Voluntary Approaches for Environmental Policy

Abstract

Do voluntary approaches deliver the expected environmental benefits? Do they help reach environmental targets in a cost-effective way? This report provides an assessment of the use of voluntary approaches building on a number of new case studies. Analysis is on the environmental effectiveness, economic efficiency and the administrative costs either used in isolation or as part of "policy mixes". The book concludes that the environmental effectiveness of voluntary approaches is often questionable, and their economic efficiency is generally low.