ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that the environmental policy in the United States of America (USA) often focuses on the merits of the two dominant regulatory approaches: command and control; and economic incentive or market-based policy. The USA has been stalwart in its opposition to participation in international climate change agreements that mandate binding greenhouse gas emission targets and has been unable to pass unilateral federal legislation that regulates emissions domestically. Climate Leaders is a voluntary government-industry partnership that was initiated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in 2002. It evolved from the Climate Wise programme, which was part of the Clinton Administration's Climate Action programme. The chapter provides a multi-criteria approach to evaluate the USEPA Climate Leaders programme adopting a framework developed by Sullivan. The framework assesses programmes based on eight factors: environmental effectiveness, efficiency, transaction costs, soft effects, innovation, acceptability, inclusiveness and public participation and law and public policy issues.
