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Land managers' preferences towards practice- and outcome-based payments for environmental services are analysed using a labelled choice experiment applied to a Mediterranean oak savannah (dehesa or montado) as a case study. Results indicate that land managers prefer outcome- to practice-based payments, equivalent in terms of environmental targets, most probably because they are opposed to the restrictive practices included as requirements in the latter. This preference strongly depends on the environmental policy objective, with land managers being more willing to participate when the outcome-based payment targets carbon sequestration rather than biodiversity. Willingness to accept (WTA) significantly increases when the payment involves a remote-sensing monitoring system, but only for practice-based payments, hinting at differing views of the monitoring system depending on the scheme type. However, a complementary analysis focusing on acreage decision shows non-significant WTA values for the use of remote-sensing monitoring systems in practice-based payments when the requirement of the area enrolled is relaxed. This suggests that land managers may be trading off monitoring intensity against the probability of defaulting. Significant preference heterogeneity is observed, mostly explained by farms' structural and management characteristics. Results point to strong potential for the use of outcome-based payments with remote-sensing monitoring systems in oak savannahs. • Practice- & outcome-based environment-and-climate schemes (pECS & oECS) are studied. • Discrete and acreage decision is modelled based on labelled choice experiment data. • Land managers' WTA is generally higher for pECS than for oECS. • Much higher WTA for oECS targeting biodiversity, probably due to higher uncertainty. • WTA for using remote sensing monitoring differs for pECS and oECS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, waste management and prevention have become important in the transition towards a circular economy (CE). This study explores how voluntary environmental policies, adopted at a regional level, contribute to green transition from the perspective of the CE. By considering general and region-specific trends in waste management and environmental certifications, we perform a two-step analysis on a panel of 20 Italian regions between 2015 and 2019: the first step extrapolates the relative efficiency by using a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), while the second step extrapolates the efficiency in terms of productivity changes supported by Malmquist Productivity Analysis (MPA). The DEA results show an overall rising trend of efficiency among the Italian regions, supported by the MPA. Furthermore, they reveal that technological innovation in Italian waste management contributes to a greater efficiency in socio-economic systems which are characterized by 'environmental federalism'. From a decision-making perspective, this study suggests that measures such as the incentivization of voluntary environmental policies should be proposed to promote techno-organizations' transition to CE, in coherence with regional economic/industrial specializations and strategies, possibly based on a diversified policy mix, setting a knowledge-based framework by using budgetary measures and policy actions at the regional level. • Circular Economy with resource recovery is a driving force to achieve green transition. • Increase in resource efficiency is an unexplored economic opportunity to support growth. • EMAS and UNI EN ISO certifications are proxies for the level of attention paid to the environment. • Voluntary environmental certifications facilitate the transition. • Choices made at the regional level contribute to the transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many Global South countries, experiences with CBNRM to date suggest that members of marginalized groups are often less likely to participate in CBNRM compared to members of the dominant groups. This study provides evidence on two institutional features of CBNRM that may help to narrow this gap: (1) targeted benefits that are funded from the proceeds from CBNRM and earmarked for participants belonging to marginalized groups, and (2) mandated representation of marginalized groups on the local decision-making bodies that govern CBNRM. Evidence from a framed vignette experiment with respondents in rural Nepal suggests that these two institutional features have positive effects on intentions to join CBNRM-related groups, attend meetings, and speak up at meetings among members of marginalized ethnic and caste groups, ultimately narrowing gaps in intentions to participate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To secure effective and sustainable climate change policies, it is of the utmost importance to create synergies between socioeconomic and environmental development goals. Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs are being promoted as a suitable mechanism furthering, among others, carbon offsetting and poverty reduction in ecologically fragile areas of developing countries. Rural households are compensated for the loss of property and business income through income transfers and potential job opportunities connected to environmental programs. While the potential pro-poor effects of such policies are well recognized, the impact of PES on extremely poor households has not been systematically reviewed. Drawing on a pooled cross-sectional dataset of 5225 households in the Province of Sichuan, this paper analyzes the income and distributional effects among poor households in rural China participating in a forest carbon sink (FCS) program. To be able to make causal inferences, we employ an Instrumental Variable (IV) approach to control for potential endogeneity and self-selection. Our results indicate a strong need to adjust the PES program: While moderately poor rural households benefit from program participation, extremely poor rural households, in fact, suffer net losses. The main reason is that income reduction resulting from limited access to forest resources is compensated mainly via wage income from participating in forest tending work. Extremely poor households with low labor ability cannot make use of these job opportunities, and thus they'll not only fail to benefit but even incur losses from a PES program. While PES programs can be a viable tool for poverty reduction in underdeveloped regions due to their overall pro-poorness, they need to be accompanied by additional benefits for extremely poor rural households to avoid net losses among marginalized population groups especially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central transfer payment for the key ecosystem zones has become the most funded payments for ecosystem services program in China. The ecological fiscal transfer (EFT) aims to improve the eco-environmental quality of the targeted counties by providing supplementary fiscal funds, though not strictly specifying the usage. This study employs a time-varying difference-in-difference strategy to investigate the impact of EFT on environmental outcome by using a comprehensive county-level dataset covering 1949 counties from 2004 to 2015. Estimates show that the policy had a positive impact on local air quality, whereas the dynamic effect is diminishing. The policy effect is achieved through more stringent environmental regulation and stricter industrial access. Reduction of industrial dust emission is more noticeable than that of sulfur dioxide. There is an economic scale effect that the scale of a county can increase effectiveness of EFT on air quality improvement, whereas an opposite development stage effect will undermine its effectiveness. Heterogeneities were detected concerning transfer intensity, intervention period, geographical region, and ecosystem type. These findings facilitate a deep understanding how EFT could play a significant role in protecting local environment in large developing countries. Several policy implications are drawn to enhance the effectiveness of the largest EFT program. • Ecological fiscal transfer is an emerging instrument in combating eco-environmental degradation. • China's ecological fiscal transfer (EFT) is taken as a quasi-experiment to evaluate its effectiveness. • A time-varying DID technique is employed by using unique county-level datasets. • China's EFT is effective in improving local air quality with a diminishing dynamic effect. • Various heterogeneities of effect were detected and impact mechanisms were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the effects of a maritime bunker levy on ship-owner profits, trade, and emissions. Standard and augmented gravity models are employed using data from 2016 to estimate the impact of a change in transit time and transit cost on grain and soybean trade flows and on vessel speed. Results for a bunker levy of 50 USD per tonne of fuel, or less, stress that it will not trigger a change in the optimal speed of the vessel which is contrary to most theoretical models that predict an increase in fuel costs will always lead to a reduction in speed and carbon emissions. Bunker levies exceeding 100 USD per tonne may be needed to reduce carbon emissions when trade flows are sensitive to trade costs and transport time, as may be the case for many agricultural commodities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has experimented with a wide range of policies to encourage firms to improve their environmental performance, often with mixed results. This paper investigates the effectiveness of combining two different policies at the same time: (1) a more centralised environmental inspection process and (2) new rules on the public disclosure of policy compliance for firms wanting to undertake an initial public offering (IPO). A theoretical framework predicts that a more centralised inspection and public disclosure should improve both a firm's environmental performance and profitability. The results of instrumental variable estimations for 536 listed Chinese firms for the period 2009 to 2019 confirm the theoretical predictions although the positive effect on profitability only lasts for two years after compliance with the IPO requirements. An investigation into possible mechanisms shows that the joint policy promotes investment in green projects while also increasing demand for the firm's products. The findings highlight greater regulatory complexity may be needed if a country wishes to change the behaviour of firms in a manner that is consistent with overcoming environmental challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high level of nitrogen emissions over the last decades and their adverse impact on the natural environment and human health are a pressing environmental issue. A nitrogen tax can be a cost-efficient and effective policy instrument to reduce nitrogen emissions. However, adverse effects on low- and middle-income households might lead to societal and political frictions that could end up in resistance. In this paper we investigate how a hypothetical nitrogen tax covering the specific external costs of nitrogen could be implemented and estimate its short-term distributional effects on household income groups in Germany. The findings show that the proposed tax would be regressive. However, if the tax rate is set equal to the true cost of nitrogen, the monetary impacts would overall be small, ranging from 1.15% of income for the first income quintile to 0.66% for the fifth. Complementary policy measures to lower the burden on low-income households, farmers and the energy sector could preempt social resistance against the tax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a detailed review of the basis and prospects for United Kingdom (UK) proposals for the most ambitious mainstream social, economic, and environmental policy program of the 21st century: the Green New Deal (GND), providing critical reflection for its implementation at a local or regional level. Through a review of academic, policy and book publications we examine the key proposed features of a UK GND, identifying five core elements: financial reforms; green infrastructure investment; financing the GND; ownership structures; and economic, social and climate justice. We subsequently review these policy areas through the lens of multi-level governance (MLG) to understand what scales of policy action are required for these aims to be achieved. We find that, whilst core elements of a UK GND, such as reforms to the financial system, and expansionary fiscal and monetary policy require policy change at national and supra-national level, the majority of GND investments require implementation at the local level. We suggest that, in the context of contemporary UK MLG, there are challenges for fully funding and delivering a GND without a national programme, while highlighting emerging options for coordinating and implementing a GND by local government actors, in the absence of national support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental justice is a more sustainable constraint on polluting behavior than administrative instruments. Previous literature has explored the impact of various administrative instruments applied to environmental regulation on green innovation but has neglected the possible role of environmental justice. This paper examines the effect of environmental justice on green innovation using the multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) approach by taking the establishment of the Chinese environmental court as a policy shock, thus filling the gap in previous studies. We conclude that: first, the establishment of environmental courts significantly contributes to the level of green innovation. This finding holds after a series of robustness tests. Second, environmental justice pushes polluters to engage in green innovation through the mechanism of pollution control. Third, the effect of environmental courts on green innovation is not significant in resource-based cities, which depend more on high-polluting industries for development. Fourth, a better legal environment can help improve the effectiveness of environmental justice in promoting green innovation. This paper not only supplements the existing literature on the factors influencing green innovation and explains the operational mechanisms and effects of environmental justice, but also provides theoretical support for promoting green innovation in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid waste can cause serious environmental and ecological damage. However, the capital market attitude towards solid waste treatment policies remains unclear. Using an event study method, this paper examined the stock price reactions in Chinese listed firms in pilot construction and demolition waste (C&DW) treatment cities after the policy implementation and found that the pilot city firm stock prices were significantly and negatively affected, with this response being more negative when the firm had not previously been under environmental policy supervision. The cross-sectional analyses indicated that pilot city C&DW stock and treatment capacities, the proportion of state-owned shares, and the firms' political connections all negatively affected market reactions. The study of the capital market signaling effects towards solid waste policies can provide timely assistance to firms that need to adjust their strategic deployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the influence of ecological economics (EE) in the European Union (EU) political agenda, specifically the agenda-setting dynamics of the cap-and-trade (CAT) EE policy concept. We follow the model developed by Boezeman, Leroy, Maas, and Kruitwagen (2010), elaborating on the important factors for the rise of CAT in the EU political agenda, and on the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) implementation issues. Although EE features are present in the EU political agenda, particularly in periods when international works and forums raised environmental awareness globally, its impact has been moderate and intermittent. Since the 80s, neoclassical economics views tend to dominate EU policy, furthering a "win-win" discourse between economic growth and environmental sustainability. More recently, climate change has rekindled EE concerns without shifting the prevailing paradigm. We conclude that EE did not influence significantly the rise of the CAT policy in the EU political agenda. Instead, this resulted from a combination of the political context around the Kyoto Protocol, the agency of EU actors and the CAT flexible framing among multiple stakeholders. Also, the EU ETS operationalization shows that political obstacles hindered the policy's success, suggesting that EE would benefit from further integrating in its theory political economy aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on data of more than 3700 citizens in Germany, this paper empirically examines the relevance of several groups of explanatory factors for electricity consumption. Besides controlling for individual housing and dwelling characteristics as well as socio-demographics, we analyze the effect of environmentally-related values and norms. Since behavioral economics reveals the importance of economic preferences for many individual activities, we additionally consider time and risk preferences, altruism, trust, and reciprocity in our econometric analysis. With respect to the latter factors, only patience has a significantly negative effect on electricity consumption. Instead, our estimation results suggest a high relevance of several individual housing and dwelling characteristics and socio-demographics. The most interesting result is probably that neither environmentally-related values such as ecological policy identification and environmental awareness nor environmentally-related personal and social norms have a significant effect. In contrast to the USA and to the demand for green electricity in Germany, these estimation results suggest that citizens with strong environmentally-related values and norms in Germany do not consider low electricity consumption as an important direction for environmental and climate protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing countries have been recently addressing the respiratory health impact of agricultural burnings with innovative environmental policy. In Acre state, Brazilian Amazon, mechanization is subsidized, enabling smallholders to comply with a cap on burned area. To appraise amendments in the policy, a statistical Hicks-Kaldor test was developed and applied to stakeholders' stated choice surveys coupled with an econometric estimate of fire's effect on health. The test unveiled the trade-off between urban dwellers' health and smallholders' production. It also avoided the large disparity of groups in size and in goods valued to result into instability of efficiency assessment across six alternative group weighting schemes. The amendments that increased joint welfare required a great expansion of mechanization supply. Such change, which is not presently feasible at state level, could be piloted at municipal level by relying on the private sector and smallholders' organizations, and also on subsidized credit and power tillers. • A statistical Hicks-Kaldor test, robust to stakeholders' disparities, is devised. • It is applied to a policy replacing agricultural fires with subsidized tractors. • A health and welfare trade-off is unveiled by alternative stakeholder weightings. • · The test proved highly stable across six alternative group weightings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although monitoring is crucial for environmental science and policy, few studies have assessed its value for the public. To value the public preferences for environmental monitoring related to hydropower, we designed a discrete choice experiment, used the Q-methodology to select attributes and assessed preferences for monitoring with a split-sample design. While both samples faced decisions about hydropower management, one sample was informed that an environmental measure's efficacy was unknown due to a lack of monitoring. We found that uncertainty significantly reduced utility levels and willingness to pay, which indicates that the public positively values monitoring. By accounting for heterogeneous preferences using both the mixed logit and latent class approach, our results were confirmed irrespective of the socio-demographic profile. In our application to environmental hydropower, we find strong support for fish protection and opposition to foreign ownership. In light of the growing number of environmental policies (e.g., Water Framework Directive) that mandate monitoring, these findings highlight the need to account for its positive externalities. Thus, we recommend that decision makers include the public value of monitoring in environmental cost-benefit analyses. • Monitoring can be a costly component of environmental projects. • The public's value of information from environmental monitoring is unknown. • A split-sample choice experiment shows that the public positively values monitoring. • Decision-makers should ensure that monitoring is more consistent and transparent. • Cost benefit analyses should include benefits of monitoring (i.e. public value). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Brazilian Ecological Fiscal transfer (ICMS-E) has, to date, promoted the creation of new protected areas (PAs). • The quality of that impact may be lower than expected: new PAs belong mostly to a category that impose low local costs. • The quantity of that impact is unlikely to still be high, as the incentive in ICMS-E's formula declines as PA stock rises. • State and local governments respond differently to ICMS-E incentive, respectively focused more on impact or revenue. Brazil's ecological intergovernmental fiscal transfer (ICMS-E) is a conservation incentive for protected areas (PAs). It redistributes tax revenues to reward municipalities for hosting PAs. To quantify its impact on the creation of state and municipal PAs, we used panel regressions on a longitudinal municipality dataset that combined information on PA creation and ICMS-E implementation for the 1467 municipalities in 6 Brazilian states in the Atlantic Forest region that never changed borders, from 1987 to 2016. We found that the percent of the municipal area covered with state or municipal PAs increased as a consequence of ICMS-E implementation. However, the magnitude of this effect declined as the ICMS-E revenue is shared more widely due to the expansion of PAs that reduced the gain from new PAs. We also found that ICMS-E policy primarily spurred the creation of PAs with less restrictive rules – similar to IUCN category V reserves – mainly by municipalities. For more restrictive PAs with higher local costs for municipalities, ICMS-E promoted state-proposed PAs but not municipal PAs. Our results suggest that states used ICMS-E to incentivize local implementation of their conservation preferences, including strict conservation, while municipal governments responded mostly with low-cost actions to increase their revenues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological modernisation in the form of support to the notion of green growth remains the dominant discourse in environmental policy globally. Still, questions of limits to economic expansion and growth on a planet with finite natural resources have been at the core of environmental discourses at least since the 1970's. A recent effort by Stoknes and Rockström (2018) seeks to unite notions of ecological limits with the concept of green growth by proposing genuine green growth as denoting a situation when growth respects planetary boundaries. Focusing on recent trajectories in emissions intensity, they highlight Nordic countries including Denmark as examples of such genuine green growth. In this article, we demonstrate that the specific conceptualization of genuine green growth and resulting claims about the Nordic countries rest on particular assumptions, specifically concerning national-level carbon accounting frameworks and the size of the remaining global carbon budget. By opening up these assumptions for analysis we illustrate the partiality and potentially misleading nature of the conceptualization of GGG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]