Management strategies
In this area, we work with policy options for regulation of chemicals, e.g. taxes, laws, and policy frameworks. The work is aimed at regulation at both national, European and global levels.
FRAM works to provide policy instruments for the fair sharing of the common emission space, i.e. the total load of chemicals that can be emitted without causing harm to ecosystem services. FRAM also propose policy options for accounting for chemical mixture effects.
Optimal policy design
One focus is the effects of the multi-governance of environmental issues and pollutants’ interactions on optimal policy design. The fact that pollutants interact, and that regulatory strategies and policies in place in most countries disregard the existence of cross effects between pollutants, imply that actual regulations are not optimal. This might lead to unintended side effects. The research evaluates the performance of different instrument combinations and identifies the institutional arrangements needed for effective coordination and implementation of integrated pollution management.
Chemical substitution
The substitution of hazardous chemicals is the process of replacing chemicals with less hazardous alternatives, non-hazardous chemicals. It can also mean that the use of chemicals is replaced by a completely different technology to achieve the same property. Here, we e.g. work with evaluating the willingness of chemical producers to comply with chemical substitution costs.
Case studies
We conduct studies in three different regions of the world, examining environmental impacts as well as local conditions for chemical risk management and governance. The studies are also used to test new ideas. We collaborate with local stakeholders in carrying out these studies.