The overriding aim of this project is to analyse the economic and environmental trade-offs of policy interventions to promote the use of agricultural land for producing biomass to reduce the use of fossil-based fuels. Specifically the aims of the PhD project are to:

I. Develop models that predict the impacts of intensifying agricultural production on biodiversity, eutrophication and carbon sequestration.
II. Evaluate the trade-offs that exist between increasing biomass production and other societal goals, specifically; conservation of biodiversity, and mitigation of GHG emissions and eutrophication.
III. Develop models that can optimize policy instruments for balancing economic and environmental trade-offs for both farmers and society.

The PhD will investigate several important environmental issues from a societal perspective but at the same time model decisions by farmers on their use of agricultural land, and generate findings relevant for sustainable development and formulating policy.

Analysing the environmental implications of increasing biomass production in Swedish agricultural land – portal.research.lu.se