Environmental economics has been an increasingly significant focus for AARES and its members. Significant contributions began in the 1960s and 1970s with conceptual insights into the causes for market failure and the design of appropriate policy responses. The practical orientation of the profession led to the development and application of analytical tools in a wide array of contexts. Prominent amongst these have been nonmarket valuation, market‐based policy instruments and the private sector provision of environmental protection. Interaction with natural and social scientists has been a feature. Cross‐fertilisation has resulted to define emergent fields such as behavioural economics and ecological economics. Multidisciplinary endeavours have also grown in areas such as ecosystem service provision and integrated assessment modelling. These areas are likely to expand further with the ongoing contribution of core elements of the economics discipline.