3.4: Economics
To support and deliver integrated economic analysis including modelling across themes (biodiversity, climate change, marine,
spatial planning, environment and health) and driving forces (agriculture, transport, (bio)energy) with the focus on cost
of policy inaction, cost of measures, benefits of improved environmental quality and ecosystems services, and the role and
impact of market-based instruments and environmental tax reform.
Other Information:
Central to these activities will be the maintenance of data repositories. Analysis - There is an increasing focus on economic
damage and welfare loss in the case of inadequate action or inaction. At the same time policies and measures must induce effective
and least-cost solutions. The economic component of environmental analysis and evaluations is getting stronger as reflected
in the further development of methods such as ex-ante-type cost of policy inaction, impact assessments and integrated analysis,
and ex-post evaluations. Market-based instruments are increasingly recognised as potentially cost‑saving tools, and environmental
tax reform aims to reconcile environmental, fiscal and social objectives. Action - We will achieve our objective by: • further
developing data gathering and assessments of the economic consequences of action and of lack of action; • developing integrated
analysis of economic drivers and environmental problems and policy tools; • building inventories and assessments of the role
of market-based solutions and environmental tax reforms; • making cost of inaction related valuations of market and non-market
damage to ecosystem services and human welfare as input into European eco-assessment programmes; • performing integrated analyses
of environmental consequences and resources efficiency of main driving forces and of solutions with focus on market-based
approaches, such as carbon markets and environmental taxation; • carrying out an analysis of environmental tax reform as a
response to long-term sustainable reconciliation of environmental, economic/fiscal and social objectives; and • further developing
methodologies, including benefit transfer, for scaling up of non-market valuation case study results, and valuation in land
and ecosystem accounting.
Indicator(s):
|
