Who should pay for pollution? The OECD, the European Communities and the emergence of environmental policy in the early 1970s

Abstract

Environmental policy emerged as a new European and global policy field within a very brief period of time during the early 1970s. Notably in Europe, international organizations played a central role in defining core principles for this new policy domain. This article argues that inter-organizational connections were crucial in this context: the exchange and transfer of policy ideas facilitated the rise of environmental policy across different international organizations. Focusing on the co-evolution of the polluter-pays principle enshrined almost simultaneously both at the OECD and the European Communities, the article assesses the multiple routes along which policy ideas travelled, the role inter-organizational competition played and the selective nature of transfers. While expertise played a key role in determining which policy concepts were selected, institutional conditions and the politics of the recipient institution determined how they were adapted to the respective new context.

Keywords:

• Environmental policy
• environmental economics
• European Communities
• expertise
• inter-organizational dynamics
• OECD
• polluter-pays principle

Notes

1. Malfatti, ‘Statement to the European Parliament’.

2. European Commission, ‘First Communication’.

3. OECD Environment Committee, ‘Summary Record of the 1st Session held at the Chateau de la Muette, Paris, on 24 and 25th November 1970, ENV/M (70) 1’, OECD Archives, Paris (OECDA) Film 390 (1970): 15–19.

4. Engels, ‘Modern Environmentalism’, 124f.

5. For an overview: Meyer, ‘From Nature to Environment’.

6. OECD, ‘Celebrating 40 Years’.

7. Council of the European Communities, ‘Declaration on the Programme of Action’.

8. Beder, ‘The Polluter Pays Principle’; Sadeleer, Environmental Principles.

9. OECD, ‘Recommendation on the Implementation of the Polluter-Pays Principle, 14 November 1974’; ‘Recommendation on Guiding Principles concerning International Economic Aspects of Environmental Policies, 26 May 1972’; European Community, ‘Council Recommendation of 3 March 1975 regarding Cost Allocation’.

10. Zito, ‘The European Union as an Environmental Leader’.

11. Lenschow and Sprungk, ‘The Myth of a Green Europe’.

12. Schmelzer, The Hegemony of Growth; idem, ‘Expandiere oder stirb’. See also: Mitzner, Research for Growth?

13. Schmelzer, ‘The Crisis before the Crisis’, 1011.

14. Borowy, Defining Sustainable Development; Biedenkopf, ‘Emissions Trading’; Meadows, Limits to Growth.

15. Kirchhof and Meyer, ‘Global Protest Against Nuclear Power’; Kaelble, ‘Between Comparison and Transfers’.

16. Wöbse, ‘Oil on Troubled Waters?’; Iriye, ‘Environmental History and International History’; Haas, Saving the Mediterranean.

17. Patel, ‘Provincialising European Union’.

18. For the increasingly self-critical debate in political science: Börzel and Risse, ‘From Europeanisation to Diffusion’.

19. Cronon, ‘The Trouble with Wilderness’; Turner, ‘The Promise of Wilderness’; Bemmann, Metzger, and von Detten, Ökologische Modernisierung; Robin, ‘The Rise of the Idea of Biodiversity’.

20. Hünemörder, Die Frühgeschichte der globalen Umweltkrise; McCormick, The Global Environmental Movement.

21. With the exception of Borowy, Defining Sustainable Development and contributions in Kaiser and Meyer, International Organizations and Environmental Protection.

22. For a more extensive treatment: Macekura, Of Limits and Growth, 91–133.

23. By the early 1970s, apart from its founding members in 1949, Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, the following countries had joined: Greece, Turkey, West Germany, Iceland, Austria, Cyprus, Switzerland and Malta.

24. Council of Europe, Resolution (68)4; idem, European Water Charter, 6 May 1968.

25. Schulz, ‘Das Europäische Naturschutzjahr 1970’.

26. Meyer, ‘Appropriating the Environment’; Johnson, Politics of the Environment.

27. Hamblin, ‘Environmentalism for the Atlantic Alliance’; Schulz, ‘Transatlantic Environmental Security’; Risso, ‘Nato and the Environment’.

28. Kaiser, ‘Sometimes it’s the Economy’.

29. A. de Baerdemaeker, Permanent Representation to OECD to European Commission, DG External Relations, Rapport 458, 3 Feb 1970, including OECD C(70) 20, draft resolution to set up ad hoc preparatory committee on environment, ‘Historical Archives of the European Commission’ (HAEC), BAC 3/1978 No. 572 (1970): 3. Here and in the following: My translation from the French original.

30. Ibid; Schmelzer, “The Crisis before the Crisis’, 1003–5.

31. Patel, ‘Provincialising European Union’.

32. Patel, Fertile Ground for Europe; Knudsen, Farmers on Welfare; Dinan, Europe Recast, 28–51.

33. For example, Livingston Hartley, ‘Some International Implications on Environmental Challenges’. The Atlantic Community Quarterly, 1970, 234–41. (handwritten note: M. Mandl), HAEC, BAC 68/1984, No. 199. Commission official Vladimiro Mandl worked on these environmental issues at the time.

34. H[arald] Malmgren to Joseph Harned [Atlantic Council]: Memorandum: International Approach to Environmental Control, 9/2/70, ibid.

35. Kneese, Rolfe, and Harned, Managing the Environment.

36. Bossuat, Bussière and Legendre, ‘Entretien avec Robert Toulemon, Paris, 17 décembre 2003’, 38f.

37. d'Arge and Kneese, ‘Environmental Quality and International Trade’, 421; European Commission, Political and Institutional Aspects of Environmental Management (summary), Washington, 15 January 1971 [presented at Atlantic Council and Battelle Institute Joint Conference on Goals and Strategy for Environmental Quality in the Seventies, 15–17 January 1971], HAEC, BAC 35/1980, No. 199. In The National Archives (TNA) (FCO 55/661 No. 21) the text is attributed to Robert Toulemon.

38. European Commission, ‘Aims and Underlying Principles of a Common Environmental Policy Draw[n] up by the Member and Acceding States, SEC (1972) 3901, 7 November 1972, [R/2413/72 ENV 49]’, Archive of the Council of Ministers (ACM), CM 2.1973 No. 24.

39. Radkau, Nature and Power, 240, 244; Fressoz, “Payer pour polluer’.

40. Schwartz, ‘The Polluter Pays Principle’; Beder, ‘The Polluter Pays Principle’; de Sadeleer, Environmental Principles.

41. Biedenkopf, ‘Emissions Trading’, 6–7.

42. Dales, Pollution, Property and Prices.

43. Gaines, ‘The Polluter-Pays Principle’.

44. d'Arge and Kneese, ‘Environmental Quality’, 421–2.

45. For example, Gaines, ‘The Polluter-Pays Principle’, 477.

46. Council of Europe, Resolution (68)4, 8, (§ I-III), 10 (§16).

47. OECD, ‘Environment Committee. First Session to be held at the OECD Headquarters Paris, on 24th and 25th November 1970, ENV A (70) 3, 4 November 1970’, OECD Archives (OECDA), Film 0390 (1970).

48. Baerdemaeker to European Commission, DG External Relations, Rapport 458, 4.

49. OECD, ‘Recommendation, 26 May 1972’.

50. ‘Recommendation on the Implementation, 14 November 1974’, § I.3.

51. Ibid.

52. For example, Hartlapp, ‘On Enforcement, Management and Persuasion’.

53. OECD, ‘Recommendation on the Implementation’, 14 November 1974, § II-III.

54. van Laer, ‘Entretien avec Michel Carpentier’, 4. The commonly used acronym SEPC follows the French word order.

55. For a more extensive discussion: Meyer, ‘Making the Polluter Pay’.

56. Idem, ‘Green Activism’.

57. ’Adriaan Oele’; Koerts, ‘Ad Oele’.

58. Europäisches Parlament, ‘Bericht im Namen des Ausschusses für Sozial- und Gesundheitsfragen über die Reinhaltung der Binnengewässer unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Verunreinigung des Rheins, 11.11.1970, doc 161/70, Berichterstatter: Jacob Boersma’, Historical Archive of the European Parliament (CARDOC) PE0 AP RP/ASOC.1967 0161/70: 19 §15.

59. Idem, ‘Bericht im Namen des Ausschusses für Sozial- und Gesundheitsfragen über die Erste Mitteilung der Kommission der Europäischen Gemeinschaften über die Politik der Gemeinschaft auf dem Gebiet des Umweltschutzes, Berichterstatter Hans Edgar Jahn, 14.04.1972, doc 9/72’, CARDOC PE0 AP RP ASOC.1967 0009/72: 7 (§16).

60. Quah, ‘EJ Mishan Obituary’; OECD, ‘Working Document. John H. Cumberland: A Comparative Evaluation of Alternative Environmental Models with Emphasis on Waste Matrices, 20 December 1973’, OECDA, AEU ENV divers (1973).

61. Hans Edgar Jahn, ‘Bericht im Auftrag des Ausschusses für Sozial- und Gesundheitsfragen über die Notwendigkeit einer Gemeinschaftsaktion zur Reinhaltung der Luft, 15.12.1971’, CARDOC PE0 AP RP ASOC.1967 0181/71: 12 (§32), 15 (§44).

62. Europäisches Parlament, ‘Bericht über die Erste Mitteilung’, 7 (§16), 59 (§80).

63. European Commission, ‘Note à l'attention de MM. les membres de la Commission. Objet: Communication et projets de la Commission au Conseil sur la politique des Communautés européennes en matière d'Environnement, SEC (72) 666 (12), 20.03.1972’, HAEC BAC 244/1991 No. 4: 2.

64. Communication on a European Communities’ Programme on the Environment: 35–7.

65. Community, ‘Council Recommendation of 3 March 1975’, §1.

66. For example, Parlament, ‘Bericht über die Erste Mitteilung’, 7 (§16), 59 (§80); COMITEXTIL, ‘Prise de Position de COMITEXTIL (Comité de Coordination des Industries Textiles de la Communauté Economique Européenne) relative au projet de recommandation du Conseil en ce que concerne l'allocation des coûts et de l'intervention des pouvoirs publiques en matière de l'environnment (Principe pollueur-payeur), 5 November 1974’, HAEC BAC 68/1984, No. 201.

67. Community, ‘Council Recommendation of 3 March 1975’, §6b).

68. OECD, ‘Environmental Committee. Subcommittee of Economic Experts Summary Record of the Exploratory Meeting on Industrial Pollution Control Cost Estimates, 12 July 1973’, OECDA AEU /ENV/73.6.

69. ‘Environmental Committee. Sub-Committee of Economic Experts. 1st Meeting to be held a the OECD on 15th and 16th June. Draft Agenda’, OECDA AEU-ENV 1971, AEU/ENV 71.1: 3.

70. ‘Environmental Committee. Sub-Committee of Economic Experts. Record of the 1st Meeting held in Paris on 15th and 16th June’, OECDA AEU-ENV 1971, AEU/ENV 71.5: 4 [§11–13].

71. ‘Environmental Committee. Sub-Committee of Economic Experts. Problems of Environmental Economics. Record of the Seminar held at the OECD (Summer 1971)’, OECDA AEU-ENV 1971, AEU/ENV 71.19.

72. ‘Note on the exceptions to the Polluter Pays Principle: the case of the pulp and paper industry, 18 December 1973’, OECDA AEU /ENV/73.22; ‘Practical Suggestions to be drawn from the Swedish Environmental Policy, 1 December 1973’, OECDA AEU /ENV/73.23.

73. ‘Environmental Committee. The Polluter-Pays Principle. Note on the Implementation of the Polluter-Pays Principle, Paris 21 January 1974’, OECDA ENV (73) 32 final: 4 §7–8.

74. ‘Environmental Committee. Summary Record of the 12th Session held at the OECD Headquarters in Paris on 11 and 12 September 1974’, OECDA ENV M (74) 3: 7 [§10]. Similarly: ‘Environmental Committee. Meeting at Ministerial Level. Minutes of the 13th Session held at the OECD Headquarters in Paris on 13 and 14 September 1974’, OECDA ENV M (74) 4: 44, § 190.

75. Carlo Scarascia Mugnozza, ‘Intervention de M. Scarascia-Mugnozza, Vice-Président de la Commission des Communautés européennes, à l’occasion de la session du Comité de l'Environnement réuni au niveau ministériel, OECD Paris, 13 November 1974’, HAEC Speeches Collection, Box S, Scarascia-Mugnozza.

76. Harald Jürgensen and Kai-Peter Jaeschke, ‘Study to Determine the Social Cost of Pollution, Hamburg, April 1973, ENV/63/73 d’, HAEC BAC 58/1992, No. 319; Achille Hannequart, ‘A Study of the Economic Tools for an Environmental Policy, Brussels, 24 May 1973, ENV/49/73 A’, ibid.

77. OECD, ‘Environmental Committee. Sub-Committee of Economic Experts. Record of the 1st Meeting held in Paris on 15th and 16th June’. Annex: List of Participants.

78. Bundesregierung, ‘Umweltprogramm der Bundesregierung’, 10.

79. Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Durchsetzung des Verursacherprinzips; Kneese, Rolfe, and Harned, Managing the Environment; ‘Obituary: Allen Kneese’.

80. Bongard, ‘Der fliegende Professor’.

81. John B. Richardson, SEPC, Division General Studies and Improvement of the Environment, ‘Report on Mission to Paris on 22–24 January 1975 for the attention of Mr. Hammer. Re: OECD, Sub-Committee of Economic Experts, Brussels 29 January 1975’, HAEC BAC 68/1984, No. 201.

82. European Commission, ‘Groupe d'Experts économiques chargés des questions d'environnement. Réunion des 10 juillet et 11 juillet 1973, ENV/59/73 F’, ibid.: 2.

83. European Commission, ‘Compte-rendu. Réunion du groupe d'experts economiques spécialisés en matière d'environnement, Bruxelles, le 29 janvier 1974, ENV/43/74-F, Liste des participants’, ibid.: 5, 8–9.

84. Service of the Environment and Consumer Protection, European Commission, ‘Allocation des coûts et intervention des pouvoirs publics en matière d'environnment, Document de travail des services de la commission, 7 May 1973, ENV/23/1/73 F’, HAEC BAC 58/1992, No. 319: 3.

85. Ibid.

86. Ibid., 18 [section IV].

87. Council of the European Communities, ‘Note. Draft Recommendation regarding cost allocation and action by public authorities on environmental matters (applying the polluter pays principle) Coreper 638, 24 July 1974, R/2573/74 (ENV 115)’, ACM CM2 1975.651.1: Annex 1, 1, fn. 1.

88. Ibid., 10f. [§ 21–2].

89. ‘Note. Draft Recommendation regarding cost allocation and action by public authorities on environmental matters, applying the polluter pays principle. Minutes of the Proceedings of the Working Party held on 29 March 1974, R/970/74 (ENV 41)’, ACM CM2 1975.648.1: 2. Similarly: ‘Note. Draft Recommendation regarding cost allocation and action by public authorities on environmental matters (applying the polluter pays principle) Coreper 638, 24 July 1974, R/2573/74 (ENV 115)’, 5f. § 9–12.

90. De Witte and Thies, ‘Why Choose Europe’, 23–5.

91. Börzel, ‘Why There Is No Southern Problem’.

92. On these criteria, see: Patel, ‘Provincialising European Union’.

93. Jordan et al., ‘European Governance and the Transfer of New Policy Instruments’; Biedenkopf, ‘Emissions Trading’; Meyer, ‘Interview with Marius Enthoven’.

94. Council of Europe, ‘Recommendation 659’: Part A, Principle II; Part B, §3c.

95. For example, Gaines, ‘The Polluter-Pays Principle’, 467–80.