Risk Reduction Through Voluntary Programs

CHAPTER 2

Voluntary Programs Can Be An Effective Tool For Achieving Environmental Benefits

In recent years, EPA has used voluntary programs more frequently to reduce risks. Our review indicated that voluntary programs can be an effective tool for reducing risk and achieving environmental results. The Radon and selected Energy Star programs used good management practices and developed ways to estimate their environmental results. As a result, the programs were effective and achieved environmental benefits, as shown by EPA statistics.

ROLE OF VOLUNTARY PROGRAMS IN EPA

The importance of voluntary programs has been discussed in several EPA and non-EPA documents.

EPA stated in its five-year plan that it must develop and implement innovative, effective and efficient approaches to environmental protection. Two guiding principles in the plan are pollution prevention and creating partnerships. EPA works to prevent pollution by developing voluntary programs with the private sector. EPA creates partnerships with Federal, tribal, state, and local agencies; Congress; private industry; public interest groups; and citizens; to develop the technology and capacity for carrying out environmental programs and policies.
EPA's Customer Service Plan states that the ultimate success in serving the public depends on how effectively its programs work with and influence the actions of the many other parties that are responsible for protecting the environment. EPA recognized the growing importance of voluntary programs and identified them as a core process for serving its customers.
A report by EPA's Science Advisory Board, Reducing Risk: Setting Priorities and Strategies for Environmental Protection, September 1990, recommended that EPA make greater use of all the tools available to reduce risk, including the sharing of information. The exchange of information can facilitate the wider use of cost-effective pollution prevention strategies.
The Climate Change Action Plan called upon EPA and other Federal agencies to foster cooperative approaches to environmental protection with the private sector through partnerships, rather than relying exclusively on command-and-control mandates that tend to lock technologies into place and stifle innovation.

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF VOLUNTARY PROGRAMS

The Radon and Energy Star programs were effective in achieving environmental benefits by using several good management practices discussed in Chapter 3. The programs developed ways to estimate environmental results, as discussed in Chapter 4, and used the measurements to report their progress and make adjustments in program implementation. The voluntary programs provided evidence of their environmental results.

Programs provided evidence of environmental results.

The Office Equipment program had transformed a significant percentage of the markets to Energy Star by the end of 1995. This resulted in estimated savings of 2.3 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and 1,300 pounds of carbon emissions ( .6 Million Metric Tons of Carbon Equivalents (MMTCE)) for 1994 and 1995.

Studies in 1994 by the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD) showed that in high radon areas, radon awareness was at 78 percent and testing was at 13 percent.

Since energy-efficient measures provide tangible benefits, such as cost savings, it is reasonable to question why they are not widely implemented in the marketplace without Federal Government intervention. In a 1991 report on global change, the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), noted that uncertainty and the lack of information were key barriers to greater investment in energy conservation in buildings. The large number of highly cost-effective investments in energy efficiency that are not chosen by EPA serves as a catalyst to help consumers overcome barriers. consumers indicated that price alone did not stimulate optimal investment decisions. Barriers such as lack of information prevent full implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency measures.⁽¹⁾ Therefore, OTA recommended that information dissemination be a key element of any U.S. global change policy option. The Energy Star programs disseminate needed information and serve as a catalyst to help consumers overcome the barriers to energy-efficiency.

Changing consumer behavior is a goal of EPA's voluntary programs. Changing consumer behavior provides lasting environmental results. When changing consumer behavior results in lasting environmental results, market transformation has occurred. Market transformation, as discussed in Chapter 5, is the process whereby innovations are introduced into the marketplace and are increasingly accepted by the market.

The role of voluntary programs is to encourage the manufacture and consumers' acceptance of risk reduction innovations in the marketplace. By changing consumer behavior and effecting a market transformation, voluntary programs achieve lasting environmental results and reduced health risks. As the market is transformed by new environmental innovations, EPA will be able to reduce its program support and allocate its resources to other products or programs.

By developing ways to estimate environmental results and using good management practices, the voluntary programs achieved environmental benefits and reduced health risks. The programs demonstrated that they can be an effective tool for reducing risk and achieving environmental benefits.

Footnotes

Howard Geller and Steven Nadel, "Market Transformation Strategies to Promote End-Use Efficiency" American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, 1994.

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