Increasing block tariffs seek a cross-subsidy mechanism between the water network users, based on the common assumption of weak water price elasticity. In Manaus, the capital city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas where most of the 1.6 million dwellers are supplied through the municipal water...

Agricultural expansion is the main deforestation driver, while forest degradation is due to non-sustainable poaching and harvesting of forest products. Policies to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) thus focus on agricultural expansion and illegal harvesting. The...

The interdependency of socio-ecological systems and the increased reach of human activity have led to major political and scientific challenges in the governance of environmental resources. This chapter reviews the state of our knowledge on the matter. The chapter begins by discussing the...

We study the impact of competition and environmental policy (feed-in tariff vs. the EU ETS) on investment, CO2 emissions and welfare in an electricity sector. We consider different market structures (a planner who maximises social welfare vs. duopoly) and two types of consumers (those whose...

In international emissions trading schemes such as the Kyoto Protocol and the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, the sub- optimal negotiation of the cap with respect to total pollution minimization leads us to critically examine the proposition that generous allocation of grandfathered...

The article develops R.H.Coase's insight that the level of transaction costs in the market determines the amount of externalities, thus providing arguments against government intervention. Contrary to Coase, however, we argue that the level of transaction costs cannot be considered as given, and...

The Stern Review constitutes today the most complete and didactic synthesis of the economics of climate change. Despite appearances, it is not, however, a simple reference manual. Its most attractive feature is the author’s commitment to action in the face of climactic risk. The report’s...

We investigate the relative efficiency of an agreement based on a uniform standard without transfers and one based on differentiated standards with transfers when strictly identical countries deal with transboundary pollution. We especially ask what role fixed cost plays. Two approaches are...

This article reviews the role played by carbon and capture (CCS) technologies in order to facilitate the transition to low-carbon emitting technologies in the medium term. More precisely, we address the following central questions: how will the development of CCS technologies impact energy...