Environmental best practice and performance benchmarks among EMAS-certified organizations: An empirical study

Abstract

Voluntary certifiable environmental management standards such as ISO 14001 and EMAS have been extensively adopted and disseminated worldwide, but the rigorous assessment of the real effectiveness of these tools is challenging. There is a need for more research focused on the concrete operational implications for certified organizations. The analysis of the best in class practices of certified organization has been overlooked. In order to fill this gap, this article assesses the use of environmental best practices and performance benchmarks among EMAS-registered organizations. For that purpose, 178 environmental statements assessed by independent third-party verifiers from the Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian hotel industry are analyzed. The findings show poor use of best practices and performance benchmarks among certified organizations. The idea that EMAS signals environmentally best in class or frontrunner behavior is open to question. Implications for policy makers, managers, and other stakeholders are discussed.