Abstract
A policy package is a combination of policy instruments1 (PIs) designed to address one or more policy objectives, created in order to improve the effectiveness of the individual policy instruments, and implemented while minimizing possible unintended effects, and/or facilitating interventions’ legitimacy and feasibility in order to increase efficiency. The Water sector is one of the three sectors for which the options and contribution of servicizing to absolute decoupling2 were examined (the other two sectors are Mobility and Agri-food). Specifically, servicizing the introduction of greywater recycling (GWR) and rainwater harvesting (RWH) were analyzed. Examining the potential in the UK indicates that servicizing the introduction of GWR and RWH does have the potential to contribute to decoupling, both in terms of GHG emissions and in terms of water that needs to be delivered in mains. The decoupling indicator chosen for the mobility sector in this project was chosen to be the ratio between the economic cost and environmental impact (emissions/mains water use) of abstracting, treating, delivering and disposing of water in the servicizing options (GWR&RWH solutions). However, the extent to which such decoupling will materialize is a function of the degree to which such systems are indeed adopted. To facilitate the adoption of GWR and RWH systems a policy packaging approach is used, whereby different policy instruments (PI) are combined so they will have synergetic effects, and potential contradictions among them are addressed. The Policy Packages are designed in several steps. First all the PIs that are likely to advance GWR and RWH are identified. Then the potential contribution of each, and the likely cost of implementing it are assessed, in order to identify the most effective PIs – those PIs with the highest potential to both advance decoupling and the implementation of which does not incur excessive cost. Then the preconditions for implementing these most promising, “low hanging fruits” are identified, as well as instruments that may facilitate decoupling if enacted with these primary PIs and PIs that have synergetic relations with the primary PIs. On this basis basic packages are formed. In the case of GWR and RWH in the UK, the leading country in this sector study, three basic packages were originally identified, based on the primary tools they use. Then, by using agent-based modeling simulation results and causal mapping an Effective Package is formed. This package accounts for the likelihood of reaching the objective in the most effective way. In the UK some 100 PIs were whittled down to 15 at this stage.But an Effective Package is not necessarily implementable. Hence, the distribution facets of the Effective Package were identified, as well as the institutions and interest groups that will be involved in the decision-making and implementation stages. To this end the beneficiaries and losers from each PI included in the Effective Package were identified, as well as measures that can attenuate the losses. In addition the potential implementation barriers faced by each of the PIs in the package were identified. On this basis the Effective Package was modified, to assure that it is viable – viable package. To this end several PIs were removed from the Policy Packages. The background conditions, as well as the socio-political circumstances of each country differ. Hence, the viability of the policy package formulated in the UK has to be modified to address other countries’ particularities. In this study the cases of Israel and Galicia, Spain, were examined. In both cases the particular features of the setting required that the list of PIs in the British Effective Package s will be modified. Thus, in both Israel and Spain, water is metered, there is no need to include this PI, which was a central PI in the UK case. Hence, this PI was removed in both the Israeli and Spanish cases. But while Israel is mostly dry, Galicia is the wettest part of Spain. Hence, while Israel focused on GWR, the Spanish team focused on RWH. Barriers to implementation and decision making structures also differ among the countries. In Israel, for example, GWR is not legal at present, and thus a law allowing for GWR (already being discussed) is a pre-requisite for all other PIs. This PI was added therefore to the Israeli viable package. Similarly, in the Spanish case it lack of staff for developing RWH was seen as an impediment and hence subsidies for the social insurance of such staff was added as a PI. In summary, GWR and RWH can contribute to decoupling, and servicizing can be important for the introduction of such systems. But in order for these benefits to materialize a place-modified Policy Packages are needed. Three viable packages were formulated in the study, demonstrating how a combination of servicizing and policy packaging can contribute to decoupling.