Policy sessions
GREEN GROWTH: OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES OR PARADIGM SHIFT?
Thursday, 28th June, 13:30-15:30, Aula Rb101
ARE FLEXIBLE POLICIES NOT TOO COMPLEX TO IMPLEMENT?
Thursday, 28th June, 16:00-18:00, Aula Rb101
Friday, 29th June, 8:30-10:30, Aula Rb101
ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES ON 2030 MILESTONES AND POLICIES FOR DECARBONISING EUROPE
Friday, 29th June, 11:00-12:30, Aula Rb101
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND REGULATION OF HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES
Friday, 29th June, 16:45-18:15, Aula Rb101
Green Growth: Old Wine in New Bottles or Paradigm Shift?
Green growth has risen to high policy prominence in recent years - with numerous reports published by global agencies such as the OECD, World Bank, UNEP among others and discussions at high level global fora. But tmany argue that the concept rests on fragile economic foundations. The aim of this session is to cast light on the issue based upon the experience of seeking to green policies at both the macroeconomic and sectoral levels. The session will begin with an attempt to make precise the economic definition and the distinguishing attributes of greener growth. It will then proceed to review the evidence and experience of countries in greening growth. Does correcting externalities lower current growth, or are the impacts on GDP benign? Turning next to the micro dimensions the session will briefly discuss 3 key policy lessons from applying behavioural economics in the service of environmental policy. Finally there will be a discussion of the consequences of the current mineral boom on green policies and environmental outcomes.
Organiser
Richard Damania, World Bank
Panellists
Richard Damania, World Bank - chair
Partha Dasgupta, University of Cambridge
Marianne Fay, World Bank
Stephane Hallegatte, World Bank, Météo-France
Karine Nyborg, University of Oslo
Are flexible policies not too complex to implement?
Flexible approaches to the regulation of air quality and climate change promise substantial cost savings and the opportunity to achieve greater improvements than prescriptive approaches. However, implementing flexible approaches involves interactions with institutions, politics and market structures that are made even more complex in an increasingly open international economy. This policy roundtable will review important developments in the efforts to implement flexible policies in domestic settings in the U.S. and the E.U. and efforts to achieve flexibility and international cooperation in regulating transboundary pollution and climate change. We review new conceptual approaches to meet practical realities facing policy makers at both the domestic and international level.
Organisers
Herman R.J. Vollebergh, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
Dallas Burtraw, Resources For the Future, USA
Panellists
Frank Convery, University College Dublin - chair
Dallas Burtraw, Resources For the Future
David Evans, US Environmental Protection Agency
Jiřina Jílková, University of Economics in Prague and Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem
Ger Klaassen, European Commission, DG CLIMA
Kerry Smith, Arizona State University
Rick Van der Ploeg, Oxford University
Herman R.J. Vollebergh, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services, Natural Wealth Accounting and Support to Macroeconomic Policy
Following up on the TEEB initiative, which brought international recognition of Ecosystem Services (ES) as a feature of all human societies and communities, we now need to demonstrate the value of ES in economic terms, to support National policy decision making. This applies to all countries but is especially important in developing countries, where natural capital constitutes a large share of the National Wealth. Here sound management of natural capital (stock) that underlies the provision of ES (flows), for current and future human well being is critical. But it is well known that the absence of market prices for ES has resulted in widespread degradation of ecosystems, some of which may be irreversible (with limited substitutes) or create situations that increase the likelihood of catastrophic events ("you cannot manage what you do not measure"). In this context, the present policy session proposes to focus on the challenges in bringing ecosystem services valuation into macro-economic analysis/planning, in its wide range of research-to-policy dimensions, including inter alia the identification and ranking of ES in terms of their contribution to national economies; assessing the potential to scale up valuation of different ecosystem services from local to national/regional levels, and the role of spatial analysis with respect to the distribution of these values; the evaluation of the current national accounting architectures and their ability to disentangle/highlight ES values
Organisers
Glenn-Marie Lange, World Bank
Paulo A.L.D. Nunes, The Mediterranean Science Commission and University of Padova
Panellists
Giles Atkinson, London School of Economics
Ed Barbier, University of Wyoming
Partha Dasgupta, University of Cambridge
Pushpam Kumar, United Nations Environment Programme
Michele Pittini, UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Glenn-Marie Lange, World Bank - co-chair
Paulo A.L.D. Nunes, The Mediterranean Science Commission and University of Padova - co-chair
Economic perspectives on 2030 milestones and policies for decarbonising Europe
Scientific evidence summarised by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has suggested that greenhouse gas emission reductions in developed countries by 80 to 95% in 2050 compared to 1990 would be necessary to avoid dangerous climate change. The European Union and some Member States have politically enshrined this objective.
This has given rise to a number of analyses exploring pathways how such ambitious emission reduction targets could be reached. A sound economic analysis is particular relevant and necessary in view of setting appropriate milestones and intermediate targets and for further developing policy instruments.
In this context, the round table will focus on EU and Member State milestones for 2030 and appropriate policies necessary to move along such pathways until 2030:
- Which level of domestic emission reductions is needed?
- What is the appropriate balance between the EU emissions trading system and other, complementary instruments at national and European level, in particular supply-side policies like R&D strategies and energy infrastructures?
- How should milestones and policies on GHG emission reduction and energy security interact , and what does this mean for renewables and energy efficiency policies
- What are the economically cost effective sectoral emission reduction contributions, including the contribution of non-energy-related emission reductions
Organizers
Jan Nill and Ger Klaassen, European Commission, DG Climate Action
Panellists
Martin Bursík, former Czech Vice-Premier & Minister of the Environment, Czech Green Party
Felix Christian Matthes, Oeko-Institut
Ger Klaassen, European Commission, DG Climate Action - co-chair
Jan Nill, European Commission, DG Climate Action - co-chair
Tomas Zylicz, Warsaw University
Economic Analysis and Regulation of Hazardous Chemical Substances
In 2007 the European Commission adopted new legislation related to the use and marketing of chemicals in European Member States, called REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restrictions of Chemicals). REACH aims to improve the protection of human health and the environment from risks of chemicals, while enhancing the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry. Besides risk assessment, economic analysis plays a crucial role in REACH, in particular in the assessment of the benefits of proposed policy actions. Initial experience with REACH implementation shows that the socio-economic benefits of risk reductions are hard to quantify. In this context, this special session aims to explore certain aspects of the valuation of health benefits. The session will begin with a brief outline of a study commission by the European Chemicals Agency to estimate EU-wide values for a range of chemical endpoints covering carcinogenicity, sensitisation, and repeated dose toxicity among others. The remainder of the session will review preliminary evidence from the UK on morbidity and latency impacts on value of statistical life, the prospect of using existing QALY estimates to value morbidity risk, the effect of causal context on the value of mortality risks and private vs. public risk reduction.
Organisers
Matti Vainio and Richard Dubourg, European Chemicals Agency
Stavros Georgiou, Health and Safety Executive
Panellists
Anna Alberini, University of Maryland
Stavros Georgiou, Health and Safety Executive - co-chair
James K. Hammitt, Harvard University and Toulouse School of Economics (LERNA-INRA)
Rebecca MacDonald, University of Newcastle
Hugh Metcalf, University of Newcastle
Matti Vainio, European Chemicals Agency - co-chair
