Protecting environmental quality and stewarding natural resources are two of society’s ongoing grand challenges. Environmental and resource economics (ERE) in ACE yields knowledge about issues such as how to manage water resources, design conservation strategies, and develop energy and transportation policies that improve society and the environment. Research and outreach in this area also contribute to a fundamental understanding about how to value ecosystem services and design pollution policies. Faculty and students in ERE publish cutting-edge research and bring the results to bear on collaborations with stakeholders and policy makers in the state of Illinois and nationwide.

Programs

Center for the Economics of Sustainability

CEOS is a set of economists that collaborate with agronomists, scientists, engineers, legal scholars, and other researchers. Their research helps inform environmental policy and resource management decisions in Illinois — and around the world. They study tradeoffs, human behavior, and the allocation of scarce resources for more sustainable food systems, reliable energy and water systems, healthy environments, and thriving communities. 

pERE: Program in Environmental and Resource Economics

The graduate program in Environmental and Resource Economics (pERE) explores the complex relationships between environmental quality, economic prosperity, and human behavior. Students and faculty from departments across campus are using economics to analyze policy regarding some of today's most critical environmental and natural resource issues.

Heartland@Illinois

The goals of Heartland@Illinois are, as always, to stimulate research and build community in environmental economics with partial focus on the Midwest. The workshop will bring people together to exchange ideas and foster new collaborations. Through selected paper sessions, it will identify pressing public policy issues and emerging research themes on environmental and resource economics. Finally, it will provide networking and development opportunities for graduate students and early career faculty in environmental and resource economics.