Net-zero emission targets and the role of managerial environmental awareness,customer pressure,and regulatory control toward environmental performance

To avoid the worst effects of global warming, countries agreed to limit warming below 2.0°C and ideally to 1.5°C preindustrial level. This requires countries to drop half of their greenhouse gas emission by 2030 and reach net-zero emission by 2050. In this regard, current study explores the role of green production as a mediator in the impact of managerial environmental awareness, customer pressure, and regulatory control on environmental performance. The data collected from 381 managers was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Results indicate that customer pressure, regulatory control, and managerial environmental awareness play a pivotal role toward green production, whereas only managerial environmental awareness among them directly influences environmental performance. Green production fully mediates the relationship from customer pressure and regulatory control to environmental performance. However, it partially mediates the relation between managerial environmental awareness and environmental performance. Similarly, the importance of green production for environmental performance is highlighted.     

GIS技术在环境影响评价中的应用策略

在当今社会经济的不断发展中,人们的环保意识也实现了不断提升,而伴随着科学技术的发展,各种先进技术也开始逐渐应用到了环境保护工作中。其中,GIS技术就是一项典型的环境影响评价技术。通过该技术的应用,可以让环境资源、生态资源、土地资源、林业资源以及农业资源等领域得到良好的影响评价,以此来保障资源与环境之间的可持续发展。基于此,论文对该技术在环境影响评价中的具体应用策略进行分析,希望可以为GIS技术在环境影响评价中的合理应用以及环境影响评价效果的提升提供足够动力。     

Too Little or too much? Exploring U‐shaped Relationships between Corporate Environmental Performance and Corporate Financial Performance

Despite 40 years of research on the relationship between corporate environmental performance (CEP) and corporate financial performance (CFP), there is no generally accepted theoretical framework that explains the contradictory results that have emerged. This unsatisfactory status may be attributed to the fact that linear models dominate the research. Based on an international sample of 2361 firm‐years from 2008 to 2012, we find empirical evidence of a non‐linear, specifically a U‐shaped, relationship between carbon performance and profitability as well as between waste intensity and profitability. The same result holds for the relationship between carbon performance and stock market performance, but solely for manufacturing industries. Our empirical findings provide evidence for the theoretical framework of a ‘too‐little‐of‐a‐good‐thing’ (TLGT) effect, which indicates that the type of relationship (positive, negative) depends on the level of CEP. More precisely, there is a negative CEP–CFP relationship for companies with low CEP and a positive association for high CEP. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Commitment to Sustainability in Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: The Influence of Strategic Orientations and Management Values

Ecosystem degradation and social sustainability have become important issues in the corporate sphere during the last few decades. However, research discussing corporate social responsibility and related concepts has often focused on larger companies, sometimes neglecting the specifics of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between two common strategic orientations, market orientation (MO) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO), in relation to sustainability commitment, sustainability practices and management values in SMEs. Questionnaire responses from 450 Swedish SMEs were analyzed, confirming the influence of MO, EO and sustainability practices on commitment to sustainability, implying that firms committed to sustainability see both market and entrepreneurial advantages of sustainability. The results also show that different parts of MO and EO differ in importance for commitment to sustainability among SMEs. Implications concern the importance for firms and policymakers to work with sustainability issues using both internal and external perspectives. © 2015 The Authors. Business Strategy and the Environment published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Measuring Corporate Environmental Performance: A Methodology for Sustainable Development

Assessing corporate environmental performance (CEP) that is both comprehensive and consistent with sustainable development both for society and companies, while at the same time taking heed of the facts and interests of each stakeholder, is not a simple feat. Due to the multidimensional character of the sustainability concept, several questions must be considered in the evaluation process: (i) the qualitative nature of indicators and the complexity of developing a synthetic index; (ii) the difficulty of choosing properly statistical techniques for aggregation and (iii) the difficulty of introducing stakeholders’ preferences in the assessment models. This paper is an attempt to address this challenge by developing a framework for the assessment of CEP, based on the application of a fuzzy multi‐criterion decision‐making (MCDM) method. To achieve positive scores in a CEP assessment, an organization should be strategically committed and engage in environmental management and governance structures that are translated into good results in terms of both engagement and operational performance. Unless such premises are explicitly incorporated into the assessment criteria, the results would reveal that the CEP measurement could not be brought into a line with an earnest ambition of achieving true sustainable development. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Does Size Matter? Evaluating Corporate Environmental Disclosure in the Australian Mining and Metal Industry: A Combined Approach of Quantity and Quality Measurement

There are an increasing number of companies in the mining and metals sector disclosing environmental sustainability information in their annual reports, sustainability reports and corporate internet web pages. However, there is ongoing debate about the relationship between the quantity and the quality of environmental disclosure. That is, does an increase in number equate to an increase in quality? This study investigates the relationship between the quantity and the quality of environmental disclosure reports. Using content analysis, we examine the environmental disclosure of 55 Australian mining and metal companies which are listed among the Australian Securities Exchange's (ASX) Top 100 mining and metal sector companies. We find that the size of firms influences both the quantity and the quality of corporate environmental disclosure. That is, we find that market capitalization is positively and significantly correlated to the quantity (number of words) and the quality of disclosure. We also confirm that there is a very highly significant, positive correlation between quantity (number of words) and quality of environmental disclosure. In order to investigate any differences between the top performing group and the bottom performing group in terms of environmental disclosure quality, further analysis also confirms that there is a positive relationship between the quantity and the quality of environmental disclosure. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Sustainability Strategy and Eco‐Innovation: A Moderation Model

This study develops a moderation model to examine the role of a proactive environmental strategy on eco‐innovation. Drawing upon the perspectives of contingency theory, this study argues that the impacts of sustainability strategy on eco‐innovation depend on market demand, innovation intensity and government subsidy. The sample used to test the hypotheses is obtained from the Community Innovation Survey in Taiwan. A total of 2955 manufacturing firms are included in the final sample. A logit moderating regression is adopted to analyze the models. The results reveal that market demand and government subsidy positively moderate the relationship between environmental strategy and eco‐innovation. Specifically, firms are more likely to adopt a proactive environmental strategy to improve eco‐innovation under high levels of market demand and government subsidy. Furthermore, the results indicate that innovation intensity affects the effect of environmental strategy on eco‐innovation, but the direction of the influence varies with different categories of eco‐innovation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Integrating Environmental,Social and Governance (ESG) Disclosure for a Sustainable Development: An Australian Study

Addressing environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues has become a critical part of business strategy. This article explores the extent of ESG reporting of metal and mining sector companies listed in the Australian Securities Exchange to determine the nature of ESG indicators in use in the sector. The current study argues that stakeholder engagement is the key to enhance company environmental policy and sustainable development. According to the results of this study, ESG reporting motives are highly influenced by reporting regulations. Given the diversity in reporting of ESG, comparability of ESG strategic performance is problematic. This study contributes towards developing an ESG disclosure index, which companies could use as a legitimacy tool that external stakeholders could use to reliably measure and compare the ESG performance of companies. It also reveals there is an increased demand for more empirical research on integration of sustainability into strategic planning process. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

The Influence of Board Composition on Sustainable Development Disclosure

Despite knowing the potential effect of social reporting on firms' continuity, there is limited research into the influence of the composition of boards of directors on CSR disclosure. This paper adds to the emerging CSR literature empirical evidence by examining how board composition relates to a firm's social and environmental disclosure as well as the implementation of social policies. Using a sample of FTSE 350 firms for the period 2007–2012, the results show that higher board independence facilitates the conveying of firms' good citizenship image through enhancing societal conscience. The results also show that female participation on boards is favorably affecting CSR engagement and reporting as well as the establishment of ethical policies. Hence, the research suggests that boards with higher female participation and independence boost the legitimacy of CSR reporting. Board gender diversity and independence facilitates directing part of the firm's scarce resources toward value maximizing social projects and subsequent reporting on these. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Substantive or Symbolic Environmental Strategies? Effects of External and Internal Normative Stakeholder Pressures

Different forms of stakeholder pressures drive different environmental strategies in organizations. This article differentiates between internal and external normative stakeholder pressures to test their potentially unique effects on environmental strategies. The findings suggest that internal, normative stakeholder pressures primarily drive substantive commitments to environmental practices, reflecting an internalized, voluntary commitment to the natural environment and dedication to environmental leadership by the firm. External, normative pressures instead primarily drive symbolic commitments to environmental practices, aimed at managing the image of the organization to establish and reinforce an appearance of commitment to the natural environment. This novel perspective accounts for the institutionally plural contexts of organizations and their environments, in which internal pressures directly drive substantive environmental commitments and external pressures drive symbolic responses. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment