| 1. |
- Coria, Jessica, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Kemikalieskatter bidrar till en giftfri miljö
- 2015
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Ingår i: Svenska Dagbladet - Debatt. - 1101-2412. ; :2015-07-01
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Förslagen om att beskatta kemikalier är ett steg i rätt riktning. Den lagstiftning som finns idag är alltför svag, särskilt när det gäller så kallade blandningar av olika kemikalier. Det skriver en grupp forskare på Göteborgs universitet som arbetar med styrning av miljöeffekterna från kemikalier. Olika slags kemikalier hamnar i avloppsvattnet, och skribenterna varnar för just blandningen av olika ämnen, en så kallad cocktaileffekt.
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| 2. |
- Slunge, Daniel, 1968, et al.
(författare)
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Circular Economy – a Conceptual Review and Analysis of Implications for Swedish Development Cooperation
- 2021
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Circular economy is increasingly discussed in Swedish, European and international public policy making. This report provides a review of the circular economy concept and discusses its potential implications for Swedish development cooperation. There is no standard definition of a circular economy. While it was originally perceived as primarily a strategy for reducing waste, the use of the circular economy concept is considerably broader today. An indicative example is the European circular economy action plan from 2020, which is envisioned to make a “decisive contribution to achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and decoupling economic growth from resource use, while ensuring the long-term competitiveness of the EU and leaving no one behind”. The Swedish action plan on circular economy from 2021 also covers a broad agenda, including product design, sustainable consumption, non-toxic and circular flows, innovation and circular business models. Resource efficiency, recycling, changes in consumption patterns and other key circular economy issues have been discussed extensively for a long time. Rather than bringing attention to entirely new issues, the circular economy agenda connects the growing climate and environmental crisis with innovation, employment and economic growth. The booming literature on circular economy is largely technically and business oriented. Most of the surprisingly optimistic macro-economic prognoses on the growth and employment creation potential of the implementation of circular economy policies are based on consultancy studies. Larger studies on social, political and other contextual factors shaping the incentives and obstacles to a more circular economy are lacking. There are relatively few studies on the challenges and opportunities that a transition to a more circular economy may bring about for low and middle-income countries. But as most supply chains are highly international, the implementation of circularity policies in EU and other large economies will have global implications. Countries with low labour cost can have a competitive advantage in disassembly, repairs and remanufacturing on the growing international market for secondary goods and materials. In agriculture, housing and transports, recent studies indicate that there may be large potential benefits from more circular approaches in developing countries. However, there are no comprehensive studies of these potential benefits and estimates are often based on smaller case studies. These potential benefits risk being outweighed by the significant health and environmental impacts associated with recycling and waste management. Such activities are often performed by poor men and women in informal employment and networks without possibilities to protect themselves from hazardous substances in used electronics and other used products and waste categories. If not managed carefully, European circular economy policies can incentivize export of secondary materials and products, which can only be recycled at high environmental and social costs to countries with less stringent environmental standards and technological capacity. The large illegal shipping of e-waste and plastic waste containing hazardous substances are worrying examples. Another risk is that a proliferation of new product standards for durability, recyclability and traceability will become trade barriers for countries with a limited capacity to adapt. Consequently, the role of trade policy and the Basel Convention on transboundary movements of hazardous wastes in relation to circular economy policies is increasingly discussed. A key issue is the development of harmonised standards and procedures to verify the quality of secondary materials and what distinguishes such materials from being classified as waste. Without such standards and procedures, it will be difficult to scale up a legal international trade in secondary materials. Circular economy also plays an increasingly important role in development cooperation. Especially the focus on circular economy in the new EU development cooperation strategy for 2021-2027, and priorities in the new NDICI instrument, will be important for Sweden and other member states as a coordinated “Team Europe” approach is promoted. Policy dialogues on circular economy pursued by the Commission with the African Union, South Africa, China, India, Colombia and other countries can also be important for the development cooperation of EU member states. The increasing use of the circular economy concept by several UN organisations, OECD and the Multilateral Development Banks also indicate that circular economy will play an important role in development cooperation policy during the coming years. Circular economy and closely related concepts are included in several of the key policy documents for Swedish development cooperation. The policy framework concludes that Sweden should contribute to “…a transformation to a resource-efficient, non-toxic, circular and bio-based economy with low emissions of greenhouse gases”. A review of Sida’s guiding documents and contributions show that Swedish supported initiatives in this area have many names and forms. So far green economy, rather than circular or biobased economy, has been the broader term used by Sida in dialogues and contributions linking environment and economic issues. Through an analysis of the Swedish development cooperation portfolio, the study finds that few contributions have been explicitly labelled as circular economy initiatives, but that many existing Swedish contributions are highly relevant for addressing real “circular economy issues” and a broader green transition. Notably, Sweden is an important financier of several international organisations and networks influencing global policy discussion on green and circular economy. While the emerging circular economy agenda has the potential to engage a broad set of actors in a dialogue on sustainable economic development, introducing new concepts also involves costs for donors and partner countries for studies, trainings, the development of action plans etc. There is a risk that too much effort is devoted to discussing the visionary aspects of a circular economy at the expense of addressing the very real health and environmental problems caused by industrial pollution and improper waste management. A way to operationalise circular economy in Swedish development cooperation would be to identify a set of priority circular economy issues. Ideally, these should be issues where there is a solid experience and knowledge among the Swedish resource base and where there is a strong demand in partner countries for collaboration. Based on the review, the following issues are proposed: •Policy instruments for pollution prevention and resource efficiency. •Non-toxic material cycles through proactive chemical management. •Social inclusion and just transition to a circular economy. •Circular business models in specific value chains. •Policy coherence on circular economy, including environment, trade, and development cooperation policy. The proposed priority issues are not new to Swedish development cooperation as there are many interesting and relevant contributions in the existing portfolio. The idea is rather to outline potential priority issues where Swedish contributions can add value to, and benefit from, the circular economy agenda.
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| 3. |
- Slunge, Daniel, 1968, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental Fiscal Reform in East and Southern Africa and its Effects on Income Distribution
- 2010
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Ingår i: Rivista di Politica Economica. - 0035-6468. ; July-September 2009:VII-IX, s. 91-120
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The paper reviews the current use of instruments for environmental fiscal reform (EFR) in selected East and Southern African countries and analyzes the effects on income distribution from fuel taxes. Theoretical arguments for introducing taxes on environmental and fiscal grounds as well as potential trade-offs between environmental and fiscal objectives are discussed. While most African countries have introduced several environmental taxes, our analysis indicates there is a considerable potential to improve both revenue generation and environmental benefits. Building on detailed case studies of fuel consumption, we find that fuel taxes appear to be progressive and not regressive as often claimed.
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| 4. |
- Slunge, Daniel, 1968, et al.
(författare)
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Farliga kemikalier måste fasas ut snabbare
- 2016
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Ingår i: Svenska Dagbladet. - 1101-2412. ; :2016-04-21
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Avvecklingen av giftiga och cancerframkallande ämnen är orimligt långsam. Det visar erfarenheterna av lösningsmedlet TRI som idag blir förbjudet i Europa. Kemikaliepolitiken i EU måste bli mer ambitiös, skriver forskare i nationalekonomi och ekotoxikologi vid Göteborgs universitet.
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| 5. |
- Slunge, Daniel, 1968, et al.
(författare)
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REACH authorisation and the substitution of hazardous chemicals: The case of trichloroethylene
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526. ; 364
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Through a survey with European companies and expert interviews we study how REACH authorisation affects the phase-out of hazardous chemicals focusing on trichloroethylene, a well-studied solvent used in metal parts cleaning. We find that most of the firms have substituted trichloroethylene by perchloroethylene, which has similar chemical characteristics. This allows them to continue to use the same machines and routines at low costs. Although perchloroethylene is only classified as a suspected rather than a proven carcinogenic substance in Europe, the “improvement” as the result of much regulatory effort must be considered fairly limited, particularly in the light of less hazardous alternatives being used on the market for a long time. Our survey shows that the REACH authorisation process has some effect. Many firms cited as their main reason for substitution that they wanted to avoid the renewed application process. Still, the fact that many firms report using old machines reinforces the impression that some firms are not feeling enough pressure to modify routines and engage in a more fundamental substitution process. The results illustrate the limited effectiveness of a substance by substance approach in chemical risk management. When companies can substitute chemicals of concern to substances with similar chemical characteristics, the health and environmental objectives of chemical regulation are not achieved. An important policy conclusion is that additional incentives need to be introduced in order to realize the ambition of a non-toxic environment in the European Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability. Increased use of measures targeting broader groups of structurally similar hazardous chemicals, in combination with fees that incentivize substitution, are promising avenues for a more sustainable European chemicals strategy.
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| 6. |
- Slunge, Daniel, 1968, et al.
(författare)
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Valuation when baselines are changing: Tick-borne disease risk and recreational choice
- 2019
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Ingår i: Resources and Energy Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0928-7655. ; 58
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding how changes in baseline risk influence preferences for risk reduction is important when valuing the welfare effects of environmental change, including the spread of disease. We conduct a survey-based choice experiment among respondents residing in areas with different prevalence of ticks and incidence of Lyme borreliosis (LB) and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in Sweden. Respondents face a trade-off between risk and travel cost when choosing between visiting recreational areas differing in prevalence of ticks and disease incidence. Our study indicates that the presence of ticks and the associated risk of tick-borne diseases significantly influence the choice of recreational area and have substantial welfare effects. The mean willingness to pay (WTP) per trip to avoid areas with different levels of ticks, LB risk and TBE risk ranges from 12 to 78 EUR. The WTP for risk reduction is significantly lower among respondents residing in risk areas compared to respondents in emerging risk areas. Explanations for these differences in WTP for risk reduction between groups with different baseline risks include differences in reference point utility, knowledge and learning, leading to adaptation of behaviour and preferences.
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| 7. |
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