International Environmental Cooperation

optional courses

Knowledge of microeconomics helps to absorb the course material

BA/MA Level

1. The aim of the lecture is to discuss main international environmental issues, and to phrase them as economic problems. 2. As a result, the students should be able to list main international environmental issues, explain how they are tackled by the international community, and assess the economic efficiency of agreements reached. 3. The class is carried out as a lecture. 4. The lecture can be selected by the students of the "Interdepartmental Study of Environmental Protection", as well as by economics students. 5. Written test (oral exam upon request for exchange students whose universities require such an exam).

The purpose of the lecture is to review contemporary literature addressing the problem of international environmental cooperation and to discuss several controversial issues arising in this context. Emphasis will be placed on cooperation, conflicts and convergence of interest in those agreements which Poland is (or plans to be) a party to. Specific topics include: 1. Introduction to the lecture; examples of international environmental cooperation. 2. Eutrophication of the Baltic Sea; economic roots of the problem; the so-called limiting factor; methods to achieve cost-effectiveness; international initiatives to solve the problem; models of an international optimum of the Baltic Sea clean-up: cost and benefit budgets. 3. The "acid rain" in Europe; economic roots of the problem; international transfers of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions. A model of environmental-economic linkages. International initiatives to solve the problem. 4. Protecting the ozone layer; economic instruments at work; a "competition" between the developing countries and economies in transition. 5. Global climate as a public good; a greenhouse effect risk; economic consequences of limiting the energy demand; approaches to an equitable cost-sharing in climate protection activities; the Kyoto Protocol. 6. Biodiversity protection as an international problem; cost-benefit analyses of conserving biodiversity. 7. Conventions and other documents adopted at Rio (1992); the conference as a milestone in maturing the sustainable development concept. 8. International environmental assistance; the North-South conflict; the concept of "incrementaility" in environmental assistance; Eastern Europe as a target for interest groups from the OECD countries. 9. Debt-for-environment swaps; path-breaking agreements from the 1980s; a critique of early debt-for-environment models; the Polish debt-for-environment swap of 1991; Operations of the EcoFund in Poland. 10. International trade and the environment; a modern critique of the comparative advantage theory; environmental consequences of the contemporary international trade. 11. Environmental policy in the European Union; Lisbon Strategy – a compromise with economic development objectives?

• Joseph E. Aldy and Robert N. Stavins (eds.), Architectures for Agreement. Addressing Global Climate Change in the Post-Kyoto World, Cambridge University Press 2007, pp. 1-27

• Wolfgang Buchholz 1997, "Intergenerational Equity", in: T. Zylicz (ed.) Ecological Economics. Markets, Prices and budgets in a sustainable society, Uppsala University, Uppsala, pp. 19-22

• Community Lisbon Programme. Technical Implementation Report 2006, European Commission, Brussels 2006 (SEC(2006) 1379)

• Ecological Economics 1994, Vol. 9, No. 1, Special Issue "Trade and Environment"

• EcoFund 2008, EcoFund's annual report, 2009, Warsaw.

• Michael Finus 2003, "Stability and design of international environmental agreements: the case of transboundary pollution", in: H. Folmer and T. Tietenberg (eds.), The International Yearbook of Environmental and Resource Economics 2003/2004, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 82-158

• Agnieszka Markowska, Tomasz Zylicz 1999, "Costing an international public good: The case of the Baltic Sea", Ecological Economics, 1999, vol. 30, pp. 301-316

• Stephen Polasky 2005, "Strategies to conserve biodiversity", in: H. Folmer and T. Tietenberg (eds.), The International Yearbook of Environmental and Resource Economics 2005-2006, Edward Elgar Publishing 2005, pp. 157-184

• Jim Skea 1999, "Flexibility, emissions trading and the Kyoto Protocol", in: S. Sorrell and J, Skea (eds.), Pollution for Sale. Emissions Trading and Joint Implementation, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham 1999, pp. 354-379

• Timothy Swanson and Sam Johnson, Global Environmental Problems and International Environmental Agreements. The Economics of Institution Building, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham 1999.

• Tomasz Zylicz 1991, "The Role for Economic Incentives in International Allocation of Abatement Effort", in: R. Costanza (ed.), Ecological Economics: The Science of Management of Sustainability, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 384-399

• Tomasz Zylicz 2000, Costing Nature in a Transition Economy, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 150-173

As a result of the course, students can list main contemporary international environmental problems, indicate agreements (e.g. international conventions) they are tackled with and assess their economic efficiency.

KW01, KW02, KW03, KU01, KU02, KU03, KK01, KK02, KK03

Test exam