ISO 14001: A Missed Opportunity for Sustainable Global Industrial Development

ISO 14001 is the new international standard for environmental management systems. But what difference will it make to the environmental performance of companies that receive it? Will it do anything to further sustainable industrial development? This edition seeks to argue that it will not and further that it does not have a legitimate practice in discussions of sustainable industrial development.;The authors point to a massive democratic deficit in the process of establishing the standard in which small and medium-size enterprises, developing country officals, public opinion and environmental groups may have trouble participating. They aim to argue that this has put up barriers to the full participation of these parties. Moreover, they seek to describe how the standard reverses the trend for firms to innovate to meet the challenge of sustainability.