Voluntary environmental programs among businesses don’t work. This according to a new study from George Mason University of more than 30,000 firms. Some of those firms were participants in the Environmental Protection Agency’s VEPs (Voluntary Environmental Programs), some weren’t. Participants received $69 million from the EPA last year (1.6 percent of the agency’s budget). Yet nonparticipating companies performed 7.7 percent better than participants in meeting environmental goals.
Why? Well, self-monitored companies performed worst of all (nonparticipators outperformed them by 24 percent). The absence of third-party oversight invites ‘free ridership,’ says Nicole Darnall, lead author. “Companies are taking part in these programs and receive credit for doing so, but some aren’t really adhering to the goals. Nonparticipating companies may have stronger goals… [and] a higher performance.” The study is published in Policy Studies Journal.
In other words, slacker companies with no genuinely good intentions get the money under Bush’s castrated EPA… Sigh. Practice compassionate impeachment.
Julia Whitty is Mother Jones’ environmental correspondent, lecturer, and 2008 winner of the John Burroughs Medal Award. You can read from her new book, The Fragile Edge, and other writings, here.
