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The issue of environmental degradation has become pertinent and the call for carbon neutrality has intensified in recent years. Achieving this target will require countries to meet the conditions of the sustainable development goals. To do this, the study applied spatiotemporal modelling and the generalized method of moments (GMM) to examine the nexus between economic growth (EG) and the load capacity factor (LCF) through environmental goods (ENG) and environmental tax (ENT) among European Union (EU) nations from 1995 to 2018. The findings demonstrate that spatial dependence leads to a change in EG and LCF that impacts the EG and LCF of the neighbouring countries. The study also found that there is a significant positive and bidirectional relationship between economic growth and load capacity factor. Moreover, the study revealed that a positive effect of ENG, ENT, REN and Human Capital Index (HCI) on EG, with a reducing effect from natural resource rents (NRR). Finally, HCI improves environmental quality, while ENG, ENT, REN and NRR degrade the environment. Our findings justify the need for EU countries and other developed nations to implement policies that will help achieve a green economic transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the relationship between environmental goods and housing prices in the Netherlands. Applying a hedonic pricing model, we estimate simultaneous correlations between housing prices and air quality, noise pollution, green scenery, and water scenery, demonstrating the importance of including related sets of environmental goods to avoid omitted variable bias. We find that households particularly value noise pollution and green and water amenities in close proximity to their house. Air quality does not appear to substantially impact housing prices, neither do green spaces located more than 200 meters away. These results suggests that households mainly value those environmental goods that are directly experienced. A comparison of our hedonic price results to existing monetary estimates of the health effects of environmental goods indicates that people only partially internalize these health effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the asymmetric link between carbon pricing and the comparative advantage in environmental goods exports in South Africa from 1995 to 2021. The non‐linear autoregressive distributed lag model is utilized to investigate the effects of both minor and major positive and negative fluctuations in carbon taxes, technological innovation, and energy transition on comparative advantage. The results reveal that carbon taxes have an asymmetric effect on comparative advantage in both the short and long runs, with positive shocks exerting a greater beneficial influence than negative shocks. Specifically, it is found that a 1% reduction in carbon taxes corresponds to a 1.24% decline in the response variable, whereas a 1% increase in carbon taxes is associated with a 2.72% increase in comparative advantage in environmental goods exports, which is twice as large. The study also uncovers evidence of an asymmetric relationship between low‐carbon technological innovation and comparative advantage in environmental goods exports. However, strong evidence of a long‐run asymmetric linkage between the energy transition and comparative advantage is not established. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that a positive shift in energy transition is linked with a 0.32% rise in comparative advantage in environmental goods exports, whereas a negative shift in energy transition corresponds to a 0.11% decrease. The practical policy implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas research in Germany has focused mainly on how environmental burdens such as noise or air pollution affect health or well-being, little is known about the effects of environmental goods. Our study examines urban green spaces as one such environmental good, and asks how their usage affected life satisfaction during the coronavirus pandemic. Drawing on attention restoration and stress reduction theory as well as on theories of social integration, we further ask how different kinds of activities such as meeting friends or doing sports mediate the effects of green spaces on life satisfaction. Our empirical analysis builds on unique individual panel data for residents of Hannover and Braunschweig taken from interviews before and during the coronavirus pandemic. Using causal difference-in-difference models, our results reveal no robust effect of increased or decreased green space usage on life satisfaction. However, results depend on the operationalization: Analyses point to a negative effect of reduced green space visits only when green space use is assessed retrospectively. Hence, our study highlights the need for further causality-oriented research on the relationship between green space usage and life satisfaction. Moreover, it stresses the value of performing robustness checks by applying alternative operationalizations in causal analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green (environmental) marketing, which promotes cleaner, less detrimental products, is considered to be one of the main contributors to sustainable production and consumption. With the latest EU policy initiatives aimed at acceleration of green transition, it deserves even more attention while the concept of environmental goods and services still remains a subject for discussion, and both comparative environmental impact of some of such products and the green demand probably are overestimated. The studies offer an approach to the theoretical concept of environmental goods and services providing the integrated vision through the prism of the ecological economics, national accounting, and marketing with the initial point of green (environmental) needs. To understand full potential of marketing for environmental sustainability, which is of growing importance, the studies address the sole purpose environmental products also as those which are beyond the green marketing efforts, but playing the equally important role. Production of environmental goods and services by the EU economy is analysed with special attention to groups of products by their primary purpose, and conclusions are drawn regarding the sustainability potential of different fields of marketing.

The global consensus on sustainable development and environmental cooperation has prompted the promotion of trade in environmental goods (EGs) for green growth. This study delves into the diversity of EGs trade patterns, using decomposed environmental technology similarity indicators to reveal the technological drivers. Linking innovation indicators to trade performance in EGs provides new insights into the determinants of inequality in environmental governance cooperation. Based on an extended gravity model, we empirically analyze their impact on bilateral EGs trade flows among 176 countries over the period 2002–2019. The study finds that (1) the global EGs trade network presents a "core-periphery" structure, with increased network density and participation of developing countries. (2) Technology similarity contributes significantly to EGs trade. Compared to competition, technology complementarity has a greater impact on EGs trade flows. (3) The influence of technology similarity varies across trade patterns and product complexity explains the mechanisms, with technology complementarity promoting more trade in high-complexity products, mainly concentrated in the trade from Northern countries, while technology competition greatly promotes the export of low-complexity products from the South. (4) Technology similarity helps to overcome information barriers in EGs trade, and its trade-enhancing effects exhibit geographical regionalization. The findings offer empirical evidence on the technological drivers of EGs trade and provide policy implications for fostering inclusive global environmental governance and enhancing the competitive advantages of Southern countries, fostering more opportunities for green growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global trade in environmental goods (EGs) has provided a new vision for international cooperation in response to sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, there are ongoing debates over whether developing countries can achieve sustainability during their trade participation. This study proposes a conceptual framework to observe countries' current trade status and potential for benefit from global EG trade. By tracing the changing status of 142 countries in the conceptual framework during 2001–2019, this study finds that global EG trade reduces inequality among developed countries while it increases inequality among developing countries. Some emerging market countries may enhance their status in the global trade network, but their upgrading within the global value chain remains slow. The current poor EG trade state and limited benefit potential of most developing countries will have a non‐significant impact in terms of achieving the SDGs. The study suggests that regional trade will give developing countries a better chance to integrate into trade markets and support them toward achieving the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is contemplating expanding its list of environmental goods (EG) for trade liberalization to fight climate change. In support of doing so, this study proposes that a long list that retains controversies is better for carbon emission reduction than a short common list. This study examines four mechanisms of longer lists: enlarging market scales, enriching product mixes, enhancing product sophistication, and enriching trade patterns. Using China’s emerging EG trade during the 2001–2015 period as a case study, this study compares four EG lists with different EG. The results show that: (1) a longer list reduces carbon emissions from both imports and exports, making domestic regions with different advantages have better chances of improving carbon efficiencies. (2) Product sophistication reduces the emission gap between trading partners, regardless of the length of EG lists. (3) China’s EG exports contribute to carbon reduction in leading regions, while EG imports provide laggard regions with better chances of reducing carbon emissions. These findings provide three implications for future list-making: it is important to (1) seek a long and inclusive list rather than a short common list, (2) shift the focus from environmental end-use to the technological contents of products, and (3) balance the demand of laggard regions to import and the capacity of leading regions to export.

This paper investigates the effects of religiosity distance on trade in environmental goods (EGs) using 5,297 pairs of 88 countries during the 1996–2019 period. Religiosity reflects the level of personal trust in God and the values and ideals of his religion. Environmental goods consist of environmental products and services with production, usage, or disposal features that escape from devastating the environment. We use the APEC List of Environmental Goods to define the EGs. We measure religiosity by using a combined index covering three components, including members of a religion, the importance of religion, and religious service attendance. Our empirical results show that countries with religious proximity are more likely to trade EGs. Among three dimensions, only the member of religion and importance of religion play a role while attendance to religion service has no effect on the export of green goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) has shaped the legal regime of the 'new Asian regionalism' that emerged due to the region's rising economic power and increased partnerships. However, the pact has been criticized to bypass rules dealing with environmental protection. This article demonstrates that the RCEP can potentially contribute to trade in certain renewable energy generation products through its tariff liberalization scheme. It also submits that the pervasive use of unilateral trade remedies and local content requirements could impede greater trade potential facilitated by these tariff cut commitments. Looking ahead, a number of proposals are tabled in this article to improve the quality of the RCEP in advancing regional trade partnership in green energy promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trade liberalization for environmental goods (EG) could pave the way for a "win‐win" scenario for both the economy and the environment. This study examines the impact of environmental good exports on the comprehensive economic development and environmental protection index, green total factor productivity (GTFP), using a Chinese city‐level panel dataset from 2003 to 2015. Overall, our findings indicate that EG exports are detrimental to China's green development. Particularly, traditional EGs intended to address environmental concerns significantly impede GTFP, whereas environmentally preferable products with cleaner product life cycles have no such effect. Furthermore, EG exports do not significantly reduce conventional TFP without accounting for energy and pollution, implying that the loss of GTFP is primarily due to environmental factors. When GTFP is disaggregated into green efficiency change (GEC) and green technology change (GTC), EG exports can increase GEC while reducing GTC. However, once the value of EG exports surpasses a certain threshold, EG exports raise GTC and GTFP. Furthermore, regional resource misallocation, environmental regulation, and absorptive capacity can all help to mitigate the negative EG‐GTFP relationship. This study could be useful for stakeholders interested in leveraging synergies between the economy and the environment by participating in global EG supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental goods and services industry consists of the activities that generate products and services to monitor, avoid, restrict, reduce, or repair environmental risk and decrease non-renewable energy resource usage. Although the environmental goods industry does not exist in many countries, mainly developing countries, through international trade, its impacts are reaching developing countries. This study examines the impact of environmental and non-environmental goods trade on emissions in high and middle–income countries. For empirical estimation, the panel ARDL model is applied using the data from 2007 to 2020. The results indicate that importing environmental goods decreases emissions while imports of non-environmental goods increase the emissions in high-income countries in the long run. It is found that imports of environmental goods in developing countries decrease emissions in both the short and long run. However, in the short run, the imports of non-environmental goods in developing countries have an insignificant impact on emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the prioration of food products, goods and environmental services of the páramo and forest ecosystems of the province of Chimborazo focuses on the identification and valuation of the environmental services provided by the ecosystems of páramo and forest of the province of Chimborazo, in Ecuador. The study was conducted through an expert survey, literature review, social cartography and weighting methodologies. The results indicate that the most important ecosystem services are the provision of livestock and crop goods, water regulation, water for consumption, while the most valued environmental services are water regulation, carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation. Likewise, it was identified that the main problem in the province is the loss of ecosystems, especially moors and natural forests, due to anthropic activities and the misuse of resources such as water and soil. In addition, contamination by human waste to watersheds and rivers is recurrent in all cantons. Based on these results, there is a need to promote the conservation and restoration of páramo and forest ecosystems in the province, as well as to promote sustainable practices in agricultural and livestock production. It also suggests the implementation of mechanisms for economic valuation of environmental services to encourage their conservation and the development of sustainable economic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on data at the HS-6 digit level, this paper uses survival analysis to present characteristics concerning the survival of China's exports and imports of environmental goods during the period 2002–2020, and compares them with those of other major exporting and importing countries. The major findings are summarized as follows: For exports, the average length of all trade spells was 8.36 years, and the length of only 18.72% of them was more than 18 years, which shows a disadvantage compared with other countries. The hazard rate was 0.31 in the first year of export, and the export survival rate of China's environmental goods was always at the highest level compared with the others. By category, the export survival of environmental monitoring and evaluation goods was the best, and the export survival of renewable energy goods was the worst. For imports, the average length of all trade spells was 6.08 years, and the length of 50.37% of them was equal to 1 year, which are worse results than those of other countries. The hazard rate was up to 0.48 in the first year of imports, which is higher than those of other countries. By category, the environmental monitoring and evaluation goods had worse early import survival and better long-term survival, whereas the renewable energy goods experienced the opposite. Whether for exports or imports, the survival rate is higher when China trades with regions that signed a regional trade agreement with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common property represents a particularly topical and complex issue in Italy due to the widespread (10% of) Italian territory, with millions of buildings built on it and the lack of a clear legal status regarding their alienability and eliminability. Usually known as civic uses, these rights include various forms of collective enjoyment that are recognized by the Italian legal system, such as grazing; hunting; and the right to fell timber, gather firewood, and sow crops. A recent legislative initiative overcame the concept of "eliminating" civic use by introducing the concept of "exchange", but the unique indication given by the law on how to operate the exchange established the equivalence of the environmental value of the land subject to exchange itself. In the present article, the characteristics of the environmental value or Environmental–Economic Civic Value of land subject to exchange are defined. Consequently, appropriate evaluation procedures/models that could be adopted for ascertaining the environmental value of areas encumbered by civic use that are to be exchanged are identified, considering the different territorial conditions of the presence of civic uses and land areas (land currently encumbered/the land to be encumbered) where an exchange can take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kyoto Protocol has received much criticism for its effectiveness as well as the spillover effect (i.e. carbon leakage and competitiveness loss). This paper provides the first evidence for the effect of the Kyoto Protocol on the bilateral trade in environmental goods, which can mitigate and prevent environmental damage. Using the generalized synthetic control method, I construct the counterfactual of trading pairs with Kyoto commitment and show that the export of environmental goods by Kyoto countries increases by 29–30% after the protocol enters into force. The paper further examines the top exporters (Germany and Japan) individually and also reports positive effects. Technology transfer induced by project-based mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol, in particular Clean Development Mechanism, is found to be the potential driving force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the impact of environmental regulations on trade patterns, in terms of trade in environmental goods listed in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Environmental goods are defined here as those that enable sustainable growth and reduce pollution from human activity. For this reason, issues on environmental goods can be put at the forefront to analyze the linkage between environmental regulations and trade flows in the perspective of international institutions. Within the framework of a gravity model, panel data on 112 exporter countries and 53 importer countries is used at a bilateral level over the period of 1989–2013 to gain an understanding of this trade-environmental regulation nexus. This paper proxies the environmental policies by employing the z-score, which includes three comprehensive environmental indicators. The findings indicate that the strict environmental policies impede the trade, and this effect is greater in terms of the environmental goods listed in APEC compared to the ones listed in OECD. Finally, although these stringent environmental regulations reduce the trade flows, they can help to foster the demand for environmentally-friendly products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the impact of environmental regulations on trade patterns, in terms of trade in environmental goods listed in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Environmental goods are defined here as those that enable sustainable growth and reduce pollution from human activity. For this reason, issues on environmental goods can be put at the forefront to analyze the linkage between environmental regulations and trade flows in the perspective of international institutions. Within the framework of a gravity model, panel data on 112 exporter countries and 53 importer countries is used at a bilateral level over the period of 1989–2013 to gain an understanding of this trade-environmental regulation nexus. This paper proxies the environmental policies by employing the z-score, which includes three comprehensive environmental indicators. The findings indicate that the strict environmental policies impede the trade, and this effect is greater in terms of the environmental goods listed in APEC compared to the ones listed in OECD. Finally, although these stringent environmental regulations reduce the trade flows, they can help to foster the demand for environmentally-friendly products.

Common property represents a particularly topical and complex issue in Italy due to the widespread (10% of) Italian territory, with millions of buildings built on it and the lack of a clear legal status regarding their alienability and eliminability. Usually known as civic uses, these rights include various forms of collective enjoyment that are recognized by the Italian legal system, such as grazing; hunting; and the right to fell timber, gather firewood, and sow crops. A recent legislative initiative overcame the concept of “eliminating” civic use by introducing the concept of “exchange”, but the unique indication given by the law on how to operate the exchange established the equivalence of the environmental value of the land subject to exchange itself. In the present article, the characteristics of the environmental value or Environmental–Economic Civic Value of land subject to exchange are defined. Consequently, appropriate evaluation procedures/models that could be adopted for ascertaining the environmental value of areas encumbered by civic use that are to be exchanged are identified, considering the different territorial conditions of the presence of civic uses and land areas (land currently encumbered/the land to be encumbered) where an exchange can take place.

Growing interdependencies between organizations lead them towards the creation of inter-organizational networks where cybersecurity and sustainable development have become one of the most important issues. The Environmental Goods and Services Sector (EGSS) is one of the fastest developing sectors of economy fueled by the growing relationships between network entities based on the ICT usage. In this sector the Green Cybersecurity is an emerging issue because it secures processes related directly and indirectly to the environmental management and protection. In the future the multidimensional development of the EGSS can help European Union to overcome the upcoming crises. At the same time computer technologies and cybersecurity can contribute to the implementation of the concept of sustainable development. The development of environmental technologies along with their cybersecurity is one of the aims of the realization of sustainable production and domestic security concepts among the EU countries. Hence, the aim of this article is a theoretical discussion and research on the relationships between cybersecurity and sustainable development in the inter-organizational networks. Therefore, the article is an attempt to give an answer to the question about the current state of the implementation of cybersecurity in relation to the EGSS part of the economy in different EU countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the impact of environmental taxation on trade in environmental goods (EGs). Using a trade model in which demand for and supply of EGs are endogenous, we show that the relationship between environmental taxation and demand for EGs follows a bell-shaped curve. Above a cutoff tax rate, a higher tax rate can reduce bilateral trade in EGs because there are too many low-productivity EG suppliers. Based on trade data from 1995 to 2012 across the EU-27 countries, our empirical results are in accordance withthe predictions of our model when we use the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) list of EGs. We find that environmental taxation (measured as the ratio of environmental tax revenoe to GDP) has a monotonically positive impact on the number of trading partners. Furthermore, we show that if countries were to apply an environmental tax rate equal to 3.96 % (e.g., the tax rate maximizing international trade in EGs), then trade in EGs across the EU-27 members would experience an increase of 25.33 percentage points. The results are mixed when we analyse the EGs on the OECD list. While the results for the the number of trading partners are confirmed when we use this list, there is no effect of environmental taxation on import demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this note is to address a problem faced in using stated preference methods to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for a project. The considered problem occurs under pure altruism. Even though an agent is equipped with well-behaved preferences, a conventional closedended (binary) valuation question may induce her to overrate or underrate her true WTP. On the other hand, an open-ended valuation format seemingly provides a correct answer, but such a format fails to be incentive compatible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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To address the lack of awareness on environmental values, this study estimates the environmental value of mountain ranges (Jeongmaek) connected to the Baekdudaegan mountain system in South Korea. Seven Jeongmaek are studied during 2011–2016 using a questionnaire survey and the contingent valuation method. Based on willingness to pay (WTP) for biodiversity, this study finds that the lowest estimated WTP was KRW 5813 for Geumbuk and Hannam-Geumbuk Jeongmaek, and the highest value was KRW 120,471 for Hanbuk Jeongmaek. These differences in WTP appear to be significantly determined by education level and number of visits of respondents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is at the crossroads of several policy interests. It is scrutinised by farming and environmental communities as well as by the food industry, regional authorities, research and public sector. The paper analyses the recent consultation process undertaken by the European Commission. The paper concludes that among the key reform issues are: the level of the financial support to the CAP; the continued environmental and other public goods orientation of the CAP and generational renewal. In addition, the focus on result orientation and reduction of the administrative burden can be expected. The relevant European Commission proposals are foreseen around summer 2018.

Directly asking respondents in contingent valuation surveys their willingness to pay is one of the few quantitative methods available to assess full economic value (including both use and non-use values) of non-market environmental goods. It therefore remains vitally important to better understand the reasons for consistently observed violations of procedural invariance in such surveys. This paper describes an empirical experiment designed to examine whether uncertainty might provide an explanation for three commonly observed violations of procedural invariance in contingent valuation. In each case, we present a plausible explanation for each anomaly through decision heuristics brought about by respondents trying to answer the question truthfully when their underlying preferences are stable but uncertain. Using a novel semi-parametric estimator, we find little evidence to support the idea that anomalies can be resolved through an uncertainty explanation, but our experiment provides noteworthy insights into the ways uncertain preferences may be shaped by the nature of contingent valuation questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The study investigates the determinants of environmental quality among G20 nations. • Load Capacity Factor is used as a measure for environmental quality. • Environmental goods and Low-carbon technologies impact LCF across all quantiles. • Environmental goods exert a negative impact on LCF. • Low-carbon technologies impact positively on LCF. Environmental goods and low-carbon technologies have long been identified as having the potential to drive long-term economic progress without compromising environmental quality. However, their exact role in mitigating environmental degradation are yet to be unravelled. In addressing this shortfall, the extant literature relied on research funding and patent application as proxies for green technologies. Having established the weaknesses in the use of these variables as proxies for green technologies, this study explored the role of trade in environmental goods and low-carbon technologies in boosting environmental quality among G20 nation using a panel dataset from 1994 to 2018. The study employed the Method of Moment quantile regression for the model estimation and the Ridge regression, Discroll-Kraay standard error, and the Newey-West standard error estimators to test the robustness of our findings. Our findings indicate that whereas environmental goods promote environmental quality, low-carbon technologies decrease same. Also, the study found economic growth to exert an aggravating effect on environmental quality, while foreign direct investments, natural resource rents, human capital development, and renewable energy consumption exert positive influence on environmental quality. Based on the findings of the study, G20 nations are encouraged to improve green market structures to improve the trade in environmental goods and low-carbon technologies. Also the share of renewable energy sources in the overall energy basket must be improved to help improve environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on panel data covering 114 countries between 1996 and 2011, this study investigates the impact on pollution of trade in environmental goods (EGs). We check the validity of the implicit consequences assumed by the win–win scenario in the current trade-climate negotiations, arguing that market dynamics should guarantee that EGs' liberalization is 'automatically' in the interest of all countries, regardless their market and institutional capacities. We show that trade in EGs alone fail to address environmental problems effectively. In particular, although we found efficiency gains from trade in EGs (in terms of CO2 and SO2 emissions per 1 US$ of GDP), and more recurrently for net exporters than for net importers, our results often failed to highlight environmental effectiveness (in terms of total CO2 and SO2 emissions). A general conclusion that emerges from our empirical results is that trade [in EGs] cannot effectively replace non-market-based solutions, when it comes to non-trade objectives. However, it seems to complement them efficiently. Our multiple-equation GMM estimations reveal specific direct, indirect and total effects on pollution depending on the countries' net trade status, leading to several policy recommendations for an increased environmental effectiveness of trade in EGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Espacios is the property of Talleres de Impresos Oma and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Jurídica (0103-3506) is the property of Revista Juridica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper analyses economic dynamics in a context in which the production and consumption choices of economic agents generate environmental degradation. Agents can defend themselves from environmental degradation by increasing the production and consumption of output, which is assumed to be a (perfect) substitute for environmental quality. We consider the cases in which agents can coordinate their actions or not, and we show that if the dynamics is conditioned by negative externalities (so that there is no coordination), then a self-reinforcing mechanism may occur leading to production and consumption levels higher than the socially optimal ones. A complete analysis of the dynamics and of the welfare properties of the stationary states is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental goods are goods used or produced by industry that reduce air and water pollution and optimize the use of resources in production. Despite several Sustainable Development Goals explicitly calling for resilient and sustainable development, the diffusion of such goods is still low, especially in developing countries. Only sporadic research on the determinants of international trade of environmental goods is available. Based on the OECD classification of environmental goods, this gap is filled by adopting a gravity model, using trade data over a time span of 15 years from 1999 to 2014 across 71 countries. The central message of this paper is that environmental regulatory stringency is a key determinant of environmental goods trade. It is specifically provided evidence that a substitution effect exists between environmental regulation stringency and trade of environmental goods. In line with empirical literature on traditional gravity models, increased capacity to innovate, cultural ties, geographical proximity and financial uncertainty also play a role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the causal effects of trade intensity in environmental goods (EGs) on air and water pollution by treating trade, environmental policy, and income as endogenous. We estimate a system of reduced-form, simultaneous equations on extensive data, from 1995 to 2003, for transition economies that include Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Our empirical results suggest that, although trade intensity in EGs (pooled list) reduces CO2 emissions mainly through an indirect income effect, it increases water pollution because the income-induced effect does not offset the direct harmful scale-composition effect. No significant effect is found for SO2 emissions with respect to the list of aggregated EGs. In addition to diverging effects across pollutants, we show that results are sensitive to EGs’ classification, e.g., cleaner technologies and products, end-of-pipe products, environmentally preferable products, etc. For instance, a double profit—environmental and economic—is found only for “cleaner technologies and products” in the models explaining emissions of greenhouse gases. Interesting findings are discussed for imports and exports of various classifications of EGs. Overall, we cannot support global and uniform trade liberalisation for EGs from a sustainable development perspective. Either regional or bilateral trade agreements that take into account the states’ priorities could act as building blocks towards a global, sequentially achieved liberalisation of EGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop residues, one of smallholder farmers' most common but overlooked resources, serve multiple purposes in many rural households: they are a source of fuel, animal feed, and soil amendments. They are key to maintaining soil fertility, depletion of which is widely considered to be one of the major causes of low food production in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using household survey data from western Kenya, we investigate the contribution of maize residues to smallholders' agricultural production and estimate their shadow value to be 5.94 Kenyan shillings (US$0.07) per kilogram. Valuing crop residue benefits contributes to multiple social goals, including improved economic evaluation of alternative agricultural practices and environmental conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding what influences the value of nature is crucial for informing environmental policy. From a sustainability perspective, economic valuation should not only seek to determine a society's willingness to pay for environmental goods to devise an efficient allocation of scarce resources, but should also account for distributional effects to ensure justice. Yet, how economic inequality affects the value of non-market environmental goods remains understudied. Combining recently developed theoretical results with empirical evidence, this Commentary shows that more equal societies have a higher valuation for environmental public goods and that non-market benefits of environmental policy accrue over-proportionally to poorer households. On this ground, we discuss implications for environmental valuation, management and policy-making and identify a number of fruitful areas for future research. We conclude that environmental valuation should explicitly account for economic inequality, and that encompassing assessments of the distributional effects of environmental policies must consider the distribution of non-market environmental benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We combine the use of a stochastic frontier analysis framework and composite indicators for farm provision of environmental goods to obtain a farm level composite indicator reflecting sustainable intensification. The novel sustainable intensification composite indicator that is developed accounts for multidimensional market and non-market outputs, namely the economic performance of cereal farms (i.e. market production value) and the associated positive environmental impacts of production (e.g. positive environmental externalities). The composite indicator integrates three different indicators for the provision of environmental goods into a stochastic frontier analysis: a) agri-environmental payments; b) the ratio of rough grassland and permanent pasture area to total utilised agricultural area; and c) land use diversity, as measured by the Shannon Index. We apply this approach to a panel of data for 106 cereal farms in England and Wales during the period 2010–2012. Results indicate that farm rankings on the indicator vary substantially depending on the weight given to the different environmental aspects/indicators, suggesting that single indicators of the provision of environmental goods may not provide a true reflection of the environmental performance of farms. We illustrate a simple approach that captures the aspects of sustainable intensification of farms in a much more holistic way, i.e. by producing a distribution of sustainable intensification scores for each farm reflecting different weightings of evaluation criteria. To reduce the dimensionality of this distribution farms are classified into four distinct groups according to the shape of this distribution, with some farms found to perform well under all combinations of weights for evaluation criteria, while others always perform poorly. This distribution-based analysis provides a greater depth of information than traditional approaches based on the generation of a single sustainable intensification score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negotiations on the liberalization of environmental goods (EGs) and services within the WTO Doha Round (mandated in November 2001) are facing specific challenges. Conflicting interests and differing perceptions of the benefits of increased trade in EGs were reflected in different approaches proposed for determining EGs. Using import data of 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries and from a sample of 167 countries, from 1995 to 2012, we discuss the trade effect of reducing barriers on EGs. We analyze the lists of EGs proposed by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and OECD using a Translog gravity model. We found that removing tariff barriers for EGs will have a modest impact because for the biggest importers and exporters, elasticities of trade costs are very low while for most trading relationships they are very high, making it difficult for exporters to maintain their markets. Overall, our results suggest that, because of their substantial effect on international trade, future negotiations on EGs should also address the issues of standards and nontariff barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]