ABSTRACT
Environmental issues have assumed such significance now that legislators have imposed regulatory standards and compulsory mechanisms, subject to penalties for non-compliance. However, local authorities should not passively succumb to the restrictions imposed, but rather ensure that environmental legislation becomes a stimulus for innovation. The adoption of more sustainable patterns of production and consumption makes the management of environmental issues more effective (and efficient), ideally transforming an environmental constraint into an opportunity. Subsequent to some recent high-level political meetings, one of the major objectives of global economic development strategies now is to build a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy, as illustrated in Chapter 5. Meeting the new international targets requires countries to significantly increase their efficiency of energy use, decrease CO2 emissions and other pollutants, and produce energy from renewable resources.
