|
|
|
|
Assessing the value of London’s parks
The Mayor of London, Heritage Lottery Fund and National Trust commissioned Vivid Economics to determine the monetary value of public green spaces in London. The work constructed the first ever natural capital account of London’s network of public parks and green spaces, finding that these assets create £91 billion of economic value and social benefits to the health, resilience and economy of the capital. The report shows that for each £1 spent on public green space, £27 in value accrues to the public. Londoners avoid £950 million a year in health costs thanks to accessible public green space. These findings will aid decisions about future strategy, management and levels of investment in public parks and green spaces. The methodology can be readily applied to other cities.
Follow the news on the study here, and this link for the full report.
|
|
|
|
Estimating the cost of biomass conversion in the UK power sector: The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) commissioned Vivid Economics and Imperial College to assess the value of biomass conversion in the GB electricity system. Converting coal-fired power plants to run on biomass is one route to reduce CO2 emissions from electricity generation, but its lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are considered to be significantly higher than those of wind and solar.
Vivid Economics’ analysis demonstrated that onshore and offshore wind and solar costs are projected to be lower than biomass conversion costs by 2025. These technologies are likely to be a cheaper solution than biomass conversion to reduce power sector emissions, taking system integration costs into account. This result was based on offshore wind costs projections of £90/MWh, while recent offshore wind auctions have revealed costs closer to £60/MWh, further eroding the economic case for biomass conversion. The research involved a review of the latest evidence on the future costs of biomass conversion, onshore and offshore wind and solar and (with Imperial College) use of an electricity system optimisation model. The model was used to identify and cost the optimal capacity mix to meet a carbon constraint, and the full costs of that capacity mix, including the additional capacity needed to provide backup to renewables.
Based on this analysis, NRDC published a paper, Money to Burn II, which argued against new biomass conversion in the UK. NRDC’s comments and Vivid Economics’ analysis received strong interest in the energy media, including this story here.
|
|
Financing the shift to low carbon energy: Financing the shift to a low carbon energy system will require incremental investments of US$700 billion per year by 2030 worldwide, according to a new report released by the World Bank.
The report, co-authored by Vivid Economics, finds that mobilising these investments will require an integrated policy response that combines domestic carbon prices, other domestic policies, climate finance and international climate markets. Specifically, the report outlines how the two main modalities of international cooperation – climate finance and climate markets – need to be designed so as to enable, support and complement each other, and domestic policies, to mobilise the flow of resources. It also discusses the important role that results based climate finance (RBCF) can play in transitioning towards such an integrated approach.
The report further outlines the development of carbon pricing initiatives over the last year at the regional, national and subnational levels, and finds that despite progress, additional action is necessary for carbon pricing to make a substantial contribution to the Paris Agreement pledge.
Please read the full report here.
|
|
|
Vivid identifies principles for development practitioners designing technical assistance programmes: Vivid Economics was asked to support the design of a technical assistance (TA) programme for low and middle-income countries for climate mitigation activities. As part of this, we developed a series of principles which development practitioners can apply to the provision of any TA to help ensure transformational and sustainable impact.
The principles were:
- be country led: TA should respond to demand, recognise the political economies within countries and be incorporated into national processes and institutions
- be transformational: by targeting binding constraints, setting the strategy or policy agenda, or having significant demonstration effects
- be flexible: by reassessing the objectives and suitability as the situation evolves through adaptive programming. It should be best fit rather than best practice. It may involve intervention at the project, organisation and institutional levels, and need to reach a wide range of stakeholders
- create opportunities for learning: TA requires a strong M&E framework with clear assumptions, and should be grounded in assessment and evidence
- be sustainable: with sustained engagement over multiple timelines. External actors should facilitate rather than drive change, and ultimately reduce the dependency on external aid and financial support.
Please read the full report here.
|
|
|
The potential of innovative bond structures to scale up financing for sustainable forestry and deforestation-free agriculture: To meet the commitments set out in the Paris Agreement, new sources of finance will be needed to drive sustainable land use and forest management at a scale far greater than today.
Vivid Economics supported the World Bank to identify how innovative bonds, linked to results-based finance, could catalyse an order of magnitude increase in such finance. Vivid found that such instruments have unique potential to align the objectives of investors, issuers and donors in a way that breaks through the barriers that have held back investment for decades. The report provides a review of the available financial instruments in the forest and land use sector and describes ways to enhance bond structures to drive scale. A variety of potential bond structures are set out in a longlist, with a subset tested through stakeholder engagement with international agencies and with practitioners in Brazil. The report concludes with three recommended structures to develop further – using REDD+ performance based finance flows to enhance national, regional, or corporate issued sustainable forestry management bonds.
The work benefited from expert guidance and contributions from Rupert Edwards of Forest Trends, and Ronaldo Seroa da Motta.
The full report is available here.
|
|
What impact will higher temperatures have on labour productivity – and how can developing countries cope with the heat? DFID commissioned Vivid to explore the impacts of higher temperatures due to climate change on labour productivity and economic output. The report develops a stylised national economic model for five countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Jordan, and Tanzania. The results show that in a moderate climate change scenario, by 2050, countries could see losses of up to 20% of annual effective labour hours, and as much as 50% in the hottest months. This could reduce economic output (Gross Value Added) by over 3%. Both economic output and lost work hours are highly concentrated in sectors where work is high intensity and conducted outdoors, especially agriculture and construction.
A range of technical, regulatory, behavioural and research options could help adapt to these impacts. The paper maps out the solution space and a decision-making framework for these options, taking account of uncertainty, and the importance of regional context. This shows that while technical options such as air conditioning will play a role, there may be more cost-effective, low-regret options that should be implemented first – such as optimising working hours, structural economic transformation, and passive worker cooling options.
The work is published on the DFID R4D website here.
|
|
Vivid conferences and in the media:
- Stuart Evans discussed the implications of the recent Brexit carbon market compromise with Bloomberg. Drawing on Vivid Economics’ report on Brexit and UK climate policy, Stuart noted that the compromise was important for building trust and providing breathing room for negotiators to develop workable solutions for the long-term.
- At side events at COP 23 in Bonn, John Ward spoke on utilizing models to quantify the impacts of carbon pricing on the economy with a particular focus on how CGE modelling can support countries in planning for carbon pricing.
- Alex Kazaglis delivered the keynote presentations on land use and climate change in New Zealand, at the Climate Change and Business conference and at the Tipping Point environmental policy conference in Auckland. Please watch the full video here.
- At the British Institute for Energy Economics, Alex spoke on a panel about UK Energy Policy in the 2020s, focussing on international lessons from low-carbon heating policy for the UK.
|
|
|
We are currently hiring for multiple roles, please see our vacancies here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
