Policy Strategies and Economic Instruments

Until recently, the conventional environmental management approach was mostly just focused on improving environmental performance by controlling and regulating pollution and effluents from production processes. Despite the progress achieved, pollution control alone does not provide for lessening the pressure increase from the pattern of economic growth. Nor does it promote “development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.*” In order to “ensure the environmental sustainability” of the society, it is imperative to also improve the efficiency of the way natural resources are being used.

Regulation is necessary to ensure some improvement in eco-efficiency, essentially with regard to pollution prevention and control. This can be done through extended producer responsibility, recycling targets, landfill and other waste directives, and voluntary agreements. One very effective tool to influence production facilities especially in the private sector to be eco-efficient and reduce their pollution is through public information disclosure.

There are a number of ways in which such policy incentives can be implemented. Thus, in view of the rapidly increasing volume of consumption in Asia and the Pacific region, addressing eco-efficiency of the consumption pattern is imperative for maintaining the environmental sustainability on regional and global levels.

This is where the Green Growth policy incentive comes into play. It seeks to harmonize economic growth for poverty reduction and improved well-being with environmental sustainability, while improving the eco-efficiency of economic growth and enhancing the synergy between environment and economy. To improve the eco-efficiency of the economic growth, there is a need to improve the eco-efficiency of the production and consumption patterns of society.

The public sector’s role is to create sustainable consumption choices, which the private sector has not made available to consumers. Linking sustainable consumption to transport proved relevant to the experiences of countries. The important role of cultural values and traditional lifestyles in promoting sustainable consumption choices for a resource saving society and green growth were also discussed.

During the past decade, governments in the ESCAP region have been mainly focusing on improving the management of production and increasing the supply of basic goods to reduce poverty. Noticeable progress has been made. In addition to that, the second Green Growth Policy Dialogue (2006, Beijing, China) concluded that improving the eco-efficiency of the consumption pattern involves three major players:

Government could influence consumption patterns both by raising revenue (taxation) and by spending revenue (budget expenditure). While “green” purchasing has been the focus of recent policy developments, the role of public investment in development of infrastructure for sustainable consumption choices, such as public transportation, including railroads for example, has been little discussed. Taxation is also a powerful tool in improving eco-efficiency of consumption patterns.

* World Commision on Environment and Development, op. cit.