The Use of Economic Instruments in Environmental Policy: Opportunities and Challenges (UN Environment)

Economic instruments involves market mechanisms and provide important and useful approach to address environmental challenges, ranging from pollution taxes, subsidies, charges and marketable permits to deposit-refund systems and performance bonds. These instruments create economic benefits in sustainable way, such as increasing the cost of environmentally harmful activities and invigorating the design of improved technologies. This UN Environment report provides guidance to policy makers, especially those in developing countries, to identify, assess and apply economic instruments to deal with domestic environmental problems within national and local perspectives: how to choose the appropriate tools and integrate them effectively.