Europeanisation and the Uneven Convergence of Environmental Policy: Explaining the Geography of EMAS

Richard Perkins and Eric Neumayer
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Richard Perkins: School of Geography, University of Plymouth, 8-11 Kirkby Place, Plymouth PL4 8AA, England

Environment and Planning C, 2004, vol. 22, issue 6, 881-897

Abstract: In this paper we seek to advance current understanding of uneven convergence in the context of EU environmental policy, and specifically, the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). Using a large-sample, quantitative methodology, we examine three broad sets of determinants hypothesised to influence geographic patterns of policy convergence: (1) cross-national market integration; (2) compatibility between the domestic regulatory context and European policy requirements; and (3) bottom-up pressure from market and societal actors. Our analysis provides empirical support for all three hypothesised determinants. Measures of import–export ties, regulatory burden, past policy adoptions, environmental demand from civil society, and levels of economic productivity are all found to be statistically significant predictors of national EMAS counts. Against a backdrop of geographically diverse regulatory institutions, societal conditions, and trading relationships, we conclude that unevenness is an inevitable feature of Europeanisation.

Date: 2004
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envirc:v:22:y:2004:i:6:p:881-897

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