Need to reprioritise environmental issues Sample Clauses

Need to reprioritise environmental issues. Prioritisation of the environment in organisations is fundamental to ensuring the adoption of low carbon behaviours in the workplace and beyond. Without prioritisation of the environment in the workplace, employees are less likely to adopt low-carbon behaviours beyond those required to be undertaken as part of the job itself, especially when reward systems are based on non- environmental accomplishments. Organisations are likely to prioritise environmental issues through one of two main routes. First, organisations might prioritise the environment if they are subject to legislation which mandates reductions in emissions (cf. Xxxxxxxxxx & Steg, 2013; see above). For example, legislation mandates that more than 11,000 power stations and industrial plants in EU member states report their greenhouse gas emissions through the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. In the UK, many large private and public sector organisations must also report their greenhouse gas emissions annually through the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme. Second, organisations might prioritise the environment through the adoption of environmentally responsible missions, either as part of concerns relating to corporate social responsibility and/or for cost saving and efficiency reasons (Xxxxxxx, Steg, & Keizer, in press). A key issue that has emerged from the LOCAW project is the tension between on the one hand giving general priority to environmental issues, and on the other hand prioritising other issues, particularly economic benefits, rather than the environment.There is no simple solution to this tension, as everyday operational matters are governed by a multitude of competing priorities within an organisation. The non-immediate nature of environmental problems/outcomes seems to be part of the problem here and one worthy of more research attention in the future, especially when considering that economic short term effects are placed as a key element of reward systems in private organizations. Another problem is the fact that economic incentives encouraging organisations to prioritise the environment and make efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are often (perceived to be) lacking. Our results show that organisations regard environmental goals as important in their mission and objectives, but in practice these goals often appear to be either at odds with, or secondary to, other goals, in particular profit or safety. There is a need to reprioritise environmental goals in organisations, and to enc...