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The present article is part of a wider investigation of private environmental management systems, conducted as part of the doctoral research. The perspective of the private sector managers on the role of the voluntary management systems was left unpublished at the time, and for the purposes of publication of these research conclusions, the interviewed managers were kindly asked to review their initial statements. A few minor completions were made, the major conclusions of the study remained, and were synthesised for the purposes of a short and comprehensive first-hand inverstigation of the role of the voluntary environmental management systems as they are perceived and understood by the managers implementing them. The relevance of such an investigation into the rationales for private environmental policies is very high, given the recent prioritization of green investments from the EU recovery funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION HAS BECOME A MATTER OF GLOBAL IMPORTANCE BUT ALSO A NATIONAL PRIORITY, THE EFFORT TO ENSURE THE QUALITY OF THE ENVIRONMENT PROVING TO BE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT INVESTMENTS FOR ENSURING SOCIAL WELFARE AND ONE OF THE MOST COMPLEX EFFECTS THAT PROPAGATE IN THE ECONOMY AND IN SOCIAL LIFE. STRENGTHENING ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY REQUIRES CONSIDERABLE EFFORT TO BUILD A FISCAL AND A FINANCIAL POLICY, AND TO BROADEN THE SPECTRUM OF THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO DETERMINE THE MIX OF ECONOMIC INSTRUMENTS THAT CAN BE USED AND THE AVAILABLE SOURCES. DEVELOPING FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION POLICY INVOLVES NOT ONLY ACCESS TO FUNDS, BUT ALSO AN EFFICIENT MANAGEMENT IN THE FIELD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION STRATEGY AT NATIONAL LEVEL SHOULD BE BASED ON PRINCIPLES, CONCEPTS AND INSTRUMENTS REFLECTING THE ROLE AND PLACE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN THE OVERALL STATE POLICY, THE POSSIBILITIES AND PRIORITIES IN THE SHORT AND LONG TERM, THE SPECIFICITY AND THE MAGNITUDE OF THE POLLUTION PROBLEMS AT THE MOMENT OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT. IN ORDER TO OPERATIONALIZE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, THE ECONOMIC INSTRUMENTS (TAXES, SUBSIDIES, CONSIGNMENT SYSTEMS, ENVIRONMENTAL LETTERS OF CREDIT, NEGOTIABLE POLLUTION PERMITS) ACT TO INTERNALIZE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS (EXTERNALITIES), TO CORRECT THE PRICE LEVELS AND TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE RESPONSIBLE USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES, THE POLLUTION LEVEL AND THE ACTIVE AND EFFICIENT MANAGEMENT OF WASTE. IN THIS RESPECT, CLEAR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES WILL BE ADOPTED TO SET UP A SYSTEM OF INCENTIVES AND INSTRUMENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL SPENDING WILL FOCUS ON THOSE PROJECTS THAT PROVIDE THE HIGHEST COST-BENEFIT RATIO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the progress in some areas, Europe continues to face important environmental challenges, but also opportunities to make the environment more resistant to risk and change. Protecting natural capital by encouraging efficient use of resources and accelerate the transition to low carbon economy are key features of the Seventh Environment Action Programme. The results should help to boost sustainable growth and create new jobs to turn into a European space that is comfortable for its inhabitants. Achieving effectively environmental policy objectives implies and requires substantiation, development and implementation of tools and programs to stimulate the society concerns to prevent or limit environmental imbalances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I build a new version of the precautionary principle in environmental policies which includes, inter alia, efficiency considerations in the morally relevant informational set. To this end, I formulate and defend a hypothetical-compensatory precautionary principle, which relies on the satisfaction of the Kaldor-Hicks efficiency criterion, and I show that the new interpretation provided avoids a series of objections raised against classical precautionary principles, also pointing out that it entails other secondary advantages by comparison with the classical versions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The starting point for this research was the analysis of voluntary approaches and of the context which could facilitate them and increase their potential. However, this does not exclude the fact that these instruments can only function in the context of a coherent environmental policy as a whole, meaning a more heterogeneous mixture of market-based instruments and voluntary tools as well as a major effort on behalf of the state to promote them, to inform and educate the stakeholders, and to provide support mechanisms. Environmental management systems, the instruments and the practices identified at the level of private companies have a significant role in encouraging the ecological performance of the companies; however, the interviews have demonstrated that this type of systems need facilitation performed by the state, that voluntary approaches do not work separately from the rest of the environmental policy, and that incentives are needed in order to co-interest the companies. Facilitation needs to involve public policies, the market, ethic consumption, and a favorable economic context in which consolidated values and behaviors from a social point of view can manifest themselves [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article is part of a larger PhD research conducted in 2014. The subject is relevant today in the context of preparations for implementation of Directive 2014/95/UE, and the policy objectives related to the non-financial reporting by companies in the EU. The article presents an instrument that helps the assessment process of sustainability practices of private organzations, given the explanations for each dimension and indicator, it can be used as a starting point in developing a sustainability policy for a private organization. Also, the results of applying the instrument to the private companies in Romania are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving effective environmental policy objectives presupposes and requires substantiation and application of tools to stimulate the interest of economic agents to prevent or to limit negative environmental externalities, together with the existence of an appropriate legislative framework. These tools can influence the behavior of the authorities, businesses and house holds as subjects of environmental policy instruments. These tools are created also to streng then positive ties between development and environment and to split negative connections between economic growth and environmental damage. This does not means tifling economic growth or economic disruption of system functionality, but signifies a shift toward quantitative and qualitative theories. An modern and efficiente nvironmental policy (by global regulations, specific incentives and economic and financial to ensure achievement of environmental objectives) requires that environmental strategies and system of economic instruments for environment are formulated and established in accordance with policies aimed to boost competitiveness and promote economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]