Environmental Economics
In light of current and future environmental challenges there is a need for sustainable development that integrates both environmental aspects and incentives for environmentally sound outcomes into decision making. This includes the valuation of environmental resources and ecosystems and the services that they can provide as well as exploration of market-based instruments as a means to encourage and reward environmentally sound behaviour. In this capacity, MRAG regularly leads assessments of the benefits and costs of environmental policy, in order to provide a balanced view to policy makers, both within and outside the EU. MRAG has also applied environmental economics in the modelling of resource systems and in the development and uptake of indicators of sustainability, recognising that well-being and policy effectiveness cannot be measured only in economic terms, but should also take into account environmental and social implications.
