Ecological modernization in selected Malaysian industrial sectors: political modernization and sector variations

The aim of this paper is to understand the differences in environmental performance of palm oil versus textile and apparel production chains in Malaysia by applying ecological modernization theory via substantive quantitative testing. Ecological modernization is tested via four hypotheses, namely policy formulation, technology, regulatory efforts and advocacy of preventive approaches. Two of these prove to be statistically significant for the palm oil production chain whereas none are statistically significant for the textile and apparel production chain. Better environmental performance is correlated with (1) higher involvement of companies in environmental policymaking, and (2) stronger emphasis on preventive approaches by government agencies.