One of the most notable innovations in environmental management in the past 15 years has been the use of environmental information disclosure as a strategy for improving firms' environmental performance. Following the Environmental Protection Agency's success with the Toxics Release Inventory, the agency and Congress initiated a number of other disclosure initiatives. This discussion paper documents the experience of three of these: risk management planning, materials accounting, and the Sector Facility Indexing Project. The paper examines the benefits and costs of these programs, their effectiveness, and the dynamics by which disclosure works
