IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v12y2005i3p144-156.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Development of the use of standardized environmental management systems (EMSs) in local authorities

Author

Listed:
  • Sara Emilsson
  • Olof Hjelm

Abstract

Local authorities have used EMSs to structure their environmental efforts for some time now, and this paper studies the development over time of the use of EMSs in some Swedish local authorities. The analyses depart from three development indicators: dissemination of the EMS work, the progress in the EMS cycle and the use of EMS standards. The results show that EMSs are more widely used within the local authorities today compared with a few years ago. Before, it was mainly the technical sector that was subject to EMS implementation, but today there is a stronger emphasis on the successfulness of EMS implementation in departments within the soft sector. The study also shows that local authorities have shifted from using ISO 14001 and/or EMAS to using less formal, often locally adapted and designed standards. The paper concludes by discussing the usefulness of standards for EMS implementation in local authorities. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Sara Emilsson & Olof Hjelm, 2005. "Development of the use of standardized environmental management systems (EMSs) in local authorities," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(3), pages 144-156, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:12:y:2005:i:3:p:144-156
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.80
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.80
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.80?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. Sara Emilsson & Olof Hjelm, 2002. "Mapping environmental management system initiatives in Swedish local authorities—a national survey," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(2), pages 107-115, June.
    2. R. J. Welford, 1998. "Editorial: Corporate environmental management, technology and sustainable development: postmodern perspectives and the need for a critical research agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(1), pages 1-12, February.
    3. Hanna Norén & Fredrik von Malmborg, 2004. "Are standardized EMSs useful in local authorities? A study of how a tool from the private sector is used in the public sector," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), pages 187-197, May.
    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. Patrícia Tourais & Nuno Videira, 2016. "Why, How and What do Organizations Achieve with the Implementation of Environmental Management Systems?—Lessons from a Comprehensive Review on the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-25, March.
    2. Hayam Wahba, 2008. "Exploring the moderating effect of financial performance on the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and institutional investors: some Egyptian evidence," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(6), pages 361-371, 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. Christoph Bey, 2001. "Changing economies of scale – synergies between implementation of an ecological tax reform and development of industrial ecosystems," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(6), pages 383-393, November.
    2. Saikku, Laura & Rautiainen, Aapo & Kauppi, Pekka E., 2008. "The sustainability challenge of meeting carbon dioxide targets in Europe by 2020," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 730-742, February.
    3. 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.
    4. Lei Wang & Heikki Juslin, 2011. "The effects of value on the perception of corporate social responsibility implementation: A study of Chinese youth," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 246-262, July.
    5. Claudia Marcela Betancourt Morales & Jhon Wilder Zartha Sossa, 2020. "Circular economy in Latin America: A systematic literature review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2479-2497, September.
    6. Romy Morana & Stefan Seuring, 2011. "A Three Level Framework for Closed-Loop Supply Chain Management—Linking Society, Chain and Actor Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-14, April.
    7. Ozgur Isil & Michael T. Hernke, 2017. "The Triple Bottom Line: A Critical Review from a Transdisciplinary Perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(8), pages 1235-1251, December.
    8. Tom Thomas & Eric Lamm, 2012. "Legitimacy and Organizational Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 110(2), pages 191-203, October.
    9. Anselm Schneider, 2015. "Reflexivity in Sustainability Accounting and Management: Transcending the Economic Focus of Corporate Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 525-536, March.
    10. Michael Ross Jayne, 2001. "Managing environmental risk in existing light industrial estates," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(6), pages 365-382, November.
    11. Delyse Springett, 2003. "An ‘incitement to discourse’: benchmarking as a springboard to sustainable development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, January.
    12. Hanna Norén & Fredrik von Malmborg, 2004. "Are standardized EMSs useful in local authorities? A study of how a tool from the private sector is used in the public sector," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), pages 187-197, May.
    13. Korhonen, Jouni & Honkasalo, Antero & Seppälä, Jyri, 2018. "Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 37-46.
    14. Francesco Rosati & Lourenço Galvão Diniz Faria, 2019. "Business contribution to the Sustainable Development Agenda: Organizational factors related to early adoption of SDG reporting," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(3), pages 588-597, May.
    15. Jouni Korhonen & Thomas P. Seager, 2008. "Beyond eco‐efficiency: a resilience perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(7), pages 411-419, November.
    16. Mert Bilgin, 2009. "The PEARL Model: Gaining Competitive Advantage Through Sustainable Development," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(3), pages 545-554, April.
    17. Sara Emilsson & Olof Hjelm, 2004. "Different approaches to standardized environmental management systems in local authorities – two case studies in Gothenburg and Newcastle," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(1), pages 48-60, March.
    18. Pontus Cerin, 2003. "Sustainability hijacked by the sociological wall of self‐evidence," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(4), pages 175-185, December.
    19. Cathy L. Hartman & Peter S. Hofman & Edwin R. Stafford, 1999. "Partnerships: a path to sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(5), pages 255-266, September.
    20. Joanne H. J. Kruijsen, 1998. "Combining research and design: a methodological view of the path to sustainable development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(4), pages 250-255, September.

    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:wly:corsem:v:12:y:2005:i:3:p:144-156. 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: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    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.