Publications


Companies on the scale: Comparing and benchmarking the sustainability performance of businesses

Research article by Thomas Wiedmann, John Barrett, Manfred Lenzen on 3 May 2009

A determination of the sustainability performance of a company ought to fulfill certain requirements. It has to take into account the direct impacts from on-site processes as well as indirect impacts embodied in the supply chains of a company. This life cycle thinking is the common theme of popular footprint analyses, such as carbon, ecological, […]


Governance from below: contesting corporate environmentalism in Durban, South Africa

Research article by on 5 Jan 2009

Multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in developing countries face increasing social and environmental risk. Previous work on how MNCs seek to mitigate these risks has often failed to recognize the complexity and interaction between international, home and host country governance mechanisms. Here, however, changes in corporate environmental behaviour at the site level are evaluated in terms […]






Pollutant release and transfer registers: Examining the value of government-led reporting on corporate environmental performance

Research article by Andy Gouldson on 1 Dec 2007

Within this paper, we argue that the data released by companies through corporate environmental reports are of very limited value, particularly for analysts seeking to benchmark the environmental performance of different companies or sites. We also argue that the data published by governments through pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTRs) such as the US Toxic […]


Corporations and the governance of environmental risk

Research article by Andy Gouldson on 1 Feb 2007

The authors sketch a framework within which the contributions to this theme issue can be understood. In particular, they discuss various frames of reference or ways of thinking that can be brought to bear on the challenges that arise in evaluating attempts to govern environmental risks. The discussion is divided into three sections. First, they […]


Corporate environmentalism: Tracing the links between policies and performance Using corporate reports and public registers

Research article by Andy Gouldson on 16 May 2006

Within this paper, we consider whether it is possible to trace the links between the procedural and the substantive dimensions of corporate environmentalism using information that is in the public domain – most notably in corporate reports and in pollutant releases and transfer registers (PRTRs) such as the US Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and the […]