ISO 14001 certification in developing countries: motivations from trade and environment

摘要

This article aims to investigate the influences of trade and environmental issues on ISO 14001 certification in developing countries, focusing on how ISO 14001 certification is affected at macrolevel. Based on the panel data from 65 developing countries over the period 1999-2016, this study confirms the existence of long-run cointegrating relationships between ISO 14001 adoption, trade openness, and environmental pressures by using panel estimation techniques. The results from fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) reveal the positive impacts of trade openness and environmental pressures on ISO 14001 adoption. The results from causality analysis show no causal relationship between ISO 14001, trade openness, and environmental pressures in whole panel; instead the relationship varies for different regions of developing countries.