Environmental policy instruments in a new era

The aim of this paper is to give a long term sustainability perspective on instrumentation in environmental policy, within a broad, also strategic, evaluative framework. To arrive at integrated insight, the basic function of policy instruments is discussed: why do you need them at all and how would they look like? It comes out that it is not at all clear how policy instruments can be classified and described. Nor is it clear how a consistent evaluation of policy instruments can be set up. Still, as some ordering is necessary for instrument development and instrument choice, an analytic framework is developed. One basic problem in discussions on policy instruments is that both their functioning and their effects are context dependent. This implies that in decisions on policy instrumentation, binding society for a long time, also long term changes in context are to be taken into account, in terms of structural, cultural and economic developments in society. Some main lines of development are discussed, with implications for instrument choice. Within these mouldable boundaries, some practical guidelines are given for policy development at a case level. --environmental policy,environmental strategy,policy instruments,policy evaluation,globalisation

Environmental policy instruments in a new era

"The aim of this paper is to give a long term sustainability perspective on instrumentation in environmental policy, within a broad, also strategic, evaluative framework. To arrive at integrated insight, the basic function of policy instruments is discussed: why do you need them at all and how would they look like? It comes out that it is not at all clear how policy instruments can be classified and described. Nor is it clear how a consistent evaluation of policy instruments can be set up. Still, as some ordering is necessary for instrument development and instrument choice, an analytic framework is developed. One basic problem in discussions on policy instruments is that both their functioning and their effects are context dependent. This implies that in decisions on policy instrumentation, binding society for a long time, also long term changes in context are to be taken into account, in terms of structural, cultural and economic developments in society. Some main lines of development are discussed, with implications for instrument choice. Within these mouldable boundaries, some practical guidelines are given for policy development at a case level." (author's abstract)"Ziel dieser Studie ist es, eine Langfristperspektive für die weitere Instrumentierung der Umweltpolitik zu liefern. Dazu werden zunächst die Grundfunktionen politischer Instrumente diskutiert. Es zeigt sich, daß es keineswegs klar ist, wie man solche Instrumente kategorisieren und klassifizieren kann. Deshalb wird hierzu ein eigenes, integratives Rahmenwerk entwickelt. Der Funktionsweise und der Wirkung umweltpolitischer Instrumente gilt dann das besondere Augenmerk. Es entsteht so die bisher wohl umfassenste Darstellung und Funktionsbetrachtung des zukünftig möglichen umweltpolitischen Instrumentariums." (Autorenreferat

Background review of existing weighting approaches in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)

This report presents the first part of the work carried out towards the development of a scheme for weighting indicators across the impact categories (climate change, acidification, resource depletion, human cancer effects, and others) that are commonly considered in life cycle assessment. Weighting is essential to derive a single indicator of the overall environmental impact of the EU-27 and to build the resources indicators as set out in the Thematic Strategy. This report further details existing weighting schemes and analyses a number of relevant weighting approaches. Each of the methods considered has been characterized in terms of methodological foundations, geographical representativeness, procedure for values definition, communication impact and major applications in the LCA practice.JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen

Evaluation of weighting methods for measuring the EU-27 overall environmental impact

In this project, seven operational weighting sets have been selected and have been applied to the intervention profiles of the EU28, the World and the Netherlands, not on time series. Three sets are available for the weighting applied on midpoint level. Three sets are available for the weighting applied on endpoint level. One set is available for the integrated modelling and weighting, applied on intervention level. All weighting sets applied on midpoint level refer to interactive panel weighting, i.e. EPA, BEES, and NOGEPA. Two weighting sets applied on endpoint level refer to panel weighting, i.e. Ecoindicator99 and LIME. One weighting set, ReCiPe damage, refers to weighting on endpoint level using damage cost based on willingness-to-pay (WtP) valuation, which is itself based on panels but usually not interactive panels. All methods have specific advantages and disadvantages, on which diverging views exist. Midpoint approaches have a clear modelling basis with mutually inconsistent elements and they rely on extensive subjective estimates in the combined further-modelling-and weighting step. Endpoint models can have a weak modelling step after the midpoint and then are conceptually similar to the valuation step in the economics oriented integrated modelling and weighting. The integrated modelling approach has some strong points in modelling (e.g. in climate modelling), but is weak in its further modelling. The valuation step of this approach is best specified, based on thoroughly tested but not unquestionable methods. The seven selected and expanded operational weighting methods have been combined into a single meta-weighting set. This combined weighting set can be varied as to the strength of the individual methods in determining the outcome. The application to a time series of European data suggests that there is not a wide divergence between the different weighting methods, at least as developed and applied in this report. This means that the choice of specific weighting methods may not have an overarching influence on outcomes and the combined set of meta-weights may reasonably reflect different positions in weighting. Nevertheless, this may also be linked to some of the adaptations and extrapolations across methods made in this project.JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen

Energy and Environmental Performance of Bioethanol from Different Lignocelluloses

Climate change and the wish to reduce the dependence on oil are the incentives for the development of alternative energy sources. The use of lignocellulosic biomass together with cellulosic processing technology provides opportunities to produce fuel ethanol with less competition with food and nature. Many studies on energy analysis and life cycle assessment of second-generation bioethanol have been conducted. However, due to the different methodology used and different system boundary definition, it is difficult to compare their results. To permit a direct comparison of fuel ethanol from different lignocelluloses in terms of energy use and environmental impact, seven studies conducted in our group were summarized in this paper, where the same technologies were used to convert biomass to ethanol, the same system boundaries were defined, and the same allocation procedures were followed. A complete set of environmental impacts ranging from global warming potential to toxicity aspects is used. The results provide an overview on the energy efficiency and environmental performance of using fuel ethanol derived from different feedstocks in comparison with gasoline

Framework for scenario development in LCA

This article is based on the work of the SETAC-Europe LCA Working Group ‘Scenario Development in LCA', which has started its work in April 1998. The goal of the Working Group is to focus on the use of scenarios in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This article presents the results of the first phase of the Working Group. The previous definitions of scenarios include three common basic elements: the definition of alternative future circumstances, the path from the present to the future, and the inclusion of uncertainty in the concept. We define a scenario in LCA as "a description of a possible future situation relevant for specific LCA applications, based on specific assumptions about the future, and (when relevant) also including the presentation of the development from the present to the future.' On the basis of the scenario definition we distinguish between two basic approaches for scenario development in LCA studies: What-if scenarios and Cornerstone scenarios. What-if scenarios are used to gain operational information and to compare two or more alternatives in a well-known situation with a short time horizon where the researcher is familiar with the decision problem and can set defined hypothesis on the basis of existing data. The Cornerstone scenario approach offers strategic information for long term planning, new ways of seeing the world, and also guidelines in the field of study. Results of a study using the Cornerstone scenario approach often serve as a basis for further, more specific research where the scenarios can be defined according to What-if scenarios. The frames of the scenarios are defined in the first phase of LCA, the goal and scope definition. Scenario development does, however, influence all of the following phases of LCA. The frames of the scenarios form the basis for modelling product systems and environmental impacts associated with products and services, which are not exactly known due to lacking information on parts of the life cycl