This book looks at institutional reforms for the use of energy, water and resources toward a sustainable future in East Asia. The book argues that developments in the East Asian region are critical to global sustainability and acknowledges that there is an increasing degree of mutual reliance among countries in East Asia – primarily China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. It analyzes environmental impacts stemming from the use of energy, water and mineral resources via economic development in East Asia in the medium to long term (through 2050) through theoretical and empirical modelling. The book also evaluates the ripple effects of environmental and resource policies on each country’s economy and clarifies the direction of institutional reform in energy systems, resources and water use for a sustainable future.
Environmental Economics and Policy is a best-selling text for environmental economics courses. Offering a policy-oriented approach, it introduces economic theory, empirical fieldwork, and case studies that show how underlying economic principles provided the foundation for environmental policies. Key features include: Introductions to the theory and method of environmental economics, including externalities, benefit-cost analysis, valuation methods, and ecosystem goods and services. Extensive coverage of the major issues including climate change mitigation and adaptation, air and water pollution, and environmental justice. Boxed "Examples" and "Debates" throughout the text, which highlight global examples and major talking points. This text will be of use to undergraduate students of economics. Students will leave the course with a global perspective of how environmental economics has played and can continue to play a role in promoting fair and efficient environmental management. The text is fully supported with end-of-chapter summaries, discussion questions, and self-test exercises in the book. Additional online resources include references, as well as PowerPoint slides for each chapter.
This book explores the linkages among economic development, energy, and environment. An increase in economic activity is correlated with a higher level of energy consumption, which in turn leads to an increase in environmental pollution. Due to the influence of greenhouse gases, the higher the concentration of pollutants in the atmosphere, the higher the temperature, which ultimately leads to climate change. Under these imminent dangers, the role of economic and energy efficiency policies becomes important for ecological sustainability. The present policies, however, in various instances, have failed to address these issues. Hence, this book embarks not only to suggest modifications to improve the efficacy of the current policies but also to recommend to the policymakers, new and more effective policies for their respective countries. The book is bifurcated into two sections: The Economics and Policy of Sustainable Energy section discusses renewable energy policy responses to observed Impact of climate change using DPSIR Framework; the energy utilization strategies for transportation and commercial activities of Charland Bangladesh; the relationship of market globalization with the Indian energy sector; the socioecological effects of globalization from an energy perspective brought to a local standpoint; the seasonal disaster-induced energy consumption strategies of the char-dwellers of Bangladesh with respect to their domestic chores and agricultural activities; trends in GDP growth and energy usage in India; cross-border trade of electricity; and the events that the oil and gas industry has already faced and possible strategies it can adopt to overcome the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Economics and Policy of Environmental Sustainability section analyses topics such as the role of hyper-globalization in spreading the pandemic across countries as threat to human ecology; the current scenario of environmental consequences, and future prospects of plastic pollution; the surface air temperature anomalies over selected countries of Africa; the impaired roles of the female gender in community natural resource exploitation in Ndop; the operational expansion strategies for garnering better output in terms of livelihood and conservation; opportunity for environmental justice and rethinking global community; linking indigenous traditional knowledge and sustainable development goals in the North-Western Himalayas; and recommendations to manage dry forest carbon stock. This book is a rich resource for policymakers, guiding them through untraveled pathways. Moreover, it is an extremely helpful resource for researchers, practitioners, industry professionals as well as students in the fields of energy, environment, and sustainable development with flavour of economics and policy.
Co-written by a pioneer of the sustainability movement, this groundbreaking volume offers a new way of thinking about the economics of sustainable energy, a goal that has eluded scientists and economists for decades. Every year, as soon as reports on global economic inequality remind us about the direction our civilization is heading, there is a hysterical reaction, but hysteria dies down within weeks and we go back to the lifestyle that brought us here today. Often the blame is laid on the Millennial generation for their "apathy," "lust for comfort," and "bratty" attitude. Yet, business insider surveys indicate it's the same Millennial generation that overwhelmingly cares for the state of the world and the direction in which our civilization is heading. Nearly 50% of them ranked climate change and destruction of nature as their primary concern. This is followed by concern for war and global conflict, and then global economic inequality. The vast majority of those surveyed are willing and eager to make lifestyle changes. This book breaks open the hypocrisy of our civilization and stops the blame game in its tracks and identifies the root causes of today's world economy, ecology, and global politics. The book demonstrates that changes in lifestyle are necessary but not sufficient. No economic policy or technology development mode has a chance to survive, let alone thrive unless supported by the political establishment. In this process, the government plays a pivotal role. The challenge is to change the attitude of the government from a 'self-serving' controlling mode to a representative philanthropic mode. This new system of economic development and political governance is inspired by a long-forgotten understanding of political economics: medieval Islamic economics. In reviewing the history of economics from trade, currencies, and interest, the strengths and weaknesses of various economic developments over our centuries are evaluated. Based on the historical analysis, a step by step procedure is outlined for this fundamental change in our society today. As a whole, this book is the first in the modern era to offer such a comprehensive analysis, complete with solutions to the entire crisis of today's civilization.
Environmental Sustainability and Economy contains the latest practical and theoretical concepts of sustainability science and economic growth. It includes the latest research on sustainable development, the impact of pollution due to economic activities, energy policies and consumption influencing growth and environment, waste management and recycling, circular economy, and climate change impacts on both the environment and the economy. The 21st century has seen the rise of complex and multi-dimensional pathways between different aspects of sustainability. Due to globalization, these relationships now work at varying spatiotemporal scales resulting in global and regional dynamics. This book explores the complex relationship between sustainable development and economic growth, linking the environmental and social aspects with the economic pillar of sustainable development. Utilizing global case studies and interdisciplinary perspectives, Environmental Sustainability and Economy provides a comprehensive account of sustainable development and the economics of environmental protection studies with a focus on the environmental, geographical, economic, anthropogenic and social-ecological environment. Includes extensive interdisciplinary coverage, including intersectional topics such as environmental pollution and economic growth, resource utilization and circular economy, climate change and emissions, and sustainable solutions and green behavior Discusses market innovations and strategies through the lens of global case studies in sustainability and economic growth Bridges the gap between environmental studies and economics to reflect sustainable practices for enhancing environmental protection in response to climate change
This casebook integrates a legal assessment of energy resources with economic and environmental issues, thereby encouraging thoughtful analysis of energy policy issues confronting the U.S. and the world. Historical and contemporary legal issues confronting a range of energy resources are surveyed, including water power, coal, oil and gas, electricity, and nuclear power. Particular attention is paid to the need to reduce consumption of imported oil by motor vehicles. The third edition of the book contains considerable material on problems presented by climate change, including legal issues confronting renewable power projects and various conservation measures. We believe that the material can be taught in many different variations, and we continue to teach it in a somewhat different order every time it is offered.
Energy Economics and Policy, Second Edition presents a unified analysis of energy economics and energy policy. This book deals with energy economics. It discusses the dimension of the energy problem—the role of energy in economic development, energy consumption patterns, energy supply, and oil prices. In dealing with equilibrium of energy demand and supply, the authors note that efficiency and equity considerations should be considered simultaneously using the income tax or welfare system to redress burdens imposed on the poor. The authors also analyze OPEC behavior and oil prices and notes six keys to the long-run viability of OPEC and their implications for future prices in oil. The authors present the environmental issues in energy development and the economics of pollution control. The authors cite the efficiency of low-cost emitters that receive incentives to control more compared to high-cost emitters. As regards conservation schemes, the authors note that prorationing polices seek to remedy symptoms of over drilling, excessive production, and flaring of natural gas—instead of addressing unified and efficient contracting systems. This book can prove beneficial to economists, environmentalists, and policy makers involved in oil and energy regulation and use.
The Economics of Sustainable Food details the true cost of food for people and the planet. It illustrates how to transform our broken system, alleviating its severe financial and human burden. The key is smart macroeconomic policy that moves us toward methods that protect the environment like regenerative land and sea farming, low-impact urban farming, and alternative protein farming, and toward healthy diets. The book's multidisciplinary team of authors lay out detailed fiscal and trade policies, as well as structural reforms, to achieve those goals. Chapters discuss strategies to make food production sustainable, nutritious, and fair, ranging from taxes and spending to education, labor market, health care, and pension reforms, alongside regulation in cases where market incentives are unlikely to work or to work fast enough. The authors carefully consider the different needs of more and less advanced economies, balancing economic development and sustainability goals. Case studies showcase successful strategies from around the world, such as taxing foods with a high carbon footprint, financing ecosystems mapping and conservation to meet scientific targets for healthy biomes permanency, subsidizing sustainable land and sea farming, reforming health systems to move away from sick care to preventive, nutrition-based care, and providing schools with matching funds to purchase local organic produce.--Amazon.
This multidisciplinary book provides new insights and hope for sustainable prosperity given recent developments in economics – but only if swift and strong actions consistent with Earth’s biophysical limits and principles of justice are universally taken. It is one thing to put limits on resource throughput and waste generation to conform with the ecosphere’s biocapacity. It is another thing to efficiently allocate a sustainable rate of resource throughput and ensure it is equitably distributed in the form of final goods and services. While the separate but interdependent decisions regarding throughput, distribution, and allocation are the essence of ecological economics, dealing with them in a world that needs to cure its growth addiction requires a realistic understanding of macroeconomics and the fiscal capacity of currency-issuing central governments. Sustainable prosperity demands that we harness this understanding to carefully regulate the rate of resource throughput and manipulate macroeconomic outcomes to facilitate human flourishing. The book begins by outlining humanity’s current predicament of gross ecological overshoot and laments the half-century of missed opportunities since The Limits to Growth (1972). What was once economic growth has become, in many high-income countries, uneconomic growth (additional costs exceeding additional benefits), which is no longer advancing wellbeing. Meanwhile, low-income nations need a dose of efficient and equitable growth to escape poverty while protecting their environments and the global commons. The book argues for a synthesis of our increasing knowledge of the ecosphere’s limited carrying capacity and the power of governments to harness, transform, and distribute resources for the common good. Central to this synthesis must be a correct understanding of the difference between financial constraints and real resource constraints. While the latter apply to everyone, the former do not apply to currency-issuing central governments, which have much more capacity for corrective action than mainstream thinking perceives. The book joins the growing chorus of authoritative voices calling for a complete overhaul of the dominant economic system. We conclude with policy recommendations based on a new economics that, if implemented, would come close to guaranteeing a sustainable and prosperous future. Upon reading this book, at least one thing should be crystal clear: business as usual is not a viable option.
