Voluntary environmental programs: A comparative perspective

Prakash, Aseem; Potoski, Matthew

doi:10.1002/pam.20617

Cited by 159 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Previous experiences with voluntary environmental commitments show mixed results and illustrate the importance of audits, disclosure, and sanctioning mechanisms to ensure changes in behavior (10). For example, the United Nations Global Compact, aimed to improve environmental, human rights, and labor policies among private actors, is lacking both monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.…”

Section: Will the Initiative Influence The Seafood Industry?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this context, however, there has been limited attention devoted to large-scale private actors (8). Existing studies primarily focus on how major brands invest in-and benefit from-sustainability initiatives (9), or analyze how and when voluntary commitments to sustainability may influence corporate behavior (10,11). Little is known about how scientists can engage with corporations and how knowledge can be transferred from science to action by the private sector.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Emergence of a global science–business initiative for ocean stewardship

Österblom

Jouffray

Folke

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The ocean represents a fundamental source of micronutrients and protein for a growing world population. Seafood is a highly traded and sought after commodity on international markets, and is critically dependent on healthy marine ecosystems. A global trend of wild stocks being overfished and in decline, as well as multiple sustainability challenges associated with a rapid growth of aquaculture, represent key concerns in relation to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Existing efforts aimed to improve the sustainability of seafood production have generated important progress, primarily at the local and national levels, but have yet to effectively address the global challenges associated with the ocean. This study highlights the importance of transnational corporations in enabling transformative change, and thereby contributes to advancing the limited understanding of large-scale private actors within the sustainability science literature. We describe how we engaged with large seafood producers to coproduce a global science-business initiative for ocean stewardship. We suggest that this initiative is improving the prospects for transformative change by providing novel links between science and business, between wild-capture fisheries and aquaculture, and across geographical space. We argue that scientists can play an important role in facilitating change by connecting knowledge to action among global actors, while recognizing risks associated with such engagement. The methods developed through this case study contribute to identifying key competences in sustainability science and hold promises for other sectors as well.coproduction | governance | learning | resilience | transformation S ustainability science is becoming a mainstream scientific approach for understanding and addressing the global and interconnected challenges currently facing humanity (1, 2). A key component of sustainability science is to collaborate with actors outside of academia to codesign and codevelop an understanding of the challenges and their corresponding solutions (2, 3). Local and regional examples illustrate how sustainability scientists have engaged with society as change agents (4, 5) and the challenges associated with such engagement (3,4,6,7). In this context, however, there has been limited attention devoted to large-scale private actors (8). Existing studies primarily focus on how major brands invest in-and benefit from-sustainability initiatives (9), or analyze how and when voluntary commitments to sustainability may influence corporate behavior (10, 11). Little is known about how scientists can engage with corporations and how knowledge can be transferred from science to action by the private sector.In the following, we present our experience from a coproduction process with large transnational seafood corporations, aimed at stimulating transformative change in the seafood industry, and the subsequent emergence of a global initiative for ocean stewardship. Here, ocean stewardship is viewed as an adaptive and lear...

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Section: Will the Initiative Influence The Seafood Industry?mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence of a global science–business initiative for ocean stewardship

Österblom

Jouffray

Folke

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…A growing number of firms however, are now mapping and publishing supply chain information (6,13,33) (Table 1). These initiatives lay the groundwork for measuring primary impacts at each stage in the life cycle of a product from raw material extraction to transport, manufacturing, retail, use, and end-of-life management.…”

Section: Mapping Supply Chain Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The science of sustainable supply chains

O’Rourke

2014

Science

221

108

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Recent advances in the science and technology of global supply chain management offer near–real-time demand-response systems for decision-makers across production networks. Technology is helping propel “fast fashion” and “lean manufacturing,” so that companies are better able to deliver products consumers want most. Yet companies know much less about the environmental and social impacts of their production networks. The failure to measure and manage these impacts can be explained in part by limitations in the science of sustainability measurement, as well as by weaknesses in systems to translate data into information that can be used by decision-makers inside corporations and government agencies. There also remain continued disincentives for firms to measure and pay the full costs of their supply chain impacts. I discuss the current state of monitoring, measuring, and analyzing information related to supply chain sustainability, as well as progress that has been made in translating this information into systems to advance more sustainable practices by corporations and consumers. Better data, decision-support tools, and incentives will be needed to move from simply managing supply chains for costs, compliance, and risk reduction to predicting and preventing unsustainable practices.

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“…Thus, companies can be motivated to sign up to 'green clubs' by the promise that they can display a certificate of membership, and benefit from doing so by gaining access to new customers or building loyalty with existing customers. In this way, certification schemes have become a form of social regulation that often intertwines with state regulation [26] and helps to create a market for certain types of responsible behavior, such as corporate environmental stewardship [28].…”

Section: Selective Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Business unusual: collective action against bribery in international business

Dávid-Barrett

2017

Crime Law Soc Change

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Collective action initiatives in which governments and companies make anticorruption commitments have proliferated in recent years. This apparently prosocial behavior defies the logic of collective action and, given that bribery often goes undetected and unpunished, is not easily explained by principal-agent theory. Club theory suggests that the answer lies in the institutional design of anti-corruption clubs: collective action can work as long as membership has high entry costs, members receive selective benefits, and compliance is adequately policed. This article contributes to the debate by examining how these conditions manifest in the case of anti-corruption clubs in the realm of international business, with particular focus on the international dimension of many initiatives. This vertical aspect of institutional design creates a richer, more complex set of reputational and material benefits for members, as well as allowing for more credible and consistent monitoring and enforcement.

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Voluntary environmental programs: A comparative perspective

Abstract: Voluntary environmental programs (VEPs)

Cited by 159 publications

References 68 publications

Emergence of a global science–business initiative for ocean stewardship

Emergence of a global science–business initiative for ocean stewardship

The science of sustainable supply chains

Business unusual: collective action against bribery in international business

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