Environmental Information Disclosure Programs: They Work, but Why?

Abstract

Objective. Despite the rich discussions about the role of information disclosure programs in environmental policy, our theoretical understanding of how and why information disclosure programs work lacks a clear framework. This article begins to fill that void by laying out some fundamental theories and concepts that underlie the empirical work on the subject. Methods. Basic theories arising from our knowledge of economics, psychology, and politics are compared. Previous research is analyzed with these theories in mind. Results. Research results confirm the plausibility of each of these theories, though the most compelling evidence so far suggests that shock and shame are key motivating factors for improved environmental performance by industry. Conclusions. The argument is made that our theoretical foundations must be understood better if we are to make sense of the empirical work on the subject. Policy implications are addressed.Starting with the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) in the late 1980s and continuing today at state, federal, and international levels, governmental agencies gradually have been spending greater resources on the release of environmental information to the public. Public agencies have been collecting and disseminating environmental information about private-sector behavior that would otherwise have remained private. In particular, government is requiring that industrial pollution releases and the handling of toxic materials be tracked, measured, and catalogued. The catalogued data in turn are conveyed to government, which then makes the bulk of that information available to the general public and/or summarizes that information for public consumption.Why is industry required to report this information? What function is served? The basic answer has to do with the belief that people have a right to know this information (Sarokin and Schulkin, 1991;Roe, 2000;Hadden, 1989) and that there is something about knowing this information that could help improve public health (and the environment) and improve the environmental performance of the private sector (Kleindorfer and Orts,

An implementation assessment of China's Environmental Information Disclosure Decree

“…First, many of the non-OECD countries have still not (fully) installed legal provisions and institutionalized practices for freedom of information and information disclosure. Second, the implementation of access to environmental information and the actual easy access of civil society to environmental information still seriously lags behind the legal codification (Petkova et al, 2002;Stephan, 2002;Kerret and Gray, 2007). In non-OECD countries four factors seem to determine the national performance on public access to environmental information (Mol, 2009) The main motivations behind OGIR are: to alleviate the information asymmetry between economic actors; to gain political credits by improving the transparency of governmental work; and to improve administrative performance Zheng, 2007).…”

The behavioural economics of climate change

“…the norm to recycle. Environmental labelling, or Eco-labelling, is a policy instrument that makes use of people's willingness to voluntarily, or perhaps partly influenced by peer pressure, behave environmentally friendly; see Stephan (2002) for an overview. In a situation where people are motivated by social norms, it is important to consider how conventional policy instruments, such as command and control and environmental taxes, influence the mechanism of the social norms.…”

State Renewable Energy Governance: Policy Instruments, Markets, or Citizens

“…Information instruments are relatively new and emerging policy tools, encompassing direct information or knowledge about the existence and availability of other related policies (Vedung, 1998). It is argued that using information as policy tools increases public awareness about essential policy issues and thus helps both market producers and consumers to be well informed (Stavins, 2003;Stephan, 2002;Weiss, 2002). Recent empirical studies including information disclosure and/or green power option programs show a positive effect of respective programs in the renewable electricity industry (Delmas and Monte, 2011;Shrimali and Kniefel, 2011).…”