Voluntary carbon neutral programs. Adoption and firms’ strategies

Abstract

Voluntary Carbon Neutral (CN) programs promote the reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions of participants. The main objective of this article is to review the literature about firms' behavior in connection to CN programs, paying particular attention to the adoption decision and the firms' strategies to meet the CN requirements. As an additional aim, we analyze the economic rationale behind the firms' decisions by connecting our literature review to a simple model based on the standard microeconomic theory of the firm. We model the firm's decision as a three-stage problem which includes, first, the adoption (or not) of a voluntary CN program, second, the selection of strategies to become CN (if the program is adopted) and third, the usual price and quantity decisions in the output market. The model helps understand some results found in the literature, such as why some activity sectors are more prone than others to adopt the CN certification. It also provides an explanation for the fact that these voluntary programs tend to be adopted by firms that are large, innovative, and more concerned about intergenerational equity and environmental preservation.