Contents

EAV8350 Environmental policy

• Lectures – 2 academic hours/week
• Seminar – 3 academic hours/week
• 6 ECTS
• Written exam (December-January)
• Pdf slides
• ÕIS
https://ois2.ttu.ee/uusois/uus_ois2.tud_leht#
• Password: Iital
• Moodle
 The main goals of the course
• To improve understanding of major factors determining
environmental policies on corporate, national and
international level (incl. EU policies).
• To find answers to some important questions e.g. why
certain political decisions are preferred to find solutions for
different environmental problems.

• Discussion about the appropriateness of these decisions.

Policy outputs (Laws and regulations; Economic
instruments; Voluntary actions - Information provision,
education, propaganda)
• To develop understanding about the role of science and
technology in formation of the environmental policies.
1. Introduction to environmental policy
– Definition, goal and scope of EP
– Major environmental problems that require
policies:
• Waste and pollution and policymaking
• Population growth, over-consumption and
environmental problems
• Loss of biodiversity and policymaking
• Etc.
– Policy goals and scales (local, corporate,
national, international)
– Development of EP
2. Human needs and environmental impacts
– Needs for environmental capital and
environmental services and environmental
impacts
– Tragedy of commons and over-use of
environmental capital
– Value systems of nature:
• Ecocentrism and intrinsic values
• Anthropocentrism and extrinsic values
3. Sustainable society and sustainable
development
– Malthusianism as a policy goal
– The Limits to Growth as a policy goal
– Sustainable development as a policy goal
– Criteria for assessing sustainability and
evaluating the environment
4. Science and technology, and policy making
– Reductionism versus holistic interpretation
– Positivism – a basic concept for the science
– The precautionary principle
– Environmental risk and risk management
– Technology and sustainable development
(appropriate technology, ecological modernisation,
BAT, BEP, green technology)
– Life cycle analysis
5. Corporate environmental policy making
– Development of corporate environmental
policies
– Policy inputs/drivers
• Legislation and other regulations
• Employees, customers, investors, NGOs
– Policy outputs:
• Environmental management systems (ISO
14000, EMAS)
• Environmental auditing
6. National environmental policy
– Representation of interest groups in policy
making
– Decision making process
– Policy outputs
• Laws and regulations
• Economic instruments
• Information provision, education, propaganda
• Voluntary action
– Policy evaluation
7. International environmental policy making
– Globalisation
– International trade (WTO, GATT) and
environmental policymaking
– Global problems and policy making (e.g.
acidification, ozone depletion, climate
change)
– International agreements
8. Environmental policy of the EU
– Water policy
– Waste policy
– Air pollution policy
– Policy on species and biodiversity
– Chemicals policy (REACH) (lecture 8-1)
9. Environmental economics – use of economic
instruments
– Valuing the environmment
– Externalities and the Polluter Pays´ Principle
– Economic instruments
• Environmental charges
• Service charges (consumer charges)
• Subsidies
• Tradable pollution permits
• Insurance and compensation mechanisms
Literature
• Roberts, J. 2011. Environmental Policy. Routledge Introductions to
Environmental Series, 256 p.
• Field B.C and Field M.K. 2013. Environmental Economics. An
introduction, sixth edition, McGraw-Hill, 491 pp
• Environmental philosophy. Critical concepts in the environment.
2005. Edited by Callicot, J. and Palmer, C. Volumes I-V.
 Additional reading
• N. Carter, 2011. The Politics of the Environment:
Ideas, Activism, Policy.
• J. Connelly, G. Smith, D Benson, C. Saunders, 2012.
Politics and the Environment: From Theory to
Practice.
• A. Jordan, C. Adelle (Editors), 2012. Environmental
Policy in the EU: Actors, institutions and processes.
• Tietenberg, T and Lewis, L., 2015. Environmental &
Natural Resource Economics, 10/E, 640 pp
• OECD. Environmental policy tools and evaluation
http://www.oecd.org/env/tools-evaluation/
Seminar I
• Practical exercises – a report on suitable,
efficient and cost-effective policy measures to
solve different environmental problems:
• PP slides + oral presentation
• Word document on selected policy measures.

• Start with presentations: October 29th.

 EKE 8350 Environmental policy
Themes for seminar I
Please describe suitable policy measures:
1. For greening transport
2. For minimising landfilling of wastes
3. To maintain and increase biodiversity
4. To reduce industrial emissions
5. To introduce Pay as You Throw policy on waste
management
6. To enhance eco-design
7. For proper re-use of phosphorus
8. To minimize environmental impact of used car tyres
9. To minimize environmental impact of plastic bags
10. To minimize environmental impact of used electronics
11. To minimize environmental impact of pharmaceuticals
 Please describe suitable policy measures:

12. For optimal use of fertilizers

13. For dematerialization
14. To reduce environmental impacts of transboundary
transport of wastes
15. To minimize the amount of plastic wastes
16. To increase eco-efficiency
17. To increase sorting of wastes by public
18. To minimize diffuse nutrient loss from agriculture
19. To achieve good status of waterbodies
20. To enhance circular economy
21. To achieve energy efficiency on national scale
22. To achieve sustainable use of water resources
23. To minimize risk of hazardous chemicals
 Content of your presentation

• What is the problem?

• Overall goal of the selected policy measures?
• Who could be responsible for implementation of
the selected policy measures?
• What are the outputs of the selected measures?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the
proposed measures?
Seminar II
• Group work (3 students)
• Main ideas and concepts for policy-making.
Philosophy behind the environmental policy -
making;
– based on the literature sources, e.g. selected article(s)
from Callicot and Palmer 2005 and other sources:
• Environmental philosophy. Critical concepts
in the environment. 2005. Edited by Callicot,
J. and Palmer, C. Volumes I-V.
• PP slides and presentation
• Start with presentations in November.
• The book volumes available at the library of TUT.
 EKE 8250 Environmental policy
List of topics (seminar II)

1. Why do species matter? The value of wilderness and

natural values (e.g. Lilly-Marlene Russow; Environmental
Philosophy by Sahotra Sarkar)
2. All animals are equal. Are they? (e.g. Peter Singer, 1974)
3. Feeding people versus saving nature (e.g. Holmes
Rolston III)
4. The rights of non-humans (e.g. animals, vegetables,
unborn children) and intrinsic values (e.g. William
Godfrey-Smith; Joel Feinberg)
5. The value of wilderness. Willingness to pay and
environmental policymaking (e.g. Field and Field, 2013)
 EKE 8250 Environmental policy
List of topics (seminar II)

6. Pollution trading as a policy measure – positive and

negative aspects
7. Free trade and the environment (e.g. WTO/GATT rules;
Field and Field, 2013)
8. Criticism of the conventional wisdom on population
growth, increasing resource-scarcity and Malthusian
catastrophe (e.g. Julian L. Simon, 1998. The ultimate
resource II)
 Seminars

• Participation (at least 75% of seminars)

and presentation of findings - mandatory
• 30% of the total score