Voluntary Approaches in Climate Policy

Voluntary approaches (VAs) are increasingly implemented in different countries as the main instrument in environmental policies. The authors focus on the economics of VAs, their advantages and disadvantages and how they compare with other climate policy instruments. Voluntary Approaches in Climate Policy illustrates how corporate voluntarism can be harnessed to mitigate the climatic impact of business, and assesses the economics of VAs at the firm level and in the context of climate policies. It goes on to explore their efficiency and effectiveness, how they compare and combine with other instruments, how they impact competition and why they get adopted. Many questions are addressed and answered, such as: What kinds of VAs have been implemented in different countries? How did they perform under various economic and environmental criteria? What are the key factors in increasing firms' participation in VAs? How do VAs combine with other climate policy instruments such as carbon taxes and emissions trading? How could they be designed for better performance? The book also contains an overview of VAs with a summary of each contribution, their main policy implications and suggestions for future research. Highlighting the implications of VAs in policy terms, this accessible book will appeal to a wide-ranging audience including economists, social scientists, policymakers and business managers, as well as environmental scientists and practitioners with a specific interest in climate change.