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1. Environmental Inequality in Industrial Brownfields: Evidence from French Municipalities

Author:
Charlotte Bez, Michael Ash, and James K. Boyce
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
Recent research on environmental inequality has extended its focus from ongoing pollution to legacy pollution by examining the geography of industrial brownfields, defined as nonproductive, contaminated land. This article is the first extensive brownfield analysis for a European country from an environmental inequality perspective, exploiting the political momentum in France where brownfield restoration has become a national priority. In doing so, we combine data on over 7,200 industrial brownfields from the 2022 geodatabase ‘Cartofriches’ with socio-economic variables at the municipality level. We demonstrate communities with higher percentages of foreign-born and unemployed persons are disproportionately more likely to be located near brownfields. The social gradient increases significantly in communities that host many brownfields, the so-called hotspots. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship with income, with a positive correlation until the 75th percentile (C23,700 annually). These findings are robust to different controls, including across urban and rural areas, though with regional differences. Further, we also account for the location of noxious industrial facilities sourced from the E-PRTR database to show the existence of cumulative impacts of environmental risks. Our analysis provides crucial entry points for restorative environmental justice considerations and has important implications for Europe’s just transition and cohesion policies.
Topic:
Environment, Inequality, Pollution, Industry, and Municipalities
Political Geography:
Europe and France

2. Circular Business Models: Policy Enablers for Plastic Packaging Alternatives in India

Author:
Jenny To
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
In recent years, global production of plastics has surged and is expected to increase further over the following years, with over a quarter being attributed to plastic packaging. Plastic packaging poses environmental risks due to the fossil fuels consumed in its production and the impact on eco-systems due to its inappropriate disposal. A large share of mismanaged plastic waste can be attributed to a few developing and emerging countries (DECs) in Asia. Their expected income and population growth, as well as associated increase in consumption and urbanisation, is expected to further strain inadequate waste management systems. In response, young ventures offering circular business models in packaging have emerged to tackle plastic packaging pollution. These ventures are embedded in an entrepreneurial ecosystem in which policies are, among others, determining enablers, and policy-makers have a key role in setting optimal framework conditions for circular business models in packaging to succeed. At the same time, policy agendas that address resource efficiency and the circular economy are on the rise in multiple DECs. For this reason, this paper addresses the question of the extent to which existing policies are supporting and enabling circular business models. This paper first discusses opportunities, risks, and challenges of existing circular business models in packaging in terms of waste hierarchy levels – reducing and dematerialising, reusing and refilling, replacing, and recycling – before examining the entrepreneurial ecosystems in which they operate. With a focus on policy as an enabler for circular business models in packaging, a holistic overview of possible policies in the circular packaging context is provided. Against this conceptual background, India is examined as a case-study. In recent years, multiple Indian start-ups have emerged, offering reusable packaging solutions or bio-based packaging alternatives, while other ventures seek to improve waste management and recycling. India’s previously introduced policies, including the Plastic Waste Management Rules, Swacch Bharat Mission, extended producer responsibility and a ban on single-use plastic, are the first stepping stones towards an enabling ecosystem for circular business models in packaging. However, this paper points out further opportunities – so far, India’s key policies have been addressing the downstream on the macro level. This study showed that macro-level policies need further enforcement and should be complemented by upstream policies. Meanwhile, meso-level and micro-level policies have been rather neglected. Policy-makers and development cooperation are encouraged to take action now, given the limited window of opportunity to establish a supporting framework for circular economies in development policy.
Topic:
Environment, Business, Waste, and Plastic
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

3. Follow the money: connecting anti-money laundering systems to disrupt environmental crime in the Amazon

Author:
Melina Risso, Carolina Andrade Quevedo, Lycia Brasil, Vivian Calderoni, and Maria Fe Vallejo
Publication Date:
06-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Igarapé Institute
Abstract:
Environmental crime became the world’s third most lucrative illicit economy after drug trafficking and smuggling, with estimates of $110 to $281 billion in annual profits. Between 2006 and 2016, environmental crimes grew at a rate of 5% to 7% per year, a pace two or three times faster than that of global GDP growth. Money laundering is part of the criminal machinery that plunders the Amazon Rainforest. The study “Follow the Money: connecting anti-money laundering systems to disrupt environmental crime in the amazon” reveals the need for systems, agencies, and institutions responsible for preventing money laundering to turn their attention to the connections between this illicit practice and environmental crimes. The Igarapé study shows that the money laundering cycle follows three stages before the laundered funds can enter the financial system: placement, layering, and integration. However, not all proceeds from criminal activity are directly laundered into the formal financial system. Thus, informal diversification constitutes the process of moving illegal flows into the informal economy. It is estimated that 30% of the money to be laundered is used to pay the operating expenses of illicit economies. Cash transactions, divided into small amounts and deposited by “money mules,” are used to finance the hiring of precarious labor, accommodations, food, security, transportation, health services, leisure, and machinery, for example. The remaining 70% of illicit proceeds are formally inserted into the financial system. The study also recalls that the World Bank estimated in 2019 that governments lose between 6 and 9 billion dollars in tax revenue each year due to illegal logging. Similarly, other environmental crimes such as illegal mining, especially of gold and diamonds, generate between 12 and 48 billion dollars in revenue. In 2018, Interpol’s Global Illicit Flows Atlas found that illegal logging accounted for a percentage between 15% and 30% of the global timber trade, calculated between 51 billion and 152 billion dollars per year. The illegal logging industry is responsible for up to 90% of deforestation of tropical forests in African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Combating illicit financial flows is a powerful tool for dismantling illegal economies. It becomes even more relevant when it is identified that illicit financial flows fuel an ecosystem of environmental crime composed of a convergence of environmental and non-environmental crimes, such as corruption, fraud, tax evasion, and others.
Topic:
Security, Environment, Financial Crimes, Money Laundering, and Illicit Financial Flows
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, and Amazon Basin

4. Redressing environmental harm? A 'corporate sovereignty' problem

Author:
Stefano Porfido
Publication Date:
05-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Trade and Economic Integration, The Graduate Institute (IHEID)
Abstract:
The transition towards a low-carbon economy is an epoch-defining goal. However, this transition develops following traditional patterns of business that are intrinsically environmentally harmful as they rest upon profit-oriented strategies of commodifying natural resources. By taking the anthropological notion of "corporate sovereignty", this contribution discusses the unsustainability of private corporates' property a-like structures of power over natural resources and frames them within forms of economic governmentality. The paper concludes by stressing the need for a cultural change to occur to back the transition towards a novel model of sustainable business, i.e. of "business within the Heart's limits".
Topic:
Environment, Sovereignty, Natural Resources, Carbon Emissions, and Corporations
Political Geography:
Global Focus

5. Economic and Environmental Impacts of China’s New Nationwide CO2 Emissions Trading System

Author:
Lawrence Goulder, Xianling Long, Chenfei Qu, and Da Zhang
Publication Date:
05-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Asia Society
Abstract:
China’s National Emissions Trading System (ETS) has already become the world’s largest ETS and is expected to contribute substantially toward meeting China’s pledge to peak its carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. The new system is based on a tradable performance standard (TPS), a rate-based system under which each covered facility receives from the government in each compliance period a certain number of emissions allowances based on its output and the government’s assigned “benchmark” ratio of emissions per unit of output. Economic and Environmental Impacts of China’s New Nationwide CO2 Emissions Trading System describes the results from a multi-sector multi-period general equilibrium model designed to assess the potential economic, energy mix, and emissions impacts of different future policy options under China’s National ETS over the period 2020–2035, by sector and province and in the aggregate
Topic:
Environment, Economy, Trade, and Carbon Emissions
Political Geography:
China and Asia

6. Climate change adaptation relevance of Tanzania’s national budget

Author:
Noah Pauline, Peter Rogers, Edmund Mabhuye, Beatrice Sumari, Lucas Katera, Jamal Msami, Per Tidemand, and Esbern Friis-Hansen
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
In Tanzania, climate change adaptation is financed by international development assistance and by nationally generated revenue. While international development assistance is registered by OECD and climate change adaptation relevance tagged by donors, the proportion of the nationally generated revenue that is climate change adaptation relevant is unknown. This DIIS Working Paper analyses the climate change adaptation relevance of the national budget (from 2014 to 2022), using the same methodology applied in a previous study (Yanda et al., 2013). The study further assesses the degree to which climate change adaptation financed is devolved to local government. The study finds that a disproportionately high proportion of climate adaptation finance is used at central government levels due to priorities being established at the ministry level. Moreover, the study finds that local governments lack discretion over climate change adaptation finance due to the country’s highly centralised policies, practices and procedures. Qualitative fieldwork indicates that nearly all climate change adaptation finance accessed by local governments comes with a central government tag (directive) on how to use it.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Environment, Poverty, Budget, and Inequality
Political Geography:
Africa and Tanzania

7. Inclusion and exclusion in Somali drought emergency assistance

Author:
Ahmed Musa
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
When drought or other emergencies strike in the Somali regions, the first responders are Somalis themselves, not the international humanitarian system. Based on family, kinship and more distant social ties, Somalis mobilise and deliver various forms of emergency assistance to the affected communities. Yet, mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion vary significantly, pending on the closeness of social ties, the power relations between local and international actors, and the number and forms of intermediaries. In this new DIIS Working Paper, Ahmed M. Musa, examines such local and transnational humanitarian practices and the mechanisms of inclusion and inclusion that they entail. Focusing on instances of drought in Somaliland, Musa argues that emergency assistance based on close social ties observes the overall humanitarian principle of impartiality. There are challenges, however, particularly when the social ties are more distant, as in the case of government-led or international responses. This may be mitigated, Musa shows, by the social contract of reciprocity between givers and recipients of assistance, going hand in hand with social sanctions where people abstain from helping those in need. Familiarity is thus central for impartial and inclusive access to emergency assistance, rather than an obstacle. The paper is an output from the Diaspora Humanitarianism in Complex Crises (D-Hum) research project in which Musa was a postdoc between 2020 and 2022. D-Hum analyses how Somali diaspora actors and their local counterparts mobilise, channel and deliver humanitarian assistance to Somalia and Somaliland during complex humanitarian crises. The project is funded by the Danish Consultative Research Committee for Development Research (FFU). Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedInSend link to page with mailPrint page
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Environment, Migration, Poverty, Natural Resources, Inequality, Conflict, Borders, and Peace
Political Geography:
Africa and Somalia

8. Most green funds do not have a sustainability impact

Author:
Jan Fichtner, Robin Jaspert, and Johannes Petry
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
ESG funds are growing rapidly. However, their impact on climate change mitigation and sustainability remains unclear. Recent research on the transmission mechanisms from sustainable finance to the real economy has identified key shortcomings that need to be addressed in order to reduce greenwashing and make these funds truly green.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Capitalism, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
Global Focus

9. Bridging the Gap: A "Sustainable Food Seal"

Author:
Paul E. III Schickler, Francesca Debiase, Sally Rockey, Jennifer Goldston, Peggy Tsai Yih, and Natalie Burdsall
Publication Date:
05-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Abstract:
Climate change is wrecking havoc on the global food supply chain, drawing attention to the benefits of sustainable practices for preserving the food system. As a result, consumers are starting to shift their purchasing behaviors, opting for more sustainable food options that might have a smaller carbon footprint or use fewer resources. To help inform their purchasing decisions, consumers are demanding more information on how and where their food is produced, but they are largely unable to find a labeling system with clear and comprehensive standards; existing "green" and "eco" labels are often private certification schemes that focus on only one aspect of sustainability. A "sustainable food seal" is a potential solution. A label that would standardize a food product’s eco-score to reduce consumer confusion, sustainable food seals take an inclusive approach to food labeling that use comparable metrics that involve all parts of the food value chain—from farm to fork—and offer the opportunity to validate practices and empower stakeholders to support a more sustainable food supply chain. Based on a November 2022 roundtable, the first in a series of regular convenings, the white paper “Bridging the Gap: A ‘Sustainable Food Seal’ Needed to Improve Transparency between Farmers and Consumers about Sustainable Food Production” explores current food labeling practices, identifies challenges to label standardization and voluntary adoption, and proposes potential actions and strategies to provide insight into the role a “sustainable food seal” can play in enhancing sustainability through food.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Environment, Food, Food Security, Sustainability, Farming, and Supply Chains
Political Geography:
Global Focus

10. It’s not a Sprint, it’s a Marathon: Reviewing Governmental R&D Support for Environmental Innovation

Author:
Leonie Meißner, Sonja Peterson, and Finn Ole Semrau
Publication Date:
08-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
Abstract:
In a race against excessive global warming, the world must accelerate the development and adoption of environmental innovations (EIs). EIs are crucial in decarbonizing the economy and meeting the net-zero targets. In this literature review, we delve into the role of governments in promoting EIs across stages of maturity and the likeliness of such support to reduce emissions and mitigation costs. Various theoretical justifications, such as knowledge externalities, dynamic increasing returns, path dependency and incomplete information, highlight the necessity to promote EI through governmental Research and Development (R&D) support. While emission pricing remains the most cost-efficient climate policy, it fails as a stand-alone instrument to sufficiently encourage EI. Accordingly, the optimal approach is a policy mix complementing emission pricing with governmental R&D support. The theoretical finding is backed by empirical studies on the development and deployment of renewable energies, which also show that investment in R&D can effectively reduce emissions and mitigation costs. By combining theoretical and empirical research, the review concludes by examining two pivotal policy actions aimed at accelerating the take-off of EIs: The US Inflation Reduction Act and the European Green New Deal Industrial Plan. We evaluate their specific aspects and limitations to effectively and efficiently contribute to decarbonization.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Innovation, and Research and Development
Political Geography:
Global Focus

11. Time to say goodbye? The impact of environmental regulation on foreign divestment

Author:
Haiou Mao, Holger Görg, and Guopei Fang
Publication Date:
09-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
Abstract:
We look at divestments by foreign firms – a topic that has received comparatively little attention in the literature – and investigate how changes in the regulatory environment in the host country may impact on such divestment decisions. We use the implementation of China’s Two Control Zone (TCZ) policy as a “quasi-natural experiment”, using detailed firm level combined with city level data for the empirical analysis. Our results show that the implementation of TCZ policy has led to higher probabilities of divestments by foreign firms in targeted TCZ cities and industries. The mechanism behind this seems to be a TCZ-induced increase in discharge fees and efforts to reduce SO2 emissions. Allowing for heterogeneity of effects, we find that the effect is particularly strong for firms from source countries with less stringent environmental regulation, and those using less advanced technology. We furthermore show that firms using intermediates from polluting industries also experience a higher probability of divestment.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Foreign Direct Investment, Regulation, Business, and Divestment
Political Geography:
China and Asia

12. From Threat to Opportunity: Harnessing Climate Change to Build a Prosperous Future for Iraq and the Region

Author:
Azzam Alwash
Publication Date:
06-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Climate change and environmental degradation are adding serious strain to Iraqi coping capacities and governance mechanisms in a county already struggling with elevated water scarcity, instability and demographic growth. Widely recognised as a country at high-risk from climate change, Iraq faces the urgent need to diversify its economy away from hydrocarbon resources, while developing mechanisms of cooperation and co-dependency with regional neighbours to provide sustenance and opportunities to its youthful population. Drawing on Iraq’s history as a trade hub and bread basket for the region, Iraq and its neighbours need to urgently work together to overcome divisions and plan for a better future if the challenge of climate change is to be transformed into an opportunity capable of promoting stability and integration in an increasingly fragile Middle East.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Water, Sustainable Development Goals, and Energy
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

13. Marine pollution: A growing concern for the southern suburb of Tunis

Author:
Khouloud Ayari
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
The National Sanitation Utility (ONAS) organized a public consultation two months after a human chain demonstration took place on 12 September along the beaches of the southern suburb of Tunis. This article examines the timeline of events that took place to warn against sea degradation from 2013 until September 2021. It also provides feedback on the November 2021 public consultation, and offers insight into the current environmental issues at hand in both local and national contexts.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Maritime, and Pollution
Political Geography:
Africa and Tunisia

14. From Passive Owners to Planet Savers? Asset Managers, Carbon Majors and the Limits of Sustainable Finance

Author:
Joseph Baines and Sandy Brian Hager
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
City Political Economy Research Centre (CITYPERC), University of London
Abstract:
This article examines the role of the Big Three asset management firms — BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street — in corporate environmental governance. Specifically, it charts the Big Three’s relationships with the public–owned Carbon Majors: a small group of fossil fuels, cement and mining companies responsible for the bulk of industrial greenhouse gas emissions. It finds that the Big Three much more often than not oppose rather than support shareholder resolutions aimed at improving environmental governance. Notably, this is even the case with the Big Three’s environmental, social and governance funds. A more fine–gained analysis shows that the combined voting decisions of the Big Three are more likely to lead to the failure than to the success of environmental resolutions and that, whether they succeed or fail, these resolutions tend to be narrow in scope and piecemeal in nature. Based on these findings, the article raises serious doubts about the Big Three’s credentials as environmental stewards.
Topic:
Environment, Finance, Fossil Fuels, Sustainability, and Corporate Governance
Political Geography:
Global Focus

15. Tallying Updated NDCs to Gauge Emissions Reductions in 2030 and Progress toward Net Zero

Author:
James Glynn, Kristin Smith, Melissa Lott, Lilly Yejin Lee, Jordan Shenhar, and Pekun Bakare
Publication Date:
03-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), Columbia University
Abstract:
The Paris Agreement included two particularly crucial innovations for supporting greenhouse gas emissions reductions: a voluntary, bottom-up nationally determined contribution (NDC) and a ratchet mechanism. The latter change meant that, in the run-up to the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Glasgow last fall, countries prepared updated NDCs—specific commitments to reduce emissions by 2030—that outlined their increased ambition. After the adoption of the Glasgow Climate Pact, many observers have focused on what these NDCs, as well as countries’ pledges to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by certain dates, could mean for the world’s ability to limit global temperature rise to well below 2° Celsius—the central goal of the Paris Agreement. But another critical question remains: how would these targets and ambitions drive near-term emissions reductions. Understanding the answer can provide insights to investors, utilities, or others with decision time horizons of 10–15 years and that wish to align with net-zero ambitions. This report, part of the energy systems modeling program at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, aims to assess the alignment between updated NDCs and current net-zero pledges for policy makers and industry leaders to gain insight into their own national and corporate decarbonization outlooks. It considers all classes of NDCs, including: 1) percentage reduction in emissions relative to a historical base year level, 2) percentage reduction compared to a 2030 business-as-usual scenario, and 3) reduction in emissions intensity of gross domestic product. It presents an estimate of the percentage reduction in greenhouse gases (GHGs) from 2015 to 2030 for all commitments outlined in NDCs for countries that also have a net-zero target. Overall, this analysis finds that the NDCs of economies with 2050 net-zero pledges would lead to a 27 percent reduction in GHG emissions by 2030, relative to 2015. However, countries with post-2050 net-zero pledges are projected to increase their emissions by 10 percent between 2015 and 2030, lowering the net global emission reduction to 9 percent over this period.
Topic:
Environment, Green Technology, Carbon Emissions, and Decarbonization
Political Geography:
Global Focus

16. Eden Denied: Environmental Decay, Illicit Activities, and Instability in Iraq’s Southern Border Area

Author:
Harith Hasan
Publication Date:
03-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
Iraq’s Basra Governorate, on the border with Iran, has endured environmental degradation due to conflict and a reduction of water flows into the Shatt al-Arab waterway. The ensuing decline in agriculture has led to rural migration, unemployment, poverty, a flourishing of informal and illicit economies, and the growth of violent groups. Iran’s dominant influence in Iraq has sustained this situation. Unless these problems are addressed, instability in Basra will increase and will have long-term consequences for Iraq and the Middle East.
Topic:
Environment, Water, Conflict, Borders, and Instability
Political Geography:
Iraq, Iran, Middle East, and Basra

17. Environmental Organizations as Potential Players in the Peace Process

Author:
Nir Arielli
Publication Date:
06-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Mitvim: The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies
Abstract:
Environmental issues cross geographic and man-made political boundaries. Shared environmental problems and situations of interdependence may exacerbate conflicts between communities, but they can also offer opportunities for cooperation. This article discusses the capacity of non-governmental organizations to use environmental issues as a platform for promoting peace in the region, especially between Israelis and Palestinians. It focuses on three organizations that see Israeli-Palestinian cooperation as a central pillar of their activities: EcoPeace Middle East, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, and Comet Middle East. The article examines the variety of activities these organizations engage in: promoting and encouraging cooperation between political entities, education, facilitating meetings between individuals and groups on both sides, addressing energy and water-related problems (mainly sewage treatment and river pollution), and more. The notable achievements of the three organizations are also highlighted, as well as the considerable difficulties they face. This review of their activities suggests some conclusions and recommendations for organizations and for individuals interested in environmental protection and the future of relations between Israelis and Palestinians. This paper is the second in a series of a joint project between the Mitvim Institute and the Davis Institute for International Relations.
Topic:
Environment, Water, Peace, Pollution, and Civil Society Organizations
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

18. Feminist Perspectives on Climate Diplomacy

Author:
Susan Harris Rimmer, Bridget Lewis, Rowena Maguire, Esther Onyango, and Maria Tanyag
Publication Date:
05-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Women's Development Agency (IWDA)
Abstract:
This is the critical decade for climate action and all foreign policy interventions will be judged against this global challenge. It’s well established that Australia’s reticence to act on climate change is undermining our diplomatic relationships, particular with our near neighbours in the Pacific. As a collective action problem, climate change requires nations to look beyond their own narrowly defined interests and seek collective global solutions. Feminist foreign policy provides a lens through which we can see climate action as a shared priority, a human security issue, and one which is central to Australia’s relationships with the region. Additionally as a framework which emphasises the need for policy coherence between domestic and international issues, feminist foreign policy highlights the need for Australia to take domestic action on climate change in order to fulfil our international role. Critically, the impacts of climate change are gendered, and so the solutions must be informed by rigorous gender analysis. Feminist foreign policy, with its focus on understanding and transforming the systemic drivers of inequality and marginalization, can further our understanding of the historical contributions of nations to climate change and rebalance of the scales towards the most marginalized who face the greatest impacts.
Topic:
Climate Change, Diplomacy, Environment, and Feminism
Political Geography:
Australia

19. We Will Build the Future: A Plan to Save the Planet

Author:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Abstract:
Under the leadership of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research partnered with 26 research institutes from around the world to draft A Plan to Save the Planet. This living, evolving document puts forward a vision for the present and the immediate future centred on twelve key themes: democracy and the world order, the environment, finance, health, housing, food, education, work, care, women, culture, and the digital world. Dossier no. 48 includes and elaborates on the Plan and lays out our orientation, principles, and horizon.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Regional Cooperation, and Green Technology
Political Geography:
Global Focus

20. Does environmental policy uncertainty hinder investments towards a low-carbon economy?

Author:
Joëlle Noailly, Laura Nowzohour, and Matthias Van Den Heuvel
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute (IHEID)
Abstract:
We use machine learning algorithms to construct a novel news-based index of US environmental and climate policy uncertainty (EnvPU) available on a monthly basis over the 1990-2019 period. We find that the EnvPU index spikes during the environmental spending disputes of the 1995-1996 government shutdown, in the early 2010s due the failure of the national cap-and-trade climate bill and during the Trump presidency. We examine how elevated levels of environmental policy uncertainty relate to investments in the low-carbon economy. In firm-level estimations, we find that a rise in the EnvPU index is associated with a reduced probability for cleantech startups to receive venture capital (VC) funding. In financial markets, a rise in our EnvPU index is associated with higher stock volatility for firms with above-average green revenue shares. At the macro level, shocks in our index lead to declines in the number of cleantech VC deals and higher volatility of the main benchmark clean energy exchange-traded fund. Overall, our results are consistent with the notion that policy uncertainty has adverse effects on investments for the low-carbon economy hindering progress to address the urgency of climate action.
Topic:
Environment, Finance, Economy, Investment, Institutions, and Decarbonization
Political Geography:
Global Focus

21. How the Inflation Reduction Act Will Drive Global Climate Action

Author:
Frances Colon, Cassidy Childs, and Anne Christianson
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for American Progress - CAP
Abstract:
The Inflation Reduction Act puts the United States on track to meeting its Paris Agreement commitment and to reclaiming the mantle of global climate leadership.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, International Cooperation, and Inflation
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

22. Navigating the Crises in European Energy

Author:
Michael Grubb
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
Abstract:
The energy crisis engulfing Europe is a crisis of both gas and electricity markets, with huge cost impacts on consumers across all European countries. In Britain, half of typical household energy expenditure arises from electricity. This paper examines how the cost of gas-powered generation feeds through to electricity bills, on the principle of marginal cost pricing, setting the price for most of the time though it accounts for only about 40% of GB generation. Combined with the steep decline in wind and solar costs over the past decade, this has resulted in an unprecedented degree of ‘cost inversion’ in the electricity system. We offer estimates of the increase of revenues across the wholesale market, and outline five principles for reform for addressing the combined challenges of energy costs and accelerating low-carbon transition.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Green Technology, and Energy Crisis
Political Geography:
Global Focus

23. Local community views on Marine Protected Areas on Greek islands

Author:
Lydia Avrami, Nicolas Demertzis, Antonis Armenakis, and Dmitra Syrou
Publication Date:
04-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)
Abstract:
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are usually designated in areas with intense human activity. An MPA is therefore a complex socioeconomic system whose success and/or failure, and ability to deliver environmental, social and economic benefits, depend on local communities and their sensitivities. This paper examines how recently designated MPAs on three islands in the Cyclades group (Kythnos, Milos and Santorini), with differently structured local economies and levels of touristic development, are perceived by their local communities. Data are drawn from a phone survey of local residents, and the results show that the awareness, attitudes and perceptions of the local groups differ significantly depending on the area and their stake in the MPA. How much local communities know about the MPA regulatory framework and its location, past experiences and socioeconomic factors are deemed good predictors for the local communities’ behaviors towards the MPAs. The positive interplay between the operation of an MPA and the development of scuba diving is also acknowledged, although the perceived trade-off between marine protection and fishers’ revenue remains the main challenge facing MPA implementation. The paper’s findings highlight the urgent need to deal with the information and knowledge deficit, and to bridge the gap between the perceptions and expectations of local communities and the MPAs’ actual output. Applying a participatory approach to MPA decision-making and operation would build capacity for effective implementation. Thus, the delimitation of the protection zones within the MPAs, and the provision of specific constraints, should be based on both ecological and socioeconomic criteria.
Topic:
Environment, Natural Resources, Public Opinion, Regulation, and Ecology
Political Geography:
Europe and Greece

24. Climate Finance Effectiveness: Six Challenging Trends

Author:
Beata Cichocka and Ian Mitchell
Publication Date:
12-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
This paper identifies and explores a number of challenges in using international public climate finance effectively towards contributing to low-carbon and resilient growth in lower- and middle-income countries. We explore key quantitative and qualitative trends in the climate finance architecture, including predictability of disbursements, affordability and concessionality of funding, provider proliferation and project fragmentation, implementation via modalities supporting recipient ownership, and the degree to which climate-related interventions are evaluated. Our research considers these trends against globally agreed principles of development effectiveness, with the aim of improving understandings of both the common and the climate-specific challenges within development finance. Ultimately, we find that climate-related development finance faces a number of challenges relative to other official development flows, including significantly lower disbursement ratios, a higher share of finance provided through debt instruments—and a rising share of loans to lower-income countries assessed as being at high risk of debt distress, a faster pace in proliferation of providers and shrinking project sizes, and fewer efforts to systematically evaluate impacts of interventions. Each of these areas will need to be tackled by public climate finance providers to ensure that the available funding is used towards climate objectives effectively. These and other issues related to the quality of climate finance should also be considered during the design of the new quantitative climate finance target under the UNFCCC to ensure that the structure of the goal promotes accountability and increases recipients’ ability to trust in the climate finance architecture.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, International Cooperation, and Resilience
Political Geography:
Global Focus

25. Building a Portfolio of Pull Financing Mechanisms for Climate and Development

Author:
Ranil Dissanayake and Bernat Camps Adrogue
Publication Date:
11-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Pull financing is a powerful but underused mechanism for incentivising progress on hard-to-tackle social problems for which innovation or the take-up of innovation may be part of the solution. It should become part of the ongoing landscape for climate and development work. This paper sets out the specific design features for a portfolio of pull financing mechanisms to support the accelerated development of socially valuable innovations with both climate and development implications. It considers the institutional structure required to manage such a novel mechanism, a process for finding and developing a potential application, and the objectives pull financing should pursue. It then looks in detail at seven applications of pull financing in the climate and development space, each selected to illustrate the potential and challenges of the approach. We conclude by setting out how to construct a high-ambition portfolio of pull financing projects that is both tractable and attractive to potential funders.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Environment, and Finance
Political Geography:
Global Focus

26. Let Them Eat Carbon

Author:
Vijaya Ramachandran and Arthur Baker
Publication Date:
06-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The push for the World Bank and others to link their investments to addressing climate concerns stems from a fear that, unless developing countries take action to decarbonize now, their economic growth will lead to vast emissions that will derail all global efforts to limit climate change. This approach, which treats low- and middle-income countries as a monolith, is unhelpful to the conversation about climate change. To understand better where emissions are concentrated and how to address them, we projected carbon dioxide emissions to 2035—the point at which observers believe they will level off in most countries due to technological advances and accumulating wealth—under some simple assumptions. Emissions from the world’s poorest 64 countries, those which get IDA loans, will remain very low for decades to come, even if their economies grow rapidly and without action to reduce emissions. Pressuring low- and lower-middle-income countries to replace plans for gas power with solar or wind energy will have limited climate benefits compared to replacing coal generation in richer countries. It is just more efficient—and just—to focus on climate mitigation where emissions are high, and on poverty reduction where poverty is high. And given that there is no sign of an increase in aid spending, especially in the poorest countries, rich countries must not cannibalize development aid or reinvent the development finance architecture
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, World Bank, Finance, Banking, and Green Transition
Political Geography:
Global Focus

27. FSO Safer potential marine disaster: Yemen's environment worst nightmare

Author:
Jisham Nagi
Publication Date:
03-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
The conflict ongoing in Yemen distracts attention from environmental pollution incidents that have occurred or are likely to occur in Yemeni territories. The most urgent pollution case disturbing Yemen and its neighbouring coastal communities is that of the FSO Safer Oil Tanker, which was left without maintenance for years. If damaged, it could cause an unprecedented ecological and environmental disaster in the region. This paper explores the effects of the conflict on policy and action around FSO Safer and presents ways to mitigate a potential disaster.
Topic:
Security, Disaster Relief, Environment, and Disaster Management
Political Geography:
Yemen and Gulf Nations

28. The State of India’s Pollution Control Boards: Who is in the field?

Author:
Bhargav Krishna, Arunesh Karkun, Sharon Mathew, Prannv Dhawan, and Shibani Ghosh
Publication Date:
10-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The Indo-Gangetic plain (IGP) in India is one of the most polluted regions in the world. A densely populated region, with a large number of sources emitting a range of pollutants, regulating air pollution here is an extremely difficult and complex task. Several measures are afoot to improve air quality in this region, and the State Pollution Control Boards and Pollution Control Committees (SPCBs/PCCs) are playing a key role. However, these frontline agencies in pollution regulation are faced with several institutional constraints and challenges in discharging their mandate effectively. In ‘The State of India’s Pollution Control Boards’, we explore some of the key institutional issues faced by Boards in the IGP through a series of working papers: 1) “Who has a seat at the table?” – Examines the composition of the Boards and their ability to engage in policymaking and take decisions in furtherance of their statutory goals; 2) “Who is at the helm?” – Analyses the qualifications of the Board's leadership - the Chairperson and the Member Secretary, the length and stability of their tenure, and whether they are well-placed to guide the Boards' functioning; and 3) “Who is in the field?” – Evaluates the adequacy of the Boards' capacity – particularly technical capacity – to perform critical functions like consent granting, inspection, monitoring, and enforcement. In this paper – the third in the series – we focus on the technical capacity of the Boards, specifically the state of technical staff (engineers and scientists) employed by the Boards. The environmental engineers and scientists of an SPCB form the backbone of the institutional structure for pollution regulation. They carry out the fundamental task of the SPCBs, namely the review and grant of approvals under the environmental law regime. They evaluate applications from industries, conduct inspections or inquiries, collect and evaluate air and effluent samples, and issue approvals where applicable. Through their work, they provide the structural underpinnings to the “command and control” approach to pollution management. Several earlier reports have highlighted the significant staff constraints under which SPCBs function, highlighting in particular the high rate of vacancies among technical staff (1–3). In the context of a rapidly industrializing State, and an evolving environmental regulatory regime, there is a need for SPCBs to be appropriately skilled and staffed.
Topic:
Environment, Governance, Regulation, Pollution, and Personnel
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

29. Work from Home – How Good is it for the Environment?

Author:
Anna Agarwal
Publication Date:
04-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a large-scale global experiment on work from home (WFH). WFH is expected to continue, albeit at a smaller scale, in the post-pandemic world. WFH is commonly considered to be an energy saving measure that can help reduce office travel related energy demand and energy use in offices. This article presents a framework to analyze the various direct and indirect energy use changes that WFH can potentially induce. We discuss the different long-term structural and behavioral changes from WFH, which will ultimately define energy consumption patterns. We conclude the energy savings and the related environmental impacts are ambiguous. An illustrative analysis has been performed to quantify the direct air quality impacts of work from home adoption in the Delhi region. The results show modest reductions in the levels of PM2.5 emissions, and point to the underlying uncertainties that have the potential to highly amplify or diminish the environmental benefits. The article highlights the need for in-depth multi-sectoral study of the various WFH related energy use changes over both the short- and the long-term. Such an assessment will be key to designing effective policy measures to support work from home as an environmentally beneficial practice.
Topic:
Environment, Work Culture, COVID-19, and Energy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

30. Submission to the Commission on Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM)

Author:
Shibani Ghosh, Bhargav Krishna, Navroz K. Dubash, Sharon Mathew, and Arunesh Karkun
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The setting up of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) represents a significant milestone for air quality management in India. The Commission’s ability to perform its functions effectively and facilitate measures that will improve air quality in the NCR and adjoining areas for the long term will likely be impacted by several political, economic, technical, and social factors. In such a scenario, it is essential that the Commission enjoys sustained public trust as being non- partisan as well as a technically sound and socially sensitive body. The CAQM’s mandate is a statutory expression of the fundamental right of Indians to breathe air that is not harmful to their health. Its functioning should therefore reflect an inclusive and participative approach that allows citizens to claim and protect their right and prevent its encroachment when possible. At the Initiative on Climate, Energy and Environment (ICEE) at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), we have been closely studying the functioning of various environmental regulators, and for the past four years have been working specifically in the area of air quality regulation and governance. Based on our research, we have identified five broad themes for the Commission to consider as it implements its statutory mandate: taking a holistic, long-term regional approach; tracking progress of NCAP implementation; ensuring transparency through proactive disclosure and timely reporting; developing enforcement protocols and grievance redressal mechanisms; and encouraging informed public consultation. We also suggest specific action points as illustrations under each of these themes.
Topic:
Environment, Governance, Regulation, Pollution, and Air Pollution
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

31. The Environmental Consequences of Inequality

Author:
James K. Boyce
Publication Date:
04-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
Inequality has important consequences for the extent of pollution and natural resource depletion as well as for the distribution of the costs and benefits from environmental degradation. Inequalities in the distribution of purchasing power operate through the market, and inequalities in the distribution of political power operate through governance institutions, often with mutually reinforcing effects.
Topic:
Environment, Political Economy, Natural Resources, Inequality, Justice, and Pollution
Political Geography:
Global Focus

32. Inconsistent Definitions of GDP: Implications for Estimates of Decoupling

Author:
Gregor Semieniuk
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
Efforts to assess the possibilities for decoupling economic growth from negative environmental impacts have examined their historical relationship, with varying and inconclusive results. Part of the problem is ambiguity about definitions of environmental impacts, e.g. whether to use territorial or consumption-based measures of environmental impact. This paper shows that ambiguities arising from definitional changes to GDP are sufficiently large to affect the outcomes. I review the history of structural revisions to GDP using the example of the United States, and on international comparisons of purchasing power parity, compare decoupling results using various historical definitions of GDP on the same environmental indicator, and demonstrate that changing the GDP data vintage does impact decoupling results in qualitatively important ways, with and without purchasing power parity. Inconsistencies in economic measurement introduce an additional layer of ambiguity into historical decoupling evidence and model projection into the future. To advance debate and be clear about scenario assumptions, rigorous reporting of GDP definitions used and the sharing of data vintage for subsequent comparison and replication are urgently needed.
Topic:
Environment, Political Economy, GDP, and Economic Growth
Political Geography:
Global Focus

33. Environmental Justice and Carbon Pricing

Author:
James K. Boyce, Michael Ash, and Brent Ranalli
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
Opposition to carbon pricing has come not only from the fossil fuel lobby, as might be expected, but also from environmental justice (EJ) advocates who seek to end the disproportionate environmental harms imposed upon people of color and low-income communities, and who fear that carbon pricing could reinforce rather than remedy pollution exposure disparities. This paper focuses on the objections to carbon pricing that EJ advocates have raised. They argue that carbon pricing (i) fails to reduce emissions significantly, (ii) fails to reduce the disproportionate impacts of hazardous co-pollutants on people of color and low-income communities; (iii) hits low-income households harder than richer households; and (iv) commodifies nature. This paper discusses how carbon pricing can be designed to address these very real concerns.
Topic:
Environment, Inequality, Justice, Fossil Fuels, and Carbon Emissions
Political Geography:
Global Focus

34. Urbanisation and Rural Development in Developing Countries: A Review of Pathways and Impacts

Author:
Tekalign Gutu Sakketa
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
This paper reviews the current state of literature on the impacts of urbanisation on rural development in developing countries, with an emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Assessments of these effects diverge greatly. While some authors see urbanisation as strongly benefitting rural areas, for instance, through increased demand for agricultural goods and services, others highlight negative effects, for example, through the loss of livelihoods emanating from displacements and the conversion of agricultural land. Given this complexity, a review that thoroughly analyses the causal relationships between urbanisation and rural development is warranted. To do this, this Discussion Paper identifies seven channels through which urbanisation affects rural development: i) production and consumption linkages; ii) employment linkages; iii) financial linkages; iv) land market linkages; v) information and public service linkages; vi) social interactions linkages; and vii) environmental externalities. As to the first channel, production and consumption linkages, the review suggests that urbanisation has increased demand for agricultural products and services; natural resources; commercialisation and modernisation of agricultural technologies; and smallholders’ participation in modern agricultural value chains. The employment channel suggests that rapid urbanisation is enabling the diversification of rural livelihoods by bringing new eco­nomic opportunities to rural areas, but the effects have not been uniform across countries and communities. With regard to financial linkages, flows from cities have increased in many developing countries, benefitting rural areas; yet some studies point to no or to negative effects due to reduced agricultural productivity from the loss of labour and technology, and the crowding out of investment. Land market effects are particularly heterogeneous. While urbanisation tends to drive land value up and encourages investments, there are also negative developments in terms of crowding out and speculation. As to information and public service linkages, the review suggests that urbanisation has fostered information and knowledge flows from urban areas to rural areas which have improved income, innovation, and employment. Social interactions among urban and rural citizens more generally may bridge cultural gaps, improve the flow of information, knowledge, and resources pertinent for rural economic transformation, and thereby enhance social cohesion; yet little empirical evidence exists so far in terms of effects and causalities. Finally, urbanisation affects rural development through the environmental externalities it generates: waste disposal, environ­mental degradation, and loss of biodiversity. If appropriate technologies are put in place, urbanisation can also improve waste management and soil fertility, thus reducing the cost of agricultural production. To this end, the review has identified research gaps that have important policy implications. First, although effective rural-urban planning, monitoring and evaluation of rural-urban devel­opment policies require better data, there is lack of data collection systems or their quality is poor. In this respect, investing in emerging data sources such as satellites data can help countries improve their data collection systems and measures. Second, research is needed to revise and re­formulate better theoretical frameworks that take into account the uniqueness of African urban cities. Third, empirical evidence which documents to what extent and how rural-urban linkages provide an important arena for improving social interactions among neighbours, societies, and communities is needed. Finally, as many African countries continue to experience rapid urbani­sation (mostly urban sprawl), a thorough study of the impacts of urban externalities on agri­cultural productivity, food security, biodiversity, and the health of rural communities is necessary.
Topic:
Development, Environment, Urbanization, Employment, Finance, and Public Service
Political Geography:
Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa

35. The White Paper on the Future of Environmental Peacebuilding

Author:
Oli Brown and Nicolucci-Altman-Giuliana
Publication Date:
06-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
The term ‘White Paper’ is typically used in government circles to denote a publicly available, balanced document designed to help readers make decisions. This white paper seeks to encourage debate and discussion over the challenges, opportunities, and possibilities for environmental peacebuilding in conflict-affected states and societies. The paper and compendium are the product of a global conversation about the future of environmental peacebuilding and they draw from extensive academic work and practical experience. This white paper is inspired by many voices. Though concise, the white paper hopes to emphasize the growing assortment of approaches, ideas and visions for the future of environmental peacebuilding. The white paper is divided into four parts. The first gathers perspectives on the global context of environmental peacebuilding. The second points to some of the key challenges to environmental peacebuilding practice, while part three highlights important opportunities to harness the environment for peace. The fourth presents an agenda for the future of environmental peacebuilding.
Topic:
Security, Environment, International Cooperation, and Peace
Political Geography:
Global Focus

36. To Prevent the Collapse of Biodiversity, the World Needs a New Planetary Politics

Author:
Stewart Patrick
Publication Date:
11-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
The planet is in the midst of an environmental emergency, and the world is only tinkering at the margins. Humanity’s addiction to fossil fuels and voracious appetite for natural resources are accelerating climate change and degrading ecosystems on land and sea, threatening the integrity of the biosphere and thus the survival of our own species. Given these risks, it is shocking that the multilateral system has failed to respond more forcefully. Belatedly, the United States, the EU, the UK, and some other advanced market democracies have adopted more aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets, but their ability to deliver is suspect, while critical emerging economies like China and India have resisted accelerating their own decarbonization.1 Even more concerning, existing multilateral commitments, including on climate change, fail to address the other half of the planet’s ecological crisis: collapsing biodiversity, which the leaders of the Group of 7 nations rightly call an “equally important existential threat.”
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Politics, Multilateralism, and Biodiversity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

37. Going Against the Tide: Towards Binding Environmental Regulation of Mining in Chile

Author:
Johanna Jarvela and Lotta Aho
Publication Date:
04-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Business and Development Studies (CBDS), Copenhagen Business School
Abstract:
Mining industry is one of the only industries not subjected to any international environmental agreement. Thus, only national laws, Corporate Social Responsibility, industry standards, and other forms of self-regulation govern the mining industry. However, there are increasing concerns about the sustainability and social responsibility of this business. In Chile, neoliberal policies were implemented to a great extent during ϭϵϳϬ’s and ϴϬ’s and the legacy of these policies was an almost absent environmental regulation until 2010. This makes Chile an interesting case to investigate the workings and consequences of voluntary environmental regulation based on neoliberal paradigm. Whereas multinational corporations largely influence the current development of environmental regulation, and hence it is increasingly based on voluntary measures and industry guidelines, the socio-environmental conflicts have forced Chile to go against the current and move from soft law towards binding regulation. A situation where a country needs to move from non-regulation or fully privatized regulation back towards hard law and command and control has been less investigated than deregulation and different forms of capitalist influence on governance. We wish to address this gap in literature with this study. Based on our findings, we argue that following neoliberal theory in environmental regulation leads to increasing socio-environmental conflicts.
Topic:
Environment, Regulation, Neoliberalism, Mining, and Industry
Political Geography:
South America and Chile

38. States Seek Treaty on Plastic Pollution

Author:
Szymon Zaręba
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Polish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
With negotiations likely to start later this year, a treaty supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is expected to make it possible to tackle the problem of plastic waste pollution, a transnational problem requiring international cooperation. The challenge will not be its adoption as much as its implementation, as it requires legislative action and investment by countries and business. However, it will benefit especially the environment, biodiversity, and human health. It is in Poland’s interest to negotiate flexible solutions and identify directions for national action.
Topic:
Environment, International Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, United Nations, Pollution, and Plastic
Political Geography:
Poland and Global Focus

39. Inventory of data on economic activity and deforestation in the Amazon Basin

Author:
Igarapé Institute
Publication Date:
11-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Igarapé Institute
Abstract:
Multiple factors shape land change and land use patterns in the Amazon Basin.This note aims to identify data sources for two specific phenomena: changes in land cover and GHG emissions. It also considers key economic sectors that accelerate deforestation including livestock and agricultural development. To this end, the focus is on available data sources across three countries with an analysis of their geographic scope, depth of detail, and the frequency and periodicity with which they are reported.
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, Environment, Economy, Carbon Emissions, and Deforestation
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, and Amazon Basin

40. Connecting the Dots: Territories and Trajectories of Environmental Crime in the Brazilian Amazon and Beyond

Author:
Laura Trajber Waisbich and Terine Husek
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Igarapé Institute
Abstract:
A new study by the Igarapé institute analyzing more than 300 Federal Police operations between 2016 and 2021 found that environmental crime in the Amazon region is not only organized but far more than a local problem. Indeed, this vertibable criminal ecosystem behind Amazon plunder has expanded nationwide, reaching 24 of Brazil’s 27 states as well as neighboring nations. According to the study “Connecting the Dots: Territories and Trajectories of Environmental Crime in the Brazilian Amazon and Beyond”, published Wednesday July 20, the federal operations flagged criminal networks in 846 venues across Brazil and the region. This article is the latest in our series “Mapping Environmental Crime in the Amazon Basin.” The police ops focused largely on the nine states comprising Brazil’s Legal Amazon region, where spreading criminal activities took investigators to 197 municipalities, representing 75% of total interventions. Police also targeted environmental crimes in 57 Brazilian municipalities outside the Amazon region, and another eight cities in neighboring countries. The Federal Police interventions were triggered by unchecked deforestation associated with a variety of unlawful economic activities, from outright crimes to nominally licit market activity tainted by crime. These include illegal timber extraction, illicit mining (especially gold), land grabbing and predatory farming and ranching. This criminal network was first explored in Igarapé’s strategic paper, published earlier this year, “The Ecosystem of Environmental Crime in Amazonia: An Analysis of Illicit Economies in the Forest.” The current study takes a deeper dive into the widening criminal nexus that undergirds environmental crimes and related offenses, including illegal money flows, tax evasion, corruption, fraud and criminal violence.
Topic:
Crime, Environment, Law Enforcement, Deforestation, and Illicit Financial Flows
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, and Amazon Basin

41. Cumulative climate shocks and migratory flows: evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Author:
Salvatore Di Falco, Anna B. Kis, and Martina Viarengo
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Trade and Economic Integration, The Graduate Institute (IHEID)
Abstract:
We re-examine the effects of negative weather anomalies during the growing season on the decision to migrate in rural households in five sub-Saharan African countries. To this end we combine a multi-country household panel dataset with high-resolution gridded precipitation data. We find that while the effect of recent adverse weather shocks is on average modest, the cumulative effect of a persistent exposure to droughts over several years leads to a significant increase in the probability to migrate. The results show that more frequent adverse shocks can have more significant and long-lasting consequences in challenging economic environments.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Migration, and Drought
Political Geography:
Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa

42. China's Course to Carbon Neutrality

Author:
Cory Combs
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Asia Society
Abstract:
China is in the midst of a wholesale economic transformation, driven by the central government’s pursuit of sustainability in all its forms: economic, social, and environmental. At the heart of this transformation sit Xi Jinping’s “dual carbon” targets: one to peak emissions before 2030, and the other to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. However, such straightforward guiding targets belie the monumental complexity of unraveling and then rebuilding the fossil fuel–driven economy that enabled China’s rapid rise as a global economic power. The difficulties of moving China’s economy up the value chain – particularly from low-grade, emissions-intensive industrial manufacturing toward high value-add, green and low-carbon production – are compounded by the immense political frictions posed by entrenched interests and bureaucratic inertia. In this context, it is imperative for observers – particularly those keen on engaging with China during its grand green transformation experiment – to understand the many pieces, players, and problems involved. To this end, this report takes stock of China’s planning and reform efforts across the domains of climate, energy, and industrial upgrading since the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025) was adopted. It then assesses the key drivers and constraints shaping these efforts, with the aim of elucidating the most likely path ahead – even as Beijing itself continues to map it out.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Economy, Sustainability, and Carbon Emissions
Political Geography:
China and Asia

43. Characterisation of Danish agricultural investments in Tanzania and Uganda

Author:
Rikke Broegaard, Helle Monk Ravnborg, Evelyne Lazaro, Teddy Nakanwagi, and David Tumusiime
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
This DIIS Working Paper presents key characteristics of each of the six cases including main crop focus, size and business model, as well as types of investors, their investment approach and the factors that motivate them. It also presents the different objectives that the investors have expressed wanting to achieve. As most of the investments involve private funds, it is reasonable to expect that one important goal is to ensure a viable economy in the investment. However, in addition to an economically sound investment, all of the investors behind these six cases have ambitions regarding ways in which they see themselves - through the investment - as contributors towards a positive societal development in the area of the investment. Thus, the paper presents the different ways the investors see their investments contributing to development in the area. The paper is based on interviews with the investors and field work in the areas of investments.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Environment, Poverty, Natural Resources, Food, Inequality, Investment, and Land Rights
Political Geography:
Europe, Denmark, Tanzania, and Africa

44. Determinants and Effects of Foreign Direct Investment in Austria: Spillovers to Novel Innovative Environmental Technologies

Author:
Mahdi Ghodsi and Branimir Jovanovic
Publication Date:
10-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
This study investigates the determinants of FDI in Austria, as well as their spillovers to innovating technologies, productivity, and employment, using firm-level data, for the period 2008-2018. The findings point out that a decrease in the costs of trade increases investment in foreign-owned subsidiaries in Austria, and that FDI is pre-dominantly carried out in industries characterised by greater capital-intensity, higher wages, more agglomeration and regional concentration. Furthermore, FDI is higher in regions with a larger GDP and with a larger share of the population with upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education. The study also finds that there are positive spillovers of FDI to the domestic economy, which are strongest and most positive for innovative activities in environmental technologies. In other words, FDI helps Austrian firms to become more innovative in major environmental technologies. Such innovative efforts are best supported at the firm-level by supporting the total assets and investment of domestic firms, and at the regional level by increasing the share of the population with higher levels of education and employing more R&D personnel. The active presence of innovative foreign MNEs that enjoy extensive technological capacities, high-skilled labour, experienced management, and large-scale resources are also conducive to innovative activities.
Topic:
Environment, Science and Technology, Foreign Direct Investment, Innovation, and Trade
Political Geography:
Europe and Austria

45. The impact of trade and trade policy on the environment and the climate: A review

Author:
Gabriel Felbermayr and Sonja Peterson
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
Abstract:
While international trade can offer gains from specialization and access to a wider range of products, it is also closely interlinked with global environmental problems, above all, anthropogenic climate change. This survey provides a structured overview of the economic literature on the interaction between environmental outcomes, trade, environmental policy and trade policy. In this endeavor, it covers approaches reaching from descriptive data analysis based on Input‐Output tables, over quantitative trade models and econometric studies to game‐theoretic analyses. Addressed issues are in particular the emission content of trade and emissions along value chains, the relocation of dirty firms and environmental impacts abroad, impacts of specific trade polices (such as trade agreements or tariffs) or environmental policy (such as Border Carbon Adjustment), transportation emissions, as well as the role of firms. Across the different topics covered, the paper also tries to identify avenues for future research, with a particular focus on extending quantitative trade and environment models.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, International Trade and Finance, Trade, and Carbon Emissions
Political Geography:
Global Focus

46. Recycling Policies from the Bottom Up: Waste Work in Lebanon

Author:
Elizabeth Saleh
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Discussions on waste policy in Lebanon tend to focus on the country’s corrupt practices and the health and environmental impact of bad waste management. This paper examines an overlooked aspect: the story of waste pickers — many of whom are economic or forced migrants — who are essential to Lebanon’s garbage management. Through an ethnographic study of a group of underage waste pickers, it argues that it is time for policy debates on garbage in Lebanon to integrate the perspective of waste workers.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Labor Issues, Recycling, and Garbage
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

47. The Environmental Impact of Syria’s Conflict: A Preliminary Survey of Issues

Author:
Roba Gaafar
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
The Syrian conflict has had devastating human and economic consequences, but it also greatly damaged the environment in the country. This paper provides a preliminary survey of a set of environmental challenges that impose significant health, social and economic costs, including air pollution, deforestation, soil and vegetation degradation, and water depletion, and suggests green solutions for post-conflict relief and reconstruction.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Health, Conflict, Green Technology, and Pollution
Political Geography:
Middle East and Syria

48. How can activists best advance environmental reforms in MENA?

Author:
Rory Quick
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Decarbonising the current energy system does not secure a sustainable future if challenges beyond carbon emission are ignored and the economic model which continues to exacerbate the challenges we face is not rectified. Genuine environmental reform requires an intersectional approach, one which does not just patch over problems but instigates reform. The socio-political and environmental crises we face are symptoms of the same problem and must be treated as such. In order to reach a sustainable future, policies should resolve current issues without creating or exacerbating existing challenges. If there is a reason for social movements to exist, it is to challenge dominant values as flexible and changeable and to offer alternative ways to live. Across the MENA region, there are growing calls - from experts and activists - for reform in the region to simultaneously deal with wider socio-political issues whilst decarbonizing energy systems. In the MENA region, states are preoccupied with developing renewable energy (RE) at large scale. Examples include Morocco’s Ouarzazate Noor Solar Plant and Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. This is an extension of the existing energy model. Megaprojects are political as much as economic projects. They support exclusionary political regimes and enable states to strengthen existing socio-political systems, and thus further reduce the political autonomy of the individual. Energy megaprojects are projections of state centralization, as they require no input from the localities in which they are placed. They therefore actively reduce political freedom. An alternative model - the decentralised RE model - allows for ownership and operation of RE to remain in the communities where it operates. Solar and wind technology is scalable, whereas previous technology was not. This allows for the creation of an energy system that is not only sustainable but also democratically owned and designed, and socially just. A decentralised system, whereby individuals have a direct say in how their energy systems operate, is vital in ensuring energy justice is achieved alongside climate justice.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Political Activism, Reform, and Green Technology
Political Geography:
Africa, Middle East, North Africa, and MENA

49. The Impact of Environmental Regulations on Manufacturing Outsourcing: Re-examining the Pollution Haven Effect in Global Value Chain

Author:
An Li
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
As countries worldwide attempt to address a series of global and domestic environmental challenges, the pollution haven effect remains an ongoing concern among trade and environment researchers and policymakers. This paper examines the pollution haven effect in the context of global value chains using inter-country input-output data at the manufacturing industry level from 1995-2009. This paper pays special attention to the issue of “doublecounting” caused by intermediate trade. The analysis utilizes two outsourcing measures and two revealed comparative advantage measures appropriate for analyzing global value chains. I propose women’s political power as a novel instrumental variable to address the endogeneity of environmental regulation. Regression results show that more stringent environmental policies are not a significant determinant of manufacturing outsourcing and competitiveness in global value chains. At the same time, women’s political power is associated with more stringent environmental policies.
Topic:
Environment, Women, Economy, Trade, Pollution, and Global Value Chains
Political Geography:
Global Focus

50. Transparency of Land-based Investments: Cameroon Country Snapshot

Author:
Sam Szoke-Burke, Samuel Nguiffo, and Stella Tchoukep
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
Despite a recent transparency law and participation in transparency initiatives, Cameroon’s investment environment remains plagued by poor transparency.
Topic:
Agriculture, Environment, Law, Transparency, and Land Reform
Political Geography:
Africa and Cameroon