De penetratie van milieutechnische maatregelen

This report describes the possibilities for further developing the instrumentation used by the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) for analyzing the penetration rate of technical solutions for environmental problems (technical measures) in practice. Such analysis implies describing and explaining the diffusion patterns of technical measures from the past and estimating these patterns for the future. This information is of importance for the development of models used by RIVM for assessment and prediction of the environmental quality within the framework of the annual Environmental Balance and once in every four year National Environmental Outlook. Policy-makers can use this information to support further elaboration of the environmental-oriented technology policy. Within RIVM, explaining diffusion processes of technical measures to date has been especially based on information on legal regulations and orders dictated by environmental policy. However, information is lacking on the extent of execution and control of environmental policy. Information on driving forces other than those dictated by environmental policy is present but how complete this is, is unclear. Recent insights from technology dynamics and their qualitative testing in several case-studies have led to the development of a framework. This framework includes 14 factors by which the forces driving the diffusion of techniques can be characterized systematically. This study has also served to trigger the development of indicators.