Research fellow position - economy, energy and climate

For recent environmental economics PhDs. Living in either Milan or Venice sounds great.

FONDAZIONE ENI ENRICO MATTEI
Research Programme on Sustainable Development
Research fellow position

The Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), an Italian research institute that carries out research on sustainable development, encourages to submit applications for a Research Fellow position. The successful candidate will join one of the two modelling teams at FEEM that are engaged in frontier research on the connections between the economy, energy and climate. An outline of the modelling done so far is available at http://www.feem-web.it/witch/ and http://www.feem-web.it/ices/. Duties will be carried out at the FEEM offices in Milan or Venice, Italy.

The candidate is expected to have a good general background in applied and theoretical economics, with previous experience in applied modelling work. Candidates must have a Ph.D. or be near its completion. The Ph.D should be preferably in economics; Ph.Ds in energy engineering/mathematics coupled with a solid economic background are also accepted. Experience in modelling, and proficiency in GAMS are important requisites.

The selected candidate will interact with researchers of different nationalities, and will write and present scientific papers. Part of the activities are realized in the context of European research projects. An excellent command of written and spoken English is essential for this position.

FEEM offers a truly international and interdisciplinary workplace. The strong ties with a world-wide network of research institutions engaged in environmental research and in particular on the analysis of climate change issues allows a continuous fruitful exchange of experiences. A full range of the activities of FEEM is available at http://www.feem.it/.

The successful candidate is expected to begin his/her assignment in September 2009. The appointment period will be at least one year long. Gross salary will be based on qualification and working experience (indicatively from 27,000 to 35,000 Euro/yearly). Higher salaries may be considered for particularly experienced candidates.

Applicants should send a detailed curriculum vitae with a full list of publications and at least one letter of recommendation to: Monica Eberle, monica.eberle@feem.it.

Deadline for applications: FEEM will begin considering candidates in June 2009 and will continue until the position is filled.

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Jobs vrs environment: Steel workers protest

It was only a matter of time before the jobs versus environment stories started appearing in the press. When jobs are at stake the environment tends to get beaten with a big stick and this recession will be no different.

The problem is that jobs = votes and job losses = lost votes and politicians are only too aware of this risk of being seen to sacrifice jobs on the alter of climate change. There is no point in arguing that "green jobs" will be created to take the place of the lost blue collar jobs. For one you can be certain it will not be the same people moving jobs so there will be losers and the losers in this case have loud voices.

We will see many more such articles in the weeks to come and I have fairly confident that such protests will have an effect. It will take strong politicians to push through green policies in the face of growing "jobs protests".

Whilst the economic impact of green policy induced jobs losses will be exceedingly small (and could be no existent) such arguments will have little impact in the press when protests and job losses make such good headlines.

European metal workers protest EU's climate policy [China view]

BRUSSELS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- About 11,000 workers from the steel industry in European countries gathered on Tuesday in Brussels to protest the European Union's climate change policy which they fear might make them lose their jobs.

The European Parliament and the French Presidency of the European Union agreed Monday on details of future targets on emissions from cars, setting the target for 2020 at 95 g CO2 per kilometer.

"We don't want to lose our job," one protester said, adding that the new regulations will possibly kill the steel industry in Europe. Several protesters held a coffin to indicate that the European steel industry will die when EU's climate change plan is implemented.

Under the new regulations, from 2012 to 2018 manufacturers exceeding the carbon dioxide targets set by the regulation will have to pay fines 5 euros for the first gram of CO2, 15 euros for the second gram of CO2 and 95 euros from the fourth gram of CO2.

From 2019, car manufacturers will have to pay 95 euro for each gram exceeding the target.

The protesters, most of who come from the car industry giant Germany, marched around the European Parliament building and other EU institutions.

The protest was organized by the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF). The federation criticized the EU's plan to cut CO2 emissions, saying it endangers production and jobs in the steel and non-ferrous metal sectors.

In a statement, the EMF said that European producers "are confronted with increasing international competition from producers who do not meet European norms."

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