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This paper addresses the issue of environmental policy instrument choice for achieving deep emission reductions in the industrial sector. Specifically, it provides: (a) a theoretical and empirical review of the conditions under which performance standards can provide efficient incentives for deep emission reductions and technology adoption; and (b) an analysis of the design and the outcomes of the standards-based regulation of industrial pollutants in Sweden during the period 1970–1990. Our empirical findings suggest that the Swedish regulatory approach comprised many key elements of an efficient policy-induced transition towards radically lower emissions in the metal smelting and pulp and paper industries. The regulation relied solely on performance standards, thus granting flexibility to firms in terms of selecting the appropriate compliance measures. These standards were implemented in combination with extended compliance periods. R&D projects and the new knowledge that was advanced incrementally in interaction between the company, the environmental authorities and research institutions provided a direct catalyst to the regulatory process. In these ways the Swedish regulatory approach provided scope for creative solutions, environmental innovation, and permitted the affected companies to coordinate pollution abatement measures with productive investments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Sweden's current climate policy affects domestic combustion of fossil fuels and, thus, produces synergies on the policies aiming at reducing NO x and SO2 emissions. A matter of climate policy recently discussed by the Swedish Government, however, is to adopt a carbon emissions target, which excludes traded CO2 allowances. Although, this redefined carbon emissions target could be attained at the least costs through emissions trading, it will obstruct the ancillary benefits of reduced SO2 and NO x emissions arising from the current climate policy. The findings, here, suggest that additional policy instruments would have to decrease the SO2/GDP and NO x /GDP ratios by 48 and 72%, respectively for the 2020 carbon emissions target, in order to counteract the obstruction of ancillary benefits. Here, the emission multipliers of carbon emissions trading sectors distinguish from those of non-trading sectors when introduced into the interindustry model and applied to official emissions projections in examining the nitrogen and sulphur outcomes of Sweden's climate policy for 2020. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In 1998 the Swedish government launched its largest ecological subsidization programme to date, the Local Investment Programme (LIP). By having two political objectives; to step up the pace at which Sweden transforms into an ecologically sustainable society and to reduce unemployment, the programme did not conform to the ʽʽone-instrument-per-objective" policy guideline often advocated by economists. Concentrating on a subset of the subsidized projects, the projects for remediation of contaminated sites, we evaluate how effectively the LIP''s separate political objectives were fulfilled. Between 1998 and 2002, € 670 million (SEK 6.2 billion) were allocated to over 1800 different projects under the LIP. Twenty-four, i.e. one percent, of the projects aimed at remediation of contaminated sites. These projects received a disproportionate amount, six percent, of the total LIP subsidies. By using data on both accepted and rejected remediation projects, we find that the LIP''s ecological sustainability objective could have been achieved better if the most hazardous sites had been prioritized to a greater extent. Furthermore, society''s cost for the employment opportunities generated in the remediation projects was higher than society''s cost for the equivalent number of employment opportunities generated in traditional labour market policies. Although other subsets of the LIP projects may have been more successful in achieving the programme''s separate objectives, our results illustrate inefficiencies that may arise from a desire to attain several political objectives through a single policy instrument. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we discuss the effect of refunding environmental charges. Taxes are often resisted by polluters because they imply both abatement and tax costs. When charges are refunded, the incentives for abatement are essentially the same as for a tax as long as there are many producers. The incidence and distribution of costs is however different. Lower net tax payments reduce resistance from the polluters and make refunded emissions payments politically easier to implement at a sufficiently high charge level to have significant abatement effects. We describe and examine the refunded emissions payment scheme as a policy instrument and compare it with taxes and permits with regard to allocative properties, distribution of costs, property rights, and, consequently, the politics of implementation. As an empirical example, the Swedish charge on nitrogen oxides is analyzed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Snowmobiling growth in North America and Sweden creates challenges in “governing the commons.” Snowmobiling contributes to the economy of distressed rural regions and enhances residents'' quality of life; but quasi-open access to winter landscapes also breeds conflicts: among snowmobilers, with landowners, with other recreationists, and with environmentalists and ecosystem health. Common pool resource and impure public goods theories are used to interpret these conflicts and strategic interactions. Case studies in Sweden and Maine yield insights about conditions for sustainable management of multiple-use landscapes when property rights are complex and stakeholders diverse. The case studies utilize key informant interviews, tourist surveys, and a contingent valuation exercise to illustrate how innovative governance institutions, complemented by infrastructure investments, can mitigate conflicts, re-align incentives, and internalize costs. Local self-governance has evolved with state facilitation, but without changes in fundamental property law. Three keys are trail agreements between snowmobile clubs and landowners, clubs'' norm formation and rule enforcement, and public–private investment in quality trails. These arrangements are strained by hot spot congestion, free riding, and unresolved conflicts with other recreationists. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Voluntary participation in programmes for environmental protection is an increasingly important tool for accomplishing environmental policy objectives. Based on data obtained from a questionnaire to a random sample of farmers, an empirical analysis is carried out of motives for their willingness (or reluctance) to participate in a catchment-based programme for wetland creation in an agricultural district in Southern Sweden. It is concluded that besides private profitability, various public and private environmental benefits are of importance for farmers'' willingness to participate. Implications for communication and implementation strategies of programmes based on voluntary participation are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]