Abstract

A key theme of industrial ecology is that environmental and economic policy linkages must be established for real progress to be made on both fronts. The government of Lower Saxony is integrating economic and environmental policy using targeted economic development funds, environmental levies, public sector procurement, corporate environmental accounting requirements, and trade fairs.

One of the primary aims of the government of Lower Saxony is the ecological reorganization of industry. We are abandoning the principle of remedial environmental protection, which has proved to be more and more expensive and inefficient. Instead of ‘end-of-the-pipe’ technologies, which only cure the symptoms, we require integrated technologies and processes which prevent environmental damage from occurring in the first place.

This means, however, that economy and ecology should no longer be viewed as conflicting issues. Only an economy which switches over to environmentally friendly products and processes secures the basis for its own existence in the long term. The current economic principle of production, consumption, disposal, and rehabilitation is a vicious circle that has to be broken. A simple ‘Carry on as usual!’ is irresponsible and finally results in ecological disaster.

Thus the responsibility for the protection of the environment must be transferred more than at present to companies and should not—as is still often taken for granted—be borne by the public.

Ecology Funds

The government of Lower Saxony has unanimously decided to provide direct financial support for worthwhile approaches to an ecological restructuring of industry. Thus, associated with a fund for promoting economic development, we have set up a special ecology fund, jointly managed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of the Environment.