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

Programs

Center for the Economics of Sustainability

 The Center for the Economics of Sustainability (CEOS) is a set of economists that 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. Their research helps inform environmental policy and resource management decisions in Illinois and around the world.

Center for Climate, Regional, Environmental and Trade Economics

The Center for Climate, Regional, Environmental and Trade Economics (CREATE) is a research center devoted to the study of climate change and environmental accounts based on system-wide techniques developed in regional economics and trade economics.

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. pERE operates a weekly internal workshop seminar series where gradaute students and faculty present and discuss their ongoing research projects. 

Heartland@Illinois

The goals of Heartland@Illinois are to stimulate research and build community in environmental economics with a partial focus on the Midwest. Each year, the workshop brings people together to exchange ideas and foster new collaborations. Through selected paper sessions, it identifies pressing public policy issues and emerging research themes on environmental and resource economics. Heartland also provides networking and development opportunities for graduate students and early career faculty in environmental and resource economics.