Increasing the Momentum of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform: Developments and Opportunities

Global Subsidies Initiative, UN Environment Programme http://www.globalsubsidies.org/files/assets/ffs_conference.pdf [From report website] In the last 12 months, the reform of fossil-fuel subsidies has been high on international agendas: the G-20 and APEC have committed to phasing out inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies and the Friends of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform group of countries was established, to encourage and support the … Continue reading »

Embracing Complexity: Meeting the Challenges of International Forest Governance

International Union of Forest Research Organizations / Jeremy Rayner, Alexander Buck, and Pia Katila (eds.) http://www.iufro.org/download/file/6580/4539/ws28.pdf/ [From Press Release] A new study issued today by some of the world’s top experts on forest governance finds fault with a spate of international accords, and helps explain their failure to stop rampant destruction of the world’s most … Continue reading »

Cognitive Barriers to Environmental Action: Problems and Solutions

Harvard Business School / Lisa L. Shu and Max H. Bazerman http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-046.pdf [Abstract] We explore interventions at the level of the individual and focus on recognized cognitive barriers from the behavioral decision-making literature. In particular, we highlight three cognitive barriers that impede sound individual decision making that have particular relevance to behaviors impacting the environment. … Continue reading »