Concept of climate-charged airspaces: a potential policy instrument for internalizing aviation's climate impact of non-CO₂ effects

Approximately 50–75% of aviation's climate impact is caused by non-CO₂ effects, like the production of ozone and the formation of contrail cirrus clouds, which can be effectively prevented by re-routing flights around highly climate-sensitive areas. Here, we discuss options how to incentivize re-routing approaches and apply...

Optimal system safety targets: Incorporating hydrodynamic interactions in an economic cost-benefit analysis for flood defence systems

Historically, people in flood-prone areas world-wide have (to a certain degree) accepted the risk of being flooded because of the benefits that flood-prone areas can provide; examples of such benefits are rich agricultural lands or trade advantages. Acceptance and benefits notwithstanding, people living in flood-prone areas have tried, and will...

The Politics of Cost-Benefit Analysis

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is a widely used economic appraisal method that aims to support politicians in making decisions about projects and policies. Several researchers have tried to uncover the extent to which CBA actually impacts decision-making by investigating the statistical relation between the results of CBA studies and political...

A Framework for Risk Assessment of Groundwater Drawdown Induced Subsidence

Sub-surface constructions generally involve drainage of groundwater, which can induce land subsidence in compressible soil deposits and cause extensive damage costs in urban areas. A probabilistic framework, in accordance with the risk management framework outlined by the International Standard Organization (ISO), for assessing risks of...

Economic optimisation of flood risk management projects

The Netherlands has developed a flood risk management policy based on an economic rationale. After the flood disaster of 1953, when a large area of the south-western part of the country was flooded and more than 1800 people lost their lives, the so-called Delta Committee was installed, whose main purpose was to coordinate actions towards a...

Towards improved handling of uncertainty in cost-benefit analysis: Addressing the ‘price-quality’ and ‘communication’ dilemmas

An important limitation of Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) is the inherent uncertainty in estimations of future welfare effects. In this paper, we argue that consideration of the ‘price-quality’ dilemma and the ‘communication’ dilemma is useful to explain and improve the handling of uncertainty in CBA. The ‘price-quality’ dilemma refers to the trade...

Economic optimization of flood prevention systems in the Netherlands

After the flood disaster of 1953, the Netherlands adopted a rational approach to flood risk management with the use of protection standards determined by means of cost-benefit analysis. Due to scientific and political developments that have recently taken place, an update of the Dutch protection standards is being undertaken. One of the major...

Flood risk analysis for metropolitan areas – a case study for Shanghai

In Shanghai, the main threat to the city’s safety is a typhoon induced storm surge in combination with a high astronomic tide in the Huangpu River. Historical flood events have shown that the weakness of the floodwall, with potential overtopping and breaching along the Huangpu River and its branches, has caused great economic damage and loss of...

Economic implications of multi-layer safety projects for flood protection

Recent experience of large-scale water disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011 has reminded mankind that disasters cannot be ruledout. Unprecedented low-probability events can happen even in the most well monitored areas, causing major social-economic disruption. Failing to prepare...

Economic optimalization of the protection level against erosion in Dutch coastal cities

Cost benefit analysis of coastal protection with focus on Zandvoort (Netherlands).

The Roach and Crouch Flood Management Strategy: A Case Study for the Economic Assessment and Valuation of Multifunctional Flood Management Projects

The main focus of this report is to describe the economic appraisal techniques applied to the RCFMS. The majority of the discussions on policies and procedures are specific to England. An overview of the differing funding processes and procedures in the rest of the UK (Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) is provided in Appendix A. In addition,...