work in environmental accounting, life-cycle costinghanagement, and the monetization of environme... more work in environmental accounting, life-cycle costinghanagement, and the monetization of environmental liabilities. His work involves the development of decision aids for prioritization of environmental issues, selection of environmental management strategies, and financial evaluation of pollution prevention/waste minimization actions.
Rethinking corporate reporting to include new visions of value, “capitals,” and the role of stake... more Rethinking corporate reporting to include new visions of value, “capitals,” and the role of stakeholder input
This article presents a review of the readily available published literature addressing the actua... more This article presents a review of the readily available published literature addressing the actual costs of EMS implementation in organizations and the corresponding benefits accruing to organizations as the EMS takes shape and thereafter. The review shows that quantitative data are more abundant for costs than for benefits. Following this examination of the available data, I suggest the general features of a methodology that may be used to estimate the prospective benefits and costs of one or more EMS design alternatives under a broad range of possible conditions. Use of this methodology would enable an EMS implementer to overcome many of the limitations that are evident from the literature and would facilitate development of an EMS that is
Regulation continues to be an important issue in the postal and delivery sector of the global eco... more Regulation continues to be an important issue in the postal and delivery sector of the global economy. This latest volume of the series covers progress made in the competitive agenda in the industry. It is global in scope and addresses topics of great importance to scholars and practitioners of postal regulation and public sector economics.
This article presents a review of the readily available published literature addressing the actua... more This article presents a review of the readily available published literature addressing the actual costs of EMS implementation in organizations and the corresponding benefits accruing to organizations as the EMS takes shape and thereafter. The review shows that quantitative data are more abundant for costs than for benefits. Following this examination of the available data, I suggest the general features of a methodology that may be used to estimate the prospective benefits and costs of one or more EMS design alternatives under a broad range of possible conditions. Use of this methodology would enable an EMS implementer to overcome many of the limitations that are evident from the literature and would facilitate development of an EMS that is
htm five percent. TheseJndings suggest that investments in environmental management and improved ... more htm five percent. TheseJndings suggest that investments in environmental management and improved performance can be justified, in many cases, on purely Jinancial grounds, and that the net financial impact ofprospective environmental investments can now be evaluated moreftilly than before. Our results show that firms will increase shareholder value i f they make environmental investments that go beyond strict regulatory compliance, How much further they shouldgo will vary by company, though this question also may be addressed empirically. Companies can capture more opportunities to improve both their environmental and financial performance by performing a strategic assessment of their operations, building or upgrading an explicit environmental management system, further developing their environmental infrastructure (i. e., tools, methods, and procedures), undertaking knowledge and skill building within their worvorce, and enhancing their information management capabilities. Investments in environmental management and performance may be costly. Nonetheless, when appropriately evaluated, many of these investments may be shown to provide substantial, positive returns and lasting value to the #ria 20 of 21
Rethinking corporate reporting to include new visions of value, “capitals,” and the role of stake... more Rethinking corporate reporting to include new visions of value, “capitals,” and the role of stakeholder input
Progress in the Competitive Agenda in the Postal and Delivery Sector
Regulation continues to be an important issue in the postal and delivery sector of the global eco... more Regulation continues to be an important issue in the postal and delivery sector of the global economy. This latest volume of the series covers progress made in the competitive agenda in the industry. It is global in scope and addresses topics of great importance to scholars and practitioners of postal regulation and public sector economics.
During the past year or so, I have participated in a series of events and discussions convened ar... more During the past year or so, I have participated in a series of events and discussions convened around corporate sustainability, with particular emphasis on performance measurement and reporting. Some of these events featured presentations addressing the measurement, reporting, and evaluation of corporate sustainability practices and performance, as well as spirited question-and-answer sessions and other discussions.
During the past several years, an increasing body of evidence and opinion has formed concerning t... more During the past several years, an increasing body of evidence and opinion has formed concerning the relationships between advancements in environmental, health, and safety (EH&S) management and the financial performance of the organization. In recent work,1 we have described a new theoretical model linking improvements in environmental management systems and environmental performance to corporate risk, stock volatility, and market value, as well as an empirical evaluation that validated our model. A number of other studies2 have documented changes in the market value of corporate equity as a function of environmental accidents, incidents, and (conversely) accomplishments. These are in addition to the numerous examples presented in the literature and at EH&S conferences and symposia that suggest that concerted efforts to reduce the organization's environmental “footprint” can yield cost savings, increased market share, reduced time to market, and perhaps other financial benefits....
Investors and companies are both increasingly interested in sustainability issues. These issues t... more Investors and companies are both increasingly interested in sustainability issues. These issues typically revolve around environmental and social factors that have real but potentially long-term or contingent impacts on corporate financial value. This, in turn, makes traditional accounting metrics less valuable in assessing sustainability issues than in analysis of many other business issues. Therefore, both investors and companies -as well as groups that service or monitor and regulate them -have a growing interest in receiving meaningful corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information on an ongoing basis. Despite this shared interest, investors often complain about the difficulty of gathering and truly understanding corporate ESG data, while company representatives may express concerns about "survey fatigue," or the amount of time and resources it takes to supply the requested data to various investors and ESG research firms. This report explores and documents the extent to which corporate ESG information tracked and managed internally by companies is consistent with analogous information sought by external parties, and in particular, by ESG investors and the research companies that serve them. To conduct our analysis, we obtained corporate data from the results of a recent "Green Metrics that Matter" survey conducted by the National Association for Environmental Management (NAEM), and developed ESG researcher/investor data by collecting and compiling publicly available information from company web sites and other sources. We supplemented the empirical data provided to or developed by us with interviews with knowledgeable representatives of some of the companies represented in the corporate survey and of the ESG research/investment firms. We believe that the resulting database is the most thorough, representative, and sophisticated collection of information on the interface between corporate sustainability measurement efforts and investor-focused external evaluation assembled to date. ESG issues from a risk mitigation perspective, not a value creation perspective. Most specific indicators used by corporate EHS managers and executives and investors focus on identifying negative attributes or downside risk. While the members of both groups are interested in the potential for ESG-related financial value creation, their interactions are generally devoid of information speaking directly to this crucial issue. Future improvements in corporate disclosure quality and in efficient and adroit collection and use of these data in investment analysis will require improved clarity and more effective and consistent communication between companies, researchers, and the consumers of information. Substantial, non-incremental progress depends on clear articulation, from both companies and ESG researchers/investors, of corporate financial value creation through advancements in managing ESG issues and their results. Typical ESG metrics reporting practices and guidelines have advanced, but also have had some unintended and unfortunate consequences, including too few companies reporting, and some researchers requesting a substantial number of additional (non-GRI) metrics. These adverse outcomes often reinforce one another. More widespread and consistent disclosure on fewer indicators might create more utility for both corporations and investors. Greater dialog and sharing of information and perspectives is essential for both sides to understand the other's needs and constraints, and to forge communication mechanisms that are more effective and less burdensome than current practices.
Much as Total Quality Management (TQM) has helped companies decrease waste and enhance value, env... more Much as Total Quality Management (TQM) has helped companies decrease waste and enhance value, environmental accounting offers an approach and a suite of tools that can help organizations improve both environmental quality and bottom‐line business performance. Its focus is to bridge the world of finance and economics with the world of environmental management. Companies in all sectors have discovered that they can increase profits by meeting and even surpassing environmental regulations. Through environmental accounting, companies can discover more of these opportunities and, ideally, bring environmental concerns earlier into planning, decision making, and operations. This article introduces environmental accounting and some basic principles that should guide organizations' thinking on environmental accounting and environmental accounting systems. It also describes several different objectives for environmental accounting that imply different requirements and orientations. Althou...
The typical utility has more well-developed policies, programs, supporting infrastructure, and ta... more The typical utility has more well-developed policies, programs, supporting infrastructure, and tangible results than the typical large company. But there remain numerous areas for improvement, including enhancing the coherence of environmental systems and other infrastructure, and providing better assurance of effective sustainability/financial issue management.
JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 1980
To the Editor.— For the past several years a keratolytic gel developed by Baden1has been used as ... more To the Editor.— For the past several years a keratolytic gel developed by Baden1has been used as a treatment for hyperkeratotic disorders of the skin. The gel consists of 20% ethanol, 20% water, and 6% salicylic acid in propylene glycol and is marketed under the brand name Keralyt. Treatment involves application of the gel to the affected areas after hydration of the skin. The epidermal surface being treated is then occluded under a plastic dressing overnight. In many cases considerable clearing of hyperkeratotic lesions has been achieved through the use of this regimen. Baden's studies indicated that salicylism does not occur to any great extent because of the use of this preparation.1Another study using the keratolytic gel supported this assertion.2 However, salicylic acid can and does penetrate the epidermis after topical administration; this fact has been recognized for nearly a century.3The literature contains
work in environmental accounting, life-cycle costinghanagement, and the monetization of environme... more work in environmental accounting, life-cycle costinghanagement, and the monetization of environmental liabilities. His work involves the development of decision aids for prioritization of environmental issues, selection of environmental management strategies, and financial evaluation of pollution prevention/waste minimization actions.
Rethinking corporate reporting to include new visions of value, “capitals,” and the role of stake... more Rethinking corporate reporting to include new visions of value, “capitals,” and the role of stakeholder input
This article presents a review of the readily available published literature addressing the actua... more This article presents a review of the readily available published literature addressing the actual costs of EMS implementation in organizations and the corresponding benefits accruing to organizations as the EMS takes shape and thereafter. The review shows that quantitative data are more abundant for costs than for benefits. Following this examination of the available data, I suggest the general features of a methodology that may be used to estimate the prospective benefits and costs of one or more EMS design alternatives under a broad range of possible conditions. Use of this methodology would enable an EMS implementer to overcome many of the limitations that are evident from the literature and would facilitate development of an EMS that is
Regulation continues to be an important issue in the postal and delivery sector of the global eco... more Regulation continues to be an important issue in the postal and delivery sector of the global economy. This latest volume of the series covers progress made in the competitive agenda in the industry. It is global in scope and addresses topics of great importance to scholars and practitioners of postal regulation and public sector economics.
This article presents a review of the readily available published literature addressing the actua... more This article presents a review of the readily available published literature addressing the actual costs of EMS implementation in organizations and the corresponding benefits accruing to organizations as the EMS takes shape and thereafter. The review shows that quantitative data are more abundant for costs than for benefits. Following this examination of the available data, I suggest the general features of a methodology that may be used to estimate the prospective benefits and costs of one or more EMS design alternatives under a broad range of possible conditions. Use of this methodology would enable an EMS implementer to overcome many of the limitations that are evident from the literature and would facilitate development of an EMS that is
htm five percent. TheseJndings suggest that investments in environmental management and improved ... more htm five percent. TheseJndings suggest that investments in environmental management and improved performance can be justified, in many cases, on purely Jinancial grounds, and that the net financial impact ofprospective environmental investments can now be evaluated moreftilly than before. Our results show that firms will increase shareholder value i f they make environmental investments that go beyond strict regulatory compliance, How much further they shouldgo will vary by company, though this question also may be addressed empirically. Companies can capture more opportunities to improve both their environmental and financial performance by performing a strategic assessment of their operations, building or upgrading an explicit environmental management system, further developing their environmental infrastructure (i. e., tools, methods, and procedures), undertaking knowledge and skill building within their worvorce, and enhancing their information management capabilities. Investments in environmental management and performance may be costly. Nonetheless, when appropriately evaluated, many of these investments may be shown to provide substantial, positive returns and lasting value to the #ria 20 of 21
Rethinking corporate reporting to include new visions of value, “capitals,” and the role of stake... more Rethinking corporate reporting to include new visions of value, “capitals,” and the role of stakeholder input
Progress in the Competitive Agenda in the Postal and Delivery Sector
Regulation continues to be an important issue in the postal and delivery sector of the global eco... more Regulation continues to be an important issue in the postal and delivery sector of the global economy. This latest volume of the series covers progress made in the competitive agenda in the industry. It is global in scope and addresses topics of great importance to scholars and practitioners of postal regulation and public sector economics.
During the past year or so, I have participated in a series of events and discussions convened ar... more During the past year or so, I have participated in a series of events and discussions convened around corporate sustainability, with particular emphasis on performance measurement and reporting. Some of these events featured presentations addressing the measurement, reporting, and evaluation of corporate sustainability practices and performance, as well as spirited question-and-answer sessions and other discussions.
During the past several years, an increasing body of evidence and opinion has formed concerning t... more During the past several years, an increasing body of evidence and opinion has formed concerning the relationships between advancements in environmental, health, and safety (EH&S) management and the financial performance of the organization. In recent work,1 we have described a new theoretical model linking improvements in environmental management systems and environmental performance to corporate risk, stock volatility, and market value, as well as an empirical evaluation that validated our model. A number of other studies2 have documented changes in the market value of corporate equity as a function of environmental accidents, incidents, and (conversely) accomplishments. These are in addition to the numerous examples presented in the literature and at EH&S conferences and symposia that suggest that concerted efforts to reduce the organization's environmental “footprint” can yield cost savings, increased market share, reduced time to market, and perhaps other financial benefits....
Investors and companies are both increasingly interested in sustainability issues. These issues t... more Investors and companies are both increasingly interested in sustainability issues. These issues typically revolve around environmental and social factors that have real but potentially long-term or contingent impacts on corporate financial value. This, in turn, makes traditional accounting metrics less valuable in assessing sustainability issues than in analysis of many other business issues. Therefore, both investors and companies -as well as groups that service or monitor and regulate them -have a growing interest in receiving meaningful corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information on an ongoing basis. Despite this shared interest, investors often complain about the difficulty of gathering and truly understanding corporate ESG data, while company representatives may express concerns about "survey fatigue," or the amount of time and resources it takes to supply the requested data to various investors and ESG research firms. This report explores and documents the extent to which corporate ESG information tracked and managed internally by companies is consistent with analogous information sought by external parties, and in particular, by ESG investors and the research companies that serve them. To conduct our analysis, we obtained corporate data from the results of a recent "Green Metrics that Matter" survey conducted by the National Association for Environmental Management (NAEM), and developed ESG researcher/investor data by collecting and compiling publicly available information from company web sites and other sources. We supplemented the empirical data provided to or developed by us with interviews with knowledgeable representatives of some of the companies represented in the corporate survey and of the ESG research/investment firms. We believe that the resulting database is the most thorough, representative, and sophisticated collection of information on the interface between corporate sustainability measurement efforts and investor-focused external evaluation assembled to date. ESG issues from a risk mitigation perspective, not a value creation perspective. Most specific indicators used by corporate EHS managers and executives and investors focus on identifying negative attributes or downside risk. While the members of both groups are interested in the potential for ESG-related financial value creation, their interactions are generally devoid of information speaking directly to this crucial issue. Future improvements in corporate disclosure quality and in efficient and adroit collection and use of these data in investment analysis will require improved clarity and more effective and consistent communication between companies, researchers, and the consumers of information. Substantial, non-incremental progress depends on clear articulation, from both companies and ESG researchers/investors, of corporate financial value creation through advancements in managing ESG issues and their results. Typical ESG metrics reporting practices and guidelines have advanced, but also have had some unintended and unfortunate consequences, including too few companies reporting, and some researchers requesting a substantial number of additional (non-GRI) metrics. These adverse outcomes often reinforce one another. More widespread and consistent disclosure on fewer indicators might create more utility for both corporations and investors. Greater dialog and sharing of information and perspectives is essential for both sides to understand the other's needs and constraints, and to forge communication mechanisms that are more effective and less burdensome than current practices.
Much as Total Quality Management (TQM) has helped companies decrease waste and enhance value, env... more Much as Total Quality Management (TQM) has helped companies decrease waste and enhance value, environmental accounting offers an approach and a suite of tools that can help organizations improve both environmental quality and bottom‐line business performance. Its focus is to bridge the world of finance and economics with the world of environmental management. Companies in all sectors have discovered that they can increase profits by meeting and even surpassing environmental regulations. Through environmental accounting, companies can discover more of these opportunities and, ideally, bring environmental concerns earlier into planning, decision making, and operations. This article introduces environmental accounting and some basic principles that should guide organizations' thinking on environmental accounting and environmental accounting systems. It also describes several different objectives for environmental accounting that imply different requirements and orientations. Althou...
The typical utility has more well-developed policies, programs, supporting infrastructure, and ta... more The typical utility has more well-developed policies, programs, supporting infrastructure, and tangible results than the typical large company. But there remain numerous areas for improvement, including enhancing the coherence of environmental systems and other infrastructure, and providing better assurance of effective sustainability/financial issue management.
JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 1980
To the Editor.— For the past several years a keratolytic gel developed by Baden1has been used as ... more To the Editor.— For the past several years a keratolytic gel developed by Baden1has been used as a treatment for hyperkeratotic disorders of the skin. The gel consists of 20% ethanol, 20% water, and 6% salicylic acid in propylene glycol and is marketed under the brand name Keralyt. Treatment involves application of the gel to the affected areas after hydration of the skin. The epidermal surface being treated is then occluded under a plastic dressing overnight. In many cases considerable clearing of hyperkeratotic lesions has been achieved through the use of this regimen. Baden's studies indicated that salicylism does not occur to any great extent because of the use of this preparation.1Another study using the keratolytic gel supported this assertion.2 However, salicylic acid can and does penetrate the epidermis after topical administration; this fact has been recognized for nearly a century.3The literature contains
Uploads
Papers by Peter Soyka