Conceptual Framework and Theoretical Background of Product Policy

Abstract

The focus of product policy is dedicated to products. Product policy is not a completely new approach to environmental policy, but has been formulated as a policy area only recently. Product policy tries to influence environmental burdens caused by human activity. Its focus on products will first be classified according to the interaction between the ecosphere and the technosphere. Whereas Section 2.1 describes this relationship mainly from a more natural science perspective, the following section is dedicated to the economic answer to environmental problems - the concept of internalizing the external costs of products. A short overview of the history of the emergence of product policy is then presented (Section 2.3). Product policy is an area of environmental policy: its relationship to other approaches to environmental policy is analysed in Section 2.4. A preliminary description of its strengths and weaknesses is presented in Section 2.5. This is followed by an analysis of the macroeconomic framework and the behaviour of different actors (Section 2.6). The chapter closes with some preliminary conclusions (Section 2.7).