transforming sustainability strategy into action: the chemical industry

BOOK REVIEWS

E C O L O G I C A L E C O N O M I C S 6 1 ( 2 0 0 7 ) 1 9 4 – 1 9 7

B. Beloff, M. Lines, D. Tanzil (Eds.), Transforming Sustain-ability Strategy into Action: The Chemical Industry, JohnWiley and Sons, Inc., 2005, ISBN: 0-471-64445-5, 541 pp.

Sustainability remains an elusive term that without properdefinition, end goals, and actionable items for the majorplayers, cannot become a reality. Significant efforts to sharpenthe boundaries of sustainable development have been made,with efforts focused on turning the body of sustainabilitytheory into on-the-ground action and results (for example,Graedel andKlee, 2002;Marshall andToffel, 2005). “Transform-ing Sustainability Strategy intoAction: TheChemical Industry”is one such example, with editors Beloff, Lines, and Tanziltaking on the formidable task of moving this diverse industrytoward sustainability. The stated goals of the book are to:

• providemanagerswith a practical framework to identify andassess options for improving the sustainability of their com-panies' and supply chains' current and future business prac-tices, products, and manufacturing or production methods;

• demonstrate how businesses in the chemical sector cantranslate sustainability strategies into action;

• focus on operationalizing the environmental, economic, andsocial value of sustainable development for chemical in-dustries; and

• contribute to the body of evidence regarding the businesscase for sustainability.

The authors do, in a large part, achieve these goals. Thefoundation for achieving these goals is in the delineation ofkey issues facing the chemical industry, including concernsfacing business, government, and academic and advocacyorganizations. The debates over who should assume theburden of assessing and managing chemical risk, manage-ment and policy limitations, human health and environmen-tal impact, and economic competitiveness are addressed. Thevery timely issue of chemical plant security, and the widedisparity of such efforts between plants, is highlighted.

Several case studies are offered to show different sustain-ability assessment tools. The editors present the BRIDGES toSustainability Framework, which aims to define and describethe three dimensions of sustainability: environmental stew-ardship, economic growth, and social development. Like theconcept of sustainable development, the Framework is notsimple and containsmany layers. BRIDGES examines life cycle

stages, dimensions of sustainability, and the lenses (e.g., time,place), which sets boundary conditions and further character-ize the issues of sustainability.

The book then reviews the existing terms that relate todesign for sustainability, such as industrial ecology, design forenvironment, and green chemistry. Coupled with additionalcase studies and examples, this book walks through theimplementation of sustainability plans, including assessing,auditing, and reporting performance. A brief, but interesting,foray discussing the potential futures for the chemicalindustry is also presented. This is initially structured aroundthe service paradigm of chemical stewardship and thematerials and function perspective of green chemistry.

A thorough examination of the emerging business case forsustainable development is provided. The industry sustain-ability survey helped this bookmove beyond assumptions andhypotheses and really get the pulse of the industry. Currentactivities and attitudes show that, in some cases, substantialefforts to address issues of sustainability are beingmade, witha wide range of standards and outputs.

What this book is not is a pocket guide for industrial en-vironmental managers. Tipping the scales at well over 500pages, this book should instead be a treated as a near-comprehensive treatise on moving the chemical industrytoward sustainability. Managers in the industry will findseveral of the chapters superfluous, with the most pertinentinformation for them located in chapters 4, 5, 6, and 8. It is easyfor theactionable items –which are present in the book – to get lostin the details and background information. The abundance ofcontributors and case studies leaves the book with a slightlydisjointed feel at times and the editors could have increasedthe value of the book by paring down the text and presenting aclearer, unobstructed agenda for the chemical industry'smoveto sustainability.

That being said, the work done here is still a significantcontribution and truly represents the state of the art in thisfield. Managers in the chemical industry who are seriousaboutmoving their industry towards sustainability should usethis guide in the creation and implementation of sustainabil-ity plans. Researchers studying sustainability should take aclose look at the case studies and survey results to betterunderstand the true state of this industry and the potentialoutlets for and implications of their recommendations.

The task of assessing the sustainability strategy and itsimplementation for an entire industry is a truly daunting taskbut Beloff, Lines, and Tanzil, along with the contributing

ava i l ab l e a t www.sc i enced i rec t . com

www.e l sev i e r. com/ l oca te /eco l econ

authors have in this volume done just that. However, withsome streamlining and increased continuity, this book couldserve as an excellent prototype for other industries thatwish totake aggressive efforts in reaching sustainability.

R E F E R E N C E S

Graedel, T.E., Klee, R.J., 2002. Getting serious about sustainability.Environmental Science and Technology 36 (4), 523–529.

Marshall, J.D., Toffel, M.W., 2005. Framing the elusive concept ofsustainability: a sustainability hierarchy. Environmental Sci-ence and Technology 39 (3), 673–682.

Jeremiah JohnsonChemical Engineering Department,

Yale University, United StatesE-mail address: [email protected].

22 March 2006

0921-8009/$ - see front matter© 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2006.03.023

JoAnn Carmin, Stacy D. VanDeveer (Eds.), EU Enlargementand the Environment: Institutional Change and Environmen-tal Policy in Central and Eastern Europe, Routledge, Londonand New York, 2005, ISBN: 0415351863, 345 pp.

The European Union (EU) has greatly expanded its environ-mental legislation and strengthened regulatory standardsover the past three decades. The EU has done so despite aseries of enlargements in membership to its current 25member states. In their edited volume, JoAnn Carmin andStacy D. VanDeveer address important issues of EU enlarge-ments and environmental protection and policy, focusing onthe latest accession of ten new countries to the EU in 2004.More specifically, the edited volume analyses the accession ofthe eight Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Inthese countries, over four decades of Communism left a legacyof significant environmental degradation.

This volume offers a careful and illuminating analysis oftheoretical and practical issues relating to the accession of theCEE countries and EU environmental policy making andimplementation. Politically and economically, this is themost challenging enlargement in EU history. The book isdivided into four main parts consisting of thirteen chapters.The first part covers broader issues of EU enlargement,institutions and environmental politics. The second partfocuses on several specific environmental policy issues inCEE countries. The third part examines the role of civil societyin CEE countries and an expanding EU. The fourth partdiscusses environmental issues and challenges stemmingfrom the new members' transition from state socialism to EUmembership.

The individual chapters address several issues of signifi-cant importance. Miranda Schreurs, in a useful chapter in thevolume's first part, draws lessons from past accessions of

poorer southern European states with low environmentalstandards. Schreurs argues that these earlier accessions didnot halt progressive environmental policy making in the EU,partially because the EU actively worked to raise regulations inthe new members, rather than lowering EU standards as aresult of accession. The latest enlargement certainly poses amajor challenge, but Schreurs credibly shows that active andtargeted support from the EU can assist new members inimproving their level of environmental protection withouthindering EU policy developments.

Petr Jehlička and Andrew Tickle analyse environmentalpolicy developments in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Polandand Slovakia. They convincingly argue that weak institutionalstructures and a lack of national experts in these countriesundermine their ability to participate in EU environmentalpolitics. Yet, they note that these countries' innovative use ofmarket based policy instruments is an area where the EUcould learn. In addition, Jehlička and Tickle, together withseveral other chapter authors, show that the CEE countrieshave not acted as a bloc or operated to lower EU environmen-tal standards. Similarly, Ingmar von Homeyer argues that it isunlikely that that the 2004 enlargement will have a majordisruptive effect on EU environmental governance.

There are, of course, national political, economic andcultural differences across the CEE countries that influencetheir environmental policy making and EU relations. Thesedifferences are explored in the four chapters in the secondpart. These chapters provide detailed examinations of specificenvironmental issues and draw general conclusions aboutenvironmental policy making in CEE countries and EUrelations. Cases covered include waste policy in Hungary andnuclear power in the Czech Republic. Analyses show how CEEcountries sometimes have faced conflicting messages fromthe EU where, for example, EU economic policy tends topromote Western style consumption while EU environmentalpolicy supports waste minimization and recycling.

The three chapters in the third part examine possibilities andlimitations of civil society inCEE countries. Chapter authors arguethat there isa frequent lackofpublic support forastrengtheningofenvironmental policy in these countries. Domestic non-govern-mental organizations (NGOs) are facing important challenges inbuilding environmental awareness. In addition, NGOs from thenew members are often marginalized in Brussels, remain highlydependent on external support, including from the EU, and facecontinuing challenges in funding their operations. As awhole, thechapters show that the EU influence on environmental move-ments and NGOs in the CEE countries appears to have been amixed bag, producing both positive and negative outcomes.

The three chapters in the fourth part analyse environmen-tal progress in CEE countries and identify political, economicand technical challenges they face in implementing the largebody of EU environmental law. The authors also address thefact that a transition to market economies coupled withincreasing affluence in CEE countries has resulted in a growinguse of natural resources. Similarly, The European Environment—State and Outlook 2005 report, recently published by theEuropean Environment Agency, notes a shift in the source ofEuropean environment problems from production to con-sumption patterns. In this respect, all 25 EU countries face asignificant sustainable development challenge.

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mailto:ECOLEC2534S0921-06)002231016/j.ecolecon.2006.04.004Elsevier B.V.Governing water: Contentious transnational politics and global institution buildingKenConcaGoverning Water: Contentious Transnational Politics and Global Institution Building2006The MIT PressCambridge, MA0262532735466 [email protected] Studies Department California State University Sacramento, CA 95819-an we step outside the international regime box of global environmental agreements in order to develop new institutional strategies to protect the planet's places? This is the primary focus of the book, Governing Water. Ken Conca, Associate Professor of Government and Politics, and Director of the Harrison Program on the Future of Global Agenda, University of Maryland, posits that in spite of the best efforts by international organizations like the World Water Council, sponsored by the World Bank, water issues, as well as forest issues, cannot be managed globally within the constraints of current institutional regimes that solely grant authority to sovereign governments.The controversies of water policy throughout the world serve as the vehicle to demonstrate the ineffective international regimes that put forth norms and prescriptions governing water policy. According to Conca, an example of this is the World Water Vision and World Water Security: A Framework for Action, two reports meant to provide solutions for the global water problems, which were the outcome of the Second World Water Forum held at The Hague in March 2000. The author proposes, these reports hold little hope for solving, what are essentially, localased environmental issues such as water governance. It was the protests at The Hague that caused Conca to question the existing global management regimes that guide national governments acting on global issues. The protestors brought attention to a controversial dam project in Spain, but more specifically, challenged policies centered on technological fixes and the profit motive of projects that do not include local participation in decision making.The focus of the two reports from the World Water Forum was centered on lack of supply and increasing demand as well as technology and investment. In contrast, nonovernmental organizations are concerned with large projects that affect local people such as dams, overonsumption, waste and pollution. These are different issues that present different questions and possibly different findings than the conclusions of the World Water Forum.The central theme of the book is Conca's proposition that existing institutional paradigms that govern global environmental issues are not effectively addressing essentially local issues that cumulatively affect the global environment. Issues such as water and forests are local but the improper management of these resources can impact the entire planet. Conca seeks to address a different institutional approach to managing local ecological systems that are found all over the world. He chooses water as the model; however, this new regime can also apply to forests, deserts and soils to name a few.He suggests a new framework for institutional reform must examine issues of authority as solely attributed to governments, territory bounded by sovereigns, and the scientific paradigm of knowledge. He acknowledges it is not an easy task to change these paradigms and hope they take root. The challenge is to find a governance structure that resolves pollution beyond borders, and also to find rules and procedures that resolve the human divisions and contentions of what he calls �socioenvironmental conflict��all this while preserving the planet's places. In fact it is this idea of preserving �place� that is most attractive about Conca's proposition. Many of us identify with the bumper sticker that encourages us to, �think globally, act locally.� He cites Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis that the Earth is a living system of interdependent functions. It is not much of a stretch to understand that local ecological systems are linked to the life-ustaining system of the Earth. The author asks, �what if the heart of our global environmental problem is the failure to respond to the system-ide pressures and cumulative effects on the world's myriad forests, deserts, grasslands, meadows, soils, wetlands, lakes, rivers, and watersheds?� He suggests the failure lies in the current regime approach that mainly focuses on obvious transnational environmental issues.To expand on the central theme, the book is organized into 10 chapters. Chapter 2, �Toward a Social Theory of International Institutions,� presents a framework for developing the themes of �metanormative positions toward knowledge, territoriality, and authority.� Conca proposes that a change in institutional regimes must follow a change in values. The author presents the ideal scenario whereby this change can occur. First is a situation where the authority of the state to govern is questioned, second is an international environmental issue located within the state's terrain or resources, and third multiple or shifting ecological goals that actors can manipulate. These scenarios present circumstances where alternative forms of international institutional regimes are most likely to emerge.Chapter 3, �Pushing Rivers Around,� explains how human manipulation of fresh water through damming, diversion, and draining has placed stress on the world's rivers. The author explains that the local stresses on the world's rivers have had a substantial cumulative global impact. This chapter explains that rivers are the planet's places. Aside from the ecological importance of rivers, they provide a basis for culture and community as well as economics and transportation. Chapters 4 through 7 examine the various global norms that influence watershed governance as well as their effectiveness in new approaches to water law and policy. For example, Chapter 5, �Expert Networks� explores the effectiveness of the Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) organization and networks in international water policy. The author concludes that the IWRM has been effective in pointing to the values that legitimized human actions causing stress to the rivers of the world; however, they have not been effective in changing the values that have led to human's �pushing rivers around.� Conca suggests that the themes of the IWRM centered on expert knowledge and transnational networking are not working. In contrast, at the 2001 International Conference on Freshwater held in Bonn, Germany, new themes began to emerge addressing issues of privatization, authority and the role of the state. Chapters 8 and 9 use Brazil and South Africa respectively as case studies of water law, policy, and use and explain how norms, although different in each country, have strongly influenced the integrated water resources management of both countries. Chapter 10, �Institution Building as the Social Embedding of Political Struggle� brings us to Conca's challenge to scholars to imagine institutional paradigms that allow us to escape the box of current global institutional regimes. He proposes creativity that allows for the construction of more diverse and fluid regimes to solve the vast variety of environmental problems resulting in saving the planet's places.This is a thorough and wellocumented treatment of the issues and controversies surrounding ways to promote alternative institutional global environmental governance. Included are extensive notes and references. The book is effective in pointing out the issues and problems; however, it left me wanting the author to suggest a policy model based on his framework. This work is a wonderful base upon which Conca, or other scholars, can build a model for a new global institutional regime addressing global environmental issues at the local level.Conca presents thoughtful questions centered on whether or not global environmental governance can also mean protecting our planet's places. To summarize the author's citation of Wendell Barry, the question is not how do we care for the planet, but rather how do we care for the planet's neighborhoods? This work is a beginning in finding the answer.

transforming sustainability strategy into action: the chemical industry

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