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The present article is part of a wider investigation of private environmental management systems, conducted as part of the doctoral research. The perspective of the private sector managers on the role of the voluntary management systems was left unpublished at the time, and for the purposes of publication of these research conclusions, the interviewed managers were kindly asked to review their initial statements. A few minor completions were made, the major conclusions of the study remained, and were synthesised for the purposes of a short and comprehensive first-hand inverstigation of the role of the voluntary environmental management systems as they are perceived and understood by the managers implementing them. The relevance of such an investigation into the rationales for private environmental policies is very high, given the recent prioritization of green investments from the EU recovery funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The starting point for this research was the analysis of voluntary approaches and of the context which could facilitate them and increase their potential. However, this does not exclude the fact that these instruments can only function in the context of a coherent environmental policy as a whole, meaning a more heterogeneous mixture of market-based instruments and voluntary tools as well as a major effort on behalf of the state to promote them, to inform and educate the stakeholders, and to provide support mechanisms. Environmental management systems, the instruments and the practices identified at the level of private companies have a significant role in encouraging the ecological performance of the companies; however, the interviews have demonstrated that this type of systems need facilitation performed by the state, that voluntary approaches do not work separately from the rest of the environmental policy, and that incentives are needed in order to co-interest the companies. Facilitation needs to involve public policies, the market, ethic consumption, and a favorable economic context in which consolidated values and behaviors from a social point of view can manifest themselves [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]