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Recently, a number of environmental laws and regulations have been enacted to hold organizations more accountable for their environmental responsibilities. The International Standards Organization (ISO), issued ISO 14000 environmental standards to assist entities worldwide in managing their environmental requirements and to ensure that their environmental policies and practices conform to their missions and goals. ISO 14000 environmental standards are divided into six categories: (1) environmental management systems; (2) environmental auditing; (3) environmental performance evaluation; (4) environmental labeling; (5) life‐cycle assessment; and (6) environmental aspects in product standards. These standards assist entities in preparing step‐by‐step implementation plans to adopt an adequate and effective environmental management system, conduct proper environmental audits, and successfully become registered to ISO 14001. This article presents a 15‐step process which accountantsshould suggest to their organizations to achieve ISO 14001 certification.

This chapter provides a legal and theoretical overview of environmental PPMs articulated in private standards. It seeks to expand the debate about environmental PPMs, elucidating important dimensions to the issue from the perspective of global governance and international trade law. One of the arguments advanced in this chapter is that a comprehensive analysis of environmental PPMs should consider not only their role in what is regarded as trade barriers (governmental and market driven) but also their significance in global objectives such as the transition towards a green economy and sustainable patterns of consumption and production.

This chapter is based on an extensive literature review and doctrinal legal research.

This research shows that environmental PPMs represent a key issue in the context of the trade and environment relationship. For decades such measures have been thought of as being trade distortive and thus incompatible with WTO law. Although it seems clear now that they are not unlawful per se, their legal status remains unsettled. PPMs can be regarded as regulatory choices associated with a wide range of environmental concerns. However, in trade disputes, challenged measures involving policy objectives addressing production issues in the conservation of natural resources tend to focus on fishing/harvesting techniques. On the other hand, an important goal of Global Environmental Governance (GEG) is to incentivise sustainable consumption and production in order to achieve the transition to a green economy. In this sense, it can be argued that what are generally denominated as ‘PPMs’ in the WTO terminology can alternatively be regarded ‘SCPs’ in the language of environmental governance. Environmental PPMs are not only limited to state-based measures, such as import bans, tariff preferences, and governmental labelling schemes. Environmental PPMs may also amount to good corporate practices towards environmental protection and provide the rationale for numerous private environmental standards.

Most academic attention afforded to environmental-PPMs has focused on their impacts on trade or their legality under WTO law. Although legal scholars have already referred to the significance of such measures in the context of environmental governance, this issue has remained almost entirely unexplored. This chapter seeks to fill the gap in the literature in this regard. In particular, it addresses the relevance of environmental PPMs in the context of decentralised governance initiatives such as the UN Global Compact and private environmental standards.

Overall, this chapter assists in the understanding of the significance of environmental PPMs in the context of private environmental standards and other governance initiatives involving goals related to sustainable consumption and production. This chapter adds to the existing body of literature on the subject of PPMs in international trade and environmental governance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the compliance of foreign investment projects with local environmental standards in Ethiopia. It examines the cause and impact of the environmental problems created by such projects as well as the necessary policy response, especially by examining the role of the applicable bilateral investment treaties (BITs) in enforcing local standards.

The research approach is fundamentally an empirical study with some doctrinal analysis. The empirical data (qualitative) was collected through interviews, focus group discussions and observation tools.

The investment projects selected for the case studies were not complying with the local environmental standards, which resulted in several environmental problems. The major cause for the overall environmental problems was not a legal gap in the local standards, but the failure of enforcing such standards by the government bodies and foreign investors. The applicable BITs also played no role in environmental protection as they do not impose environmental obligations along with enforcement mechanisms. Non-compliance with local standards can be mitigated if the applicable BITs impose environmental obligations along with workable enforcement mechanisms – as a treaty obligation has more binding force. The author argues that, in general, foreign investments are not environmental-friendly unless otherwise strictly regulated by combining local environmental standards and a BIT that imposes environmental obligations (along with enforcement mechanisms) on the foreign investors, host state and home state.

The existing literature does not deal with the environmental problems, the enforcement constraints and the role of the applicable BITs together in a single publication. They separately address these issues, which do not give a comprehensive understanding of the cause-and-effect relationship. This paper fills this gap by presenting comprehensive findings that combine the environmental problems and the associated enforcement constraints as well as the role of the applicable BITs in this regard. It also contributes to the ongoing debate concerning whether foreign direct investment is good or bad for the environment by producing empirical evidence from Ethiopia, the African continent.

The study examined the influence of environmental standards set by the SME agro-based processing firms and farmers' environmental empowerment on farmers' adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices; and the mediating role of empowerment on the relationship between SME agro-based processing firm environmental standards and farmers' adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices.

Data was collected from purchasing managers of the agro-based processing firms. The SPSS software, SMART PLS and CB-SEM software were used to obtain results on the influence of environmental standards set by the SME agro-based processing firms on adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices; the influence of farmers' environmental empowerment on adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices and the mediating role of farmers' environmental empowerment on the relationship between SME agro-based processing firm environmental standards and farmers' adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices.

Findings indicated that SME agro-processing environmental standards have an influence on farmers' adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices. Empowering farmers in environmental issues influenced their adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices. A partial mediation effect was observed on testing the mediating role of farmers' environmental empowerment on the relationship between SME agro-based processing firm environmental standards and farmers' adoption of environmentally friendly practices.

The study mainly focused on the upstream part of agricultural supply chains. The research has implications to decision-makers in government concerned with enhancing environmentally friendly practices among farmers in general.

The influence of SME agro-based processing firm environmental standards on farmers' adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices; the influence of farmers' environmental empowerment on farmers' adoption of environmentally friendly practices; and the mediating role of farmers' environmental empowerment on the relationship between SME agro-based processing firm environmental standards and farmers' adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices are aspects that have not been given significant attention.

This chapter outlines incorporation of voluntary environmental accounting standards into national law as evidenced by the Scandinavian experience. In illustrating such hardening of soft law approaches it highlights difficulties national authorities face when attempting to regulate globalised commercial entities with extra-territorial activities. Adoption at national level of these standards into legally binding obligations illustrates convergence of global governance standards even where there is no central authority or designed codification.

Doctrinal legal research and literature review. To illustrate the incorporation of voluntary standards at a national level, Scandinavian examples (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) were chosen – frequently upheld as best practice in requiring the reporting of environmental information financial reports.

The research shows that the most proactive national authorities in this regard are endorsing certain voluntary standards and rewarding their use with reduced regulatory burden. I first outline certain voluntary environmental standards and then illustrate adoption of these standards into legally binding frameworks.

The main limitation was difficulty in finding English language versions of some national regulations.

This chapter seeks to illustrate a normativisation of soft law frameworks into legally binding national obligations. Viewed through the phenomenon of Global Administrative Law it would seem evident that national authorities are willing to adopt various international voluntary standards to regulate the increasingly globalised actions of companies.

Voluntary standards and the various reporting methods of non-financial information is an extremely broad regulatory sphere with decentralised regulation and parallel regulatory frameworks. This chapter, in illustrating the convergence of environmental governance standards through normativisation of previously voluntary standards, will assist the reader in attaining an overview of the extent of this regulatory convergence.

ISO 14000 is based on the concept that better environmental performance can be achieved when environmental aspects are systematically identified and managed. Despite the growing interest in voluntary environmental management standards, little empirical information exists and only a few survey studies have been made. This paper contains an evaluation of results from a survey on ISO 14000 and ISO 9000 companies. The study presents experiences from the standards implementation processes in Sweden. It focuses on motives for implementation, perceived benefits and key implementation factors. Further, comparisons are made between ISO 14000 and ISO 9000 systems. Swedish companies mainly use the standard to demonstrate their commitment to environmental protection. Most benefits are also perceived in the improved relations with stakeholders and in marketing advantages. Since the standard requires companies to set their environmental policy and objectives themselves, the identification of environmental aspects was stated as most important and also as the factor requiring most effort. Organizations require their suppliers to implement ISO 9000 to a greater extent than ISO 14000.

Considers the series of environmental standards known as ISO 14000. Presents an overview of the organization‐processes group of these standards, and a comparison with the existing quality standards ‐ ISO 9000 and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. ISO 14000 is concerned with establishing guidelines and principles for the management of environmental matters by organizations, through the establishment and operation of an environmental management system (EMS). Finds there is synergy between a quality management system (QMS) and an EMS; that like a QMS, an EMS must be an integral part of an organization’s overall management system; and that like a QMS, the design of an EMS is an ongoing process of continuous improvement. Concludes with several proposed research questions.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relation between the ISO 14001 standard and sustainable development, and to present a case study of the energy sector in Poland in order to provide an example of the influence of the environmental management system according to ISO 14001 on environmental quality and sustainable development.

The relation between sustainable development and the environmental management system related to the ISO 14000 series is discussed by comparing these series with the ICC Business Charter for Sustainable Development. The case study is based on the analysis of the fulfilment of environmental goals and tasks, which are part of the environmental management system, introduced in the company under research.

The case study provides arguments that the ISO 14001 standard may support sustainable development, in particular when standard legal enforcement mechanisms are weak.

The introduction of standards for business may be a tool for achieving sustainable development.

The paper shows an example of opportunity for business to contribute to sustainable development.

The purpose of this paper is to examine why firms governed by the same environmental management standards within an industry exhibit contrasting responses, with some adhering to the letter and others achieving the spirit behind the standards.

Using Arena et al. (2010) as an analytical schema to examine the institutional dynamics behind such contrasting responses, the paper analyses archival and interview data relating to firm strategy, control technology and human expertise in two contrasting Australian forestry firms.

The embedding and decoupling of environmental standards with a firm’s environmental management practices is influenced, first, by the extent to which founder directors and senior management integrate environmental responsibility with the underlying business motives and, second, by the use of organisational beliefs and values systems to institutionalise the integrated strategic rationality throughout the firm. Finally, informed by the institutionalised strategic rationality, the participation and expertise of actors across the organisational hierarchy determine the level to which the design and execution of the eco-control technologies move beyond merely monitoring compliance, and act to facilitate continuous improvement, knowledge integration and organisational learning at the operational level.

This paper responds to institutional theorists’ call for a holistic explanation that considers the interactions among several intra-organisational factors to explain the dynamics behind why some firms decouple while others do not, even though the firms exist in the same social and regulatory context.