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Wood, Stepan; Thompson, Kevin --- "Transnational Voluntary Climate Change Initiatives for Local Governments: Key Variables, Drivers and Likely Effects" [2012] ELECD 715; in Richardson, J. Benjamin (ed), "Local Climate Change Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Local Climate Change Law

Editor(s): Richardson, J. Benjamin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857937476

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Transnational Voluntary Climate Change Initiatives for Local Governments: Key Variables, Drivers and Likely Effects

Author(s): Wood, Stepan; Thompson, Kevin

Number of pages: 38

Extract:

2. Transnational voluntary climate
change initiatives for local
governments: key variables, drivers
and likely effects
Stepan Wood and Kevin Thompson

1. INTRODUCTION

Policy-makers can choose from a range of regulatory instruments when decid-
ing how to respond to environmental problems.1 `Command' regulation sets
legally binding standards for regulated entities' environmental performance,
industrial processes, products or the quality of the receiving environment.
Economic instruments induce regulated entities to modify their behaviour by
manipulating their economic incentives via taxes, subsidies, deposit-refund
schemes, or tradable entitlements. Information-based regulation seeks to influ-
ence producer or consumer behaviour by requiring or regulating the genera-
tion and dissemination of environmental information, without dictating any
particular environmental outcome. Common forms include product eco-labels,
environmental impact assessment requirements, environmental `right-to-
know' legislation, and environmental disclosure requirements for securities
issuers. Direct government expenditures, legal liability rules and government
procurement contracts can also be employed to regulate environmentally
harmful conduct. Finally, voluntary initiatives are programs in which
polluters or resource users commit to take action in relation to the environ-
ment in the absence of a legally binding requirement to do so.2 Such initia-
tives take many forms, including government-industry negotiated
agreements, public `challenge' programs, industry self-regulatory initiatives,


1 In the context of climate change, see e.g., Robert Stavins, `Policy Instruments
for Climate Change: How Can National Governments Address a Global Problem?'
(1997) University of Chicago Legal Forum 293.
2 Stepan Wood, `Voluntary Environmental Codes and Sustainability' in
Benjamin J. ...