This report provides estimates of social and financial costs of environmental damage in India from three pollution damage categories: (i) urban air pollution, including particulate matter and lead; (ii) inadequate water supply, poor sanitation, and hygiene; (iii) indoor air pollution; and four natural resource damage categories: (a) agricultural damage from soil salinity, water logging, and soil erosion; (b) rangeland degradation; (c) deforestation; and (d) natural disasters. The estimates are based on a combination of Indian data from secondary sources and on the transfer of unit costs of pollution from a range of national and international studies. The quantification and monetary valuation of environmental damage involves many scientific disciplines including environmental, physical, and biological and health sciences, epidemiology, and environmental economics. Estimates of the costs of degradation are generally reported as a percent of conventional gross domestic product (GDP). This provides a useful estimate of the importance of environmental damages but it should not be interpreted that GDP will increase by a given percent if the degradation were to be reduced to zero.
The paper delves into the agreement to liberalise environmental goods and concludes that because applied tariffs on the defined list of goods are generally low, only a relatively small number of products will actually benefit from a tariff reduction. However, the paper notes that given the political importance of the achievement, the agreement may provide a positive experience to build on in other contexts. The APEC agreement marks the first time a group of major trading partners has managed to agree to a set of environmental products on which they will apply tariff reductions, in stark contrast with the stalled Doha negotiations on environmental goods and services.
China’s economy continues to grow rapidly with corresponding increases in both energy consumption and environmental pollution. Renewable energy is a key part of China’s response to this challenge. Currently, the costs of measures to facilitate the large-scale deployment of renewable energy are primarily met through an electricity surcharge—effectively a tax on electricity consumption. However, concerns have been raised that continuing to rely on the surcharge alone places a disproportionate burden on electricity consumers. In response, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the China National Renewable Energy Centre (CNREC) identified the need for further debate on how best to fund renewable energy and reduce environmental pollution, leading to the establishment of a research project to examine the international experience of similar schemes and their relevance to China.
The publication includes case studies from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
This publications looks at the measures that the Jamaican government can take to transition its electricity sector to one that is socially, environmentally and financially sustainable. It analyses the potential for energy efficiency and renewable energy deployment in Jamaica and discusses the social and economic impacts of alternative energy pathways. The report concludes that a scenario of high renewable penetration can bring many benefits to the country, including significant savings, greater energy security and gains in competitiveness.
Green industrial policies can be defined as industrial policies with an environmental goal - or more precisely, as sector-targeted policies that affect the economic production structure with the aim of generating environmental benefits. This paper provides a framework to assess their desirability depending on the effectiveness and political acceptability of price instruments. The main messages are the following: