Oxford Summer School in Ecological Economics 2016

4-10 September, 2016

Green Economy, Environmental Policy and Sustainability Assessment

The School will address key elements of the new economy transformation, exploring the cutting edge methods and policy applications in ecological economics. With a clear sustainable development focus, it will draw on the expertise of a range of disciplines: economics, ecology, physics, environmental sciences, sociology, psychology, complex systems theory, etc. to address the current challenges: climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion, water shortages, social cohesion and achieving sustainability. The course will be composed of a theoretical and applied modules and will address three key elements of the new economy transformation: an industrial ecology approach, multiple criteria methods for decision making and new tools for measuring progress.

In the theoretical part, it will analyse the concept of economy-environment interactions and industrial ecology, which highlights the importance of intersectoral flows of matter and energy required for the production of the goods and services. The method of environmentally extended input-output analysis, actively used for policy applications around the world, will be introduced to illustrate this approach. Ideas of interdisciplinary synthesis and methodological pluralism will be introduced alongside institutional economic approaches. Next, it will explore the system of tools for decision making based on multicriteria methods, used for policy appraisal, which applied at different levels could shift the patterns of decisions making towards more socially equitable and more environmentally friendly as well as economically sound decisions. Acting as a bridge to the policy module, the final theoretical session will criticise existing approaches to measure macro sustainability performance and will introduce new conceptual tools for the assessment of progress.

The applied module will be taught by active professionals and experts, who advise international organizations, national and city governments around the world and have experience working with EU institutions. The School will draw on the EU experience of environmental policy and will focus in its applied part on green fiscal reform, climate change, renewable energy, multidimensional poverty measurement, sustainable cities and values. The scope of sustainability issues addressed during the Summer School, covering not only economic and environmental, but also social sustainability, will make this Summer School truly unique.

The course is designed for multiple points of entry and could be helpful for PhD students, government experts, representatives of international organizations and business. The course will give participants an opportunity to explore key methodologies for ecological-economic analysis and to apply these to various case studies. Oxford and Summer Winter Schools in Ecological Economics organized by Environment Europe attracted participants from 38 countries, including Canada, USA, Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, UK, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Bosnia, Latvia, Ghana, Nigeria, China, India, Taiwan, and Australia (please see the map).

The course is taught by the leading ecological economists, environmental policy and sustainable urban development experts in Europe.

Theoretical Module

1.The Economic System and the Environment: Current Challenges and the Way Forward. (Prof. Arild Vatn, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway)

2.Interdisciplinary Synthesis for Sustainable Development (Prof. Alfred Posch, University of Graz, Austria)

3.Ecological-Economic Modelling: Input-Output Analysis for Sustainability (Prof. Erik Dietzenbacher, University of Groningen, the Netherlands)

4.Multi-Criteria Decision Aid for Sustainable Development: ELECTRE, NAIADE, APIS (Dr. Stanislav Shmelev, Environment Europe, UK)

5.Assessing Progress Towards Sustainability: A Multidimensional Approach (Dr. Stanislav Shmelev, Environment Europe, UK)

6.Sustainability Across the World: USA, Brazil, China, Russia, UK, Germany, France (Dr. Stanislav Shmelev, Environment Europe, UK)

7.Institutional Ecological Economics: Democracy, Political Economic Perspectives, and Institutions (Prof. Peter Söderbaum, Mälardalen University, Sweden)

Policy Module

8.Green Economy: A View from the United Nations (Speaker to be confirmed)

9.Green Fiscal Reform in Europe: Policies and Success Stories (Dr. Spefan Speck, European Environment Agency);

10.Inclusive Development: Multidimensional Poverty Measurement (Dr. Yangyang Shen, University of Oxford);

11.Renewable Energy Policy: A Global Perspective (Prof. David Elliott, the Open University);

12.Climate Change Policy: International Experience and the Keys to Success (Prof. Miranda Schreurs, Free University of Berlin);

13.Sustainable Cities: A Pathway towards a Regenerative City (Prof. Herbert Girardet, World Future Council);

14.Ecological Consciousness: Values, Attitudes and Decision Making (Prof. Irina Shmeleva, Institute of Sustainable Development Strategies);

15. Simulations Game

The requirements for the School are the following:

1. After you have successfully registered for the Forum, you will receive access to the required readings. You will also receive access to over 100 seminal papers in ecological economics, which will provide a useful background reading in sustainability.

2. Each participant will have to prepare a presentation about his or her background (brief) and project (in more detail) so that all the course participants could get acquainted with you and your work better. The presentation should take 15 min and will be given on the first day of the course.

3. Each participant will be required to develop an independent or a collaborative project and present the preliminary results: methodology, data, key research questions, anticipated conclusion, including the sources of possible surprises, non-linearities and unpredictable behaviour.

Application Deadline: 1 June 2016. Application fee £25 (via PayPal – please insert the PayPal Transaction ID in the relevant field).

Deadline for early registrations: 15 June 2016, Registration fees:
Academic (proof is required): £1175
National and city governments and NGOs: £1675
Business: £2175
(Accommodation for 6 nights (4 Sep – 9 Sep) and Balliol College breakfasts and lunches fee included)

Deadline for late registrations: 15 August 2016, Registration fees:
Academic (proof is required): £1575
National and city governments and NGOs: £2075
Business: £2575
(Accommodation for 6 nights (4 Sep – 9 Sep) and Balliol College breakfasts and lunches fee included)

Applications Closed. Please note that registration fees cannot be refunded.