Environmental management in companies from Rio Grande do Sul - a comparative study with other brazilian companies

Abstract

This paper aims to describe how companies have managed the environmental issues, which kind of instruments are used for this purpose, comparing companies from the state of Rio Grande do Sul and the rest of Brazil. This work was developed using data published by Análise Editorial magazine about the environmental management practices that have been used by Brazilian companies. Data was obtained from the seventh edition of the yearbook Análise da Gestão Ambiental, which includes 853 companies, 25 banks and 237 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and 28 different economy branches. The research nature is classified as applied or technological; the approach method is quantitative; and, the study has a descriptive porpouse, since it exposes the characteristics of different companies; using literature and secondary data. The results point to the use of ISO 14001 as the main tool for environmental management and a lag of local companies. It may be asserted that other Brazilian companies are in an advanced stage regarding the environmental management practices compared to companies from Rio Grande do Sul.