The IPCC warns that in order to keep global warming under 1.5°, global emissions must be cut to zero by 2050. Policymakers and scholars debate how best to decarbonise the energy system, and what socio-economic changes might be necessary. Here we review the strengths, weaknesses, and synergies of two prominent climate change mitigation narratives: the Green New Deal and degrowth. Green New Deal advocates

The cost of the ongoing degradation of natural capital will inevitably be borne by the younger generations. And, as the wave of school strikes for action against climate change have proved, they do not want their voice to be ignored. Discrete Choice Experiments are increasingly used for the valuation of environmental goods, but they have never been conducted with minors. We designed and administered

A more efficient use of natural resources is considered a necessary condition for their sustainable use. When firms use resources circularly they aim to contribute to using resources more eco-efficiently, and thus in a more sustainable way than when adopting more linear systems. Eco-efficiency in linear systems can be determined by aggregating each individual instance of resource use. However, in circular

In order to avoid environmental catastrophe we need to move to a post-growth economy that can deliver rapid reductions in environmental impacts and improve well-being, independent of GDP growth. Such a move will entail considerable structural change in the economy, implying different goals and strategies for different economic sectors. So far there are no systematic approaches for identifying the desired

Increasing production of salmon open-net pen culture has raised concerns about the negative impact of this aquaculture technology on the marine environment. In British Columbia (BC), Canada, benthic deposition of organic nutrients (faeces and waste feed) is identified as a potential source of localized environmental degradation from salmon farming. In this paper, we develop a marginal damage cost function

We aim to advance our understanding of the adverse effects of extreme temperatures by examining the extent to which high temperatures affect stock market activity. We address this question by analyzing the trading volumes on the French stock market on days when the weather in Paris is excessively hot over the period 1995–2019. Our empirical analyses show that, on average, trading volumes fall significantly

Climate change impacts pose a great challenge to agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa as droughts become more frequent and more severe. A major roadblock to implementing climate change adaptation measures is poor governance. Given their experience with governing organizations, farmers are highly suitable to assess the appropriateness of different governing organizations to implement adaptation measures

Habitat loss and degradation are recognised as the most important causes of species decline and extinction in marine ecosystems. It is also widely recognised that a range of restoration actions are now essential to halt further decline. From a policy perspective, demonstration that restoration activity is in the interest of society is an important goal. In this paper, the welfare impacts of restoring

Extraction of environmental resources and migration are closely related livelihood strategies of rural households in developing countries. Therefore, a deeper understanding of the relationship between environmental income and remittances is needed to lower the existing pressure on environmental resources and to promote rural development. This study aims at investigating this relationship by using panel

This article, using an institutional and political ecological perspective, analyses the role of knowledge networks supporting peasant seed groups in France. These groups promote a dynamic approach to agrobiodiversity restoration, developing new models of collaborative “peer-to-peer genetics” and distributed participatory breeding. Our analysis focuses here on the small grain cereal participatory breeding

Ecologically unequal exchange theory posits asymmetric net flows of biophysical resources from poorer to richer countries. To date, empirical evidence to support this theoretical notion as a systemic aspect of the global economy is largely lacking. Through environmentally-extended multi-regional input-output modelling, we provide empirical evidence for ecologically unequal exchange as a persistent

In this study, we tested a novel approach for indirectly detecting participation of the local population in illegal harvesting of Protected Areas (PAs) natural resources and its spatial distribution. The research was conducted in the Niassa National Reserve (NNR), the third-largest PA in Africa, and included a face-to-face survey to 339 households. The householders were asked about the importance of

Curtailing deforestation and the negative environmental and social externalities of oil palm expansion in the tropics requires a clear understanding of the associated economic benefits. Through analyzing regency-level panel data for 2005–2014 from rural Indonesia, we find that oil palm expansion has had a robust and positive impact on the provision of private goods (i.e., amenities owned and benefited

This contribution shows that a relevant curtailment of carbon emissions results from productivity-led working time reduction, i.e. increases in labour productivity converted into less working time. However, the interaction between working time reduction and GDP can constrain the achievement of emission reductions. To explore these interactions, we apply Eurogreen, a dynamic macro-simulation model,

This study is motivated by a real project in China in the context of “Green Mountains and Clear Water”. As pointed out by Xi (2016), “to improve the environment is to boost productivity”. The purpose of this paper is to devise optimal capital allocation and compensation mechanisms when there exist social and environmental responsibility risks. A firm with access to a single investment project in an

Nature-based flood defences (NBFD) are receiving considerable attention in the coastal adaptation field. Advocates of NBFD point to their cost-effectiveness, flexibility and the range of co-benefits they produce beside flood risk reduction. However, NBFD are not yet common practice. One reason for this may be found in financial barriers. To date, there has been little attention for financial aspects

Value theory forms the bedrock of several economic paradigms. It shapes how economists think about the purpose and functioning of the system as a whole. I identify three approaches to understanding value in economics: the British classical approach, exemplified by Smith and Ricardo, the neoclassical approach based on marginal utility theory, and Marxian value theory. The classical and neoclassical

Increasing sustainable productivity growth in the food and agriculture sector is a common goal of all OECD and G20 countries. At the same time, an important policy question for many governments is how the current set of agricultural policies affects both productivity growth and environmental performance of the sector. Despite the high relevance of this issue, empirical evidence on the effects of specific

This paper assesses the proposal to transform the monetary system into an Ecology of money, that is, into a system made of a large diversity of complementary currencies. Its central aim is to examine whether this proposal could provide a systemic solution to both the ecological and financial crises, as several authors, most notably Lietaer and Douthwaite, have argued. To this end, it analyses the two

This study analyzes the impact of El Niño phenomenon on dry forest-dependent populations in northern Peru. First, we identified the districts within and outside the dry forest regions in the Peruvian departments of Piura, Tumbes, and Lambayeque. Second, using the Coastal El Niño index (ICEN), we classified, according to severity, the Coastal El Niño in this region in the 2008–2016 period. We used an

The STIRPAT approach identifies human impacts on the environment. Most studies find higher ecological elasticities related to population compared to GDP per capita growth. Applying the logarithmic form of the STIRPAT equation, which mitigates the problem of the variables' different variances and units, further allows for appealing economic interpretation and policy conclusions. At the same time, the

In order to smooth the availability of water and address water scarcity, shared irrigation infrastructure is constructed in many irrigation systems. However, maintaining contributions to shared infrastructure has grown increasingly challenging as private infrastructure, such as groundwater pumps, have become attractive substitutes. This problem is especially acute in the semiarid regions of South Asia

Trade-offs involving land use change, cultural values, water resources and jobs are critically important to understand the opportunity cost of resource extraction. Stated preference techniques can be particularly useful in eliciting the non-market values expressed as trade-offs. This study assesses preferences over the management of groundwater released from deep mining operations in Western Australia

The three main goals of ecological economic theory seek to predict and prevent system breakdowns. However chaos theory and human uncertainty/ignorance guarantee that shocks, breakdowns and catastrophes like COVID-19 will increasingly occur due to converging environmental resource crises. The challenge then is designing a resilient (safe-fail) economy that can endure, adapt to and successfully recover

The forest history in India is fraught with struggles between the forest dwelling communities and the state. While the state usurped power over forests, excluding the communities and privileging commercial interests; the alienation of communities from their own land and homes resulted in mobilization across different sites. The movement for protection of forest commons assumed significance through

Non-market practices and institutions make up much of every economy. Even in today's most developed capitalist societies, people produce things that are not for sale and allocate them through sharing, gifts, and redistribution rather than buying and selling. This article is about why and how ecological economists should study these non-market economies. Historically, markets only emerge when states

Environmental cost benefit analysis, CBA, is often the preferred method for economists to assess policy changes which have environmental consequences. It is argued that CBA can help governments focus their resources to maximize the social returns of investments or projects. CBA is also viewed as a useful framework for organizing disparate information and subsequently improve the decision process. Despite

Plastic packaging is widely associated with negative environmental consequences, which is why the food industry is increasingly interested in pro-environmental packaging alternatives- such as bio-based plastic. As the market share for bio-based plastic packaging is still small, strategies to raise consumer awareness and willingness to pay (WTP) are needed. This study integrates insights from environmental

We use a dynamic global forest model to examine how U.S. tax reform could influence forest stocks and carbon sequestration. Scenario analysis estimates several impacts from adjusting current policies that affect timberland investment, area, harvests, and carbon. First, increases in tax rates faced by timberland owners cause timber assets to be revalued downward even though the physical forest is initially

The frequency and intensity of extreme climate events are increasing all around the world, due to climate change. Climate adaptation strategies are therefore needed, since mitigation strategies alone are not sufficient to avoid serious impacts of climate change. However, adaptation to climate change is not straightforward, as it is highly influenced by diverse and conflicting interests as well as epistemological

In the last 25 years, a range of scholars have endeavored to understand the creation of a myriad of transnational finance and market driven (FMD) governance interventions aimed at countries in the Global South who are asserted to suffer from "weak state" capacity or contain areas of “limited statehood”. This class of policy tools remains the dominant approach with which to foster improved governance

Well-known academic and non-academic institutions call for a new approach in economics able to capture features of modern economies including, but not limited to, complexity, non-equilibrium and uncertainty. In this paper, we provide a systematic review of ecological macroeconomic models that are suitable for the investigation of low-carbon energy transitions and assess them based on the features considered

The Circular Economy (“CE”) is gaining momentum as an approach to addressing sustainability challenges. The CE is framed as a transformative model with economic, environmental and social benefits. Nevertheless, the degree of circularity in the global economy is low and critics highlight that current interpretations fall short in delivering promised results regarding the social dimension of sustainability

Air pollution is a pervasive issue in many cities in the developing world. Yet, the linkage between air pollution and decisions concerning internal migration remains rarely explored. In this paper, we match data from China, based on an annual city-level statistical yearbook, historical air pollution indicators and a nationwide survey of temporary labor migrants in 2016 in order to analyze the effects

Ethically-labeled products – those that address environmental and human-welfare issues – are increasingly prevalent in consumer decision-making. This research estimates the value consumers place on direct trade coffee, a relatively new and complex ethical product. Direct trade coffee is defined by having three attributes that differentiate it from standard coffee: (i) price premiums are paid directly

Among voluntary incentive programs in which private landowners receive a monetary transfer in exchange for conservation efforts, schemes providing payments conditional on spatial coordination are expected to enhance the effectiveness of conservation programs. Supportive evidence for such schemes is primarily derived from experimental or simulation-based research, but it is unclear whether real-world

Climate change is expected to lead to more frequent and severe fluvial flood events in Northern Europe. Nature Based Solutions are increasingly recognised as a natural insurance against flood risks in vulnerable areas. This requires collaboration at landscape scale between providers and beneficiaries of flood control. In particular, mechanisms to incentivise owners of land could potentially offer cost-effective

Desvousges et al. (2016), in their reply to Chapman et al. (2016) in this journal, reference the empirical adding-up test in Desvousges et al. (2015). Desvousges et al. (2015) find that their contingent valuation method (CVM) survey data does not pass the adding-up test using a conservative, nonparametric estimate of mean willingness-to-pay. In this comment I show theoretically that the survey fielded

In many parts of the world, people are coming together to experiment with ways to collectively take care of their livelihoods and create practical solutions to their needs. Guided by principles of solidarity, these grassroots initiatives represent rich contexts for research on the urban commons: what qualifies them as commons, and how do they emerge, develop, sustain and dissolve – or transform over

This paper presents a stock-flow consistent (SFC) macroeconomic simulation model for Canada. We use the model to generate three very different stories about the future of the Canadian economy, covering the half century from 2017 to 2067: a Base Case Scenario in which current trends and relationships are projected into the future, a Carbon Reduction Scenario in which measures are introduced specifically

Coastal zones are popular recreational areas that substantially contribute to social welfare. Managers can use information about specific environmental features that people value, and how these might change under different management scenarios, to spatially target actions to areas of high current or potential value. We explored how snorkelers' experience would be affected by separate and combined land

Many studies have evaluated the social-ecological impacts of China's Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP). And reviews of the literature have appeared with most of them summarizing the reported findings. The primary goal of this paper is to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the socioeconomic studies in terms of the quality of data used, the appropriateness of approaches, and the adequacy of

Climate change can adversely impact the quality of environmental services provided under Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs, thereby reducing their effectiveness. In this paper, a modelling framework is developed to explore how PES negotiations between forestry and fishery-based communities may be affected when warming reduces the stock of fish as well as forest biomass growth rates. Under

Rural communities in Pacific small island states, which rely directly and acutely on the benefits from ecosystem services, face a range of interlinking threats to their management of natural resources, exacerbated by climate change-related risks, all against the backdrop of rapid social and economic transition. Appropriate and sufficient community adaptation responses are required to maintain habitats

Improved seeds varieties have led to an increase in agricultural production as well as to a change in agricultural practices and input use. While some of these new practices can be more environmentally sustainable, others may lead to a higher level of environmental degradation. In a case study using an original survey method of farming households on the Philippine island of Mindanao covering the past

This work analyses whether the incidence and production of polluting industries influences the individual willingness to pay (WTP) for the environment. Cross-country studies on the determinants of environmental WTP do not capture the fact that individual perceptions of environmental protection may be due to specific regional conditions. Therefore, this paper adopts a conceptual framework where both

We investigate the economic distributional effects of soil loss in Malawi, where erosion deprives rural households of the natural capital necessary to boost agricultural production and lifts food security. We employ a two-year dataset combining unique topsoil loss data with socio-economic, agro-ecological and climatic information both at household and plot level. We consider heterogenous impacts of

Since the adoption of the United Nation's 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, attempts to monitor their status of achievement are increasing by governments, the academic community and non-governmental actors. Particular focus is thereby put on constructing composite indices that allow benchmarking of countries according to their level of SDG achievement. Throughout the

This paper examines how honey bee population dynamics, the scale and timing of almond bloom, and unmarketability of almond honey interact to create misaligned incentives for growers and beekeepers in the California almond pollination services market. We combine economic contract theory with data from the first pollination contract survey to examine the design of pollination contracts. 89.2% of respondents

In this paper, our objective is to assess the general French population's acceptability of application of wood ash in forests, a measure currently not allowed but under consideration by the government. The main originality of our approach is that we test how a nudge can be used as an instrument to increase social acceptability, conveying objective information regarding ash recycling. Furthermore, although

One innovative way to solve water pollution problems is through water quality trading programs. However, participation levels and the price of offsets/credits tend to be low, which raises questions about the effectiveness of the policy. To offer more tools for policymakers, this paper provides a method for predicting participation in performance-based water quality trading programs, which accounts

Increasing dryland degradation and expansion shows that attempts to strengthen dryland resilience in the face of land degradation and climate change have not been successful. If current development pathways do not change, future prospects for the drylands are worrisome: potential large-scale migration, increasing water scarcity and land degradation, growing poverty, along with significant losses of

Many Stated Preference studies conducted in developing countries provide estimates of a low willingness to pay (WTP) for a wide range of goods and services. However, recent studies in these countries indicate that this may partly be a result of the choice of payment vehicle, not the preference for the good. Thus, low WTP may not indicate a low welfare effect for public projects in developing countries

Modern liberal societies appear ill-prepared to meet the paramount challenges of the Anthropocene. While liberalism has been the winning modern ideology since 1990, dominating both political and economic institutions in most countries worldwide, it has been forced onto the defensive. This is shown symptomatically by the international ascent of the extreme right, and substantially by its inability to

Unanticipated environmental shocks impact the livelihoods of many resource users around the world. These shocks are likely to be more unpredictable as the effects of climate change continue to mount. Yet how households adapt to these changing climatic conditions especially in the context of rapidly changing market conditions in most areas of the world, is poorly understood. These interactions have

Blue carbon in mangroves represents one of highest values of carbon stocks per hectare, and could play an important role in climate change mitigation. In this study we estimated the carbon prices needed to promote mangrove conservation and restoration under mechanisms of payment for ecosystem services (PES). We mapped the remaining and deforested mangroves across the globe in 2017, and crossed this

The Paddy Land-to-Dry Land (PLDL) program, implemented in the upstream area of the Miyun Reservoir in China for 10 years, faces sustainability challenges. The issues stem from negative household responses due to the gradual weakening of its positive effects on household livelihoods. This study conducted a field survey based on a quasi-experimental method in the Luanping and Fengning Counties, Hebei

This article investigates the effect of digitalization on energy consumption. Using an analytical model, we investigate four effects: (1) direct effects from the production, usage and disposal of information and communication technologies (ICT), (2) energy efficiency increases from digitalization, (3) economic growth from increases in labor and energy productivities and (4) sectoral change/tertiarization