Recent debates on the environmental state have hardly included the information revolution we are witnessing today. What consequences for environmental governance are to be expected from the growing importance of informational processes in almost all aspects of modern life? This paper explores to what extent and how the Information Age enables the emergence of an informational mode of environmental governance, in which environmental information gains transformative powers. As illustrated by several examples the conventional powers of authority in environmental protection are supplemented by informational resources used by state and non-state actors to change practices of production and consumption. Against this background the increasing popularity and use of voluntary agreements in environmental governance can be interpreted as informational governance half-way. These new modes of environmental transition, based on information, bring forward a new research agenda for the environmental social sciences.

Arthur P. J. Mol, in "SOCIOLOGIA E POLITICHE SOCIALI" 2/2005, pp. , DOI: