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Project title

Prevention and control of pollution in Ireland since 2008: role and effects of licence & enforcement

Primary Funding Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

n/a

Lead Organisation

Economic & Social Research Institute (ESRI)

Lead Applicant

Anne Nolan

Project Abstract

In parallel with the development of economic instruments such as taxes and tradeable permits to reduce pollution, Ireland and other European countries have long employed firm-specific permits. This form of regulation is designed to collect harmonised information relevant to policy and enforcement, but it also aims to “build a culture of compliance” leading to quantification and reduction of harmful emissions and more efficient use of resources (Power et al., 2020). Permit systems are normally supported by a range of enforcement activities. There has been a limited amount of empirical research on the effects of environmental licensing in Ireland (Clinch & Kerins, 2002; Styles et al. 2009a, b). We propose a two-part study on this topic. The first part will involve a broad survey of the benefits and costs of regulatory control of industrial sectors (licensing & enforcement) in Ireland, focusing on IPC/IPPC/IED licensees. Relevant benefits likely include emissions reductions, green investments, efficiency gains, innovation and supportive market conditions associated with giving certainty to firms, investors and customers. Costs probably arise mainly from a mixture of administrative inputs from regulators and compliance expenditures and opportunity costs affecting firms. Because of the variedA1/16 nature of licensees and their economic activities, we do not expect that it will be possible to fully identify the causal contribution of the regulatory control regime to benefits and costs, but we believe a descriptive analysis casting light on most of the main dimensions will be feasible. The second part of the study will aim to illustrate how benefits of licensing regulation and enforcement may be measured and isolated from other factors affecting licensee behaviour. We propose to try to measure the effect of a specific aspect of enforcement (e.g., EPA site visits) on subsequent emissions of licensed facilities in Ireland. This type of model has been able to measure effects of environmental regulation in other settings, e.g. Magat and Viscusi (1990). To facilitate like-for-like comparisons, we will probably need to focus on a particular set of emissions or licenced sector: e.g., licensees’ emissions to water. The quantitative part of this analysis will involve obtaining and extracting relevant data from annual environmental reports filed by licensees and then using statistical tools to model changes in emissions as a function of enforcement actions and firms’ other characteristics.

Grant Approved

�1,130,000.00

Research Hub

Healthy Environment

Research Theme

n/a

Start Date

01/08/2022

Initial Projected Completion Date

31/07/2024