Regulating from the Inside Can Environmental Management Systems Achieve Policy Goals

Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) offer an approach to regulatory policy that lies somewhere between free-market and traditional command-and-control methods. Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of private firms have adopted or are considering adopting these internally managed systems for improving environmental performance. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has established a special recognition for firms that adopt EMSs. Already, numerous state agencies have proposed or adopted 'green-tier systems' that allow firms with EMSs to be exempted from otherwise applicable requirements. Yet while private- and public-sector interest in EMSs is booming, limited empirical evidence is available about the efficacy of EMSs. To close the gap between advocacy and analysis, Regulating from the Inside brings together cutting-edge work of leading scholars, providing the most comprehensive analysis to date of environmental management systems. Intended to frame the future policy and the research agenda about EMSs, the discussions are organized around two critical questions: How have EMSs worked in firms that have already adopted them? What potential and limitations do they have as policy tools in the future? Addressing the arguments of both advocates and skeptics, the chapters examine why firms adopt EMSs; how firms implement EMSs; how EMSs answer concerns about fairness, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability; and what kind of impact EMSs may have on the global economy.

Foreword Donald F. Kettl 1. Environmental Management Systems and the New Policy Agenda Cary Coglianese and Jennifer Nash Part 1: Motivations and Impacts 2. Environmental Management Systems: History, Theory, and Implementation Research Richard N.L. Andrews, Nicole Darnall, Deborah Rigling Gallagher, Suellen Terrill Keiner, Eric Feldman, Matthew L. Mitchell, Deborah Amaral, and Jessica Jacoby 3. Factors that Shape EMS Outcomes in Firms Jennifer Nash and John R. Ehrenfeld 4. Whay Do Firms Adopt Advanced Environmental Practices (And Do They Make a Difference?) Richard Florida and Derek Davison 5. Environmental Management Systems and the Global Economy Theodore Panayotou Part 2: Implications for Public Policy 6. Expanding the Concept of Environmental Management Systems to Meet Multiple Social Goals William R. Moomaw 7. Information, Environmental Performance, and Environmental Management Systems Shelley H. Metzenbaum 8. Policies to Promote Systematic Environmental Management Cary Coglianese 9. EMSs and Tiered Regulation: Getting the Deal Right Jerry Speir Conclusion 10. Toward a Management-Based Environmental Policy Cary Coglianese and Jennifer Nash Index

Cary Coglianese is an associate professor of public policy at Harvard University. He is chair of the Regulatory Policy Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government's Center for Business and Government. Jennifer Nash is director of the Regulatory Policy Program at the Kennedy School's Center for Business and Government. She specializes in emerging trends in environmental policy and industry self-regulation.