More is better? Stakeholder participation in regulatory rule-setting towards green transition

Abstract

Stakeholder participation and interactions in collaborative environmental policymaking are complex. We explore how stakeholder participation in rule-drafting and public comments lead to high-quality voluntary standards to promote green transition from a configurational perspective. Applying a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to China's 78 Industrial Cleaner Production Standards, we identify three paths resulting in superior standards. While using third-party experts is necessary in all paths, two paths emphasize the central role of public research institutes and the substitutive relationship between the participation of regulated firms and industry associations in the rule-drafting stage, especially in highly regulated industries. The third path emphasizes the importance of broad public comments when stakeholder participation in rule-drafting is insufficient, especially in lightly regulated industries. Our work enriches the theory of environmental regulation and collaborative governance, which is also instructive for governments designing regulatory standards to promote sustainable transformation.