Voluntary Initiatives: The New Politics of Corporate Greening

Robert W. Sexty is a professor of commerce and business administration
at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the author of Canadian
Business: Issues and Stakeholders.

The traditional approach to environmental protection relied solely on
government regulation. With the downsizing of governments through
privatization and deregulation, new forms of regulation are emerging.
Voluntary initiatives on the part of the private sector are taking place
and are being coordinated with the remaining regulatory tools. In this
book, voluntary initiatives are described and their appropriateness
debated by two dozen authors.

The beginning chapters define and describe nonregulatory environmental
measures generally. Good and bad examples of voluntary initiative
experiences in Canada are given, followed by examples in the
international setting. Taken together, the experiences described give a
balanced account of voluntary initiatives and provide one of the most
comprehensive accounts available in the literature. All the
contributions are extensively footnoted.

In a concluding section, the position of the New Directions Group is
articulated; although relevant to the discussion, this contribution
appears misplaced. A chapter by the editor serves as an excellent
summary of the debate, while an appendix provides a useful guide to
corporate voluntary initiatives.

The editor’s assertion that voluntary initiatives in environmental
improvement are not widely understood is correct. This book makes a
substantial contribution to the literature and will increase awareness
of the approach.