Manual on the Development of Cleaner Production Policies ... - Unido

DEVELOPMENT OF CP POLICY
MODULE 4: POLICY TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS
SLIDE: What is a policy instrument?
A policy instrument is a tool or a mechanism used as a means to accomplish
a specific goal.
A strategy is a plan for attacking a problem, and policy instruments are a
means to carry out that attack.
Note that policy instruments are implementation tools to reach the identified
policy objectives. Some policy analysts distinguish 200 environmental policy
tools.
Background
A policy instrument is a tool or mechanism used as a means to achieve specified objectives. It is
important to select the right policy instruments when preparing an action plan and programmes. The
“right” instruments mean those appropriate to the conditions of the country, level of institutional
development and the policy objectives.
EXERCISE
This is a short exercise to introduce the concept of a policy instrument. As a first step, ask participants
what they understand a policy instrument to be, and then request them to list the environmental policy
instruments used in their respective countries. Make a special effort to identify any economic and
information-based instruments. You may also want to reinforce the message contained in module 2
that policy is not synonymous with legislation.
SLIDE: Range of policy instruments
Graph showing the instruments
(available only in the PowerPoint slide presentation)
Show that a variety of policy instruments are available to environmental policymaking,
and help the participants visualize the three categories of instruments
(regulatory, economic and information). You may want to note that although
other categorizations exist, this is the one most commonly used and will serve
as the basis for further analysis.
Please note that while the list of policy instruments presented in the module is
by no means complete, it contains the most common. The objective is to present
a selection rather than analyse in depth all possible instruments.
Background
Some policy analysts believe that there exist almost 200 specific policy instruments that are applied in
environmental protection, and Governments may use many of them to encourage the adoption of
Cleaner Production. There are various ways to group those instruments. In addition to the three
categories distinguished by the nature of their impact (regulatory, economic and information), it may
be worth noting two further common divisions.
Sometimes the policy instruments specify the exact goal to be achieved (descriptive) or prescribe the
way in which to do so (prescriptive). The table below illustrates this relationship.
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