Transcript Regulation - Green Economics

Regulation in an
Eco-economy
Transforming economic
drivers
The Crisis of Markets
The Swing to
Regulation
Principles & Trends
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increasing economic complexity demands
more conscious involvement and direction.
Planning is more, not less, important, but…
The state can’t do it all.
Integrated design:
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Social & environmental
Cross-disciplinary
Trends & Principles -2
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political-economic integration
moves beyond the state
more connected to overall rules of
economic life
more connected to all stakeholders
involved
[should be] part of a movement toward
direct democracy
Knowledge-based /
Quality-based development
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Greater focus on the ‘human factor’
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From mindless to mindful markets:
• Centrality of end-use & purpose of production
• Integrated design: multi-dimensional goals
Greater levels of democracy/participation
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From hierarchical to decentralized regulation
From external to internal self-regulation
Greater stakeholder involvement
Greater integration with everyday exchange & civil
society
Role of The Commons: ecological, physical,
electronic;
Sharing & saving
Historical Trends in Regulation
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early industrialism: separation between state and
markets. Focus on production.
Fordist & state-socialist industrialism:
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More concern with consumption / demand.
Need for more planning: political-economic
intervention.
Today: even greater involvement of consciousness
& planning is necessary; integrated ecosystem-based
design.
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Post-Fordist globalization: avoidance or disguising of
conscious planning.
Suppression of new modes of mass collaboration.
Trends in Mainstream
Regulation
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End of pipe control and cleanup : 70s
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Point Source Prevention : 80s
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Consumption Patterns and Product &
System Design : today
Contending Alternatives to
Command-and-Control
Corporate critique
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Regulation: costly and inefficient
Trade: a panacea
Avoidance of accountability
Focus on single bottom line
In Practice: tends to starve governments of
regulatory resources—producing a selffulfilling prophecy
Design Perspective
on Regulation
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Commoner, Hawken, Boyd, Geiser, Stahel, etc.
Need for levels of incentives/disincentives
Regulatory pluralism
From prescriptive to performance standards
Democracy: inclusion of stakeholders, growth
of accountability
Movement toward fundamental solutions:
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Service economy: redefining output
Lake economy: organic redesign
Must deal with ‘silo’ structures
The Precautionary
Principle
one of the two central principles
of eco-regulation (along with the
life-cycle approach)
not the basis for 70s regulatory
initiatives
encourages benign materials
design and use
requires product/substance bans
& phaseouts
‘Next Generation’
Regulatory Instruments
…Often a confused combination of corporate and design
elements
Variations of ‘Regulatory Pluralism’
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self-regulation
co-regulation
voluntary agreements
regulatory flexibility
negotiated agreements
environmental partnerships
informational regulation
economic instruments.
Questions about ‘Instruments’
• Do they accept or reinforce chronic
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underfunding of government?
Are they based in corporate ideology (i.e.
obsolete views of market forces)?
Do they deal with fundamental problems
and solutions?
Elements of Green Economic
Self-Regulation
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the Scale of the economy: community and bioregional
organization, harnessing technological potentials for decentralization
via reutilization-industry, distributed energy-generation, ecoinfrastructure, local money, co-operative consumption, etc.
Participatory democracy: Green Municipalism, participatory
Green City Plans, community indicators & pattern-language
development.
a Green regulatory structure: including community design
pattern-languages, performance standards, product stewardship
systems, product & substance bans, and other rules which encourage
bioregionalism, quality and community.
Green market mechanisms: ecological tax systems, accountmoney & other community currencies, and a green financial
infrastructure.
Knowledge as a regulatory force: via resource inventories,
eco-accounting, product information & labelling, and community
indicators.
‘Surrogate Regulators’
community groups, NGOs
 buyers / suppliers
 investors
 financial institutions
 insurance companies
Question: are these surrogates, or just
vital elements of regulation today?
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Possible Instruments in the Integrated Product Policy
(IPP) Toolbox
Instrument
Including
Voluntary instruments
Voluntary agreements
Self-commitments
Industry awards
Voluntary information instruments
Eco-labels, Product profiles
Product declarations
Compulsory information instruments
Warning labels, Information responsibility,
Reporting requirements
Economic instruments
Product taxes and charges
Subsidies
Deposit/refund schemes
Financial responsibility
Regulatory instruments
Bans/phase-outs
Product requirements
Mandatory take-back
Tax-Shifting I: the Labour &
Resource Relationship
• Industrial economy:
resource-intensive.
labour productivity:
Substitutes resources
for labour.
• Green Economy:
people-intensive /
resource-saving.
Substitutes human
creativity for resources
Tax Shifting II:
the most radical kind?
Carbon Tax
to
Basic Income
Extended Producer
Responsibility (EPR)
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designing ownership patterns to achieve
stewardship
a positive form of accountability that can
“change the DNA” of corporate entities
closes loops and encourages service
production
takes different forms in different
industries and situations.
Varieties of EPR
• liability where responsibility for environmental damages
caused by a product—in production, use, or disposal—is
borne by the producer;
• economic responsibility where a producer covers all or part
of the costs for managing wastes at the end of a product’s life
(e.g. collection, processing, treatment or disposal);
• physical responsibility where the producer is involved in the
physical management of the products, used products or the
impacts of the products through development of technology or
provision of services; one common expression of this would
be…
• ownership where the producer retains ownership of the
product over it entire service life, and
• informative responsibility where the producer is required to
provide information on the product and its effects during
various stages of its life cycle.
(Thorpe and Kruszewska,1999; Linquist, 1998)
Expressions OF EPR
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Product take back for waste management
Life-cycle partnerships for waste management
Materials selection
Materials management
Extended environmental management programs
Leasing systems
Delivering service and function instead of products
Design-for-the-environment programs
Environmental purchasing
Frontiers of EPR
Braungart’s Intelligent Product System
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Consumables
Products of Service
Unmarketables
Product-Service Systems
… typically tries to facilitate:
--sale of the use of product (rather than the product itself);
--operational leasing, rather than ownership by consumers
--repair rather than throwaway relationships
Strategic Modes of Regulation
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Civil Society-based Certification systems
Ecological Tax Reform / tax shifting
Subsidies / green scissors
Green Procurement
EPR legislation
Guidelines for Green Finance: green
development plans, etc.
Sector-based Action
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green belts
building codes / zoning
renewable portfolio standards &
standard offer contracts
product & substance bans, etc.
Other Resources
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Conroy Powerpoint: Branded: How the Certification Revolution
Facilitates New Ethics in International Affairs
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Braungart : Cradle to Cradle design
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McDonough on Cradle to California