Abstract: Pollution prevention and sustainable development are the key goals in modern strategic business and many companies worldwide adopt environmental standards to demonstrate their commitment in improving environmental performances. Environmental management system and ISO 14001 certification are the milestones, but new life cycle tools are emerging to obtain environmental improvement beyond the gates of business. This new perspective is undoubtedly challenging, involving the entire supply chain: are companies ready to adopt it? The research tries to answer this question focusing on Italian companies certified ISO 14001: through a national survey, the paper verifies (H.1) if Italian companies are ready to adopt life cycle tools (as life cycle assessment, carbon footprint, water footprint, ecodesign, and environmental labels), (H.2) rather than other improvement projects (H.3) as well as the interest in these tools depends on maturity of EMSs. The results underline that most companies want to improve their organizational and environmental performance, however only few companies are willing to adopt life cycle tools; the greater maturity of EMS seems to favor the greater interest in the life cycle approach. In conclusion, the paper highlights the role of scientists and practitioners in demonstrating to companies the importance of LC tools to obtain better organizational and business performance.

Key words: ISO 14001; life cycle thinking; life cycle assessment; Italian companies; survey

JEL codes: Q, Q5, Q56