Stakeholders who seek to reward or punish businesses for their environmental programs often cannot observe these organizations’ internal policies and operations. To address these informational problems, and signal their beyond-compliance environmental commitments, some businesses are...

Voluntary environmental programs (VEP) are institutions that encourage participating actors to produce environmental public goods beyond the requirements of government law. Drawing on the club approach to the study of VEPs, we identify four collective action challenges facing VEPs. First,...

Introduction -- Green clubs ; an institutionalist perspective -- ISO 14001 and voluntary programs -- Adopting ISO 14001 -- ISO 14001 and firms ; environmental and regulatory -- Performance -- Conclusions and policy implications -- References.

There are as many ways for companies to improve their environmental performance as there are stakeholders who are calling upon them to do so. If companies make the right choices, they can satisfy their stakeholders, enhance their financial position, and help address the climate crisis. The wrong...