries. Using advanced econometric techniques, including the Cross-Sectionally Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lags (CS-ARDL) model and the Dynamic Common Correlated Effects (DCCE) approach, the study identifies both short-run and long-run correlations between the aforementioned variables and their impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Our findings confirm the inverted U-shaped Kuznets Curve relationship and reinforce the previous literature on the complex dynamics between economic growth and GHG emissions specific to developed countries. The research also supports the effectiveness of well-designed environmental taxes in reducing environmental degradation and GHG emissions, consistent with and extending existing studies in this area. In addition, the study provides empirical evidence of the critical role of environmental technologies and targeted R&D expenditures in improving environmental quality. In terms of policy implications, our research underscores the urgency for policymakers in the G7 countries to fine-tune environmental taxation mechanisms and increase investment in sustainable technological solutions. Specific recommendations include the development of more efficient tax systems that adhere to the polluter-pays principle, as well as financial incentives such as tax credits and subsidies aimed at accelerating green technology adoption and innovation. In doing so, the study seeks to contribute to the broader discourse on environmental policy and sustainable development, providing valuable perspectives for both the academic community and policy actors.

Abstract

Price-based irrigation water-conservation policies are often designed as fixed per unit fees. In groundwater commons, however, this approach presupposes that irrigators assign the same value to each unit of water withdrawn, irrespective of the scarcity levels they individually face. This ignores spatial interdependencies in groundwater commons. In this paper, I examine the effect this possible tax structure misspecification has in measuring the performance of such Pigouvian taxes. I model the price of irrigation water as a non-constant marginal cost function dependent on the constant per unit fee and a variable cost-metric measure of scarcity, namely depth-to-water. Using a difference-in-difference econometric framework with irrigation data from San Luis Valley, results show that irrigators’ response to the constant marginal fee significantly depends on the scarcity levels individual irrigators face. More importantly, the results suggest that models that overlook the spatial element of scarcity would overestimate irrigators’ response to such pumping fee—which can misguide policy decisions.