CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016
| Author | Ruban, Anna Valeriivna |
|---|---|
| Title | Environmental Auditing as a Tool of Environmental Governance in Ukraine |
| Summary | In literature, environmental auditing is usually presented as a voluntary management tool used by companies and other organizations to improve their environmental performance. However, in some post-Soviet countries it has taken on an additional role of an instrument of state environmental control to some extend, and is a mandatory requirement in certain cases. This feature of environmental auditing in the countries undergoing political and economic transition has never been studied properly. Therefore, this dissertation explores a variety of environmental auditing used as an environmental policy tool in Ukraine, an example of those post-Soviet countries, and contributes to filling the existing gap in knowledge. Given these circumstances, I formulate the main research question in the following way: Why does the practice of environmental auditing in Ukraine differ from an approach commonly used in developed market economies? This main question encompasses two sub-questions: What were the driving forces behind the introduction and evolution of environmental auditing in Ukraine? What are the peculiarities of environmental auditing practices in Ukraine? To explore the practice of environmental auditing in Ukraine, I use a combination of the shift of policy paradigms theory, the collective action theory and the community of practice theory. This theoretical framework provides me with a lens to analyze the rationales for its introduction, the stages of its development, its varieties and purposes in Ukraine. My research design includes various qualitative with some elements of quantitative methods for data collection (literature review, semi-structure open-ended interviews, and participant/non-participant observations) and data analysis (coding). This combination of theoretical framework and qualitative methods focused on environmental auditing as practiced and perceived by practitioners, which may differ from a normative picture codified in laws and regulations, has never been used for investigating this policy instrument in Ukraine. Using a theory-based research, I contribute to filling the gap in scientific knowledge, as the existing literature on this topic focuses more on guidance for practitioners. This study has found that environmental auditing in Ukraine is a heterogeneous or hybrid policy instrument combining features of both command-and-control and marked-based policy tools. This phenomenon reflects a complex combination of influences of the Soviet past and international practices that shaped its development during transition to a market economy. There are two types of environmental auditing in Ukraine: mandatory, used mainly as a state control tool in the privatization of public property, and voluntary, used to improve environmental performance of organizations, typically in the context of environmental management system certification, or to identify environmental liabilities for projects involving foreign investment. These two types of environmental auditing, based on different normative documents and having different objectives, largely rely on the same practitioners – environmental auditors, who often have several certificates allowing them to conduct both procedures. The analysis of the NGO ‘Union of Environmental Auditors’ showed that, it is not a community of practice, and has been created to satisfy personal interest of particular group of individuals. Based on my findings, I provide considerations on the possible future development of environmental auditing in Ukraine, as well as avenues for my further research. |
| Supervisor | Mnatsakanian Ruben, Illes Zoltan, Ryden Lars |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/ruban_anna.pdf |
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