ABSTRACT
Environmental audits can focus on a large variety of issues such as sustainable forest management or environmental risks. Nevertheless, over the last decade, two forms of environmental audits have taken center stage: the external verification of environmental management systems (EMS) and the auditing of environmental or sustainability reports. The certification process, which is sometimes considered as a self-regulation mechanism, assumes that the conformance of the EMS with the ISO standard has been verified by external and supposedly independent auditors. Nevertheless, organizations can also conduct internal audits based on ISO 14001 to improve their internal practices. Like labeling and certification in general, environmental audits are primarily intended to inspire trust among stakeholders and to reinforce organizations’ social legitimacy. This quest for legitimacy through external audits reflects the emergence of an “audit society,” which is characterized by common rituals of verification and an obsession with control.
