International Environmental Standards and Corporate Policies: An Integrative Framework

Corporations engaged in international business face increasingly complex challenges in preparing environmental management policies for their plants or sites in different operating environments. Rapidly evolving international standards such as ISO 14000 encourage corporations to certify their environmental management systems, but leave them broad discretion in formulating environmental policies. Certification of corporate environmental policies and management systems, however, may not be adequate for companies with plants that use different technologies and production processes or that are located at sites with different environmental characteristics. This article proposes a framework that can help international corporations develop tailored environmental policies for their plants based on their environmental risks.