A fresh approach to pollution management is advocated in a new World Bank Group Sourcebook launched today.
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The newly launched Sourcebook shifts the focus from primarily using public regulatory instruments towards greater acknowledgment of the role of multiple stakeholders in tackling pollution.? By using their own policy tools, for their own reasons – the government, private sector, financial intermediaries, judiciary, and citizens – can help strengthen local and national pollution management systems.
Getting to Green – A Sourcebook of Pollution Management Policy Tools for Growth and Competitiveness (the Sourcebook) builds upon and broadens the scope of the policy advice in The Pollution Prevention and Abatement Handbook: Towards Cleaner Production (PPAH), a World Bank publication which has served as a vital reference source for policy and technical guidance for policymakers and development practitioners.
As many as 23 tools are listed in the Sourcebook that are available for the range of actors. By applying the tools in parallel and by drawing in new groups, the effectiveness of the pollution management system can be strengthened.
A vital element of the strategy advocated by the Sourcebook is transparency. “One important factor that increases the effectiveness of all tools and empowers different players is the provision of information sharing. Several examples from across the world – Chile, India, Indonesia, and Mexico – show that making pollution and licensing data public, strengthens different stakeholders and draws them into managing pollution,” said Sari Söderström, Sector Manager, Environment at the World Bank.
This approach acknowledges that governments, private companies and civil society may have different reasons for managing pollution.? These incentives range from maximizing public welfare from a government standpoint and securing markets for a private sector enterprise, to minimizing environmental risks in a portfolio for a financial intermediary.? When different incentives for different actors are aligned in applying specific tools towards a common pollution management goal, “win-win” options are created.
The publication is structured so that each user group can navigate easily to review available policy to better manage pollution. It has two parts.
The first part discusses the conceptual framework underpinning the Sourcebook’s approach to pollution prevention and discusses how stakeholders can use the tools in the sourcebook to better manage pollution issues in a way that is consistent with “green growth”
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Also, the second part presents policy tools for each primary user. There is a short stand-alone guidance note on each policy tool, introducing the tool, discussing its strengths and weaknesses, conditions where it works best, and practical examples.