This text has been translated with the assistance of UiO GPT.
The Frontiers Planet prize is awarded by the Frontiers Research Foundation in Switzerland. The award recognises research that shows the greatest potential to address the world’s most urgent environmental challenges.
Pricing nature
The article to which Traeger contributed addresses a critical gap in how governments value nature.
– Traditionally, policies have treated the benefits from ecosystems - like clean air, forests, and biodiversity - as static over time. We show that as ecosystems become scarcer and societies become wealthier, the value people place on these natural services grows significantly, explains Traeger.
In the award-winning research article published in Science last year - Accounting for the increasing benefits from scarce ecosystems - the authors propose a simple and practical economic rule to adjust future valuations, ensuring that public policies properly account for the rising importance of preserving ecosystems.
Promoting environmental policy
– Our work helps prevent the undervaluation of nature and supports stronger, more forward-looking environmental decisions, he says.
The economics professor is pleased that the research he contributed to has been recognised and hopes it reaches politicians and authorities.
– It makes me realize the importance of policy outreach and translating our research into something actionable for policy makers, he concludes.
Recognition for the research
Head of the department, Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe, is proud of all the merited researchers at the Department of Economics.
– On behalf of the department I am both happy and proud of Christian Traeger receiving this award.
– It's a great recognition for one of our skilled researchers and for the relevance of the research at the department, she says.
The Frontiers Planet prize was established in 2022. The article Traeger contributed to was submitted by Professor Sjak Smulders from Tilburg University, who consequently won the prize for the Netherlands.