Suchergebnisse

European survey data shows strong temporal fluctuations in climate change concern within European countries and large differences in concern between these countries. However, there is as yet no comprehensive understanding of what drives these longitudinal and cross-sectional patterns. To fill this knowledge gap, this study analyzes data of over 155,000 survey respondents from 28 European countries over the period 2008–2017. This study is the first to apply within-between random effects models to simultaneously analyze longitudinal and cross-sectional determinants of climate change concern, and examine if and how the influence of these determinants has changed over time. Substantively, it researches the nexus between climate change and two other crises that have captured the imagination of European publics over the studied period: the liberal democracy crisis and the economic crisis. The former is characterized by the rise of right-wing populist parties in Europe. Right-wing populism is often at odds with climate change policies, and its rise in popularity could have undermined public concern about climate change. We find only a weak negative longitudinal relationship between such concern and the popularity of right-wing populist parties, and no significant cross-sectional relationship. We find that economic performance is strongly positively associated with concern, with GDP per capita being most important for explaining cross-country differences in concern, and deviations in unemployment being most important for explaining longitudinal within-country change. However, this negative longitudinal relationship with unemployment weakens considerably over time, illustrating the importance of including dynamic effects in modeling efforts to generate more reliable results.

This study offers a Choice Experiment (CE) analysis of geographical scope effects. About 500 stated preference surveys were conducted to estimate willingness-to-pay (WTP) for nature protection in the Netherlands and the Caribbean Netherlands which became part of the Netherlands' constitution just before the survey, providing a unique policy setting. Two version of the CE were implemented with a narrow or a broader geographical scope. Estimation of error correction mixed logit models resulted in the following main insights. First, the hypothesis of scope invariance is rejected since expanding the geographical scope influenced WTP values for nature protection. As an illustration, policies of preventing a degradation of nature have an average WTP of about €20 in the experiment with the smaller geographical scope, while this WTP is not significantly different from zero in the experiment with the more extensive scope. Second, evidence of scope sensitivity of WTP to the levels of nature protection is mixed, and depends on the geographical scope of the CE. We find a sizable WTP for protection of nature in Caribbean Netherlands among citizens of the mainland of the Netherlands, which supports the observed sizable funding of the Dutch government for nature management in the Caribbean Netherlands.

The European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action ESMERALDA aimed at developing guidance and a flexible methodology for Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) to support the EU member states in the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy's Target 2 Action 5. ESMERALDA's key tasks included network creation, stakeholder engagement, enhancing ecosystem services mapping and assessment methods across various spatial scales and value domains, work in case studies and support of EU member states in MAES implementation. Thus ESMERALDA aimed at integrating various project outcomes around four major strands: i) Networking, ii) Policy, iii) Research and iv) Application. The objective was to provide guidance for integrated ecosystem service mapping and assessment that can be used for sustainable decision-making in policy, business, society, practice and science at EU, national and regional levels. This article presents the overall ESMERALDA approach of integrating the above-mentioned project components and outcomes and provides an overview of how the enhanced methods were applied and how they can be used to support MAES implementation in the EU member states. Experiences with implementing such a large pan-European Coordination and Support Action in the context of EU policy are discussed and recommendations for future actions are given.

This study offers a Choice Experiment (CE) analysis of geographical scope effects. About 500 stated preference surveys were conducted to estimate willingness-to-pay (WTP) for nature protection in the Netherlands and the Caribbean Netherlands which became part of the Netherlands' constitution just before the survey, providing a unique policy setting. Two version of the CE were implemented with a narrow or a broader geographical scope. Estimation of error correction mixed logit models resulted in the following main insights. First, the hypothesis of scope invariance is rejected since expanding the geographical scope influenced WTP values for nature protection. As an illustration, policies of preventing a degradation of nature have an average WTP of about €20 in the experiment with the smaller geographical scope, while this WTP is not significantly different from zero in the experiment with the more extensive scope. Second, evidence of scope sensitivity of WTP to the levels of nature protection is mixed, and depends on the geographical scope of the CE. We find a sizable WTP for protection of nature in Caribbean Netherlands among citizens of the mainland of the Netherlands, which supports the observed sizable funding of the Dutch government for nature management in the Caribbean Netherlands.

The central assumption of publicly-supported market development programs is that providing resources to local entrepreneurs and strengthening the business environments fosters the emergence of self-sustaining local energy access ventures. We explore this assumption by applying a business model lens to analyze how participation in a market development program affects the development of local energy access ventures. Using the domestic biogas market development program in Rwanda as our case, we evaluate program design, the role of local entrepreneurs and interactions between participating ventures and the coordinating office to determine how market development programs contribute to a self-sustaining private energy sector. While providing a detailed framework for local ventures, the business model offers entrepreneurs few possibilities to act entrepreneurial and exploit local opportunities. Consequently, such programs will attract necessity-driven rather than opportunity- and growth-driven entrepreneurs, causing concern for the achievement of program objectives and the establishment of a self-sustaining private sector.

The determinants of farmers' decisions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are currently not well understood. This study takes several new angles in investigating farmers' climate change mitigation behaviour. Based on two identical surveys among representative samples of Dutch farmers, this study examines the underlying determinants and motivating factors for three different types of climate change mitigation measures on farms: energy saving, the production of renewable energy and reduction of emissions of methane and nitrous oxide (non-CO 2 emissions). Furthermore, the study explores whether farmers' awareness and behaviour has been influenced by a communication campaign carried out by the government of the Netherlands between 2012 and 2015. Four major conclusions emerge. Firstly, the analyses demonstrate that accounting for the cost-effectiveness and technology readiness level (TRL) of different types of climate change mitigation measures provides for a better understanding of the factors that motivate farmers to adopt these measures. Secondly, neither the willingness to take GHG reduction measures nor knowledge on GHG emissions are consistent motivating factors for energy-related measures. Thirdly, it seems that external factors, such as economic hardship, dominate the overall environmental awareness of farmers. Fourthly, the farmer's propensity to innovate proved to be the strongest and most consistent predictor of both the willingness and the actual adoption of climate change mitigation technologies. Therefore, focusing on making farmers more open to change and general innovation in campaigns in the agricultural sector might be more effective than campaigns focusing specifically on climate change mitigation.

Since the European Energy Efficiency Directive, a lot of attention has been paid to energy saving measures, including how to overcome the barriers for implementation. This paper addresses the dilemmas of the Dutch dairy sector, where farms are getting bigger and mechanization is increasing, while at the same time the sector is aiming for improved energy efficiency and sustainability. With an online tool which systematically recorded the energy performance of dairy farmers, a unique dataset on farm energy use with more than 25,000 observations over the years 2015–2018 was obtained. This allows for a robust analysis of the determinants of energy efficiency in the sector, using panel data analyses. The results of this study reveal three major trends. First, the on-farm use of solar panels proves to be the most significant determinant for reducing non-renewable energy use. Second, gains in energy efficiency triggered by government policies are countervailed by the continuous trend of mechanization, with especially automatic milking systems causing lower energy efficiency. Third, the increasing economies of scale in milk production substantially improve per-unit energy efficiency. However, the increased need for mechanization related to higher on-farm production can cancel out this economies-of-scale effect. These findings add important new insights to the literature on cleaner production in farms and have important policy implications. Strategies for more energy-efficient farming should entail two directions for innovation: first, the stimulation of more energy efficient automatic milking systems, and second, the stimulation of solar energy production on farms including a better on-farm utilization of solar electricity.

Since the European Energy Efficiency Directive, a lot of attention has been paid to energy saving measures, including how to overcome the barriers for implementation. This paper addresses the dilemmas of the Dutch dairy sector, where farms are getting bigger and mechanization is increasing, while at the same time the sector is aiming for improved energy efficiency and sustainability. With an online tool which systematically recorded the energy performance of dairy farmers, a unique dataset on farm energy use with more than 25,000 observations over the years 2015–2018 was obtained. This allows for a robust analysis of the determinants of energy efficiency in the sector, using panel data analyses. The results of this study reveal three major trends. First, the on-farm use of solar panels proves to be the most significant determinant for reducing non-renewable energy use. Second, gains in energy efficiency triggered by government policies are countervailed by the continuous trend of mechanization, with especially automatic milking systems causing lower energy efficiency. Third, the increasing economies of scale in milk production substantially improve per-unit energy efficiency. However, the increased need for mechanization related to higher on-farm production can cancel out this economies-of-scale effect. These findings add important new insights to the literature on cleaner production in farms and have important policy implications. Strategies for more energy-efficient farming should entail two directions for innovation: first, the stimulation of more energy efficient automatic milking systems, and second, the stimulation of solar energy production on farms including a better on-farm utilization of solar electricity.