Estratègies per al desenvolupament sostenible - Generalitat de ...

may thus result in less expenditure on the part of the government and in a moreefficient use of resources. However, the distribution of resources is likely to change.The introduction of an industrial pollution emissions charge means that companieshave to pay for their use of the assimilative capacity of the environment whereas,previously, they accessed this at no charge. For this reason, finance may be neededin the short term to help certain groups to adjust.At the national level, there are three basic approaches to market mechanisms: (1)remove existing financial mechanisms that work against sustainable development,such as energy subsidies; (2) adapt existing market mechanisms; (3) introduce newfinancial mechanisms that internalize environmental or social externalities.The three types of measure will have winners and losers and their impact andeffectiveness will vary depending on the nature of the sector, or the environmentalor social issue being addressed. For this reason, a study of their potential impactis needed first.Removing perverse incentives. For a number of reasons, key productive inputs suchas energy, water and pesticides are often priced below private marginal cost. Thismay be because of government subsidies or price controls which aim to encourageindustrial productive activity. Alternatively, the rationale may be to protect the interestsof low-income groups or to provide services considered to have public health benefits.In some cases, it may be considered administratively simpler to have less precisecharging policies. The removal of distorting subsidies has a number of positive effects.It frees up financial resources which can then be deployed in activities more conduciveto sustainable development. It improves the environment. It encourages economicefficiency. And it is likely to improve income distribution. The OECD 16 , drawing fromcase studies in several member countries, has shown how the removal of subsidiesin agriculture, energy, industrial activities and transport can lead to win–win situations.Market mechanisms may penalize companies or individuals for adverse environmentalor social impacts. Or they may make them pay for natural resource use. Or they mayreward them for providing environmental or social services. The main issues associatedwith such mechanisms are:Determining the appropriate level of the charge or payment. Early schemes wereintroduced more as revenue-raising instruments than behaviour-changing approaches.16 OECD (1998), Improving the Environment Reducing Subsidies, OECD, Paris 175