New instruments for sustainability. The new contribution of voluntary agreements to environmental policy

Project Information

Grant agreement ID: ENV4960268

Project closed

Start date 1 July 1996

End date 28 February 1998

Funded under

• Specific programme of research and technological development in the field of environment and climate, 1994-1998

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

No data

Coordinated by

Öko-Institut eV
Germany

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Deliverables

Material for key actors in environmental protection for designing and implementing Environmental Agreements.

Description of Result: This study is one of the first extensive comparative evaluations of environmental agreements. Environmental agreements have in the nineties become very popular and often discussed instruments of environmental policy. In many Member States of the European Union agreements are nowadays seen as an alternative to legislative action. The study gives an overview over the use of the instrument in nine countries and examines a number of agreements that have been concluded across Europe and the United States. It tests a number of hypotheses that are often put forward in the policy debate in favour of the environmental agreements and identifies pre-conditions for successful agreements. In spite of methodological obstacles to this study the authors hope to have succeeded in substantially in detail the preconditions for successful environments agreements, leading to a deeper understanding of this new instrument. A strength of this study might be the extensive material collected in the ten country reports, the EC report and the eight detailed case-studies. The influence of parameters outside of agreements itself (the policy context) is carefully examined. In practical terms this study adds a number of new aspects in anticipating and/or judging the quality of environmental agreements to the criteria already known, for example the criteria mentioned in the Communication of the European Commission on environmental agreements. Conclusions for the future use of environmental agreements as an instrument of environmental policy are to be drawn. The findings contribute to a rational and effective use of the instrument in the transition towards sustainable development.