Resumo

The tension existing between economic development and environmental preservation inflicts debates in the contemporary scenario, highlighted by a context of continuing expansion of the global market. The conflict demands a deep reflection, oriented for the search of mechanisms promoting a minimum conciliation between two vectors. The European Union defines the environmental issue as one of the vertexes of its economic policy and intends to reconcile the protection to the environment with its competitive standing in the global market. In this line of thought, the seventh EU’s environmental action programme provides as one of its priority purposes the correct approach of environmental externalities. Some models for environmental protection adopted by national States and their legal grounds will be described. Despite international concerns have taken the contemporary speech, it is important to see to what extent localities incorporate such global guidelines and what are the obstacles encountered in the effectiveness of environmental protection. The importance of economic instruments in the protection of the environment is growing, especially those that discourage pollution and reward conservation. The economic instruments of environmental protection existing in Brazil will also be described, with special emphasis on the mechanisms of compensation of negative externalities in enterprises causing environmental impacts. The study of the Brazilian experience may effectively contribute to the appropriate consideration of the environmental external factors and optimize the mechanisms of negative externalities existing in the EU.