Nowadays public policies are insufficiently ambitiousin order to reverse the environmental damage generated by man. Most of the literature that analyses policy changes tends to explain the incentives but do not give clear explanations about the limitation factors. We develop in this paper a reflection on policy change from the notion of transaction costs. Following a review of the three main approaches –sustainable development, ecological modernization and democratization– we expose ten theses on the role of transaction costs in the policy change from the case of the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union.