Martínez-Paz, José, Carmen Almansa, Valero Casasnovas, and José Colino. “Pooling Expert Opinion on Environmental Discounting: An International Delphi Survey.” Conservation & Society 14, no. 3 (2016): 243-53. https://doi.org/10.4103/0972-4923.191162.
The primary aim of this study is to examine the various issues involved in environmental discounting using a Delphi survey of a worldwide panel drawn from specialists in issues relating to discounting and long-term investment evaluation. The environmental discount rate is applied when performing cost–benefit analysis (CBA) on projects with environmental impact, in order to aggregate tangible and intangible effects. A review of the preceding literature shows that, after decades of academic debate, opinions have gradually converged. Furthermore, public administrations have begun to echo the need for a new look at the long-term discounting. One of the main findings of this study is the virtual unanimity of experts regarding the need to modify the approach to intergenerational discounting. The survey also yields a proposal for specific values for discount rates, based on the time horizon for the project under evaluation. The application of the resulting rates in the socio-economic evaluation of a project of environmental restoration provides numerical evidence of the importance of the choice of both discount rate and discount strategy. (Text from authors’ abstract)
© José Martínez-Paz, Carmen Almansa, Valero Casasnovas, and José Colino 2016. Conservation & Society is available online only and is published under a Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.5).