Conference Agenda

Air pollution remains a persistent problem in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). The incidence of damages is especially high amongst underprivileged communities due to lower pre-existing inputs into health and the rise of costly defensive investments (e.g. air purifiers) that are only accessible to the rich. Given regulatory failures in improving ambient air quality (Greenstone & Hanna, 2014) there is a need to explore the effectiveness of other defensive interventions in reducing the damages of exposure to high levels of air pollution. The reality of reducing air pollution in LMICs adds urgency to the investigation of the effectiveness of defensive action: even with aggressive regulatory approaches it will be many years before ambient levels are reduced to safe levels in much of the world. This session is focused on examining the effectiveness of providing information to individual households in promoting the adoption of defensive action to reduce exposure to pollution. Each paper in the session examines an intervention that provides information to households about either (a) air quality or (b) ways to take defensive action (or both). They then evaluate the effectiveness of these actions with respect to whether households take action, whether that action has health consequences, and whether the information provided changes their Willingness To Pay for additional reductions in exposure to pollution. All four papers are unified in their examination of these questions in LMICs.

Presenters:
Philippe Tulkens, European Commission DG RTD
Alejandro Caparrós, Durham University
Stale Navrud, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Katinka Holtsmark, University of Oslo


The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992, also known as Rio "Earth Summit", was one of the first global attempt to address the interlinked crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem degradation (IPBES, 2019). Three decades later, the need for action has dramatically increased. Global temperatures have already risen by 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels (IPCC, 2022), significantly altering marine, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems all around the world (Dasgupta, 2021; FAO, 2024). Building on this urgency, parties at COP29 in Baku agreed a deal on rules for a global market to buy and sell carbon credits. These new agreement opens vast opportunities for integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services into carbon markets, further enhancing their role in climate change mitigation. COP30 in Belém, besides bringing together countries in Brazil after more than 30 years from Rio 1992, presents a crucial opportunity to build on the momentum from COP29, uniting the Global North and South in strengthening partnerships. In such an arena, how can carbon markets be designed to benefit climate action and biodiversity preservation? And how can Europe best support Global South in biodiversity protection at this critical juncture?
The session, organized by the Policy Outreach Committee, will focus on two key topics as we approach COP30.
First, building on the IPBES-IPCC previous studies on biodiversity and climate (IPBES, 2021), it will explore how biodiversity and ecosystem services can be integrated into climate action, focusing particularly on carbon credit systems that help both mitigate climate change and protect biodiversity.
The session will also discuss how to strengthen cooperation between the Global North and South, building on the progress made at COP29. Special attention will be given to Europe’s role in supporting biodiversity protection in the Global South through financial support and capacity- building, aiming to create more equitable and collaborative global solutions to climate challenges.

The transition of the global energy system from one based on fossil energy to one based on non-fossil, renewable energy is denoted the energy transition. Much attention is focused on systemic scale changes in the research literature, with little focus on both households or even sub-national scales. Correspondingly, much of the economic analysis proceeds using a system-wide simulation/analytical framework, with little diversity in approaches used. Furthermore, the transition is anticipated to take a few decades, with short-term energy-related challenges occurring in the interim. These short-term challenges, if not dealt with appropriately, can not only lead to significant delays in, but also reduce public support for, the energy transition. In this context, the proposed session's main goals are to take a close look at the following four aspects of the energy transition using a wide diversity of approaches: diversity in methods used (stated and revealed preference, along with macro-economic models), in scale of analysis (economy-wide, household, firm-level), and in geographic scope (Sweden, Mexico, and Switzerland). Four specific aspects are considered in the studies included in the session: (i) employment; (ii) reliability and investments; (iii) incentives to manage short-term energy crises; and (iv) investments in grid-scale storage and electricity generation. These four aspects span three different levels of analysis: households, firms, and industry/economy. Thus, the proposed session aims to provide a multi-dimensional view of the energy transition, from the bird's eye macro-economic view, an intermediate level firm-level view, and finally, a much lower-level household-level view.

The circular economy (CE) intersects multiple environmental challenges. It is expected to ease the pressure on resource extraction—thereby protecting biodiversity—support the feasibility of a materials-intensive energy transition, and lower emissions by reducing resource consumption, thus combatting climate change. Finally, reducing waste and designing environmentally friendly products should lower levels of pollution. For these reasons, the European Commission considers the 2020 Circular Economy Action Plan—addressing waste recycling and product design—one of the main building blocks of the European Green Deal. To achieve these environmental objectives simultaneously, public policies must consider their interconnections and be carefully designed as a cohesive package, given that policies influence one another. Featuring insights from four innovative studies, the session highlights key market mechanisms, policy mix, and trade-offs in advancing circularity across environmental dimensions and scales.