Reality Check: Voluntary Environmental Programs

Since the early 1990s, voluntary programs have played a growing role in environmental management in the United States and other industrialized countries. These programs target problems ranging from climate change and energy efficiency to toxics. But do they produce genuine environmental benefits?

Reality Check: The Nature and Performance of Voluntary Environmental Programs in the United States, Europe, and Japan, a new, innovative book from Resources for the Future, seeks to clarify what is known about the environmental performance of voluntary programs by looking at a range of program types in different nations.

Seven case studies are presented, including the U.S. Climate Wise program, the U.S. EPA's 33/50 program on toxic chemicals, the U.K. Climate Change Agreements, and the Keidanren Voluntary Action Plan in Japan. Publication of this volume comes at a time of increasing pressure on the federal government to re-evaluate its focus on voluntary rather than mandatory efforts to curb greenhouse gases and other regulatory initiatives. 

This seminar, featuring the book's editors and a panel of authorities on environmental policy, explores the value and cost-effectiveness of voluntary approaches, with an eye toward improving policymaking in the United States and abroad.

Richard D. Morgenstern, co-editor
Senior Fellow
Resources for the Future

Dick Morgenstern is an expert analyst on the economics of environmental issues and on the use of economic incentives to address global climate change as well as various conventional pollution problems. He has conducted design and evaluation studies, including cost-benefit analyses, in the United States and abroad. Recently, he has worked in China on establishing an emissions trading system and has advised the Colom­bian government on reforming environmental management systems related to air and water pollution and waste management practices.

Morgenstern’s career includes service at EPA, where he directed the agency’s policy office for more than a decade, and at the U.S. Department of State, where he was senior economic counselor to the undersecretary for global affairs and participated in negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol. He received an A.B. in economics from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan.

William A. Pizer
Senior Fellow
Resources for the Future

Billy Pizer is widely recognized for his research into the design of policies to ad­dress climate change risks caused by manmade emissions of greenhouse gases. His work assesses how various features of environmental policy in an economic context can influence a policy’s efficacy under different circumstances. These circumstances include uncertainty, technical advances, and changing costs of environmental regulation. In addition to his work at RFF, he is a senior economist at the National Com­mission on Energy Policy, where he provides analysis and expertise on en­vironmental and energy security issues.

At RFF since 1996, Pizer also has served as a senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers in 2001–2002, where he worked on energy, environment, and climate change issues; been a visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Center for Environmental Science and Policy in 2000–2001; and taught at the Johns Hopkins University from 1997 to 1999. He received a B.A. in physics from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

Linda Fisher
Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer
E.I. duPont de Nemours and Company

Linda Fisher is responsible for advancing DuPont's progress in achieving sustainable growth; DuPont environmental and health programs; the company's product stewardship programs; and global regulatory affairs. She has been with DuPont since June 2004.

Previously, Fisher served in a number of key leadership positions in government and industry, including deputy administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); EPA assistant administrator in the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances; EPA assistant administrator in the Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation; and chief of staff to the EPA Administrator. Fisher, an attorney, was also vice president of Government Affairs for Monsanto and was an environmental attorney with the law firm Latham & Watkins.

She received a J.D. from Ohio State University, an M.B.A. from George Washington University, and a B.A. from Miami University. She is a member of the DuPont Health Advisory Board, the DuPont Biotechnology Advisory Panel, and she serves as liaison to the Environmental Policy Committee of the DuPont Board of Directors. Fisher serves on the Board of Directors of the Environmental Law Institute, RESOLVE, and Resources for the Future, and on the Board of Trustees of The National Parks Foundation.