Voluntary Initiatives

The NDG had discussed the issue of voluntary approaches to environmental protection as early as 1993 but the erosion of government regulatory capacity in subsequent years galvanized the NDG into action in 1996. The use of voluntary programs, such as ARET and the Voluntary Challenge and Registry, instead of or as a complement to regulation was gaining in popularity, particularly among governments and the corporate community. NGOs remained sceptical, largely because there was no agreed upon protocol for when such approaches were appropriate. Nor was there agreement on essential design components which meant that existing programs were uneven in their quality, effectiveness and thus credibility. The NDG set itself the challenge of addressing this division and in late 1997 released its report Criteria and Principles for the Use of Voluntary or Non-regulatory Initiatives to Achieve Environmental Policy Objectives.

This report was endorsed by: Abitibi-Consolidated Inc., the Canadian Global Change Program, the Canadian Nature Federation, Clemmer Technologies Inc., Dofasco Ltd., Dow Chemical Canada Inc., Friends of the Earth, INCO Ltd., the Inter-Church Committee on Ecology, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Noranda Inc., NOVA Corporation, Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development, Pollution Probe, Resource Futures International, TransAlta Corporation, Union pour le dveloppement durable, Wetlands International, and World Wildlife Fund Canada.

The NDG's criteria and principles have subsequently provided the foundation for a number of domestic and international processes, including the policy framework for Environmental Performance Agreements of Environment Canada and the Cooperative Agreements of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, and have influenced the design and evaluation of numerous voluntary or non-regulatory initiatives in Canada and internationally. The NDG's work has featured in several books and journal articles and was described in UNEP's Global Environment Outlook 2000 report.

Project report:

Criteria and Principles for the Use of Voluntary or Non-regulatory Initiatives to Achieve Environmental Policy Objectives (pdf, 29 KB)