Greening the balanced scorecard

Environmental issues have received considerable attention in the literature over the past few years; consider, for example, Burrit (2004), Hopwood (2009), Hubbard (2009), Masanet-Llodra (2006), and Schaltegger and Wagner (2006), to name but a few. Several factors have motivated companies to investigate and improve environmental performance (Länsiluoto&Järvenpää, 2008). Stakeholders, such as customers and shareholders, increasingly may require consideration of the environment (Callens & Wolters, 1998; Hopwood, 2009; Hubbard, 2009; Länsiluoto & Järvenpää, 2008). Furthermore, legislation may force companies to consider environmental issues when they plan investment in new production plants. Improved environmental performance may also benefit companies by improving profitability, enabling economic growth or decreasing costs (Azapagic, 2004; Laine, 2005; Porter & van der Linde, 1995). Environmental management systems (EMS) are required in order to develop, implement, manage, coordinate, and monitor environmental issues (Melnyk, Sroufe, & Calantone, 2003). ISO 14000 (ISO, 2009) and the Global Reporting Initiative Business Horizons (2010) 53, 385—395