Environmental Management under Uncertainty: How the Swedish Manufacturing Industry Navigates a Changing World
(2026) In IIIEE Master Thesis IMEM01 20261The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
- Abstract
- Firms operate in an increasingly uncertain world characterized by armed conflict, unstable trade regimes, and shifting environmental regulations. The Swedish manufacturing industry is exposed to these uncertainties through its reliance on export markets, global supply chains, energy-intensive production, and EU sustainability reporting regulation. This thesis explores how perceived uncertainty among sustainability professionals in the Swedish manufacturing industry influences firm’s environmental management performance. The study applied a qualitative case study design based on semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The findings demonstrate that sustainability professionals perceive geopolitical, economic, and environmental... (More)
- Firms operate in an increasingly uncertain world characterized by armed conflict, unstable trade regimes, and shifting environmental regulations. The Swedish manufacturing industry is exposed to these uncertainties through its reliance on export markets, global supply chains, energy-intensive production, and EU sustainability reporting regulation. This thesis explores how perceived uncertainty among sustainability professionals in the Swedish manufacturing industry influences firm’s environmental management performance. The study applied a qualitative case study design based on semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The findings demonstrate that sustainability professionals perceive geopolitical, economic, and environmental policy uncertainty, and that perceived uncertainty influence environmental management performance. In particular, uncertainty caused by the dismantling of sustainability reporting standards appear to negatively affect environmental disclosure, investments, and hiring. This suggests that not only policy dismantling itself, but also signals of potential regulatory relaxation, may reduce compliance-related environmental expenditures and hiring more immediately than perceived uncertainty related to tariffs and energy prices. The findings are relevant for firms with perceived uncertainty about sustainability reporting requirements, as they could achieve environmental management leadership and shape industry standards by maintaining environmental management capacity. The findings are also relevant for policymakers in the EU institutions who could acknowledge the risk for reduced environmental investments when policy dismantling is proposed. This thesis proposes further research into whether uncertainty caused by dismantling of standards for sustainability reporting affects environmental management performance in a different way than uncertainty caused by the introduction of stricter reporting standards. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9247874
- author
- Karlsson, Viktor LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- IMEM01 20261
- year
- 2026
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- environmental management, uncertainty, stakeholder, real option, Omnibus
- publication/series
- IIIEE Master Thesis
- report number
- 2026:11
- ISSN
- 1401-9191
- language
- English
- id
- 9247874
- date added to LUP
- 2026-08-10 10:14:56
- date last changed
- 2026-08-10 10:14:56
@misc{9247874,
abstract = {{Firms operate in an increasingly uncertain world characterized by armed conflict, unstable trade regimes, and shifting environmental regulations. The Swedish manufacturing industry is exposed to these uncertainties through its reliance on export markets, global supply chains, energy-intensive production, and EU sustainability reporting regulation. This thesis explores how perceived uncertainty among sustainability professionals in the Swedish manufacturing industry influences firm’s environmental management performance. The study applied a qualitative case study design based on semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The findings demonstrate that sustainability professionals perceive geopolitical, economic, and environmental policy uncertainty, and that perceived uncertainty influence environmental management performance. In particular, uncertainty caused by the dismantling of sustainability reporting standards appear to negatively affect environmental disclosure, investments, and hiring. This suggests that not only policy dismantling itself, but also signals of potential regulatory relaxation, may reduce compliance-related environmental expenditures and hiring more immediately than perceived uncertainty related to tariffs and energy prices. The findings are relevant for firms with perceived uncertainty about sustainability reporting requirements, as they could achieve environmental management leadership and shape industry standards by maintaining environmental management capacity. The findings are also relevant for policymakers in the EU institutions who could acknowledge the risk for reduced environmental investments when policy dismantling is proposed. This thesis proposes further research into whether uncertainty caused by dismantling of standards for sustainability reporting affects environmental management performance in a different way than uncertainty caused by the introduction of stricter reporting standards.}},
author = {{Karlsson, Viktor}},
issn = {{1401-9191}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{IIIEE Master Thesis}},
title = {{Environmental Management under Uncertainty: How the Swedish Manufacturing Industry Navigates a Changing World}},
year = {{2026}},
}