Industrial Transformation: Environmental Policy Innovation in the United States and Europe

Book, The MIT Press

July 2005

Authors: Theo de Bruijn, Vicki Norberg-Bohm

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Belfer Center Programs or Projects: Energy Technology Innovation Policy; Science, Technology, and Public Policy

OVERVIEW

The United States and European countries are experimenting with a new generation of policy approaches for combating environmental degradation. Industrial Transformation evaluates the effectiveness of twelve innovative voluntary, collaborative, and information-based programs, focusing particularly on the effectiveness of these programs in bringing about industrial transformation — changes in production and consumption structures that will help move their societies toward environmental sustainability.

The twelve programs analyzed have the potential to create incentives for industry leadership, stimulate beyond-compliance behavior, address environmental degradation not currently regulated, and encourage innovative solutions by involving a wide range of stakeholders. The programs — six in the United States and six in Europe — include Energy Star product labeling in the United States, R&D collaboration in U.S. Department of Energy programs, the U.S. Toxic Release Inventories, the EU's Eco-Audit Regulation in the UK, the Dutch Target Group Policy, and the German End-of-Life Vehicles Program. The comparative analysis of the twelve programs proves that these new approaches are not a panacea for industrial transformation. Taken together, the cases provide a range of experience from which to draw lessons for future policy design.

Theo de Bruijn is Senior Research Associate at the Center for Clean Technology and Environmental Policy at the University of Twente, the Netherlands.

The late Vicki Norberg-Bohm was Director of the Energy Technology Innovation Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Chapters

• Introduction: Toward a New Paradigm for the Transition to a Sustainable Industrial Society?
• Reaching Environmental Goals through R&D Collaborations: Lessons from the US Department of Energy Programs for Gas Turbines and Solar Photovoltaics
• Building Sector-Based Consensus: A Review of the US EPA's Common Sense Initiative
• Conclusions: Lessons for the Design and Use of Voluntary, Collaborative, and Information-Based Approaches to Environmental Policy

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Document Length: 376 pp.