Environmental economics studies the impact of environmental policies and develops solutions to the problems that arise in connection with this.
Environmental economics can be either prescriptive or enabling.
An important subject of environmental economics is externalities, additional costs of doing business that are not paid by business or its consumers.
Another important subject of environmental economics is the determination of the value of public goods such as clean air, and the calculation of the cost of losing these goods.
Because some environmental goods are not limited to one country, environmental economics often requires a transnational approach.