Managing environmental regulations for the 21st century: challenges and opportunities in an Australian industry context

The growing awareness of the deleterious effects of climate change is leading to greater environmental regulation of industries around the world. This paper argues that there are difficulties in identifying and addressing environmental externalities in the context of developing a mandated approach to environmental issues. Furthermore, environmental regulation in Australia is complicated by the federal system of government, in which different environmental impacts are managed at local, state and/or federal levels. This paper analyses the problems associated with enacting environmental regulation and implementing environmental policies in a federal system. At an industry level, more self-regulation and co-regulation may overcome these problems and allow industry to better guide and influence the regulation process. At a policy level, the case for regulatory harmonisation as a means to simplify and standardise environmental regulations is examined while, at a theoretical level, the need for further research into alternatives to regulation is highlighted.