ABSTRACT
Since September 1996, when the ISO 14000 series was first issued, environmental management systems (EMSs) have been received in the construction industry globally (ISO 2001), and have become a research and development area in construction management (Kein et al. 1999; Ofori et al. 2000; Tse 2001). The ISO survey in 2001 showed that there is a continuing strong growth of ISO 14001 EMS registration in the construction industry; for instance, the number of registered companies increased from 298 as at the end of 1998, to 500 as at the end of 1999, and then up to 1035 as at the end of 2000 (ISO 2001). However, three statistical figures from mainland China indicate that the EMS has not been prevalent in the construction industry there. The first figure is the percentage of environmental certificates awarded to Chinese enterprises versus total environmental certificates awarded to enterprises worldwide, which is as low as 2.23% (ISO 2001); the second figure is the percentage of environmental certificates awarded to Chinese construction enterprises versus total environmental certificates awarded to Chinese enterprises, which is as low as 7.65% (ISO 2001); and the third figure is the percentage of the construction enterprises that have been awarded environmental certificates versus total governmental registered construction enterprises in mainland China, which is as low as 0.083% (CCEMS 2001; CEC 2001; CEIN 2001a; CACEB 2002). These statistical data indicate that the construction enterprises have not fully accepted the ISO 14000 series in mainland China.
