Fostering renewable energy sources by standards for environmental and energy management

An increasing number of organizations are adopting third party certifiable Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) and certifiable Energy Management Systems (EnMSs). For that purpose the main international standards are ISO 14001 and the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), for EMSs, and ISO 50001 for EnMS. In both the scholarly and practitioner literatures these standards have been linked to the corporate greening of the companies, but that relationship remains controversial. There are serious concerns about the ultimate impact of these standards, for the certified companies, on the adoption of green technologies and productive inputs such as renewable energy (RE). In order to contribute to the understanding of this issue, this article analyzes the implications for the use of RE of the main international standards for EMS and EnMS. For this purpose, an in depth analysis of the content of those standards is conducted. In addition, this article also includes a summary of a broad empirical analysis of the use of RE in 314 companies with a certified EMS or EnMS. The analysis suggests there is very little commitment to the fostering and adoption of RE in the main schemes for EMSs and EnMs. Implications for policy makers, managers, consumers and other stakeholders are proposed.