Highlights from a new electrical equipment industry report

Environmental Information Services, Inc. (EIS) publishes detailed reports and offers custom research related to the full spectrum of environmental issues facing corporations. This article highlights several key sections from EIS's new 1998 Electrical Equipment Industry Report. It details the environmental performance, policies, and expenditures of the largest companies in the electrical equipment industry. EIS industry reports contain data on five key performance criteria—toxic waste management, hazardous waste generation, penalties and enforcement actions, and spills. Here we examine one of those—penalties and enforcement actions—and the policies of the largest companies.     

Highlights from a new petroleum industry report benchmarking performance,policies, and expenditures

Environmental Information Services, Inc. (EIS) publishes detailed reports and offers custom research related to the full spectrum of environmental issues facing corporations. This article highlights several key sections from EIS's new 1998 Petroleum Industry Report. It details the environmental performance, policies, and expenditures of the largest companies in the petroleum industry. EIS industry reports contain data on five key performance criteria—toxic waste management, hazardous waste generation, penalties, spills, and Superfund sites. Here we examine one of those—penalties—and the policies of the three largest companies. In the full report, which can be obtained from EIS, 15 corporations are analyzed based on all the performance criteria.     

Highlights from a new chemical industry report benchmarking performance,policies, and expenditures

Environmental Information Services Inc. (EIS) publishes detailed reports and offers custom research related to the full spectrum of environmental issues facing corporations. This article highlights several key sections from EIS's new 1997 Chemical Industry Report. It details the environmental performance, policies, and expenditures of the largest companies in the chemical industry. EIS industry reports contain data on five key performance criteria—toxic waste management, hazardous waste generation, penalties, spills, and Superfund sites. Here we examine one of those—penalties—and the policies of three of the largest companies in the chemical industry. In the full report, which can be obtained from EIS, 15 corporations are analyzed based on all the performance criteria.     

A forest and paper industry report comparing leading companies' key policy and expenditure issues

Environmental Information Services, Inc. (EIS) publishes detailed reports and offers custom research related to the full spectrum of environmental issues facing corporations. In this new article, EIS reports on the environmental performance, policies, and expenditures of the largest companies in the paper industry, focusing on toxic waste management, and a variety of key policy and expenditure issues. It is important to note that the following article does not contain data on hazardous waste management, penalties, spills, and Superfund sites. This, as well as additional policy and expenditure data, can be obtained from EIS. EIS reports help companies of all sizes benchmark their environmental performance and quality improvement efforts.     

Benchmarking compliance performance: A new petroleum industry report

Environmental Information Services, Inc. (EIS) publishes detailed reports and offers custom research related to the full spectrum of environmental issues facing corporations. In this new article, EIS reports on the compliance performance of the largest companies in the petroleum industry focusing on five key environmental concerns: toxic waste management, air pollution, water pollution, spills, and Superfund. It is important to note that the following article does not contain normalized data and graphs which would adjust findings to various size features (e.g., worldwide revenues per company). This as well as detailed environmental policy and program data on each company can be obtained from EIS. EIS reports help companies of all sizes benchmark their environmental performance and quality improvement efforts.     

Benchmarking compliance performance: A new chemical industry report

Environmental Information Services, Inc. (EIS) publishes detailed reports and offers custom research related to the full spectrum of environmental issues facing corporations. In this new article, EIS reports on the compliance performance of the largest companies in the chemical industry focusing on five key environmental concerns: toxic waste management, air pollution, water pollution, spills, and Superfund. It is important to note that the following article does not contain normalized data and graphs which would adjust findings to various size features (e.g., domestic revenues per company). This as well as detailed environmental policy and programs data on each company can be obtained from EIS. In future issues of EQM, EIS compliance reports will be presented for other major industries to help companies of all sizes benchmark their environmental performance and improvement efforts.     

Benchmarking compliance performance: Ford motor company profile

Environmental Information Services, Inc. (EIS) publishes detailed reports and offers custom research related to the full spectrum of environmental issues facing corporations. In this article, EIS reports on the compliance performance of the Ford Motor Company, focusing on the five key environmental concerns: toxic waste management, air pollution, water pollution, spills, and Superfund.     

Business excellence through resource efficiency (betre): An evaluation of the UKs highest recruiting, facilitated self-help waste minimisation project

The business excellence through resource efficiency (betre) project aimed to increase awareness of the benefits of waste minimisation for SMEs in West Sussex, South East England. The programme was run by the West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership, a collaboration of all West Sussex Local Authorities, the Environment Agency and EcoSys (a service provider). Betre provided a range of free business support and advice over an 18-month period including; workshops, newsletters, audits, grants and a technical Helpline. Information on environmental compliance and Best Practice for waste minimisation, recycling, energy and water efficiency was disseminated. All activities were linked with the UK government's Best Practice programmes. Although company recruitment was initially slow, betre was ultimately extremely successful at attracting companies to join; with 308 recruited. This is probably the most successful recruitment to a project, of this type, in the UK to date. Over half of the business members became actively involved and attended training events or had environmental audits. There were over 200 improvement actions identified by 64 of the participating companies. These resulted in estimated cost savings of at least £215 000 per annum. In addition, actions taken to prevent pollution and ensure compliance with environmental legislation have the potential to save businesses a further £204 000 in possible penalties. The environmental impact of the project has been significant, with reductions identified in waste (1437 tonnes), water (62 933 m³) and energy (15 million kW h—equivalent to 668 tonnes CO₂). In addition to actions with directly measurable results, betre has stimulated long-term benefits by addressing pollution prevention and compliance, through the formulation of environmental policies and from the adoption of Environmental Management Systems. One of the key learning points is that it may have been better to devote less time to running training events and instead to have diverted this time to increased business support, mainly through audits. To capitalise on this success, a new project is being planned to disseminate Best Practice.     

Highlights from a new utility industry environmental research report

Environmental Information Services (EIS) publishes detailed reports and offers custom research related to the full spectrum of environmental issues facing corporations. This article highlights key sections from EIS's new Utility Industry 1999 Environmental Research Report.© 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Achieving eco-efficiency through design for environment

“Eco-efficiency” is a term that does not yet appear in dictionaries but has already gained considerable force in shaping the environmental policies and practices of leading corporations. The Business Council on Sustainable Development (BCSD) sounded a trumpet call with their 1992 manifesto, “Changing Course.” Due to the credibility of the companies that constitute BCSD's membership—including Dow Chemical, 3M, Northern Telecom, Ciba-Geigy, Volkswagen, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and many others—their message has had a substantial influence on the strategic thinking of company executives around the world, BCSD's concept of eco-efficiency suggests an important link between resource efficiency (which leads to productivity and profitability) and environmental responsibility. Eco-efficiency makes business sense. By eliminating waste and using resources wisely, eco-efficient companies reduce costs and become more competitive. As environmental performance standards become commonplace, eco-efficient companies will be at an advantage for penetrating new markets and increasing their share of existing markets. This article describes the business practices companies are adopting to increase their eco-efficiency and improve their competitive advantage. “Corporations that achieve ever more efficiency while preventing pollution through good housekeeping, materials substitution, cleaner technologies, and cleaner products and that strive for more efficient use and recovery of resources can be called eco-efficient.” Declaration of the Business Council on Sustainable Development, 1992.     

Business environmental initiatives: Beyond waste reduction and recycling

Xerox was one of the first U.S. companies to discover that environmentally sound practices not only result in good community relations, but also often more than pay for themselves. This article presents ideas and guidelines companies can use in their waste reduction and recycling programs. Implementing a waste reduction and recycling program is an important step toward improved environmental performance. Given the numerous ways businesses affect the environment—through purchasing, manufacturing, and resource consumption—waste reduction and recycling are just two of many potential environmental measures. This article will highlight further initiatives your business can take toward sustainable development, defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.     

Environmental Performance Evaluation in the Water Industry of England and Wales

The appropriate means of benchmarking environmental performance within and between companies is a matter of considerable debate and raises issues such as what information to compare and the reliability and consistency of data. Comparing environmental performance through company environment reports is an approach which has been widely used but, as this paper shows, is difficult and has severe limitations. This paper presents a unique analysis, based on the UK water industry, which compares data reported in company environmental reports and data on the same companies reported through the industry regulators. In turn, this is compared with the environmental performance indicators proposed by two other systems, one advanced by the UK water industry itself. The results demonstrate the difficulty of specifying environmental indicators that enable meaningful comparison. The difficulty of comparing environmental performance in a sector with a comprehensive approach to, and long history of, environmental performance reporting presents some hard lessons for other sectors.     

The work of Envirowise in driving forward UK industrial waste reduction

Envirowise — formerly the Environmental Technology Best Practice Programme — is an UK Government Programme designed to help businesses to improve environmental performance and reduce costs. It works closely with industry bodies to prepare a strategic approach to producing and promoting tools that help companies take action to reduce waste at source. By September 2000, the Programme had helped UK companies to save £125 million per year by reducing the use of raw materials and the production of waste. The Programme produces practical advice based on existing practices in industry. As well as producing published information, Envirowise runs a free telephone helpline for UK companies. Envirowise undertakes a considerable amount of marketing to help companies overcome the barriers to action. The Government has set the objectives for the Programme's managing contractors; these are based on the impact of its activities in terms of reduced waste production.     

Metrics,decisions, and strategies: Environmental performance measurement in the electric utility industry

The twin challenges of increased competition and environmental consciousness are causing companies in the utility industry to re-examine their methods for measuring environmental performance. A new paradigm is emerging which has already appeared in other industries—treating environmental quality as a potential source of profitability and competitive advantage. This article discusses how utilities and industrial companies can develop an environmental performance measurement framework, integrate it into their strategic and operating business practices, and use it for evaluation of alternative environmental strategies.     

Do environmental management programs improve environmental performance trends? a study of standard & poors 500 companies

In this article, environmental management programs of Standard & Poors (S&P) 500 companies were evaluated using a series of industry and size-adjusted environmental trend indicators. The statistical analysis shows that a handful of corporate policy, governance, human resources, auditing, and financial parameters are highly relevant to improving corporate environmental performance. The results have implications for corporate environmental efforts as well as future government policies to foster environmental improvement.     

Enforcement Lessons from the Vienna Übahn

/ This paper combines a review of recent publications on the effectiveness of environmental enforcement in the United States with new data to address the question of what type of enforcement activity is most productive. Using data on 39 state National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) programs, the measures of effort and cost typically applied to environmental enforcement and inspection activities were tested for relationships with compliance outcomes. No statistically significant relationships were found. In the absence of any improving trend in traditional measures of compliance, this lack suggests all enforcement systems presently used by states are failing. To work, an environmental enforcement system needs to include maintenance and restoration of compliance, real deterrence, mobilization of public opinion, minimal obtrusiveness, conformity with legal search requirements, cost-effectiveness for all parties, effective primary role for skilled inspectors, self-monitoring, compatibility with environmental management systems (e.g., ISO 14000), environmental auditing, robustness in the face of changing strategies by permittees, segregation of technical assistance from enforcement, team orientation, adaptability to multimedia, and, most difficult of all, disconnection from today's timely, appropriate, proportionate standard. These goals can be achieved through a proposed new environmental enforcement approach built on infrequent, random, but thorough inspections leading to fully documented enforcement actions resulting in high penalties. The enforcement system used by the Vienna übahn, or subway, can serve as a model for this type of environmental enforcement system. KEY WORDS: Enforcement; Deterrence; Environmental water quality; Discharge elimination systems     

Scoring Corporate Environmental Reports for Comprehensiveness: A Comparison of Three Systems

Corporate annual environmental reports can be judged by the comprehensiveness of their coverage; this paper uses three published comprehensiveness scoring systems to judge 28 such reports (mostly dated 1998) from large US corporations. Earlier (nominally 1996) reports from the same companies were previously scored using one or two of the same systems, and the published results are compared with scores from the current round of reports. The scores of all three scoring systems are significantly correlated for the 1998 environmental reports, indicating that to some degree they are scoring the same features, but with quite a lot of scatter between the scores of one of the systems and those of the other two. There is, however, no correlation between the scores on the 1996 reports and the 1998 reports using the same systems on both. Evidently, most of the 1998 reports were not prepared with the intent of maximizing scores from any of the three scoring systems. Although the three systems achieve similar ranking of the 1998 reports for environmental comprehensiveness, the average normalized scores of one of the systems is significantly higher than those of the other two, reflecting a shorter list of topics and one more in keeping with the practices of the report writers. Because the scoring systems measure the number of topics covered and the depth of discussion rather than the quality of environmental performance, maximum scores could be obtained even with poor performance.     

Does environmental compliance pay?

This paper examines the relationship between environmental compliance and financial performance of large US companies. The environmental performance is measured in penalties assessed for violations of environmental regulations. The financial performance is represented by the profit margins. The regression models developed in this paper suggest that the degrees of environmental compliance have a positive influence on the profit margins. Conventional economic wisdom is that regulations impose costs and restrictions and therefore put companies at a competitive disadvantage. However, this paper is consistent with the proponents of environmental regulations who argue that tough regulations force companies to be innovative and as a result make them more productive.     

Review of sustainability management initiatives within Finnish forest products industry companies—Translating Eu level steering into proactive initiatives

Sustainability has become a major focus area within forest products industry. The European operational environment and national environmental steering in EU member states highlight the importance of sustainable development and the development of associated new management approaches to promote sustainability. This article reviews some key elements of sustainability management, covering examples of both Finnish forest products industry initiatives and public environmental steering at the European level. An assessment is made of the current situation and an outline of a future outlook for sustainability management, with special emphasis on bridging the gap between industry initiatives and environmental steering in the form of legislation, policies and strategies at the EU level.This study applied a hybrid approach comprising a review of EU sustainability initiatives, a policy and legal review and a questionnaire survey of forest industry actors. The results of the future outlook indicate that energy efficiency is perceived to be the most important focus area in addition to e.g. environmental and waste management and recycling. Less than half of the companies aim at applying sustainability management. Life-cycle management is also considered to be important whereas product-based approaches, climate change and local industrial symbiosis receive very little attention. All responding companies aim to integrate the principles of sustainability into their operations and most companies consider that life-cycle thinking, management and assessment are useful for them. Energy efficiency is identified as the most important focus area with energy and materials efficiency seen as the most crucial factors for the achievement of responsible competitive advantage and building of sustainable value-added. The findings indicate that sustainability and life-cycle management are not receiving enough management focus at the moment and neither is the industry receiving enough guidance at either the EU level or via national steering and regulatory frameworks.     

Binational management of hazardous waste: The maquiladora industry at the US-Mexico border

Foreign-owned industry in the form of assembly plants, termed maquiladora, has become very important in Mexico to the extent that it represents the second largest source of foreign exchange and is a valuable source for employment and regional development. The economic prosperity gained from the rapid growth of the maquiladora industry has been accompanied by increased environmental and human health risks associated with generation of hazardous waste. Diversification of industry has resulted in the predomination of those sectors that likely use hazardous substances. The Mexicali-Calexico border region was selected to demonstrate the potential for environmental and health risks associated with the generation of hazardous waste. Estimates for the generation of hazardous waste were obtained from 34 maquiladora plants in Mexicali, represented by the electronic and electrical equipment and parts, mechanical and transportation equipment, and toys and sporting equipment sectors. Repeated detection of volatile organic compounds in the New River at the US-Mexico border suggests that hazardous waste from the printed circuit board industry in Mexicali is not being disposed of in a proper manner. Potential adverse health effects, such as carcinogenic and mutagenic responses associated with the detected volatiles, are discussed. US and Mexico national legislation and the Binational Environmental Agreement were examined for their adequacy to ensure proper management of hazardous waste generated by the maquiladora industry. Environmental policy options are presented that focus on: (1) increased environmental accountability of US parent companies for their maquiladora assembly plants in Mexico; and (2) more integration between US Customs and border states with the US Environmental Protection Agency to improve the binational management of hazardous waste generated by the maquiladora industry.