Abstract
This paper analyses the influence of environmental management system certification on environmental performance as measured by physical environmental performance indicators, and on economic performance based on a variety of firm-level financial indicators. For this purpose, data on environmental performance has been collected from corporate environmental reports and emissions inventories for a sample of companies in the paper and electricity generation industries in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and the UK; and in parallel, financial information for the same set of firms has been extracted from financial databases in a comparable format. Based on this data set, the paper reports how EMAS verification and/or ISO 14001 certification interacts with the environmental and economic performance of firms. This includes an assessment of significant differences between firms in the paper and electricity sectors, as well as a more detailed analysis of the direct relationship between the environmental and economic performance of firms in the paper industry. The paper finds that three hypotheses formulated about the link between environmental management system certification and environmental and economic performance, as well as the relationship of the latter two, are rejected. Based on the data analysed, it therefore cannot be concluded that there is a statistically significant link between the certification of environmental management systems, environmental performance, economic performance, and their relationship.
The author dedicates this paper to the memory of Jéräme Carlens, who sadly and very unexpectedly died in April 2001. Working with him was both enjoyable and scientifically stimulating. Valuable comments of Stefan Schaltegger, Walter Wehrmeyer and Prank Figge on draft versions of this paper are gratefully acknowledged. Any remaining errors are exclusively the author’s.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ASU (1997) Öko-Audit in der mittelständischen Praxis. Evaluierung und Ansätze für eine Effizienzsteigerung von Umweltmanagementsystemen in der Praxis, Bonn, Unternehmerinstitut der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Selbständiger Unternehmer (ASU). (Available only in German).
Berkhout, F., Hertin, J., Tyteca, D., Carlens, J., Olsthoorn, X., van Druinen, M., van der Woerd, F., Azzone, G., Noci, G., Jasch, C., Wehrmeyer, W., Wagner M., Gameson, T., Wolf, O. and Eames, M. (2001) MEPI — Measuring Environmental Performance of Industry, Brussels, European Commission, DG XII.
Bortz, J., Lienert, G. and Boehnke, K. (1990) Verteilungsfreie Methoden in der Biostatisik, Berlin, Springer. (Available only in German).
Bühl, A. and Zöfel, P. (2000) SPSS Version 10 (7th revised & extended edition), Munich, Addison-Wesley. (Available only in German).
Dyllick, T. (1999) Environment and Competitiveness of Companies, in Hitchens, D., Clausen, J. and Fichtner, K. International Environmental Management Benchmarks, Berlin, Springer 55–69.
Dyllick, T. (2000) Strategischer Einsatz von Umweltmanagementsystemen, UmweltWirtschaftsForum, 8.3 64–68. (Available only in German).
Jaggi, B. and Freedman, M. (1992) An examination of the impact of pollution performance on economic and market performance: pulp and paper firms, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, 19 697–713.
Olsthoorn, X., Tyteca, D., Wehrmeyer, W. and Wagner, M. (2001) Using environmental indicators for business? — A literature review and the need for standardisation and aggregation of data, Journal of Cleaner Production, 9 453–463.
Schaltegger, S. and Figge, F. (2000) Environmental Shareholder Value. Economic Success with Corporate Environmental Management, Eco-Management and Auditing, 7.1 29–42.
Schaltegger, S. and Synnestvedt, T. (2002) The Forgotten Link Between “Green” and Economic Success — Environmental Management as the Crucial Trigger between Environmental and Economic Performance, forthcoming in: Journal of Environmental Management, 65 339–346.
Tyteca, D., Carlens, J., Berkhout, F., Hertin, J. and Wehrmeyer, W. and Wagner, M. (2002) Corporate Environmental Performance Evaluation: Evidence from the MEPI Project, Business Strategy and the Environment, 11 1–13.
UBA (1999) EG-Umweltaudit in Deutschland-Erfahrungsbericht 1995 bis 1998, Berlin, Umweltbundesamt. (Available only in German).
Wagner, M. (2000) The Relationship between the Environmental and Economic Performance of Firms: What does Theory propose and what does Empirical Evidence tell us?, Paper presented at the 2nd Policy Options for Sustainable Technological Innovations (POSTI) Seminar and ESST Annual Conference, May 2000, Strasbourg, Louis Pasteur University, accessible at http://www.esst.uio.no/posti/workshops/wagner.html [25 September 2001].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2003 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wagner, M. (2003). The Influence of ISO 14001 and EMAS Certification on Environmental and Economic Performance of Firms: An Empirical Analysis. In: Bennett, M., Rikhardsson, P.M., Schaltegger, S. (eds) Environmental Management Accounting — Purpose and Progress. Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0197-7_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0197-7_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-1366-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-0197-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive