Negotiation between Authority and Polluters - Model for Support of Decision Making in Environmental Policy

A new trend in environmental policy has emerged in the 1990's. This trend is the voluntary participation of business in environmental protection and problem-solving. So-called environmental management system principles and standards are being developed and certified in many countries. A reasonable number of corporations have already introduced this system. Voluntary agreements between industry and authorities have occurred and have achieved benefits that are significant to both parties. This paper contributes to the development of theories that could promote further progress in the field of business participation in environmental protection. It describes a relatively new approach to pollution reduction problem-solving that relies on negotiation between polluters and authorities in which traditional economic tools of environmental policies are used. The results of a negotiation experimental game are presented to illustrate the efficacy of this paper approach and the practical applications of this method are discussed.