The Due diligence system in the EU’s Timber Regulation: non-tariff trade barrier or leverage effect?

This paper presents a novel spatial equilibrium model to analyse the leverage impact of the EU’s Timber Regulation on sustainable timber production. This leverage effect is an argument in favour of FLEGT but it has never been investigated thoroughly, or simultaneously for demand and supply. The leverage effect is measured in terms of the market share of sustainable timber in the total timber consumption and production of a region. Our research finds that FLEGT does not provide an incentive for sustainable timber production and consumption at global level. FLEGT creates a non-tariff trade barrier at the conventional timber markets of important producing regions (Europe and North America). This protectionist situation favours conventional timber which decreases the importance of sustainable timber. In addition, the protectionist situation decreases global welfare

Support for farmers' cooperatives: EU synthesis and comparative analysis report: policy measures

In order to foster the competitiveness of the food supply chain, the European Commission is committed to promote and facilitate the restructuring and consolidation of the agricultural sector by encouraging the creation of voluntary agricultural producer organisations. To support the policy making process DG Agriculture and Rural Development has launched a large study, “Support for Farmers’ Cooperatives (SFC)”, that will provide insights on successful cooperatives and producer organisations as well as on effective support measures for these organisations. These insights can be used by farmers themselves, in setting up and strengthening their collective organisation, and by the European Commission in its effort to encourage the creation of agricultural producer organisations in the EU. Within the framework of the SFC project this EU synthesis and comparative analysis report - Policy Measures has been written. Data collection for this report has been done in the summer of 2011. In addition to this report, the SFC-project has delivered 27 country reports, a report on policies for cooperatives in non-EU OECD countries, 8 sector reports, 5 other EU synthesis and comparative analysis reports, 33 case studies, a report on cluster analysis, and a final report

Green public procurement of certified wood : impact on international trade and global welfare

This paper investigates the impact of green public procurement (governments’ purchases) of certified wood in the EU. A spatial partial price equilibrium model is developed to analyse whether this policy impacts interregional trade flows of wood and other regions’ economic welfare. The model contains an innovative feature which allows the introduction of consumers’ willingness to pay for certified wood, and producers’ willingness to accept certified wood production in order to determine the share of certified wood in consumption and demand. The outcome of the analysis demonstrates that green public procurement of certified wood in one region can create a trade barrier for other regions and decrease other regions’ economic welfare. In the worst case scenario, other regions’ production of non-certified wood even increases. This endangers forest conservation. Cost reductions and adequate financial compensation for certified wood producers can tackle these problems

Implementation of the EU-Cameroon Voluntary Partnership Agreement policy : trade distortion, rent-seeking and anticipative behavior

This paper empirically investigates the impact of the implementation process for the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) in Cameroon on the volume of exported wood from Cameroon to the European Union (EU). This is achieved by applying time series analysis, change point detection, and vector autoregression with exogenous variables. No previous research has quantitatively analyzed the long-term impact of VPAs on traded wood. Two major conclusions are drawn. First, the VPA, and accompanying improved forest governance, negatively impacted on the wood volume exported from Cameroon when it came into force (December 2011). However, wood extraction in Cameroon's neighboring countries increased as operators can still economically benefit from less stringent environmental standards in these countries. Second, this paper observes anticipative behavior before the VPA came into effect. During the negotiations, exports decreased due to redirection of the trade flows, and uncertainty concerning the outcome of the negotiations. However, during the months before the VPA came into force, wood exports sharply increased. This is explained by rent-seeking behavior by operators who wished to benefit from the less stringent trade conditions, whilst they lasted

Modelling the circular economy: Introducing a supply chain equilibrium approach

The circular economy (CE) has gained prominence in recent years in government and business policies, as well as academic research. Yet, its alleged wholesomeness is increasingly questioned and few quantitative studies include both the outer (e.g. recycling) and inner circles (e.g. reduce or reuse), respectively the ex-ante least and most efficient CE strategies. By developing a supply chain equilibrium model, based on general equilibrium theory, this paper presents a modelling framework where a product-service system is introduced as a circular alternative to conventional products. Through generalised prices that cover inner and outer circle variables, targeted economic and fiscal policy measures affect overall price levels and, by consequence, operational levels of the supply chain. The rationale behind this approach relies on combining material and economic efficiency by integrating material/product life cycles with market interactions. To illustrate its performance, the model examines the rollout of a reusable plastic bottle initiative in Belgium. The results show that if circular products are perceived as substitutes for conventional products, well-targeted policies can reduce material use substantially. Furthermore, coordinating circular policies along the supply chain can improve their outcomes. However, the absence of CE data impedes model development and risks undermining the validity of the results

Exploring the Impact of Trading Green Products on the Environment: Introducing the Green Openness Index

Environmental degradation has constantly increased over the years, and has become one of the main contributors to climate change. For this reason, researchers are increasingly on the lookout for parameters that positively impact environmental quality. Green Products are widely accepted as one of the vital tools to minimize the environmental degradation. This paper introduces a new index which is called the Green Openness Index. The index represents the importance of Green Products in a region by means of a measure of trade in Green Products. This new index revisits the trade-environment nexus in a case study of 31 Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries over the period 2007-2017. The empirical findings provide evidence that Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis is valid, by means of Fully modified and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis. As such, the new index also opens up a wide span of opportunities for future research, as the index can be used as explanatory variable in numerous different research questions and fields of research. Additionally, the results demonstrate that the presence of Green Products in trade reduces a country’s ecological footprint. This is essential information for practitioners and policy makers involved in the design of sustainable development policies

The Productive Capacity And Environment: Evidence From OECD Countries

There are many economic parameters that may affect environmental degradation. At the forefront of these parameters is the productive economic structures of the countries The present paper discusses the dynamic relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, economic growth and productive capacity index (PCI) for a panel of 38 OECD countries spanning the period 2000-2018. The empirical study applied PMG-ARDL approach, panel cointegration techniques and Granger causality tests the examine the short and long-run association between the variables. The cross-sectional dependence test of Pesaran (2004) revealed the use of the second generation panel unit root tests (CADF and CIPS). The cointegration relationships between the variables are proved using Westerlund and Pedroni cointegration tests. The estimated coefficients of PMG-ARDL revealed that the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is established. Besides, the empirical findings obtained from long-run estimation confirm that productive capacity has a significant role on increasing environmental quality