Download or read book The Dynamics of the Eco efficient Economy written by Emiel F. M. Wubben and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2000-12-20 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing together the fields of environmental economics, environmental regulation and strategic management, this study discusses the question of environmental performance versus corporate practices and finds that environmental considerations can have a positive effect on business.
Download or read book Economics and Ecosystems written by Lars Hein and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A central issue in economics is the optimal allocation of scarce resources. Is efficient allocation indeed optimal and does it lead to sustainable solutions? Lars Hein contributes to this discussion at the interface of ecology and economics, and provides interesting case studies to test various theoretical approaches. The book is a must for both economists with an interest in ecology and for ecologists with an interest in economics! Ekko van Ierland, Wageningen University, the Netherlands Economics and Ecosystems demonstrates how the concepts of economic efficiency, sustainability and equity can be applied in ecosystem management. The book presents an overview of these three concepts, a framework for their analysis and modelling, and three case studies. Specific attention is given to how complex ecosystem dynamics, such as thresholds or irreversible responses, influence ecosystem management options. The case studies focus on ecosystem dynamics and ecosystem services supply in a forest ecosystem, a Dutch wetland, and a rangeland in the Western Sahel. Integrating ecology and economics, this informative book will appeal to postgraduate students in environmental sciences and environmental economics as well as ecosystem managers.
Download or read book The Dynamics of Environmental and Economic Systems written by Valeria Costantini and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-10-30 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploiting econometric techniques aimed at dealing with the dynamics of economic systems and the heterogeneity of agents performances, the volume integrates innovation-based reasoning with ex-post analyses, and presents ex-ante analyses able to evaluate the role of climate change policies by using computable general equilibrium models such as the Global Trade Analysis Project for Energy (GTAP-E). The authors merge and use a range of datasets, including OECD-PATSTAT and STAN, to test novel techniques informed by evolutionary economic theories and the Porter hypothesis. The immediate relevance and applicability of the models will strengthen the hand of policy analysts for whom the dynamic efficiency of environmental policy is a new, high-profile evaluation criterion.
Download or read book Eco efficiency written by Livio D. DeSimone and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book outlines the principles of eco-efficiency and presents case studies of their application from a number of international companies, including 3M and the Dow Chemical Company. The term "eco-efficiency" describes business activities that create economic value while reducing ecological impact and resource use. This book outlines the principles of eco-efficiency and presents case studies of their application from a number of international companies, including 3M and the Dow Chemical Company. It also discusses the value of partnerships--with other companies, business associations, communities, regulators, and environmental and other nongovernmental groups. In the conclusion, the authors argue that business must become more eco-efficient and that governments need to change the conditions under which business operates, including tax and regulatory regimes, to make them more conducive to eco-efficiency.
Download or read book Dynamics of Energy Environment and Economy written by Hassan Qudrat-Ullah and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-07-02 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book addresses the vital and interwoven areas of energy, environment, and the economy within the field of sustainability research. Fundamental technical details, empirical data, and case studies taking into account local and international perspectives are included. Issues such as energy security, depleting fossil fuel reserves, global warming and climate change, as well as novel energy technologies are covered. The dynamic global response will be discussed from the perspective of policy, technology, and economics. Vital details in the form of text boxes, illustrations, graphs, tables and appendices are included. The book will serve as reference book for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, academics, policy makers, NGOs and developmental sector professionals within the field.
Download or read book Eco efficiency and Beyond written by Jan-Dirk Seiler-Hausmann and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Business-as-usual, it is widely accepted, will exceed the Earth's carrying capacity in an alarmingly short space of time. In simple terms, we need to learn to use the world's rapidly depleting resources in a significantly more efficient manner. Practical and readily adopted solutions are needed now. Eco-efficiency-or "produce more with less" – is achieved when goods and services satisfy human needs, increase the quality of life at competitive prices and when environmental impacts and resource intensity are decreased to a degree that keeps them within the limits of Earth's expected carrying capacity. Eco-efficiency – a term first proposed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in 1992 – is a management approach that allows businesses to carry out environmental protection measures from a market-oriented point of view, with the aim of illustrating that ecology and the economy do not need to be a contradiction. Indeed, eco-efficiency has been portrayed as a win-win-for both business and the environment. This book, which developed out of two conferences on eco-efficiency held in Düsseldorf in 1998 and 2001, is edited by Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and his team from the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, one of the world's leading research programmes on resource productivity. The aim is not simply to explain the past and present of eco-efficiency but to look forward to and encourage a future where the comprehensive take-up of the concept by business, government and consumers could lead to innovation on a grand scale and the possibility of a giant leap beyond towards overall sustainability. There have been considerable achievements to date. The Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which aims to list the most sustainable corporations for investors, includes companies such as BASF, Climatex, Henkel and Matushita/Panasonic (all represented in this book), who are implementing eco-efficiency measures. A number of political initiatives have also been formed. In December 2001, the German government suggested a National Sustainability Strategy to measure Germany's sustainable development. While this not yet an accepted political target or even law, it shows that politics is moving toward binding targets for increasing efficiency. Eco-Efficiency and Beyond collects together the leading thinkers on the topic and aims to illustrate not only that the concept should be part of every business strategy but that it is a key trigger for innovation. Innovation cuts through paradoxes. It is the creation of solutions to conflicting demands. Flying in a vacuum gave us rockets and satellites; switching electrons through insulators gave us Silicon Valley and the digital age. Sustainable development presents a similar field of paradoxical innovation forces: i.e. provide affordable products and services for the growing unmet needs of the world population while reducing environmental impacts. This book is the definitive collection on eco-efficiency and will be required reading for business, government, NGOs and academicians.
Download or read book Eco efficiency written by Markus Lehni and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book International Economics of Resource Efficiency written by Raimund Bleischwitz and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-07-17 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human societies face a threatening future of resource scarcity and environmental damages. This book addresses the challenge of turning these risks into opportunities and policies. It is a collection of high level contributions from experts of sustainable growth and sustainable resource management. Focussing on economics, sustainability, technology and policy, the book highlights system innovation, leapfrogging strategies of emerging economies, possible rebound effects and international market development. It puts natural resources centre stage and will make an important contribution to achieving the goal of a 21st century Green Economy.
Download or read book Environmental Efficiency Innovation and Economic Performances written by Anna Montini and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-07-02 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book deals with the increasingly complex issues of eco-innovation. Eco-innovation is becoming a conceptual reference point for many regional and international public policies and management strategies. Since 2000, this field of research has been focusing on environmental innovation, particularly related to the intensity of emissions, and economic performance and efficiency. There are two reasons for this growing interest. The first is that environmental performance is one of the main economic policy goals of European countries thanks to its relevance to the Lisbon Strategy and the Göteborg priorities for sustainable development. The second, which is partly linked to the first, is related to the growing impact of environmental regulation on private sector activity in many European countries. This volume brings together microeconomics studies on firms’ eco and economic performance both in the industrial and service sector; by considering a sector based perspective rooted mainly in the exploitation of NAMEA data; at regional level, and a macroeconomic analysis of the environment, income and welfare. This collection brings together the best of recent research in the area of eco-innovation and in its entirety is an excellent source of knowledge for postgraduates and researchers students of Environmental and Ecological Economics alike. As well as fully developing the theoretical aspects of its topics, these essays are also strongly policy-oriented and will be of interest to anyone seeking information an applied perspective.
Download or read book Quantified Eco Efficiency written by Gjalt Huppes and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-06-03 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A central asset of eco-efficiency analysis is that it does not depend on a specific evaluation of environmental impacts against economic effects. Several evaluation methods may be used, including those based on willingness-to-pay, panel procedures, and public statements on policy goals. This volume covers all aspects of eco-efficiency analysis and offers a global perspective on the subject.
Download or read book Quantitative Eco nomics written by Peter Bartelmus and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-04-19 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thought-provoking and colorful book cuts through the fog of vision and advocacy by comparing and applying new quantitative tools of both environmental and ecological economics. Environmental accounts and empirical analyses provide operational concepts and measures of the sustainability of economic performance and growth. The text raises doubts, however, about the measurability of sustainable development. Further reading sections are provided at the end of each chapter.
Download or read book Changing Stocks Flows and Behaviors in Industrial Ecosystems written by Matthias Ruth and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book marks an important contribution by Matthias Ruth and Brynhildur Davidsdottir to the developing literature that seeks to integrate our understanding of physical and environmental systems, the built human environment, economics, and complexity. It is a valuable resource for anyone interested in industrial ecology, material flow assessment, and the state of the world generally. Braden R. Allenby, Arizona State University, US This volume offers the state-of-the-art in dynamic modeling of the functioning of firms in industrial ecosystems. The systematic connection between insights from engineering, ecological, behavioral and organization theories makes the insights policy-relevant. The authors combine an impressive knowledge of innovative concepts and modeling techniques with data on real-world industrial ecosystems. Jeroen van den Bergh, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Industrial ecology provides a consistent material and energetic description of human production and consumption processes in the larger context of environmental and socioeconomic change. The contributors to this book offer methodologies for such descriptions, focusing on the dynamics associated with stocks of materials and capital, flows of raw materials, intermediate products, desired outputs and wastes, as well as the associated changes in behaviors of producers, consumers and institutions. The book begins by presenting analogies and analytical concepts pertinent to understanding the dynamics of industrial ecosystems, and offers a reflection on the use of those analogies and concepts, their limitations and potential extensions. Part II focuses on stocks and flows dynamics at the firm and industry level. Part III turns to the use of agent-based modeling and organization behavior theory to better understand and represent the dynamics within firms and the larger institutional environment within which they choose to use materials, energy and technology. Connections are made throughout between those dynamics and the associated changes in environmental quality. The concluding chapter addresses how to change a firm s environmental performance from within. Researchers and students in the fields of industrial ecology; resource and environmental economics; ecological economics; environmental, energy, and climate change policy; environmental engineering; and energy economics will find this comprehensive volume highly informative.
Download or read book Eco efficiency Regulation and Sustainable Business written by Raimund Bleischwitz and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents important new research on applied eco-efficiency concepts throughout Europe. The aim of eco-efficiency is to achieve market-based measures of environmental protection, in order to enhance the prospects for sustainable development and achieve positive economic and ecological benefits. The distinguished authors discuss a number of themes surrounding eco-efficiency including the necessary conditions for technological dissemination and ecological modernization, and the role of government in enabling businesses and society to participate actively in this process. In particular, they highlight the application of existing European-based policies concerning material flows and energy. The authors also investigate some new concepts of sustainable development and provide a useful introduction to material flows analysis. In further chapters they study the emerging regulatory policies for eco-efficiency, and examine the issues of sustainable business and consumption strategies. Environmental and ecological economists, policymakers and political scientists will welcome this original and insightful book which aims to translate the theory of sustainable development into practical policy and business-related solutions.
Download or read book Creating a Sustainable Economy written by Gerardo Marletto and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is designed for those scholars, students, policy-makers - or just curious readers - who are looking for heterodox thinking on the issue of environmental economics and policy. Contributions to this book draw on multiple streams of institutional and evolutionary economics and help build an approach to environmental policy that radically diverges from mainstream prescriptions. Institutions and technologies - and not only markets - are at the heart of a systemic and dynamic analysis of those structural changes which are needed to create a sustainable economy. Actors for change - and their ability to influence politics and policy - are explicitly taken into consideration. These issues are analyzed from different viewpoints by contributors to the book: some focus on behavior and institutions, others analyze the interaction of economic and technological dynamics; some provide sectoral case studies and others have the ambition to provide the reader with an overall picture. But all authors view environmental policy as a combination of actions that can trigger - and make viable - those structural changes which are needed to reach sustainability.
Download or read book Handbook of Green Economics written by Sevil Acar and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2019-08-28 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Handbook of Green Economics reveals the breadth and depth of advanced research on sustainability and growth, also identifying opportunities for future developments. Through its multidimensional examination, it demonstrates how overarching concepts, such as green growth, low carbon economy, circular economy and others work together. Some chapters reflect on different discourses on the green economy, including pro-growth perspectives and transformative approaches that entail de-growth. Others argue that green policies can spark economic innovation, particularly in developing and emerging market economies. Part literature summary, part analysis and part argument, this book shows how the right conditions can stimulate economic growth while achieving environmental sustainability. This book will be a valuable resource for graduate students and academic researchers whose focus is on the green economy. With an increasing interest in the topic among researchers and policymakers, users will find different theoretical perspectives and explore policy implications in this growing subject area. Covers the failures of the past, the challenges of the present, and the opportunities of the future Surveys 10 aspects of the green economy, including conceptualization, natural capital, poverty and inequality, welfare, and finance Emphasizes the theoretical and empirical aspects of greening approaches that are policy-relevant
Download or read book Us Before Me written by Frank Figge and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A more efficient use of natural resources is considered a necessary condition for their sustainable use. When firms use resources circularly they aim to contribute to using resources more eco-efficiently, and thus in a more sustainable way than when adopting more linear systems. Eco-efficiency in linear systems can be determined by aggregating each individual instance of resource use. However, in circular systems this approach is problematic, as it cannot capture the dynamics of resource use that unfurl between firms that contribute to eco-efficiency. In other words, we argue that in circular systems, eco-efficiency overall is more than the sum of the eco-efficiencies of individual firms. Moreover, we counterintuitively suggest that within circular economy systems, selecting only highly eco-efficient firms can actually reduce rather than increase the degree of eco-efficiency overall. Using a lens of multi-level selection theory, we build our argument through a series of numerical examples, and in conclusion show how the assessment and management of resources must be moved from the individual to the group level.
Download or read book The Winners and Losers in Global Competition written by Andreas Sturm and published by Purdue University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our dominant culture continues to celebrate blind economic expansion despite its heavy toll on people and nature all over the globe. In fact, our national income accounts (such as the GDP) and our policies ignore that much of today's economic income stems from liquidating our social and natural assets. While living on the planet's capital, rather than on the interest (or sustainable harvest) of its renewable assets, we operate as if we could transgress ecological limits forever. Rather than acknowledging this ecological reality, we actively resist recognizing biophysical limits and use wealth to temporarily shield ourselves from the fallout of ecological overshoot. This study addresses the core question of sustainability and shows why nations will also secure their future competitiveness if they improve their ecological performance. Taken together, all the countries studied consume approximately one-third more ecological services than their available ecological capacity can provide, suggesting that the global economy as a whole is poorly positioned for future competition. Still we find that the European countries, Japan, and Canada (this last because of its large ecological remainder) are in distinctly more favorable starting positions for future competitiveness than all the other countries. They are better at using fewer resources to produce commodities, and, in the case of the countries with ecological remainders, they take better care of their existing ecological capacities. Perhaps the most significant finding is that sixteen of the twenty eco-efficiency leaders (about eighty percent) are competitive, compared to only eleven of the twenty-four eco-efficiency laggards (about forty-five percent). This suggests either that eco-efficiency already offers a competitive edge or that competitiveness and high eco-efficiency are not mutually exclusive.
