Exploring the Emergence of Voluntary Environmental Governance Arrangements: Insights from the Australian Buildings Sector

Voluntary environmental governance arrangements (VEGAs) have focal attention in academic and policy debates. The current literature repeatedly reports that VEGAs are unsuccessful in achieving high levels of environmental performance by their participants, but at the same time reports an ongoing use of them. Based on a study of fifteen VEGAs in the Australian buildings sector this research paper analyzes how VEGAs may assist in achieving high(er) levels of environmental performance, without showing direct measurable results. Four subtle roles of VEGAs in doing so are uncovered: transformation of norms; providing business cases; filling in voids in governmental requirements; and, facilitating the implementation of governmental requirements.