The assessment: Environmental policy - Objectives, instruments, and institutions

The article provides a critique of British environmental policy, focusing i n particular on the role of sustainable development as an organizing princi ple, the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and economic instruments, and t he design of the institutions responsible for implementing policy. It is ar gued that, while considerable progress has been made in the theoretical lit erature to define sustainable development, successive governments in the UK have widened the definition to the point where it provides little guidance for policy. Obstacles to the use of CBA are discussed, as are the politica l constraints on implementing economic instruments-in particular, the incom e effect. Finally, it is argued that the institutional design of the Enviro nment Agency and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regio ns partly explains the overwhelming reliance on command-and-control regulat ion.