ABSTRACT
Emission reduction is at the core of acid rain policy. Britain and Germany responded with very different strategies and timetables of implementation. Germany has completed its abatement programme for stationary sources and its effort for the transport sector, while less satisfactory, is well advanced. From 1982 onward, Britain and Germany took opposing positions in ‘acid rain’ negotiations in Europe. The underlying German motivation was as self- interested as the British refusal to act quickly. The prospect of the completion of the internal market and the Single European Act of 1986 benefitted German ‘acid rain’ initiatives in Brussels. Germany experienced low inflation, a healthy trade balance and continued economic growth throughout the 1980s, inspite of a deep recession at the start of the decade. The capacity of ‘clean’ power stations to incinerate all sorts of wastes, including domestic rubbish, explains the rapid expansion of German utilities into the waste management business, e.g. RWE.
