Any environmental regulation, for example, makes the use of the environment more expensive. Regulations are not costless. So long as the regulations are obeyed, then we can also expect resource consumption to be reduced and consumption patterns to change. This is because they give industry much greater flexibility in the means of compliance. Note that cost efficiency is not just a matter of resource allocation.
Industry is more likely to resist high cost environmental measures.
Economists have long argued that taxes on effort and enterprise are innefficient and act as a 'drag' on the economy. People can then decide whether to pay the tax or not by deciding whether to consume the product or not. More recently still, it is recognised that environmental taxes can serve a 'double function' of reducing resource consumption and helping to stimulate employment by using the revenues to reduce payroll taxes. The first thing to say is that they are more widespread than might perhaps be thought. A large number of countries use economic instruments in one form or the other.