Why do firms engage in environmental management? An empirical study in China

There are increasing pressures being put on firms, from a number of different sources, such as governmental regulation, community participation and market demand, to engage firms in environmental initiatives. These factors play different roles at various development periods. Government regulation was the major pressure, initially. However, community participation and market demand have become more and more important. Thus a better understanding of the determinant factors that play a role in engaging firms to take environmental management initiatives may help policy makers develop more effective environmental policies. Using data collected from 89 firms in Wujin county of Jiangsu Province, China, this paper developed an index system to evaluate the corporate environmental management performance. Furthermore, we used econometric methodology to identify the main factors that probably shape corporate environmental management performance, including both external pressures and firm characteristics. The results showed that pressures from supply chain, customers, and communities played positive roles in engaging firms to improve environmental management performance. However, the pressure from the regulatory system did not implicate positive effect on environmental management performance when basic compliance is not an issue in the region anymore. The results also showed that firms with larger scale will be more active in engaging in environmental management initiatives. Finally, our results suggest that: (a) regulation's stimulation may be reduced as long as firms have complied with requirements of local environmental standards and other environmental laws; (b) policy makers should pay more attention to market and information instruments; (c) more financial and technical support should be provided to encourage small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to improve environmental performance.     

Barriers to the adoption of proactive environmental strategies

This study contributes to the knowledge of the difficulties or barriers found by firms when adopting proactive environmental strategies, providing empirical evidence from 240 Spanish industrial firms. A set of 25 barriers are initially evaluated by the managers of the sample firms and are grouped into four types of difficulties facing firms: external barriers, endemic limitations of the firm, limited environmental motivation and limited preparation of employees and operational inertia. The estimation of a structural equation model leads us to conclude that only the barriers identified as endemic limitations of the firm can be characterized as “effective barriers”, defined as problems preventing firms from progressing toward proactive environmental behavior.     

中国污染密集型产业地理分布研究

随着资源环境约束加强,调整产业结构、优化产业空间布局已成为我国经济发展的战略选择。产业空间格局重置过程中,污染密集型产业的转移成为一个迫切需要研究的问题。论文利用2003-2008 年工业企业普查数据,采用Tobit 模型和Heckman 两阶段模型,探讨污染密集型产业地理分布的特征。论文发现,我国污染密集型产业正在进行空间结构调整,长江三角洲、珠江三角洲、京津冀地区污染密集产业不断转出,山东及中部地区开始成为污染密集型产业新的集聚地;造纸等较为轻型产业主要向中部内陆等地区转移,而化学原料及化学制品业等技术密集型产业则更主要在沿海地带重新分布。另外,要素禀赋、环境规制以及全球化对污染密集型产业分布影响显著。其中,技术以及劳动力成本是污染企业区位选择的重要影响因素;受全球化的影响,国际市场潜力对污染企业区位影响更为重要;环境规制与污染企业的成立具有倒U型关系;最后,企业的异质性对于污染企业地理分布也具有显著的影响。文章启示,在产业转移过程中,需要适当的政策引导以最小化对生态环境的破坏。     

企业对环境信息公开的响应研究——以常熟市为例

企业环境信息公开通过加强市场和公众等利益相关者对企业环境行为的激励作用,促进企业改善其环境绩效。文章以常熟市参与环境行为评级和信息公开的企业为研究对象,分析了企业参与信息公开后总体环境绩效及具体环境行为的变化情况。同时,基于企业微观数据,构建了企业环境绩效变化与环境行为历史评级结果的关系模型,分析企业对环境行为评级与公开的响应程度。结果表明:历史环境评级结果差、有外资投入的企业对环境信息公开更能产生积极的响应;不同规模和行业类型的企业的响应程度没有显著的差异。进一步的研究发现,历史评级结果较差的企业感受到最大的压力变化来源于政府部门的监察,而有外商投资的企业则明显感到来自下游企业和投资者的压力。     

Functional mechanisms of mandatory corporate environmental disclosure: an empirical study in China

This paper analyzes the functions of a government-oriented disclosure program in China, which rates company environmental performance into five colors and discloses the results to the public. The rating results and their annual changes during 2005–2007 are statistically summarized by using the detailed database provided by municipal environmental protection bureau of the study area: Changshu city in Jiangsu province. The reflexive, deterrent and enhancement mechanisms, preliminarily identified for the disclosure program, are qualitatively evaluated by using the information collected by onsite interviews to 32 program participating firms. In overall, the firms' environmental performances have been improved. The companies with worse rating records would be more likely to improve their environmental performances in the following years. The disclosure program encourages the firms to be more reflexive to their internal environmental problems. The deterrent and enhancement functions of the program are weak due to the marginal pressure from the classified stakeholders such as investors, business partners and creditors. The influence of the public, such as neighboring communities and environmental NGOs, is weak too. Encouraging serious reactions of firm's stakeholders to the disclosed rating results should be addressed in order to enhance the effectiveness of the disclosure strategy.     

跨区域环境协同治理对企业全要素生产率的影响

以2017年“2+26”城市大气污染协同治理为准自然实验,选取2014~2019年沪深两市制造业上市公司数据,利用三重差分法考察跨区域环境协同治理对于企业全要素生产率的影响.研究发现,“2+26”城市环境治理能够有效提高企业全要素生产率,其作用机制来自于企业提高绿色创新能力､环保投资以及研发投入.异质性分析表明,在环保严格执法的地区以及绿色创新能力更强､融资约束较低和国有企业样本中,企业全要素生产率提升作用更加明显.本文的发现为中国进一步推进跨区域环境协同治理具有一定的政策启示.     

Economic benefits tied to ecodesign

This paper reports results of an empirical study conducted to assess the profitability of ecodesigned products. Indeed, the advantages related to ecodesign are numerous according to the literature on the subject. Not only is it considered to be an efficient environmental approach, it is also said to carry a number of economic advantages for the firms adopting it. Among these advantages, the potential reduction of costs and an increase in revenues are the most important drivers. Nevertheless, the economic benefits have not been demonstrated, only indicated as a potential outcome. The main purpose of the study was to assess the economic impact of ecodesigned products and to compare the results of French companies with those of Quebec.Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 firms on their related ecodesign experience (15 in France, 15 in Quebec), the subsequent results were reached pertaining to the economic benefits tied to such an approach. In 24 cases, firms increased their profits with ecodesigned products. In three cases, profits are equivalent and in the three remaining cases, it is not obvious that the increased revenues compensate for the reduction of margin. French companies were found to be more profitable than the Quebec cases; this can be explained by the fact that French companies have a more systemic approach and therefore manage to make cost savings at several stages in the product life-cycle. We can conclude that the most important aspects to consider when getting involved in an ecodesign project is to focus on increased functionality of the product and to seek environmental and economic improvement on as many life-cycle stages as possible.     

甘肃省迭部县居民森林生态环境支付意愿影响因素分析

公众的生态环境认知水平及支付意愿对森林生态环境保护具有重要的影响和作用.根据甘肃省迭部县居民的291份有效调查问卷,采用描述性统计方法和结构方程模型对森林生态环境支付意愿的影响因素进行了分析.结果表明:①居民对生态环境服务价值的认知、对生态环境补偿的认知、对生态环境保护的预期收益、居民个人资金技术因素、外部环境因素与居民森林生态环境支付意愿之间存在正相关关系,且影响显著,其中影响程度最大的是外部环境因素,标准相关系数为0.830,解释效果良好,影响程度最小的是资金技术因素,相关系数仅为0.283.②多群组结构方程模型研究结果显示,男性居民的森林生态环境支付意愿主要受对森林生态环境认知程度的影响,女性更容易受外部环境因素的影响.不同年龄段的居民在森林生态环境服务价值认知、资金技术因素和外部环境因素方面存在差异性.不同教育程度居民之间的差异主要体现在对森林生态环境服务价值的认知和对森林生态环境补偿的认知上.③性别、年龄、教育程度等因素对生态环境服务价值认知、预期收益等有显著影响,且不同因素的影响程度存在差异.研究显示,对森林生态环境支付意愿影响因素分析反映了环境支付意愿的普适性问题,研究结果可为生态资源和环境管理等提供参考.      

Enhancing our understanding of the role of environmental policy in environmental innovation: adoption explained by the accumulation of policy instruments and agent-based factors

The empirical literature reports conflicting findings on the relation between environmental policy and environmental innovation: environmental policy both encourages and impedes environmental innovation, resulting in competing theoretical explanations. To find a way out of this counterproductive debate requires new and complementary insights into the effects of different policy instruments. This research therefore advances an approach in which a set of specific policy instruments as well as firms’ behavior regarding CHP (cogeneration of heat and power) adoption are considered as two distinct factors explaining environmental innovation in the Dutch paper and board industry. Using a longitudinal research design, the focus was not on any single policy instrument but on the accumulation of policy instruments. In addition, we studied intra-organizational factors influencing the adoption decision.Overall, we can conclude that paper and board factories perceive governmental environmental policies to be relevant, but that this constitutes just one of the factors influencing adoption processes, next to intra-organizational factors. The relative importance of such policies varies over time and per adoption process. The role of top-down regulation appears to be limited, whereas interactive regulation turned out to be important for several factories in the latest period of adoption. Positive economic instruments were important in almost all adoption processes, but were not and will never be the most important reason for adoption. The most important reason for CHP adoption appears to be high energy prices in combination with cost price reduction or the threat of additional regulation. For future policies, we recommend the implementation of a specific mixture of policy instruments, attuned to the specific industry and reinforcing each other. Moreover, goals should be consistent over time to avoid risk-averse behavior.     

大气环境安全评估体系研究

环境安全是国家安全的重要组成部分,已引起世界各国的广泛关注.从我国大气环境安全形势出发,应用压力-状态-响应(PSR)模型,搭建了4层3度的指标体系.从大气环境安全的压力、状态、响应3个方面确定相应的指数,并选取评估指标,确立评估标准.通过层次分析法(AHP)确定指标权重,用权重求和法计算指数分值.应用建立的大气环境安全评估体系,对省级大气环境安全进行了评估.结果表明:我国区域大气环境安全呈片状分布较为明显,大部分省份的大气环境安全均处于预警和中警状态,大气环境安全需要进一步加强.从区域差异分析可知,东部大气环境安全好于中西部地区.对关键影响因子的分析表明,能源消耗是影响北方大气环境安全的关键因子,南方受酸雨影响严重.总体上我国大气环境安全状况呈好转的趋势.      

When firms make sense of environmental agendas of society

The objective of this article is to present arguments for the need to obtain knowledge about how firms make sense of environmental agendas of society. Several empirical studies point out that highly formalized and rational management methods to manage environmental decisions are not appropriate in a firm's planning. Theoretical contributions within the field of organizational theory are critical to the rational actor approach that concentrates on firms as economic units, acting in rational ways in order to increase profit. Instead, recent organizational theories suggest using sociocultural theory in analyzing a firm's interpretation of societal agendas. Methods and results from an empirical, qualitative case study, based upon non-rationalistic theory, are presented and discussed. The theoretical discussion and the empirical results call for a need to broaden environmental thinking about how to motivate firms to act in an environmental manner.     

闽江流域公众对工业企业外部环境压力的认知

企业外部环境压力的强弱对解决我国环境问题起着决定性的作用。通过对闽江流域公众对工业企业外部环境压力认知的调查研究,一方面了解到目前公众的环境保护意识,另一方面从公众的角度看政府、新闻媒体、科研机构、金融保险机构以及公众自身在环境保护中的作用,反映出闽江流域企业外部环境压力现状与存在的问题,从而针对问题提出闽江流域环境保护的对策。     

Efficiency gains within firms under voluntary environmental initiatives

This paper focuses on efficiency gains that voluntary environmental initiatives may achieve within the firm. Current debate concerning the extent and significance of inefficiencies within firms is critically important to the progress of energy and environmental policies.Several recent lines of inquiry in microeconomics help explain the persistence of inefficiencies within firms. In addition, two of the most prominent new approaches in the field of business strategy — resource-based strategy and the “capabilities perspective” — focus on the heterogeneity among firms and the resulting pockets of inefficiency within firms. They suggest at least three generic strategies for voluntary environmental initiatives — challenging outdated organizational routines, creating opportunities for differentiation, or complementing firms' resource investment trajectories. These generic approaches suggest that there is considerable scope for further experimentation with voluntary environmental initiatives.     

Integrated environmental product innovation in the region of Munich and its impact on company competitiveness

This paper examines the impact of environmental innovations on company competitiveness of both the environment industry and related sectors in the region of Munich. The focus is on the drivers of these innovations and their respective effects on innovating companies. Not only innovations in the area of end-of-pipe technologies, but also the development of integrated products and production methods are examined. In a regional case study approach, a sample of 14 manufacturing and service companies in Munich (Southern Germany) was interviewed. Essentially, environmental innovation is driven by a mixture of factors internal and external to the firm: not only regulatory pressure, but also cost pressure, competitive advantages, technological lead and customer pressure are important drivers. Regulatory pushed innovations contribute to the competitive performance of sample companies in a similar way as environmental innovations which are carried out voluntarily. That would yield proof for the so-called Porter hypothesis which assumes that environmental legislation stimulates innovation and leads to “win–win” opportunities where simultaneously pollution is reduced and productivity increased.     

环境态度及其与环境行为关系的文献评述与元分析

为总结梳理环境态度定义、测量方法、影响因素及其对环境行为的影响,采用文献综述与元分析（meta-analysis）的方法,检索Elsevier ScienceDirect数据库、Web of Science Core Collection数据库、中国人民大学中文学术资源发现平台和中国知网（CNKI）中有关环境态度的文献,并从检索出的652篇相关文献中筛选出202篇核心文献、提取出43篇实证文献,对环境态度与4类环境行为之间的关系进行定量分析.结果表明,从环境态度定义和测量方式来看,国内外研究者对环境态度有着诸多定义,但都集中在“情感”“信念”“行为意图与倾向”等心理学方面;环境态度的测量方式也较多,诸多测量量表被开发,其中新环境范式量表和新生态范式量表在该领域占据着重要地位.从环境态度的影响因素来看,众多研究者从心理学和社会人口学方面进行研究,国外研究者对这两大方面有着广泛研究,价值观和道德、性别、年龄、收入、教育和知识皆为研究热点,而国内研究者比较注重环境知识这一影响因素.环境态度与环境行为之间综合相关系数为0.309（P < 0.001）,环境态度与环境行为之间呈显著正相关关系.分别考察环境态度与回收行为、能源消费行为、绿色购买行为以及出行行为等4类环境行为间的关系发现,环境态度与绿色购买行为综合相关系数为0.334（P < 0.001）,高于回收行为、能源消费行为和出行行为.研究还显示,在4类环境行为中,绿色购买行为与环境态度的相关性最强:一方面,环境态度有利于促进环境行为,因此可以通过教育、宣传等干预手段提高公众的环保态度,从而促进各类环保行为.另一方面,环境态度对于不同类型环保行为的促进效果是不同的,因此为促进公众的绿色购买行为,可以考虑增加对环境态度的教育和宣传,提高公众的环境态度;而对于促进节约用水、用电等能源消费行为,则不仅需要提高公众的环境态度,还需要结合其他更有效的干预手段（如价格干预、提示标志等）.      

科技创新投入对环境全要素生产率的影响机制

使用2004~2015年的中国280个地级市的面板数据,对科技创新投入与环境全要素生产率间的非线性关系、内部影响机理和空间异质性进行分析,结果显示：科技创新投入与环境全要素生产率之间呈现倒N型关系,两个拐点的位置分别为7.722（2257.47万元）和9.610（14913.17万元）;在外部资本进入、污染治理、市场规模效应3种影响路径中,科技创新投入影响下的外部资本进入对环境全要素生产率依然存在污染避难所的负向效应,科技创新投入与外部资本间效应为0.1363,外部资本与环境全要素生产率间效应为-0.0065;科技创新投入能够增强企业的污染治理技术并提高环境全要素生产率,三者间前后效应分别为-0.0277和-0.0311;科技创新的投入与高效益增强了市场规模效应,有效促进生产结构的转型进而提高环境全要素生产率,三者间前后效应为0.0186和0.4346.空间异质性中,外部资本进入与溢出效应带来的污染避难所负效应在中部地区显著,在西部和东北部地区不显著,而污染天堂正效应在东部地区存在但不显著;污染创新治理投入的技术正溢出效应在东部和西部地区效应显著,在中部和东北部不显著;科技创新投入与市场需求规模效应在空间区域无差异且显著为正.建议依据科技创新投入的不同影响路径来实施空间差异化策略.     

The drivers for contractors’ green innovation: an industry perspective

In the construction industry, contractors have been facing the challenge to meet the emerging needs related to the reduction of environmental impacts during the construction process. Generally, the commitment of efforts and resources from contractors to meet these needs is motivated by the influence exerted from environmental regulations and stakeholder demands. However, managerial environmental concerns and size of firms also account as key factors affecting the adoption of green construction practices. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify those factors influencing contractors to adopt green construction practices by using data gathered from a survey. From the results, it has been found that managerial concern is the most important driver for the adoption of green practices. Significant relationships have also been found between government regulations and business size with the adoption of green construction practices. However, there is no significant evidence on the relationship among the adoption of green construction practices with perceived stakeholders’ pressures. The findings from this study are significant in the understanding on the factors of green construction management. This knowledge may contribute to better decision-making towards implementing green construction practices.     

环境污染责任保险风险评价指标体系的构建

该研究依据相关理论研究和风险形成机理,识别环境污染责任保险风险特征,采用专家打分法和因子分析法,建立了我国环境污染责任保险风险评价指标体系.结果表明,环境风险源、环境污染途径、环境风险暴露和环境风险表征等一级指标权重的接近,彰显了整个过程环境管理的重要性.环境污染途径的切断对降低环境风险最为重要,且常规管理和应急预案对...     

The benefits associated with ISO 14001 certification for construction firms: Turkish case

Construction firms all over the world are increasingly seeking to obtain ISO 14001. The rapid growth in the number of ISO 14001 applications in Turkey and the share from the construction sector in this number, as a leading sector, is rather striking. This paper, using a structured questionnaire survey, investigates whether there is any dependence or relation between construction firms characteristics and having ISO 14001 certification and any difference in the perceptions related to ISO 14001 by considering both firm characteristics and two different groups as certified and non-certified firms. Additionally, it examines the perceived benefits of having ISO 14001 for certified construction firms. According to the results of analysis, although there is not any difference in perceptions on ISO 14001 certification in terms of firm characteristics and being as certified and non-certified and their both positive opinions about ISO 14001 certification. There is a relation between firms characteristics and having ISO 14001 certification. ISO 14001 certification contributes to construction firms not only in terms of environmental benefits but also with corporate management and marketing effects, thus verifying that the ISO 14001 has a positive impact on the Turkish construction sector.     

The role of environmental management system on introduction of new technologies in the metal and chemical/paper/plastics industries

Pollution prevention with the use of modern cleaner technologies in industrial sectors is the cornerstone of successful environmental policy certified according to the requirements of the international standard ISO 14001. The analyses were performed with the objective of assessing general aspects of technology modernisation as a result of the ISO 14001 certification in industrial enterprises in order to develop a better understanding whether the ISO 14001 certification can accelerate initiatives for the adoption of new and cleaner technologies within the certified firms on one hand, and, on the other hand, to find out to what extent it helped to upgrade their environmental performance. The research was performed within Slovene metal and chemical (including pharmaceuticals, paper and plastics) manufacturing companies with an additional emphasis on firms which are committed to implementing the IPPC directive. In general, certified enterprises consider ISO 14001 as a very useful tool in promoting and adopting new cleaner technologies. ISO 14001 seems to be particularly important to create better conditions for the technology changes in companies which are committed to the IPPC Directive. Companies in chemical and related industries, to a much higher extent, used predominantly modified technologies to diminish their environmental impacts, while companies in metal industries, to a higher extent, used a combination of existing and new technologies after ISO 14001 certification. It seems that better environmental performance is associated with higher productivity in ISO 14001 certified firms.