IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v15y2013i6p1623-1644.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From the environmental debt to the environmental loan: trends and future challenges for intergenerational discounting

Author

Listed:
  • Marta Bottero
  • Valentina Ferretti
  • Giulio Mondini

Abstract

It is well known that the incorporation of the intergenerational equity objective has turned the traditional Cost–Benefit Analysis (CBA) approach into an obsolete tool for the evaluation of certain types of projects, particularly those exhibiting many environmental externalities and those whose effects extend throughout a long period of time. Two main changes are taking place in CBA in order to adapt this methodology to the sustainable development paradigm: (a) the development of new tools for the economic valuation of environmental externalities that were traditionally left out of the analysis; and (b) an in-depth revision of the theoretical foundations underlying the traditional approaches to discounting, since the repercussions of decisions that are presently being debated will extend to a distant future (in some cases for centuries), whereas in the classical CBA, we deal with few decades at best. This paper aims at investigating the discounting operation in CBA, trying to summarize the main approaches available in the literature, with specific reference to the tools which allow future generations to be included in the analysis. In order to support the theoretical explanation, a real case study is analysed concerning the evaluation of a waste incinerator that has been constructed in the Province of Turin (Italy). Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Marta Bottero & Valentina Ferretti & Giulio Mondini, 2013. "From the environmental debt to the environmental loan: trends and future challenges for intergenerational discounting," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 15(6), pages 1623-1644, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:15:y:2013:i:6:p:1623-1644
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-013-9453-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10668-013-9453-1
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-013-9453-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pietrapertosa, F. & Cosmi, C. & Macchiato, M. & Salvia, M. & Cuomo, V., 2009. "Life Cycle Assessment, ExternE and Comprehensive Analysis for an integrated evaluation of the environmental impact of anthropogenic activities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 1039-1048, June.
    2. Sumaila, Ussif R. & Walters, Carl, 2005. "Intergenerational discounting: a new intuitive approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 135-142, January.
    3. Norman Henderson & Ian Bateman, 1995. "Empirical and public choice evidence for hyperbolic social discount rates and the implications for intergenerational discounting," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(4), pages 413-423, June.
    4. Stern,Nicholas, 2007. "The Economics of Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521700801.
    5. Valentina Ferretti & Silvia Pomarico, 2012. "Integrated sustainability assessments: a spatial multicriteria evaluation for siting a waste incinerator plant in the Province of Torino (Italy)," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 14(5), pages 843-867, October.
    6. Almansa, Carmen & Martínez-Paz, José M., 2011. "Intergenerational equity and dual discounting," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(6), pages 685-707, December.
    7. Martin Luckert & Wiktor Adamowicz, 1993. "Empirical measures of factors affecting social rates of discount," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 3(1), pages 1-21, February.
    8. Saez, Carmen Almansa & Requena, Javier Calatrava, 2007. "Reconciling sustainability and discounting in Cost-Benefit Analysis: A methodological proposal," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(4), pages 712-725, February.
    9. Azar, Christian & Holmberg, John, 1995. "Defining the generational environmental debt," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 7-19, July.
    10. Uri Benzion & Amnon Rapoport & Joseph Yagil, 1989. "Discount Rates Inferred from Decisions: An Experimental Study," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(3), pages 270-284, March.
    11. Weitzman, Martin L., 1998. "Why the Far-Distant Future Should Be Discounted at Its Lowest Possible Rate," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 201-208, November.
    12. S. v. Ciriacy-Wantrup, 1942. "Private Enterprise and Conservation," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 24(1), pages 75-96.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. García-Gusano, Diego & Espegren, Kari & Lind, Arne & Kirkengen, Martin, 2016. "The role of the discount rates in energy systems optimisation models," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 56-72.
    2. Truong, Chi & Trück, Stefan, 2016. "It’s not now or never: Implications of investment timing and risk aversion on climate adaptation to extreme events," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 253(3), pages 856-868.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Saez, Carmen Almansa & Requena, Javier Calatrava, 2007. "Reconciling sustainability and discounting in Cost-Benefit Analysis: A methodological proposal," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(4), pages 712-725, February.
    2. Colin, Price, 2011. "Optimal rotation with declining discount rate," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 307-318, August.
    3. Defrancesco, Edi & Gatto, Paola & Rosato, Paolo, 2014. "A ‘component-based’ approach to discounting for natural resource damage assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1-9.
    4. McArthur, David Philip & Thorsen, Inge & Ubøe, Jan, 2009. "Congested Interregional Infrastructure, Road Pricing and Regional Labour Markets," Discussion Papers 2009/3, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    5. Voinov, Alexey & Farley, Joshua, 2007. "Reconciling sustainability, systems theory and discounting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 104-113, June.
    6. Diego Nocetti & Elyès Jouini & Clotilde Napp, 2008. "Properties of the Social Discount Rate in a Benthamite Framework with Heterogeneous Degrees of Impatience," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(10), pages 1822-1826, October.
    7. Price, Colin, 2018. "Declining discount rate and the social cost of carbon: Forestry consequences," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 39-45.
    8. Rafał Buła & Monika Foltyn-Zarychta, 2022. "Declining Discount Rates for Energy Policy Investments in CEE EU Member Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-27, December.
    9. Settle, Chad & Shogren, Jason F., 2004. "Hyperbolic discounting and time inconsistency in a native-exotic species conflict," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 255-274, June.
    10. Birol, Ekin & Koundouri, Phoebe & Kountouris, Yiannis, 2010. "Assessing the economic viability of alternative water resources in water-scarce regions: Combining economic valuation, cost-benefit analysis and discounting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 839-847, February.
    11. Penyalver, Domingo & Turró, Mateu & Zavala-Rojas, Diana, 2018. "Intergenerational perception of the utility of major transport projects," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 97-111.
    12. Monika Foltyn-Zarychta, 2021. "Future-Generation Perception: Equal or Not Equal? Long-Term Individual Discount Rates for Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-19, December.
    13. Winston W. Chang, 2017. "World Trade and the Environment: Issues and Policies," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 435-479, August.
    14. Almansa Sáez, Carmen & Calatrava Requena, Javier, 2007. "La Problemática Del Descuento En La Evaluación Económica De Proyectos Con Impacto Intergeneracional: Tasa Ambiental Crítica Y Montante De Transferencia Intergeneracional/Discounting In The Context Of ," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 25, pages 165-198, Abril.
    15. Brazee, Richard J., 2018. "Impacts of declining discount rates on optimal harvest age and land expectation values," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 27-38.
    16. Dorje C. Brody & Lane P. Hughston, 2013. "Social Discounting and the Long Rate of Interest," Papers 1306.5145, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2015.
    17. Dorje C. Brody & Lane P. Hughston, 2018. "Social Discounting And The Long Rate Of Interest," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 306-334, January.
    18. Norman Henderson & Ian Bateman, 1995. "Empirical and public choice evidence for hyperbolic social discount rates and the implications for intergenerational discounting," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(4), pages 413-423, June.
    19. Min Gong & David Krantz & Elke Weber, 2014. "Why Chinese discount future financial and environmental gains but not losses more than Americans," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 103-124, October.
    20. Melissa Dell & Benjamin F. Jones & Benjamin A. Olken, 2014. "What Do We Learn from the Weather? The New Climate-Economy Literature," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(3), pages 740-798, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:15:y:2013:i:6:p:1623-1644. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.