Making Climate Policy Efficient Implementing a Model for Environmental Policy Efficiency

We propose a framework for studies of efficiency in environmental poli-cies in the form of an iterative “policy cycle”. The policy cycle’s six ma-jor elements are goal-setting, choice of policy instruments (informa-tion/communication, voluntary agreements, economic instruments and regulation), enforcement, changes in behaviour of public and private agents, effects of policy measures and, finally, evaluation. Through itera-tions of the policy cycle (or parts of it), efficiency in environmental poli-cies can be improved. The policy cycle is applied to climate policies, both mitigation and adaptation and we identify important areas for future research.