The purpose of this thesis is to study the issue of environmental management and measure through four articles. First, a descriptive and longitudinal study of the indicators used by the literature to measure the environmental performance underlines its multidimensional characteristics. Second, a meta-analysis of 52 empirical studies confirms the positive relationship between the environmental performance and the financial performance, mostly when organisational indicators measure the environmental performance. Third, a content analysis of the annual reports from 2005 to 2010 of the 55 French largest industrial companies highlights the increasing use of environmental management systems addressing the environmental issue. Fourth, a case study of a proactive environmental strategy shows how the environmental performance is managed interactively rather than just measured diagnostically.
