Case studies of regional bioeconomy strategies across Europe

This report provides a summary of issues raised in four regional case studies of the bioeconomy: Scotland, South-West Netherlands, Saxony-Anhalt and Veneto. It examines the ways in which the bioeconomy has been defined in regional strategies and the ways in which those regional strategies have been initiated and implemented in the four regions

Getting into the water with the Ecosystem Services Approach: The DESSIN ESS evaluation framework

Driven by Europe's pressing need to overcome its water quality and water scarcity challenges, the speed of innovation in the water sector is outpacing that of science. The methodologies available to assess the impact of innovative solutions to water-related challenges remain limited and highly theoretical, which sets boundaries on their application and usefulness to water practitioners. This hampers the uptake of new technologies and innovative management practices, thus foregoing potential gains in resource efficiency and nature protection, as well as wider benefits to society and the economy. To address this gap, the DESSIN project developed a framework to evaluate the changes in ecosystem services (ESS) associated with technical or management solutions implemented at the water body, sub-catchment or catchment level. The framework was developed with a specific focus on freshwater ecosystems to allow for a more detailed exploration of practical implementation issues. Its development, testing and validation was carried out by conducting ESS evaluations in three different urban case study settings. The framework builds upon existing classification systems for ESS (CICES and FEGS-CS) and incorporates the DPSIR adaptive management scheme as its main structural element. This enables compatibility with other international initiatives on ESS assessments and establishes a direct link to the EU Water Framework Directive, respectively. This work furthers research on practical implementation of the Ecosystem Services Approach, while pushing the discussion on how to promote more informed decision-making and support innovation uptake to address Europe's current water-related challenges

Why are green fiscal policies such a small part of green economic policies? Evidence from three European countries

One of the fundamental causes of environmental and resource use problems are unpriced scarcity and perverse subsidies. The logical solution seems to be to correct perverse subsidies and to price goods that were unpriced through taxes or otherwise. These measures would also improve the government budget that may be used to reduce distorting taxes and invest in the green economy or for social purposes. In practice the adjustment process of taxes and subsidies is very slow, while at the same time a large number of policies for greening the economy would have been much cheaper and more effective if prices were right. Why is there so much resistance to do what seems to be logical from an economic point of view? This chapter attempts to answer these questions by analysing green taxation policies and discussions in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK as well as by comparing the dynamics in these countries. One conclusion is that we have to be very careful with indicators like the share of environmental taxes in the GDP, because classification is not consistent and because the taxes may not give incentives for greening the economy. In all three countries, the tax on energy has many exemptions that are sometimes used as a reward for making green agreements with governments. Third, coal in electricity production kept its privileges in Germany and the Netherlands in exchange for an agreement, while the UK introduced carbon taxes for coal, in practice forcing companies to close down coal-based electricity production. International competiveness, distributional issues and fear for stranded assets seem to be the main drivers against the consistent use of green taxation. Other issues are the administrative burden, enforcement problems and perception on the effectiveness of taxes. In cases where environmental taxes are explicitly related to labour tax reductions, people are generally not aware of this. In many cases the environmental taxes are relatively complex, such as for example in the UK where it is almost impossible to calculate the final tax people pay on energy use. Designing a lucid and consistent tax system is therefore crucial. A large number of exemptions does not fit into this. The European Emission trading scheme (ETS) creates an extra problem for green taxation, because a reduction in pollution in one country will be offset by more pollution in another country, except when the excess quota is taken out of the market

Rechtsfragen in der Steuerberatung : erste Hilfe über das Steuerrecht hinaus

Mit der neuen - umfassend überarbeiteten - zweiten Auflage 2020 erhalten Sie zahlreiche neue Beratungssituationen. Hervozuheben sind die praktischen Fälle aus dem Bauvertragsrecht und der Liquidation der GmbH. Gänzlich neu aufgenommen wurde ein Kapitel zu den zivilrechtlichen Grundlagen, so dass Sie auch bei Fragen zur Geschäftsfähigkeit, der Vertretung von Kindern und Senioren oder Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen kompetenter Ansprechpartner Ihrer Mandanten

D3.2: Case studies of regional bioeconomy strategies across Europe

This report provides a summary of issues raised in the four regional case studies: Scotland, South-West Netherlands, Saxony-Anhalt and Veneto. It examines the ways in which the bioeconomy has been defined in regional strategies and the ways in which those regional strategies have been initi-ated and implemented in the four regions. Each of the regions has a distinctive approach, specialis-ing around the particular assets and strengths of the region and its core stakeholders. Typically, re-gional strategies have been developed by regional government or by stakeholder groups sponsored by those governments, and hence the main objectives have been to promote economic development through the application of developments in the bioeconomy. A primary driver of strategy development has been the need to respond to the requirements of the EU smart specialisation strategies