How Effective Are Voluntary Measures to Curb Pollution?

Research News raditionally, U.S. environmental policy has emphasized mandatory regulations that prescribe limits on emissions of pollutants or the use of specific abatement technology such as scrubbers. While these regulations have protected the environment, they have encouraged firms to concentrate on pollution controls that operate at the end of the factory smokestack or at the point of effluent discharge rather than at preventing pollution. They have also imposed high costs on both firms and regulators. A growing belief in the need to provide flexibility to firms and to lower the costs of environmental protection has led to increased reliance on programs that encourage voluntary action to control pollution. Such programs emphasize pollution prevention at the source as the preferred method of pollution control, offering technical assistance, recognition, and financial and regulatory benefits to firms that implement an environmental management program. Green Lights is one such voluntary program. It encourages the use of energy-efficient lighting in buildings. In 1991 the Environmental Protection Agency launched the 33/50 Program, which encourages firms to reduce voluntarily emissions of 17 high-priority toxic chemicals at the source. The goals of the program were to reduce the aggregate releases of these chemicals by 33 percent by 1992 and by 50 percent by 1995. The Climate Challenge Program, initiated in 1994, invited electrical How Effective Are Voluntary Measures to Curb Pollution?