Principles and instruments

Question 1

What are the 5 goals of the international environmental policy

Answer 1

1. Avoiding a dangerous warming of the atmosphere of the earth (limit global warming to 1.5C)
2. Preservation of the ozone layer in the stratosphere
3. Preservation of biological diversity
4. Protection/preservation of ground usable for agriculture
5. Control of international trade with dangerous waste

Question 2

What are the factors in a country for environmental policy?

Answer 2

1. Politicians
2. Bureaucrats
3. Voters
4. Interest groups

Question 3

What are the 5 principles of international environmental policy?

Answer 3

1. Polluter pays principle
2. User pays principle (community pay principle
3. Precautionary principle
4. Cooperation principle
5. Principle of conformity to the economic order

Question 4

Give examples of user pays principle

Answer 4

Russia was throwing toxic garbage in the ocean and Japan paid Russia to end it.

Brazil wants to cut a part of the rainforest for agriculture, but other countries who benefit from the amazon rainforest can pay Brazil to not do it.

Question 5

Give examples of precautionary principle

Answer 5

President Bush went out of the Kyoto agreement because he said that global warming is inevitable so why USA should pay if the scientists are not sure it will happen. There have been warmer times in the past

Oil tankers-coast ultra sonic sounds system that calculate the distance between the ship and the shelf

Question 6

Give an example of the principle of cooperation

Answer 6

Politicians should work in cooperation and dialogue, ex: North Germany share wind energy to southern Germany, put powerline under the ground

Question 7

Give the steps and examples of principle of conformity to the economic order

Answer 7

1. Look at the market forces to solve environmental problems
2. Market compliant instruments
3. Market non compliant instruments

Ex: Farmers who keep animals under bad conditions –> consumers should be aware, therefor they will buy from other farms

Question 8

What are 3 instruments in the filed of international environmental policy?

Answer 8

1. Tradable emissions rights
2. International emission tax
3. Common execution of project to protect the climate (comes with 2 problems : calculating the real reduction of emissions and incentives to misuse of the instrument)

Question 9

What are the 7 possible criteria for the distribution of tradable emission rights among countries

Answer 9

1. Historical quantity of emissions
2. Actual quantity of emissions
3. Income/production (higher income countries can produce more emissions rights)
4. Equal emissions rights per capita (high benefits for developing countries, every human is treated the same way)
5. Benefit/costs of emission reduction for the country (give country a lower emission right because he’s cooperating and lower his emissions)
6. Willingness to pay (if the population is interested in lowering there emissions then the country can have a lower emissions rights. A country that population does not want will get higher emission rights to keep the cooperation)
7. Combination of criteria 1 to 6