Open AccessPurpose: To know how the application of environmental politicies facilitates the identification of unknown costs and their next reaction. Moreover we try to determine, if these costs have a connection with the different environmental strategies, which are used.
Design/methodology/approach: An empiric study was done through a telephonic survey all over Spain in 2012. The idea was to obtain a representative sample. From 943 companies, the survey was answered by 141 of them.
Findings and Originality/value: It is shown the relationship between the costs behavior, knowledge of the unknown and hidden costs with the environmental strategies.
Research limitations/implications: To dispose a bigger sample, this allowed us to obtain results in relationship with sectors type and to verify the result for regions.
Practical implications: The organizations can be aware of costs reaction, depending on their action in the environmental area.
Originality/value: Environmental politicies in the CSR field facilitate unknown or hidden costs detection and they allow their evaluation and the decisions about them. The obtained improvements can revert to the society due to the development of environmental politicies and they offer a competitive advantage for the company.