News
- 2010-01-20 Apply to PhD programme in Environmental Economics The Department of Economics at the University of Gothenburg has a long history of support for PhD candidates from developing countries. The purpose of this Sida-financed PhD programme is to strengthen the capacity in developing countries to teach environmental economics at university level, and to establish a firm basis for research that can be used for policy advice. Deadline for applications is March 3, 2010.
- 2009-12-18 Sida and the University of Gothenburg give 26.5 million SEK to environmental economics programme The Environmental Economics Unit at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, has been granted 23 million SEK (2.3 million Euro) from Sida and 3.5 million SEK (0,35 million Euro) from the University. The purpose of the grants is to enable young scientists from developing countries to study at the doctoral level at the University in 2010 and to support environmental economics research centres in Africa, Central America and China. An expert group formed to serve Sida with environmental economic advice will also benefit from the money.
- 2009-12-14 Climate Policy and Land Scarcity - findig effective responses Income induced diet changes, increased demand for biofuels, and climatic changes have already caused food price increases and consequent deforestation.
- 2009-12-11 Rich and poor have different views on what is fair 2030 targets "Differences in income levels means that different countries have very different views on what is a fair allocation of emissions and abatement requirements" says Thomas Sterner, Professor of Environmental Economics at the University of Gothenburg, and one of the researchers participating in a side event at COP15 on Saturday, December 12, on climate goals 2030.
- 2009-12-11 Climate change financing – what is the role of development cooperation? ”Development cooperation can play an important role in ensuring that the poorest countries will benefit from climate change funding," says Olof Drakenberg, policy analyst at the Environmental Economics Unit at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.
- 2009-12-11 Draft report of review of EEP and EfD completed A draft report of the review of the Environmental Economics Programme and Environment for Development initiative is completed by Tom Alberts and Agnes Mwaiselage.
- 2009-12-09 Americans and Swedes are willing to pay for slowing climate change A large majority of citizens in Sweden and the United States is willing to pay to for slowing climate change. Findings from a new multi-country survey shows that 91.5% of Swedes and 71% of Americans are willing to pay to avoid the consequences of climate change that would arise from a 4°F temperature increase by 2050. Moreover, Swedes and Americans are willing to pay 2-3% of their per capita income (or analogously, the same percentage of GDP) to prevent a warming of more than 4°F by 2050.
- 2009-12-08 Book launch on COP15: How did climate change become an economic issue? How can economics best contribute to the scientific and public debates? Professor Thomas Sterner, University of Gothenburg, together with Nicholas Stern, who wrote the The Stern Review, and Nobel laureates Thomas Schelling and Robert Solow are among the scholars who explain in a new book both how economics has changed environmental understanding and how the study of climate change has modified the economy. The book is released today at COP15.
- 2009-11-09 Sterner comments Copenhagen climate talks in The Financial Times “Prospects for climate talks in Copenhagen are not good. We think the main reason is the considerable distance between the parties when it comes to burden of payment and obligations”, says Professors Thomas Sterner, President of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economics, and Roger Guesnerie, President of Paris School of Economics.
- 2009-10-07 EEU presents the World Development Report on Development and Climate Change The Environmental Economics Unit has once again the opportunity to present the World Development Report at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. This year’s theme of the report is Development and Climate Change.
- 2009-10-07 Sterner comments on Rapport Tirole for the Copenhagen meeting Professor Thomas Sterner has been asked to comment on the French report, Rapport Tirole, on "International architecture of policy to combat climate change", authored by Professor Jean Tirole for the French Prime Minister. The main stumbling block is the allocation of emissions between rich and poor countries.
- 2009-09-23 Sterner stressed the urgency of emission reductions Professor Thomas Sterner was invited speaker at the ECT 2009 conference on energy, climate and technology, in Bergen, Norway, September 23-24. Also Kirk Hamilton from the World Bank was invited, and gave a luncheon presentation of the Word Development Report 2010 on Development and Climate Change.
- 2009-09-03 Sterner invited speaker at conference for parliamentarians from EU Professor Thomas Sterner, University of Gothenburg, is invited speaker at an interparliamentary conference for chairs of parliamentary finance and budget committees on Sustainability in Public Finances and Economic Aspects of Climate Change, held at The Swedish Parliament (Riksdagen), in Stockholm, 6-7 September 2009.
- 2009-08-24 Call for evaluation of EEU/EfD The review is primarily intended to assess experiences and results during 2006 up to today from the Sida supported programmes implemented by the Environmental Economics Unit (EEU) at University of Gothenburg: "Environment for Development" and "Environmental Economics Capacity Building Programme" in order to guide Sida's future support to such activities.
- 2009-07-29 DN refers to research by Ping Qin Sweden's largest daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter is discussing the ownership of natural resources, and refers to EfD Research Associate Ping Qin's research, which shows that secure right of usage is more important than ownership to China's forest farmers.
- 2009-04-16 UN Expert Group Meeting: Sustainable agriculture in Africa For the poor of the world, improved agricultural productivity and reduced land degradation is vital. The United Nations, the World Bank, and other bodies are currently making tremendous investments in African agriculture. How researchers can contribute to ensuring that these resources are put to best use was the main question for the expert group meeting, organised by the United Nations, together with environmental economists from the School of Economics, Business and Law, University of Gothenburg. The 27 participants included researchers, agricultural consultants, ministers and aid donors.
- 2009-03-16 Biofuel can provide a boost to Tanzania Read the opinion article (in Swedish only) on biofuel in Tanzania, written by ten researchers from Tanzania and Sweden, among them Razack Lokina, EfD Coordinator in Tanzania, and Håkan Eggert, resident advisor at EfD in Tanzania.
- 2009-02-17 Secure right of usage more important than ownership to China's forest farmers What do poor forest farmers want from China's ongoing forest land reform? Well, it is not private ownership of the land that makes them invest. What Chinese farmers value most and what attracts them to investments that can raise their standard of living and contribute to sustainable forestry is secure rights of usage, as shown by Ping Qin's doctoral thesis in economics at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
- 2009-01-27 The Myrdal Prize 2008 to Sterner and Persson The Myrdal Prize 2008 has been awarded to Professor Thomas Sterner, University of Gothenburg, and PhD Martin Persson, Chalmers.
- 2008-11-28 Zimbabwe’s land reform leaves farmers insecure In her doctoral dissertation at the School of Business, Economics, and Law, University of Gothenburg, in Sweden, the Zimbabwean Precious Zikhali has studied three areas of direct importance to the struggle against poverty in Africa and Zimbabwe. She shows that farmers are experiencing uncertainty regarding their right to use the land following the latest land reform program, instead of a sense of secure future prospects. This insecurity causes farmers to make fewer investments to prevent soil erosion.
- 2008-11-12 Sterner discussant at AFD/EUDN 2008 in Paris Professor Thomas Sterner was invited as a discussant to a conference in Paris on Nov 12th, entitled Population and natural resources: Managing Pressure, and organised by the French development assistance AFD, Agence Française de Développement, and EUDN, the European Development Research Network.
- 2008-10-29 World Bank and the Role of Institutions in SEA This seminar was held as part of the institutional collaboration between the Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg and the World Bank Environment Department. Presenter was Dr Fernando Loayza, Senior specialist in Strategic Environmental Assessment at the World Bank and coordinator of the World Bank pilot program on Institutions Centered SEA.
- 2008-10-28 Institutions Centered Strategic Environmental Assessment This workshop, organized by the Environmental Economics Helpdesk at EEU, in Gothenburg, Sweden, October 27-28 2008, was held to reflect on the role of institutions and political economy in policy level environmental assessment in a developing country perspective.
- 2008-09-08 Sustainable Development Officer position at UN Sustainable Development Officer position, P-3 UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs New York
- 2008-06-26 Ed Barbier spoke at the Preconference on Environment and Development A great number of researchers working on environment and development issues were participating in the conference EAERE 2008 in Gothenburg, Sweden, June 26-28. Therefore, a special preconference on environment and development was arranged on June 25, in connection with EAERE 2008.
- 2008-06-25 2008 EAERE annual conference in Gothenburg The 2008 EAERE annual conference in Gothenburg focuses on climate change and environmental issues in developing countries. The 16th annual conference of European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) is to be held here at the School of Business, Economics and Law, June 25-28, 2008.
- 2008-06-24 EfD research workshop in connection with EAERE An EfD research workshop was held on June 24 at the Environmental Economics Unit, in connection with the EAERE 2008 conference
- 2008-05-21 Land Titling, A Blessing or a Curse? Professor Jintao Xu, professor of economics at Peking University and Coordinator of the EfD in China, will share the experiences of the recent rapid reform of collective forestry in China at a seminar titled Agriculture, land markets and development on May 22 in Sweden. It is one in a series of seminars at the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry to follow up the World Development Report 2008 – Agriculture for Development.
- 2008-05-21 First publication in EfD book series The Emergence of Land Markets in Africa is the first publication in the new Environment for Development (EfD) book series.
- 2008-04-21 WB presents Global Monitoring Report at Sida, Sweden Anders Ekbom, from Sida Helpdesk for Environmental Economics, participates in a panel discussion on this year’s Global Monitoring Report, when the report is presented by the World Bank at Sida in Stockholm, Sweden, on Friday 25 April.
