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The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study is a major international initiative drawing attention to local, national and global economic benefits of biodiversity, to highlight the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, the benefits of investing in natural capital, and to draw together expertise from the fields of science, economics and policy to enable practical actions. Drawing on a team of more than one hundred authors and reviewers, this book demonstrates the value of ecosystems and biodiversity to the economy, society and individuals. It underlines the urgency of strategic policy making and action at national and international levels, and presents a rich evidence base of policies and instruments in use around the world and a wide range of innovative solutions. It highlights the need for new public policy to reflect the appreciation that public goods and social benefits are often overlooked and that we need a transition to decision making which integrates the many values of nature across policy sectors. It explores the range of instruments to reward those offering ecosystem service benefits, such as water provision and climate regulation. It looks at fiscal and regulatory instruments to reduce the incentives of those running down our natural capital, and at reforming subsidies such that they respond to current and future priorities. The authors also consider two major areas of investment in natural capital - protected areas and investment in restoration. Overall the book underlines the needs and ways to transform our approach to natural capital, and demonstrates how we can practically take into account the value of ecosystems and biodiversity in policy decisions - at national and international levels - to promote the protection of our environment and contribute to a sustainable economy and to the wellbeing of societies.

Voluntary environmental agreements (VEAs) – generally agreements between government and business – have been regarded by many as a key new instrument for meeting environmental objectives in a flexible manner. Their performance to date has, however, also led to considerable criticism, with several parties arguing that they are methods for avoiding real action that goes beyond \"business-as-usual\". Is either of these positions justified? The aim of this book is to highlight and learn the lessons from existing experience, looking not just at results but also at specific elements of agreements and also at the process of the agreement itself. Lessons are drawn from experience from across the world, covering the full range of environmental challenges, and from the perspective of key stakeholder groups. Importantly, the book also presents tools for assessing and improving existing agreements and includes recommendations and guidelines for future agreements in key areas such as climate change. It also deals at length with the problem of how such agreements might be used in developing and transitional economies. The overall view of the book is that there is a real potential for the future use of VEAs as part of the policy mix and as a tool for sharing the responsibility for meeting environmental objectives. For the agreements to play this role, however, significant steps are needed to ensure that they are effective, efficient, equitable and appropriately linked to a portfolio of other instruments. The book is divided into four sections. First, existing agreements, their development and efficacy are considered; second, the prospects for voluntary agreements in developing and transitional economies are discussed; third, a range of authors examine the role of VEAs as part of the policy mix to combat climate change; and, finally, the book concludes with an examination of how new tools for evaluating and improving VEAs could be utilized in the future. Voluntary Environmental Agreements will be of interest not only to academics, governments and businesses wishing to understand this specific instrument, but also to those already implementing or considering applying VEAs to meet their environmental objectives. Foreword Jean-Philippe Barde, Head National Policies Division, OECD Environment Directorate Prologue Patrick ten Brink, Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), Belgium Part A: Process, practice and stakeholder experiencePart A: Introduction Patrick ten Brink 1. Voluntary environmental initiatives and sustainable industry Bruce Paton, The Silicon Valley Center for Innovation and Sustainability, USA 2. Corporate incentives for participation in voluntary environmental agreements: electric utility companies and the Climate Challenge Program Panagiotis Karamanos, Athens International Airport, Greece 3. Co-operative environmental solutions: acquiring competence for multi-stakeholder partnerships Ken Sexton, Barbara Scott Murdock and Alfred A. Marcus, University of Minnesota, USA 4. Legitimacy, efficacy and efficiency: factors affecting public participation in environmental agreements in British Columbia, Canada Michael Mascarenhas, Michigan State University, USA 5. Conflict or collaboration: the New Zealand Forest Accord Diane Menzies, Menzies Environmental Ltd 6. Successful application of environmental agreements in local communities: perspectives from environment and pollution control agreements in Japan Rie Tsutsumi, University of Cambridge, UK7. The chemical industry in Germany: recent developments of the 1987 Chemical Industries Social Partners' Agreement on Environmental ProtectionBernd Heins and Laurent Lüttge, University of Oldenburg/University of Lüneburg, Germany8. A new trade union role in environmental agreements: a driving force for sustainable developmentPer Erik Boivie, Boivie Arbetsplatsutveckling AB, Sweden9. EU-level agreements: a successful tool? Lessons from the agreement with the automotive industryGiulio Volpi and Stephan Singer, World Wide Fund for Nature Climate Change Campaign, BelgiumPart B: New areas for VEAs? Developing countries and transition economiesPart B: IntroductionPatrick ten Brink10. A role for negotiated environmental agreements in developing countries?Jonathon Hanks, University of Lund, Sweden11. A national tripartite agreement on benzene in BrazilNilton Freitas, Unified Workers' Confederation (CUT Brazil), and Winston Gereluk, Athabasca University, Canada12. Environmental agreements as appropriate long-term measuresNur Masripatin, Ministry of Forestry, Indonesia13. Negotiated voluntary environmental agreements: cases in the Czech RepublicAntonin Dvorák, Ales Lisa and Petr Sauer, University of Economics in Prague, Czech Republic14. Navigating toward a Hungarian packaging waste management solutionDinah A. Koehler, Harvard University, USA15. Conditions for environmental agreements in UkraineOleksandr Stegniy, Institute of Sociology, National Academy of Sciences, Ukraine16. Step-by-step procedure for preparing, concluding and evaluating voluntary agreementsPetr Sauer, Jaromir Kovár, Petr Fiala, Petra Holcová, Ales Lisa and Antonin Dvorák, University of Economics in Prague, Czech Republic Part C: Can voluntary agreements help address climate change?Part C: IntroductionPatrick ten Brink17. The Australian Greenhouse Challenge programme: a perspective from a participating universityPaul Osmond, University of New South Wales, Australia18. Application of effectiveness analysis: the case of greenhouse gas emissions reductionRoger L. Burritt, The Australian National University19. Voluntary agreements: key to higher energy efficiency in industry?Signe Krarup, AKF, Denmark, and Stephan Ramesohl, The Wuppertal Institute, Germany20. Environmental agreements in climate politicsAsbjørn Torvanger and Tora Skodvin, Center for International Climate and Environmental Research-Oslo, Norway21. Negotiated environmental agreements and CO2 emissions tradingJohan Albrecht and Delphine Francois, Ghent University (CEEM), Belgium22. Voluntary agreements: an effective tool for enhancing organisational learning and improving climate policy-making?Stephan Ramesohl and Kora Kristof, The Wuppertal Institute, GermanyPart D: Future use: tools for developing agreementsPart D: IntroductionPatrick ten Brink23. Voluntary agreements: effectiveness analysis. Tools, guidelines and checklistRoger L. Burritt, The Australian National University24. Assessing the performance of negotiated environmental agreements in the NetherlandsEllis Immerzeel-Brand, CSTM, University of Twente, Netherlands25. Co-regulation performance factors: lessons from theory and from practice in environmental agreementsManuel M. Cabugueira, Universidade Portucalense, Portugal26. The EIA public enquiry procedure as a model for public participation in environmental agreementsPatricia Bailey, European University Institute, Italy27. Monitoring environmental agreements: a multi-level conformity approach. Sustainable water management in the Twente regionJohan Woltjer, CSTM, University of Twente, Netherlands28. Monitoring mechanisms for efficient environmental agreementsPatrick ten Brink, IEEP, and Marina Morere, Independent Expert29. Voluntary environmental agreements between private and public lawBent Ole Gram Mortensen, University of Southern Denmark30. The optimal policy mix: matching ends and means in environmental policy-makingR. Yachnin, N. Gagnon, B. Guthrie and A. Howatson, The Conference Board of CanadaEpiloguePatrick ten Brink

Keywords: sustainable development, green economy, Rio+20, natural capital, ecosystem services

One approach to reducing the environmental costs of economic activity is to design and implement policies that aim at decoupling economic activity from its environmental impacts. Such a decoupling requires an economy-wide approach to policy-making, through broad mixes of policy instruments that create the right framework conditions for decoupling, and which provide coherent and consistent signals to resource-using sectors of the economy. This article summarizes the ex ante qualitative environmental assessment of three policy mixes (over-arching, metals, and land use) developed within the DYNAMIX project, highlighting their potential impacts on raw material extraction, greenhouse gas emissions, land use, freshwater use, and biodiversity (parallel assessments addressed economic and social impacts, and governance issues). Whilst the environmental assessments largely identified positive impacts, some policies had potential for minor negative impacts. The key challenges for undertaking such an assessment are identified (including uncertainty, baseline accuracy, the differing nature and scope of policies, policy flexibility, and the challenges of implementing volume control policies). Finally, some conclusions and lessons for policy-makers are presented, to contribute to the development of future policies and improve the reliability of future environmental assessments of policy mixes.

In resource economics, decoupling from environmental impacts is assumed to be beneficial. However, the success of efforts to increase resource productivity should be placed within the context of the earth’s resources and ecosystems as theoretically finite and contingent on a number of threshold values. Thus far relatively few analyses exist of policies which have successfully implemented strategies for decoupling within these limits. Through ex-post evaluation of a number of real world policy mixes from European Union member states, this paper further develops definitions of the concept of decoupling. Beyond absolute (and relative) decoupling, “absolute decoupling within limits” is proposed as an appropriate term for defining resource-productivity at any scale which respects the existing real world limits on resources and ecosystems and as such, contributes to meeting sustainability objectives. Policy mixes presented here cover a range of resources such as fish stocks, fertilizers, aggregates and fossil based materials (plastics). Policy mixes demonstrating absolute decoupling and at least one where absolute decoupling within limits has occurred, provide insights on developing resource efficiency policies in Europe and beyond.

Voluntary environmental agreements (VEAs) have been regarded as a key new instrument for meeting environmental objectives in a flexible manner. The aim of this book is to highlight and learn the lessons from existing experience.

\"Policy-makers who factor the planet's multi-trillion-dollar ecosystem services into their national and international investment strategies are likely to see far higher rates of return and stronger economic growth in the 21st century. Some countries have already made the link to a limited extent and are glimpsing benefits in terms of jobs, livelihoods and economic returns that outstrip those wedded to older economic models of the previous century.\" This report \"calls on policy-makers to accelerate, scale-up and embed investments in the management and restoration of ecosystems. It also calls for more sophisticated cost benefit analysis before policy-decisions are made.\"--UNEP.