1996/03/01 by Stuart L. Hart, Gautam Ahuja · 2 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting #Energy, Environment, Economic Growth #Environmental Sustainability in Business
paper · doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0836(199603)5:1<30::aid-bse38>3.0.co;2-q
openalex publication_date 1996/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Evidence can be marshalled to support either the view that pollution abatement is a cost burden on firms and is detrimental to competitiveness, or that reducing emissions increases efficiency and saves money, giving firms a cost advantage. In an effort to resolve this seeming paradox, the relationship between emissions reduction and firm performance is examined empirically for a sample of S&P 500 firms using data drawn from the Investor Responsibility Research Center's Corporate Environmental Profile and Compustat. The results indicate that efforts to prevent pollution and reduce emissions drop to the ‘bottom line’ within one to two years of initiation and that those firms with the highest emission levels stand the most to gain.