Sustainable development as an opportunity for innovation in the management model of public organisations

The literature recognises the great influence that environmental spending exerts on implementing LA21. But some authors raise doubts about the firm commitment of local government. Thus the main objective of this paper is to verify the authenticity of political commitment towards meeting the objectives of sustainable development by means of the budgetary support to these policies. To accomplish this verification, we apply the Difference in Differences technique for the period 2002-2012 in the Spanish municipalities. Results obtained confirmed the initial hypothesis and show that local governments that adhered to LA21 increased their environmental expenses to a greater degree. [Publisher's Text].