Voluntary Agreements as an Instrument to Substitute Regulating and Economic Instruments. Lessons from the German Voluntary Agreements on CO₂ Reduction

Declarations and voluntary agreements of individual industrial associations or large companies have been increasingly discussed and practised in attempts to limit CFC production and emissions, to increase the energy efficiency of massproduced products, and to reduce energy-related CO₂ emissions in the industrialized countries. The hypothesis which is explicitly, or implicitly, assumed for this instrument is that the actors using it in individual branches and companies can achieve similar environmental benefits as dictated by the state in regulations or taxes, but at lower costs (CEC, 1996; IEA, 1995; Solsbery and Wiederkehr, 1995; van Dunne, 1993; Schafhausen, 1994). For several years, German industry has been signalling its interest in voluntary agreements through talks between the head organisation of German industrial associations, BDI, a few member associations and the Federal Government. The industry sees such agreements as their contribution to climate protection if regulating or price measures of the state, i.e. the impending heat recovery ordinance and CO₂/energy tax, could be avoided or delayed. A similar situation also exists in the Netherlands.