Author(s)

B. Bürgenmeier

Abstract

This paper deals with the three usual economic approaches to environmental protection, namely efficient markets, environmental economics and ecological economics. It focuses on a forth approach, which concerns the operational level of a business. This level is illustrated by an increasing number of criteria for global reporting, namely Social Accountability, ISO-norms etc, from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. However, no commonly accepted standards exist. This paper shows what contributions \“green” asset management makes to climate change policies. Keywords: climate change, asset management, environmental economics, policy of environmental protection. 1 Introduction Environmental protection in economics is simultaneously addressed by three different and somewhat controversial approaches. The first approach analyses the change in relative prices over time in a pure market setting. Relative price changes (e.g. for energy of fossil origin) should express increased scarcity and induce technical progress and change in consumption patterns. If these changes cannot be observed, the market is not efficient. The consequent policy recommendation would be to strengthen competition and to reduce obstacles to the smooth functioning of markets. The second approach brings the first one a step further as it is based on the concept of market failure. The environment is analysed as an externality to the market and can be understood either as a public good or as any other economic good which lacks a clear definition of property rights. The current policy

Keywords

climate change, asset management, environmental economics, policy of environmental protection.