Can businesses voluntarily adopt progressive environmental policies? Most environmental regulations are based on the assumption that the pursuit of profit leads firms to pollute the environment, and ...therefore governments must impose mandatory regulations. However, new instruments such as voluntary programs are increasingly important. Drawing on the economic theory of club goods, this book offers a theoretical account of voluntary environmental programs by identifying the institutional features that influence conditions under which programs can be effective. By linking program efficacy to club design, it focuses attention on collective action challenges faced by green clubs. Several analytic techniques are used to investigate the adoption and efficacy of ISO 14001, the most widely recognized voluntary environmental program in the world. These analyses show that, while the value of ISO 14001's brand reputation varies across policy and economic contexts, on average ISO 14001 members pollute less and comply better with governmental regulations.
Environmental sustainability has gained momentum in the business world and academia. After about 20 years of research in this field, this paper presents a holistic literature review specifically ...focused on ISO 14001, which is widely considered the most important environmental certification. The authors apply an antecedents-process-consequences framework to analyze systematically the scientific debate in this field. They identify six streams of ISO 14001 research, that is, drivers, barriers, tools and methods, impact on performances, enabling factors affecting adoption, and enabling factors affecting performances. The authors then summarize these research streams and highlight conflicting results and unexplored research areas. Finally, they propose a theory-based research agenda.
The Environmental Management System (EMS) became a critical success factor in order to compete on the market. The aim of this study is to investigate how companies that have implemented an EMS based ...on the ISO 14001:2015 certification have perceived the changes due to the revision of the standard. The research was conducted through the administration of a questionnaire to 1,508 Italian ISO 14001 certified companies. Two hundred and eighty‐four companies constituting the sample of our study. As main benefits achieved by surveyed companies we highlight, risk prevention, better management of environmental activities, and creation of new targets for reducing energy and waste. As main barriers to ISO 14001 implementation we highlight, increased bureaucracy, increased complexity of environmental procedures and difficulty in increasing employee environmental awareness. The main contribution of this research is given by the analysis on how companies have dealt with the changes required by the new version of the standard.
ISO 14001 is the most widespread international standard that supports organizations in the implementation and maintenance of their Environmental Management Systems (EMS) defining a list of ...requirements to improve environmental performance. The investigation of the drivers of EMS adoption is still relevant today in the scientific debate. To upgrade the knowledge in this context, a research at national level has been designed with the aim to explore the benefits and the limits of ISO 14001 requirements. This paper presents the results derived from four national surveys conducted from 2008 to 2015 that involved the Italian ISO 14001 certified organizations to explore their difficulties and advantages of complying with the ISO 14001 requirements. The surveys were conducted through an on-line questionnaire with multiple-choice questions and a Likert four-point scale; they involved numerous Italian certified organizations, both public and private in different industrial and services sectors, collecting the opinions of managers and practitioners of Environmental Management Systems.
The surveys' results demonstrate a growing consciousness over the years within the Italian organizations regarding the pros and cons of the ISO 14001 certification. The main usefulness of a certified environmental management system is related to compliance with legal requirements, competence and awareness, operational control and environmental performance assessment. Italian organizations also recognize that these are the most complex ones in which to ensure compliance with the standard's requirements. From a theoretical perspective, these considerations confirm but also outdo what is already known in the literature and open new research pathways emphasizing the more demanding requirements for Italian organizations. Furthermore, the main findings that can guide the managers and practitioners in applying ISO 14001 are revealed, in order to address their efforts toward the more challenging and helpful requirements.
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•The benefits and limits of environmental requirements compliance are investigated.•Italian ISO 14001 certified organizations are involved in four national surveys.•There is a parallelism between pros and cons of ISO 14001 requirements.•Legal compliance, competence, and monitoring are the most important requirements.
The purpose of this paper is the assessment of the ISO 14001:2015 transition process among Portuguese ISO 14001 certified organizations, including those that successfully have already achieved ISO ...14001:2015 certification. A considerable number of the surveyed companies proceeded with the transition to the ISO 14001:2015 by introducing slight adjustments and were supported by external consultants. Nearly all of the respondent companies (97%) intend to transition until 15th September 2018. The highest ranked reported benefit is the “integrated approach with other management sub-systems” with a well-consolidated perception from the surveyed companies. This is aligned with the ISO 14001:2015 goal of improving the compatibility of management standards supported on the Annex SL. “Alignment with business strategy”, “improved top management commitment” and “improved internal and external communication” are also perceived to obtain significant benefits from ISO 14001:2015. The statistical tests carried out (Kruskal–Wallis) confirmed that the perception of some achieved ISO 14001:2015 certification benefits is dependent on the size of the organization. Concerning the motivations to proceed with certification, results suggest that there is not a particular company profile that is compelled to certify their EMS based on a specific type of motivation (Internal or External). Due to ISO 14001:2015 novelty, these exploratory results should be subjected to additional research confirmation.
Companies around the world adopt green practices with the aim to reduce their environmental impacts and improve their financial performance. The present study theorizes about and empirically examines ...the impacts of corporate green practices on financial performance. Indexes of pollution prevention, green supply management, green product development and ISO 14001 adoption are obtained for each firm in a panel of 3490 publicly-traded companies from 58 countries over 13 years. Results show that internal green practices (pollution prevention and green supply chain management) are the major environmental drivers of financial performance, while external green practices (green product development) play a secondary role in determining financial performance. The adoption of ISO 14001 appears to have a negative impact on financial performance. This study provides empirical support for policy-makers promoting environmental practices that may lead to sustainable economic growth.
•Green practices are related to both company’s future market value and profitability.•Pollution prevention and green supply chain management are the major environmental drivers of financial performance.•Green product development plays a secondary role in determining financial performance.•The adoption of ISO 14001 has a negative impact on financial performance.
As the biggest sector of the global economy, an understanding of environmental management in small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is necessary for improved sustainability. This paper explores the ...role of contextual factors for ISO 14001 adoption and improved environmental performance in SMEs. It finds that socio-political factors (e.g. legislation, regulation and legitimation) guide the initial adoption decision. Nevertheless, beyond this, substantive performance improvements (i.e. improved internal processes and procedures) are received, based on symbolic (i.e. legitimacy-based) reasoning. Particularly, operational improvements subsequently lead to improved financial and environmental outcomes, as well as external social performance evaluations. This not only suggests that environmental performance is a multidimensional concept that extends beyond the firm, but also that ISO 14001 adoption in SMEs is based on the interrelation of symbolic and substantive performance effects over time and space that cannot be separated analytically in research practice. The findings are presented as particularly useful for SMEs in terms of highlighting the performance benefits of ISO 14001 adoption.
•The socio-political context guides ISO adoption in SMEs, rather than owner-manager values.•Environmental performance is a multidimensional concept.•Symbolic and substantive performance benefits interplay through ISO 14001 adoption in SMEs.•ISO 14001 is often misinterpreted by SMEs, thus hindering substantive performance improvement.
•This study focuses on multidimensional relationship among SAARC countries.•We explore country-level relationships of energy, agriculture, ISO 14001 and CO2 emissions.•India's has the highest CO2 ...emissions and therefore biggest opportunities to reduce emissions.•Benefits are found in reducing emissions by using renewable energy and ISO 14001 certification.•Insights benefit decision makers and policy makers wanting to invest in CO2 emission reductions.
In this study, we investigate complex, country-level relationships between ISO 14001 certification, renewable energy consumption, access to electricity, agriculture, and CO2 emissions within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries. These countries are important to look at they contain 20% of the world's population, are investing in infrastructure, and are vulnerable to the impacts of CO2 emissions. There is a gap in the literature addressing all of these countries while using novel modeling to try and understand dynamic relationships across countries. In this study we use multiple models to examine data covering the years 2000 to 2014 starting with novel Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) models to compute the weights and ranking of countries based on CO2 emission. Next, using a Conservative (maximin) model, we check which country has the most CO2 emission issues among all countries based on weights obtained by Second Synthetic Grey Relational Analysis (SSGRA). Finally, a Grey preference by similarity to ideal solution (G-TOPSIS) methodology prioritizes the factors that have more intensely impact CO2 emissions. The results reveal that among all SAARC countries, India has substantial CO2 emission issues. We also find reductions in emissions from renewable energy consumption and the adoption of ISO 14001 certification in these countries. The outcomes of this study can assist organizations and policymakers in their decision-making and investments regarding CO2 reduction while simultaneously improving environmental sustainability practices.
Voluntary environmental programs have proven to be a viable tool of pollution abatement, supplementing the command-and-control approach and market-based policies such as emissions trading and taxes. ...These voluntary initiatives aim to achieve pollution reduction through several channels, including procedural changes, raw material changes, product and packaging redesign, and innovation in pollution control technologies. The ISO 14001 standard is such a voluntary program; first introduced in 1996 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), it has steadily grown since and has been widely adopted by organizations around the world. In this paper, we empirically study the effects of the ISO 14001 standard on carbon emissions using a panel dataset of Korean manufacturing firms. As the largest contributor to the warming of the earth's atmosphere, carbon emissions are the focus of national and international efforts to curb climate change. The Korean manufacturing industry is responsible for about 40% of greenhouse gases in the country and has experienced rapid growth in ISO 14001 certified facilities. Our econometric results indicate that ISO 14001 certification spurs a significant reduction in carbon emissions among certified firms, after accounting for its potential endogeneity with an instrumental variable strategy. The empirical results suggest that wider ISO 14001 certification among carbon-intensive industries can be a credible pathway to help achieve the Korean government's goal of cutting domestic carbon emissions by 37% by 2030.
•Impact of ISO 14001 certification on carbon emissions at the firm level.•Econometric analysis based on panel data of South Korean firms for the 2011–14 period.•The South Korean manufacturing industry is responsible for about 40% of greenhouse gases in the country.•The results show that ISO adoption spurs a 34% reduction in carbon emissions on average.•The reductions are larger in the first years after certification but linger for a number of years.
Using Japanese facility-level data, we estimate the effects of ISO 14001 certification on the promotion of more advanced practices, namely green supply chain management (GSCM). Our results show that ...ISO 14001 promotes GSCM practices. Facilities with environmental management systems (EMS) certified to ISO 14001 are 40% more likely to assess their suppliers' environmental performance and 50% more likely to require that their suppliers undertake specific environmental practices. Further, government programs that encourage voluntary EMS adoption indirectly promote GSCM practices. These programs increase the probabilities that facilities will assess their suppliers' environmental performance and require suppliers to undertake specific environmental practices by 7% and 8%, respectively. Combined, these findings suggest that there may be significant but previously unnoticed spillover effects of ISO 14001 and government promotion of voluntary action.
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