Knowledge for Corporate Energy Management - Structural Contradictions and Hope for Change? - Implementing Environmental and Resource Management - page 215

18.3 The BOTNACO 'Programme'
I encountered the setting during my ethnographic research on agents of ecological
modernisation situated in multinational corporations. At a site of a corporation,
which I shall name BOTNACO, 1,300 workers were employed performing the
mobility industry. Mr. Kunz, who was identified by his business card as an envi-
ronmental manager , told me about a special programme which he designed to run
within the corporate suggestion scheme for a limited amount of time. His back-
ground was rooted in electrical engineering as well as in chemistry. In terms of
energy he was saying: “Actually, [the] energy [issue] is pressing us for years”.
We need to conceptualise both the programme and the practices of Kunz within
the context of what can be called standardised environmental management: the
site was certified with the European Union Eco-management and Auditing
Scheme (EMAS) and ISO norm 14001. Both of these norms stipulate extensive
documentation of processes which are environmentally relevant as well as con-
tinuous environmental improvement. Within this normative context, my research
indicates, actors conceptualise saving energy as contributing to sustainable devel-
opment. To approach sustainable energy management energy is first made calcu-
lable; and second, standardised calculation procedures are applied 18 . Environ-
mental managers draw on a variety of sources to define local energy management
measures, including their own local knowledge as well as workers' knowledge.
The programme, to which I shall refer as 'Programme', was devised to mobilise
precisely such workers' knowledges of possibilities to protect health and the envi-
ronment as well as to safe energy. How did the 'Programme' work?
In order to spread the information that the 'Programme' existed Mr. Kunz sent
emails to the workers and ordered a poster ( Figure 18.1 ).
The poster declares:
A demand exists for ideas
a. which protect and sustain our environment
b. which help to improve health management for all workers.
The heading indicates a special interest in energy issues. When we met first, the
'Programme' had already taken place. However, the follow-up of it was still going
on. During the first conversation Mr Kunz envisaged the follow-up process to
complete his aim of mobilising these ideas as quite simple: he drafted the 'Pro-
gram', got the information out and the workers developed and communicated their
ideas through the suggestion scheme. Finally, in the decision-making process, he
imagined commenting on the ideas such that decision-makers could make
grounded choices. Figure 18.2 visualises the linearity of this process.
18 These standardised procedures imply, however, that actors are likely to meet discrepan-
cies between ideal assumptions, which are part of the standard, and local conditions.