This course is available for on-campus & remote (online) learning. All students participate in interactive, real-time classes.
The goals of this course are to understand how environmental markets are designed and the determinants of their effectiveness in achieving favourable environmental outcomes. The course will equip students with the necessary knowledge to identify and design effective market mechanisms to solve environmental externalities in the context of both developing and developed countries. It will also enable them to assess the performance of these markets and their impacts on environment, socio-economic welfare, local livelihoods and environmental justice. The course focuses on the applied aspects of a wide range of environmental markets by drawing on case studies, lessons learned and best practices of programs and schemes from around the world. This course is designed for students who have an interest in applying economic instruments for environmental conservation. The material covered in the course will prepare students for applied/practical work in government, not-for-profit organizations and international agencies that have a mandate for environmental conservation.
The course will cover a range of market mechanisms including the payment for ecosystem services (PES), water markets, markets for biodiversity offsets, cap and trade, weather/climate risk & insurance and carbon farming. Additionally, the course will discuss some commonly used environmental valuation methods and their caveats, the practical application and use of these methods for policy making, resource allocation and designing market mechanisms.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Critically engage with the theoretical underpinning of conditions required to set-up environmental markets.
- Critically understand of the key design principles of a range of environmental markets.
- Evaluate the role of environmental markets in environmental management and development.
- Critically apply this theoretical understanding to intervention design.
- Evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of various markets.
Indicative Assessment
- Class participation (10) [LO 1,2,3]
- Quizzes (20) [LO 1,2,3]
- Research assignment (40) [LO 4]
- In-class group presentation (20) [LO 5]
- Case study analysis (10) [LO 5]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
The standard workload for a 6 unit course is 130 hours including class time and independent study.
Inherent Requirements
Not applicable
Prescribed Texts
A reading list will be uploaded on Wattle for each class.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 2
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $4980 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $6720 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.