ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
modernisation during the 1980s than their counterparts in Britain.
German policy elites recognised the link between economic intervention-
ism and the growth potential of the emerging pollution control industry.
Consequently, by investing heavily in the green technology sector and apply-
ing the concept of ‘best available technology’ (BAT), which makes the award
of an operating licence conditional on a company installing the most mod-
ern, cleanest equipment, the German state provided a massive stimulus to
the green technology sector. By contrast, British policy elites failed to make
this connection. The absence of close links with peak economic associations,
combined with its particular ideological objection to interventionism, ren-
dered the Thatcher government unable and unwilling to consider a proactive
developmental role for the state. The consensual, interventionist policy style
required by ecological modernisation may make it less suitable for English-
speaking countries in general, such as the USA, Britain, Australia and New
Zealand, where environmental groups generally remain outsiders in the
policy process and market liberal ideologies have exercised most influence
(Dryzek 2005 :177–8).
Yetthe pioneer states are not paragons of ecological virtue; the empiri-
cal basis of ecological modernisation is actually very limited. The ecological
modernisation paradigm has not yet colonised the belief systems of all pol-
icy elites. One authoritative study of the Dutch response to the acid rain
problem found that a discourse of ecological modernisation co-existed with
traditional, sectoral policy responses (Hajer 1995 ). Consequently, ‘anticipa-
tory story-lines were combined with end-of-pipe solutions’, so that rather
than reducing sulphur and nitrate emissions by attacking the source of
theproblem – discouraging road traffic, cutting cattle stocks or conserving
energy – the Dutch fell back on the remedial solutions associated with the
traditional paradigm, such as requiring catalysts in cars, building slurry-
processing plants and fitting FGD equipment to power stations (Hajer 1995 :
267). Similarly, German pollution policies focus on symptoms rather than
causes, so they too mainly employ end-of-pipe solutions rather than attempt-
ing to change behaviour by, for example, reducing speed limits on the
autobahn (Weale 1992 : 84–5). A study of Norwegian climate change policy
found little evidence that the state was promoting ecological restructuring;
indeed, several key state institutions such as the Ministry of Industry and
Energy actively impeded attempts to reconcile economic and environmental
objectives by levying a carbon tax (Reitan 1998 : 22). Efforts to institutionalise
environmental values across a range of Norwegian public policy issues have
usually broken down whenever ‘significant economic interests have been at
stake’ (Jansen and Mydske 1998 : 203). In the pioneer states, as elsewhere,
governments still provide many perverse subsidies that encourage pollution
and environmental damage. Lastly, although they are the favoured policy
instrument of the ecological modernisation discourse, market-based instru-
ments, such as eco-taxes, are still used sparingly (see Chapter 12 ).