Traditional Regulation's Role in Greenhouse Gas Abatement
The Encylopedia of Environmental Law (Daniel Farber and Marjen Peeters eds. Edward Elgar Press 2016) (Forthcoming)
17 Pages Posted: 4 Aug 2015
Date Written: July 22, 2015
Abstract
This book chapter addresses the use of traditional regulation to ameliorate climate disruption, revealing that traditional regulation has played a significant role. It defines traditional regulation as encompassing performance standards, work practice standards, and phase-outs of dangerous substances. It then shows that traditional regulation has encouraged greater energy efficiency, promoted renewable energy, addressed ancillary risks associated with climate-friendly technological change, and applied to non-carbon greenhouse gases. Finally, it explains that in spite of its cost ineffectiveness, factors such as monitoring difficulties, institutional capacity problems, the need for innovation, and demand to address risk/risk problems help explain the persistence of traditional regulation in an era enamored of “market-based mechanisms,” such as emissions trading.
Keywords: emissions trading, command-and-control regulation, prescriptive regulation, performance standards, engineering stanards, technology-based regulation
JEL Classification: K32
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation