Voluntary Environmental Programs

Protecting the environment is often not the primary objective of businesses. As the world has become more environmentally aware, the necessity of environmental regulations becomes apparent. Voluntary Environmental Programs: A Policy Perspective examines different approaches to environmental protection in business. Environmental improvements on the part of industry often result from government regulations that command certain action on the part of industry and then control how well they perform. An alternative approach is Voluntary Environmental Agreements (VEA), where firms voluntarily commit to make certain environmental improvements individually, as part of an industry association, or under the guidance of a government entity. For example, many new initiatives targeted towards climate change originate from companies that voluntarily commit to reduce their carbon output or "footprint." Voluntary Environmental Programs (VEP) provides an overview of current research on VEPs, looking at issues such as what motivates firms to participate, how a VEP structure affects a company's efficiency and credibility with stakeholders, and who monitors compliance of participants. This current work examines how a firm's environmental performance over time compares with VEP commitments. This book also discusses the particular considerations for VEPs in developing countries, where information flows and regulatory oversight capacities differ from the U.S.

This book is a very useful compilation of essays by many of the scholars who have devoted most serious attention and research to the evaluation of voluntary environmental programs. It will be valuable to anyone interested in doing research on them, as well as to anyone interested in knowing what we have learned about these policy tools and what they have and have not accomplished., The editors and authors of Voluntary Environmental Programs offer a clear-eyed, evidence-based assessment of one of the most important developments in environmental policy and management over the past quarter century. The contributors' theoretical approaches and well-researched cases are bound together by a policy perspective, and the results go far beyond the optimistic and at times Pollyannaish assessments of voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) presented in the past. Importantly, the contributors thoroughly examine governmental roles and responsibilities-a significant improvement over studies that linger too long on the 'volunteer' in VEPs.

Peter deLeon is a professor of public policy at the University of Colorado, and has published extensively. In 2008, he was chosen to be coeditor of the Policy Studies Journal. Jorge E. Rivera is associate professor in the Department of Strategic Management and Public Policy at George Washington University. He is also the author of the forthcoming book, Business and Public Policy by Cambridge University Press.