Monetary Green Accounting and Ecosystem Services

The point of departure in this paper is that monetary green accounting aims at serving as indicator of wealth changes, sustainable use of natural capital, and performance of environmental policy. It is then investigated how wealth changes and sustainable development of natural capital can be estimated by means of ecosystem services. These services are defined as outputs from natural capital. The value of changes in natural capital, or wealth change, is thus measured as the value of impacts on current and future production of ecosystem services. It is then shown how this measure can be used as an indicator of sustainable use of the aggregate natural capital, and also how it can be applied efficient environmental policies. An empirical demonstration is made to the calculation of wealth changes to Swedish forests, agricultural landscape, wetlands, air quality, and coastal and marine ecosystems. The demonstration shows that the net welfare contribution from these natural capital assets during the period under study is positive, but that the use of the assets is unsustainable.

Climate change and the value of fishing in the Arctic

Several studies indicate impacts on fish from climate change in the Arctic, but there is no study calculating the effect on the value of fishing. The value of fishing is determined not only by climate change, but also by other variables including prosperity and population density. The present study estimates the impact of these factors on the recreational value of fishing by using meta-regression analysis of studies estimating willingness-to-pay for fishing in the Arctic. The study includes 22 studies with a total of 107 observations, and the results indicate robust results with a positive relation between estimated value and temperature and prosperity, but a negative with precipitation. Using the results from the regression, simulations showed that increases by the same percent in temperature and precipitation give a minor net decrease in the fishing value, but an increase in the temperature with 1 ̊C can raise the average fishing value by approximately 15 percent

Evaluation of cost efficiency in hydropower-related biodiversity restoration projects in Sweden - a stochastic frontier approach

Various restoration projects intended to mitigate the adverse ecological effects of hydropower plants, e.g. by restoration of fish habitats and spawning grounds, have been implemented in different parts of the world. However, it is unclear whether these projects are in line with least-cost principles. In this study, we estimated the cost efficiency level for different biodiversity mitigation measures in Sweden by using stochastic frontier analysis with data from 245 projects in Sweden that were carried out between 1987 and 2013. The results indicated evidence of cost inefficiency in the projects, which had an average efficiency score of 53%, suggesting a potential to reduce costs by 47%. Project ownership by private entities compared with municipalities showed a statistically significant reduction of the cost inefficiency score. This points out a possibility of reducing the total cost of restoration by targeting relatively efficient project owners

Costs and Distributional Effects of Climate Transformation of the Vehicle Fleet in the EU

This study estimates the minimum total cost and distributional effects among countries transforming the car fleet in the EU to reduce emissions of carbon dioxides by 2050 by switching from fossil fuel-driven passenger cars to hybrid and electric-driven cars. Minimum cost is estimated using a dynamic optimization model in which costs are calculated as decreases in consumer surplus in the demand for vehicles under given annual increases in travel demand, carbon efficiency and technological improvement of electric cars. Distributional effects are calculated for the cost-effective allocation of costs among the EU member states and UK. Calculations are made for different emission reductions, and the cost for achieving a 60% reduction from the 1990 emission level ranges between 0.13% and 0.61% of the EU's GDP depending on assumptions about development of travel demand and carbon efficiency. The results indicate a slightly regressive allocation in most scenarios, where the cost share is relatively high for low income countries

Refunding of a climate tax on food consumption in Sweden

This paper examines the implications of imposing a climate tax on food consumption in Sweden combined with refunding of the tax revenues to farmers for selected agricultural activities enhancing ecosystem services: restoration of drained peatland (carbon sequestration), maintenance of grassland (biodiversity), and construction of wetlands (nutrient regulation). A partial equilibrium model of the agricultural sector is used to assess economic and environmental effects. The results show that the introduction of a climate tax corresponding to the existing Swedish CO2 tax of 115 euros per tonne carbon dioxide equivalent reduces total emissions from food consumption by 4.4% without any refunding of tax revenues. Refunding with payments for all ecosystems enhances the carbon sink by an amount equivalent to 57% of CO2e emissions from food consumption, and results in net benefits in the tax refund system for the agricultural sector as a whole, but is regressive where farmers in regions with relatively high incomes receive proportionally much of the net benefits

Carbon emissions and social capital in Sweden

This paper addresses the issue of whether or not social capital explains per capita CO2 emissions dynamics in Swedish counties in an augmented environmental Kuznets curve framework. By accounting for issues of endogeneity in the presence of dynamic and spatial effects using geo-referenced emissions data, we show that per capita carbon emissions in a county matters for other counties and that net of economic, demographic and environmental factors, social capital has the potential to reduce carbon emissions in Sweden albeit less robustly. We test two different social capital constructs; trust in government and environmental engagement. Specifically, trust in the government inures to the reduction in CO2 emissions. Membership and engagement in environmental organisations reduces CO2 emissions only through its interaction with per capita income or trust. The implication of our estimates suggest that investment geared toward increasing the stock of social capital could inure to reductions in CO2 emissions in addition to climate policy instruments in Sweden