Policy Sessions

EAERE 2023 will include fourteen high-level policy sessions, also streamed online. 

In-person and online registered are welcome to attend. 

Further details and the most updated status of thematic sessions are available in the conference full programme.

Policy Session 1 -  28 June 2023 (09.00-10.45 EEST Cyprus, UCT+3)

Exploring the policy uses of Natural Capital Accounting: a dialogue across the Atlantic 

Organised by Marialuisa Tamborra (European Commission - Joint Research Centre), Carl Shapiro (U.S. Geological Survey and American University)

A lot of work has been undertaken on Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) in Europe, the United States and globally, as confirmed by the role of their scientists and practitioners in contributing to the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) revision (https://seea.un.org/content/seea-experimental-ecosystem-accounting-revision) and in generating several pilot studies and applications (https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/ecosystem-services/special-issue/10RZK17R0JP).§
Based on currently available knowledge and progress, there are three fundamental transitions. The first “methodological” transition is about moving from “piloting” to “accounts production”, for which there are varying levels of confidence in terms of accounting structures and data availability, with different perspectives from the EU and the US. The second “governance” transition regards an evolution from “voluntary testing” to “accounts regulation”: both the EU and the US are actively working on policies or legislations to advance systematic and routine NCA use, although with different levels of integration of economics into ecosystem accounts. The third “policy” transition concerns the use of ecosystem accounts, which is still under urgent debate. To date, two main streams of uses and users emerged from recent dialogues, including at ACES conference 2022: (1) on the one hand, institutions need regular data and maps for monitoring changes e.g. for reporting on biodiversity and ecosystem service loss towards the CBD goals or restoration actions or for supporting budget planning at national and regional levels; (2) on the other hand, researchers and analysts could use NCA to encompass risk assessments, supply chain analysis, trade-off analysis; and to underpin predictions and projections of counterfactual scenarios concerning, e.g. the macro-economic consequences of ecosystem degradation and. climate change on economic growth, population growth and migration flows.
The aim of this policy session is to analytically assess and report on how the three transitions are proceeding with a special emphasis on advancing the discussion of NCA policy uses. Panelists will address both (i) a strategic (high level) perspective to frame governance and policy drivers, both on the two sides of the Atlantic and on the international level, especially the monitoring system under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and (ii) a pragmatic pathway to develop a community of decision makers, researchers, and practitioners that understand and promote the use and value of NCA.

Panelists:

• Marialuisa Tamborra (European Commission - Joint Research Centre)
• Carl Shapiro (U.S. Geological Survey and American University)
• Robert Richardson (US Department of the Interior)
• Marc Paganini (European Space Agency)
• Alessandra La Notte (External expert to the European Commission - Joint Research Centre)
• Ken Bagstad (United States Geological Survey)
• Andrej Ceglar (European Central Bank)
• Charles Rhodes (US Office of Management and Budget)
• Carl Obst (Institute for Development of Environmental-Economic Accounting)

Policy Session 2 -  28 June 2023 (09.00-10.45 EEST Cyprus, UCT+3)

Water dialogues for sustainability

Organised by Nassim Abou Hamad (Litani River Basin Authority), Carlos Mario Gómez (University of Alcalá and IMDEAWater), Rim Hazimeh (American University of Beirut), Juliette Le Gallo (INRAE), Francesco Sapino (University of Salamanca).

Background. Water scarcity is among the greatest global societal risk of our time. Under the current trend of water use, demand could exceed the supply by 40% in 2030, causing a 6% decrease in GDP in water-stressed areas. Climate change exacerbates water volatility and scarcity, and especially in the Mediterranean area the projections point out a strong decrease in already stressed basins. To avoid this undesirable outcome, scientists and decision makers are called to design transformational adaptation policies capable to integrate state-of-the-art climatic, hydrologic, and economic research. To this end the collaboration between all the stakeholders is essential and we suggest the use of the Talanoa dialogue. The Fijian word ‘Talanoa’ refers to an inclusive, participatory, and transparent conversation among participants to share stories, build empathy and trust, and make wise decisions for the collective good. In the context of water management, the objective of Talanoa-water dialogues is to inform and catalyze the adoption of robust transformational adaptation strategies to water scarcity under uncertainty, by leveraging on co-creation experiences of cutting-edge socio-hydrology science. The agricultural sector represents 70% of global freshwater withdrawals, is often poorly regulated, concentrates the least valuable uses of the resource (less than 7% of the world’s GDP), and is accordingly targeted as the main source of much-needed water savings. A focus on the Mediterranean area, one of the most exposed to water scarcity due to climate change, is of particular interest and strategic to strengthen and create relations between scientists, policymakers, and regulatory authorities of European, African, and middle East countries. The adoption of Talanoa-water dialogues has proven to be effective when all the stakeholders are involved and collaborate.
Structure of the Session. The policy session will be divided into two parts. In the first part of the session, the chairperson will introduce the topic. The remaining speakers will expose a methodology/instrument to deal with water-policy issues of one of the case studies, then a policymaker/stakeholder stages the outcomes of existent economic instruments to address these issues and individuates the challenges to implementing the innovative methodology/instrument. Case study areas include: the Litani River Basin (LEB), the Cega watershed (ESP), and the Aude watershed (FRA). Presentations will last five minutes each, and 20 minutes of Q&A will follow. This introductory part will frame and catalyze the second part of the session, in which a roundtable will be opened to debate the pros and cons of the models/methodologies/instruments presented by the speakers and explore their transferability. The roundtable will be open for discussion with all the attendees (40 minutes). Chairpersons will close the session by wrapping up the key findings of the discussion.

Panelists:

• Nassim Abou Hamad (Litani River Basin Authority)
• Carlos Mario Gómez (University of Alcalá and IMDEAWater)
• Rim Hazimeh (American University of Beirut)
• Juliette Le Gallo (INRAE)
• Francesco Sapino (University of Salamanca).

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Policy Session 3 -  28 June 2023 (11.15-13.00 EEST Cyprus, UCT+3)

Towards a more inclusive transition: Designing policies enabling low-income households to invest in energy efficiency

Organised by Alexandros Dimitropoulos & Herman Vollebergh (PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency), Timo Goeschl (Heidelberg University), Martin Kesternich (ZEW Mannheim and University of Kassel).

It is hard to think of a more suitable moment to reconsider policies enabling low-income households to make energy efficiency investments. Soaring energy prices have disproportionately hit low incomes, pushing many households towards energy poverty. At the same time, significant increases in energy efficiency are urgently needed for the transition to a climate-neutral economy. However, investments in energy efficiency are costly and households with low incomes face major barriers in improving the energy efficiency of the buildings they live in, the appliances they use and the vehicles in which they commute.
Timely involving low-income households in the energy transition is important not only on grounds of equity, but also on grounds of environmental effectiveness. Low-income households hold longer on old and inefficient technologies simply because they cannot afford replacing them. This is despite those technologies costing more to operate and maintain, especially in times of high energy prices, such as those of the past year.
While direct price support – like that offered in many countries to alleviate energy poverty – may offer short-term relief to low-income households, it does not stimulate energy savings and emissions reductions, neither in the short nor in the long run. By contrast, targeted policies promoting investments in energy efficient technologies enable low-income households both to reduce energy consumption and emissions and to save money in the long term.
Various policy instruments can be used to stimulate energy efficiency investments by low-income households. Targeted subsidies, accelerated product retirement programmes, low-interest loans and behavioural interventions are just some examples of such instruments. Despite lacking the popularity of lump-sum subsidies and other forms of non-targeted support, many of these instruments have been used in different contexts with varying levels of success. However, no systematic stocktaking of these policies has been carried out, and it is unclear how generalisable the conclusions drawn from empirical evidence of the effects of some of them can be. These knowledge gaps imply a golden opportunity for environmental and resource economists to do original, timely and socially relevant research, while also helping governments design programmes that actively engage those mostly in need in the transition to climate neutrality.
This policy session will address the following questions:
1. What forms of targeted public support for energy efficiency investments have been offered to low-income households in various countries and in which sectors and products have they been concentrated?
2. How successful have these policies been in enabling low-income households make energy efficiency investments? What policy design features determine their effectiveness?
3. What design changes in energy efficiency investment support programmes can make them more attractive to low-income households?
4. What challenges have policy makers faced in designing and implementing such policies, and how have they addressed them?

Panelists:

• Alexandros Dimitropoulos (PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency)
• Herman Vollebergh (PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency)
• Timo Goeschl (Heidelberg University)
• Martin Kesternich (ZEW Mannheim and University of Kassel)
• Anna Alberini (University of Maryland)
• Marita Laukkanen (VATT Institute for Economic Research)
• Walid Oueslati (OECD)
• Constantinos Petrides (former Finance Minister of Cyprus)

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This sessions is organised with the support of Deloitte Climate & Sustainability.

Organised by Gianni Guastella – Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore & Deloitte Italy and Francesco Bosello – Centro Euromediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC). 

Climate risk assessment of companies is increasingly becoming pivotal in decision-making at multiple levels to boost the private sector climate action and green the financial system. Companies need to understand their physical and transition risk exposure to plan adequate investments; financial operators use climate risk information in portfolio management; banks are interested in evaluating the counterparty risk induced by climate change; regulators are committed to preventing climate and policy-induced systemic crises. Whilst all these actors perceive the urgency of having reliable, timely, and comparable data on company climate risk assessment, this information is not yet available. This policy session aims to bring together people from the academic and policy worlds to debate state of the art in climate risk assessment approaches, identify gaps, and provide tentative pathways to fill them.

Panelists:

• Gianni Guastella (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore & Deloitte Italy)
• Francesco Bosello (Centro Euromediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici CMCC)
• Irene Monasterolo (EDHEC Business School and EDHEC Risk Climate Impact Institute)
• Martina Spaggiari (European Central Bank)
• Fabien Le Tennier (European Banking Authority)
• Marie Scholer Mendez (EIOPA) 

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Policy Session 6 -  28 June 2023 (14.30-16.15 EEST Cyprus, UCT+3)

Nature-Based Carbon Offsets: Lemons or not? 

Organised by Ben Groom (University of Exeter, LSE), Andreas Kontoleon (University of Cambridge, LSE Grantham, CarbonPlan).

Recent work (Kontoleon et al., 2023, Balmford et al., 2022) has tended to show that the additionality of nature based offsets, particularly those in tropical forests, can be minimal: as low as 10% of credited carbon being attained in some cases. The impermanence, risk and general non-additionality of nature based / forest offsets seems to render them highly uncertain and potentially of very low quality (Groom and Venmans, 2023). Where does this level of risk leave nature-based offsets and the voluntary carbon market? Is it a barely functioning market for lemons or a source of reasonably priced technologies to achieve net zero?
The session will contain the following elements:
1). Brief presentations of academic work on:
a. The potential social value of offsets as a part of a net-zero strategy;
b. Recent works on the evidence for additionality in nature-based offsets;
c. The policy framework;
2). Discussions from industry participants on the state of the industry on the solutions to the problems of the carbon offset market;
3). Q&A
4). Wrap up
The aim of the session will be to produce a published article bringing together a research agenda and policy recommendations for the offset market.

Panelists:

• Ben Groom (University of Exeter, LSE)
• Andreas Kontoleon (University of Cambridge, LSE Grantham, CarbonPlan)
• Frank Venmans (LSE)

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Policy Session 7 -  28 June 2023 (14.30-16.15 EEST Cyprus, UCT+3)

The economics of alternative foods

Organised by David Zilberman (University of California, Berkeley), Ruslana Rachel Palatnik (The Max Stern Yezreel Valley Academic College), Gal Hochman (Rutgers University).

Consumers, venture capitalists, and researchers have expressed a growing interest in alternative foods (plant-based proteins, cultured meat, cell culture) in recent years. This transition to alternative food is likely to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the footprint of agriculture. However, although its development might increase food security, it will also likely significantly impact communities dependent on meat and beef -- substantially affecting those communities. The policy session aims to further our understanding of the technology, the percentage of the initial feedstock utilized in the final product, and, more generally, the economic and environmental implications of the disrupting technologies and how policy can facilitate the transition to these more sustainable and resilient supply chains. The session will quantify the production function of meats and the inputs needed to produce the final output consumed. In addition, it will quantify the greenhouse gases emitted throughout the production process. Introducing a new industry requires investment in research, development production, the establishment of a supply chain, and marketing, and policy is needed to make this transition. It is an ongoing process that evolves based on feedback from economics and the natural world. To understand the industry's trajectory, we need to understand the demand for food and technological adoption. To this end, the session will also discuss consumers' preferences concerning taste, convenience, price, and health. The policy session will discuss the industry development, the challenges it faces, and the way forward.

Panelists:

• David Zilberman (University of California, Berkeley)
• Ruslana Rachel Palatnik (The Max Stern Yezreel Valley Academic College), Gal Hochman (Rutgers University)
• Justus Wesseler (Wageningen University)

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Comparing different carbon mitigation instruments (Special Session of the EAERE Policy Outreach Committee)

Organised by Simone Borghesi (European University Institute and University of Siena) and Jos Delbeke (European University Institute and KU Leuven).

Recently interest is growing in how different types of policy instruments across countries could be compared. Since Paris most Parties to the Paris Agreement have committed to quantified mitigation targets in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) documents.
Countries determine themselves how to meet such targets, however. They use or plan to use a widely varied set of policy instruments to lower GHG emissions which allows them to accommodate national circumstances.
This complicates comparison of mitigation strategies, and the ability to gain a clear understanding of cumulative effort across countries.
Several ideas have been launched recently to better enable such comparisons including the development of comparable metrics to measure the effects of policies on emission reductions. Also interesting policy initiatives add to this development including a recent one from the OECD. Such initiatives also help to address concerns over competitiveness losses and carbon leakage from unilateral initiatives, reinforce trust and reduce the risks of non-compliance.
This session discusses some of the background issues as well as potential avenues available to move forward.

Panelists:

• Simone Borghesi (European University Institute and University of Siena)
• Carolyn Fischer (World Bank)
• Herman Vollebergh (PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency)
• Theodoros Zachariadis (Cyprus Institute)

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Policy Session 11 -  29 June 2023 (14.30-16.15 EEST Cyprus, UCT+3)

Policies to Enable Just Transitions: Building a Bridge between Research and Practice 

Organised with the support of the Horizon Europe project AdJUST, Advancing the understanding of challenges, policy options and measures to achieve a JUST EU energy transition (G.A. No 101069880) by Ireri Hernandez Carballo (CMCC Foundation and Bocconi University), Massimo Tavoni (CMCC Foundation, RFF - CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment), Elena Verdolini (CMCC Foundation, RFF - CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment), Ioana Petrescu (Pur si Simplu Verde), Jan Steckel (Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change), Karin Küblböck (Austrian Foundation for Development Research), Marion Dumas (London School of Economics).

Overall Objective: This policy session will focus on the crucial and policy-relevant challenge of enabling and advancing the just and equitable energy and digital transitions, in Europe and worldwide. The clean energy transition will involve firms, workers, households, and public bodies and will pose technical, economic, and political challenges. Furthermore, the parallel “twin” digital transition will involve the increased use of information and communication technologies across all social actors and can augment or diminish elements of the ecological transition. Enacting policies that enable a feasible and just energy transition in this context will require a comprehensive understanding of a wide set of socio-economic outcomes.
Last year, we organized an EAERE pre-conference workshop, focused on the Just Transition, in which we discussed issues related to employment, distributional impacts of policies, and public acceptance of the climate transition. The workshop was very well attended, with over 50 participants, testifying not only the importance of the topic but also the widespread interest in the EAERE community, including from young researchers. The aim of this policy session is to extend the discussion, showcase recent academic results, and describe the recent developments in the policy debate. Leading academics and practitioners will discuss how the EAERE community can best contribute to advance and support the development of Just Transition narratives, to overcome the obstacles surrounding the energy and digital Just Transitions, and to identify effective, equitable, and actively supported policy interventions. This will result in a better understanding of the various dimensions of justice and their interlinkages and will highlight the main challenges in the quantification of their interaction and tradeoffs, as well as on the identification of impacts on all stakeholders.
Detailed description: The session will enable a deeper understanding of the challenges and drivers of the design and implementation of effective, politically feasible, and equitable decarbonization policies in the context of the energy and digital transition. It is organized as a roundtable dialogue among practitioners representing a wide set of stakeholders and academics from a wide variety of research backgrounds and methodological approaches. The chair of the session will provide guiding questions, with the aim of highlighting recent events and policy developments – particularly the COVID19 pandemic, the recent energy crisis, the Just Transition Fund and Just Transition Mechanisms within the broader context of the European Green Deal - the latest relevant research results, and fruitful avenues of research co-design among Just Transition experts.

Panelists:

• Massimo Tavoni (CMCC Foundation, RFF - CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment)
• Ioana Petrescu (Pur si Simplu Verde)
• Jan Steckel (Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change)
• Karin Küblböck (Austrian Foundation for Development Research)
• Marion Dumas (London School of Economics)

Policy Session 14 -  30 June 2023 (11.15-13.00 EEST Cyprus, UCT+3)

Green Innovation Policy

Organised by Eugenie Dugoua (LSE) and Joelle Noailly (Geneva Graduate Institute, VU Amsterdam).

This policy session will discuss and debate the challenges and future prospects of green innovation policy. The energy transition is underway with the widespread adoption of renewable energies, but according to the International Energy Agency, three-quarters of technologies needed for net zero are not mature yet. Much still relies on our ability to develop and deploy new cutting-edge technologies such as energy storage and carbon capture. In addition, pressing issues like the potential shortage of critical minerals and the protection of biodiversity are becoming increasingly important in public debates. What role should innovation policy play here? How can we massively scale up and speed up green innovation in the next decade? Our expert panelists will examine the current state of green innovation policy and the obstacles hindering effective implementation and scale-up. This session will offer a valuable opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the critical issues that will shape our path toward net-zero targets and a more sustainable future.

Panelists:

• Eugenie Dugoua (LSE)
• Joelle Noailly (Geneva Graduate Institute, VU Amsterdam)
• Antoine Dechezleprêtre (OECD)
• Marion Dumas (LSE)
• Davide Amato (European Commission DG Research)

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