Between economy and ecology? The single market and the integration of environmental policy

SummaryEnvironmental security is the integration of environmental and national security considerations at a national policy level. It is a relatively new and still somewhat contentious concept, although in some countries, such as the United States, it is increasingly being embedded in traditional security and foreign policy institutions. It is of interest to the industrial ecologist for several reasons. First, from the methodological perspective, environmental security issues are frequently complex, multidisciplinary, and multiscalar in both temporal and geographic dimensions. They are thus good opportunities to apply existing industrial ecology tools such as industrial metabolism stock and flow studies, as well as to support the development of new industrial ecology methods. Second, environmental security offers an important case study of an important fundamental industrial ecology dynamic: the movement of environment from overhead to strategic for society. This process occurs at many different scales, from implementation of design for environment methodologies within firms to integration of environmental and trade considerations in the World Trade Organization; and it is important for the industrial ecologist to begin to understand its underlying dynamics. Finally, national security is the quintessential raison d'etre of the national state. Accordingly, the integration of environmental considerations into national security policies and institutions, using industrial ecology methodologies and patterns of analysis, is a significant validation of the field.

Environmental Policy Integration has been advocated as a keystone policy approach for achieving sustainable developments ever since the publication of the WCED report (1987) which placed sustainable development on the global agenda. The logic behind policy integration is that environmental damage is caused by non-environmental policy sectors which undermines environmental policy goals. Therefore, administrative strategies and approaches need to be developed to place environmental considerations at the heart of policy making processes across policy sectors to achieve more sustainable governance. This chapter unpacks the relationship between sustainable development and (environmental) policy integration and important conceptual understandings. It then explores the different strategies that can and have been deployed in different administrations before exploring future research directions.

In fast growing economies, rapid urbanization generates high demand for construction aggregates in the rural hinterland of cities. Their extraction often causes negative repercussions on the environment. In Vietnam, the central government has made strong efforts to incorporate environmental objectives in the aggregate mining sector, and, in a one-party state, it has powerful means to implement its policies. Nevertheless, adverse environmental effects of aggregate mining are visible throughout the country. Against this background, the purpose of this paper is to identify barriers for environmental policy integration in a one-party state. The aggregates industry in Hoa Binh Province, located in the hinterland of the fast growing capital Hanoi, is taken as a case. Methods of the study, which was conducted between 2015 and 2019, include literature review, document and data analysis, interviews, group discussions for information collection and validation of results, and site visits. Six environmental policy integration barriers are derived from the literature. They form the conceptual basis for explaining difficulties of environmental policy implementation and integration in the concrete case. The study demonstrates that the following factors provide a viable concept for analyzing deficits of environmental policy integration in a fast modernizing one-party state: (a) the prevalence of top-down approaches with insufficient trigger-down effects, (b) the predominance of socioeconomic over environmental objectives, (c) weak incentives to improve environmental performance, (d) fragmented environmental planning and implementation, (e) weak institutional control mechanisms on lower levels of government, and (f) compliance oriented public participation and deficient compensation mechanisms. These are potential entry points for coping with environmental challenges of growth oriented sector policies.

The paper analyzes the direct and indirect environmental impacts of the completion of the Single European Market, both internally and with respect to the Rest of the World. Moreover, the principles of environmental policy are described. The main conclusion is that if the European Community and the member states develop effective and efficient policy instruments the positive effects of the completion of the Single Market could substantially outweigh the negative impacts.

Integrating environmental considerations in the agricultural policy process: Evidence from Nigeria

The article analyzes the process of adaptation of the national legislation to the European standards in accordance with the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. In particular, in the sector “Environmental management and integration of environmental policy in other sectoral policies”, the implementation of Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programs for the environment and Directive 2011/92/EC on the assessment of the impact of certain public and private projects on the environment was considered. The influence of environmental management tools and the integration of environmental policy on other sectoral policies have been determined and their interrelation with the rest of the sectors in the field of environmental protection has been established. It has been established that environmental assessment is the main instrument for ensuring environmental considerations in the development of plans and programs and contributes to sustainable development through the promotion of environmental protection issues in economic and social development.The procedures of strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment have been characterized; their subjects and objects have been clarified. The peculiarities of these procedures, stages and advantages of their application in the national practice of public environmental management are presented. The way of implementation of strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment at the level of the European community is considered, and examples of their practical application at the level of the EU member states are presented.It is indicated that strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment are procedural tools used to prevent any possible negative effects of economic activity on the environment and public health. A comparative analysis of these procedures was carried out and links and differences were identified. It has been proved that the effectiveness of strategic environmental assessment in preventing environmental hazards is significantly higher than environmental impact assessments. The problem aspects and perspectives in the field of practical implementation of legislation in the field of environmental assessment in Ukraine are highlighted.

EU environmental law has a long tradition. During the last decade, however, EU environmental law developed into a cornerstone of EU policy. The European Green Deal aims to promote the combined policy objectives of sustainable development and protection of the environment for current and future generations. Within this policy framework, and based on a comprehensive legal framework, the EU has established mechanisms to address a wide range of environmental issues, including air and water quality, waste management, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation. From a legal perspective, EU environmental law is characterized by its integration into all areas of EU policy and its binding nature on the Member States. The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) already enshrines environmental protection as one of the EU's objectives and mandates the integration of environmental considerations into all policy areas, ensuring a coherent and holistic approach to sustainability. Key mechanisms for sustainable policies within EU environmental law include directives, regulations, and decisions, that set forth common standards and objectives for Member States to achieve. These legal instruments provide a framework for harmonizing environmental policies across the EU while allowing for flexibility to accommodate national circumstances and priorities. In summary, the environmental law of the European Union embodies a comprehensive and integrated approach to sustainability, combining customized legal instruments, institutional mechanisms, and policy frameworks to promote environmental protection, economic prosperity, and social well-being across the EU.

Healthcare systems account for a substantial proportion of global carbon emissions and contribute to wider environmental degradation. This scoping review aimed to summarize the evidence currently available on incorporation of environmental and sustainability considerations into health technology assessments (HTAs) and guidelines to support the National In stitute for Health and Care Excellence and analogous bodies in other jurisdictions developing theirown methods and processes. Overall, 7,653 articles were identified, of which 24 were included in this review and split into three key areas - HTA (10 studies), healthcare guidelines (4 studies), and food and dietary guidelines (10 studies). Methodological reviews discussed the pros and cons of different approaches to integrate environmental considerations into HTAs, including adjustments to conventional cost-utility analysis (CUA), cost-benefit analysis, and multicriteria decision analysis. The case studies illustrated the challenges of putting this into practice, such as lack of disaggregated data to evaluate the impact of single technologies and difficulty in conducting thorough life cycle assessments that consider the full environmental effects. Evidence was scant on the incorporation of environmental impacts in clinical practice and public health guidelines. Food and dietary guidelines used adapted CUA based on life cycle assessments, simulation modeling, and qualitative judgments made by expert panels. There is uncertainty on how HTA and guideline committees will handle trade-offs between health and environment, especially when balancing environmental harms that fall largely on society with health benefits for individuals. Further research is warranted to enable integration of environmental considerations into HTA and clinical and public health guidelines.

Asia/Pacific paint consumption will exceed 20 million tonnes in 2014

Policy trends of strategic environmental assessment in Asia

Holistic environmental policies, which emerged from a mere combination of technical activities in waste management some 40 years ago, constitute the most advanced level of environmental policies. These approaches to environmental policy, among them the policies in integrated waste management, attempt to guide economic agents to an environment-friendly behaviour. Nevertheless, current holistic policies in waste management, including policies on one-way drinks containers and waste electrical and electronic equipment, and implementations of extended producer responsibility with further applications to waste electrical and electronic equipment, reveal more or less severe deficiencies - despite some positive examples. This article relates these policy failures, which are not necessarily the result of an insufficient compliance with the regulations, to missing constitutive elements of what is going to be called an 'integrated environmental policy'. This article therefore investigates - mostly from a practical point of view - constitutive elements, which are necessary for a holistic policy to serve as a well-functioning allocation mechanism. As these constitutive elements result from a careful 'integration' of the environmental commodities into the economic allocation problems, we refer to these policies as 'integrated environmental policies'. The article also discusses and illustrates the main steps of designing such a policy - for waste electrical and electronic equipment and a (possible) ban of Glyphosat in agriculture. As these policies are dependent on economic and political stability with environmental awareness sufficiently developed, the article addresses mostly waste management policies in highly industrialised countries.

This round of Euro-Barometer surveys focused on the current status of the European Community (EC), assessing respondents' awareness of and attitudes toward (1) the EC's activities and institutions, (2) various aspects of the Maastricht Treaty and the European Union, (3) EC policies, and (4) the European Parliament's work. A special set of questions focused on issues facing European societies, including family values and attitudes toward immigrants and people in other countries. Respondents were asked to rank their level of interest in European politics, and to indicate their level of support for the unification of Western Europe, including: (a) the degree to which they found European unification personally important, (b) whether they thought membership in the EC was a good thing, (c) whether membership would benefit their country, and (d) how they would feel if the EC were eliminated. They also rated how well they thought democracy worked in the EC and in their own country. Awareness of European institutions was measured by questions on how much respondents knew about the European Parliament, the European Council, the European Court, the European Commission, the Council of Ministers, and others. Several questions concerned the presidency of the EC's Council of Ministers, then held by Denmark. In addition, participants were asked about their knowledge of and attitudes toward the Maastricht Treaty on European Union and the proposed European Monetary Union. This section of the questionnaire explored the Maastricht Treaty's implications for national and EC control of drug traffic, crime, defense, immigration, and a number of other areas of public policy. With regard to defense policy, respondents were asked specifically whether the EC should intervene militarily in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Opinions were obtained on the formation of a European Union with a European government responsible to the European Parliament. The Single European Market, in operation since January 1, 1993, was the topic of several questions, including whether respondents regarded the Single Market with hope or fear, and whether they had yet had any direct experience with the Single Market. In anticipation of the first general election of a European Parliament by the European Community's citizens in June 1994, the survey assessed respondents' awareness of the European Parliament, their overall impressions of its work, and opinions about its role in policymaking. Participants' intentions to vote and reasons for not voting in the upcoming election were also solicited. A special focus of this Euro-Barometer was the family, its composition and personal importance to respondents, and family values. The respective roles of mother and father in various parenting tasks were explored. The trend for grown children to stay at home longer was evaluated by respondents as good or bad for the children and the parents. Respondents assessed the priority for government policy on a number of family issues, such as infant care leave, availability of child care, availability of housing, and flexible working hours. Citizens' opinions of other European peoples and countries were sought through questions asking how much trust respondents placed in the people of various EC countries (as well as the United States, Japan, and Russia), which countries they favored becoming part of the European Community, and which citizens of other countries ought to be able to work and reside in the European Community. A number of questions concerned immigration and its effects on the European Community. Opinions were also solicited about Summer Time, a move to prolong daylight by putting clocks forward one hour from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in September. As in previous Euro-Barometers, questions on political party preference asked respondents which party they felt closest to, how they voted in their country's last general election, and how they would vote if a general election were held the next day. Additional information was gathered on life satisfaction, family income, number of people residing in the home, size of locality, home ownership, trade union membership, region of residence, occupation of the head of household, and the respondent's age, sex, education, religion, religiosity, subjective social class standing, socio-professional status, languages spoken, access to and use of media, left-right political self-placement, and opinion leadership.

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) requires the integration of environmental considerations into transportation planning. Although previous legislation has required the consideration of environmental elements during project planning, ISTEA necessitates a different approach. During project-specific planning, each environmental element is researched to determine baseline conditions, and project plans are superimposed to determine potential impacts and the need for mitigative measures. This approach is appropriate for project-specific planning, but it presents only a snapshot of existing conditions because environmental data are changing constantly. The integration of environmental considerations into long-range plans requires a much broader focus. It must allow dynamic systems to change without affecting the plan's validity. A case study is presented of the Oklahoma statewide intermodal transportation plan, which uses recent geographic theory to integrate planning and human activity at varying scales. This theoretical framework is based on ecological and societal units of interaction called bioregions or place-systems. The environmental baseline and analysis for Oklahoma begin with the identification of place-systems in the state: areas of biophysical and cultural similarity and context. The delimitation of such regional place-systems is sufficiently generalized and flexible to accommodate many data types and sources, yet rigid enough to be useful for planning. Both quantitative data and descriptive information are included in an analytical framework suitable to relational data bases and geographic information systems applications. These are used to create a series of map and data overlays to project potential environmental impacts and constraints, as well as opportunities for developing future transportation projects. The methods used to delineate regional place-systems in Oklahoma and their subsequent use in environmental analyses and planning are described.

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) requires the integration of environmental considerations into transportation planning. Although previous legislation has required the consideration of environmental elements during project planning, ISTEA necessitates a different approach. During project-specific planning, each environmental element is researched to determine baseline conditions, and project plans are superimposed to determine potential impacts and the need for mitigative measures. This approach is appropriate for project-specific planning, but it presents only a snapshot of existing conditions because environmental data are changing constantly. The integration of environmental considerations into long-range plans requires a much broader focus. It must allow dynamic systems to change without affecting the plan's validity. A case study is presented of the Oklahoma statewide intermodal transportation plan, which uses recent geographic theory to integrate planning and human activity at varying scales. This theoretical framework is based on ecological and societal units of interaction called bioregions or place-systems. The environmental baseline and analysis for Oklahoma begin with the identification of place-systems in the state: areas of biophysical and cultural similarity and context. The delimitation of such regional place-systems is sufficiently generalized and flexible to accommodate many data types and sources, yet rigid enough to be useful for planning. Both quantitative data and descriptive information are included in an analytical framework suitable to relational data bases and geographic information systems applications. These are used to create a series of map and data overlays to project potential environmental impacts and constraints, as well as opportunities for developing future transportation projects. The methods used to delineate regional place-systems in Oklahoma and their subsequent use in environmental analyses and planning are described.

Policy integration is a processes by which a particular policy, and the objectives, principles and values on which it is based, is intentionally integrated into a whole – a broader and more holistic set of policies – where the former did not previously exist. We may call this whole the integer, a term used in mathematics for a whole number. The integer denotes the broader set of policies of a polity or political system and the set of instruments used to promote and implement these policies. We may call that which is to be integrated the integrant, a term used to denote a part of a whole. The integrant may be defined as a particular policy and the set of instruments used to promote and implement that policy which, it is intended, should be integrated into an integer. So environmental policy integration is a policy process to integrate a stipulated integrant (an environmental policy) throughout an integer (a broader set of policies). Environmental policy integration is first and foremost a normative enterprise that seeks to shift the normative vector (the overall normative ‘pull’) of the integer on to a more sustainable basis. However, the extent to which environmental policy integration can be successful in doing this is limited when integrants are shaped and influenced ab initio by the principles and values of the integer. The paper argues that contemporary environmental policies are dominated primarily by neoliberal principles. The result is that while environmental policy integration has achieved some limited successes it is an essentially reformist approach that takes as its point of departure mainstream policies that routinely degrade the environment.