Abstract
This study examines the effectiveness of ISO 14001 environmental management certification in reducing industrial CO₂ emissions in Germany, with a focus on how regional socioeconomic and environmental contexts shape outcomes. Building on insights from the Stern Review, we emphasize the importance of timely and context-sensitive climate action. ISO 14001 represents a voluntary yet structured response to external pressures such as regulations, market expectations, and public environmental concern. Prior research offers mixed evidence: some studies find emission reductions when certification is paired with organizational learning or supportive infrastructure, while others highlight variation based on governance quality and sector. These findings suggest that ISO 14001’s effectiveness is not uniform but context-dependent. Our analysis uses a novel panel dataset combining firm-level emissions data from the German Pollutant Release and Transfer Register with ISO 14001 certification status sourced via large-scale web scraping from the Mannheim Enterprise Panel. Regional variables are drawn from INKAR, while innovation data come from the Mannheim Innovation Panel. We apply a difference-in-differences framework with fixed effects and interaction terms to capture both temporal dynamics and contextual moderators, including local institutional quality, prior management systems experience, and broader policy environments such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and Germany’s Climate Protection Act. Our findings contribute to understanding when and where voluntary standards like ISO 14001 drive meaningful environmental performance. This research has implications for climate policy, especially in supporting firms in regions with limited institutional or societal pressure. Future work will extend the analysis to other European countries for cross-national comparison.
Presenters
Luzie KromerResearch Associate and Ph.D. Candidate, Innovation Economics, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Technical, Political, and Social Responses
KEYWORDS
ISO 14001, Certification Industrial, CO₂ Emissions, Environmental Management Systems, Regional
