The Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei series on Economics, the Environment and Sustainable Development – serie

Stabilization of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases to safe levels will require, at least in the longer term, some kind of technological revolution. This, in turn, can only be achieved through investments in the research, development and demonstration (RD&D) of carbon-free energy technologies. Innovation under Uncertainty presents original research and insights on the uncertain future of carbon-free energy technologies. The authors, by means of structured interviews with technology experts, portray a probabilistic landscape of future technologies' costs, potentials and limits to diffusion.This book collates the results of interviews with more than a hundred and twenty energy technology experts on a wide range of topics, from the impact of public European RD&D investment on the future cost of different low-carbon energy technologies to issues such as technological and diffusion barriers. The results offer important and concrete insights and recommendations concerning the potential role for public expenditure in innovation to bring clean generation technologies to the market.This unprecedented collection of qualitative and quantitative estimates will be invaluable to academics and policy makers drafting future energy policies, and integrated assessment and energy modelers characterizing the future development of different technological options.Contributors: L. Aleluia, V. Bosetti, M. Bunn, M. Catenacci, L.A. Diaz, G. Fiorese, A. Lee, E. Verdolini,

Recent scientific research on the Mediterranean indicates that climate change will exacerbate many of the area's existing problems, including desertification, water scarcity and limits to food production. Changes in weather patterns and average temperatures are also likely to introduce new threats to human health and natural ecosystems. The authors in this significant new book identify the possible impacts and scenarios, and then define practical strategies for adapting to, and mitigating, the effects of climate change from an integrated socio-economic perspective.The book begins with a broad global overview of the probable economic and social consequences of climate change. The authors then focus on the issue of water resources and assess a range of potential problems such as increasing droughts, adequate irrigation, reduced water quality and population migration due to severe shortages. They move on to examine issues surrounding land use including desertification, degradation, agriculture and waste management. Finally, they investigate the coastal zones of the Mediterranean which are economically vulnerable to variations in climate due to their reliance on tourism. The book integrates methodological and empirical issues, provides interdisciplinary analyses of the effects of climate change and explores policy implications for the future.The informative and stimulating research found in this volume constitutes a first step towards a better understanding of climate change in the Mediterranean. It will be essential reading for researchers of environmental and resource economics, and policymakers in the Mediterranean region and in other coastal areas around the world.

This important book, written by some of the leading scholars in the field, provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in coalition theory and presents both the latest theoretical developments and novel applications in the field of economics. The authors demonstrate the many uses of coalition theory and its ability to address a whole host of complex economic problems, such as the provision of global public goods, the adoption of co-operative R&D strategies and the emergence of sovereign states. By highlighting important game-theoretic results they are able to compare and contrast the effectiveness of different approaches. Some of the specific topics addressed include: advances in the theory of large co-operative gamesnon co-operative models of coalition formationa survey of the partition function in the formation of coalitionsfarsightedness in coalition formationcoalition stabilitycoalition formation in industrial economics, trade theory, environmental economics, public finance.This essential study of recent theories of coalition and group formation will arm the reader with a new set of tools with which to analyse a variety of problematic economic issues. It will prove invaluable to economists, ecologists, and political and social scientists.

Analytical Strategic Environmental Assessment (ANSEA) is an insightful new approach to environmental evaluation, based on decision theory, policy analysis and environmental considerations. These concepts, though not new in their own fields of application, are combined and integrated in an innovative fashion. This book presents recent research on the implementation of the ANSEA approach which aims to ensure environmental values are properly integrated into the decision-making process. ANSEA was developed to contribute to the systematic integration of environmental protection objectives in strategic decision-making which, in turn, will contribute to the promotion of sustainable development. The method can be applied to analyse how environmental and sustainability issues are addressed in decision-making processes at both the national and local level for a variety of different policies. Importantly, the focus is on evaluating the decision-making process itself, rather than the quantitative output of an assessment. With explicatory examples and practical case studies, the distinguished, interdisciplinary authors clearly illustrate how a decision-centred approach to environmental assessment can be successfully achieved. At a time when a new European directive requires the implementation of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) into all relevant decision-making processes, this timely book will be required reading for environmental policymakers in all EU member states. It will also be a valuable source of information and reference for researchers, academics and consultants in the fields of planning, environmental evaluation and environmental management.

Game theory is one of the most powerful tools that economists can use to deal with complex economic and policy problems. At the same time, environmental issues are at the heart of many domestic and international policy processes, where interactions among different stakeholders play a crucial role. It is therefore natural to adopt game theory as one of the analytical instruments to enhance our understanding of the interrelations between the economy and the environment, and provide practical suggestions for policy interventions. This book summarises the latest achievements of researchers involved in the application of game theory to the analysis of environmental matters. It provides an overview of different methods and applications, and gives the reader new insights on the solutions to complex environmental problems. The authors investigate various game theoretic approaches, including cooperative and non-cooperative game theory, and analyse both dynamic and static games. They illustrate the application of these approaches to global and local environmental problems, and present novel but effective tools to support environmental policy making. In particular, they focus on three important issues; climate negotiations and policy, the sharing of environmental costs, and environmental management and pollution control.This book presents ground-breaking applications of game theory to deal with today's pressing environmental problems. It will become a valuable source of reference for academics and researchers interested in environmental economics and management, game theory and international relations.

Traditional measures of economic activity, such as GDP, take no account of damage done to the stock of natural capital by environmental change nor the loss of welfare that economic activity causes through increased pollution. This book predominantly addresses the second question and develops and expands on previous research by the authors (Markandya and Pavan, 1999). Using spatially desegregated data on measures of pollution to derive economic damage estimates, the main purpose of the book is to gauge the environmental damage sustained as a result of economic activities and to offer an insight into how the information generated can be used in conjunction with conventional economic accounts. The first few chapters review recent developments in both green accounting and pathway analysis. The book goes on to evaluate the progress made in estimating dose response functions and valuing environmental damages. The authors discuss the methodology used for the estimation of damages caused by ambient air pollution and the cost of defensive expenditures. They also present the results of the analysis and draw important policy conclusions for environmental accounting, particularly in the EU. This book will be essential reading for environmental economists, particularly those interested in issues of environmental accounting.

The debate about how best to manage the interplay between trade, industrialization and the impacts of both on the global environment continues to rage, particularly in the context of the introduction and ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. This book deals with a number of important issues surrounding the debate about trade and the environment, but places particular emphasis on the process of EU enlargement.The first two chapters, by prominent American scholars, present the case for and against the Kyoto Protocol. The authors go on to review the broader trade-environment debate by undertaking a critical analysis of the interplay between current WTO and EU economic policies and how they conflict with policies aimed at environmental protection. The third part focuses on EU accession economies and discusses how EU policies can best strike a balance between environmental improvements and economic development in those countries. Finally the book reviews the impact of economic transition on environmental policies in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe. This book will be of great interest to scholars interested in the trade-environment debate and will be a valuable resource for international environmental policymakers.

Tourism is both a growth industry and the world's number one export earner. It is therefore no surprise that the role of tourism is increasingly gaining prominence in the debate over how we can move towards more sustainable patterns of development. An enormous literature has emerged on the three pillars of sustainable development - environment, culture and economics - and on how tourism impacts and interacts with them. This timely and original book is firmly grounded in the theory and application of economics, in contrast to much of the previous research which has tended to adopt an environmental or sociological perspective. Although economics has increasingly become a technical subject, this accessible book aims to present important economics results and relate them explicitly to the policy debate. Using a coherent analytical framework, this unique approach offers prescriptions for moving tourism, and economic development more generally, closer to a sustainable ideal. The authors begin by studying the macroeconomic effect of tourism in terms of growth performance and sources of growth. They also examine how the tourism-growth link is affected by the role of imports in the economy, and how tourism impacts upon land use. Further chapters investigate the important issue of forecasting visitor numbers and explore the need for a comprehensive accounting framework to take account of ecologically sustainable tourism. The authors also examine the microeconomic aspects of sustainable tourism and analyse the increasing popularity of environmentally friendly holidays. Sustainable tourism is a fast-growing subject and this book provides an insightful introduction to the critical economic issues involved. It will interest and inform a broad and varied readership including researchers, students and policymakers interested in tourism economics and tourism management, as well as environmentalists, geographers and development scholars.

This book provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary and highly accessible introduction to water resource management, covering topics such as:the ecology of surface watersinternational regulations and economicsstakeholder participation in managementtools and methods for decision makingintegrated modellingdecision making and water policiesstakeholder participation and social issues.Experts across a wide range of specialist fields including social sciences, informatics, ecology and hydrology are brought together in this truly multidisciplinary approach to water management. They provide the reader with integrated insights into water resource management practices that underpin the three pillars of sustainable development - environment, economics and society - through a series of international case studies and theoretical frameworks.

In complex natural resource systems, modifications or disruptions tend to affect many and diverse components of the ecological system, settlements and groups of people. This book uses the Lagoon of Venice - a unique natural resource, wildlife habitat, centre of cultural heritage and recreational site - as an example of one such system that has been heavily affected by human activities, including the harvesting of natural resources and industrial production. The contributors explore the Lagoon's potential for regeneration, examining public policies currently under consideration. The aim of these policies is to restore island coastlines and marshes, fish stocks, habitat and environmental quality, defend morphology and landscape through the strict control of fishing practices, and to protect the islands from high tides. Various market and non-market approaches placing a monetary value on environmental quality changes are then analysed by the contributors. They offer novel and creative applications of non-market valuation techniques for the Lagoon, and even outline the trade-offs that Lagoon users and parties interested in redeveloping contaminated sites are prepared to make between their own profits and policy offerings or demands. This unique and fascinating book will strongly appeal to students, researchers and academics with an interest in natural resources valuation and management, environmental economics and applied benefit-cost analysis.

This study forms an entirely new area of research on Small Island Tourism Economies (SITEs). It addresses the importance of uncertainty in monthly international tourist arrivals and country risk indicators to the macroeconomy. Conditional volatilities are estimated for international tourist arrivals, and an economic interpretation from the estimated results is provided. In achieving these two objectives, this work presents an extensive assessment of the important characteristics and the impact of tourism in SITEs in relation to their gross domestic product, balance of payments, employment and foreign direct investment, among other factors. This book is unique in giving emphasis to macroeconomic implications rather than an industry focus.The Economics of Small Island Tourism will appeal to academics at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels involved in environmental and tourism management as well as tourism economics.

Tourism and Sustainable Economic Development highlights the opportunities and risks of nature-based tourism for economic development and explores selected strategies for sustainability. The prospect of tourism growth is a potential source of major challenges and considerable threats on a number of levels. The concept of sustainable tourism development has thus become the focus of the debate on this subject. This invaluable book aims to provide useful analytical and empirical tools in support of the idea that sustainability is not just about regulating and controlling the negative impacts of tourism. It is also about policies and actions that aim to reinforce the benefits and reduce the costs of tourism, in order to make it more profitable now and in the future.The chapters focused on economic modelling offer a valuable overview of the main issues currently debated at the academic level. The book also illustrates a number of empirical instruments that will provide a useful reference for academics and policymakers interested in how to put theory into practice. This study will be of great value to economists, geographers and to those who have a direct or indirect interest in tourism economics.

This insightful book explores the issue of sustainable development in its more operative and applied sense. Although a great deal of research has addressed potential interpretations and definitions of sustainable development, much of this work is too abstract to offer policy-makers and researchers the feasible and effective guidelines they require. This book redresses the balance.The authors highlight how various indicators and aggregate measures can be included in models that are used for decision-making support and sustainability assessment. They also demonstrate the importance of identifying practical means to assess whether policy proposals, specific decisions or targeted scenarios are sustainable.With discussions of basic concepts relevant to understanding applied sustainability analysis, such as definitions of costs and revenue recycling, this book provides policy-makers, researchers and graduate students with feasible and effective principles for measuring sustainable development.

This book reports and rationalizes the state-of-the-art concerning the social costs of electricity generation. Social costs are assessed by adding to the private generation costs, the external costs associated with damages to human health, the environment, crops, materials, and those related to the consequences of climate change. The authors consider the evolution of these costs up to 2030 for major electricity generating technologies and, using these estimates, evaluate policy options for external cost internalization, providing quantitative scenarios by country and primary fuel for 2010, 2020 and 2030. While mainly focusing on European countries, the book also examines the situation in key emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and Turkey.With an analysis of the policies for external costs internalization, this invaluable book will appeal to energy policymakers, research institutions focusing on energy, environmental and energy NGOs and trade associations, as well as energy companies.

The integration of environmental concerns into other policy areas is widely recognized as a key element to achieve sustainable development. It also represents a challenge for the environmental community, requiring not only a new approach to policy-making but also changes to existing policies and their implementation. This essential book presents a diverse set of perspectives and experiences on how to support sustainable development through the integration of environmental issues into various policy sectors.The authors examine existing research on environmental policy integration (EPI) at three levels of policy-making: the national level, both in relation to strategic and sectoral decision-making; the regional level, where both supra-national and sub-national regional entities are discussed; and the local level, where strategies available to municipalities or individuals for furthering environmental policy integration are presented. New and innovative approaches to the study of EPI at these levels of governance are proposed. They also demonstrate how the effectiveness of EPI depends on factors such as national, legal and administrative structures and culture, the stage of the policy cycle to which EPI measures are applied, and the level of integration among various modes of governance and instruments. Academics, graduate and postgraduate students in social, political and environmental sciences will find much of interest in this unique book. NGOs and representatives of public and private institutions working on environmental policy issues will also find this book an invaluable resource.

This book focuses on cities, their relationships with each other and the disparities between them. Analysing cities as the places where diversity is especially apparent, where cultural richness is experienced and where conflicts often erupt, it illustrates how cultures and cultural diversity interact with economic growth and development. The contributors provide valuable insight into how diverse cities should best be governed and made sustainable, and explore the concept of diversity in relation to sustainability. Building on segregation, assimilation and integration policies, the book indicates the need to develop policies that can govern diversity in a dynamic, nonlinear and spatio-temporal complex way. Case studies of eight culturally diverse cities (Stockholm, Baroda, Banska Bystrica, Chicago, London, Dortmund, Rome and Antwerp) clearly illustrate the relationship between diversity and development, identifying the conditions under which diversity leads to economic performance. These studies are underpinned by an econometric analysis of the relationship between diversity and development across European regions.This unique book will prove a fascinating read to both academics and policymakers with a specific interest in public policy, regional and urban studies, and more generally in economics, the environment and ecology.

Deforestation and forest degradation have long been recognized as environmental problems, with concerns over conservation of natural habitats and biological diversity capturing both scientific and public attention. More recently, the debate over tropical forest conservation has radically shifted to the approximately fifteen percent of global greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by deforestation and forest degradation, and to the potential synergies from integrating forest management with climate change policies. The goal of this book is to shed light on some of the major concerns, issues and challenges related to the inclusion of forest carbon in international climate policies, as well as to illustrate some of the potential solutions and paths forward. In addition, the book describes the status of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) in international climate policy negotiations, providing an historical perspective and highlighting the current positions of key international players that will frame the future debate at the national, regional and international level. This study will find a broad readership among researchers and policymakers interested in the environment, climate change and resource management.

This engaging book addresses the question of how diverse communities, whether in a nation, city or organization, can live together and prosper whilst retaining and enjoying their cultural differences. This is a particularly pertinent issue in the context of the modern world where mass migration and immigration are pervasive global phenomena. This volume brings together a series of contributors from various disciplines and cultural settings to address two central questions: how does cultural diversity contribute to or hamper central notions of sustainability such as human welfare, social cohesion or socio-economic development? how can cultural diversity unfold in a positive way through particular forms of interactions, processes and structures? The authors offer a conceptual discussion on the meaning and operationalization of sustainability within various contexts and settings. They provide concrete examples of the contribution of sustainable diversity to prosperous nations, communities and companies, but also identify a number of tensions which may undermine this positive potential. They highlight recognition, empowerment and inclusion as the three fundamental pillars on which policies should be built in order to create the necessary trust and legitimacy that provide the foundations for truly sustainable diversity Combining extensive theory and practice, this unique volume will be required reading for post-graduate students and researchers in a wide range of subjects connected to cultural diversity such as economics, sociology, anthropology, public policy and organization studies.