Nudge Presentation: Environmental Protection Katie Ablett Hafiz Moledina

“Putting information about local pollution into the hands of the public is the single most effective, common-sense tool available for protecting human health and the environment” Al Gore

Chapter 12, Health— Saving the Planet: Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Planning and Community Right to Know Act Disclosure requirements in Ukraine Created in 1986 after Chernobyl and Bhopal Intended as a bookkeeping measure “may be the most unambiguous success story in all of environmental law” – Thaler and Sunstein p.190

Fung and O’Rourke “Reinventing Environmental Regulation from the Grassroots Up: Explaining and Expanding the Success of the Toxics Release Inventory” Environmental Management Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 115–127 TRI vs. Command and Control

Populist Max-Min Regulation Command-and-Control Type of Approach Bottom-Up/Grassroots-Up Top-Down What Standards are Based on Levels of risk that informed citizens will accept Expert analysis of acceptable risk Who Firms Respond to Public pressures to adopt prevention and abatement measures Formalized agency standards or government sanctions The role of PR/public involvement Public focuses maximum attention on minimum performers—hence, “Max-Min Regulation” -- Role of Public Agencies Establish information-rich context to facilitate environmental problem-solving by different actors Set and enforce standards

What is Toxics Release Inventory? Industries self-report toxic release information Information is published, easily accessible The public determines acceptable limit of toxic emissions, not “experts” Environmental Blacklisting

How TRI is Used Why it Works Environmental and community groups Write reports – attract media attention Legislative action or pollution reduction State agencies Evaluation of existing programs Industry Groups Identification of source reduction Support negotiations with community groups

Improving TRI and Critiques Gear data to specific health and environmental risks Improve rewards, enforce harsher sanctions Need BOTH community action and regulation Non-litigious means of re-evaluating process Underreporting (accidental and intentional) Data Collection not perfect Not Complete (chemicals, companies)

Policy Implications Command-and-Control doesn’t work well alone; integrative strategy needed Public perception very important to industry Create awareness Community involvement Alternatives to regulation Effective strategy Reward Voluntary Actions

“An informed local community will always do a better job of environmental protection than some distant bureaucracy” Carol Browner