ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to explain cross-national variations in patterns of firm-level adoption of two supranational environmental management system (ems) standards: the European Union’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme and the International Standards Organization’s iso 14001. Several German scholars have noted a trend toward greater cooperation between environmental groups, government bureaucracies, and industry. While it is true that the less radical, pragmatic wing of the Green Party, known as the Realos, has come to dominate party policy and that environmental groups are regularly consulted before the passage of major environmental legislation, there is little evidence to suggest that levels of trust between industry and environmentalists have risen significantly. The increase in the number of supranational environmental regimes in particular has led to an extremely fragmented and decentralized form of governance, with the result that states have had to adjust their national regulatory styles.
