Implementation - More than Monitoring and Enforcement: Evidence from the Implementation of the 1989 Municipal Waste Incineration Directive (89/429/EEC) in Four Member States

Researchers and policy-makers accept that implementation decisively influences the effectiveness of European (EU) environmental policy. Some Member States lead the development of EU policy and implement Directives with little problem. Others follow a variety of compliance (or non-compliance) paths. Implementation gaps and policy failures are prevalent. Policy outcomes often differ radically between even neighbouring Member States. What are the reasons for these differences? Why do Member States follow different compliance paths? Why do implementation gaps and policy failures occur? What factors can explain the different policy outcomes achieved? Is it only 'classical' implementation variables i.e. the monitoring and enforcement actions of public authorities that count? What lessons can we draw for the future? This paper addresses these questions through a comparative analysis of the implementation of the European Directive on the reduction of air pollution from existing municipal waste incineration plants (89/429/EEC) in Germany, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom: four neighbouring Member States that exhibit quite divergent compliance paths and policy outcomes. Monitoring and enforcement are found to have only limited explanatory power. In practice national contextual variables, such as: public and political environmental awareness; interactions both with environmental and non-environmental policies; regulatory anticipation and uncertainty; the degree of autonomy and scope of regulatory agencies; and, industrial and market structure of the regulated industry, must also be considered

Energy Conservation in Existing Housing Sites; a Comparative Case Analysis\ud in the Netherlands

The housing sector in the Netherlands is responsible for a significant fraction of primary energy use and CO2 emissions. Great energy conservation opportunities are to be found in the existing housing stock, especially in large renovation projects on existing sites. Energy conservation savings of up to 90% are technically feasible. Despite this, there is little empirical evidence available about processes that influence the achievement of energy conservation goals in such locations. Moreover, no systematic, bottom-up research on the matter is available. This paper attempts to answer questions about the factors – size, direction and significance – that explain variation in the degree of energy conservation. Four main propositions were tested, comprising the following variables: actor characteristics, policy instruments, interorganizational collaboration and context. The study used a comparative research design. Data were collected from eleven existing housing sites where renovation projects had been executed, involving 70 personal interviews, a survey, and the collection of project documents. A mixed methods approach was applied for data analysis. The results show that interorganizational, collaborative efforts, policy instruments and the presence of wealthy housing associations have a positive influence on energy conservation outcomes. The mean energy conservation was slightly less than 40%, and outcomes varied between 26.5% and 69.8%. Strikingly, planning does not have a beneficial influence and the actual outcome is lower than predicted. The results are useful for national and local government policy makers, as they clearly argue that ambitious policy goals should be tempered

Samenspel actoren in bestaande bouw cruciaal voor energiebesparing

Het valt niet mee om de bestaande woningvoorraad energiezuiniger te maken. En dat terwijl ieder huis vanaf 1 januari aanstaande een energielabel krijgt met de nodige consequenties voor eigenaren/bewoners. AIO Thomas Hoppe en zijn begeleider Kris Lulofs duiken in de barrières die huiseigenaren ervaren bij het nemen van investeringsbeslissingen. Ze bevelen de overheid de beleidsnetwerkenbenadering aan om via het spel tussen lokale actoren toch het een en ander voor elkaar te krijgen

A Shift Toward Building with Nature in the Dredging and Port Development Industries: Managerial Implications for Projects in or Near Natura 2000 Areas

Building with Nature is a new approach to designing water infrastructure, one that seeks to realize socioeconomic project goals in harmony with the environment. The Dutch dredging industry is promoting its application in the Netherlands, but similar concepts are emerging internationally. The Working with Nature concept has been developed under the auspices of the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure, Engineering with Nature by the US Army Corps of Engineers, and Flanders Bays 2100 by a group of Belgian dredging companies and international consultants. The research discussed in this article focuses on the feasibility of implementing the Building with Nature approach in the context of EU Natura 2000 governance. The initial expectation of the industry was that Natura 2000 regulations would obstruct innovative Building with Nature attempts. The empirical evidence points to a shift toward Building with Nature have taken place on the governance and project levels, and the goals of Natura 2000 and Building with Nature converging in practice. Using specific project-level variables identified by researchers, guidance for project development in Natura 2000 areas was proposed. We conclude by discussing the implications of the research results for the dredging industry dealing with Natura 2000 regulations in Europe and similar overarching nature regulations elsewhere