Future Air Quality Management Policy Direction: Perspectives from East Asian Cities

1. Lucinda Peters Murdoch University, Western Australia L.Peters@murdoch.edu.au Future Air Quality Management Policy Direction: Perspectives from East Asian Cities

2. Outline of Presentation • Research Topic • Methodology • Policy Instruments • Policy Instruments: Experiences from East Asia Cities • Implications for AQM Policy in East Asian Cities • Conclusions

3. Research Questions • What policy instruments have been utilised for AQM in developing, transitional and developed East Asian cities? • What are the strengths and weaknesses of policy instruments within urban AQM frameworks in East Asia? • What are the emerging trends for policy instruments in AQM frameworks of developing, transitional and developed East Asian cities?

4. Policy Instruments • Command and Control Regulation (C and C) • Education Instruments • Economic Instruments • Co-regulation • Self-regulation

5. Methodology • Qualitative Research • Research Methods • Literature Reviews • Interviews with AQM experts • Computer Data Analysis • Case Study Selection • Cities investigated: • Singapore • Tokyo, Japan • Bangkok, Thailand • Beijing, PRC • Jakarta, Indonesia • Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam • Hanoi, Vietnam

6. Command and Control Regulation: Experiences Summary • Extensively applied in East Asian cities: • National and local laws (layers) • Land-use planning (industry) • Industry and Vehicle emission standards • Vehicle I & M programs • Waste burning restrictions • Importance of C and C • Within case study cities (18 Comments) • East Asian urban AQM frameworks (23 Comments) “I think for the developing country we should stay on the command and control regulation, besides we can still use the education program, education inducement and we can use the economic inducement, but we should focus mainly on command and control regulation.” Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

7. Command and Control Regulation: Experiences Summary “But still I think you need to start up with some simple, clear requirements regulations, so required regulations it is good to start with, it’s clear, many people feels its fair in the beginning. But its not flexible, so later on the people as they [become] more conscientious about environment, awareness is better, I think its important to implement other measures to allow more flexibility.” Beijing, PRC • Strengths • Makes individuals/firms comply and conform to AQM laws • Dependable (but conditional) • Fair and consistent (defined limits of behavior) • Weaknesses • Inflexible • No reward for “beyond compliance” behavior • Resource intensive (e.g. monitoring and inspections) • Institutional failings • Difficulties with transient/area sources

8. Strengths Improving public and industry awareness of AQ issues in city Enabling understanding of need for action on AQM Places pressure on government and firms to improve AQM in city Weaknesses Requires government support and provision of infrastructure Needs persuasive argument or self-interest for individual pro-active action (motivation) Operates well as a complementary policy instrument – not effective alone “Education and outreach. To build the demand for it. And also to build the demand for people to really comply. Because all these policies involve subjects who are being regulated who are spread out throughout large areas and who are very hard to regulate from a central point. So there has to be an agreement, willingness to comply on the part of the population to such regulation, for it to have any impact whatsoever.” Jakarta, Indonesia Education Instruments: Experiences Summary

9. Economic Instruments: Experiences Summary • Strengths • Cost-effectiveness in AQM framework • Flexibility • Reduced government role in regulation (e.g. permit market) • Weaknesses • Will require government resources for monitoring and enforcement of programs • Not popular approach with individuals/firms (e.g. fuel price) “And then gradually it [is] needed to introduce some market based instruments. Because not only for developing countries but also the developed countries, you always have limited resources to do something. So you are better to … find efficient or cost-effective way to achieve objectives.” Beijing, PRC

10. Co-regulation and Self-regulation: Experiences Summary “Because of the enforcement action in place historically now …the government can afford to take a softer approach. The industries over the last 30 years have seen the benefit of looking after the environment. They tend to follow and attend seminars, talks, to try and understand why things have to be appreciated…” Singapore • Strengths • Encourages pro-active and voluntary behaviour for AQM • International market influence (e.g. export approvals, image) • Reduced government role in AQM (de-regulation) • Weaknesses • Culture of resistance to voluntarism (e.g. industry) • Difficult for Small/Medium Enterprise (capacity to implement)

11. Observations: East Asian Cities Key Findings: 1. The importance of individual policy instrument roles in AQM frameworks (e.g. command and control) 2. Emerging complementary policy instrument combinations in developing AQM frameworks in East Asian cities 3. Stages of AQM framework progress in developing and developed East Asian Cities  policy instrument combinations

12. “I think it’s a very big argument whether you can directly going economic instrument without doing command and control. Usually in the past you apply command and control and industry follow that and they have difficulty and then go [to] economic instrument. Stages. The most difficult stage is various regulation, it doesn’t work if it is not enforced. That’s very common in many of the cities.” Tokyo, Japan Command and Control regulation (implemented) as a basis for the introduction of different policy instruments for AQM Education Instruments Complementary instrument + Command and Control Economic Instruments + Education instruments + Command and Control Co-regulation + Self-regulation Pro-active environment International factors + Command and Control Policy Instrument Roles: Developed v Developing City Experience

13. Policy Instrument Directions Developing East Asian Cities – Policy direction • Command and control (large role focused on basic command and control programs) • Plus education instruments (large complementary role) • Investigating economic instruments for AQM (small usage) • Plus self-regulation for large multinational or local companies Transitional East Asian Cities – Policy Direction • Command and control (large role that is effectively being implemented) • Plus education instruments • Investigating and utilising selective economic instruments (e.g. tax differentiation) • Plus self-regulation for large and medium sized companies Developed East Asian Cities – Policy Direction • De-regulation process pursued • Decreased reliance on command and control regulation • Plus large education, economic instrument, co-regulation and self-regulation component

14. Conclusions • Command and Control is the most important policy instrument in AQM frameworks in East Asian cities. • Command and Control provides an important basis for policy instrument progression in AQM (Developed City Viewpoint). • Other policy instruments for AQM are becoming increasingly popular and important in East Asian cities (State of Transition) • Future policy instrument direction in East Asian cities can be guided by the history of AQM progress from leading developed cities of the region.

15. Thank You Very Much For Your Attention.