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Developing tangible measures for eco‐efficiency: the case of the Finnish and Swedish pulp and paper industry

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  • Riina‐Riitta Helminen

Abstract

In this article, eco‐efficiency – ‘sustainable development at the company level’ or ‘value added per environmental impact’ – is operationalized at the production unit level. An eco‐efficiency index is developed and tested with 31 Finnish and 37 Swedish pulp, paper and board mills in 1993–1996. In essence, gross value added without a change in inventories is divided by environmental impact aggregated with seven valuation methods. The definition of eco‐efficiency as sustainable development at the company level appears to be problematic. [Eco]2‐efficiency does not include the third, ethical dimension sustainable development, but only ecology and economy. Value added is a limited indicator of economic performance and very sensitive to changes in market prices, while environmental impact changes with valuation assumptions. The Swedish mills were generally more eco‐efficient, while the Finnish mills were more eco‐efficient in integrated woodfree paper, solid bleached sulphate board and liquid packaging board. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

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  • Riina‐Riitta Helminen, 2000. "Developing tangible measures for eco‐efficiency: the case of the Finnish and Swedish pulp and paper industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 196-210, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:9:y:2000:i:3:p:196-210
    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-0836(200005/06)9:33.0.CO;2-O
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    2. Cha, Kyounghoon & Lim, Songtak & Hur, Tak, 2008. "Eco-efficiency approach for global warming in the context of Kyoto Mechanism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 274-280, September.
    3. Vivek Ghosal & Andreas Stephan & Jan F. Weiss, 2019. "Decentralized environmental regulations and plant‐level productivity," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 998-1011, September.
    4. Anette von Ahsen, 2014. "The Integration of Quality, Environmental and Health and Safety Management by Car Manufacturers – a Long‐Term Empirical Study," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(6), pages 395-416, September.
    5. Vivek Ghosal, 2015. "Business Strategy and Firm Reorganization: Role of Changing Environmental Standards, Sustainable Business Initiatives and Global Market Conditions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 123-144, February.
    6. Marileena Koskela & Jarmo Vehmas, 2012. "Defining Eco‐efficiency: A Case Study on the Finnish Forest Industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(8), pages 546-566, December.
    7. Juan Carlos Matallín-Sáez & Amparo Soler-Domínguez & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2016. "Ethical strategy focus and mutual fund management: performance and persistence," Working Papers 2016/01, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    8. Yijun Liu & Ziyang Fang, 2022. "Spatial Pattern Change and Influencing Factors of Industrial Eco-Efficiency of Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB)," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, August.
    9. Anne Marie de Jonge, 2003. "Limited LCAs of pharmaceutical products: merits and limitations of an environmental management tool," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(2), pages 78-90, June.
    10. Thomas Koellner & Olaf Weber & Marcus Fenchel & Roland Scholz, 2005. "Principles for sustainability rating of investment funds," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 54-70, January.
    11. Xianguo Li & Qian Zhang, 2015. "AHP-based resources and environment efficiency evaluation index system construction about the west side of Taiwan Straits," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 228(1), pages 97-111, May.
    12. Amer Ait Sidhoum & Carolin Canessa & Johannes Sauer, 2023. "Effects of agri‐environment schemes on farm‐level eco‐efficiency measures: Empirical evidence from EU countries," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 551-569, June.
    13. Wang, Ying & Chen, Xiangyuan, 2020. "Natural resource endowment and ecological efficiency in China: Revisiting resource curse in the context of ecological efficiency," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    14. Jiawen Chen & Linlin Liu, 2020. "Eco-Efficiency and Private Firms’ Relationships with Heterogeneous Public Stakeholders in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-18, September.
    15. Canas, Angela & Ferrao, Paulo & Conceicao, Pedro, 2003. "A new environmental Kuznets curve? Relationship between direct material input and income per capita: evidence from industrialised countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 217-229, September.

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