EMAS experiences in German companies: a survey on empirical studies

This paper summarizes the experiences of German companies with the EU's Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) by presenting empirical results of different German questionnaires and case studies. It gives some impressions of how the executive managers and environmental experts of the companies judge this new instrument of European environmental policy. The article shows that participation in this scheme is connected with several costs. However, the implementation of an environmental management system also leads to cost savings and corporate benefits. Some examples are given and some problems are further discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment