Voluntary behavior by electric utilities : levels of adoption and contribution of the climate challenge program to the reduction of carbon dioxide
By: WELCH, Eric W
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Contributor(s): MAZUR, Allan | BRETSCHNEIDER, Stuart.
Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: 2000Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 19, 3, p. 407-425Abstract: This paper analyzes the effect of particpation in the Department of energy`s Climate Challenge Program on CO2 emission reductin activity of the largest 50 electric utilities east of the Rocky Mountain from 1995 to 1997. Based primarily on regulatory influence theory of voluntary behavior developed by Lyon & Maxwell (1999), a two-stage model was developed and tested in which the first stage predicts voluntarism and the second stage uses the predicted values to test how voluntarism contributes to pollution reductin. Findings show a moderate level of support for regulatory influence theory with firms more likely to volunteer if they were located in states characterized by higher levels of environmentalism and if they were subject to higher levels of direct federal and state regulatin. Findings also support previous empirical evidence that larger firms are more likely to adopt voluntarism, while larger, high-polluting utilities voluntarily committed to reduce greater quantities of CO2. Neverthenless, adoption of the program seems to have no effect on reduction levels and those firms predicted to volunteer higher reduction levels were found to reduce CO2 emissons less. It is hypothesized that the ineffectivess of the Climate Challenge Program, compared with other voluntary programs, such as the 33/50 Program, may be due to the general weakness of the CO2 regulatory regime in the United States
| Item type | Current location | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Periódico | Biblioteca Graciliano Ramos | Periódico | Not for loan |
This paper analyzes the effect of particpation in the Department of energy`s Climate Challenge Program on CO2 emission reductin activity of the largest 50 electric utilities east of the Rocky Mountain from 1995 to 1997. Based primarily on regulatory influence theory of voluntary behavior developed by Lyon & Maxwell (1999), a two-stage model was developed and tested in which the first stage predicts voluntarism and the second stage uses the predicted values to test how voluntarism contributes to pollution reductin. Findings show a moderate level of support for regulatory influence theory with firms more likely to volunteer if they were located in states characterized by higher levels of environmentalism and if they were subject to higher levels of direct federal and state regulatin. Findings also support previous empirical evidence that larger firms are more likely to adopt voluntarism, while larger, high-polluting utilities voluntarily committed to reduce greater quantities of CO2. Neverthenless, adoption of the program seems to have no effect on reduction levels and those firms predicted to volunteer higher reduction levels were found to reduce CO2 emissons less. It is hypothesized that the ineffectivess of the Climate Challenge Program, compared with other voluntary programs, such as the 33/50 Program, may be due to the general weakness of the CO2 regulatory regime in the United States
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