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Controlling pollution and environmental absorption capacity

Annals of Operations Research volume 220, pages 111–133 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

This pollution accumulation model shows that the environmental absorption capacity is impacted by economic activity. The resulting optimal control problem has two inter-related state variables: the stock of pollution and the absorption capacity of the environment. The stock of pollution decreases with environmental absorption capacity and increases with the rate of current emissions, which is controlled by a production level as well as an emissions reduction effort. However, the environmental absorption capacity is positively affected by an absorption development effort, and negatively impacted by the stock of pollution. Under specific conditions, it is shown that an optimal path, which can be either monotonic or following transient oscillations, leads to a (nontrivial) saddle-point characterized by a positive environmental absorption capacity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Operations Management, ESSEC Business School, Avenue Bernard Hirsch, B.P. 105, 95021, Cergy Pontoise, France

    Fouad El Ouardighi

  2. Department of Economics, CIREQ, McGill University, Leacock Building, 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal, Québec, H3A 2T7, Canada

    Hassan Benchekroun

  3. Operations Research and Control Systems, Vienna University of Technology, Argentinierstrasse 8, 1040, Vienna, Austria

    Dieter Grass

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  1. Fouad El Ouardighi
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  2. Hassan Benchekroun
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  3. Dieter Grass
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Correspondence to Fouad El Ouardighi.

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El Ouardighi, F., Benchekroun, H. & Grass, D. Controlling pollution and environmental absorption capacity. Ann Oper Res 220, 111–133 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-011-0982-4

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