PhD Candidates
Ely Ouano
My PhD thesis examines the legal and institutional impediments to the use of cleaner production to improve production efficiency and reduce environmental pollution from industries.
In theory, financiers and industrialist should be rushing to use cleaner production. Cleaner production reduces wastage and increases marketable products. Cleaner production return on investment ranges from 15 to 50 per cent per annum compared to borrowing rates of 7 to 10 per cent. Demonstration projects on cleaner production have been done for the last 20 years throughout the world. The demonstration projects have shown time and time again the tremendous financial gain and improvement to the environment when using cleaner production.
Even with economic incentives such as tax credits, waiver of fines and penalties from past infringement of environmental laws, industries are slow in using cleaner production. In recent years, policy makers involved in cleaner production have been proposing legislating cleaner production in order to force industrialist to use it. If cleaner production has really a high economic return, improves the environment and the product line there should be no need to legislate its use.
Business decision to use cleaner production is dependent on a wide range of legislation such as industrial promotion laws, labour laws, trading laws, social laws involving relationships between land owners and tillers and the industry. For example, industrial promotion laws may protect the industry from competition. To radically change the industry by using cleaner production may mean forfeiture of benefits and protection of the industrial promotion laws.
My supervisors are Professors Donna Craig and Michael Jeffery of the Centre for Environmental Law