Workshop

Recent advances of the ExternE methodology and tools, and their application

Charles University Prague, Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th February 2004

The ExternE methodology for assessing external costs is now widely accepted and successfully used to support decision making for a large variety of applications in the fields of energy, transport and environmental policy. It has become a standard method in cost benefit analysis as it answers the widespread need for assessing external costs. The methodology has been used by many teams in many applications in Europe, and the number of applications in other parts of the world is increasing as well.

In a number of recently finished EU research projects, the methodology to assess external costs has been substantially improved: new exposure-response-relationships have been identified, and the monetary valuation has been improved based on a survey. The methodology has been extended to cover more impact pathways, among other transport of pollutants in water and soil, noise impacts and accidents. Furthermore tools have been developed that help the user to calculate external costs with limited effort.

It is important that users of the methodology are informed on the latest state of the art in the ExternE methodology, so that the newest findings are included in the applications. This was the motivation for organising a workshop for users of the methodology (not stakeholders or policy makers, for whom another workshop was organised) who carry out their own cost benefit analyses within their work or who want to estimate external costs for other purposes. The focus lay on methods, not on policy issues.

Furthermore, the workshop was intended to provide a platform for exchanging experiences in applying the ExternE methodology, and to discuss shortcomings and required improvements. The workshop offered the opportunity for extensive discussions with the developers of the methodology and other users.

In particular the workshop

explained the improvements of the methodology,
showed examples of applications,
presented available computer tools,
collected feedback from users on what is missing, and what should be improved,
discussed shortcomings of the methodology,
and gave an outlook on what developments are planned in the future.

Besides the high level of information exchange and technical discussion, the excellent organisation by the local hosts from the Charles University in Prague, made this workshop an efficient and pleasant event.

Workshop Programme and Presentations

	Monday 16th February 2004
9:00 h	Registration
9:15 h	Welcome	Bedřich Moldan, CUEC, Charles University Prague
	Part I - Methodology
9:25 h	Introduction and overview of developments in ExternE	Rainer Friedrich, IER
9:50 h	Current position on health impacts	Fintan Hurley, IOM presented by Ari Rabl, ARMINES
10:30 h	Coffee break
10:45 h	Current position on monetary valuation	Anil Markandya, University of Bath
11:25 h	Discussion
11:50 h	Extensions of methodology I: Valuation of environmental impacts due to acidification and euthrophication	Luc Int Panis, VITO
12:10 h	Extensions of methodology II: Assessment of toxic substances in water and soil Part A (Bert Droste-Franke / Till M. Bachmann) Part B (Joseph V. Spadaro)	Bert Droste-Franke, IER Joseph V. Spadaro, ARMINES
12:30 h	Lunch break
13:50 h	Extensions of methodology III: Impacts from transport noise and traffic accidents	Peter Bickel, IER
14:10 h	Extensions of methodology IV: Valuation of (transport noise) - not available as PDF file -	Ståle Navrud, E-CO tech
14:30 h	Discussion
14:50 h	Uncertainty	Ari Rabl, ARMINES
15:15 h	General criticisms and ways for addressing them	Rainer Friedrich, IER
15:40 h	Coffee break
15:55 h	Discussion
16:25 h	Future plans	Rainer Friedrich, IER
16:40 h	Available computer tools: Part A: EcoSense (Bert Droste-Franke) Part B: RiskPoll (Joseph V. Spadaro)	Bert Droste-Franke, IER Joseph V. Spadaro, ARMINES
17:30 h	End of day 1

	Tuesday 17th February 2004
	Part II - Experience with the application of the methodology and results
9:00 h	General overview of applications and results	Rainer Friedrich, IER
9:20 h	Applications in the UK	Paul Watkiss, AEAT
9:45 h	Applications in Belgium	Luc Int Panis, VITO
10:10 h	Assessing air transport impacts: The case of Frankfurt Airport	Peter Bickel, IER
10:35 h	Application in the Czech republic	Milan Ščasný, CUEC
11:00 h	Coffee break
11:15 h	Discussion
11:35 h	Work on EU directives and recent developments in CAFE	Mike Holland, EMRC
12:00 h	Application of ExternE results in energy and general equilibrium models	Denise van Regemorter, KU Leuven
12:20 h	Statements of workshop participants on experiences with application to the methodology Part A (Alena Bartonova) Part B (Thomas Heck)	Alena Bartonova, NILU Thomas Heck, PSI
12:40 h	Discussion
13:00 h	Lunch break
14:30 h	Discussion continued
14:50 h	Conclusions and outlook	Rainer Friedrich, IER
15:00 h	End of workshop