Benefits of Environmental Management System Certification
Attributes
Medium: Animals, Plants and/or Others
Country: Thailand
Analytical Framework(s): Other
Study Date: 2009
Publication Date: 2010
Major Result(s)
Study Note: In light of criticisms of existing environmental policy instruments, a new tool has emerged. Voluntary Environmental Programs (VEPs), broadly defined as non-mandatory commitments on the part of the firm that aim to improve their environmental performance, is a recent addition to the environmental management toolbox. VEPs have been recognized as a potential tool for supplementing existing command-and-control regulations in achieving environmental goals. First adopted in industrialized countries, VEPs are increasingly being adopted by those in the developing world and their numbers are on the rise worldwide. While VEPs tend to be offered by a country's government and enlist participants from within the country, VEPs can take many forms, including being offered by non-government organizations for international participation. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO)'s environmental management system (EMS) certification scheme (ISO 14001) is one such exception. Offered by an international NGO, ISO 14001 enlists international participants through ISO's network of local standards institutes. In Thailand, the Thailand Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) is responsible for overseeing matters related to ISO 14001 certification in the country.
Study Details
Summary: Thailand, like many developing nations, is facing a wide range of environmental challenges, many of which are caused by industrial pollution. The country has found that traditional command and control legislation is not effectively tackling this problem. It is therefore promoting various voluntary environmental programmes as a way for businesses to improve their environmental performance. To provide more information on the effectiveness of this approach, and to see how to maximize its impact, this study has assessed the implementation of one of the most popular voluntary environmental schemes, ISO 14001. This study finds that firms sign up to ISO 14001 for a number of reasons, the most important being the impetus provided by their management policies, the need to boost corporate image and the desire to socially responsible. The study proposes a number of policies to help firms to adopt the voluntary scheme. These include providing financial incentives and helping firms with training and provision of information and technical advice.
Site Characteristics: From its modest beginning in the early 1960s, the Thai manufacturing sector has grown rapidly and overtaken the agricultural sector as the nation's predominant foreign exchange earner. As of April 2009, the country has 146,752 factories listed with the Department of Industrial Works (DIW), an underestimation of the true number of factories actually in operation in the country since small operations are not required to be registered with the DIW, and many small enterprises located in town and rural areas are not included in the registered factory listing. Of the listed factories, the majority are small enterprises which employ no more than 50 people. Another sizeable share is the medium-scale enterprises which employ no more than 200 people. Large-scale enterprises are small in number, but significantly affect both the country's economy and its environment.
Comments: The study aimed to answer three sets of research questions: (1) When formal regulations and enforcement are weak, what motivates firms to voluntarily adopt ISO 14001? How do firm characteristics influence their VEP adoption? Is connectedness to the global economy an important factor? (2) For firms in Thailand, how does ISO 14001 affect environmental performance? Do firms with ISO 14001 perform better environmentally? (3) What are the firm's opinions regarding ISO 14001 adoption and government encouragement of it? What has the government done that has helped firms achieve certification? What can the government improve on? How do firms react to government promotion? In seeking to answer the above research questions, the study focused on the manufacturing sector and on three sectors in particular - food and beverages (ISIC 2 15), textiles and garment (ISIC 17, 18), and electronic and electrical appliances (ISIC 30, 31, 32). These industries have been carefully chosen to represent the three main types of industries found in Thailand.