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Voluntary environmental programs have emerged as important instruments of environmental policy. Despite considerable scholarly scrutiny, there remain debates about whether they reduce pollution among participants, and their overall impact at the country level. We present a cross-national analysis of the efficacy of ISO 14001, the most widely adopted voluntary environmental program in the world. While several single country studies have explored the effect of ISO 14001 participation on pollution reduction at the facility level, this is the first article to assess (i) national level pollution reduction effects of ISO 14001 participation levels, (ii) across a large number of countries, and (iii) across two pollutants. We examine whether all else equal, the national level uptakes of ISO 14001 are associated with reductions in air emissions (sulfur dioxide, SO2) and water pollution (biochemical oxygen demand, BOD). Because firms, regulators, and environmental groups tend to focus more on visible types of pollution than less visible ones, we hypothesize that ISO 14001 uptake will be associated with more pronounced reductions in air pollution (visible) in relation to water pollution (less visible). Our analyses of pollution levels for a panel of 138 (72 for BOD) countries for the 1991-2005 period suggest that a 1 percent increase in aggregate levels of ISO 14001 adoption is associated with about a 0.064 percent reduction in SO2 emissions, all else equal. In contrast, we do not find a statistically significant relationship between ISO 14001 adoption levels and changes in water pollution ( BOD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary environmental programs are institutions that seek to induce firms to produce positive environmental externalities beyond what government regulations require. Drawing on club theory, this paper outlines a theoretical perspective to study the relationship between program design and program effectiveness. Effective programs have rule structures that mitigate two central collective action problems inherent in producing positive environmental externalities: attracting firms to participate in the program and ensuring that participating firms adhere to program obligations. Because program efficacy can be undermined by collective action problems associated with free riding and shirking, effective voluntary clubs should be designed to mitigate these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

States have developed an array of environmental programs in response to a variety of political and environmental factors. This article examines three state clean air programs—setting ambient standards, ambient monitoring, and enforcement—and shows how each program has a distinct set of empirical determinants, reflecting the programs' diverse purposes. States' ambient standards policies allocate resources among competing claimants, and consequently they reflect the balance of environmental politics in each state. Ambient monitoring programs reflect the degree to which states need and can process information about air pollution problems. The level of states' enforcement programs reflects the scope of the environmental problem in each state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]