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Public sector entities are clearly catalysts, generators and managers of intangibles. However, they appear to be unaware so far of the possibility to prepare and use intangibles statements, but they often include information on the intangibles they produce and are concerned with in other forms of reporting they publish (e.g. social, environmental, sustainability reports). Accordingly, the first aim of the paper is to analyse the degree of disclosure on intangible resources and activities in public sector bodies' supplementary reports that have indeed different objectives from intangibles statements. In particular, the paper focuses on Local Agenda 21 (LA21), which is a local government sustainability report that is quite well known internationally. The second aim of the work is to evaluate whether, in more general terms, intangibles reports that are currently developed by private sector organisations would also be desirable for local public sector entities, and, if so, whether they could be integrated with LA21. This way, a more comprehensive report, including both sustainability‐ and intangibles‐related information, could be designed and fruitfully implemented.

The tentative exploration for intangibles‐related information within Local Agenda 21 is conducted through an empirical study referring to the specific case of Agenda 21 prepared by the Commune and the Province of Ferrara (Italy) in 2003. The evaluation of the usefulness of intangibles reports for local public sector entities is based on the analysis of the scope of their possible use.

A table is provided, including indicators that are drawn from the above sustainability report, and that could be also part of a potential intangibles statement of the local government units concerned. In generalising the results, some relevant intersection areas appear in the indicators used, even though intangibles reports and Agenda 21 serve different informational needs for diverse stakeholders. In this sense, an integration between the two documents seems possible. Indeed, a further relevant result that has also important practical implications is that intangibles reports are quite desirable for local governments as they could provide basic information that could be used not only in the perspective of communication with stakeholders, but also for internal managerial purposes of local government, such as the identification of weaknesses and assessment of the results deriving from intangibles investments and management.

This issue seems to be scarcely analysed, especially in the perspective proposed, by the existing literature.

The paper aims to draw on recommendations of Agenda 21 and communitarian theory to examine collaboration between local district community and local authorities to formulate strategies for the sustainable development of the Taupo district.

The paper adopts an interpretative methodology based on philosophical hermeneutic to understand collaboration between local community and local authorities in the Taupo district. Empirical data for this interpretive study comprise public documents, interview transcripts and minutes of meetings attended by the researchers. The paper begins interpretation of empirical data with pre‐understanding of communitarian theory and Agenda 21.

The findings indicate that historical and political factors and diversity of interests in the community affect processes and outcomes of collaboration. Local authorities play a crucial role in bringing together various groups in the Taupo community which are segregated by diversity of interests, especially between Maori and non‐Maori community groups. Without local authority facilitation, the Taupo community may remain segregated; inhibited by lack of information; and not having the opportunity to participate in sustainable development. Community participation in the Taupo district is at an infancy stage and collaboration intended to empower communities may result in local authorities recentralising their positions.

The paper integrates theory and practice and provides valuable insights for statutory agencies seeking to implement the recommendations of Agenda 21 regarding community participation in sustainable development.

The United Nations action plan on sustainable development, called Agenda 21, is applied as a new framework to strategic management of libraries and information services is described in this chapter. Strategic management with Agenda 21 involves adapting the library to its social and ecological environment. It affects the entire organization including institutional and individual strategies. Key issues are ecology, social responsibility, accountability and ethics. The chapter is not about climate change, but is about goal definition and resource allocation. The message is that library management should contribute to the sustainable development of society on a local level, in addition to its particular cultural or scientific objectives. The global approach of Agenda 21 helps to evaluate library performance as a system, against criteria derived from the action plan, and to develop sustainable scenarios integrating social and ecological impact. Also, following the Agenda 21 philosophy, no performance level such as service quality, information technology, financial balance or carbon footprint should be evaluated unrelated to the other levels. In the new societal context, social, economic and ecological aspects are inter-connected. The author’s conviction is that the traditional cultural and scientific functions of libraries cannot be isolated from this environment, and that strategic library management must integrate sustainable development, not as a marginal element, but at the heart of analysis and decision-making.

This paper aims to explore environmental accounting in terms of long‐term societal transition towards “sustainable development”.

Accordingly, the paper uses an abstracted and generic framework of antecedents to “deinstitutionalisation” (the erosion or discontinuity of institutionalized organisational activities or practices) to analyse a case study of how a UK local government council is responding to an environmental agenda in the context of an array of gradual political, functional and social pressures to change its activities.

The findings of the study indicate how, in different ways, environmental accounting is pressed into use to promote such change.

Contrary to other frameworks which emphasise how environmental accounting is potentially constructive/empowering or captured/colonized, drawing on this case study the paper argues that environmental accounting may in contrast be mobilised to contribute to a process of deinstitutionalisation, even when attempts to develop such accounting are not entirely successful.

The purpose of this paper is the comparison of Local Agenda 21 – sustainability plan implementation and research activity between Europe, North America and India.

Intensive literature and web search for European, North American and Indian Local Agenda 21 sustainability planning and implementation status.

Close to 6,000 sustainability plans have been prepared for European communities versus about 100 for North American communities. A total of 20 Indian cities have started sustainability planning efforts. There is an extensive support network for European communities and much less so or North American and Indian communities. Most sustainability/biodiversity/urban ecosystems research is ongoing in Europe and North America and there is a beginning surge of activity in India.

Knowledge of Local Agenda 21 implementation status between these three regions can hopefully spur more activity in North America and India. Comparisons of applicable planning innovations and approaches could be useful.

There has not been a comparison of Local Agenda 21 implementation that compares Europe, North America and India. There have been some reviews respective to each region.

The University of Limerick, Ireland, in collaboration with the major local authorities in the mid‐west region of Ireland (Limerick County Council, Limerick Corporation, Clare County Council, Tipperary (North Riding) County Council and the Mid‐Western Regional Authority) is currently undertaking a project to promote sustainable development in the region. This is being achieved, first, through the promotion of public participation by directly involving members of local government, the voluntary and community sector and the general public in the region who form the mid‐west steering and advisory groups, second, the development of a range of indicators selected on the basis of sensitivity to sustainable development, and third, the design of a Local Agenda 21 programme in the mid‐west. The paper falls into two parts. First, the current situation in Ireland in relation to sustainable development is reviewed, and second, the University of Limerick case study is described.

This paper aims to examine how Spanish local councils respond to changes in their institutional context by implementing a sustainable practice: Local Agenda 21 (LA21).

This paper uses the institutional approach to explain the factors influencing the adoption of LA21. It develops a series of hypotheses about how specific institutional factors affect the town and city councils that have implemented an LA21, as well as the differences between local councils with high versus medium implementation levels.

The analysis reveals some institutional factors that explain the process of institutional change, the outcomes of LA21, and the differences between local councils.

Only one respondent from each local council completed the questionnaire. The authors tested for common method bias and did not find it to be present.

From a more practical point-of-view, the authors consider LA21 to be an effective instrument for improving both the sustainability of towns and the management of local councils.

The paper proposes institutional theory as a perspective that can explain change in organizations. The main value of the research lies in its identification of the factors affecting the process of change and the outcomes of implementing a sustainable practice like LA21.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of the international initiative (Agenda 21) on the level of sustainability disclosures by Malaysian local authority websites.

The influence of the LA 21 program is considered using the institutional isomorphism and a mixed method research design.

Content analysis of website disclosures by 139 local authorities shows that it is the council's commitment to the LA 21 program by explicitly stating this commitment on their website that is linked to higher sustainability disclosures and not the council's actual involvement in the program. Interview findings provided evidence of both normative and mimetic isomorphism in relation to the LA 21 program. The paper identifies the multiple effect of isomorphism for the LA 21 program using both quantitative and qualitative research designs.

The LA 21 program is an example of an international commitment by many countries towards improving sustainability reporting. This paper shows how the decision by Malaysia to agree to this program has improved website sustainability reporting by Malaysian local authorities, starting from the LA 21 pilot project involving only a few authorities to involvement by all 145 authorities.

This adds to a growing body of literature in public sector disclosure and sustainable development by showcasing how an international initiative can impact sustainability reporting at the local level.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the development of environmental management practices by Portuguese local entities and their determining factors.

The data were collected by sending a postal questionnaire. In order to measure the degree of development of environmental management practices, an index of environmental management practices (EMPI) was developed, which reflects the extent to which a set of 16 environmental management practices have been implemented by the entities included in the sample. In total, four variables are considered in this study as possible factors that drive the development of environmental management practices by local entities: type of entity; size; proactive environmental strategy; and Local Agenda 21.

Results indicate the degree of development of environmental management practices in Portuguese local entities is low. Additionally, entity size, the adoption of proactive environmental strategies and the implementation of Local Agenda 21 are explaining factors of the degree of development of such practices.

The paper adds to the international research on environmental management in the public sector by providing empirical data from a country, Portugal, where empirical evidence is still relatively limited.

Despite the abundant literature on CSR, the implementation of social responsibility in public sector organizations is still underexplored. And this despite the fact that, as illustration, the public sector accounts for more than one-third of the economic activity in Belgium. Moreover, public sector organizations have an example function toward other societal actors, and by implementing social responsibility themselves, they are likely to provide a strong signal to the market. In this chapter, we approach the example role of public organizations in CSR implementation by doing a qualitative research of 14 (out of 19) municipalities in Brussels and focus thereby on the implementation of a social responsibility proxy, “Local Agenda 21” (LA21). We find that political support, through key political figures and the opposition, are very important for the success of the implementation of social responsibility in municipalities. We were surprised to learn that municipalities are experiencing competition amongst each other regarding LA21 implementation. However, the most unexpected result of our study was that municipalities reported that their involvement in LA21 seems to have only a limited impact on the private sector. Therefore, the argument of government institutions “leading by example” requires further investigation.