The Nordic Council of Ministers for the Environment, the working group on environment and economy (MEG) has commissioned Vista Analyse to prepare a synthesis report on Nordic experiences with environmental policy since the 1970s and until today. The report describes the Nordic countries’ approaches, results and experiences, focusing on the use of economic instruments and how this policy has contributed to the integration of environmental concerns into economic growth and development policies.

 

The report demonstrates that the Nordic countries have been successful in achieving substantial reductions in several major pollutants and clear improvements in local and regional environmental quality, while maintaining an internationally respectable rate of economic growth. This decoupling of economic development from growth in emissions has been achieved through a range of policy instruments, with a strong and increasing element of economic instruments. The challenge, and the opportunity, for the Nordic countries is to strengthen and deepen such policies, with even more effective design of and combination of policy instruments, to deal with new and remaining threats to the local, national and international environment.

 

Download the report here.

The report is published through the Nordic Council of Minister’s TemaNord series (Report 2011:532), and could be downloaded here.

Vista in Bangladesh and Pakistan

Vista Analysis has recently signed an agreement with the World Bank on analyzing Water, Sanitation and Hygiene and Urban Environmental Health Risks in the Province of Sindh in Pakistan and Sundarbans in Bangladesh. The objective of the project is to estimate the cost of inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WSH), including effects on child malnutrition, and respiratory illness from poor hygiene practices in Sindh and Sundarbans, and urban environmental health risks (urban air pollution including particulate matter (PM) and lead (Pb) poisoning; noise from road traffic; and traffic accidents) in Karachi, Sindh.

 

Subsequently, we should also undertake a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of alternative interventions that the Governments could carry out to reduce the burden of environmental degradation, particularly in areas where vulnerable groups, such as the poor, children, and women are more severely affected. Part of the assignment is also to evaluate the incidence of the impacts of environmental health risks on vulnerable groups, including the poor and children under the age of 5.

 

The study should serve to guide the efforts of the Governments and other stakeholders, the World Bank and its development partners, NGOs, and research centers, to invest their resources in environmental protection activities and other interventions that will yield the greatest net social benefits.

 

The study is carried out in cooperation with independent consultant Bjørn Larsen. Project Manager at Vista Analysis is John Skjelvik.

 

Vista in Mongolia and China

Vista Analysis has recently helped the World Bank and environmental authorities in China prepare a compliance plan to guide cities of China that are polluted by particulate matter, PM. While urban concentrations of PM have come down in recent years the situation is volatile and there are still 108 cities that do not comply with the Chinese PM concentration standard of 100 µg/m³ for PM₁₀. The plan focuses in particular on 18 large cities that experience concentrations of more than 120 µg/m³. It is unlikely that these very polluted cities will come down below the standard unless new initiatives are made and cost-effective interventions are implemented. The plan lays out methodologies and suggests interventions that these cities could make use of.

 

Vista Analysis is currently also helping the World Bank and the Government of Mongolia disseminate improved household stoves for cooking and heating in Ulaanbataar, the capital of Mongolia. Ulaanbataar has seen a huge increase in air pollution recently as several hundred thousand new residents have flocked to the city. Most new residents live in insulated tents called gers. Most residents have a stove in the center of the ger, and this stove is of poor quality. The result is a blanket of pollution across the city and in particular the ger areas.

 

Improved stoves will improve the situation, but it is important to disseminate them in a smart way. Vista Analysis has been engaged to design a subsidy and buy-back scheme for stoves.

 

Project Manager at Vista Analysis for these studies is Haakon Vennemo.

 

Photo: A household stove in a ger in Ulaan Baatar

On behalf of Energy Norway and the Energy and Development Project Vista Analysis and Norplan has written a compendium describing international standards for environ mental and social performance for renewable energy projects, with particular focus on such projects in developing countries. Renewable energy, including large hydropower plants, is and will continue to be an important part of the solution to the climate challenge and other environmental concerns, and for securing a sustainable development. On the other side poorly managed energy projects can worsen both the environmental and social conditions for those directly and indirectly affected by the project. Therefore it is important that energy projects are managed in a sustain able and socially equitable way, assuring that the renewable energy actually is clean and fair. The purpose of this compendium is to guide companies who are planning to engage in, or already are engaged in, renewable energy projects. The focus is on hydro power project in developing countries, and on environmental and social issues (including corporate social responsibility, CSR). The emphasis is on how to ensure that the energy project will be eligible for project financing from international finance insti tu tions, and how to comply with standards and principles in the planning, construc tion and operation of an energy facility.

Download report

In cooperation with Econ Pöyry Vista during week 36 hosts a delegation from Chinese environmental authorities who visits Norway to learn about Norwegian environmental planning. The delegation consists of representatives from the Chinese Ministry of the Environment (MEP), Central Academy for Environmental Planning (CAEP) and the environmental authorities from four provinces. The visit comprises meetings with several Norwegian institutions and courses in the use of cost benefit analysis and strategic environmental assessment (SEA). There will also be time for some sightseeing in Norwegian west coast nature. The visit is part of a cooperation project between Econ/Vista and Chinese environmental authorities to improve the use of environmental five-year plans at the province level. The project is financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ grant for environmental cooperation with China.

 

Members of the delegation outside the Ministry of the Environment

Henrik Lindhjem of the Norwegian Institute of Nature Research (NINA) and Vista discusses the importance of sharing monetary benefits from forests in the June 2010 Newsletter of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The article draws from an ongoing project on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) with case studies in Ghana, Cameroon and Guatemala.

 

Read the article on page 7 of the Newsletter

Environmental planning in China has so far not been a great success. That is the only conclusion to draw from environmental data in the country – it has been reported over and over that emissions and discharges to air and water will not come down and cause heavy environmental damage. With Norwegian institutions Econ and Cicero, and the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Vista is conducting a project to improve environmental planning in China.

 

A cat is resting on a stack of coal briquettes in Guizhou Province. Household use of coal continues to be a source of air pollution in China.

 

Partner Haakon Vennemo is managing the project. Vennemo explains the main content as follows: - We are primarily working with four Chinese provinces and with the Department of Planning of the Ministry of Environment. The idea is to develop new approaches and methods for use in the provinces, and feed lessons back to the Ministry. The provinces Yunnan, Guizhou, Hebei and Jiangsu all face serious environmental degradation of their air, water and land-based ecosystems. We contribute with suggestions on how to develop better targets using cost-benefit methodology, and how to evaluate investment projects, policies and plans using cost-benefit and a tool called Strategic Environmental Assessment. We also strongly emphasize the fact that environmental planning must be linked to economic and industrial planning. One reason for the ineffectiveness of Chinese environmental plans is that they have been detached from economic and industrial plans, which clearly are powerful driving forces behind environmental deterioration in the country.

 

The project is currently one year into its three years of operation. The project team recently held a successful workshop in Yangzhou, a city in Jiangsu Province on the topic of international experiences in environmental planning. In September a delegation of experienced Chinese environmental planners will visit Norway to learn more about Norwegian practice.