Environmental economic research

The Environmental Economic Research Division conducts economic impact analyses to provide a better basis for decisions on Sweden's environmental policy.

Examples of Completed Research Projects:

Empirically Testing the Porter Hypothesis

The Porter hypothesis implies that appropriate environmental policy leads to increased productivity and enhanced competitiveness.

It is thought that an ambitious climate policy will stimulate technological development, which in turn will lead to increased exports of environmental protection technologies.

In its climate policy, Sweden has chosen a more ambitious goal than required under the Kyoto Protocol. The overall aim of the project was to test the Porter hypothesis empirically on Swedish data.

A More Sustainable Waste Plan

The aim of this project was to develop and apply tools for the assessment of policy instruments relating to waste management. Our general equilibrium model EMEC was further developed to generate consistent descriptions of the interaction between the waste management system and the rest of the Swedish economy.

The project was undertaken in collaboration with IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, The Royal Institute of Technology, Göteborg University, Luleå University, and Lund University.

Energy Systems Modelling and Linkages between Different Modelling Perspectives

The research project "Energy system modelling and linkages between different model perspectives" was a one-year project funded by the Swedish Energy Agency.

The aim of the project was to develop a methodology where our general equilibrium model EMEC and the energy systems model TIMES-Sweden were soft-linked to help improve energy policy decisions. This methodology was based on an iterative approach and active research collaboration.

The central research question was not only how the models could be developed further to become even better, but how the interaction between modellers and models could help improve the basis for decision-makers both qualitatively and quantitatively.