New Approaches

1. New Approaches Elen Strahle, Environment Agency England

2. Session aim To explore the role of new approaches in environmental regulation? What are they? Why use them? Do they work?

3. Session outline

4. Complementary approaches and Choosing interventions Duncan Giddens Chris Booth

5. Context 7th EAP Focus on implementation Smarter regulation Choosing the right interventions Evidence base

6. IMPEL Project: Complementary Approaches to Inspections – 2011

7. IMPEL Project: Complementary Approaches to Inspections

8. Regulatory Interventions • Economic Interventions • Voluntary Interventions • Information and Communication-based interventions Available from the regulatory evidence network: https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/evidence/overview

9. Direct regulation: relatively certain outcome but potentially costly, need to be targeted according to risk e.g. Environmental Permitting regime, REACH • Economic instruments: less certainty of outcome but greater flexibility for businesses to choose least cost options, may provide long-term certainty e.g. Landfill Tax • Information based approaches: uptake dependent on customer/supply chain interest e.g. EU Ecolabel • Co-regulation: can encourage rapid action, flexible to changing circumstances, but may struggle to capture small businesses e.g. Courtauld Commitment • Self-regulation: action motivated by financial, customer/supply-chain or reputational influences e.g. ISO14001 • Support and capacity building: impact may depend on credibility and trust.

10. Choosing appropriate interventions: • Phase 1 - Developing a model approach (2012) • Conceptual model - the’ blue wheel’ diagram • Influencing factors (factors that influence business environmental performance) • nature of business • nature of regulator • environmental /regulatory outcomes • Types of interventions we might use, building on the typology developed by the SNIFFER regulatory evidence project, interventions that have come out of IMPEL complementary approaches project and similar findings in a study carried out by Defra/Cranfield. • A ‘tool’ thathelps you (policy maker, practitioners) totake account of things that influence business environmental performance and knowledge of what interventions work in certain circumstances.

11. Problem and Outcomes Final Outputs Choosing Appropriate Interventions Dependencies Possible Delivery Agents Possible Interventions

12. Choosing Interventions Phase 2 (2013): Developing and testing a modelling tool • Phase 2 of the project has developed a tool called idepend that takes account of the things that influence business environmental performance and provides a means to help you decide what information you need, how each issue interrelates and what factors have most effect on achieving your desired state, or goal. • idepend is based on the concept of a ‘belief net’- effectively a mind map - of factors on which your goal depends (the dependencies). Dependencies can be added in successive layers based upon evidence of the type set out above. The idepend tool allows you to build your ‘mind map’ or ‘belief net’ with the following benefits.

13. External influences incentives good business behaviour Businesses behaviour and response is favourable Desired state. Eg environmental or regulatory outcome Several Interventions are available Let’s see this in a dependency model Delivery agents available

14. Choosing Interventions Phase 2: Testing the model and the tool • The IMPEL community is testing how a toolkit can help implement • the model approach. The aims are to test whether the toolkit • enables users to: • Assemble and quantify risks and dependencies for a goal or desired state (idepend) • Access information on available interventions and delivery agents (library of interventions) • Choose interventions and delivery agents (idepend) • Predict to what extent this might help you achieve your goal (idepend) • Record and share the results of choosing and using interventions (regulatory evidence net)

15. Choosing Interventions Phase 2: Benefits of dependency modelling identified by workshop (June 2013) Benefits of using model approach Forces you to articulate desired outcome(s) and dependencies Can be shared with and informed by others Improves understanding and visibility of issues Supports decision making to choose and compare interventions Features of idepend tool Provides a logical framework to assemble dependencies Uses a standard methodology to describe and discuss risk Can be iterated to identify critical dependencies Allows complex situations to be split into easy to deal with parts Enables information to be stored and used as an audit trail Shows likelihood of achieving the goal/desired state

16. Example models developed using the iDEPENDtool

17. Example models developed using the iDEPENDtool

18. Predicting how an intervention might improve the chances of achieving your goal

19. Feedback from user testing • Feedback from 25 users in the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. • Effective use depends on the user’s knowledge and the available evidence of: • the dependencies and how they fit together, • probabilities of dependencies affecting the goal, • range of interventions available and how they might change • its early days and this process will become easier with experience. • The tool forces you to think through a problem logically. • Using the tool brings about a growing awareness of how much needs to be known and the uncertainties of so many aspects. • It can be used at various levels from local through to national (scalable). • Would be good for co-ordinating roles of various regulatory bodies involved.

20. Some quotes from test users “Potential aid to develop plans, strategies, site specific action plans etc.” “A good means to develop Compliance Action Plans as it captures the reasons for interventions” “Useful to use it with industry because being regulated better is in industries interest as well as ours” “Being able to trial certain interventions and model potential success was useful” “Captures and presents all the aspects in a pictorial manner which is useful in using to demonstrate your thinking and putting a case to management” “To be of greatest use, it should lead you more towards the right interventions” “Helps you to reach your outcomes and how to deal with companies”

21. Next Steps • Timeline • Malta conference: presentation and • poster session - try it yourselves ! October 2013 • Report to IMPEL Cluster and GA Oct – Dec 2013 • Make available to IMPEL members 2014 (tbc) • Possible uses • Choosing interventions → framework for inspection? • Risk analysis & appraisal • Compliance assessment planning • Strategies and priorities • Hosting and maintaining • IMPEL/Regulatory evidence network?

22. Conclusions It all depends!