Bringing economists and scientists together for planetary solutions

Published 21 December 2016

Thomas Sterner and Johan Rockström. Photo: Johan Wingborg

What policies are needed to cope with the global environmental challenges? What can scientists learn from economists and vice versa? This was the theme of the workshop held on 7-8 December, organised by Thomas Sterner, BECC researcher and professor of environmental economics at the University of Gothenburg.

On 7-8 December, Thomas Sterner, professor of environmental economics, University of Gothenburg and Johan Rockström, professor of environmental science, Stockholm Resilience Center, gathered a group of 25 international researchers from various disciplines at the University of Gothenburg for a workshop on policies for planetary boundaries. Henrik Smith, coordinator of BECC, was one of the participants.

The framework planetary boundaries was first presented by Johan Rockström, Will Steffen and others in 2009, as an effort to define the status of essential ecosystems. Since the human impact on the planet has fundamentally changed the ecosystems, we have now entered a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene.

For decades, Thomas Sterner has worked on identifying useful policy instruments to tackle environmental problems, particularly climate change. Now Sterner wants these fields of expertise to meet, the environmental scientists and the economists, but also other social scientists.

“The purpose of this workshop is to formulate a coherent response and framework for analyzing the question of how to design policies to meet the challenge of avoiding damage from crossing planetary boundaries”, says Sterner.

Read the full article by Marie Andersson on the School of Business, Economics and Law webpage.

The workshop took place at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, 7-8 December 2016, with support from BECC, Stockholm Resilience Center and Stockholm University.