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Highlights: [•] Offsetting development impacts could help achieve no net loss of biodiversity. [•] France recently geared its legislation on offsetting towards no net loss. [•] New guidance promises improved offset design and implementation. [•] Institutional arrangements for delivering offsets are either poor or lacking. [•] Appropriate institutional arrangements are necessary to avoid paper offsets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Geopolitical risks and environmental policy have become increasingly important in the European Union (EU), which is committed to tackling climate change and protecting the environment. However, geopolitical risks can undermine its environmental policy objectives. Thus, the study evaluates the relationship between geopolitical risks and environmental policy in nineteen EU countries from 1994 to 2020 through panel bootstrap Granger causality. The results show that geopolitical risks significantly influence environmental policy in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and Romania. On the other hand, the findings reveal that environmental policy causes geopolitical risks only in Latvia, while there is no relationship in the remaining countries. Therefore, policymakers must develop resilience to geopolitical risks, promote renewable energy, strengthen environmental regulations, and address social and economic implications to reduce environmental policy vulnerability to geopolitical risks., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper reanalyzes the determinants of the CO emissions in France. For this purpose, it considers the unit root test with two structural breaks and a dynamic ordinary least squares estimation. The paper also considers the effects of the energy consumption and the economic complexity on CO emissions. First, it is observed that the EKC hypothesis is valid in France. Second, the positive effect of the energy consumption on CO emissions is obtained. Third, it is observed that a higher economic complexity suppresses the level of CO emissions in the long run. The findings imply noteworthy environmental policy implications to decrease the level of CO emissions in France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates various approaches to an environmental policy regarding drinks containers in Georgia. Currently, most of the waste containers are landfilled or pollute the environment through littering, and separate collection and recycling of drinks containers are almost nonexistent. The Association Agreement with the EU, which entered into force in July 2016, stipulates the development of up-to-date waste management activities in this transition country. In accordance with the legal framework, this mini-review proposes an EPR policy for Georgia, based on the waste hierarchy. Various approaches for such an EPR policy are reviewed as regards their feasibility for a transition country, but in particular with regard to incentive compatibility: the policy should guide producers and consumers to comply with the regulations. Some cost estimates demonstrate the financial feasibility of the recommended solution. Practical experiences from Austria, Bulgaria, France and Germany provide a European context.

This article concentrates on the funding of green transition policies implemented in France during the 2010s. Instead of examining the emerging European Investor State through its "new" public investment policies, such as loans, equity, investment banks, and funds, this article examines the transformations of "older" public investment policies, specifically investment subsidies. We contend that the European Investor State is currently marked by a paradox: while public resources for investment, particularly for green transition investments, are increasing, the means to distribute these resources are diminishing. Austerity measures and new public management policies are undermining territorial administrations, thereby limiting their ability to accurately identify and support beneficiaries. This bureaucratic weakness within the European Investor State significantly affects the effective distribution of subsidies, because they tend to be increasingly concentrated among larger communities and companies, as well as a broad spectrum of private intermediaries. Consequently, the European Investor State appears multifaceted and occasionally contradictory, lacking long-term continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of ecosystem knowledge is an essential condition for effective environmental management but using available knowledge to solve environmental controversies is still difficult in "real" situations. This paper explores the conditions under which ecological knowledge could contribute to the environmental strategies and actions of stakeholders at science-policy interface. Ecological restoration of the Seine estuary is an example of an environmental issue whose overall management has run into difficulties despite the production of a large amount of knowledge by a dedicated organization, GIP Seine Aval. Thanks to an action-research project, based on a futures study, we analyze the reasons of these difficulties and help the GIP Seine Aval adopt a robust strategy to overcome them. According to our results, most local stakeholders involved in the large-scale restoration project emphasize the need for a clear divide between knowledge production and environmental action. This kind of divide may be strategic in a context where the robustness of environmental decisions is strongly depending on the mobilization of "neutral" scientific knowledge. But in our case study, this rather blocks action because some powerful stakeholders continuously ask for more knowledge before taking action. The construction and analysis of possible future scenarios has led to three alternative strategies being identified to counter this stalemate situation: (1) to circumvent difficulties by creating indirect links between knowledge and actions; (2) to use knowledge to sustain advocacy for the interests of each and every stakeholder; (3) to involve citizens in decisions about knowledge production and use, so that environmental issues weight more on the local political agenda.

The paper will draw on the experience of Greater Lyons (France) in the development and implementation of air quality indicators in the framework of an environmental monitoring body, created in 1992. The analysis shows a patent discrepancy between the strength of the political support enjoyed by the monitoring body at its creation and its gradual confinement within the administrative structure of Greater Lyons. In fact, developing and using indicators raises not only technical issues but also political and bureaucratic stakes. The experience provides food for thought as regards the emergence of sustainable development issues within large and complex structures such as that of Greater Lyons. The paper points out that if indicators are hybrid objects, monitoring bodies, which are supposed to devise and promote them, are hybrid as well: their management, in terms of aims, means and position within the administrative body, is at least as important as their so-called 'technical' function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effects of policy scale for land conservation schemes based on global objectives but implemented at local levels. They are explored in the classical reserve site selection framework for policy efficiency, to which we add the common social objective of equity between spatial units. We first analyze the role of the biophysical attributes of land available for conservation. These natural endowments are then combined with different implementation scales to improve a particular land-based social function: natural habitats for biodiversity. An empirical illustration, based on data from the Provence region of France, is used to explore what we identify as a policy scale trade-off between administrative units. This shows the importance of land availability in predicting the distribution of the costs and benefits of conservation schemes. In terms of equity, we find an interior solution that minimizes an inequality metric (the Gini coefficient) along policy scales. Our approach should lead to more socially acceptable conservation objectives, between the usual two extreme cases of autarky and specialization., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose -- In France, as in other countries, the idea of installing rooftop photovoltaic (PV) panels in private homes is based on an incentive scheme (tax advantages, feed-in tariffs, etc.) inspired by neoclassical economic theory. In the case of electricity producers in Reunion Island, unlike economists, we argue that producers' calculations involve decision-making criteria which go further than any simple evaluation of economic costs and benefits. Methodology/approach -- Our approach is based on concepts of economic anthropology and on observations and semi-structured interviews conducted in the homes of the producers. Findings -- This ethnographic method allowed us to examine economic rationalities which revealed the anticipation of an energy landscape that will be subject to issues relating to the environment, access to electricity, evolution in the local electricity market, and household budget management. In this context, producers' representations of solar power and of processes for commoditizing and decommoditizing the electricity produced (sold on the network/"free" when consumed) make compatible preservation of the environment and social norms of consumption. Implications -- This paper focuses on PV energy producers (who have been the object of very little research) and thus provides input for existing reflection on the diversity of economic rationalities. Such insight is important for understanding how people respond to policy appeals for PV panels. Anthropology therefore has an important role to play in the debate on energy transition. This conclusion paves the way for similar research in other contexts (of a non-insular nature in particular) which would allow for a promising comparative anthropological approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two styles of river flood management can be distinguished: dike reinforcement and the more sustainable 'Room for River' option. This paper investigates public adherences to these two management styles and whether their adherence correlates with their Visions of Nature. The focus is especially on people's image of the appropriate human/nature relationship, i.e. Mastery over nature, Stewardship of nature, Partnership of nature or Participation in nature. Other variables that are part of the analysis are the respondents' sense of place, safety perception and background variables. The results of a written survey among riverside residents in France, Germany and the Netherlands (N = 1811) show high adherences to the Room for River style and a rejection of dike reinforcement. A regression analysis shows that adherence to the Room for River style correlates with adherence to the image of Stewardship, while adherence to dike reinforcement is predicted by Mastery over nature. Thus, according to the public a policy shift from dike reinforcement to a more sustainable style is seen as a fundamental one, connected to a change in environmental ethics., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Following the request of local stakeholders, a multidisciplinary group of experts was formed to implement a foresight analysis of the cash crop sector in the Midi-Pyrénées region. The group developed a four-step multidisciplinary and participatory methodology that defined the objectives, established a shared diagnosis of the issue raised in the regional cash crop sector, implemented a foresight analysis, and then created a graphical summary. Three types of working groups (steering, restricted, and expanded) were involved with well-assigned tasks. The dynamic interactions between the different groups of stakeholders and scientists and the use of graphics and maps as a medium to identify critical areas, such as zones in which production or environmental issues, are declining or evolving, enabled a shared view of regional problems. The main contribution of this paper is the presentation of a participative methodology that enabled co-construction of three shared scenarios based on the combination of five major uncertainties: (i) change in agricultural markets and international trade; (ii) urbanization and regional planning; (iii) changing patterns of consumption and product processing; (iv) environmental issues in public policies; and (v) ability of farmers to implement innovative tools and methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first national study on environmental inequalities in France. It applies the Anglo-American concept of environmental justice, focusing on the distribution of environmental burdens, to the French setting and tests the hypothesis that poor and immigrant communities are disproportionately exposed to environmental risks. The location of eight types of hazardous sites (industrial and nuclear sites, incinerators, waste management facilities) and the socio-economic characteristics of populations are associated at the commune, or town, level for all 36 600 French towns. The analysis, descriptive and multivariate, uses simple and spatial regression techniques. It shows that towns with high proportions of immigrants tend to host more hazardous sites, even controlling for population size, income, degree of industrialization of the town and region. The study establishes the presence of environmental inequities in France and raises new public policy questions. However, it does not investigate the mechanisms that may explain inequities, which could include procedural injustices, land market dynamics and historical patterns of industrial and urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures the ensuing changes in productivity in the French pig sector following the introduction of the European regulation addressing water pollution by nitrates from agriculture. Productivity is measured using the Malmquist–Luenberger index. The sources of changes in productivity observed are examined by breaking down this index into its technical progress and efficiency components. The results show that in the early stages, increases in productivity were stimulated by increased efficiency, before being driven by technical progress. The estimations regarding the sources of efficiency gains for the farms in the sample (technical efficiency, efficiency of scale and environmental efficiency) are then used to estimate the indirect costs and benefits (or negative costs) linked to the introduction of the environmental regulation controlling the disposal of organic manure and the management of nitrogen surplus from pig farms. The existence of a “win-win” effect as regards the Porter hypothesis relation between efficiency and environmental regulation is highlighted for the French pig sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses a case concerning night flights and Strasbourg, France's retreat from environmental human rights handled by the European Court of Human Rights. Facts and background of the cases; Review of related to laws; Bases of the court's decision.

Since 2012, France has been engaged in its energy and environmental policy transformation. The legislative framework for this change is the Energy transition for green growth Act. The policy on energy transition and sustainable development is carried out at the local level by the regions which rely on their territories. This paper aims to provide a useful tool to policy-makers in order to monitor sustainable development and energy transition policies in Norman territories. This first part of the research provides the evaluation's framework through an Energy Transition and Sustainable Development Index. The methodological strategy is based on a systematic literature survey on both academic work related to energy transition and sustainable development and the Normady's sustainable development and energy transition policies. Based on literature review, the study identified six policy-packages in which policy-makers may act: The "environment and resources use", the "sustainable territories and mobility", the "energy security and transition", the "economic dynamics", the "governance dimension" and the "social dimension". The index is built using the budget allocation process approach. Strengths and weaknesses of the index are clearly identified and highlighted in order to warn future users of the tool the cautions they should take in the implementation of the index, including challenges to make data available for such an implementation. • The paper evaluates France's energy transition Policy at the Normandy region level. • A local index of energy transition and sustainable development is constructed. • Three profiles of territories are identified: Leading, intermediate and timid transition territories. • Six policy-packages in which policy-makers may act are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2015 Paris Agreement represents a historic deal in the form of a strong international response to address climate change. This outcome came as a surprise for some, as several controversial issues had been postponed from previous conferences, and were expected to complicate the talks in Paris. One related to the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage (L&D), and potential legal remedies for L&D in the form of compensation payments. This issue had been particularly contentious with some developing countries advocating ideas for climate damage liability, which developed countries were unwilling to include in an agreement. Although the negotiations on L&D secured many positive outcomes, Decision 1/CP.21 adopting the Paris Agreement notes that there is no possibility of claiming liability and financial compensation for developing countries. This article, however, argues that, rather than triggering endless compensation claims disputes, a liability mechanism could actually serve as a commitment and reciprocity device, ultimately increasing global policy ambition. In this regard, this article reports the results of two experiments testing the effects of liability rules on the climate policy investment decisions of two players that differ in wealth and vulnerability. Results show that liability rules imposing a responsibility for precaution on both parties increase cooperation significantly, consequentially minimizing risk of L&D occurrence in the first place. Liability rules could thus not only help to address future losses, but also to drive global mitigation and adaptation ambition. POLICY RELEVANCE The research results presented in this paper suggest that policymakers would be well advised to further intensify negotiations on a climate-related compensation mechanism beyond that already committed to in the Paris Agreement. Our findings show that a compensation mechanism that implements a rather simple negligence rule makes climate cooperation more attractive and rewarding, potentially leading rich and poor nations to boost their investments in mitigation and adaptation for climate protection. Thus, far from opening up a Pandora’s box of endless compensation claims towards industrialized countries, a liability mechanism could make global climate cooperation more effective, and in the longer run also less costly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction between mitigation and adaptation is a key question for the design of climate policies. In this paper, we study how land use adaptation to climate change impacts land use competition in the agriculture, forest and other land use (AFOLU) sector and how a mitigation policy in agriculture might affect this competition. We use for this purpose two sector-specific bio-economic models of agriculture and forest combined with an econometric land use shares model to simulate the impacts of two climate change scenarios (A2 and B1, 2100 horizon), and a greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture policy consisting of a tax of between 0 and 200 €/tCO 2 equivalent. Our results show that both climate change scenarios lead to an increase in the area devoted to agriculture at the expense of forest which could have a negative impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change. The mitigation policy would curtail agricultural expansion, and thus could counteract the effects of land use adaptation to climate change. In other words, accounting for land use competition results in a reduction of the abatement costs of the mitigation policy in the agricultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents recent notifications to the European Commission under Directive (EU) 2015/1535. They include a notification on the adoption of veterinary and hygiene requirements for certain food business operators handling animal products in the Czech Republic. Another is an order that extends the framework of the Inter-branch Association of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Industry in France. Also included is a notification on environmental protection product charges in Hungary.

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper studies the link between carbon dioxide (C O 2 ) emissions and income inequality in France over 1980–2018, focusing on the choice of income inequality indicators in use. To do so, we use a new source of data on net (post-tax and transfer) income inequality indicators using net Gini and Atkinson indexes. We also use market (pre-tax and transfer) income inequality indicators utilizing the market Gini index and share of market income earned by the richest 10% of the population. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, we find that income inequality has a different impact on C O 2 emissions, depending on the income definition used for estimated disparities. Furthermore, the ARDL test shows that the market inequality coefficients are non-significant. However, net inequality indicators reduce C O 2 emissions, and these results are consistent with the marginal propensity to emit theories, where some inequality could remain necessary to environmental quality. • Investigate the relationship between income inequality and C O 2 emissions in France, using alternative income inequality indicators. • We apply the method of ARDL for estimations. • We find that the relationship between income inequality and C O 2 emissions varies with income inequality measure. • Empirical findings suggest ensuring environmental policies besides income redistribution policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A framework and an associated modeling tool to perform life cycle assessment (LCA) of urban water system, namely the WaLA model, has been recently developed. In this paper, the WaLA model is applied to a real case study: the urban water system of the Paris suburban area, in France. It aims to verify the capacity of the model to provide environmental insights to stakeholder's issues related to future trends influencing the system (e.g., evolution of water demand, increasing water scarcity) or policy responses (e.g., choices of water resources and technologies). This is achieved by evaluating a baseline scenario for 2012 and several forecasting scenarios for 2022 and 2050. The scenarios are designed through the modeling tool WaLA, which is implemented in Simulink/Matlab: it combines components representing the different technologies, users and resources of the UWS. The life cycle inventories of the technologies and users components include water quantity and quality changes, specific operation (electricity, chemicals) and infrastructures data (construction materials). The methods selected for the LCIA are midpoint ILCD, midpoint water deprivation impacts at the sub-river basin scale, and endpoint Impact 2002+. The results of the baseline scenario show that wastewater treatment plants have the highest impacts compared to drinking water production and distribution, as traditionally encountered in LCA of UWS. The results of the forecasting scenarios show important changes in water deprivation impacts due to water management choices or effects of climate change. They also enable to identify tradeoffs with other impact categories and to compare several scenarios. It suggests the capacity of the model to deliver information for decision making about future policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to practically contribute to the literature on the use of cost–benefit analysis (CBA) and economic evaluation in environmental decision-making through a practical case study: the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in France, for the first cycle (2010–2015). The WFD requires that Member States achieve “good status” for all water bodies in 2015. However, exemptions can apply, if justified, on natural, technical or economic reasons. For the latter, EU guidance documents recommend to use CBA. In France, the water agencies carried out 710 CBAs on proposed restoration projects for water bodies. This article reports on this experience. Issues concerning these analyses are discussed, especially the assessment of non-market benefits. Finally, this article questions the use of economic analysis in the implementation of environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement is the property of Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper provides a chronological account of the eventful adoption of France's first law on shale gas. This governance issue calls into question the implementation of environmental principles, such as the principles of prevention, public information and participation, which were constitutionalized in the 2005 Environmental Charter. The hesitations of the French government illustrate the management difficulties at the state level with regards to new unconventional hydrocarbons that have a particular impact on the environment. On 13th July 2011, the legislator adopted a law that prohibited the use of hydraulic fracturing for the prospection of shale gas and oil. Although this represents a world first, it was designed hastily and has failed to satisfy any of the stakeholders involved. We examine the chronology of events, with particular focus on the chaotic governmental and legislative responses to public pressure on an unprecedented scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sociotecimical infrastructure required to implement environmental policies has a definite political content: it frames and influences public action, most often in an implicit way. In this paper we take a normative stance on democratic governance, which raises the need for making this infrastructure debatable. We focus on the specific case of drought management in France, which has developed an infrastructure that consists of zoning, measurement networks and threshold definition for critical flows in order to be able to assess a current hydrological situation in any place and to associate it to a specific crisis level. First we identify the various criticisms voiced by stakeholders in drought commit- tees such as challenging the infrastructure's technical validity setting out its inadequacy to a specific context, disqualifying its use due to the gap between science and the existing practice. We then suggest introducing a tool borrowed from the anthropology of techniques : the operational chain. We propose to use it to render explicit and debatable the infrastructure, its structure and content and on top of that the “regulatory science” which it stems from. This tool entails overcoming the various forms of criticism observed as well as dealing collectively with the tension between principles of justice and adaptation to local conditions. We argue that it may also provide a medium to associate lay people in the development or the revision of the infrastructure itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective fishing pressure on more highly valued marine living resources is one of the key factors proposed to explain changes occurring in fish communities and associated landings of commercial fisheries. The aim of this paper is to establish the nature of changes in the landings of French fishing fleets operating in the Bay of Biscay in the period 1973-2002, and whether these changes could be related to the relative economic attractiveness of different fish species. The analysis focuses on trends observed in the landings of all commercial fish species over the last three decades. It is based on data of annual quantities landed and ex-vessel prices compiled from official French landings records, and on bio-geographical descriptors of these species derived from published data. Using simple index numbers and multivariate analysis, we examined changes in total landings in terms of their volume and value, as well as changes in their composition. We show that the composition of landings significantly changed over the study period, with an increase in the proportion of pelagic species, of lower economic value. The average ex-vessel price of production by the fleets tended to decrease from the late 1980s; partly due to a cross-species drop in prices, occurring mainly after 1993, but also to the increased proportion of low-priced species in the landings. This caused a significant drop in the total gross value of production in the second half of the study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In France, freshwater recreational fishing management does not sufficiently satisfy anglers. Fishing effort is too high creating congestion costs and environmental quality is low while there is a positive willingness-to-pay for improvements. These inefficiencies are explained by three phenomena. First, private property rights are attenuated under institutional pressure. Second, recreational fishing is managed as an open access resource over the whole territory. Finally, halieutic policies focus on the protection of environmental resources and are inefficient at maximizing the social rent provided by recreational fisheries. Fishing effort regulation and environmental services provision following the beneficiary-pays principle could improve collective welfare. Social pricing could ensure equity in access to the resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• From project level to landscape scale mitigation hierarchy implementation. • Anticipation of avoidance and biodiversity offsets in land use planning. • Elaboration of a systematic mitigation planning tool. • Integrating the mitigation hierarchy into strategic environmental assessment. Continued urban development is a major cause of the loss of biodiversity. In this context, the objective of a No Net Loss (NNL) of biodiversity has been adopted in many countries worldwide. Reaching such an objective requires the application of the mitigation hierarchy, an environmental policy that aims to minimise the impact of urban development. It consists of a hierarchy transposed in France by a sequence of avoidance, reduction and, as a last resort, offsetting of residual impacts on biodiversity that have not been avoided or reduced. Currently, a project-by-project approach with little avoidance, much investment in the reduction of impacts and piecemeal efforts to offset biodiversity losses, significantly limits the effectiveness of the application of the mitigation hierarchy. This difficulty is largely due to a lack of both anticipation and more strategic planning of the mitigation hierarchy by decision-makers at the landscape scale. The purpose of this study is to propose a method that "scales up" the implementation of the mitigation hierarchy from the project-level to a landscape-scale approach. Based on an empirical study, we propose an operational framework for implementation of the mitigation hierarchy at this landscape scale on the basis of spatial indices that are used to (1) set priorities for impact avoidance and (2) pre-identify sites as candidates for offset provision. This methodology provides a much-needed tool to anticipate for the avoidance step and integrate offsetting into the planning process in a more Strategic Environmental Assessment type approach. We show how the use of this method is relevant in a territory that is currently undergoing rapid population growth and urbanization (Montpellier Metropolitan Territory in the south of France). Finally, this paper illustrates the importance of conducting such research in close collaboration with practitioners and public decision-makers to facilitate interactions between developers and conservation stakeholders and improve implementation by land-use planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Résumé: La prise en charge publique des problèmes liés aux pollutions de l'air intérieur en France révèle une tendance à la responsabilisation individuelle et des tentatives parallèles mais inachevées de régulation. Explorant cette tension, l'article présente comment s'est opérée la répartition des rôles entre puissance publique, habitants et professionnels lors de la prise en charge de cet enjeu sanitaire au tournant des années 2000. La mise en perspective historique montre la continuité d'une affirmation de la responsabilité individuelle dans la formulation de ces politiques et plus largement dans la perception collective et médiatique du problème. Ce trait dominant a été renforcé par l'échec d'une série de tentatives au plan international et français visant à introduire des formes de régulation des polluants plus interventionnistes. Les politiques de l'air intérieur témoignent ainsi d'une tendance à l'usage de la responsabilisation comme moyen de gouvernement. Ces éléments d'analyse peuvent aider à penser des alternatives à la distribution actuelle des rôles et des responsabilités afin de limiter les atteintes à la qualité de l'air intérieur. Public management of problems related to indoor air pollution in France shows a tendency to assign individual responsibility together with abortive attempts at regulation. The article explores these tensions and describes the distribution of roles in managing this health concern among public authorities, residents, and professionals in the early 2000s. A look back in time shows that responsibility has consistently been attributed to individuals when drafting these policies and more widely in the perception by both the general public and the media of the problem. This dominant feature has been aggravated by the failure of a series of attempts in France and internationally to introduce more interventionist regulation of pollutants. Indoor air policies thus show a tendency to use individual responsibility as a means of governing. We hope this analysis will help to find alternatives to the current distribution of roles and responsibilities to limit the deterioration of indoor air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the advent of a narrative on environmental policy success. While a positivist position would begin by determining a certain number of supposedly objective criteria of success, we consider success as the result of a process aiming at stabilizing a particular interpretation of a situation. We study the case of a French lagoon presented by many actors as a success in terms of watershed and environmental management. We seek to analyze how this narrative on success was built and became dominant thanks to the intervention of particular actors and how, in return, these actors managed to reinforce their domination, both in the territory under study and in the water policy sector in France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of environmental criteria in public procurement is now an integral part of the environmental policy portfolio at the EU level and in Germany. There is great potential to utilise the award of public contracts as a means of supporting environmental and climate goals. If all public purchasing were to favour energy-efficient and low-carbon technologies, the German public sector's CO2 emissions could be reduced by as much as 30 % within 10-12 years. European and national public procurement legislation has created the legal security that is required for coupling the award of public contracts to fulfilment of environmental criteria. However, policy- makers must ensure that the available opportunities are used in practice and that the remaining obstacles in procurement practice are removed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Procedure for Institutional Compatibility Assessment (PICA) has been developed as a formalised methodology to predict the compatibility between a policy option and the institutional context of its implementation. As a first empirical test of the tool, PICA was applied to the implementation of the EUNitrate Directive in Auvergne, France. Valuable insights were acquired on thecombination of experts and stakeholders' perspectives and the choice of qualitative methods for the collection of the information needed at each step ofthe assessment. Further, this procedure proved to be a valuable tool for the ex-ante identification of institutional factors affecting the implementation of policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Current Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Environment and sustainable development show how policies are becoming ever more complex and ambiguous. This trend calls for new evaluation approaches. They need to be more clearly focused on specific, explicit concerns. They must be driven by a strategic concept of use to overcome the vulnerability to manipulation of many integrative, essentially procedural, approaches to policy making and evaluation. This article presents a conceptual framework for such evaluations and a four-step approach: defining the focal concern; developing criteria and synthesizing observations on the extent to which the focal concern is met; identifying and assessing all policies contributing to this outcome; and complementing this with the evaluation of policies specifically aimed at meeting the focal concern. Examples are taken essentially from wetland-related policies in France and Senegal. The article discusses how this approach tackles some crucial issues in evaluation research and practice and advocates closer connections between evaluation and critical research on policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents news briefs related to environmental issues. According to Thomas Kupper of the Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, the first attempt to determine how much of the active ingredients in sunscreens end up in sewage sludge uncovered some surprises. Kupper is the corresponding author of a paper published in the May 24, 2005 issue of the journal "Chemosphere," that analyzed sewage sludge in Switzerland for four compounds: 3-(4-methylbenzylidene) camphor, octyl-methoxycinnamate, octocrylene, and octyl-triazone. Kupper found that the levels of all four compounds in the sludge were substantially higher from plants treating industrial wastes than those treating municipal wastes. In July 2005, the Court of Justice of the European Communities, the highest court in Europe, ordered France to pay millions of euros for ignoring European Union rules about managing fisheries. The country was fined 20 million euros for allowing the sale of undersized fish, a practice that contributes to overfishing and can decimate fish populations.

The article offers a month-by-month breakdown of notable events that occurred within the European Union (EU) membership nations during the year 2008. Among other issues it is noted that Slovenia assumed the presidency of the EU in January 2008 and surrendered the position, as scheduled, to France in July of the same year. The calendar also records environmental policy initiatives enacted by the EU, European incidents related to the global financial crisis and the election of Dmitry Medvedev, as president of Russia.

All advanced industrialized societies face the problem of air pollution produced by motor vehicles. In spite of striking improvements in internal combustion engine technology, air pollution in most urban areas is still measured at levels determined to be harmful to human health. Throughout the 1990s and beyond, California and France both chose to improve air quality by means of technological innovation, adopting legislation that promoted clean vehicles, prominently among them, electric vehicles (EVs). In California, policymakers chose a technology-forcing approach, setting ambitious goals (e.g., zero emission vehicles), establishing strict deadlines and issuing penalties for non-compliance. The policy process in California called for substantial participation from the public, the media, the academic community and the interest groups affected by the regulation. The automobile and oil industries bitterly contested the regulation, in public and in the courts. In contrast, in France the policy process was non-adversarial, with minimal public participation and negligible debate in academic circles. We argue that California's stringent regulation spurred the development of innovative hybrid and fuel cell vehicles more effectively than the French approach. However, in spite of the differences, both California and France have been unable to put a substantial number of EVs on the road. Our comparison offers some broad lessons about how policy developments within a culture influence both the development of technology and the impact of humans on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many different approaches for national sustainable development strategies (NSDS) have been proposed since 1992, with some components common to all. A country's national strategy should be designed to help mainstream environmental concerns into policy. More broadly, it should coordinate local policy with global concerns, as well as integrate scientific knowledge into policy and development planning. The peer review mechanism for national strategies was piloted by France, and also involved representatives of countries from the North and the South as well as stakeholders. The peer review process allows countries to share their experience and information, and can assist them in identifying their own path to sustainable development. The business community can also contribute to sustainable development through provision of local and global public goods. Another input to sustainable development could come from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and its Guidance Standard on Social Responsibility (ISO 26000), as a coordinating mechanism between voluntary initiatives and binding obligations (such as international conventions). ISO standards and guidelines should therefore be integrated with national sustainable development strategies and local Agenda 21 frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A contingent valuation study was carried out under similar conditions on two sites simultaneously: Strasbourg (France) and Kehl (Germany) in order to test the reliability of the benefit transfer method. On average, the air quality is approximately the same in the two cities. Using a transfer of the benefit function, we compared the direct estimated benefits from improved air quality with the transferred benefits in the same city. The originality of this test is that the valued good is the same in both cities, which means that the transfer is an “intra-site” transfer. However our findings show that the method of benefit transfer was not generally valid. Indeed inhabitants of Kehl declared a higher price for their state of health and air quality than inhabitants in Strasbourg. This result could be explained by a stronger sensitivity to environmental problems in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the new environmental policy instruments (NEPI) in France as of March 2003. Characterization of environmental policy styles; Discussion on policy structures; Reasons for the adoption of NEPI.

Provides information on the influence of neo-corporatism on the environmental policy in France. Discussion on the French context of neo-corporatism; Information on the policies for several environmental issues; Effect of the changes and innovations in policy effectiveness.

Presents a study which examined the use of the environmental agreement as a tool of environmental law and policy in France. Basis for the application of public participation in the environmental decision-making process; Conclusion.