How can you avoid common pitfalls when using environmental economics in consulting?

1 Define your scope and objectives

One of the first steps in using environmental economics in consulting is to define your scope and objectives clearly. What is the problem or question that you are trying to answer? Who are your clients and stakeholders? What are their preferences, values, and expectations? How will you measure and communicate the results of your analysis? By answering these questions, you can avoid ambiguity, confusion, or conflicts later on.

2 Choose your methods and data wisely

Another important step is to choose your methods and data wisely. Environmental economics offers a variety of techniques and tools to estimate the economic value of environmental goods and services, such as market prices, revealed preferences, stated preferences, or benefit transfer. However, each method has its own assumptions, limitations, and uncertainties. You need to select the most appropriate and reliable method for your context and purpose, and justify your choice. You also need to collect or use high-quality and relevant data that can support your analysis and avoid biases or errors.

3 Consider the distributional impacts

A common pitfall in using environmental economics in consulting is to focus only on the aggregate or average effects of an environmental policy, project, or intervention, and ignore the distributional impacts. However, environmental issues often have different impacts on different groups of people, such as the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalized, or the future generations. You need to consider how your analysis affects the equity and justice of the environmental outcomes, and how you can address the potential trade-offs or conflicts between efficiency and fairness.

4 Account for the uncertainties and risks

Another common pitfall is to assume that your analysis is precise and accurate, and ignore the uncertainties and risks that may affect your results. However, environmental issues are often complex, dynamic, and unpredictable, and involve many sources of uncertainty and risk, such as natural variability, measurement errors, model assumptions, behavioral responses, or policy changes. You need to account for these factors in your analysis, and use methods such as sensitivity analysis, scenario analysis, or Monte Carlo simulation to test the robustness and reliability of your results.

5 Communicate your findings effectively

The final step in using environmental economics in consulting is to communicate your findings effectively to your clients and stakeholders. You need to present your results in a clear, concise, and compelling way, using appropriate formats, visuals, and language. You need to highlight the main messages, implications, and recommendations of your analysis, and explain the assumptions, limitations, and uncertainties behind them. You also need to engage with your audience, listen to their feedback, and address their questions or concerns.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?