Cause,catalyst or conjunction? The influence of the Habitats Directive on policy instrument choice in Member States

In the process of implementing EU policy, Member States sometimes introduce new policy instruments in cases where this is not obligatory. To better understand this phenomenon, this paper reviews three cases in which new instruments emerged and develops a methodology to trace back the influence of EU Directives on instrument choice. The method is illustrated by a narrative of the emergence of new management planning instruments during the implementation of the EU Habitats Directive in three EU Member States: Finland, Hungary and the Netherlands. Three key features of a policy instrument are defined, namely, its authoritative force, action content and governance design. These are used to measure the contribution of the Habitats Directive compared to other potential explanatory causes for the emergence of the new policy instrument. In all three reviewed countries a nested causal relationship between the Habitats Directive and the introduction of the new policy instrument is identified. Based on the relative contribution of the Habitats Directive to the emergence of the new instrument a distinction is made whether the Directive acted as a cause, catalyst or if conjunction occurred.     

Integrating Swedish water resource management: a multi-level governance trilemma

This paper analyses proposals for new multi-level governance of Swedish water resources to implement the EU Water Framework Directive. The question is, do they satisfy the criteria for ecologically rational and democratically legitimate governance? The core of the analysis concerns an administrative 'trilemma' encountered in designing ecologically effective and democratically acceptable multi-level governance. This trilemma is characterised by tensions between effectiveness, participation and legitimacy, all core values of 'good governance'. The Swedish proposal constitutes an effort to achieve cost-effective implementation of the EU Directive through an ecosystem-based multi-level organisation. It also seeks to bring about democratically legitimate governance through stakeholder networks and negotiations at the sub-catchment level, and governance 'partnerships' among local governments and organised interests. In particular, the assessment addresses issues of integrating such 'super-local' and local alternatives within the larger web of multi-level water resource governance. Although intended to escape the 'trilemma', the proposed combination of formal government and informal governance is found wanting in terms of effectiveness as well as participation and legitimacy.     

碳边境调节机制：欧盟应对气候变化的新选择与中国因应

近年来，欧盟考虑在气候变化立法中引入碳边境调节机制，旨在消除境外企业由于碳排放成本不对称而获得的价格优势。这一机制对于欧盟对冲减排压力、助力工业回流、增强气候领导力以及推动绿色转型大有裨益。作为一种碳关税政策，该机制确有贸易壁垒之嫌，在国际法上存在较大合法性争议。但未来欧盟可通过制度设计使其符合《关税与贸易总协定》（GATT）第20条，进而获得实施可能性。对我国而言，该机制实施必将会在诸多领域对我国产生不利影响，但某种程度上也可倒逼我国出口结构和贸易方式的调整升级。基于此，今后我国应自上而下完善碳市场建设，适时推动“碳交易+碳税”复合政策双轮驱动；积极开展气候外交；促进我国承接国际产业转移和出口的可持续发展。在法律对策上，积极参与国际谈判与规则制定；完善气候治理体系；促进低碳外贸发展；健全可再生能源激励制度。     

Nature of property rights and motivation for blue growth: An empirical evidence from the fisheries industry

If unauthorized resource use is prevented, managing marine resources by allocating property rights may match economic and environmental conservation incentives. However, because of the developing exploitation of marine resources and accompanying pollution, species' living conditions in Europe's waters are changing more quickly than before. By considering the roles of fisheries productivity, intellectual property rights, intellectual capital rights, market size, governance, and economic growth from 1990 to 2022, this paper aims to investigate the dynamic effect of property rights factors on the sustainability of the fisheries industry in 27 European countries. At higher quantiles, the findings showed a significant positive association between governance and fisheries sustainability adopting a new method, the MMQR with fixed effects, the Method of Moments Quantile Regression. In addition, in EU27 nations, the impact of intellectual property rights was favorable and statistically significant from the first to ninth quantiles. The findings show that the EU14 developed nations have more excellent governance and intellectual capital rights than the EU13 developing countries, significantly benefiting fisheries sustainability. In the same way that market size and economic growth condense fisheries sustainability in EU14 developed and EU13 developing countries, it has been discovered that intellectual property rights do the same across all quantiles, supporting the growth hypothesis for fisheries-producing countries. The findings specifically show that the beneficial solid impact of intellectual property rights, market size, and economic development on the sustainability of fisheries is more significant in EU13 developing nations than in EU14 developed countries. These results provide policymakers with helpful information for promoting property rights aspects in EU14 and EU13 nations via effective green technologies in the fisheries sector to meet sustainable development objectives.     

国家环境经济政策进展评估报告2019

本年度国家环境经济政策进展评估报告采用实地调研法和政策分析法,对2019年我国重点环境经济政策的进展进行了系统评估,总体结论认为环境经济政策在污染防治攻坚战和生态环境质量改善中发挥了积极作用,生态环境保护的市场经济政策机制在不断健全,但是环境经济政策体系尚需进一步完善优化,亟须通过深化改革助推生态文明和现代环境治理体系建设。     

Recentralisation through regionalisation in the implementation of Rural Development Policy in Scotland

In environmental policy, good governance is pertinent when inclusive decision making is recurrently associated with effective outcomes. This paper explores the European Union's good governance principles and the extent to which these have been adopted in the Rural Development Policy in Scotland. For the programme period 2007–2013 Scotland's Rural Priorities scheme has moved towards decentralisation by introducing regional decision-making committees. This study assesses the impact of this scheme on multi-level stakeholder relationships and the implications on policy outcomes. To do so, the study adopts a mixed method approach, applying a stakeholder mapping technique, to quantify perceptions of influence and interest and triangulate with data from in-depth semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that the attempts to widen decision making has resulted in a number of stakeholders perceiving themselves as less empowered. This analytical approach can provide the baseline against which governance improvements can be measured in the formulation of future policies.     

从中德比较论我国环境许可制度的发展

首先从现代环境保护的内在逻辑入手,指出我国环境法治正处于从外生型向内生型转变,并认同以排污许可为核心的环境许可制度应成为我国环境治理的核心制度。接着对环境许可制度进行基本的理论分析和简单框架梳理,认为环境许可制度是以法治完善和科技发展为支撑的,在此基础上需要进一步的内容细化和体系构建,并强调在风险预防原则下,环境许可不应局限于排污许可制度。然后分析了欧盟与德国在环境许可一体化上的趋势与不同,进而提出我国环境许可制度的趋势。探讨了与环境许可制度紧密相关的环境技术标准制度,认为基于技术的环境标准面临内生性、系统化和动态完善的要求,环境许可制度需要面向环境质量达标体系转型。本文还分析了德国环境治理理念的转型变革与许可制度衔接的经验。最后,小结对我国环境许可制度的启示。     

Politicisation and professional expertise in the policy of nature conservation

In this paper, the policy of nature conservation in Norway is analysed, with a particular focus on policy development during the last decade moving in the direction of multi-level governance. It is argued that the logic of policy making has shifted from what can be described as 'the politics of expertise' to a process of 'politicisation'. A process of politicisation can be observed both in terms of the nature of arguments being used, and in terms of who the dominant actors are. The subjects of analysis are issues taken up by the political parties in the Parliament, and the paper focuses on two controversial questions. One is about the localisation of conservation areas on private land and the state's liability for compensation. The other is the question of whether the management of conservation areas, and in particular national parks, should be under the control of local government or the state environmental bureaucracy. The analysis documents a process moving in the direction of more complex governance structure involving more actors and broader local participation challenging the role of the professional bureaucracy.     

Putting the cart before the horse: Water governance and IWRM

Water governance has emerged as perhaps the most important topic of the international water community in the 21^st century, and achieving “good” water governance is now a focus of both policy discourse and innumerable development projects. Somewhat surprisingly in light of this attention, there is widespread confusion about the meaning of the term “water governance”. This paper reviews the history of the term's use and misuse to reveal how the concept is frequently inflated to include issues that go well beyond governance. Further, it highlights how calls to improve water governance often espouse predetermined goals that should instead be the very function of water governance to define. To help overcome this confusion, the paper suggests a more refined definition of water governance and related qualities of good water governance that are consistent with broader notions of the concepts. In light of the substantial resources allocated in its name, this paper's findings show there is significant potential to strengthen efforts at improving water governance.     

Following Old Paths or Shaping New Ones in Natura 2000 Implementation? Mapping Path Dependency in Instrument Choice

This article reviews the influence of two specific European Union (EU) laws, the Birds and Habitats Directives, on the choice of national policy instruments by Member States. Both Directives leave the choice for policy instruments to manage the sites designated under the Directives to the Member States. Using path dependency as a leading concept, this article analyses the continuity or changes in policy instruments due to the implementation of the Directives in 15 countries. This article shows that the tendency to use existing instruments to implement EU policy is limited, as in almost all countries new instruments were developed. Yet, states do tend to choose instruments from their predominant policy instrument mix and preferred implementation style to address the management requirements of the Directives. Additionally, in Central and Eastern European countries where the implementation of EU policy coincided with a process of transition to a market economy, new instruments were introduced outside the existing implementation style. The introduction of new policy instruments is the result of historical turns, domestic pressure and a shift to new modes of governance. National case studies are needed to shed more light on the interaction between EU policy and domestic factors during the process of instrument choice.     

联合国可持续发展目标的评估与落实研究最新进展——目标关系的视角

目标间关系是影响可持续发展目标执行的重要挑战。本文回顾了关于目标间权衡和协同关系的研究成果，梳理了既有研究中平衡目标间关系的评估方法以及可以促进多目标实现的政策创新手段，总结了影响监测评估和政策手段发挥作用的因素。研究发现：目标间普遍存在部分或整体性的权衡和协同关系；以综合指数法和事前评估法为代表的评估方法开始转向关注目标间复杂的联动关系；减贫、减排、土地政策以及清洁生产和多元利益主体协作机制对目标的整体实现有助益；监测评估作用的发挥受限于数据管理和绩效测量方法的选择，政策手段的效果在一定程度上受到治理能力和既有制度安排的影响。最后，对未来中国落实可持续发展目标提出了展望和建议，要确立中国可持续发展目标间的整体关系，加强对目标执行和实现的事前评估能力，将更多本土化的SDGs指标纳入国家中长期发展规划。     

Sustainable development in the Baltic sea region. Governance beyond the nation state

After the end of the Cold War, the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) developed into a highly dynamic area of cross-border cooperation and transnational networking. Three forms of governance beyond the nation state and appropriate case studies are presented here: (1) the Helsinki Convention as an international regime; (2) Baltic 21, the world's first regional Agenda 21, as an international policy network; (3) the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC) as a transnational network. The achievement of sustainable development in the BSR undoubtedly requires a fruitful combination of national governance and these forms of international and transnational governance. In this respect, international policy networks, such as Baltic 21, and transnational networks, such as the UBC, promise to provide new approaches that can complement international and intergovernmental cooperation between nation states. Furthermore, it must also be taken into account that governance in the BSR will soon become embedded in European governance and lead to the Europeanisation of the Baltic Sea Area.     

Victoria's emerging framework of regional governance for sustainability: the case of catchment management authorities and regional catchment strategies

The aim of this paper is to presents a progress report on how a subnational jurisdiction, the Australian state of Victoria, is attempting to implement regional governance for sustainability through its catchment planning framework. The paper examines the lessons learnt from a best practice approach to the implementation of network governance to see whether there are actions that can be taken to improve regional governance for sustainability in Victoria. The authors argue that Victoria is implementing a network governance approach to natural resource management (NRM) as a significant component of sustainability and that this has certain advantages. In particular the emergence of Regional Catchment Strategies developed by the State's ten statutory Catchment Management Authorities as 'regional sustainability blueprints' is bringing a significant level of maturity to the state's governance framework. Furthermore the state is currently working to complete its governance for sustainability through new statewide integrating frameworks—an Environmental Sustainability Framework as well as a statewide Catchment Management and Investment Framework. The paper concludes that taking a network governance approach could have transformative potential but there are significant challenges ahead: the complex task of aligning of national, state, catchment and local government strategies through an outcomes focus; the scarcity of mechanisms and tools to assist in translation of strategies into integrated investment priorities; gaps in knowledge and understanding of natural resource management problems; limitations in the capacity of regional and local bodies, including local government; and getting the policy tools right within the framework. However, as the best practice examples illustrate, taking a gradual approach to the development of the institutions—building on successive wins in capacity—is the best and only way to proceed.     

Environmental policy expansion in the EU: the intriguing case of bioinvasion regulation

ABSTRACT

While bioinvasion was an issue of low political salience in Europe, a new regulation addressing it was adopted in 2014 with strong support. This article analyzes the making of the regulation as an intriguing case of policy expansion amid economic crisis. Based on theoretical literature on drivers of EU policy integration and policy dismantling, alternative plausible explanations are explored. Our main finding is that development of economic policy consensus among member states on trade-environment nexus was crucial for progress towards regulatory action. Policy consensus has been driven by a confluence of three domestic factors: trade liberalization, market disintegration, and changing ideas about the desirability of EU-level law, with the European Commission as policy entrepreneur. Low political salience has also had an important effect. It has increased the influence of transnational conservation alliances, which have played a significant catalytic role in building consensus by shifting consciousness to economic reward of policy action vs inaction, and bringing international models for legislative reform to the EU jurisdiction.     

Sub-national level of participation in international environmental cooperation: the role of Shiga Prefecture for Lake Biwa environment in Japan

From a state-centric view, sub-national level of participation at the international level can be only feasible if it is an active part of national policy. In the case of Shiga prefectural government's initiative for international lake-environmental cooperation, however, sub-national actors came to see themselves as direct players in the absence of national policy. This study examines under what conditions and in what ways such sub-national level of participation takes place by conducting a case study of Shiga's collaboration with the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) over lake-environment risk reduction. The article finds that the process of Shiga's participation in transnational governance will have less chance of being duplicated effectively in other Japanese sub-national governments. Shiga's cooperation with the UNEP was primarily driven by the ad hoc bottom-up political mobilisation of the sub-national actors. In general, without institutionalised channels for sub-national governments to participate in the regional/international level, sub-national governments need to mobilise resources on such an ad hoc basis and only pioneering sub-national actors are capable of effectively engaged on unfamiliar territory with the formation process of transnational governance.     

国际碳税政策实践发展与经验借鉴

碳税作为削减温室气体排放的有效市场经济政策手段,被全球多个国家推进实施并取得较好减排效果。目前,我国碳排放仍处于高位水平,碳减排行动面临严峻挑战。随着欧盟碳边境调节机制的推进,我国碳减排行动面临的国际形势也日趋复杂。因此,跟踪研究国际碳税政策最新实践进展,为我国实现“双碳”目标做好政策能力储备十分必要。本文系统分析了国际上碳税政策的实践进展与经验,将国际碳税政策实践发展分为初始起步阶段、探索发展阶段和深入拓展阶段,并从税制要素的角度全面总结了国际碳税实践的相关经验。根据国际碳税实践经验和我国的实际发展情况,本文提出了我国开征碳税的基本思路,并提出对使用含碳化石能源的单位或个人征收碳税,将碳税纳入环境保护税中实施统一征管等政策建议。     

Fuel poverty and vulnerability in the EU low-carbon transition: the case of renewable electricity

The European Union (EU) and member states alike are following a tradition of addressing fuel poverty and vulnerability at the point of purchase by final consumers by seeking to influence the impact of income, energy price and the built environment on the ability of household consumers to access the energy that they need. By focusing on the conditions of energy transmission in the most rapidly growing renewable electricity sector in the UK – offshore wind – this paper aims to question whether the regulatory socio-technological framing of renewable electricity transmission is reproducing conditions for fuel poverty and vulnerability in the UK. By drawing a comparison with renewable electricity transmission in Bulgaria, this paper argues that the problem might be symptomatic of the EU as a whole. While not arguing against the proliferation of renewable electricity and its importance in meeting the 2020 targets, this paper calls for expanding the scope of fuel poverty alleviation policy throughout the whole renewable electricity supply chain, building on Helm's argument that energy companies at the middle of the supply chain are better suited to deliver fuel policy.     

国家“十四五”环境经济政策改革路线图

"十三五"时期环境经济政策对建立我国生态文明建设长效机制发挥了重要作用,"十四五"时期需要通过进一步深化环境经济政策改革与创新以适应新时代生态文明建设需要。本文研究提出了我国"十四五"时期环境经济政策改革思路、框架与重点,认为我国"十四五"时期环境经济政策改革要深入贯彻习近平生态文明思想,系统考虑政策改革创新面临的新形势和新要求,推进建立"两山"转化和环境质量达标的长效激励机制,突出环境质量持续改善激励、突出经济过程全链条调控,突出政策手段的系统优化与协同增效,突出政策执行能力保障。继续推进生态环境财政制度改革,深化绿色价格税费机制创新,推进建立多元化、市场化生态补偿制度,健全生态环境权益交易机制,完善绿色金融体系,并同步推进完善生态环境价值核算、环境信息公开和信用体系、资源环境名录、政策绩效评估等政策实施配套能力建设,构建全面支撑生态文明建设的环境经济政策体系,推进环境治理体系和治理能力现代化。     

Environment and Development in a Southern European Country: Which Environmental Kuznets Curves?

Environmental policy questions have been recently tied to the fast evolving literature on Environmental Kuznets Curves (EKCs). The EKC thesis advocates the existence of a U-inverse relationship between economic growth and environmental quality. This paper adopts a recent view that EKCs should be studied using individual country experiences and looks at the evolution of air pollution, agricultural pollution, fisheries depletion and forest destruction in Greece during the last two to three decades. The evidence indicates that either EKCs do not exist, or Greece is on the rising segment of a hypothetical EKC. Greece's entrance to the EU, however, has helped it identify environmental externalities and resource depletion problems.     

国家环境经济政策进展评估报告2023

本年度报告采取实地调研法和政策分析法,系统评估2023年我国环境经济政策实践进展,总体认为环境经济政策体系不断健全完善,为美丽中国建设与生态环境质量持续改善提供了重要推动力,在生态文明治理体系中的地位和作用更加凸显,为宏观经济全面绿色低碳发展转型及美丽中国建设目标加快实现提供了重要支撑。未来,需要更加强调环境经济政策的科学性、系统性、经济性和制度化建设,深化环境经济政策创新,实施统筹谋划、综合调控、集成应用,在环境治理体系和治理能力现代化建设中发挥更加重要作用。