# Presentation: 552730

## Voluntary Environmental Agreements 

**Voluntary Environmental Agreements**** **

**Gyula ZILAHY**
- Hungarian Cleaner Production Centre
- Budapest University of Economic Sciences

## Structure of the presentation

**Structure of the presentation**

- Definition of EA’s
- EA’s as environmental policy tools
- International implementation
- The situation in Hungary
- Recommendations

## Voluntary environmental approaches

**Voluntary environmental approaches**

**OECD classification:**
- voluntary codes of conduct
- principles laid down by social organisations and authorities
- voluntary environmental agreements

## Voluntary codes of conduct

**Voluntary codes of conduct**

*  **One sided voluntary commitments initiated by the companies and communicated to their stakeholders without the involvement of the environmental autorities*.
*e.g. Responsible Care (Canada, USA)*

## Principles laid down by social organisations

**Principles laid down by social organisations**

-    Definition of the conditions of joining the system/membership, setting up of rules, monitoring of participating organisations.
*e.g. EMAS, ISO14001, eco-labeling*

## Voluntary Environmental Agreements

**Voluntary Environmental Agreements**

- Parallel definitions and names:
- environmental agreements
- voluntary agreements
- negotiated agreements
- covenants

## Önkéntes környezetvédelmi megállapodások

**Önkéntes környezetvédelmi megállapodások**

-    Agreements, which are concluded as a result of a negotiation process between the companies or their associations and the authorities on the local, regional or international levels with the principal objective of enhancing the state of the environment through the activities of the companies.

## Motivation factors: authorities

**Motivation factors: authorities**

- development of the state of the environment
- improvement of the comptetitivenes of the corporate sector
- regulation of the environment where other tool do not exist (e.g. compliance with international treaties)
- good relationship with the companies

## Motivation factors: authorities

**Motivation factors: authorities**

- to make regulations more enforcable
- achievement of economic objectives (e.g. promotion of preventive approaches)
- the reduction of the costs of enforcement (e.g. the setting up of a monitoring system)

## Motivation factors: companies

**Motivation factors: companies**

- improvement of the environemntal performance
- improvement of the company image with the stakeholders
- good relationship with the authoroties

## Motivation factors: companies

**Motivation factors: companies**

- social responsibility
- making environmental regulations more predictable
- environmental expectations of banks, insurance companies

## Tools of environmental regulation

**Tools of environmental regulation**

## Az önkéntes megállapodásokkal szemben támasztandó követelmények

**Az önkéntes megállapodásokkal szemben támasztandó követelmények**

- környezeti hatékonyság
- gazdasági hatékonyság
- versenyre gyakorolt hatás
- ellenőrzés és mérés
- szankcionálás lehetősége
- politikai elfogadhatóság

- rugalmasság
- átláthatóság
- egyszerűség, betarthatóság
- méltányosság
- forrásképzés

## International experience

**International experience**

- European Union
- Different implementation in the Member States
- Implementation in North-America

## Voluntary agreement in the EU

**Voluntary agreement in the EU**

## Voluntary agreements in the EU - sectoral situation

**Voluntary agreements in the EU - sectoral situation**

## Implementation in the EU

**Implementation in the EU**

- Two-thirds of the agreements in Germany and the Netherlands
- Leading topics: waste management and climate change
- ‘Objective setting’ (France, Germany) and ‘Implementation’ (the Netherlands, Danmark, Portugal) type agreements

## Exepriences of implementation

**Exepriences of implementation**

- improvement of the state of the environment, but:
- joint effect of several tools
- problems with measurement
- technological change in 3-4 countries
- supplementary tool in 4 countries
- use of strong incentives (support, taxes)

## Condition of the use of EA’s

**Condition of the use of EA’s**

**There is a better chance to implement EA’s:**
- in pro-active industries, companies
- when the number of partners is low, participants are well organised
- in case of product manufacturing
- in mature sectors, with limited competition , where there is a small possibility for free-riders
- limited environmental problems
- when there is a small number of emission sources
- with the setting up of long term objectives

## Condition of the use of EA’s

**Condition of the use of EA’s**

**Implementation is more efficient when:**
- clearcut objectives are defined
- the baseline has been defined
- monitoring and reporting mechanisms are set up
- technical solutions to the problems exist
- costs of compliance are not too high and even among the participants
- third parties are also involved in the setting up and implementation of the agreement

## Environmental agreements in Hungary

**Environmental agreements in Hungary**

- Legal background
- Approach of the interested parties:
- Ministry for the Environment
- Environmental Inspectorates
- Companies, industry associations

## Possible types of agreements

**Possible types of agreements**

- Industry level agreements:
- need of authorisation for industrial associations ( problem of free riders)
- need for enforcement
- public nature of environmental data
- Individual agreements:
- questions relating to practical implementation

## Condition of practical use

**Condition of practical use**

- Institutional conditions:  definition of tasks, resources
- Involvement of the public and environmental organisations
- Regulation of the content and process of the agreements

## Voluntary Environmental Agreements 

**Voluntary Environmental Agreements**** **

**Gyula ZILAHY**
- Hungarian Cleaner Production Centre
- Budapest University of Economic Sciences