Training in environmental management - Industry and sustainability - Part 1

Training in Environmental
Management - Industry
and Sustainability
Corporate Environmental
and Resource Management
and Educational
Requirements - η
• * • European Foundation
* for the Improvement of
Living and Working Conditions •+ • Training in Environmental
Management - Industry
and Sustainability
PAR T 1
Corporate Environmental
and Resource Management
and Educational
Requirements
EFAJ6/I7/EN BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF AUTHORS
JOHN P. ULHØI is Associate Professor at the Aarhus School of Business,
Denmark (Department of Organisation and Management). He has a Master's
degree in Urban and Regional Planning and a PhD in Business Administration.
He has research and teaching experience in the fields of Strategic Management,
Technology Management, Technology Assessment and Corporate Greening and
has published several papers in these areas. He is a reviewer for four
international journals and has organised and chaired sessions at international
conferences.
HENNING MADSEN is Associate Professor at the Aarhus School of Business,
Denmark (Department of Information Science). He received his Master's
degree in Mathematical Economics from the University of Aarhus and a PhD
in Business Economics from the Aarhus School of Business. He has chaired
sessions at several international conferences and acted as referee as well. His
current research interests include Technological Forecasting and Forecasting in
Environmental Analyses.
PALL M. RIKHARDSSON is a research assistant at the Aarhus School of
Business, Denmark (Department of Organisation and Management). He has
a Master's degree in Economics from the University of Reykjavik and a
Master's degree in Business Administration from the Aarhus School of
Business. His current research interests include Strategic Environmental
Management, Environmental Performance Measurement andl
Reporting. Training in Environmental
Management - Industry
and Sustainability
PAR T 1
Corporate Environmental
and Resource Management
and Educational
Requirements
by
John P. Ulhøi
Henning Madsen
Pall M. Rikhai-dsson
The Aarhus School of Business
• * •
European Foundation • ι
•
* for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
*• •
Loughlinstown, Dublin 18. Ireland
Tel: +353 1 282 6888 Fax: +353 I 282 6456 Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. 1996
ISBN 92-827-6927-5
© Luropean Foundation for the Improvement o( Living and Working Conditions. 1996
For rights of translation or reproduction, applications should be made to the Director.
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. Loughlinstown.
Dublin 18. Ireland.
Primed in Ireland ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was carried out by a research team at the Aarhus School of Business
consisting of:
Associate Professor John Parm Ulhøi, PhD, Department of Organisation and
Management,
Associate Professor Henning Madsen, PhD, Department of Information Sciences,
Research Assistant Pall Melsted Rikhardsson, MSc,
Project Assistant Christine S. Sundstrup, BA, and
Project Secretary Steve Churchill, BSc.
The team would like to thank all contacts in companies and educational
institutions who responded to the requests for information and interviews. Vil
PREFACE
Managerial training and higher education have long been recognised as
essential ingredients of improved environmental and resource management
and, hence, as a vital basis for progress towards sustainable development. The
suggestion for an international programme on environmental education dates
back as far as 1972 when it was brought forward at the United Nations'
Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Twenty years later, at the
United Nations' Conference on Environment and Development in Rio, a
whole chapter of Agenda 21 was devoted to a plan of action for sustainable
development which called for national strategies for environmental education.
At the EU level the starting point for joint action in this area was Council
Resolution on Environmental Education of 29 May 1988. Since then, a
considerable number of initiatives have been undertaken, both nationally and
by the EU institutions, covering primary and secondary education as well as
professional education and training. In the context of this report, it is worth
noting that the Commission in recognition of the fundamental role of
education and training in promoting sustainable development has integrated
environment-related courses and projects in its own education and training
programmes, notably COMETT, ERASMUS, PETRA, EUROTECHNET,
FORCE and TEMPUS. The environmental component was also reinforced
when the European Parliament and the Council, in March 1995, adopted the
SOCRATES Programme, amalgamating and extending the ERASMUS and
LINGUA Programmes. In addition, an EU Study Guide on University
Environment Courses was published, in 1993, providing an analysis of the
extent to which environmental courses have been integrated in third-level
institutions, and at the same time a "European Master's Degree in
Environmental Management" was established at nine universities in the
Union. Moreover, the Commission has in recent years co-financed a number
of training courses, seminars and workshops for planners, accountants and
auditors. Vill
The Foundation's work on environment-related education and training issues
had until 1993 included two studies: one on education and training relating to
hazardous waste (1988-1989) and one onn and training of personnel
concerned with environmental issues relating to industry. The latter
highlighted the training needs of SMEs, in particular, and was the first stage
of a still ongoing project (the firm and the environment) examining the
characteristics and the potential of locally and regionally based cooperation
initiatives and networks involving firms, public authorities, the social
partners, industrial federations, etc., in bringing about improvements in the
environmental performance of smaller enterprises. The findings of this work
were presented at a European Round Table on "Industry, Social Dialogue and
Sustainability", 1-2 December 1992 in Rome, where it was proposed that the
Foundation as part of its activities include a series of studies on training in
environmental management in its four-year programme 1993-1996. This
proposal was endorsed by the Administrative Board of the Foundation and
supported by the services of the Commission (Directorate-General XI). Thus,
the Fifth Environmental Policy and Action Programme points to the crucial
role of industry in the present and future efforts towards achieving sustainable
development and to the need for involving it more actively in this process, so
as to ensure the improved resource management and high environmental
standards required in the future. An important element in these endeavours is
the creation of a new form of awareness throughout industry based on sound
environmental performance as a challenge, which can not only be used to
reduce production costs, but can also serve as an instrument for further
development and expansion in a market becoming increasingly competitive
and demanding "green" products. In fact, a number of companies have
already, with various degrees of success, started to meet this challenge
introducing new and often innovative and dynamic corporate strategies
merging economic/business and environmental considerations, and many
more are considering it. This process of change, however, calls for new skills
at all levels of the firm, not least among managers, and hence education and
training provision will have to be adapted to these requirements in a close