Under wich conditions environmental voluntary agreements could be effective instruments to promote sound environmental practice in the industry. A conceptual approach.

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the factors that should be considered to promote and develop effective environmental voluntary agreernents (EVAs) in terms of their environmental impact. The study is mainly based on a bibliographic review of the use of these instruments, especially in the European case, and on the author's experience as assessor in the Chilean Cleaner Production Agency. The work presented is mainly conceptual, as it was not possible to conduct an empirical study to confirm the main results. The study focuses on one specific type of EVAs, the "negotiated agreements". These agreements are negotiated between govemment and industry, and aim to facilitate voluntary action with a desirable environmental impact. In the next section the main features of EVAs are described, and the critical components for a successful agreernent analysed. Section three presents a formal model to understand EVAs, which will provide the framework to analyse the process of negotiation and development of existing EVAs, and also suggest sorne measures to advance their adoption. Section four presents the conclusion and suggests what could be the most fruitful areas for future research in the area of EVAs.