| Title: |
Ex-post estimates of costs to business of EU environmental legislation
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| Resource Type: |
document --> technical publication --> report
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| Country: |
EU Projects
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| Year: |
2006 |
| Availability: |
This report was commissioned by: European Commission, DG Environment, Unit G.1
Sustainable Development & Economic Analysis, under a framework contract No
ENV.G.1/FRA/2004/0081.
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| Author 1/Producer: |
Frans Oosterhuis (IVM)
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| Other Authors/Producers: |
Véronique Monier and Cécile des Abbayes (BIO)
Benjamin Görlach (Ecologic)
Andrew Jarvis and James Medhurst (GHK)
Onno Kuik (IVM)
Robin Vanner and Paul Ekins (PSI)
Jochem Jantzen and Henk van der Woerd (TME)
Peter Vercaemst, D. Huybrechts and E. Meynaerts (VITO)
Reviewed by Reyer Gerlagh (IVM)
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| Author / Producer Type: |
EC Project
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| Publisher: |
IVM, Institute for Environmental Studies
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| Publisher City: |
Vrije Universiteit
De Boelelaan 1087
1081 HV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel. ++31-20-5989 555
Fax. ++31-20-5989 553
E-mail: info@ivm.falw.vu.nl
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EUGRIS Keyword(s): |
Contaminated land-->policy and regulatory
Contaminated land-->Wider impacts / sustainability-->Economic
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| Short description: |
A project carried out by a European consortium compared ex-ante and
ex-post estimates of environmental regulation costs and offered a number
of recommendations to improve their accuracy. The impact of
implementing environmental policies is central to the debate on economic
competitiveness and environmental sustainability. The project reports
conclude that some ex-ante overestimation is inevitable, and that the new
EU regulatory flexibility could make accurate predictions even more di
fficult. Nevertheless, a number of recommendations are offered which, the
authors say, could improve accuracy levels:
•Cost estimates should draw on as many sources as possible
•As green policies become more flexible, cost estimates should be
updated frequently. 'Feedback loops' should be set up to update
cost predictions in light of experience
•This could eventually lead to 'rules of thumb' for factoring as yet
unknown technological innovation, economies of scale and 'learning
curve effects' into initial cost estimates
•It should be mandatory to analyse actual, as well as predicted, costs
of policies so comparisons can be made and lessons learned.
'Before-and-after' comparisons must compare like with like
•Sensitivity analyses should be used to identify the parameters most
likely to influence costs. A better understanding of business
behaviour and likely responses to policy is also urged
•Finally, costs must be clearly defined and should always include
avoided costs such as lower energy usage.
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Submitted By:
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Professor Paul Bardos WhoDoesWhat?
Last update: 31/10/2006
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