Hostname: page-component-7f64f4797f-bnl7t Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-04T05:16:19.302Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Public disclosure of industrial pollution: the PROPER approach for Indonesia?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2007

JORGE H. GARCÍA ,
THOMAS STERNER  and
SHAKEB AFSAH
JORGE H. GARCÍA
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
THOMAS STERNER*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden and Resources for the Future, Washington DC
SHAKEB AFSAH
Affiliation:
Performeks LLC, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
*
*Correspondence to: Thomas Sterner, Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, PO Box 640 40530, Vasagatan 1, Gothenburg, Sweden. Email: Thomas.sterner@economics.gu.se
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the Program for Pollution Control Evaluation and Rating (PROPER) in Indonesia. PROPER, the first major public disclosure program in the developing world, was launched in June 1995; though it collapsed in 1998 with the Asian financial crisis, it is currently being revived. There have been claims of success for this pioneering scheme, yet little formal and conclusive analysis has been undertaken. We analyze changes in emissions concentrations (mg/L) using panel data techniques with plant-level data for participating firms and a control group. The results show that there was indeed a positive response to PROPER, especially among firms with poor environmental compliance records. The response was immediate, and firms pursued further emissions reductions in the following months. The total estimated reductions in biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were approximately 32 per cent.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 12 , Issue 6 , December 2007 , pp. 739 - 756
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Afsah, S., Laplante, B., and Wheeler, D. 1997, ‘Regulation in the Information Age: Indonesian Public Information Program for Environmental Management’, Research Paper, World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Afsah, S. and Vincent, J. 1997, ‘Putting pressure on polluters: Indonesia's PROPER program’, case study prepared for the Asia Environmental Economics Policy Seminar at Harvard Institute for International Development, Boston.Google Scholar
Afsah, S. and Ratunanda, D. 1999, ‘Environmental performance measurement and reporting in developing countries: the case of Indonesias Program for Pollution Control Evaluation and Rating (PROPER)’, in Bennett, M. and James, P. (eds), Sustainable Measures: Evaluation and Reporting of Environmental and Social Performance, Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing Ltd, pp. 185–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, R.G. and Russell, C.S. 2003, ‘Ill considered experiments: the environmental consensus and the developing world’, Harvard International Review 24: 20–25.Google Scholar
Blackman, A., Afsah, S., and Ratunda, D. 2004, ‘How do public disclosure pollution control programs work? Evidence from Indonesia’, Human Ecology Review 11: 235–246.Google Scholar
Cohen, M. 1999, ‘Monitoring and enforcement of environmental policy’, in Tietenberg, T. and Folmer, H. (eds), International Year Book of Environmental and Resource Economics 1999/2000, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishers, pp. 44–106.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, S., Laplante, B., and Mamingi, N. 2001, ‘Pollution and capital markets in developing countries’, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 42: 310–335.Google Scholar
De Marchi, S. and Hamilton, J. 2006, ‘Assessing the accuracy of self-reported data: an evaluation of the toxics release inventory’, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 32: 57–76.Google Scholar
Foulon, J., Lanoie, P., and Laplante, B. 2002, ‘Incentives for pollution control: regulation or information?’, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 44: 169–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garvie, D. and Keeler, A. 1994, ‘Incomplete enforcement with endogenous regulatory choice’, Journal of Public Economics 55: 141–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hahn, R., Olmstead, S., and Stavins, R. 2003, ‘Environmental regulation during the 1990s: a retrospective analysis’, Harvard Environmental Law Review 27: 377–415.Google Scholar
Hamilton, J. 1995, ‘Pollution as news: media and stock market reaction to the Toxics Release Inventory data’, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 28: 98–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khanna, M., Rose, W., Quimio, H., and Bojilova, D. 1998, ‘Toxic release information: a policy tool for environmental protection’, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 36: 243–266.Google Scholar
Konar, S. and Cohen, M. 1997, ‘Information as regulation: the effect of community right to know laws on toxic emissions’, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 32: 109–124.Google Scholar
Lanoie, P., Laplante, B., and Roy, M. 1998, ‘Can capital markets create incentives for pollution control?’, Ecological Economics 26: 31–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadaï, A. 1999, ‘Conditions for the development of a product eco-label’, European Environment 9: 202–211.3.0.CO;2-S>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pargal, S. and Wheeler, D. 1996, ‘Informal regulation of industrial pollution control in developing countries: evidence from Indonesia’, Journal of Political Economy 104: 1314–1326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Portney, P. 2000, ‘Environmental problems and policy 2000–2050’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 14: 199–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, C.S. and Vaughan, W.J. 2003, ‘The choice of pollution control policy instruments in developing countries: arguments, evidence and suggestions’, in International Yearbook of Environmental and Resource Economics, 2003/2004, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishers, pp. 331–371.Google Scholar
Sterner, T. 2003, Policy Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management, Washington, DC: RFF Press.Google Scholar
Tietenberg, T.H. 1998, ‘Disclosure strategies for pollution control’, Environmental and Resource Economics 11: 587–602.Google Scholar
Wang, H., Bi, J., Wheeler, D., Wang, J., Cao, D., Lu, G., and Wang, Y. 2002, ‘Environmental performance rating and disclosure’, Research Paper, World Bank, Washington, DC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Bank 1994, Indonesia: Environment and Development, Washington, DC: World Bank Publications.Google Scholar
World Bank 2000, Greening Industry: New Roles for Communities, Markets and Governments, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar