Voluntary approaches in climate policy: Comparing European and Swiss transport legislation

This paper investigates the effectiveness of voluntary approaches in a comparative case study on European and Swiss climate legislation. Voluntary approaches are known to be less environmentally effective and economic efficient than other climate policy instruments but easier to implement and more acceptable for the business community. Voluntary approaches are preferred for approaching ‘new policy issues’ where more stringent policies and measures could hardly be implemented. However, they are known to dilute or postpone effective legislation. Moreover, voluntary agreements may impose a potential threat on competition due to the high level of collaboration of its signatories. This case study compares the voluntary accords signed by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) and the Association of Swiss car importers (ASIA) signed in 1998 and 2002, respectively. Whereas ACEA committed to decrease average CO2 emissions from new passenger to 140g/km, ASIA committed to reduce average fuel consumption to 6.4l/100km by 2008. Both agreements failed. Average emissions of new cars in Europe was still greater than 150g CO2/km, and average fuel consumption of newly imported cars to Switzerland was 7.1l/100km in this year. Our case study discusses the reasons for failure and assesses the effectiveness of voluntary agreements as climate policy instrument. Based on expert interviews with Swiss car importers and Swiss and German car experts, the achievements of the voluntary accords signed in Switzerland and the EU are compared. In Europe, stringent legislation had been postponed several times particularly due to political pressure of German premium car brands. In Switzerland, the majority of the interviewed firm representatives shows only low awareness of the motivation and purpose of the agreement and different understanding of responsibility.

2010

The Political Economy of Climate Policy

Alexandra Quandt

The topic of the here presented work is the influence of firms on climate policy. This thesis analyses the impact of firms’ influence on the acceptance of climate policy, its effectiveness, and implementation. Hereby, the mediation of private interest is understood as social barrier on the design and implementation of effective climate policy. The work is empiric, dealing with the features of Swiss and European climate policy in two case studies. The thesis follows an interdisciplinary approach combining theories from economics, business strategy and political sciences. In a mixed‐ methods approach, it analyses the positions of the business community on climate policy, the different channels of interest group influence and the impact on policy output. Thereby, the focus of the analysis is on the positions and interactions between business interest associations and political decision‐makers. The results show that there is a pluralist picture of firms’ positions on climate policy. According to their economic short‐term interests, firms tend to block or defend the detailed features of climate legislation. By contrast, business associations have an incentive to exaggerate their stated positions strategically, which questions the reliability of their positions in the process of political consultation. The analysis shows further that private interest is asymmetrically represented in the political decision‐making process. In Switzerland, a small group of private actors enjoys privileged access to policy‐makers on the expense of public interests. This influence by special interest groups impedes effective policymaking and causes a democracy‐deficit. As a result, interest group influence inhibits effective decision‐making, which reduces societal welfare. Furthermore, a comparative case study on self‐regulation of the European and Swiss automotive industry demonstrates that there is a trade‐off between acceptance and environmental effectiveness in climate policy design. The work concludes that a fair stakeholder dialogue, the dissemination of knowledge, transparency in political decision‐making, and the integration of scientific expertise should be enhanced for ensuring effective implementation of politically acceptable and environmentally effective climate policies and measures.

EPFL2012

The Political Economy of Climate Policy

Alexandra Quandt

EPFL2012