Insights Blog

Ben Groom and Thomas Sterner discuss the influence of Environmental & Resource Economist (ERE) research on policy in advance of the 6th World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE) taking place from 25-29 June in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Imagine you work for a government agency or philanthropy that wants to support climate mitigation projects (e.g., solar energy installations, building efficiency upgrades). You have a grant budget of $50 million to invest anywhere in the world, and you want to invest in projects that reduce the most greenhouse gas emissions. Where do you put your money, and how do you know that you’re getting the best bang for your buck?

New Zealand is at the forefront of a radical shift in economic thinking. The aim is simple: to elevate natural and social value alongside financial wealth in government planning.

It is time to rethink the global approach to saving the world’s remaining biodiversity and habitats. Edward B. Barbier proposes creating a new Global Agreement on Biodiversity (GAB) modeled after the 2015 Paris Climate Change Accord.

Forget Bitcoin. Blockchain can authenticate a richer, more accurate global ledger of a company’s actual social and environmental performance, providing society with a more realistic assessment of its impact.

Around the world, there is a transition towards the ‘circular economy’ that focuses on the 3Rs of reducing material consumption, reusing materials, and recovering materials from waste. In the context of water resources management, cities and their respective water utilities are beginning to promote the reduction of water consumption, reuse of water, and recovery of materials from wastewater.

Eco-industrial parks are an emerging contributor to an environmentally and socially sustainable, and economically sound industrial development. The World Bank Group, UNIDO and GIZ have developed a common framework for understanding eco-industrial parks.

As the cost of producing electricity from solar panels and wind turbines continues to decline, every dollar invested today yields an additional 25 to 75 percent return in kilowatts, compared to five years ago. Where do Arab countries stand in view of these developments?

Over the coming century, Sub-Saharan Africa will face considerable challenges related to climate change, natural resource depletion and poverty traps, and accelerated urbanisation, which, in turn, will drive up the region’s carbon footprint. These challenges call for greater commitments by OECD countries to address the mismatch between contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions and climate burden, halt natural resource depletion, and to support low-carbon urbanization in SSA.

Project Drawdown brought together a qualified and diverse group of researchers to identify, research and model the most substantive, existing solutions to address climate change and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These range from bioplastics to artificial leafs to building automation, clean cookstoves, coastal wetlands, living buildings, cows walking on beaches, and more.