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When governments regulate externalities, they inevitably create, modify or reassign property rights. Although these rights have important distributional implications, they are rarely at the center of economic evaluations of policy instrument choice, where the main focus is on allocative efficiency. This is problematic for two reasons. First, the allocation of rights may not receive the attention it deserves, and decisions about rights and more technical policy advice are easily mixed up. The second reason is a circularity problem: proposed (Pareto) efficient regulations modify the same property rights that determine what economists identify as an efficient environmental target. To avoid these difficulties, we propose a perspective in regulation that brings the allocation of rights to the front. We classify basic regulatory options based on how rights are allocated between polluters and potential victims and across income groups and we outline how these options may be implemented through choice of policy instruments. We then propose a regulatory procedure that takes the interdependence of rights and environmental targets into account. Based on this analysis, we discuss the potential of a rights-centered approach for designing environmental policies with desirable distributional outcomes and assumptions about the rights to environmental resources.

Denne rapporten gir en oversikt over noen deskriptive resultater fra fire spørreundersøkelser gjort i prosjektet ACT (‘From targets to action: public responses to climate policy instruments’) som er finansiert av Norges forskningsråd. Prosjektet ferdigstilles i løpet av 2022, mens CICEROs klimaundersøkelse fortsetter. Mange av spørsmålene i undersøkelsen presenteres ikke her, men vies grundigere analyser i publiserte og kommende vitenskapelige artikler. Tallene som presenteres i denne rapporten gir oss et bilde av hva nordmenn mener om klimaendringer, klimapolitikk og eget ansvar. Oppsummert viser tallene stor grad av stabilitet over tid, med noen unntak, og mønstrene i forskjeller mellom grupper er også relativt stabile.

These documents correspond to Chapter 2 of the IPBES methodological assessment of the diverse values and valuation of nature and its supplementary material., Suggested citation: Anderson, C.B., Athayde, S., Raymond, C.M., Vatn, A., Arias, P., Gould, R.K., Kenter, J., Muraca, B., Sachdeva, S., Samakov, A., Zent, E., Lenzi, D., Murali, R., Amin, A., and Cantú-Fernández, M. (2022). Chapter 2: Conceptualizing the diverse values of nature and their contributions to people. In: Methodological Assessment Report on the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Balvanera, P., Pascual, U., Christie, M., Baptiste, B., and González-Jiménez, D. (eds). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6493134

These documents correspond to Chapter 1 of the IPBES methodological assessment of the diverse values and valuation of nature and its supplementary material., Suggested citation: Balvanera, P., Pascual, U., Christie, M., Baptiste, B., Lliso, B., Monroy, A.S., Guibrunet, L., Anderson, C.B., Athayde, S., Barton, D.N., Chaplin-Kramer, R., Jacobs, S., Kelemen, E., Kumar, R., Lazos, E., Martin, A., Mwampamba, T.H., Nakangu, B., O'Farrell, P., Raymond, C.M., Subramanian, S.M., Termansen, M., Van Noordwijk, M., Vatn, A., Contreras, V., and González-Jiménez, D. (2022). Chapter 1: The role of the values of nature and valuation for addressing the biodiversity crisis and navigating towards more just and sustainable futures. In: Methodological Assessment Report on the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. P. Balvanera, U. Pascual, C. Michael, B. Baptiste, and D. González-Jiménez (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6418971

IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body comprising over 130 member Governments. Established by Governments in 2012, IPBES provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the contributions they make to people, as well as options and actions to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets. The IPBES Methodological Assessment of the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature was initiated following a decision from the IPBES Plenary at its sixth session (IPBES 6, Medellin, 2018), and considered by the IPBES Plenary at its ninth session (IPBES-9, Bonn, 2022). It is composed of a summary for policymakers which was approved at IPBES-9, and six chapters, which were accepted at IPBES 9., Suggested citation: IPBES (2022): IPBES (2022). Summary for Policymakers of the Methodological Assessment Report on the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Pascual, U., Balvanera, P., Christie, M., Baptiste, B., González-Jiménez, D., Anderson, C.B., Athayde, S., Barton, D.N., Chaplin-Kramer, R., Jacobs, S., Kelemen, E., Kumar, R., Lazos, E., Martin, A., Mwampamba, T.H., Nakangu, B., O'Farrell, P., Raymond, C.M., Subramanian, S.M., Termansen, M., Van Noordwijk, M., and Vatn, A. (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6522392

Individual efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses could have a significant impact on climate change if enough people choose to act together. When it comes to traveling however, people seem to find excuses to travel by plane disregarding their concern for the climate. This thesis aims to understand the underlying principles of Norwegians’ climate concerns when traveling by plane, and if the Covid-19 pandemic is a catalyst for changing these concerns. A mixed-methods approach involving in-depth interviews including a quantitative assessment of core values of 22 Norwegians, is used to explore the following two research questions: In what way do individual climate concerns of flight travel vary based on the perceived role they inhabit? and Has the Covid-19 pandemic impacted individuals' motivations and climate concerns of traveling by plane? Three main purposes of travel were identified as leisure, visits, and business, all of which encompass different roles. Roles exist in social settings with expectations and responsibilities connected to them. When not fulfilling these requirements, sanctions are used to steer behavior. Acting according to social norms may contradict individuals' own values and create a gap between their attitudes and behavior. In order to examine the function of roles’ impact on climate concern when traveling, an archetype analysis was conducted following the interviews based on their level of climate concern and actual behavior. Participants were categorized into five groups: the Climate Activist, the Optimist, the Average Joe, the Free rider, and the Climate Denier. The groups differed when arguing which purpose is justifiable for flying, and the requirements attached to roles were found as a frequent excuse. The Climate Activists found all non-essential travel to be illegitimate reasons to travel by plane. The Optimists were more open to travel for leisure, however, aspired to travel in more climate-friendly ways. On the other hand, the Average Joes were more willing to sacrifice work-related trips and valued leisure as a necessity. Furthermore, the Free riders did not feel the need to give excuses for their trips and would rather compensate for the climate in other ways. Lastly, the Climate Deniers did not express any climate concerns regardless of the purpose of the trip. These trends aligned with the quantitative results from the values questionnaire from the ACT project. Using the pandemic as a catalyst for institutional change, in the form of norm emergence, could indicate a potential for lasting change in climate concern. There has been a significant change in travel patterns, both with more domestic destinations for leisure and in the business sector where new habits and norms have already emerged. Nevertheless, leisure travel and visitations are predicted to rebound when the pandemic is over. Thus, the positive climate impact of reduced flights was an unintentional advantage of the pandemic, rather than caused by increased awareness of climate change. M-IES

This thesis explores the issue of non-participation among young Norwegians in collective actions with a climate cause. The aim is to investigate whether there are any common features between the non-participants in terms of individual and social characteristics as well as the reasons they give for not taking part in collective actions. With this objective in mind, two research questions were formulated: 1.) Are there any common individual characteristics and social contexts that the non-participatory youth share that may explain their lack of participation? 2.) How do young people who do not engage in climate activism reflect on their non-participation in collective actions against climate change? A qualitative research strategy was used, and individual in-depth interviews were set as the main data collection method. The sample consisted of 19 young people between the ages of 18-29 who study at the two largest universities in Oslo, UiO and OsloMet. This thesis applies a modified social-psychological framework, with contributions from sociology and social movement theory, that could help explain the process of non-participation. Using this, it finds that the environmental values among non-participants play a key role in how they relate to climate change and their feelings of responsibility within it. Furthermore, this influences their behavior in terms of participation in other climate related activities than collective actions. While the non-participation of respondents with lower environmental orientation could be justified by their value set, this thesis raises the question of why respondents with high environmental values chose not to participate in collective actions. It finds that these respondents either question their own personal suitability or the political implications of participation in collective actions. Key words: non-participation, young people, collective actions, climate change, social-psychology, powerless hypothesis, delegation hypothesis. M-DS

In acknowledgement of the dire need for comprehensive global action and societal transformation, states have come together in formulation of several International Environmental Agreements (IEAs) outlining goals and commitments to tackle climate change and ecological collapse. Achieving these goals often entail prematurely downscaling industries and sectors with large ecological footprint, such as the fossil fuel sector. It is however important to recognize that a variety of foreign investments are protected in a majority of today’s International Investment Agreements (IIAs), through provisions granting access to the so-called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. ISDS allows foreign investors to sue states based on policies conflicting with their investments and seek high monetary compensation for potential economic losses. Thus, ISDS is increasingly seen as hindrance to states’ efforts of environmental policymaking, and it is suggested that it may have a chilling effect discouraging states from adopting environmental policies, due to the risk of having to pay investors millions in compensation. States are already being sued for adopting phase-out policies necessary for achieving IEAs, and similar cases are likely to increase in numbers as stronger environmental policies are paramount. With this backdrop, this thesis examines six ISDS cases with varying status (settled, decided, pending and threat of arbitration), by analyzing what the experiences from these cases may tell us with regards to countries’ efforts to form national environmental policies, and address the possible impacts ISDS may have on states achieving IEAs. The Environmental Governance Systems (EGS) framework (Vatn, 2015) is applied as to investigate the governance structure of ISDS and used to structure the analysis of power dynamics between the actors and institutions involved. Findings show that through access to ISDS, IIAs contributes to strengthen foreign investor’s relative power over states, and that ISDS may have a chilling effect on states environmental policymaking which also may shrink their regulatory capacities. Furthermore, states may experience a conflict of interests with regards to addressing strong civil society demands, their commitments to provide a healthy environment, and their obligations in the IIAs. Thus, the study suggests that states will continue to introduce environmental policies in the future, but these are likely to be challenged by investors seeking to recoup their financial losses. The risk is reduced effectiveness of such policies and the prospects of achieving IEAs in time will be significantly reduced as long as foreign investors have the right challenge legitimate environmental policies. It may therefore be hypothesized whether the ISDS system is creating structural barriers for the realization of environmental justice. M-IES

Food systems are pressing the environment in multiple ways. Moreover, some of these pressures are due to inefficient resource use. It is estimated that as much as one third of all food being produced globally is lost or wasted. One of the most wasted food categories globally is fresh fruit and vegetables. In order to avoid the crossing of planetary boundaries, scientific and political communities have signaled the urgent need to change current practices in the global food system. As a response to this, the concept of circular economy is increasingly being recognized as a possible approach to create more sustainable food systems. However, there is a need for more knowledge on barriers and drivers to a circular economy transition, in order to move from theory to practice. With the aim of contributing to such knowledge, this study investigates the barriers and drivers to a transition to a circular economy for vegetables in the Norwegian food system. Through a qualitative case study, perspectives from leaders in businesses working in the various components of the value chain for vegetables have been collected and analyzed. The study takes on a systems perspective and holds the ambition of gaining a greater understanding of how the barriers and drivers are relevant and manifested across the value chain, as well as how these factors are connected to other actors, institutions, and spheres in the greater system. The findings of this study indicate that central barriers are: hindering regulations; lack of political incentives and economic risk; the size and standardization of economic processes; consumer preferences; the conflict between vegetables and supporting resources; knowledge gaps and lack of awareness; lack of holistic thinking and collaboration; lack of willingness to change; and power structures in the value chain. Furthermore, the identified drivers are: increased knowledge and awareness; circular approaches are becoming profitable; political responsibility, incentives, and guidelines; collaboration and holistic thinking; new technologies; and strategic division of power. Thus, the drivers are both direct responses to the perceived barriers, or separate factors seen to enable circular initiatives. Moreover, this study finds that many of the identified factors affecting a transition to a circular economy for vegetables are interlinked, overlapping and dependent on each other. This should be taken into consideration when creating measures aimed at facilitating a transition to a circular economy for vegetables in the Norwegian food system. M-IES