Firm self-regulation initiatives for environmental management in the European Union: an analysis of the dissemination of the EMAS schemel

Abstract

Concern regarding environmental problems would appear to be taking deep root in the different spheres of society. Diverse initiatives in economic and business activity have been developed in recent decades in this sense; a great number of them have been associated with the term environmental management – a concept with which environmental practices tend to be alluded to, ranging from improvements in management and the control of manufacturing processes, to the implementation of Environmental Management Systems (EMS), an specific issue that have been linked to the more general to environmental self- regulation of firms. The implementation and certification of EMS tend to be based on international models of reference such as the ISO 14001 and the Community Eco-Manage- ment and Audit Scheme (EMAS). The aim of this article is to analyze in depth the process of dissemination of the EMAS scheme.