IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0235062.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stakeholder analysis with regard to a recent European restriction proposal on microplastics

Author

Listed:
  • Lauge Peter Westergaard Clausen
  • Oliver Foss Hessner Hansen
  • Nikoline Bang Oturai
  • Kristian Syberg
  • Steffen Foss Hansen

Abstract

Stakeholder involvement is pivotal EU governance. In this paper, we complete a stakeholder analysis of the European Chemicals Agency’s recent Annex XV restriction proposal process on intentionally added microplastics. The aim of this study is to map the interests, influence and importance of active stakeholders in order to understand the arguments being put forward by different stakeholders and provide recommendations to policy-makers on how to ensure a balanced consideration of all stakeholder perspectives. Stakeholders were identified through niche media analysis and by scrutinising comments from the public consultation on the restriction proposal. Their importance and influence were mapped using three approaches: “scale from low to high”, “psychometric scale” and “qualitative ranking”. We identified 205 different stakeholders out of which 77 were industry and trade associations, 25 were large companies and only four were small and medium-sized enterprises. National authorities and researchers did not comment on the restriction proposal, whilst large companies were very active providing comments. Industry trade associations and sports-related non-governmental organizations articulated anxiety about the costs associated with the implementation of the restriction proposal. Among environmental non-governmental organizations, there was consensus that plastics should be handled like other substances under EU’s chemical regulation. Primary stakeholders identified exhibited high importance, but varying degrees of influence, while the opposite applied to the major European institutions. Based on our analysis, we recommend that: The European Chemicals Agency implement measures to include “silent” stakeholders and invite guest experts to participate in their committees on Risk Assessment and Socio-Economic Analysis; Researchers should be more active in the public consultation; and that special emphasis should be put on helping small and medium-sized enterprises. With regards to stakeholder consultation, we find that media analysis is a good supplement to stakeholder analysis and that a more objective top-down measure of stakeholder importance and influence is needed.

Suggested Citation

  • Lauge Peter Westergaard Clausen & Oliver Foss Hessner Hansen & Nikoline Bang Oturai & Kristian Syberg & Steffen Foss Hansen, 2020. "Stakeholder analysis with regard to a recent European restriction proposal on microplastics," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-30, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0235062
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235062
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0235062
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0235062&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0235062?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dãœr, Andreas & De Biãˆvre, Dirk, 2007. "Inclusion without Influence? NGOs in European Trade Policy," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(1), pages 79-101, May.
    2. Henrik Selin, 2007. "Coalition Politics and Chemicals Management in a Regulatory Ambitious Europe," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 7(3), pages 63-93, August.
    3. Céspedes-Lorente, José & Burgos-Jiménez, Jerónimo de & Álvarez-Gil, Maria José, 2003. "Stakeholders' environmental influence. An empirical analysis in the Spanish hotel industry," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 333-358, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leonidou, Leonidas C. & Leonidou, Constantinos N. & Fotiadis, Thomas A. & Zeriti, Athina, 2013. "Resources and capabilities as drivers of hotel environmental marketing strategy: Implications for competitive advantage and performance," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 94-110.
    2. Robert Basedow, 2021. "The EU's International Investment Policy ten years on: the Policy‐Making Implications of Unintended Competence Transfers," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(3), pages 643-660, May.
    3. Adam William Chalmers, 2014. "In over their heads: Public consultation, administrative capacity and legislative duration in the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 15(4), pages 595-613, December.
    4. Frederik Stevens & Iskander De Bruycker, 2020. "Influence, affluence and media salience: Economic resources and lobbying influence in the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 21(4), pages 728-750, December.
    5. Luisa Esteban-Salvador & Ana Felicitas Gargallo-Castel & Javier Pérez-Sanz, 2020. "Environmental Practices in Firms Located in Underpopulated Rural Areas in Spain: The Case of the Province of Teruel," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-16, December.
    6. Marion Allet, 2014. "Why Do Microfinance Institutions Go Green? An Exploratory Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(3), pages 405-424, July.
    7. Iain Osgood & Yilang Feng, 2018. "Intellectual property provisions and support for US trade agreements," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 421-455, September.
    8. Tatoglu, Ekrem & Bayraktar, Erkan & Sahadev, Sunil & Demirbag, Mehmet & Glaister, Keith W., 2014. "Determinants of voluntary environmental management practices by MNE subsidiaries," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 536-548.
    9. David M Willumsen, 2018. "The Council’s REACH? National governments’ influence in the European Parliament," European Union Politics, , vol. 19(4), pages 663-683, December.
    10. Lynes, Jennifer K. & Andrachuk, Mark, 2008. "Motivations for corporate social and environmental responsibility: A case study of Scandinavian Airlines," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 377-390, December.
    11. Lixiang Wang & Weian Li & Lujun Qi, 2020. "Stakeholder Pressures and Corporate Environmental Strategies: A Meta-Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-16, February.
    12. Justin Greenwood & Christilla Roederer-Rynning, 2019. "In the Shadow of Public Opinion: The European Parliament, Civil Society Organizations, and the Politicization of Trilogues," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(3), pages 316-326.
    13. von Malmborg, Fredrik, 2022. "Theorising member state lobbying on European Union policy on energy efficiency," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    14. Sandra Polaski, 2022. "The strategy and politics of linking trade and labor standards: an overview of issues and approaches," Chapters, in: Handbook on Globalisation and Labour Standards, chapter 11, pages 203-225, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Jessica Coria & Erik Kristiansson & Mikael Gustavsson, 2022. "Economic interests cloud hazard reductions in the European regulation of substances of very high concern," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    16. Federica Buffa & Mariangela Franch & Umberto Martini & Alessio Tamanini, 2018. "Hotel Profiles Based on Environmental Management Practices: Evidence from a Study at an Alpine Destination," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-15, December.
    17. Ahmad Salman & Mastura Jaafar & Diana Mohamad & Mana Khoshkam, 2023. "Understanding Multi-stakeholder Complexity & Developing a Causal Recipe (fsQCA) for achieving Sustainable Ecotourism," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 10261-10284, September.
    18. Nur Fitriyah, 2019. "Financial Development and Environmental Degradation in Indonesia: Evidence from Auto Regressive Distributed Lag Bound Testing Method," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(5), pages 394-400.
    19. Marion Allet & Marek Hudon, 2015. "Green Microfinance: Characteristics of Microfinance Institutions Involved in Environmental Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 395-414, February.
    20. Orset, Caroline & Monnier, Marco, 2020. "How do lobbies and NGOs try to influence dietary behaviour?," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 101(1), July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0235062. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.