IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v11y2002i4p254-266.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Companies' participation in EMAS: The influence of the public regulator

Author

Listed:
  • Matthieu Glachant
  • Simone Schucht
  • Alexandra Bültmann
  • Frank Wätzold

Abstract

When adopted in 1993, the European Union's Eco‐Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) was viewed as emblematic of a new policy approach involving more flexible and market‐based environmental instruments. A few years after coming into force, EMAS does not appear to be a tremendous success in terms of industrial participation. Apart from in Germany and Austria, participation is insignificant and comparatively very far behind that in ISO 14001, the environmental management standard of the International Organization for Standardization. The paper seeks to explain this modest result. It focuses on the influence of the European and national regulators on industrial participation. Using a comparative analysis of the implementation of EMAS in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, it argues that the most powerful participation leverage has been the granting of regulatory relief for registered companies. This leads one to be pessimistic as to the future of EMAS. The possibility and scope for a lighter regulatory touch are primarily nationally specific since they are related to the national regulatory traditions. Consequently, the systematic and comprehensive use of this leverage is unlikely to generalize. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthieu Glachant & Simone Schucht & Alexandra Bültmann & Frank Wätzold, 2002. "Companies' participation in EMAS: The influence of the public regulator," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(4), pages 254-266, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:11:y:2002:i:4:p:254-266
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.333
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.333
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.333?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Knill, Christoph, 1998. "European Policies: The Impact of National Administrative Traditions," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 1-28, January.
    2. Dasgupta, Susmita & Hettige, Hemamala & Wheeler, David, 2000. "What Improves Environmental Compliance? Evidence from Mexican Industry," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 39-66, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fabio Montobbio & Ilaria Solito, 2018. "Does the Eco‐Management and Audit Scheme Foster Innovation in European Firms?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 82-99, January.
    2. Bari L. Bendell, 2022. "Environmental investment decisions of family firms—An analysis of competitor and government influence," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 1-14, January.
    3. Iñaki Heras‐Saizarbitoria & German Arana & Olivier Boiral, 2016. "Outcomes of Environmental Management Systems: the Role of Motivations and Firms’ Characteristics," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(8), pages 545-559, December.
    4. Marcus Wagner, 2020. "Global governance in new public environmental management: An international and intertemporal comparison of voluntary standards' impacts," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1056-1073, March.
    5. Indra Overland & Anatoli Bourmistrov & Brigt Dale & Stephanie Irlbacher‐Fox & Javlon Juraev & Eduard Podgaiskii & Florian Stammler & Stella Tsani & Roman Vakulchuk & Emma C. Wilson, 2021. "The Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index: A method to rank heterogenous extractive industry companies for governance purposes," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1623-1643, May.
    6. Petrus Kautto, 2006. "New instruments – old practices? The implications of environmental management systems and extended producer responsibility for design for the environment," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(6), pages 377-388, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lise Tole & Gary Koop, 2013. "Estimating the impact on efficiency of the adoption of a voluntary environmental standard: an empirical study of the global copper mining industry," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 35-45, February.
    2. Macdonald, Kevin & Patrinos, Harry Anthony, 2021. "Education Quality, Green Technology, and the Economic Impact of Carbon Pricing," GLO Discussion Paper Series 955, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Kube, Roland & von Graevenitz, Kathrine & Löschel, Andreas & Massier, Philipp, 2019. "Do voluntary environmental programs reduce emissions? EMAS in the German manufacturing sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(S1).
    4. Carole Billiet & Sandra Rousseau, 2014. "How real is the threat of imprisonment for environmental crime?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 183-198, April.
    5. -, 2008. "Promoting corporate social responsibility in small and medium enterprises in the Caribbean: survey results," Studies and Perspectives – ECLAC Office in Washington 5067, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    6. Forest L. Reinhardt & Robert N. Stavins & Richard H. K. Vietor, 2008. "Corporate Social Responsibility Through an Economic Lens," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 2(2), pages 219-239, Summer.
    7. Giulio Cainelli & Massimiliano Mazzanti & Sandro Montresor, 2012. "Environmental Innovations, Local Networks and Internationalization," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(8), pages 697-734, November.
    8. Sandro Brunelli & Anel Murzakhmetova & Camilla Falivena, 2022. "Environmental Auditing in Rural Areas: Current Patterns and Future Challenges in Central Asia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-27, November.
    9. Roeland Bracke & Tom Verbeke, 2007. "What Distinguishes EMAS Participants? An Exploration of Company Characteristics," Working Papers 2007.37, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    10. Cañón de Francia, Joaquín & Garcés Ayerbe, Concepción, 2006. "Repercusión económica de la certificación medioambiental ISO 14001," Cuadernos de Gestión, Universidad del País Vasco - Instituto de Economía Aplicada a la Empresa (IEAE).
    11. Francisco B. Galarza & Joanna Kámiche Zegarra & Rosario Gómez, 2023. "Roads and Deforestation: Do Local Institutions Matter?," Working Papers 192, Peruvian Economic Association.
    12. Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Roubaud, David & Farhani, Sahbi, 2018. "How economic growth, renewable electricity and natural resources contribute to CO2 emissions?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 356-367.
    13. Gangadharan, Lata, 2006. "Environmental compliance by firms in the manufacturing sector in Mexico," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 477-486, October.
    14. Phu Nguyen-Van & Tuyen Tiet & Quoc Tran-Nam, 2024. "Synergy in environmental compliance, innovation and export on SMEs' growth," Working Papers hal-04441426, HAL.
    15. Kalim Shah & Jorge Rivera, 2008. "Export processing zones and corporate environmental performance in emerging economies: The case of the oil, gas, and chemical sectors of Trinidad and Tobago," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 41(2), pages 181-182, June.
    16. Ricardo Castro Soto, 2007. "Función De Costos De Abatimiento De Emisiones De So2 En Enap Refinerías Bio-Bio," Revista Economía y Administración, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administrativas, Universidad de Concepción, vol. 69, pages 57-79, December.
    17. George E. Halkos & Konstantinos I. Evangelinos, 2002. "Determinants of environmental management systems standards implementation: evidence from Greek industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(6), pages 360-375, November.
    18. Stefan Ambec & Paul Lanoie, 2009. "Performance environnementale et économique de l'entreprise," Economie & Prévision, La Documentation Française, vol. 0(4), pages 71-94.
    19. Anton, W.R.Q.Wilma Rose Q. & Deltas, George & Khanna, Madhu, 2004. "Incentives for environmental self-regulation and implications for environmental performance," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 632-654, July.
    20. Diego A. Vazquez-Brust & José Antonio Plaza-Úbeda, 2021. "What Characteristics Do the Firms Have That Go Beyond Compliance with Regulation in Environmental Protection? A Multiple Discriminant Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-27, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:11:y:2002:i:4:p:254-266. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.