Governance for sustainable development: The United States and the European Union compared

In part the differences that have emerged between the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) over approaches to environmental policy may be explained by the way in which business and environmental advocates act within the multilevel settings in which they operate. Environmental policy was infused with federal-state partnerships and public-private cooperation throughout the 1990s. US environmental federalism was subject to significant shifts, affecting not only practice but also theory. American federalism, European intergovernmentalism as well as supranationalism, and European multilevel governance help to describe the development and expansion of environmental policy on both sides of the Atlantic. An actor-centered perspective is better suited for comparing the EU and the US in policy-relevant terms. In environmental matters, the states joined forces by creating the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) in 1993. Finally, European environmental advocacy groups, like business lobbies, can influence EU environmental policies via traditional access points at the Member State level.