Economics of collecting trash bags

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Last week Yle launched a campaign called 1 million trash bags to encourage people to clean up trash from their local nature. The campaign aims to collect 1 million trash bags in two months, with several municipalities and NGOs promoting the initiative. Also, in Sweden, a similar drive Skärp Plockar Dagarna is held every spring.

Many would perhaps say that voluntary trash picking is not the most efficient way to achieve and maintain a good state of the local environment – so why are Nordic countries promoting such initiatives?

There are several explanations – here's what some economists might say about the phenomenon. Simon Kuznets (1901–1985) was a Nobel Prize-winning economist, most known for his pioneering work in developing the theory of economic growth and the concept of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Kuznets Curve is another of his findings, which deals with the relationship between GDP and income inequality. Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), introduced by Grossman and Krueger in 1991, applies the same thinking to the state of the environment:

The EKC theory offers an explanation of why welfare states like Finland and Sweden would promote voluntary trash picking. Because the (economic) well-being is relatively high in the Nordic Post-industrial economies, many people will appreciate a clean local nature and such values in general. People have the resources to care about their surroundings if there is no need to worry about meeting one's basic needs. The willingness to participate in trash-collecting campaigns can thus be seen as a manifestation of such preferences.

Another distinguished economist, Partha Dasgupta (1942), would probably also support trash-collecting campaigns. His report, The Economics of Biodiversity, underlines the importance of empowered citizenship and education in mitigating environmental issues. Trash-picking campaigns are cost-effective ways to engage people of all ages and work as a method of teaching about sustainability issues in an approachable manner. Besides cleaning up 1 million plastic bags, the campaign aims for a civil society with active and conscious-minded members.

EU's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

UK's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

European Parliament | Parliament adopts key laws to reach 2030 climate target. MEPs adopted the reform of the EU’s Emissions Trading System including for aviation and maritime, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and a new Social Climate fund, which form several key pieces of legislation that are part of the Fit for 55 in 2030 package.

Aljazeera | G7 puts focus on push for global fossil fuel phase-out deal. G7 countries’ climate ministers on Sunday agreed – for the first time – to speed up their phase-out of the fossil fuel consumption causing climate change. However, the announcement by the Group of Seven has also faced criticism for not matching the pledge with firm action.

The Guardian | Severe heatwave engulfs Asia causing deaths and forcing schools to close. Extreme temperatures described as ‘worst April heatwave in Asian history’ as records tested in India, China, Thailand and Laos.

Reuters | US bets billions on direct air capture. The U.S. government has offered $3.5 billion in grants to build the factories that will capture and permanently store the gas - the largest such effort globally to help halt climate change through Direct Air Capture (DAC).

The Guradian | Billions more needed to protect tropical forests -report. At least $130bn a year is needed to protect the most at-risk areas of tropical forest by the end of the decade, alongside reductions in beef and dairy consumption and government bans on deforestation. The money could come from carbon markets, donor countries and philanthropists, but radical action is also needed from legislators, the Energy Transitions Comission report said.

Euronews | France faced its first major forest blaze of 2023 prematurely. The fire erupted Sunday and burned more than 1,000 hectares of land along the Mediterranean coast, spreading across the border into northeastern Spain. On a visit Monday to the zone, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said: "The fire season is starting early because of climate warming."

Yle | Regular electricity generation has started at Olkiluoto 3. From now on, about 30 percent of Finnish electricity is produced in Olkiluoto and the plant unit will produce energy for at least the next 60 years.

Dagens Nyheter | Swedish climate scientist Johan Rockström featured on Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people. Rockström is best known as the developer of the planetary boundaries framework.

Dagens Nyheter | Should Swedish universities support climate action? In Austria, a network of university deans sent a press release that "urgently appealed to the government to take the scientific community's warnings seriously, but also to acknowledge the concerns of those who carry out peaceful forms of civil protest, and to act without delay." Last August, nearly 2,000 Swedish researchers signed a debate article in Aftonbladet with a corresponding call for politicians to act. Swedish Universities still debate the institution's role in the climate discussion.

Yle | Two white-tailed eagles found dead with shot wounds in Naantali. Shotting white-tailed eagles is considered a crime in Finland.

WWF | WWF replied to Orpo's questions regarding the government formation – these are the vital environmental issues they suggest including in the government program.

Dagens Nyheter | Abolished plastic bag tax could increase Sweden's fee to the EU. Sweden might have to pay more to the EU if the country removes the plastic bag tax. The cost for unrecycled plastic bags would be 9 KR / kg to the EU.

Maaseudun tulevaisuus | Ban on net-fishing to protect the Saimaa ringed seal has taken effect. The annual ban covers nearly all of Lake Saimaa and is effective until the end of June.

HS | The annual 'Norppalive' has begun, broadcasting ringed seals live in the Finnish Archipelago Sea.

Reuters | G7 ministers set big new targets for solar and wind capacity. The Group of Seven rich nations on Sunday set big new collective targets for solar power and offshore wind capacity, agreeing to speed up renewable energy development and move toward a quicker phase-out of fossil fuels.

Reuters | Campaigners sue the EU for labeling gas and nuclear investments as green. Greenpeace and other campaign groups are set to take the European Commission to court, seeking to overturn European Union rules that class nuclear energy and natural gas as climate-friendly investments. The groups are targeting the EU's "taxonomy", a list of investments that can be labeled and marketed as sustainable in Europe. Last year, the Commission controversially added some gas and nuclear plants to the list.

Business Finland | Business Finland launched a 'Decarbonized Cities' program. The program aims to improve Finland’s long-term competitiveness and increase exports by encouraging companies to develop internationally successful solutions for the carbon-neutrality challenges of selected partner cities.

STT | New vision for waterways to improve the condition of Oulujoki. The Syke vision aims to reconcile different uses of the river while preserving the good state of the waters and aquatic nature.

STT | Most Finnish occupational pension assets have been invested sustainably -Tela analysis.

The value of ecosystem services in global marine kelp forests. While marine kelp forests have provided valuable ecosystem services for millennia, the global ecological and economic value of those services is largely unresolved. Kelp forests are diminishing in many regions worldwide, and efforts to manage these ecosystems are hindered without accurate estimates of the value of the services that kelp forests provide to human societies. Here, researchers present a global estimate of the ecological and economic potential of three key ecosystem services - fisheries production, nutrient cycling, and carbon removal provided by six major forest forming kelp genera (Ecklonia, Laminaria, Lessonia, Macrocystis, Nereocystis, and Saccharina). Each of these genera creates a potential value of between $64,400 and $147,100/hectare each year. Collectively, they generate between $465 and $562 billion/year worldwide, with an average of $500 billion. These values are primarily driven by fisheries production (mean $29,900, 904 Kg/Ha/year) and nitrogen removal ($73,800, 657 Kg N/Ha/year), though kelp forests are also estimated to sequester 4.91 megatons of carbon from the atmosphere/year highlighting their potential as blue carbon systems for climate change mitigation. These findings highlight the ecological and economic value of kelp forests to society and will facilitate better informed marine management and conservation decisions. (Nature Communications)

Projected increase in global runoff dominated by land surface changes. Increases in atmospheric CO2 concentration affect continental runoff through radiative and physiological forcing. However, how climate and land surface changes, and their interactions in particular, regulate changes in global runoff remains largely unresolved. Here researchers have developed an attribution framework that integrates top-down empirical and bottom-up modelling approaches to show that land surface changes account for 73–81% of projected global runoff increases. This arises from synergistic effects of physiological responses of vegetation to rising CO2 concentration and responses of land surface—for example, vegetation cover and soil moisture—to radiatively driven climate change. Although climate change strongly affects regional runoff changes, it plays a minor role (19–27%) in the global runoff increase, due to cancellation of positive and negative contributions from different regions. The findings highlight the importance of accurate model representation of land surface processes for reliable projections of global runoff to support sustainable management of water resources. (Nature Climate Change)

Dim light pollution prevents diapause induction in urban and rural moths. Many insects use daylength to synchronise their life cycle with the changing of seasons. Shortening late summer days, indicating the switch to autumn, trigger the transition to the overwintering state for pupa. However, light pollution can lead caterpillars to interpret the days incorrectly, causing the pupae to immediately develop into adult moths. These moths, misled by man-made light, cannot successfully reproduce in autumn or survive the winter. Published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, a new study tested how light pollution affects the development of latticed heath caterpillars into overwintering pupae. The study also compares caterpillar populations in both urban and rural environments in Mid European and Nordic countries. This was completed with the aim of uncovering possible genetic adaptations in urban populations. According to the study, moths in both urban and rural environments shared the same negative response to light pollution. Unfortunately this suggests that urban populations have not adapted to their environment, which is filled with light from human activities every night. (British Ecological Society)

Picture of the week

The EU Parliament reformed the EU’s Emissions Trading System by including emissions from maritime and phasing out the free allowances to the aviation sector by 2026. Here's how the international carbon markets have developed over the years: