Systems and strategies

Presents a comprehensive analysis of the role of business in safeguarding the environment. It introduces the general issues and context, and then gives a detailed, critical examination of all the key tools of corporate environmental management, including environmental management systems and standards; environmental policies, guidelines and charters; environmental auditing; life-cycle assessment; the measurement of environmental performance; and environmental reporting. The book emphasises systems-based environmental management, and also considers how such an approach might be integrated within local authorities and small and medium-sized companies. It then extends the systems approach to cover continuous environmental improvement, building a corporate environmental profile and moving towards sustainability.

Written in a clear and informative style, with checklists, explanatory notes and references for further reading, the book draws on the existing environmental strategies of a number of leading firms. Each chapter is written by contributors involved in ongoing research and consultancy in their specialist area.

This is the most authoritative guide available to contemporary approaches to corporate environmental management. Its 'how to' focus makes it essential reading - not only for students and researchers, but for managers faced with the challenge of introducing environmental management strategies into their own organizations.

RICHARD WELFORD is Professor of Corporate Environmental Management and Director of the Centre for Corporate Environmental Management at the University of Huddersfield. He is also Professor of Sustainable Management at the Norwegian School of Management and a Director of ERP Environment. He is co-author of The Eartl15can Reader in Business and the Environment (1996), author of Corporate Environmentalll.1anagement 2 (1997) and Hijacking Environmentalism (1997) and editor of the journal Business Strategy and the Environment.

Originally published in 1998