ABSTRACT
After having set the general stage in the introductory chapter, and the evolution of climate policy in Chapter 2, this chapter will now focus more on the broader range of responses that has developed, thus covering the other side of the continuum from regulation to self-regulation. Since command-and-control and particularly market-based mechanisms have been discussed in the previous chapter, attention here shifts to other instruments, in which emphasis lies on business and on the voluntary and co-operative nature of such initiatives. Voluntary initiatives are now generally regarded as the third broad category of environmental policy instruments besides command-and-control and market-based regulations (OECD, 1999). However, we do not view these initiatives as encompassing a third phase (cf. Prakash and Kollman, 2004; Tietenberg, 1998), but rather as complementary to the other policy instruments. Indeed, voluntary initiatives have been important in helping shape emissions trading schemes, and fomenting public opinion on the desirability and/or feasibility of government action.
