by David Timmons, Jonathan Harris and Brian Roach. This module covers issues that are central to the transition to renewable energy, including the potential of solar energy, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydropower and other low-carbon energy sources. It stresses the crucial role of energy efficiency in facilitating a transition to renewables, and discusses issues including electrification, […]
The world is experiencing unprecedented environmental and economic challenges posed by climate change. The need to reduce carbon emissions by identifying and executing effective technologies for mitigating carbon emissions is critical. One such technology is carbon dioxide removal. In a new journal article published in PLOS Climate, June Sekera and coauthors examine two contrasting approaches […]
by Jonathan M. Harris, Brian Roach and Anne-Marie Codur This module, based on chapters 12 and 13 of Harris and Roach’s textbook, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: A Contemporary Approach, discusses the scientific evidence on climate change, including recent projections on temperature and sea-level rise. It then evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of economic analysis of […]
By Erin Lennox and Rebecca Hollender This module considers the problems of environmental degradation and inequality in relation to growth-centric development. Perspectives on alternatives to growth along with related policies, practices and challenges are discussed to explain the need to limit economic activity to within the biophysical limits of the planet. The module features extensive […]
By Jonathan M. Harris, Brian Roach, Pratistha Joshi Rajkarnikar and Neva Goodwin This module, based on Chapter 17 of Macroeconomics in Context, discusses the future of economic growth in an era of ecological limits. It includes analysis of population growth, resources and pollution, and the climate crisis. Policies for a transition to sustainability and a “green” […]
By Pratistha Rajkarnikar, Neva Goodwin and Brian Roach This module, drawn from the fifth chapter of Macroeconomics in Context, presents an overview of innovations in national accounting related to measuring well-being. The module describes satellite accounts for the environment, methods of counting household production and the construction of well-being indicators such as the Genuine Progress Indicator, […]
By Anne-Marie Codur and Jonathan Harris The latest stage in global efforts to respond to climate change was the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Glasgow in November 2021. The conference brought together delegations from 197 countries with the goal of achieving major progress […]
By Dr. Brian Roach Twenty years since the initial publication, the Fifth Edition of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: A Contemporary Approach by Jonathan M. Harris and Brian Roach is now available from Routledge. The text provides coverage of core theoretical concepts from environmental and ecological economics, along with topical chapters on climate change, fisheries, […]
In a recently published paper, June Sekera, Senior Research Fellow at BU’s Global Development Policy Center and her collaborator from The New School, Andreas Lichtenberger, reviewed the literature on carbon dioxide removal and found that the use of public funds to subsidize industrial-chemical methods is often counterproductive. The paper analyzes the flawed premises upon which […]
In an article, published in the German newspaper Handelsblatt, Subventionen für CO2-Abscheidung sind verschwendetes Geld, ECI Senior Research Fellow June Sekera dissects the premises and promises of industrial-chemical methods of carbon capture. An English version of the originally-submitted article is at: Carbon Cleanup: The Public is Paying, but Who is Profiting?