Restricting trade to compensate for differences in environmental standards is unlikely to improve competitiveness in environmentally sensistive industries. Higher environmental spending has had no noticeable effect on trade performance, so protection will not solve problems of noncompetitiveness. The reasons for good or poor performance are likely to lie elsewhere.

Examines how environmental performance affects commercial success and employment. Discusses the linkage between environmental regulation and investment. Covers trends from 1970 to 1992.

Featuring an original introduction by the editors, this important collection of essays explores the main issues surrounding the regulation of the environment. The expert contributors illustrate that regulating the environment in the UK is conceptually complex, involves a diverse range of institutions, techniques and methodologies and crosses geographical and national boundaries. In the USA it is more formalised, juridical, adversarial and formally dependent upon legal rules. The articles highlight the fact that despite differences in the UK and the USA's regulatory styles, environmental regulation today has much in common with both traditions.

It is apparent that environmental issues affect the livelihoods and well being of individuals, communities and businesses the world over. In that vein, this book examines the impact that climate change and other environmental factors have on business. The effect of climate change, while a significant factor, will influence business slowly, but inexorably. Executives should manage environmental risk at three levels: regulatory compliance, potential liability from industrial accidents, and pollutant release mitigation.Companies that are proactive in mitigating their exposure to climate-change risks will not only generate new profitable opportunities, but also gain competitive advantage over their rivals in a carbon-constrained future. Enhancing Global Competitiveness through Sustainable Environmental Stewardship provides frameworks for identifying how climate change might affect a business, and suggests strategy guidelines to manage the risks and seek opportunities.This seminal collection of research will be of particular interest to students and scholars of sustainability studies, business and management, and business professionals concerned with the role they will play in the changing and challenging times that lie ahead for business growth and environmental consciousness.

This book provides a critical perspective on several interconnected themes that relate to the implementation of both domestic and international environmental standards. What are the direct and indirect costs and benefits of these standards? What is the political economy structure that governs their implementation? Do environmental standards affect individuals and economic sectors in different ways? How do environmental standards interact with trade patterns in an ever-globalised world? Understanding the multidimensional effects of environmental standards is crucial for the establishment of effective environmental and development policies. The book presents our current state of knowledge for the issues presented, while also drawing policy insights from a WTO project (on phytosanitary standards) the authors undertook in four Sub-Sahara African countries (Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya and Mozambique).

This book attempts to answer these questions using case studies of three pollution-intensive industries: iron and steel, leather tanning, and fertilizers. Based on in-depth interviews with managers and regulators in Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, the book illustrates the variety of responses to the conflicting pressures of globalization and environmental protection at corporate and industry levels.

This study examines in three case studies whether German plants suffer from a negative impact on competitiveness caused by stringent environmental legislation. A micro level analysis showed that abatement initiatives had in general been implemented without economic damage and did not touch on the core business. Moreover, German sample plants ranked environmental pressure as relatively unimportant compared with other competitive pressures. Finally, the low absolute levels of compliance costs, at least in two of the case studies, explained why environmental regulation cannot have a great influence on competitiveness in the chosen sectors. High productivity levels were not among the essential factors explaining our findings. It implies for our case studies that also plants with lower productivity can withstand high compliance costs.

This title was first published in 2002. How expensive is environmental regulation and how does it affect the economy? A proper understanding of the costs imposed by environmental regulation is important for policy-makers and others concerned with regulatory design. This book focuses on empirical studies of the impact of environmental regulation on the economy, exposing the reader to a variety of estimation methodologies and datasets that have been used in this area. Three basic sources provide information on the costs of environmental regulation: surveys; engineering studies; and econometric analysis. This text draws on all three in its investigation.