How well do voluntary agreements and programs perform at improving industrial energy efficiency?

This paper examines evaluation studies of different voluntary agreements and programs and discusses the collective findings on observed performance outcomes. Evidence is drawn from actual evaluations of individual programs implemented in the U.S. and other OECD countries. Performance of voluntary agreements and programs is assessed in terms of the manner and extent to which they can, produce short-run direct effects, as well as soft effects, dynamic effects, wider economic and environmental effects, cost effects, and benefits to policy learning. What is meant by effective implementation of voluntary approaches depends on how these different aspects of performance are accounted for in the policy evaluation.

Duke Scholars

Author Gale Allen Boyd Social Science Research Institute