Purpose - The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of organizational characteristics on the environmental benefits of environmental management system (EMS) adoption. Methodology/Approach - This study is a meta-study based on secondary analysis of data and findings published in more than 80 previous studies. As a meta-study it is a type of review but an attempt is made to identify patterns and relations not sought by the original authors.Findings - The results of this study indicate that the benefits of EMS seem to be independent of the drivers for adoption. Not only large organisations but also smaller ones benefit from EMS. EMS implementation in smaller organisations is associated with significant barriers, but improvement occurs because these organisations often look at environmental issues for the first time when adopting an EMS. EMS appears to be a functional tool not only in the industrial sector, but also in those more service-oriented organizations that have the most complex environmental impact. No significant differences in benefits from EMS have been found in different cultural settings. Research limitations/implications – Since the analysis is based on findings in previous studies, it is not possible to influence the data. The findings have to be validated with empirical studies preferable in the form of larger surveys. Originality/Value of paper – Adoption of EMS constitutes one of the most important elements of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate sustainability in recent years. Most of the previous studies on the effects of environmental management systems (EMS) treat all organisations as one homogenous group and do not examine the benefits of EMS implementation in relation to the differences in organisational characteristics. However, it is plausible that the benefits do indeed depend on different organisational characteristics. During a review of EMS evaluation studies and other relevant literature, four characteristics have been identified that can be assumed to affect the outcome of EMS implementation; drivers for EMS adoption, organisation size, business sector and cultural setting. In addition to these organisational characteristics, other attributes most probably also affect the results of EMS adoption, but these characteristics where chosen since they, in contrast to other characteristics, could be identified in already published studies and therefore constitute a suitable point of departure for research penetrating deeper into the possible environmental benefits of EMS.