Ethiopia has pursued a manufacturing-led development strategy since the early 2000s, achieving substantial growth and poverty reduction. However, little attention is paid to the environmental costs of these results. Relying on the review of environmental policies and on 22 in-depth interviews with public and private stakeholders, we assess whether the existing command-and-control approach to environmental management is delivering on its promises, and whether there is scope for deploying environmental taxes. Our analysis demonstrates that, despite the implementation of a variety of regulatory measures, environmental management in Ethiopia is substantially ineffective. This is due to a combination of institutional instability, a lack of technical resources at the environmental protection authority, and to the low level of political priority of environmental protection. In this context, a switch to a market-based approach to environmental management would be ineffective, as the lack of political will to enforce environmental regulations is the real issue.
Seid Yimam is based at the Institute of Development Studies, working as a Research Associate focusing on tax administration, gender and tax compliance, informal tax, and environmental taxes. He is also a PhD student in Economics at the University of Sussex on a scholarship funded by ICTD. Outside of the field of taxation, his main research areas are in contemporary development focusing on Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation. He holds an MSc in Economics (Policy Analysis) from Addis Ababa University and an MSc in Economics from the University of Copenhagen. He worked as a Research Officer at the International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI) and the Policy Study Institute (PSI), and he was also a lecturer of Economics at Debre Berehan University in Ethiopia prior to joining ICTD.
Tiruwork Arega is a Doctoral Fellow at UNU-MERIT. Her research is focused on the nexus of energy, development, and gender. Prior to joining UNU-MERIT, Tiruwork worked as a research officer at the International Food Policy Research Institute, the Environment and Climate Research Center of the Policy Studies Institute, and as an instructor at Mekelle University, Ethiopia.
Dr Giovanni Occhiali is a Development Economist based at the Institute of Development Studies, where he works on a number of projects related to Tax Administration and Compliance, Tax and Governance and co-leads ICTD’s capacity building programme together with Dr Max Gallien. His research focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa, and outside of the field of taxation his main interests are energy economics and industrial policies. He holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham and prior to joining ICTD, he was a Researcher at the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and an Overseas Development Institute Fellow at the National Revenue Authority of Sierra Leone.
Publisher: The Journal of environment & Development
Date: June 2025
Citation: Yimam, S., Arega, T., & Occhiali, G. (2025). Evaluating Ethiopia’s Environmental Management Strategy: Does It Support Green Growth? The Journal of Environment & Development, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10704965251353430
