Publications
Multinational corporations and climate adaptation – Are we asking the right questions? A review of current knowledge and a new research perspective
Adapting to climate change requires the engagement of all actors in society. Until recently, predominant research focus has been on governments, communities and the third sector as key actors in … read more »
Rights to the forest, REDD+ and elections: Mining in Guyana
This paper examines the impact of electoral cycles and the introduction of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) policy upon the holding of small-scale mining property rights in Guyana. … read more »
Asymmetric industrial energy prices and international trade
This paper measures the response of bilateral trade flows to differences in industrial energy prices across countries. Using a panel for the period 1996-2011 including 42 countries, 62 sectors and … read more »
What lies beneath: understanding the invisible aspects of municipal climate change governance
Municipal or local government climate governance has attracted much research attention with a proliferation of literature investigating institutional enablers and barriers to climate action. This paper addresses a gap in this literature through considering critically the role of informal/shadow systems and spaces; the significant inner social workings that constitute what we call the ‘invisible aspects’ of municipal institutions for learning and decision-making processes. read more »
Labeling opinions in the climate debate: a critical review
This paper critically reviews the literature on climate opinion labels, and the efforts taken within an academic context to categorize differences, create new taxonomies of more detailed sub‐labels, or create or argue for the use of new labels such as denier or contrarian. read more »
Why did the knowledge transition occur in the West and not in the East? ICT and the role of governments in Europe, East Asia and the Muslim world
The invention of a new ICT, the printing press, may have been a fundamental turning point in knowledge transition. But did Gutenberg’s printing press succeed in Europe because of, or … read more »
The impact of energy prices on energy efficiency: Evidence from the UK refrigerator market
It is commonly believed that large energy efficiency gaps exist in the energy-using durables markets. We develop a broad analytical framework capturing consumer purchase behavior and suppliers’ pricing and innovation … read more »
Development Aid and Climate Finance
This paper discusses the implications of climate change for official transfers from rich countries (the North) to poor countries (the South) when the motivation for transfers is ethical rather than strategic. read more »
Energy and carbon markets in Europe: Larger or smaller markets?
Presentation given at the Cumberland Lodge Workshop organised by the European Institute at the LSE. read more »
Conservation payments under uncertainty
The decision of whether to retain forest or convert to another land use is affected by uncertainty over future land use returns. This paper examines the design of conservation payments to landowners under uncertainty. Payments are either indexed to the returns from deforestation (agriculture), or to a market value associated with forest nonuse benefits. Payment size depends on the degree of correlation between payments and agricultural returns, and their relative volatility. Market-based payments for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) are simulated for Brazilian soybean growers. Payments indexed to carbon prices are larger than those indexed to international soybean prices. (JEL Q23, Q24) read more »
