Olav Hohmeyer - Böcker

Die Tatsache, daß dieses Buch schon bald nach seinem erstmaligen Erscheinen in Neuauflage vorliegt, zeigt, daß der Autor einen wichtigen Bereich der Umweltpolitik beleuchtet. In systematischer Weise werden verschieden Arten von externen Kosten und Nutzen konkurrierender Technologien zur Elektrizitätserzeugung verglichen. Behandelt werden verschiedene Umwelteffekte, Beschäftigungs- und Produktionseffekte, die Ausbeutung erschöpfbarer Ressourcen wie auch die unterschiedlichen Arten öffentlicher Subventionen. Die konventionelle Elektrizitätserzeugung auf der Basis fossiler und nuklearer Brennstoffe wird mit der Nutzung der Wind- und Sonnenenergie (photovoltaisch) verglichen. Erstmals wird in dieser Studie der theoretisch diskutierte Ansatz der sozialen Kosten von Energiesystemen nicht nur bis zur Quantifizierung einzelner Kostenkategorien, sondern bis zur Analyse des Einflusses auf die Wahl konkurrierender Technologien empirisch umgesetzt. Die Analyse zeigt, daß regenerativen Energiequellen durch die Nichtberücksichtigung sozialer Kosten ein gravierender Wettbewerbsnachteil entsteht. Die Markteinführung der Windenergie und der photovoltaischen Sonnenenergienutzung wird hierdurch um bis zu zehn Jahre verzögert. Die Studie schlägt mögliche Korrekturmaßnahmen vor. Die Neuauflage bringt zahlreiche Verbesserungen und Erweiterungen. Völlig neu ist beispielsweise das Modell zur Erhaltung des "Energiekapitalstocks" im Kapitel über die Erschöpfung nicht erneuerbarer Energieträger.

Important progress has been made in recent years in the valuation of social costs of energy and transport. This progress has encouraged the insight that systems of "Green Accounting" considering social costs and policy instruments for the internalization of social costs are necessary tools to realize the worldwide goal of sustainable development. This workshop report provides an excellent survey of the latest results of social costs in the energy and transport sector. Further, the theoretical framework of social costs is extended to a broader concept of sustainable development. Finally, concepts and first experiences of the internalization of social costs e.g. through least cost planning or an ecological tax reform are reviewed.

Environmental costs of electric power generation are receiving increasing attention as an important input to planning and decision processes. Since the outstart of the discussion on the monetized environmental costs of electricity in 1988 a number of studies have been conducted on the subject, producing partially contradictory results. Simultaneously political action has resulted from the first stage on this discussion process. In Germany the higher rates which have to be payed to autoproducers based on renewable energy sources have been explicitly justified by the existence of external environmental costs of conventional electricity generation. At the same time some state regulatory commissions in the United States have introduced adders for environmental costs in the utility planning process. This book reports on the first international workshop on the subject, bringing together practically all experts in the field of research and political implementation from the United States and Germany, the two pioneering countries. The more than thirty contributed papers contained in this volume give the most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the field. Some papers already outline the future course of research by giving an overview over some major research projects, which have just started.

Although present day politics seems to be preoccupied with questions of economic growth and full employment, the basic environmental problems stemming from the interactions of the economic sphere with global, regional and local environments persist and will have an even greater impact in the future. If economy and ecology are not reconciled in the years to come, mankind will not have a sustainable future on Earth. The typical negation of environmental problems in times of economic crisis is partially due to the fact that environmental and health damages of economic activities are neither priced nor included in our market price system. This allows politicians to focus their attention on insufficient economic indicators which do not reflect the actual development of the welfare of society. If economic lead indicators like GDP or balance of trade figures were better integrated with information on the environmental and health costs caused by the seemingly beneficial economic development, politicians might have better guidance as to what policy choices would benefit society most.

Die Regulierungstechnik der Gentechnik in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland wird von interessierter Seite als entscheidender Grund für die Abwanderung von Wissenschaftlern und Industrie angeführt. Hierbei werden die Zustände in den wichtigsten Konkurrenzländern als sehr viel günstiger dargestellt. Auf der Basis einer internationalen Bestandsaufnahme der Regulierung der Gentechnik in den USA, Japan, Frankreich, Großbritannien und der Niederlande kommt das vorliegende Buch zu dem Schluß, daß die deutsche Regulierungspraxis zwar durchaus verbesserungswürdig ist, aber kein ausschlaggebender Grund für die Abwanderung der Industrie sein kann. Zur Verbesserung der deutschen Regulierungssituation werden eine Reihe von praktischen Empfehlungen abgeleitet.

Boycotting tropical timber reduces its economic value, and provides for subsequent agricultural use or livestock farming. In contrast, a certification scheme for sustainably produced timber (tropical or non-tropical) protects the forests by raising their economic value. This volume examines the impact of a certification scheme on German demand for tropical timber. A partial-equilibrium model is developed for the German tropical timber market, as a whole as well as for five important submarkets representing 50 per cent of the total demand. The results reveal that a credible certification scheme can induce a significant expansion of demand for sustainably produced tropical timber. This holds true for a scheme restricted to Germany as well as for an OECD-wide approach.

The successful signing of the Kyoto Protocol showed that there is international consensus about the problem of man-made climate change and that substantial greenhouse gas emission targets will soon be established. Based on the current scientific knowledge about climate change this workshop report analyses the most important economic aspects of man-made climate change and the way effective and efficient policies can be designed to achieve the necessary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the official versions of the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol are included as a reference for the reader.