IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v100y2017icp41-50.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Low-carbon growth for Indian iron and steel sector: exploring the role of voluntary environmental compliance

Author

Listed:
  • Prasad, Mousami
  • Mishra, Trupti

Abstract

India's move towards low-carbon growth will be successful only when the industries assume responsibilities of climate change. Previous studies argue that voluntary compliance by firms being business-led initiative is appropriate for developing nations, however provides little empirical evidence. The present study investigates the role of voluntary compliance in improving firms’ environmental performance in Indian iron and steel sector using sample of 76 firms over years 2006–07 to 2011–12. Environmental performance is measured by CO2 emissions. In absence of emission data at firm level, we quantify CO2 emissions from energy consumption using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reference approach. Voluntary compliance is indicated by presence of voluntary environmental management standards - ISO 14001. The study finds that 33% of sample firms comply with ISO 14001. Further, the empirical results based on panel data econometric suggests that there is a significant positive relationship between voluntary compliance and improvement in environmental performance, even after addressing simultaneity issues and including other firm characteristics. Thus, voluntary compliance may be used as supplementary policy tool to achieve low carbon growth in industries. Additionally, there is a need to disseminate information about ISO 14001 by government as well as firms to create awareness.

Suggested Citation

  • Prasad, Mousami & Mishra, Trupti, 2017. "Low-carbon growth for Indian iron and steel sector: exploring the role of voluntary environmental compliance," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 41-50.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:100:y:2017:i:c:p:41-50
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2016.09.060
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421516305274
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.09.060?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Singh, Neelam & Jain, Suresh & Sharma, Prateek, 2015. "Motivations for implementing environmental management practices in Indian industries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 1-8.
    2. Parikh, Jyoti & Panda, Manoj & Ganesh-Kumar, A. & Singh, Vinay, 2009. "CO2 emissions structure of Indian economy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1024-1031.
    3. Madhu Khanna & Surender Kumar, 2011. "Corporate Environmental Management and Environmental Efficiency," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 50(2), pages 227-242, October.
    4. Arimura, Toshi H. & Hibiki, Akira & Katayama, Hajime, 2008. "Is a voluntary approach an effective environmental policy instrument?: A case for environmental management systems," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 281-295, May.
    5. Beerepoot, Milou & Beerepoot, Niels, 2007. "Government regulation as an impetus for innovation: Evidence from energy performance regulation in the Dutch residential building sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 4812-4825, October.
    6. Barla, Philippe, 2007. "ISO 14001 certification and environmental performance in Quebec's pulp and paper industry," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 291-306, May.
    7. Parikh, Kirit, 2012. "Sustainable development and low carbon growth strategy for India," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 31-38.
    8. 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.
    9. Giovanni Marin & Massimiliano Mazzanti, 2009. "The dynamics of delinking in industrial emissions: The role of productivity, trade and R&D," Journal of Innovation Economics, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 91-117.
    10. Bi, Gong-Bing & Song, Wen & Zhou, P. & Liang, Liang, 2014. "Does environmental regulation affect energy efficiency in China's thermal power generation? Empirical evidence from a slacks-based DEA model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 537-546.
    11. Aseem Prakash & Matthew Potoski, 2012. "Voluntary environmental programs: A comparative perspective," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 123-138, December.
    12. M. Murty & Surender Kumar & Kishore Dhavala, 2007. "Measuring environmental efficiency of industry: a case study of thermal power generation in India," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 38(1), pages 31-50, September.
    13. Madhu Khanna & William Rose Q. Anton, 2002. "Corporate Environmental Management: Regulatory and Market-Based Incentives," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 78(4), pages 539-558.
    14. Mukti Sharma & Chhemendra Sharma & Abdul Qaiyum, 2012. "Impacts of future Indian greenhouse gas emission scenarios on projected climate change parameters deduced from MAGICC model," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 111(2), pages 425-443, March.
    15. Matthew Potoski & Aseem Prakash, 2005. "Covenants with weak swords: ISO 14001 and facilities' environmental performance," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(4), pages 745-769.
    16. Vinish Kathuria, 2009. "Public disclosures: using information to reduce pollution in developing countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 11(5), pages 955-970, October.
    17. Kumar Mandal, Sabuj & Madheswaran, S., 2010. "Environmental efficiency of the Indian cement industry: An interstate analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 1108-1118, February.
    18. Xi Yang & Yang Yao, 2012. "Environmental Compliance and Firm Performance: Evidence from China," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 74(3), pages 397-424, June.
    19. Henriques, Irene & Sadorsky, Perry, 1996. "The Determinants of an Environmentally Responsive Firm: An Empirical Approach," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 381-395, May.
    20. Paul, Shyamal & Bhattacharya, Rabindra Nath, 2004. "CO2 emission from energy use in India: a decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 585-593, March.
    21. Hidemichi Fujii & Kazuyuki Iwata & Shinji Kaneko & Shunsuke Managi, 2013. "Corporate Environmental and Economic Performance of Japanese Manufacturing Firms: Empirical Study for Sustainable Development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 187-201, March.
    22. Clarkson, Peter M. & Li, Yue & Richardson, Gordon D. & Vasvari, Florin P., 2008. "Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: An empirical analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 303-327.
    23. 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. Li, Rui & Fang, Debin & Xu, Jiajun, 2024. "Does China's carbon inclusion policy promote household carbon emissions reduction? Theoretical mechanisms and empirical evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    2. Moya, Diego & Budinis, Sara & Giarola, Sara & Hawkes, Adam, 2020. "Agent-based scenarios comparison for assessing fuel-switching investment in long-term energy transitions of the India’s industry sector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    3. Sun, Chuanwang & Ding, Dan & Yang, Mian, 2017. "Estimating the complete CO2 emissions and the carbon intensity in India: From the carbon transfer perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 418-427.
    4. Wang, Jian & Sun, Furong & Lv, Kangjuan & Wang, Lisha, 2022. "Industrial agglomeration and firm energy intensity: How important is spatial proximity?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    5. Yang Zhang & Xinxin Zhang, 2022. "The Threshold Effect of Executive Compensation on Corporate Environmental Responsibility: Based on the Moderating Effect of Industry Competition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-24, July.
    6. Artitzar Erauskin‐Tolosa & Eugenio Zubeltzu‐Jaka & Iñaki Heras‐Saizarbitoria & Olivier Boiral, 2020. "ISO 14001, EMAS and environmental performance: A meta‐analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1145-1159, March.
    7. Haider, Salman & Mishra, Prajna Paramita, 2021. "Does innovative capability enhance the energy efficiency of Indian Iron and Steel firms? A Bayesian stochastic frontier analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    8. Haider, Salman & Danish, Mohd Shadab & Sharma, Ruchi, 2019. "Assessing energy efficiency of Indian paper industry and influencing factors: A slack-based firm-level analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 454-464.

    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. Sarah L. Stafford, 2016. "Environmental management systems and compliance at small and lightly regulated facilities: evidence from the New Hampshire hazardous waste program," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 292-314, June.
    2. Kumar, Surender & Shetty, Shivananda, 2018. "Corporate Participation in Voluntary Environmental Programs in India: Determinants and Deterrence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 1-10.
    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. Earnhart, Dietrich & Harrington, Donna Ramirez, 2014. "Effect of audits on the extent of compliance with wastewater discharge limits," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 243-261.
    5. Claudia Poser & Edeltraud Guenther & Marc Orlitzky, 2012. "Shades of green: using computer-aided qualitative data analysis to explore different aspects of corporate environmental performance," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 413-450, January.
    6. David Ervin & JunJie Wu & Madhu Khanna & Cody Jones & Teresa Wirkkala, 2013. "Motivations and Barriers to Corporate Environmental Management," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6), pages 390-409, September.
    7. Earnhart, Dietrich & Mark Leonard, J., 2016. "Environmental audits and signaling: The role of firm organizational structure," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-22.
    8. Contreras, Gabriela & Bos, Jaap W.B. & Kleimeier, Stefanie, 2019. "Self-regulation in sustainable finance: The adoption of the Equator Principles," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 306-324.
    9. Harrington, Donna Ramirez, 2012. "Two-stage adoption of different types of pollution prevention (P2) activities," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 349-373.
    10. Daniel Matisoff, 2015. "Sources of specification errors in the assessment of voluntary environmental programs: understanding program impacts," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 48(1), pages 109-126, March.
    11. Ziegler, Andreas & Seijas Nogareda, Jazmin, 2009. "Environmental management systems and technological environmental innovations: Exploring the causal relationship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 885-893, June.
    12. Arimura, Toshi H. & Darnall, Nicole & Katayama, Hajime, 2011. "Is ISO 14001 a gateway to more advanced voluntary action? The case of green supply chain management," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 170-182, March.
    13. Roeland Bracke & Tom Verbeke, 2007. "What Distinguishes EMAS Participants? An Exploration of Company Characteristics," Working Papers 2007.37, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    14. Catherine Liston-Heyes & Diego Alfonso Vazquez Brust, 2016. "Environmental Protection in Environmentally Reactive Firms: Lessons from Corporate Argentina," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 361-379, May.
    15. Surender Kumar & Pritika Dua, 2022. "Environmental management practices and financial performance: evidence from large listed Indian enterprises," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 65(1), pages 37-61, January.
    16. Frondel, Manuel & Horbach, Jens & Rennings, Klaus, 2008. "What triggers environmental management and innovation? Empirical evidence for Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 153-160, May.
    17. Naoufel Mzoughi & Gilles Grolleau & Céline Thévenot & Nicolas Riedinger, 2008. "La norme ISO 14001 est-elle efficace ? Une étude économétrique sur l'industrie française," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 411(1), pages 3-19.
    18. Jorge H. García & Randy Bluffstone & Thomas Sterner, 2009. "Corporate Environmental Management in Transition Economies: The Case of Central and Eastern Europe," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 59(5), pages 410-425, December.
    19. Singh, Neelam & Jain, Suresh & Sharma, Prateek, 2015. "Motivations for implementing environmental management practices in Indian industries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 1-8.
    20. Luo, Le & Tang, Qingliang, 2016. "Determinants of the Quality of Corporate Carbon Management Systems: An International Study," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 275-305.

    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:eee:enepol:v:100:y:2017:i:c:p:41-50. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    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.