What Distinguishes EMAS Participants? An Exploration of Company Characteristics

Abstract

Abstract. Empirical research on the characteristics of environmentally responsive companies has focussed on US and Japanese firms. For Europe, which is commonly considered as the greenest of the three major markets, similar research is lacking. This paper seeks to fill this gap by empirically investigating business and financial characteristics, stakeholder pressures and public policies to distinguish companies that have implemented the European Eco-Management and Audit System (EMAS) from a unique firm-level dataset of European publicly quoted companies. We find that the EMAS participation decision is positively influenced by the solvency ratio, the share of noncurrent liabilities, the average labour cost and the absolute company size as well as the relative size of a company compared to its sector average. The profit margin exerts a negative influence. We further find that companies whose headquarters is located in a country that actively encourages EMAS have a higher probability of participation.

The Impact of CEO Characteristics on Corporate Social Performance

“…Other possibilities include the global reporting initiative (GRI) which provides guidance and standards for sustainability reporting that as of 2006 were used by over 1200 companies throughout the world. 10 Related specifically to environmental performance, the work of Bracke et al (2007) in testing which firm characteristics are related to EMAS (EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) participation could be extended to include leader characteristics, in particular educational field and a degree in economics.…”