Managing Environmental Risks through Private Sector Cooperation: Theory; Experience and a Case Study of the California Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Practices

摘要

There is growing interest in voluntary agreements as an economic policy tool formanaging environmental risks. Numerous studies have been published about thetheory of such arrangements, how they work, and what they accomplish. Theydemonstrate that voluntary agreements can create value for both regulators andfirms. Little has been written, however, that analyzes various voluntaryarrangements in the winegrowing sector. The evidence accumulated from othersectors indicates that efforts in the winegrowing sector may be following anappropriate path for attaining management objectives. The California SustainableWinegrowing Practices (SWP) project indicates a number of strategies that may beuseful in developing voluntary agreements in other regions. The recommendationsinclude using an integrated approach with the initiative from the bottom toward thetop, involving interest groups early in the process, and evaluating the need for acertification program.