enterprises compliance with government carbon reduction labelling policy using a system dynamics approach abstract a carbon reduction labelling scheme is an effective policy tool for motivating enterprises or organizations to reduce their life cycle based carbon emissions to benefit the environment this paper uses system dynamics to model enterprises compliance with a combined government policy instrument for a carbon reduction labelling scheme that is government subsidies and economic sanctions a case study of paper enterprises in china is provided to demonstrate the application of the proposed model in which two optional technological plans to reduce the enterprises carbon emissions are examined the technological plans are categorized as a low cost and high cost plan the simulation results show that both the technological plans are vulnerable to the combined policy making and the high cost plan shows superior environmental performance for carbon emissions reduction however the enterprises are more inclined to choose the low cost plan because of superior economic performance the study offers insights to help enterprises select optimal actions on carbon emissions reduction and to inform government of possible sustainable policy design to promote low carbon development the model limitations are discussed as a basis for further improvements in low carbon development

integration of carbon risks and opportunities in enterprise risk management systems evidence from australian firms this study addresses managerial perceptions of risks and opportunities related to carbon pricing and emission management and the factors that affect the extent to which carbon related risks and opportunities are integrated into the organisation s formal enterprise risk management erm system we assess the role played by internal governance features resource availability managerial perceptions on competitive pressures and industry type on the inclusion of carbon risks within the erm system based on survey responses from 96 senior managers in australian carbon intensive firms i e firms listed in the 2009 publication of data under section 24 of the national greenhouse and energy reporting nger act 2007 we find that the extent of carbon risk integration is positively associated with the existence of a formal carbon strategy senior management involvement internal audit oversight resource personnel and funds availability and energy sector membership the paper also provides several insights into the perceptions of risks and opportunities confronting an organisation as a result of carbon pricing mechanism

local government structure and the quality of minority neighborhoods one of the most long standing and controversial issues surrounding local government structure in the united states is how reformed political institutions have impacted minority neighborhoods a common belief is that reformism has harmed these neighborhoods but there is no empirical evidence on this issue drawing upon capital asset pricing theory this paper empirically investigates the effects of two reforms the council manager form of government and at large councilor elections on the quality of nonwhite neighborhoods quality is found to be higher in majority white places with at large as opposed to district based elections quality is not found to be affected by the form of government

increasing payg pension benefits and reducing contribution rates abstract we analyse how a reduced contribution rate affects the balanced pay as you go pension budget in the basic overlapping generations model of neoclassical growth diamond p 1965 national debt in a neoclassical growth model american economic review 55 5 1126 1150 it is shown that payg pensions can be increased by reducing the payroll tax paid by the young contributors

pollution prevention strategy a study of indian firms abstract strategy that targets pollution prevention shall be the first one among sustainability strategies to be implemented to achieve early cost advantages and mitigate litigation risk this article aims to isolate pollution prevention strategy pps from other similar sustainability strategies and provides an independent scope of pps a questionnaire based survey was conducted among 689 managers of 60 indian firms known for their orientation towards sustainability factorial analysis delivered five factors highlighting the composition of associated variables descriptive statistics was used to understand the relative importance of various aspects of pps and status of implementation of this strategy in indian firms the results show that firms are paying higher attention to structured waste management and the priority is early cost advantages hence prefer less investment prone processes modifications the initiatives are geared mainly due to short term advantages than top management commitment and pro activeness to comply with environmental regulations firms believe in developing expertise and deploying standard practices it is evident that firms specifically train employees for pps implantation but lags in empowerment of employees resources allocation cross functional team formations and rewards for the employees also pps strategy is implemented as stand alone strategy and lacks the integration with core corporate strategy the study adds to existing literature by segregating pps from other similar strategies like product stewardship and cleaner technology tested measure of pps shall help managers to assess their performance to achieve pollution prevention goals further the paper discusses some important managerial implications

sustainable value and cleaner production research and application in 19 portuguese sme abstract eco efficiency aims at improving the economic and ecological efficiency of companies attaining a higher value with fewer inputs materials and energy more outputs but fewer wastes the result of implementing this strategy is the delivery of products and services that satisfy human needs at lower costs while reducing the ecological impacts and resource intensity this means a higher value for companies defined as the relationship between the satisfaction of needs and the resources used in achieving that satisfaction as well as the increase of their competitiveness the purpose of this research was to develop the sustainable value concept using the synergies between tools from value management value analysis and from eco efficiency cleaner production the result is an indicator that integrates the three aspects of sustainability economic environment and social and enables the monitoring of the evolution of those aspects in a company the aim of this approach is to increase the sustainable value of the study subject this being defined as the specific subject to which the methodology is applied either a product or a process in a company the satisfaction levels are evaluated considering environmental and social aspects the resources used to attain that satisfaction of needs are also characterized in an explicit way in terms of environmental social and economic aspects the proposed sustainable value methodology with an eight phases working plan developed by a team was validated by undertaking three projects involving 19 small and medium enterprises where sustainable value concept was implemented they represent a wide range of activity areas in different regions of the country covering almost the whole portuguese territory the application of the proposed methodology in the different companies shows the benefits concerning the inputs reduction water energy and materials as well as emissions and waste reduction the increase of the company s productivity and collaborators social welfare is also highlighted performance costs and sustainable value variations are quantified a first important conclusion that can be taken from the reported experiences is that the use of sustainable value methodology enables the diagnosis of the main problems related to processes and products and the quantification of the used resources and takes into account the three aspects of sustainability economic environmental and social another conclusion is the applicability of the methodology to companies of different size and sectors the same happens and is confirmed in existent literature about the subject with other approaches the improvement of sustainable value of the study subjects is reflected in the competitiveness of the companies some suggestions about conditions that must be fulfilled for the success of the introduction and implementation of this approach in a company are also presented

turning waste into value using human urine to enrich soils for sustainable food production in uganda this article builds on an action research process involving ugandan smallholder farmers in collaborative experimentation on the use of human urine as a crop fertilizer the aim is to explore farmers perceptions and evaluation of the practice as a potential and partial solution to soil productivity problems findings show that urine fertilization is valued as a low cost and low risk practice contributing to significant yield increases suggesting important contributions to food security and income especially for those who have few options in soil nutrient management weaknesses identified by farmers relate mainly to limitations in collection and storage capacity rather than to inherent traits of the practice in conclusion urine fertilization should be acknowledged as a valuable strategy for supporting sustainable agricultural intensification furthermore the importance of social norms and cultural perceptions should be recognized but not treated as absolute barriers to diffusion of the practice collective action where groups of farmers jointly develop new procedures and adapt practices serves as an important arena for social change and negotiation of norms and taboos which can otherwise limit the acceptance and diffusion of alternative soil management practices the research finally illustrates that transdisciplinary research can guide pathways towards sustainability through locally anchored and solutions oriented knowledge generation

reducing inequalities toward the development of a market for income inequality abstract the objective of this study is to propose the development of a market for income inequality by specifying a firm s contribution to income inequality and outlining a simple model to find the equilibrium price for a given target of income inequality reduction the paper reviews the concepts of firm heterogeneity and externalities in relation to income inequality it then proposes a model by establishing income inequality reduction targets for a population of firms presenting a marginal income inequality reduction cost curve and matching demand and supply to derive the equilibrium price and ends by simulating a market for income inequality reduction using data from a sample of fifteen firms this paper shifts the focus of income inequality research and policy to the firm and proposes a market based mechanism for firms to reduce income inequality

overuse of wood based bioenergy in selected sub saharan africa countries review of unconstructive challenges and suggestions excessive wood consumption for energy and over dependence on fossil fuel based energy are fundamental issues of importance regarding the destruction of environmental sanity in this respect international communities are seeking to explore opportunities on how to encourage aggressive deployment of technologies for clean and sustainable development and possibly renewable the kyoto protocol on climate change meeting in 1997 with about 160 countries in attendance has been used as one of the platform of discourse on carbon emissions reduction strategies advocated strategies agreed include increase in renewable energy consumption via modern techniques massive deployment of renewable energy systems on a global scale will ensure a reasonable displacement of oil based energy production which is the main source of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in sub saharan africa limited access to modern energy in the region has stepped up reliance on bioenergy consumption in form of wood fuel and charcoal resulting to attendant effects on human health environment and the biodiversity in general in view of the foregoing this study presents a review on the current situations of unconstructive effects in the overuse of fuel wood and its charcoal derivative for energy consumption in three selected sub saharan african countries nigeria ghana and uganda in conclusion suggestions on how to confront the challenges associated with the over exploitation conditions of fuel wood in the region are put forward the suggestions could be part of the pursuit to increase electricity availability reliability and security with lower level of emissions in the region

can measures of well being and progress help societies to achieve sustainable development the search for sustainability and the growing apprehension with environmental degradation are increasingly attracting researchers from around the world and bringing the need for developing indicators that include the economy society and environment this study compares the emergy indices with 10 known indicators taken from the literature gross domestic product gross domestic product per capita human development index happiness index life expectancy democracy index ecological footprint surplus biocapacity wellbeing index and environmental sustainability index 2002 correlations are made using the spearman coefficients to verify correlations between the fractions of renewable natural resources non renewable natural resources resources from the economy and the emergy indices with the known indicators and indexes emerged with the literature indicators the analysis of the results is made by illustrative matrices and graphs the results suggest that the combination of socio economic and biophysical indicators is essential to provide a better understanding of the limits of economic growth and while ensuring sustainable societal well being

a test for allocative efficiency in the local public sector abstract this paper develops a test for pareto efficiency in the local public sectorusing the analytical result that aggregate property value is maximized at the public output level which satisfies the samuelson condition for efficiency by using cross section data it is possible to deduce whether a representative community provides its public goods in a property value maximizing and hence efficient fashion the empirical results show no systematic tendency to either under or over provide public goods in a sample of massachusetts communities

welfare index waste and expropriation abstract giannetti et al 2015 published a paper dealing with the convenience of developing new index of human wellbeing i consider it very interesting especially when including environmental aspects as a complement to that treated by the authors i would like to include in the debate reflections on possible conceptual tools to approach equality and social justice as could be a partial globally coordinated and meticulously planned expropriation of goods really a tax that could be applicable to existing fortunes country by country

sustainability indexes why join in a study of the corporate sustainability index ise in brazil abstract in the past decade indicators have been created to assess the sustainability performance of companies listed in stock exchange markets academics and practitioners expect companies to benefit from being listed in such indexes but evidence of value creation is still scarce since virtually all studies about the corporate sustainability index ise of the sao paulo stock exchange brazil the object of the present study focused on the value of shares we initially looked for answers in the finance theory we collected secondary data about the financial and economic performance of companies forming the ise s theoretical portfolio as these kinds of indexes are also known in a second stage we sought additional motivations for companies to make efforts to be listed in the index we collected additional data and interviewed representatives of key companies listed in the ise as well as industry leaders who chose not to participate in the selection process the results support the main propositions of the institutional theory as well as the pays to be green literature that the intangible value created by voluntary environmental initiatives such as access to knowledge new capabilities and reputational gain better explain the efforts companies make to be listed in the ise index

a hard nut to crack implementing supply chain sustainability in an emerging economy abstract in the last decade sustainable supply chain management has become a key topic in the sustainability literature as well as a buzzword in industry and policy circles although research has made substantial contributions there is a lack of understanding on how focal companies operating in emerging economies can lead the implementation of sustainability into their supply chains this research connects and advances the constructs of cleaner production sustainability and supply chains by exploring a classic case of a focal company operating in an emerging economy that even facing considerable challenges has been able to succeed in transforming its entire supply chain drawing from stakeholder theory and contingency theory this research offers four key contributions to the sustainability and supply chain discourses as follows 1 it proposes an innovation centered approach to sustainable supply chain management by adapting and extending the tcos uncertainty framework 2 it suggests that the way a focal company manages and is influenced by its established network of relationships shape the evolution of the supply chain sustainability trajectories 3 it argues that supply chains are dynamic entities and should then be considered and understood through the lenses of evolutionary approaches and 4 it suggests that the implementation and management of sustainable supply chains are context specific challenges and therefore theoretical managerial and policy generalizations are difficult to be achieved

quantification of social equity in life cycle assessment for increased sustainable production of sanitary products in uganda abstract assessing the life cycle of a specific sanitary pad makapads in uganda defines unique and vital measurements of social equity especially for women laborers a combined approach of social life cycle assessment slca and environmental life cycle assessment elca has been utilized to determine sanitary pads social equity and environmental impacts the development of the makapads product is an example of a design by africans for africans whereas libresse is an example of a european designed product used by africans the elca and slca of both libresse pads and makapads include the stages of raw material extraction energy production assembly transport to or within uganda and incineration and the contextualized economic costs of sanitary pads and income generation from the makapads factories two slca quantifiable characteristics that distinguish makapads from imported pads developed here are affordability and manufacturing wage impacts we conclude first from the elca that the majority of environmental impacts for makapads are at least half of those of the librese product and second from the slca that there are significant social benefits to local design and manufacturing of products for girls and women our recommendation is that sub saharan african countries should encourage policies that support local design and manufacturing of sustainable products rather than being reliant on imported products which can have higher environmental impacts and lower social equity benefits

from cleaner production to sustainable development the role of academia cleaner production cp strategies are fundamentally concerned with operations environmental sustainability and maximization of waste reduction recycling and reuse at the enterprise level and are thus microeconomic in scope sustainable development sd however involves the design of integrated approaches that are capable of addressing environmental sustainability and waste while ensuring social and economic prosperity at the national or even global level implying a macroeconomic scope due to its philosophy broad scope and long term horizons sustainable development necessitates capacity building via advancement of sustainable societal patterns and the creation of a new set of visions paradigms policies methodological tools and applicable procedures the first and foremost step on this path is the development of human capital required to make such a transition this paper proposes the application of a methodology via which leaders in higher education could assess the necessity and the urgency for designing training programs that could assist with developing human capital needed to support sd the methodology evaluates the conditions and constraints that could control the effectiveness and ease of implementation of such programs at its core the proposed methodology utilizes expert judgment to assess importance of including cp and sd indicators listed in the questionnaire on the proposed academic programs during a pilot study which was conducted in the fall of 2013 at selected universities in the usa latin america and china experts evaluated a series of proposed cp infused academic programs according to a matrix consisting of sd indicators and under consideration of the norms culture political systems regulations resource availability and local regional and global economic development goals and objectives results of data analysis in the pilot study suggested that inclusion of the resource management rm topics in designing academic programs is the most preferred approach in all three different regions followed by development of programs that could cover topics in areas of human capital development hcd human system designs hsd and sustainable economic development and prosperity sedp quantitative analysis of the data indicated existence of two clusters of preferences for cp sd criteria one for in the americas including latin america and one for china

city government structure are some institutions undersupplied city councilors have a vested interest in maintaining the local government structure that got them elected this resistance to change may result in non optimal supplies of particular local political institutions as cities and metropolitan areas experience changes in population and diversity using unique data from the state of florida we show that there is an undersupply of cities offering larger council sizes our evidence also suggests that there is no undersupply of cities with the mayor council versus the council manager form of government or cities with at large versus district election methods

integrating cleaner production into sustainability strategies an introduction to this special volume abstract this special volume of the journal of cleaner production is built primarily upon articles submitted for the 4th international workshop advances in cleaner production held in sao paulo brazil in 2013 the 54 articles underscore the urgent need for changing from unsustainable production and societal patterns to sustainable ones they provide many new approaches to help industries governments and society to speed up the transition to sustainable patterns the authors focus on defining and solving problems with special emphasis upon sustainability strategies raw material replacement renewable energy technological developments product and policy changes the central roles of improved corporate management for sustainable societal transitions are explored with an emphasis upon stakeholder empowerment in promoting implementation of new cleaner technologies within companies industrial sectors supply chains and countries some authors improved assessment tools for environmental accounting at the biospheric scale some authors underscored the need for cooperation among governments industrial sectors and companies to accelerate the integration of cleaner production into policies and practice multiple examples of successful integration of cp in national and local policy structures exemplified how focused work in key industrial sectors is delivering multiplier benefits within and among companies and in the community at large the authors documented numerous benefits of holistic integration of local regional national and global efforts to accelerate the transition to sustainable development and societal well being

why join a carbon club a study of the banks participating in the brazilian business for climate platform why do firms that present low levels of direct carbon emissions participate in carbon clubs which have the goal of managing and reducing greenhouse gas ghg emissions in order to answer this question we collected data from both primary and secondary sources from firms operating in the brazilian banking sector which are members of the businesses for climate platform plataforma empresas pelo clima epc we first looked for answers in the institutional theory and resource based view of the firm rbv by confronting the arguments presented by these streams of scientific enquiry with empirical data we worked on theory testing in particular we analyzed the institutional pressures and resources and capabilities of the focus companies in order to understand the rationales for proactive sustainability management we found evidences of the arguments presented by both the institutional theory and the rbv by studying an industry that is not a frequent subject to research on socio environmental issues for not being considered of high impact in an emerging market economy the research contributes to both the further development of the institutional theory and the advancement of sustainability management in corporations

a review of limitations of gdp and alternative indices to monitor human wellbeing and to manage eco system functionality abstract the misuse of gross domestic product as a measure of public wellbeing results from the idea that economic growth is always synonymous with enhanced quality of life disregarding the fact that the economy profits from natural social and human capital in order to monitor progress towards sustainability and increased well being governments working closely with scientists developed new metrics that go further than income and material wealth there are several candidates for revisions of the gross domestic product based on a comprehensive literature review this paper identified several possible indicators that intend to adjust supplement or substitute for gross domestic product two main approaches were identified the first uses gross domestic product as foundation to build a complete index and includes proposals to greening gross domestic product socializing the indices and including it in a more comprehensive index the second approach relates to efforts to redefine the indicators with the use of environmentally oriented indicators and socially oriented measures challenges to measure development welfare and wellbeing are discussed to provide a wide angle view of efforts to develop measures of social economic ecological status and progress beyond the current very narrow gross domestic product it was recognized an urgent need for guidance for the development of governance regimes designed to change from short term decision making processes to those which support the multi decade planning and implementation processes that are needed to guide the transition to post fossil carbon societies this comprehensive review covers a wide range of topics from problems of gdp to challenges and thoughts about indicators the review shows that if mankind is concerned with the sustainable development of the planet as a whole then progress indicators measured only in monetary or social terms are limited and restricted to the weak or the medium sustainability model and must be complemented by biophysical indicators it is time to change the global knowledge of what progress really is changing the discussion from growth to sustainable development and human well being

cleaner production towards a sustainable transition abstract this special volume of the journal of cleaner production was built principally upon articles submitted for the 5th international workshop advances in cleaner production held in sao paulo brazil in 2015 the 43 articles emphasize the imperative need for shifting from unsustainable production and societal patterns to sustainable ones they provide many new technological and or management related approaches to help industries governments and society to speed up the transition to sustainable patterns efforts on defining and solving problems with the special accent upon a sustainable solution for the use of raw materials and energy technological advances product and policy changes are presented and deeply discussed improved corporate management for sustainable societal transitions is discussed highlighting consumer empowerment in sponsoring implementation of innovative cleaner technologies within companies industrial sectors supply chains and countries multiple examples are provided relating the successful combination of cleaner production in policy structures illustrating on how the focused work in production sectors is delivering multiplier benefits and creating conditions to facilitate a leapfrogged path toward sd

how the brazilian government can use public policies to induce recycling and still save money abstract public policies can leverage the recycling of materials however there is no clear guidance on how to use such policies and still spare public funds to fill this gap a multiple case study was undertaken in brazil eleven companies that can produce new products using the waste generated by their customers were investigated the findings contribute by suggesting how governments can economically use taxes sanctions incentives and other public instruments to induce recycling tax exemptions are not required when the waste recycled reduces the manufacturer s costs or generates revenue for customers who produce it and or for the scrap dealers who collect it sanctions or penalties imposed on the manufacturer s customers can increase the recycling efforts of such manufacturers when the recycling is technically feasible but not economically attractive sanctions are ineffective when wastes have a good market value or are widespread over millions of generation points for such cases the public policies should focus on community awareness campaigns and attention on waste pickers incentives for the technological development can be provided to wastes that present a good market value but do not have an economical recycling technology available granting resources to universities and technological institutes will help spread the solution to sme companies by better understanding how to apply public instruments the governments will be able to save funds on tax exemptions better define sanctions focus its community awareness campaigns focus its waste pickers support and better allocate funds to support the development of new recycling technologies

sustainability analysis of a society based on exergy studies a case study of the island of samso denmark abstract the danish island samso has since 1997 initiated a process through which the island should reach a state where it would be able to supply its own energy such a situation was reached since 2005 after having established 21 windmills and the island is now a net exporter of electricity to the danish power network at the same time the buildings in the more habituated areas were connected to 4 district heating plants which generate heat from combustion of straw in some cases combined with supplementary inputs from photo thermal devices meanwhile certain activities on the island such as running the ferries cars factories and heating in more distant areas are still dependent on significant input of fossil fuels the inhabitants have recently stated a wish to move on towards being independent of fossil fuels in 2030 and carbon neutral during the next decades as a consequence the idea came up to develop a method for the sustainability analysis of a society which would assist in governing the transitional process in the direction of increasing sustainability therefore a framework has been developed based on the concept exergy that may reveal where large consumptions are taking places such areas are likely to be sensible targets for action or at least increased attention basic methods have been developed that allows to account for infrastructure transfers inputs and outputs and consumption in terms of exergy and taking into account whether the exergy storages or flows can be considered to be renewable or not the framework has been developed for six societal sectors the energy sector the public sector the private households the agricultural sector the industry commerce and trade sector and nature nature is here considered an activity that provides the society with an exergy that may also be of value to our societies often referred to as ecosystem services based on the estimated amount of infrastructure and transfers inputs and outputs a number of sustainability indicators have been developed that may be monitored over time and which may serve to indicate whether potential measures undertaken also lead the society in the right direction an attempt to evaluate the potential importance of wastes has also been carried out as in organic waste could play an important role in acquiring the amount of bio diesel required to run the ferries in the future the results demonstrate that the already existing overhead in production of electricity leaves the island with many options and a great opportunity to be independent of fossil fuels in near future in fact it might well be that socio economical perspectives will turn out to be the more severe obstacles in the transition process adjacent to this work a carbon model has also been set up to reveal the consequence of proposed measures and strategies to the carbon budget of the island jorgensen and nielsen 2014