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LIFE‐CYCLE ANALYSIS AND POLICY OPTIONS: THE CASE OF THE EUROPEAN PULP AND PAPER INDUSTRY
Author(s) -
Landis Gabel H.,
Weaver Paul M.,
BloemhofRuwaard Jacqueline M.,
Van Wassenhove Luk N.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
business strategy and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.123
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1099-0836
pISSN - 0964-4733
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-0836(199609)5:3<156::aid-bse64>3.0.co;2-o
Subject(s) - industrial organization , environmental policy , automotive industry , business , robustness (evolution) , economics , environmental economics , engineering , biochemistry , gene , aerospace engineering , chemistry
As part of the shift in emphasis in environmental policy from clean‐up to avoidance, environmental policy instruments that specify preferred technological directions for an industry are increasingly being used. Take‐back requirements and mandatory recycling are cases in point. These directly affect the mix of materials and the technologies used by an industry. These effects reverberate throughout the industry and influence market conditions for everyone both up‐ and downstream in the supplier/client chains. As these chains frequently cross international frontiers, environmental policy‐making is becoming increasingly significant in influencing competitive structures and international trade patterns. Concerns are that policy‐making may lock in inappropriate technologies and that the policy process may be manipulated for industrial or trading advantage. Using fibre recycling in the European pulp and paper sector as a case study, it is shown how these concerns are manifest and also that materials accounting and operational research techniques exist to mitigate them. It is concluded that there is a need to establish agreed environmental impact evaluation methodologies to provide guidance on the robustness of policy‐making and a basis for consistent, predictable and defensible policy‐making.