Long-Term Environmental Goals: Do Intermediate Targets Matter?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Busra Gencer ◽  
Ann van Ackere
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Goals ◽  
Intermediate Targets

Government Guide to Sustainability Impact Assessments

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-93
Author(s):  
David Novak ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Method Comparison ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Future Research ◽  
German State ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Environmental Goals ◽  
Technology And Economy ◽  
Legal Consequences

Global sustainability is becoming an increasingly important issue, as evidenced by the numerous conferences of the UN and its sister organizations with worldwide participation. The goal is a critical inventory of the desirable goals, as well as the questioning of the current status quo and the procedure. There are obvious gaps that will be briefly discussed. This paper does not only deal with state sustainability, but shows the approach of this topic by the German state. Not only the basic assumptions and the goals are documented, but these are, as far as possible, checked for their realism or feasibility. Method comparison of the defined procedure by the German Federal Government with the goals set by the UN and the finding of possible deviations. Research findings are shown within a brief summary to offer an opportunity for further analysis, discussions, or results. The sustainability test is an accepted possibility to measure effects on nature, based on indicators and values. The estimation of legal consequences must be borne in full by all decision makers. Ecology, Society, Technology and Economy have to go hand in hand and people have to be taught their current behavior regarding environment costs money. Results and implications for practice, applications and consequences are identified. Sustainability and its effects can be evaluated in the short, mid and long term run. All people worldwide are influenced by lived or just not lived sustainability massive in their lives. Avenues of future research should always include sustainability tests and estimations of legal consequences regarding the decisions done by politicians at this matter. This paper deals with sustainability and the associated consequences in the area of legislation, as well as with the verification of the achievement of individual environmental goals.

ASSESSING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GAPS BETWEEN THE STATE AND LOCAL JURISDICTIONS

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (03) ◽  
pp. 263-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
ZHENGHONG TANG
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Planning ◽  
Environmental Planning ◽  
The State ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Local Planning ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Environmental Goals ◽  
Major Factors

State mandates and guidelines significantly influence local land use planning; however few studies have been conducted to empirically detect the gaps in sustainable environmental planning between the state and local jurisdictions. This paper analyses the California Governor's Environmental Goals and Policy Report (EGPR) and 116 local comprehensive land use plans to develop a set of measurable indicators to detect gaps in local planning efforts to incorporate state goals and policies. Descriptive results indicate that the local jurisdictions reached approximately half of the state's sustainable environmental planning goals. The major gaps existed in some region-wide, global-wide, long-term, cumulative, and strategically critical environmental elements. Regression results further highlight the major factors that significantly influenced local jurisdictions' environmental planning abilities. Six policy recommendations are provided to reduce these gaps.

Weed Science Beyond the Weeds: The Role of Integrated Weed Management (IWM) in Agroecosystem Health

Weed Science ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarence J. Swanton ◽  
Stephen D. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Cover Crops ◽  
Weed Management ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Integrated Weed Management ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Weed Population Dynamics ◽  
Environmental Goals ◽  
Predictive Approaches

Integrated weed management (IWM) research has focused on how crop yields and weed interference are affected by changes in management, e.g., tillage, herbicide application timing and rates, cover crops, and planting patterns. Acceptance of IWM will depend on recommendation of specific strategies that manage weeds and maintain crop productivity; such research will and should continue. However, IWM needs to move from a descriptive to a predictive phase if long-term strategies are to be adopted. Linking management changes with crop-weed modeling that includes such components as weed population dynamics and the ecophysiological basis of competition will help predict future weed problems and solutions and the economic risks and benefits of intervention. Predictive approaches would help incorporate IWM into models of the processes that occur in agricultural systems at wider spatial and temporal scales, i.e., in agroecosystems comprised of the interactions among organisms (including humans) and the environment. It is at these larger scales that decisions about management are initiated and where questions about the long-term consequences and constraints of IWM and agriculture are often asked. These questions can be addressed by agroecosystem health, an approach that integrates biophysical, social, and economic concerns and recognizes that agriculture is part of a world with many complex subsystems and interactions. Indicators are used to examine the status of an agroecosystem, e.g., whether or not it contains all that is necessary to continue functioning. Indicators include soil quality, crop productivity, and water quality; all of these are related to the rationale of IWM, hence IWM can be linked to agroecosystem health. Ancillary effects of using IWM relate to other indicators such as diversity and energy efficiency. Linking IWM to agroecosystem health has at least two benefits: (1) predictive models within IWM can be incorporated into larger agroecosystem models to explore hitherto unforseen problems or benefits of IWM, and (2) the relevance and benefits of IWM should become clearer to the public and government agencies who otherwise might not examine how IWM promotes many of the larger social, economic and environmental goals being promulgated.

scholarly journals Servitization in Support of Sustainable Cities: What Are Steel’s Contributions and Challenges?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Pinto ◽  
Manuel Morales ◽  
Mariia Fedoruk ◽  
Marina Kovaleva ◽  
Arnaud Diemer
Keyword(s):  
Urban Metabolism ◽  
Supply Side ◽  
Sustainable Cities ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Environmental Goals ◽  
Do So

In the pursuit of eco-efficiency, resilience, and self-sufficiency, sustainable cities focus on long-term environmental goals instead of only short-term economic ones. To do so, many of them rely on servitization, the practice of replacing tangible solutions for intangible ones. Considering steel’s wide range of applications and its pervasive presence, this article’s goal was twofold: Not only to understand how servitization helps sustainable cities, but also the contributions and challenges of the steel present in service-providing. To do so, the criteria of sustainable urban metabolism and circles of sustainability were used to analyze three case studies of servitization: energy, housing, and mobility. The results showed that servitization can provide significant benefits to sustainable cities, while also being able to substantially alter the supply-side dynamics of steelmaking by affecting, most notably, demand. This brought to light how important it is for steelmakers to pay close attention to the service-providing initiatives that may concern their clients and products. Nevertheless, further research is necessary to fully understand all of the effects that servitization can have on all of the commodities involved in its implementation.

A techno-economic study of energy efficiency technologies for supermarkets in South Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 2-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simisha Pather-Elias ◽  
Stephen Davis ◽  
Brett Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Risk Category ◽  
Retail Sector ◽  
Economic Study ◽  
Food Retail ◽  
Carbon Reduction ◽  
Intermediate Targets

The food retail sector is energy intensive, consuming large amounts of electricity for refrigeration, air-conditioning and cooking. Retailers are aiming to reduce their electricity consumption in supermarkets and thus their carbon footprint using energy efficiency technologies. This paper reports on a techno-economic analysis of energy efficient technologies to recommend to the food retail sector for use in supermarkets. The targets and needs of food retail companies were surveyed and thereafter, the retailers were divided into three categories. Category 1 retailer had the highest targets for electricity and carbon reduction and was willing to take on more risk. Category 2 retailer had intermediate targets and would only use developed technologies, while category 3 retailer would only invest in developed technologies if they were proven to show significant long term saving with short pay back periods. The analysis showed that closed refrigerators had the highest electricity/carbon savings and the highest profit (NPV), followed by heat reclamation from refrigeration. Both these technologies were recommended for category 1 retailers. A combination of heat reclamation, energy efficient lights, fridge curtains, electronic controls for refrigerators and POS power management systems were recommended for category 3 retailers. A combination of the two recommendations was identified for category 2 retailers. Behavioural changes of all staff were identified as important for energy efficiency technologies to work at optimum levels.

scholarly journals Fuel Switch to LNG in Heavy Truck Traffic

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Smajla ◽  
Daria Karasalihović Sedlar ◽  
Branko Drljača ◽  
Lucija Jukić
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effective ◽  
Road Vehicles ◽  
Truck Traffic ◽  
Ecological Benefits ◽  
Diesel Vehicles ◽  
Maritime Traffic ◽  
Heavy Trucks ◽  
Heavy Truck ◽  
Environmental Goals

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) use as a fuel in road and maritime traffic has increased rapidly, and it is slowly entering railroad traffic as well. The trend was pushed by the state administrations of mainly EU countries and international organizations seeing LNG as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to diesel. Different infrastructural projects for the widespread use of LNG in transport have been launched around the world. The main goal of this paper was to analyze use of LNG as a fuel for heavy trucks. Different aspects of LNG chain were analyzed along with economical and ecological benefits of LNG application. Filling stations network for LNG were described for the purpose of comparative analysis of diesel and LNG heavy trucks. Conclusion has shown that using LNG as propellant fuel has numerous advantages over the use of conventional fuels. The higher initial investment of the LNG road vehicles could be amortized in their lifetime use, and in the long-term they are more affordable than the classic diesel vehicles. In addition to cost-effectiveness, LNG road vehicles reduce CO2 emissions. Therefore, the environmental goals in transport, not only of the member states but worldwide, could not be met without LNG in heavy truck traffic.

Eco-Effective Management: An Empirical Link between Firm Value and Corporate Sustainability

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Royce D. Burnett ◽  
Christopher J. Skousen ◽  
Charlotte J. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Firm Value ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
Current Accounting ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Environmental Goals

ABSTRACT Achieving corporate sustainability requires the implementation of management practices that create long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental, and social developments. Corporations that are sustainable create value that, in the long run, exceeds their environmental impact (Figge and Hahn 2004). We examine the extent to which investors incrementally value the long-run benefits accruing from adoption of eco-effective management. We posit that adoption of eco-effective management results in increases in firms' market valuation, and that those increases persist beyond the current accounting period. Our results support this hypothesis. This study has broad public policy implications as accountants, managers, and government policymakers shift their focus toward sustainability and rely on market-based mechanisms to further environmental goals. Data Availability: All data are available from public sources.

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