New Instruments of Environmental Governance? - National Experiences and Prospects (Hardcover)

Many highly industrialized countries are rapidly adopting new environmental policy instruments (NEPIs) such as eco-taxes, tradable permits, voluntary agreements and eco-labels. This apparently profound shift has prompted widespread claims that NEPIs have eclipsed regulation as the preferred tool of environmental policy. This volume offers a fresh perspective on the evolving tool-box of environmental policy by providing a systematic analysis of the policy and politics surrounding the adoption and use of the main NEPIs in a variety of countries. By blending political theories with fresh empirical material, the contributors to this interdisciplinary volume assess the claim that NEPIs have supplanted regulation, heralding a new era of environmental governance in which the state plays a secondary role in sustainability policy-making.