In order to improve the implementation of the ISO 14001 EMS in YIT Infrastruc-ture projects, I decided it would be essential to understand how corporate envi-ronmental responsibility (CER) and the envienvi-ronmental management system are understood in the organization. Asking the interviewees to describe their under-standing of CER and the EMS would not only provide information about the in-terviewees’ knowledge and competence regarding these matters but also reflect on what kind of motives and interests there might be behind the adoption of the EMS. This, in turn, would be a crucial piece of information supporting the con-struction of my own understanding of the implementation path of the EMS in YIT Infrastructure projects.
I also wanted to know what kind of environmental impacts related to YIT Group’s and YIT Infrastructure projects’ operations the interviewees would rec-ognize. This information would formulate an outline of the interviewees’
knowledge and awareness of what kind of environmental impacts the company and the Infrastructure projects segment contribute to. It would also give me an insight into how the interviewees understand the scope of CER. The purpose of getting to know how these concepts and environmental impacts are understood by the individuals working in the organization was to help me draw conclusions and come up with development ideas that would be relevant and useful for the studied organization.
1. Corporate environmental responsibility (CER) as understood by the interviewees According to the understanding of the interviewees, CER consists of 6 main com-ponents (FIGURE 16): (1) it involves fulfilling stakeholder demands, (2) having other values in addition to financial ones in the core of the business, (3) taking care of the environment, (4) aiming at continuous improvement, (5) having com-monly agreed management and control procedures in place and (6) being trans-parent. When asking the interviewees how they understood CER, a topic that kept coming up in the answers was living up to the growing stakeholder expec-tations and demands. According to the interviews, the most significant stake-holder groups demanding environmental responsibility from YIT Infrastructure projects are clients, regulators, investors, employees and other operators within the industry, such as competitors and suppliers. The significant contribution of the clients to the ambition of CER efforts and the environmental ambition of the organization is particularly highlighted in the data.
There seemed to be a consensus of opinion among the interviewees, that the societal pressure to operate in an environmentally sound manner is continuously growing and that organizations that do not consider this pressure can no longer succeed. Furthermore, the stakeholder and societal pressures towards a big com-pany such as YIT were thought to be especially high because of the assumption
that a big company contributes to considerable environmental impacts and on the other hand, has sufficient resources and power to improve both its own as well as the whole industry’s way of thinking and operating.
CER was also found value-sensitive in that individuals’ personal values, the organization’s values and the changing societal values were believed to play an important role in the development of the organization’s CER. For example, the sustainable development megatrend was assumed to have an impact on the fu-ture employment processes in that the new generations might not want to invest in, work with or work for organizations with poor CER. Therefore, to ensure the existence of clients, employees and investors in the future, the interviewees found that companies would need to continuously develop their CER and have sustainability as one of their core values. Some of the interviewees’ comments also suggested that they considered the environmental change as a somewhat personal question, as well, since the success of the organization would mean that there would be work to do in the future, too.
Regarding values, another important aspect of CER in the eyes of the inter-viewees was having other values in addition to financial ones integrated in the core of the business. This can be illustrated through two different ideas that could be found in the interviewees’ answers. The first one was that CER should not be superficial, which means that everything said in any environment-related mes-sages and promises should be demonstrated on every level of the organization, in all of its operations and in all of its decisions. Second, CER should not be some-thing that contributes to significant costs in the long run, because this would in-dicate that it is not truly integrated in the business. The fact that in addition to environmental values, the interviewees associated CER with non-environmental values as well, implies that they see CER as a part of the triple bottom line (TBL) of CSR. One of the interviewees also directly described CER as an element of the TBL and as a part of the management of sustainable development. Furthermore, CER was seen as a part of the EHSQ (Environment, Health, Safety and Quality) field that is often managed as one entity.
Actively taking care of the environment was also seen as a central charac-teristic of CER. According to the data, this encompasses for example studying and knowing the operational environment, planning and conducting the con-struction project in a way that minimizes any harm to the environment and fi-nally, restoring the environment as well as possible. Examples of practical envi-ronmental efforts mentioned by the interviewees included e.g. moving different species out of the construction area, studying and protecting the soil and water system properties at and around the area, identifying special characteristics of the environment as well as mapping out all harms the project could possibly cause to the environment and avoiding them. Based on the data, it seems that the environment was not only understood as natural environment and ecosystems but also as built environment as well as people living in or using the area.
An aspect that frequently appeared in the interviewees’ descriptions of CER was the aim for continuous improvement. Indeed, the data showed that for ex-ample innovativeness and a forward-looking, proactive attitude were under-stood as important aspects of CER. Interestingly, however, there were also slightly differing views on the level of ambition that CER requires. Although many of the interviewees considered exceeding the regulatory demands a pivotal part of CER, some of them did not or were less certain about it. Overall, the con-sensus of opinion was not crystal clear when it came to this question.
CER was also seen as a part of the management and control of the organi-zation’s operations and risks. Committing to mutually agreed policies and prin-ciples as well as continuously measuring and monitoring operations were seen as important aspects of CER. A common view among the interviewees seemed to be that by operating according to the policies and principles as well as by being transparent and proactive, the organization could manage both the financial and reputational risks related to intentional or unintentional environmental irrespon-sibility or the failure to fulfil the stakeholders’ and the society’s expectations.
Transparency was, in itself, also considered as an important aspect of CER.
2. ISO 14001 environmental management system as understood by the interviewees I asked the interviewees both about how they understood the ISO 14001 EMS and what they thought were the reasons behind the adoption of it. What I was inter-ested in finding out was what the interviewees knew about the EMS but also what kind of motives were behind the adoption of it. The differences between the individuals’ knowledge about the EMS and the management system in general were considerable.
Based on the data, it could be said that the ISO 14001 EMS was most com-monly understood as a development tool, a risk-management tool, a change man-agement and follow-up tool and as a way to guarantee a certain level of environ-mental responsibility and continuous improvement. Regarding the latter, it was highlighted that this guarantee, the ISO 14001 certificate, is nowadays an im-portant client demand. According to some of the interviewees, the client de-mands are in fact, the main motive behind adopting the EMS.
This brings us to the other motives behind the adoption of the EMS. They can be divided into two groups: external and internal motives (TABLE 9). As FIGURE 16 Corporate environmental responsibility (CER) as understood by the interviewees
mentioned, the external pressure to guarantee a certain level of CER and the con-tinuous improvement of it was found considerable. Based on the data, it seems that the most notable external stakeholder groups contributing to this pressure are clients, investors and the society, overall. The demands from these stakehold-ers and the competitive environment together were believed to cause a pressure of “staying in the game”. In other words, the EMS could nowadays be regarded as a necessity, a way to keep up with the continuous development and change.
Some of the interviewees also saw the EMS as a competitive advantage. Em-ployee expectations towards CER were also mentioned and could be classified as an internal motive to adopt the EMS.
Other aspects that came up in the interviews and could be understood as internal motives to adopt the EMS were internal development- and management-related aspects as well as the system’s potential to increase efficiency and savings.
The EMS was also understood to support regulatory compliance. Overall, the roles of the EMS as a development and management tool and as a guarantee of CER were emphasized in the discussions. Stakeholder demands, especially the ones coming from clients, seemed to be particularly highlighted in the answers.
TABLE 9 The motives behind adopting the ISO 14001 EMS according to the inter-viewees
External motives Internal motives
- Fulfilling clients’ demands - Fulfilling investors’ demands - Competitive pressure
- Reputational and societal pressures
- Development and management tool - Efficiency and savings
- Ensuring sufficient human resources now and in the future
- Ensuring regulatory compliance
3. Environmental impacts identified by the interviewees
The interviewees recognized two different types of environmental impacts re-lated to the operation of YIT Infrastructure projects: ones regarding the whole life-cycle of the deliverables and ones regarding the construction phase of a con-struction project (TABLE 10). From the life-cycle-wide environmental impacts mentioned, five groups can be identified: modification of the environment and ecosystems, raw material consumption, emissions, energy consumption and so-cietal impacts. From the construction phase-related environmental impacts, three different groups can be identified: waste generation, chemical-, oil- and fuel-re-lated risks and damage as well as emissions and disturbances.
TABLE 10 Infrastructure projects’ environmental impacts identified by the inter-viewees
Life-cycle-wide environmental impacts Construction phase-related environmental impacts
- Modification of the environment and ecosystems
- Raw material consumption - Emissions
- Energy consumption - Societal impacts
- Waste generation
- Chemical-, oil- and fuel-related risks and damage
- Emissions and disturbances