regulation in an eco-economy transforming economic drivers
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Regulation in an Eco-economy
Transforming economic drivers
The Crisis of Markets
The Swing to Regulation
Principles & Trends
increasing economic complexity demands more conscious involvement and direction.
Planning is more, not less, important, but… The state can’t do it all. Integrated design:
• Social & environmental
• Cross-disciplinary
Trends & Principles -2
political-economic integration moves beyond the state more connected to overall rules of
economic life more connected to all stakeholders
involved [should be] part of a movement toward
direct democracy
Knowledge-based / Quality-based development Greater focus on the ‘human factor’
• From mindless to mindful markets:
• Centrality of end-use & purpose of production
• Integrated design: multi-dimensional goals Greater levels of democracy/participation
• From hierarchical to decentralized regulation
• From external to internal self-regulation
• Greater stakeholder involvement
• Greater integration with everyday exchange & civil society
• Role of The Commons: ecological, physical, electronic; Sharing & saving
Historical Trends in Regulation early industrialism: separation between state and
markets. Focus on production. Fordist & state-socialist industrialism:
• More concern with consumption / demand.
• Need for more planning: political-economic intervention.
Today: even greater involvement of consciousness & planning is necessary; integrated ecosystem-based design.• Post-Fordist globalization: avoidance or disguising of
conscious planning.
• Suppression of new modes of mass collaboration.
Trends in Mainstream Regulation
End of pipe control and cleanup : 70s
Point Source Prevention : 80s
Consumption Patterns and Product & System Design : today
Contending Alternatives toCommand-and-Control
Corporate critique
Regulation: costly and inefficient Trade: a panacea Avoidance of accountability Focus on single bottom line In Practice: tends to starve governments of
regulatory resources—producing a self-fulfilling prophecy
Design Perspectiveon Regulation
Commoner, Hawken, Boyd, Geiser, Stahel, etc. Need for levels of incentives/disincentives
• Regulatory pluralism From prescriptive to performance standards Democracy: inclusion of stakeholders, growth
of accountability Movement toward fundamental solutions:
1. Service economy: redefining output2. Lake economy: organic redesign
Must deal with ‘silo’ structures
The Precautionary Principle
one of the two central principles of eco-regulation (along with the life-cycle approach)
not the basis for 70s regulatory initiatives
encourages benign materials design and use
requires product/substance bans & phaseouts
‘Next Generation’ Regulatory Instruments
…Often a confused combination of corporate and design elements
Variations of ‘Regulatory Pluralism’ self-regulation co-regulation voluntary agreements regulatory flexibility negotiated agreements environmental partnerships informational regulation economic instruments.
Questions about ‘Instruments’
• Do they accept or reinforce chronic underfunding of government?
• Are they based in corporate ideology (i.e. obsolete views of market forces)?
• Do they deal with fundamental problems and solutions?
Elements of Green Economic Self-Regulation the Scale of the economy: community and bioregional
organization, harnessing technological potentials for decentralization via reutilization-industry, distributed energy-generation, eco-infrastructure, local money, co-operative consumption, etc.
Participatory democracy: Green Municipalism, participatory Green City Plans, community indicators & pattern-language development.
a Green regulatory structure: including community design pattern-languages, performance standards, product stewardship systems, product & substance bans, and other rules which encourage bioregionalism, quality and community.
Green market mechanisms: ecological tax systems, account-money & other community currencies, and a green financial infrastructure.
Knowledge as a regulatory force: via resource inventories, eco-accounting, product information & labelling, and community indicators.
‘Surrogate Regulators’
community groups, NGOs buyers / suppliers investors financial institutions insurance companies
Question: are these surrogates, or just vital elements of regulation today?
Possible Instruments in the Integrated Product Policy (IPP) Toolbox
Instrument Including
Voluntary instruments Voluntary agreements
Self-commitments
Industry awards
Voluntary information instruments Eco-labels, Product profiles
Product declarations
Compulsory information instruments Warning labels, Information responsibility, Reporting requirements
Economic instruments Product taxes and charges
Subsidies
Deposit/refund schemes
Financial responsibility
Regulatory instruments Bans/phase-outs
Product requirements
Mandatory take-back
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
designing ownership patterns to achieve stewardship
a positive form of accountability that can “change the DNA” of corporate entities
closes loops and encourages service production
takes different forms in different industries and situations.
Varieties of EPR• liability where responsibility for environmental damages
caused by a product—in production, use, or disposal—is borne by the producer;
• economic responsibility where a producer covers all or part of the costs for managing wastes at the end of a product’s life (e.g. collection, processing, treatment or disposal);
• physical responsibility where the producer is involved in the physical management of the products, used products or the impacts of the products through development of technology or provision of services; one common expression of this would be…
• ownership where the producer retains ownership of the product over it entire service life, and
• informative responsibility where the producer is required to provide information on the product and its effects during various stages of its life cycle.
(Thorpe and Kruszewska,1999; Linquist, 1998)
Expressions OF EPR
Product take back for waste management Life-cycle partnerships for waste management Materials selection Materials management Extended environmental management programs Leasing systems Delivering service and function instead of products Design-for-the-environment programs Environmental purchasing
Frontiers of EPR
Braungart’s Intelligent Product System1. Consumables2. Products of Service3. Unmarketables
Product-Service Systems… typically tries to facilitate:
--sale of the use of product (rather than the product itself); --operational leasing, rather than ownership by consumers--repair rather than throwaway relationships
Strategic Modes of Regulation
Civil Society-based Certification systems Ecological Tax Reform / tax shifting Subsidies / green scissors Green Procurement EPR legislation Guidelines for Green Finance: green
development plans, etc.
Sector-based Action
green belts building codes / zoning renewable portfolio standards &
standard offer contracts product & substance bans, etc.
Other Resources Conroy Powerpoint: Branded: How the Certification Revolution
Facilitates New Ethics in International Affairs
Braungart : Cradle to Cradle design
McDonough on Cradle to California
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