IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i10p3594-d174464.html

Some searches may not work properly. We apologize for the inconvenience.

   My bibliography  Save this article

The Corporate Social Responsibility of Hydropower Companies in Alpine Regions—Theory and Policy Recommendations

Author

Listed:
  • Werner Hediger

    (Zentrum für wirtschaftspolitische Forschung ZWF, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft HTW Chur, Comercialstrasse 22, 7000 Chur, Switzerland)

Abstract

Hydropower activities must increasingly be evaluated from a sustainable development perspective. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the principle frequently applied to evaluate corporate contributions in this regard, though there exists no conceptual and theoretical basis that is common to the various approaches. With the present work, we fill this gap and provide a generic model that formally integrates the corporate and societal perspectives of hydropower activities within a welfare-economic framework that encompasses both externalities and distributional concerns. Building on this background and focusing on the current situation in Switzerland, the water tower of Western Europe, we particularly address the issues of water rights, resource rents and governance. This is crucial when analyzing investment projects of hydropower companies with shared private and public ownership; i.e., if external stakeholders are also sensitive shareholders who grant, at the same time, the company the right to operate. Altogether, this contribution shall support better informed decision making on both corporate and policy levels, especially regarding new and retrofitting investments in hydropower when social concerns are at stake.

Suggested Citation

  • Werner Hediger, 2018. "The Corporate Social Responsibility of Hydropower Companies in Alpine Regions—Theory and Policy Recommendations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:10:p:3594-:d:174464
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/10/3594/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/10/3594/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Banfi, Silvia & Filippini, Massimo & Mueller, Adrian, 2005. "An estimation of the Swiss hydropower rent," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 927-937, May.
    2. Jonas Savelsberg & Moritz Schillinger & Ingmar Schlecht & Hannes Weigt, 2018. "The Impact of Climate Change on Swiss Hydropower," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-23, July.
    3. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    4. Geoffrey Heal, 2005. "Corporate Social Responsibility: An Economic and Financial Framework," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 30(3), pages 387-409, July.
    5. Toman, Michael & Lile, Ronald D. & King, Dennis M., 1998. "Assessing Sustainability: Some Conceptual and Empirical Challenges," Discussion Papers 10756, Resources for the Future.
    6. Ludovic Gaudard & Manfred Gilli & Franco Romerio, 2013. "Climate Change Impacts on Hydropower Management," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(15), pages 5143-5156, December.
    7. Banfi, Silvia & Filippini, Massimo, 2010. "Resource rent taxation and benchmarking--A new perspective for the Swiss hydropower sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2302-2308, May.
    8. Daniel Ehrbar & Lukas Schmocker & David F. Vetsch & Robert M. Boes, 2018. "Hydropower Potential in the Periglacial Environment of Switzerland under Climate Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-14, August.
    9. Abagail McWilliams (ed.), 2014. "Economics of Corporate Social Responsibility," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15620.
    10. Andrea Beltratti, 2005. "The Complementarity between Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 30(3), pages 373-386, July.
    11. Diderik Lund, 2009. "Rent Taxation for Nonrenewable Resources," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 287-307, September.
    12. David P. Baron, 2007. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 683-717, September.
    13. Hediger, Werner, 2000. "Sustainable development and social welfare," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 481-492, March.
    14. Ross Garnaut, 2010. "Principles and Practice of Resource Rent Taxation," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 43(4), pages 347-356, December.
    15. Hediger, Werner, 2010. "Welfare and capital-theoretic foundations of corporate social responsibility and corporate sustainability," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 518-526, August.
    16. Bernd Siebenhuner, 2004. "Social learning and sustainability science: which role can stakeholder participation play?," International Journal of Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(2), pages 146-163.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maripaz Muñoz Prieto, 2020. "Legislation, Regulations, and Reflections on Environmental Accounting as a Reflection of the Incorporation of Social Responsibility in Companies," Laws, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-19, June.
    2. Manuela Ingaldi & Dorota Klimecka-Tatar, 2020. "People’s Attitude to Energy from Hydrogen—From the Point of View of Modern Energy Technologies and Social Responsibility," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Aleksandra Kuzior & Józef Ober & Janusz Karwot, 2021. "Stakeholder Expectation of Corporate Social Responsibility Practices: A Case Study of PWiK Rybnik, Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-24, June.
    4. Barry, Michael & Betz, Regina & Fuchs, Sandro & Gaudard, Ludovic & Geissmann, Thomas & Giuliani, Gianluca & Hediger, Werner & Herter, Marc & Kosch, Mirjam & Romerio, Franco & Schillinger, Moritz & Sch, 2019. "The Future of Swiss Hydropower Realities, Options and Open Questions," Working papers 2019/08, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.

    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. Werner Hediger, 2013. "From Multifunctionality and Sustainability of Agriculture to the Social Responsibility of the Agri-food System," Journal of Socio-Economics in Agriculture (Until 2015: Yearbook of Socioeconomics in Agriculture), Swiss Society for Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, vol. 6(1), pages 59-80.
    2. Hediger, Werner, 2010. "Welfare and capital-theoretic foundations of corporate social responsibility and corporate sustainability," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 518-526, August.
    3. Gregor Schwerhoff & Ottmar Edenhofer & Marc Fleurbaey, 2020. "Taxation Of Economic Rents," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 398-423, April.
    4. Hediger, Werner, 2008. "Agriculture’s Multifunctionality, Sustainability, and Social Responsibility," 82nd Annual Conference, March 31 - April 2, 2008, Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, UK 36854, Agricultural Economics Society.
    5. Alberto Gago & Xavier Labandeira & Xiral López Otero, 2014. "A Panorama on Energy Taxes and Green Tax Reforms," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 208(1), pages 145-190, March.
    6. Oberndorfer, Ulrich & Schmidt, Peter & Wagner, Marcus & Ziegler, Andreas, 2013. "Does the stock market value the inclusion in a sustainability stock index? An event study analysis for German firms," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 497-509.
    7. Mariusz Adynkiewicz-Piragas & Bartłomiej Miszuk, 2020. "Risk Analysis Related to Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources and Hydropower Production in the Lusatian Neisse River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-23, June.
    8. Ziegler, Andreas & Busch, Timo & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2011. "Disclosed corporate responses to climate change and stock performance: An international empirical analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1283-1294.
    9. Ahmed A. Sarhan & Basil Al‐Najjar, 2023. "The influence of corporate governance and shareholding structure on corporate social responsibility: The key role of executive compensation," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 4532-4556, October.
    10. Riillo, Cesare Fabio Antonio & Sarracino, Francesco, 2014. "Motivations for Corporate Social Responsibility: all talk and no walk?," MPRA Paper 60211, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Andreas Ziegler, 2012. "Is it Beneficial to be Included in a Sustainability Stock Index? A Panel Data Study for European Firms," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 52(3), pages 301-325, July.
    12. Yang-Ming Chang & Hung-Yi Chen & Leonard F. S. Wang & Shih-Jye Wu, 2014. "Corporate Social Responsibility and International Competition: A Welfare Analysis," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 625-638, August.
    13. Gregory Giuliani & Elvire Egger & Julie Italiano & Charlotte Poussin & Jean-Philippe Richard & Bruno Chatenoux, 2020. "Essential Variables for Environmental Monitoring: What Are the Possible Contributions of Earth Observation Data Cubes?," Data, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-25, October.
    14. Massarutto, Antonio & Pontoni, Federico, 2015. "Rent seizing and environmental concerns: A parametric valuation of the Italian hydropower sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 31-40.
    15. Urs von Arx & Andreas Ziegler, 2008. "The Effect of CSR on Stock Performance: New Evidence for the USA and Europe," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 08/85, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    16. Dam, Lammertjan & Scholtens, Bert, 2012. "The curse of the haven: The impact of multinational enterprise on environmental regulation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 148-156.
    17. Elke Kellner, 2019. "Social Acceptance of a Multi-Purpose Reservoir in a Recently Deglaciated Landscape in the Swiss Alps," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-22, July.
    18. Patricia Crifo & Vanina D. Forget, 2015. "The Economics Of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Firm-Level Perspective Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 112-130, February.
    19. Karine Nyborg & Tao Zhang, 2013. "Is Corporate Social Responsibility Associated with Lower Wages?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 55(1), pages 107-117, May.
    20. Plaga, Leonie Sara & Bertsch, Valentin, 2023. "Methods for assessing climate uncertainty in energy system models — A systematic literature review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:10:p:3594-:d:174464. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.