“Greening” the Hellenic Corporate Energy Policy: An Integrated Decision Support Framework

Abstract

The current financial and economic crisis, as well as the wider socioeconomic and environmental pressures, including climate change, put seriously into question the traditional development patterns. This is particular true for Greece, which is in the middle of the crisis. These pressures create high expectations for coordinated actions and holistic interventions to address comprehensively the problems toward a competitive economy. In this direction, a lot of Greek companies demonstrate their willingness to address the current challenges, through the adoption of “green” practices, within the corporate social responsibility (CSR) framework. To the best of our knowledge, the need of a methodological framework and related tools to assess companies' environmental responsibility, connecting indicators with policies, aims, and their interactions, as well as providing appropriate guidelines and strategic interventions to improve their operational and environmental performance, is more than necessary within the Greek economy. This paper presents an integrated framework for Enterprises Energy and Environmental Policies (ENTREE Policies) to be adopted in the Greek energy market, able to measure and access the companies' carbon footprint and provide proposals for strategic interventions, promoting environmentally friendly technologies such as the renewable energy sources (RES) and the rational use of energy (RUE).

Keywords:

• Decision support
• Energy policy
• Corporate responsibility
• Transforming markets
• Sustainable development

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Part of the research conducted within the current study was based on the recent CSR Europe's strategic initiative “Enterprise 2020.” The authors acknowledge the support from the Hellenic Network for Corporate Social Responsibility. Furthermore, the authors thank the valuable contribution of Coca-Cola Hellenic, Titan Group, and ITA (International Technological Applications) S.A. for their fruitful comments and suggestions.