Environmental regulations, market pressure or own driving force - what are the potentials for Swedish companies to take the lead?

Sweden has the ambition to take the lead in the environmental field. From politicians it is often said that there is a win-win situation, that there are advantages/competition advantages to take the lead in the environmental field. To be able to take the lead and use the best technology, big transformations and heavy investments are required by the company.

In the debate, tough regulations are often mentioned as necessary to reduce the environmental impact from businesses. Are there tough regulations, market pressure or maybe an inner driving force within companies that drives the environmental work? The Porter hypothesis from 1995 claims that the environmental work within the companies, like resource- and energy efficiencies, is driven by regulations. The relevance regarding the hypothesis is discussed throughout the report together with other forces that drives the work within the environmental field.

The results are based on three case examples from companies being so called frontrunners within the environmental field, at different time periods. In depth interviews with the companies are presented. The aim with this study is to get a more nuanced image of what it means for enterprises to take the lead in the environmental field.

Linda Stafsing praktikant på Svenskt Näringsliv hos Inger Strömdahl hösten 2015.