An Introduction to Corporate Environmental Management

Book excerpt: This book is designed to meet the urgent need for a comprehensive and definitive introduction and teaching text on corporate environmental management. It aims to become the standard textbook for courses examining how business can take the environment into account while also providing an accessible and thorough overview of this increasingly multidisciplinary subject for practitioners. Written by the internationally acknowledged experts Stefan Schaltegger and Roger Burritt (authors of the highly influential Contemporary Environmental Accounting) along with Holger Petersen, the book invites the reader to join in an exploration of the ways in which companies can engage in environmental management and why such engagement can be profitable for business. The reader is invited to: examine whether the contents reflect their own experience, takes their experience further, or opposes their own views; note which of the ideas presented are especially important, add to those ideas, or encourage a reaction (positive or negative); answer questions creatively (based on their own perspective of the issues); encourage themselves to be inspired by questions, which can be investigated further through other written sources of information, such as books you will be guided to through the bibliography, the Internet or the general media; and think about and plan the ways in which the knowledge provided can be implemented in your own situation. The book is organised into four main sections. First, the fundamental ideas and linkages behind business management, the environment and sustainable development are briefly but clearly sketched. The second part of the book outlines the criteria against which environmentally oriented business management can be assessed and the fields of action in which success can be achieved. The third part presents a discussion and examples of strategies for environmental management, which are linked, in the fourth part, to the essential tools of environmental management, especially green marketing, environmental accounting and eco-control. The book is full of case studies and examples related to the main contents of each chapter and each chapter provides a number of questions for the student or reader to address. An Introduction to Corporate Environmental Management is both a textbook and a sourcebook. The reader can either work through the material in a structured way or dip into the content and follow up on specific areas of interest. The materials are designed to be used for understanding and reference, rather than to be learned by heart. The primary aim is for the reader to obtain a practical understanding of the relationship between management and environmental issues which can be applied in day-to-day situations-whether as part of a student's wider view of management or within the practitioner's real-world situation. It will be essential reading for many years to come.