Bent Søndergård

Ecological modernisation and institutional transformations in the Danish textile industry

Abstract In the 1990s Danish environmental policy was characterised by an endeavour towards ecological modernisation. Based on studies of environmental programs and enterprise responses this article examines how the Danish textile industry has related to this modernisation process, and how the institutional setting and environmental practices of this industry have been transformed. This transformation is understood as a reflexive process where enterprises have responded strategically to programs and institution building based on the national ecological modernisation strategy. The paper reveals how this process has resulted in the construction of new actors and environmental perceptions in the industry, a new technological selection milieu, and the building of new competencies within the enterprises and their network. The study presents evidence for the industry’s enhanced environmental capability, but it also identifies closures, which may not converge with a plea for more radical environmental improvements.