Ecological Economics

Международные аспекты экологической политики Индии и Китая [International aspects of India’s and China’s environmental policies]

by Ivan Sablin

published in Век глобализации, no. 2 (8), 2011, pp. 126–139.

Статья посвящена международным аспектам экополитической проблематики в Китае и Индии. Рассматриваются вопросы влияния... more Статья посвящена международным аспектам экополитической проблематики в Китае и Индии. Рассматриваются вопросы влияния процессов глобализации на состояние окружающей среды и экологическую политику в указанных странах. Упоминается гипотеза «убежища для загрязнителей». Также уделяется внимание участию двух стран в международном сотрудничестве по вопросам решения глобальных проблем современности. В статье исследуются китайские и индийские философские концепции и дается оценка возможности принятия этими странами на себя глобальной экологической ответственности.

Отражение экологической политики Индии и Китая в научном и общественно-политическом дискурсе [Reflexions of Indian and Chinese environmental policies in scientific and socio-political discourse]

by Ivan Sablin

published in Terra Humana: Общество, Среда, Развитие, no. 3, 2011, pp. 204–208.

Перед Китаем и Индией сегодня стоит сложная задача решения экологических проблем. Усилия правительств в данном... more Перед Китаем и Индией сегодня стоит сложная задача решения экологических проблем. Усилия правительств в данном направлении рассматриваются представителями научных и общественно-политических кругов двух стран как неэффективные, хотя в целом КНР добилась некоторых успехов. В научной литературе и в прессе предлагается целый ряд рекомендаций по совершенствованию экологической политики двух стран. Именно им и посвящена настоящая статья.

Китай-Индия: Экологический срез [China and India: Their role in solving world ecological problems]

by Ivan Sablin

published in Азия и Африка сегодня, no. 11, 2011, pp. 14–19.

Еще два десятилетия назад основным источником глобального экологического кризиса виделся способ производства и... more Еще два десятилетия назад основным источником глобального экологического кризиса виделся способ производства и потребления в развитых странах. Сегодня в ключевых экологических акторов превращаются быстрорастущие (формирующиеся рыночные) страны. Именно от их усилий по решению глобальных и региональных экологических проблем (разумеется, при содействии развитых государств) будет зависеть жизнь всего человечества. Китай и Индия среди стран бывшего "третьего мира" пользуются большим политическим влиянием, что вкупе со значительными масштабами воздействия экономик этих стран на окружающую среду позволяет говорить о них как об экологических сверхдержавах. Если уровень потребления в Индии и Китае приблизится к уровню потребления в развитых странах, то мир ожидает экологическая катастрофа. В то же время возможность сразу перейти к устойчивой модели развития, минуя негативные экологические последствия промышленного развития, представляется малореальной. Вопрос о том, будет ли найден компромисс между стремлением к экономическому росту и ограниченными природными ресурсами, остается открытым. От того, какой путь развития изберут эти страны в ближайшие годы, во многом будет зависеть развитие всего мира.

The Portuguese debt crisis: institutional tangles and the EU metabolic trap

by Gualter Barbas Baptista

Published on Ecología Política 42 (http://ecologiapolitica.info), Spanish translated: "La crisis portuguesa de la deuda: los enredos institucionales y la trampa metabólica de la UE"

Portugal is one of the most affected countries in the debt crisis. The majority of policies set in motion (by government... more Portugal is one of the most affected countries in the debt crisis. The majority of policies set in motion (by governments of both parties in central axis, as well as by the Troika formed by the IMF, ECB and European Commission) aim at creating favorable conditions to attract foreign investment (for example through so­ called labour flexibilization) or reducing public expenditure in order to pay off the growing debts (with increasing interest rates). However, they are far from achieving the necessary economic growth to repay these debts. In fact, rather than providing a solution to the debt crisis, they are actually degrading the social conditions and depleting the material support of the economy. Overviewing the metabolic history of the Portuguese economy in the recent decades and unfolding the tangled web of public private institutional relations, might provide better answers in dealing with the crisis. Proper answers can hardly rely on the promotion of economic growth, a flag which, until now, has been held from the left to the right of the Portuguese political spectrum.

Stakeholder participation in the design of environmental policy mixes

by Gualter Barbas Baptista

Mozambique:¿ Cahora Bassa para quién?

by Gualter Barbas Baptista

Lenguajes técnicos como herramienta política. Actores en el conflicto de Itoitz: pro o contra?

by Gualter Barbas Baptista

The Thermodynamics of Neoliberalism

by Blair Fix

This paper uses a synthesis of world-systems and ecological economics to investigate the transition between the... more This paper uses a synthesis of world-systems and ecological economics to investigate the transition between the post-WWII boom and the ensuing neoliberal era. Using insights from social metabolism, the world economy is treated as "dissipative structure" which does "useful work" on itself in order to maintain and/or grow social metabolism. The Marxian notion of "surplus rate" is equated to the yearly growth rate in useful work production. The goal of this paper is to show that the neoliberal era can be treated as the confluence of two separate phenomena: 1) a global energy stagnation caused by oil depletion; 2) a shift in economic hegemony, due to declining “efficiency returns on investment” in core regions. Lastly, this paper proposes that neoliberal era wage stagnation can be attributed to a corresponding “thermodynamic” labour productivity stagnation.

Questionable Assumptions about Sustainable Consumption

by Richard Wilk

Published as Wilk, Richard 2004 “Questionable Assumptions about Sustainable Consumption.” In The Ecological Economics of Consumption, edited by Lucia Reisch and Inge Røpke, Current Issues in Ecological Economics, Edward Elgar (Cheltenham UK). Pp. 17-22.

This paper questions some common assumptions about consumption that have been part of the discussion of sustainable... more This paper questions some common assumptions about consumption that have been part of the discussion of sustainable consumption. First it queries the term “consumption” itself, arguing that the term has been used with such imprecision that it obscures essential issues relating to the differences between goods and services, stocks and flows. Second, it addresses the idea that the historical development of consumer culture can be ‘reversed,’ suggesting that the past can never be a good model for a sustainable future. Instead, we need to better understand the social and psychological adjustments of people in the present who are voluntarily and involuntarily lowering their standards of living. Finally, the paper addresses units and levels of analysis, questioning work that is based on a world of individual consumers faced with abstract social and economic forces.

Precarious Economies: Exploring the Use of Environmental Indicators to Predict Economic Instability

by Curt Gervich

On August 5th, 2011 the Standard and Poor’s (S&P) international credit bureau, one of three agencies that provide... more On August 5th, 2011 the Standard and Poor’s (S&P) international credit bureau, one of three agencies that provide national credit assessments of a country’s ability to take on and pay down debt, downgraded the United States’ credit rating from its highest level, AAA+, to its second best rating, AA+. The downgrade marked the first time in history that the U.S. did not receive the highest rating from any of the three credit scoring firms.

The S&P report limited its critique of the U.S. economy to the current fiscal crisis. However, this paper speculates that the economic failings that led to the downgrade could perhaps have been foreseen by observing specific environmental indicators. In particular, national petroleum consumption, CO2 emissions per capita (both high, in the case of the U.S.), and the return on investment that a nation receives for its pollution (annual GDP/annual CO2 emissions; low, in the case of the U.S.) could be useful environmental indicators of a country's future fiscal performance. Moreover, these environmental indicators may be a sort of “early warning” system that can predict a nation’s financial collapse before it is predicted by standard financial indicators (such as debt levels). This article suggests a possible mechanism for such a link, and uses these indicators to speculate which other AAA+ countries may be the next to encounter fiscal challenges that lead to credit downgrades.

World-Systems Analysis and Social Metabolism: Unequal Exchange as a Physical Process

by Blair Fix

This paper looks at world-systems analysis through the physical lens of social metabolism. That is, society is thought... more This paper looks at world-systems analysis through the physical lens of social metabolism. That is, society is thought of as an organism which requires “food” inputs, in the form of matter and energy, and excretes wastes in the form of pollution. It follows from thermodynamics that the more “technomass” that exists within a society, the higher its social metabolism.  I look specifically at how core regions are able to maintain their metabolism by appropriating the surplus (matter and energy) of the periphery. This is accomplished through a process of thermodynamically unequal exchange which is masked by monetary relations (the market) which appear reciprocal.

Gaian Economics: Beyond the Fatal Conceit

by Zachary Piso

Presented at the International Association for Environmental Philosophy, GeoAesthetics Conference, 2010.

A critique of free market environmentalism drawing on the conceptual resources of libertarian economist Friedrich von... more A critique of free market environmentalism drawing on the conceptual resources of libertarian economist Friedrich von Hayek. Argues that market forces will not produce sustainable communities without the participation of those non-human organisms with which human communities are interdependent.

Protected Natural Areas and Analysis Tools for Investment Planning

by Carlo Migliardo

Co-authored with "A. Cirà" and "F. Carlucci". SR-Italian Journal of Regional Science (forthcoming) Vol. 11 – n. 1, 2012

This paper aims to explore how protected areas are financed. Taking our cue from the policies implemented by the... more This paper aims to explore how protected areas are financed. Taking our cue from the policies implemented by the Italian Government for the conservation of nature reserves, particularly one located in Sicily, we attempted to evaluate whether the introduction of entrance fees could be a good source of finance for these sites. To this end, we conducted a survey of potential visitors to measure their Willingness to Pay, using techniques such as Contingent Valuation (CV) and applying Stated Preferences (SP) models, to investigate socio-economic characteristics and individual preferences in eco-tourism demand.

Functional Complexity: The source of value in biodiversity.

by Keith Farnsworth

doi :10.1016/j.ecocom.2012.02.001
Co Authored with Olga Lyashevska and Tak Fung, who provided a numerical simulation to illustrate this new way of viewing biodiversity. This is a land-mark paper which will shortly appear in the Journal Ecological Complexity.

Biodiversity is not a commodity, nor a service (ecosystem or otherwise), it is a scientific measure of the complexity... more Biodiversity is not a commodity, nor a service (ecosystem or otherwise), it is a scientific measure of the complexity of a biological system. Rather than directly valuing biodiversity, economists have tended to value its services, more often the services of 'key' species. This is understandable given the confusion of definitions and measures of biodiversity, but weakly justified if biodiversity is not substitutable. We provide a quantitative and comprehensive definition of biodiversity and propose a framework for examining its substitutability as the first step towards valuation. We define biodiversity as a measure of semiotic information. It is equated with biocomplexity and measured by Algorithmic Information Content (AIC). We argue that the potentially valuable component of this is functional information content (FIC) which determines biological fitness and supports ecosystem services. Inspired by recent extensions to the Noah's Ark problem, we show how FIC/AIC can be calculated to measure the degree of substitutability within an ecological community. From this, we derive a way to rank whole communities by Indirect Use Value, through quantifying the relation between system complexity and production rate of ecosystem services. Understanding biodiversity as information evidently serves as a practical interface between economics and ecological science.

Multi-scale integrated assessment of soybean biodiesel in Brazil

by Matteo Borzoni

published in Ecological Economics, 2011, vol 70 (11), pp. 2028-2038

Developing counties are often believed to have excellent conditions for biofuel production, however studies aimed at... more Developing counties are often believed to have excellent conditions for biofuel production, however studies aimed at assessing the sustainability of large scale biofuel programs have generally focused on a few variables related to one scientific domain and one scale. Contrary to this approach, this paper analyzes soybean biodiesel in Brazil using a parallel biophysical and economic assessment at different scales. A Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) approach is applied as a scenario analysis tool. A soybean biodiesel energy balance for the specific conditions of Brazil is included and the energy ratio turns out to be 1.09. This means that the energy delivered is higher than the energy invested, however the net energy is very low. The economic impacts are analyzed through input–output analysis. The results show that soybean biodiesel increases energy consumption per hour of work without a corresponding increase in economic labor productivity. Consequently the already low energy efficiency of Brazilian production could get worse. Although Brazil has large expanses of land, the substitution of 20% fossil diesel (i.e. just 3.3% of the country's primary energy consumption) with fully renewable biodiesel might destroy protected areas and forests and increase the GHGs emitted

Carbon Lock-Out: Advancing Renewable Energy Policy in Europe

by Melf-Hinrich Ehlers

co-authored with Paul Lehmann, Felix Creutzig, Nele Friedrichsen, Clemens Heuson, Lion Hirth and Robert Pietzcker

As part of its climate strategy, the EU aims at increasing the share of electricity from renewable energy sources... more As part of its climate strategy, the EU aims at increasing the share of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E) in overall electricity generation. Attaining this target poses a considerable challenge as the electricity sector is “locked” into a carbon-intensive system, which hampers the adoption of RES-E technologies. Electricity generation, transmission and distribution grids as well as storage and demand response are subject to important path dependences, which put existing, non-renewable energy sources at an advantage. This paper examines how an EU framework for RES-E support policies should be designed to facilitate a carbon lock-out. For this purpose, we specify the major technological, economic and institutional barriers to RES-E. For each of the barriers, a policy review is carried out which assesses the performance of existing policy instruments and identifies needs for reform. The review reveals several shortcomings: while policies targeting generation are widely in place, measures to address barriers associated with electricity grids, storage and demand are still in their infancy and have to be extended. Moreover, the implementation of policies has been fragmented across EU Member States. In this respect, national policies should be embedded into an integrated EU-wide planning of the RES-E system with overarching energy scenarios and partially harmonized policy rules.

Practising interdisciplinarity in the interplay between disciplines: experiences of established researchers

by Melf-Hinrich Ehlers

Analysing institutional arrangements for agrienvironmental schemes in Europe: ITAES WP4 Final Report

by Melf-Hinrich Ehlers

Policy Maker Demand for Economic Information

by Melf-Hinrich Ehlers

Теоретические аспекты экологической политики [Environmental policy: Theoretical aspects]

by Ivan Sablin

published in Молодой ученый, no. 6-2, 2011, pp. 58–65.

Экологическая проблематика стала предметом интереса целого ряда общественных наук в конце 1960-х – начале 1970-х... more Экологическая проблематика стала предметом интереса целого ряда общественных наук в конце 1960-х – начале 1970-х годов. Экологические направления появились в рамках многих дисциплин, включая экономику, социологию и политологию. Обращение экономистов, политологов и социологов к взаимоотношениям общества и природы обусловлено, прежде всего, теми социальными и политическими процессами, которые начались в западном мире в 1960-х годах. Всплеск общественного интереса к экологическим проблемам и все более широкое осознание глобального характера происходящих в окружающей среде изменений не только привели к появлению новой области исследований, но и стали вызовом для тех, кто принимает политические и экономические решения. В рамках различных научных дисциплин, а также на междисциплинарном уровне был разработан целый ряд концепций экологической политики.