Seit Ende der 80er Jahre gehen Pionierländer des Umweltschutzes neue Wege. Hintergrund ist das Konzept der nachhaltigen Entwicklung, wie es die 1992 in Rio de Janeiro beschlossene Agenda 21 formuliert. Im Kern handelt es sich um eine strategische Umweltplanung mit weitreichenden Konsequenzen...

The subject of this paper is the importance of the diffusion of environmental innovations between countries for the global development of environmental policy. Empirical observation has shown that national environmental initiatives are often rapidly adopted by other countries; thus, these...

The development of national environmental policies is of great concern to government and industry, since it sets the structural conditions for international trade and commerce. The reports of 13 countries allow us to compare the environmental policies on a global scale, ranging from smaller...

The development of national environmental policies is of great concern to governments, enterprises, NGOs and international organizations since it sets the structural conditions for economic globalization. The systematically structured reports of 17 countries permit a comparison of capacities for...

Structural change in basic industries is usually interpreted as an autonomous economic process. Some authors claim that there is a tendency to use the "end of the era of materials", thus resulting in a decline of the basic industries. Such a process would obviously benefit the environment....

The paper shows the results of a study, which the Environmental Policy Research Centre conducted in the context of the international research project: "Resource productivity, environmental tax reform and sustainable growth in Europe" (PETRE).1 PETRE is part of the Anglo-German Foundation...

The article discusses the role of the nation state in stimulating lead markets for green innovations. It is often feared that the nation state loses its capacity for action because of economic and political globalization. This article rejects this hypothesis. It argues that empirical research on...

Efficient climate protection depends on political conditions which will be discussed in this paper. Ambitious climate policy may be restricted neither by technology nor by costs, but by obstacles to political implementation. Even an efficiency-oriented strategy ("ecological modernisation") will...

This article concerns itself with the environmental role of heavily polluting industries since 1970, analysing its development in 11 basic industries, as well as electricity production and road transport, in 32 industrial countries. It argues for a green industrial policy, demonstrating that...