1st April 1996 - 30th June 1998
ESRC Award L320253204
The public increasingly expects business to behave in an environmentally responsible manner. Such expectations are often backed up by regulation. At the same time business must remain profitable and supply the goods and services demanded by a complex consumer society.
The study will examine how business operates in the changing climate of environmental concern and how environmental strategies are developed.
The research will cast light on the effectiveness of the business response to environmental issues and the relative merits of voluntary versus regulatory initiatives.
The business responses to two important aspects of global environmental change - stratospheric ozone depletion and global warming - will be assessed. The project will focus on smaller and medium-sized UK enterprises with comparative study of aspects of French and German experiences. Interviews with decision-makers will cover businesses' perceptions of environmental issues and any consequent changes in behaviour. Businesses involved in the study will include past and present users of ozone-depleting chemicals and manufacturing firms whose energy consumption leads to emissions of greenhouse gases.
The project will both develop new insights into business appreciation of two specific global environmental problems and generate broader understandings of relationships between business and the environment.