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The demand for hydropower production, as a prominent sustainable development strategy, has created a boom in the number of planned hydropower projects, especially small ones. These projects are mainly located in post-socialist transition and developing countries. However, emerging evidence suggests that most of the projects remain on paper. One reason for this is prevalent corruption. In the literature, corruption has been identified in megaprojects but a significant number of hydropower projects are smaller in size. This leaves a literature gap and a subsequent lack of understanding regarding corruption and its potential connection to the absence of hydropower construction. We argue that it also creates a 'safe space' for corrupt actors who use the sector for personal gain. In this paper, we address this nexus of unfinished hydropower projects, sustainable development in transition countries, corruption, and lack of scholarly attention by presenting empirical evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina. We highlight that sustainability goals associated with hydropower might be distorted, especially in transition countries as they are intermingled with hydropower projects that are embedded in complex bureaucratic structures. We conclude that focusing on the sector might improve its management, thus contributing to sustainable development, and also help to decrease the corruption risk. • Small hydropower projects have an increased risk of corruption. • Overlooking small projects create a "safe space" for corrupt actors. • Administrative complicatedness is one key factor behind corruption in the hydropower sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper investigates environmental attitudes as significant motives for the behavioral intention of willingness to pay (WTP) involving endangered species in a choice modeling context, and examines the underlying causal mechanism. Pro-environmental attitudes are measured using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale. Although the empirical evidence of this paper supports a significant attitude–WTP association, the causal mechanism is different from previous theorizing. When observed at the parameter level using random parameter logit models, the significant causal linkages are evident with both the target good and the payment variable. The findings of this paper not only support direct and indirect impacts of general attitudes on WTP, but also provide novel findings about the causal mechanism for a significant attitude–WTP relationship at the parameter level in a non-Western case study. The impact of past visiting experience was also significant on the relationship, undermining the impact of attitudes on WTP. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Proponents of distributive justice with regard to energy hold that every household has the right to affordable access to energy. However, when passively participating in clean energy reform policies, households, and especially low-income households, are often forced to use energy beyond the scope of affordability, resulting in distributive injustice. However, research on the quantitative estimation of injustice in energy distribution is still rare. In this paper, an evaluation model of energy vulnerability and distributive justice is established through the "reverse deduction method," and the change value of energy vulnerability before and after energy reform is used to calculate the loss value of distributive justice, which is used as the basis for energy policy evaluation. Taking the policy of replacing coal with natural gas for rural heating in Gaocheng District, Hebei Province, China as a case study, the value of lost distributive justice is calculated. The results show that 34.51% of households experienced distributive injustice after the energy reform, while 19.34% of households improved their energy vulnerability and achieved energy justice through energy subsidy policies. However, 46.15% of households were able to adapt to the energy reform independently without subsidies, which indicates a waste of resources in the energy subsidy policy. The policy implication of these results is that differentiated energy subsidy policies should be implemented according to household energy vulnerability, so as to maximize the policy benefits on the premise of ensuring justice in household energy distribution and minimizing injustice. The empirical study proves that the method of assessing injustice in energy distribution based on the "reverse deduction method" of energy vulnerability is feasible and a new attempt. • The passive participation of low-income households in clean energy reform policies results in distributive injustice. • Apply the vulnerability framework to calculate energy distribution injustice. • The implementation of differentiated subsidies can effectively improve the vulnerability of rural households energy poverty. • It is feasible and a new attempt to measure energy distributive injustice by using the "reverse deduction method". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Increasing pressures on water resources in the two economically important states of California (CA) and Illinois (IL) have created a need for critical information related to sustainable water use and management. This paper applies input–output (IO) analysis to evaluate water use and quantify virtual water transfers involving the two states. Results show that aquaculture requires the largest input of direct water per unit of economic output, followed by crops, power generation, livestock, mining, services, domestic, and industry. Low water use intensity industry and services sectors contributed the largest proportions of value added and employee compensation. In 2008, the two states were net virtual exporters, with CA exporting 1.3 times the net export volume of IL. More than 72% of virtual water exports for each state originated from the high total water use intensity but low value added crops sector, with irrigation and rainfall contributing 99% and 97% of the crop-related exports for CA and IL, respectively. Virtual water export volumes were 59% for CA and 71% for IL when compared to actual water use. These results highlight the need to consider water use efficiency and opportunity cost when managing water under scarcity conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A strong mitigation effort is underway to reduce the levels of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. An allocation of the mitigation effort among multiple agents requires understanding which agent is responsible for what emissions, according to a defined measure of carbon responsibility. The metric adopted by current international climate policy is production-based (or territorial) responsibility. However, other types of responsibility have been discussed in the literature, namely consumption-based (or upstream) responsibility and downstream responsibility. In this paper we study the latter, which is little explored in the literature. We clarify the term through a novel nomenclature, income-based responsibility and present a case-study, with the quantification of income-based responsibility for 112 world regions, and the comparison of the results with production and consumption-based responsibilities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper explores the issue of sustainability at the macro scale employing multi-criteria decision aid (MCDA) methods. The incommensurability of values and the essentially multi-dimensional and dynamic nature of sustainability challenge the use of composite measurement indices. This determined the choice of MCDA methods. Austria was chosen as a case study, due to the wide availability of data, especially on indicators of strong sustainability. The structure of the multi-criteria problem comprised the evolution of different sustainability dimensions over time. The process for selecting criteria included a critical assessment of institutional sustainability agendas (UN, EU and Austrian Government) and theoretical recommendations. After an assessment of MCDA methods, the NAIADE method demonstrated the most suitable properties for sustainability assessment. The application of this outranking approach was undertaken in three separate settings: long-term from 1960 to 2003, medium-term, 1970–1995, and short-term, 1995–2003 with varying numbers of criteria. The response of results to the addition of evaluating criteria and periods was tested. The degree of credibility for accepting preference relations was also employed for sensitivity analysis. According to the results of long-term and medium-term assessments, especially in the weak sustainability setting, sustainable progress is taking place in Austria. In the short term, in the stronger sustainability setting and, especially as the number of criteria increases, more incomparable periods appear and trends are less determined. Moreover, it is shown how results crucially depend on the methodological choices. This is one of the first applications of the multi-criteria tools to the dynamic analysis of sustainability at the macro scale. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the role of property rights in shaping the relationship between environmental quality and income. It develops an analytical framework that integrates the effects of property rights evolution, natural resource attributes, agent characteristics, and production technology on the environment–income relationship. The substantive strength of this framework lies in its ability to rationalize a wide range of environment–income relationships. The model shows that the U-shaped environment–income relationship, which is consistent with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, can arise only under specific model conditions. Thus the framework provides an additional explanation for non-universality of EKC. We provide evidence in support of our framework from case studies of various natural resources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

It is important to treat waste properly in physical input–output analysis and a series of publications discussed this topic in this journal recently. In this paper, we propose a new approach to deal with physical input–output table (PIOT) measured in a single mass unit, by which the structure of PIOT need not be changed. The new approach yields consistent and reasonable results. It not only is simpler than the existing approaches but also can reflect the physical reality of economic systems. We first discuss and clarify the concept of different kinds of inputs and outputs of economic systems. We then present the details of the new approach. During the process we define a new multiplier, which builds a bridge between the total input and the final demand in PIOT, just like the traditional Leontief inverse in MIOT. We select the three-sector PIOT for Germany 1990 as a case study to show the validity of the new approach. Finally, we prove the equivalence between the new approach, Suh's approach and Dietzenbacher's approach and the equivalence of non-waste part and waste part multiplier of the new approach and Dietzenbacher's approach. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper analyses the motives and consequences of including environmental protection in good managerial practices driven by a concern of responsible corporate behaviour. Corporate Social Responsibility is increasingly discussed in economics and management studies today. This idea is fairly recent and stems from a philosophical school of thought attributed to Hans Jonas, which says that nature must be preserved for anthropocentric as well as biocentric reasons. In this respect, the consequences that these two visions imply for men and companies will be developed. Corporate leaders often make use of this concept, which finds its origins in philosophy, in order to analyse the normative behaviour of their companies. In this respect we shall favour a jonasian interpretation. Hans Jonas will help us question the fundamental meaning of responsibility. We will attempt to investigate this meaning using CSR. More specifically, this article tries to answer the question: what exactly is corporate responsibility? Is it a mere concept currently in fashion, or is it a new structural approach which could indeed take responsibility into account in so far as long-term environmental preservation is concerned? In order to answer this question, we shall first propose a reading of “stakeholders”. This approach poses several problems when dealing with corporate responsibility regarding the preservation of nature. Secondly, we shall present a more detailed analysis of such corporate social responsibility and the problems it poses. The debate regarding action with the interest of its outcome and action in the interest of the action itself shall be the focal point of our discussion. This article will adopt a narrative and critical methodology. So as to achieve this goal, we propose to critically analyse theoretical paradigms and test them through case studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The differing paradigms of ecological and neoclassical environmental economics have been described in various articles and books and are also embedded in different professional associations. However, we cannot take for granted that the paradigm debates described in the literature are actually mirrored in exactly the same way in the perceptions and opinions of researchers looking at sustainability from an economic perspective. This paper presents empirical results from a German case study on how economists and others involved in sustainability research from different schools of thought think about the issues of sustainability and economics, how they group around these issues, how they feel about the current scientific divide, and what they expect to be future topics of sustainability research. We analyze the data using cluster analysis. Based on a literature survey, we generated forty sustainability economics-related statements and asked 196 sustainability researchers about their degree of agreement or disagreement with these statements. In evaluating our survey results, we discuss to what extent the clusters that we identified do—or do not—represent the two schools of thought of ecological and neoclassical environmental economics. We also propose some fields of research that can help to bridge the gaps amongst sustainability economics researchers while clearly marking others that are more suitable for a scientific ‘competition of ideas’. Key results of the study are: We identify two primary scientific clusters, one clearly confirming the existence of the ecological-economics school of thought, and the other largely capturing the neoclassical environmental view. Yet, there are some surprising exceptions: Both schools of thought share a conceptual definition of sustainability that is integrative in considering ecological, societal and economic dimensions (‘three pillar concept’) and is geared at preserving the development potentials of society. We also find a shared critique of ‘pure economic growth’ strategies in our sample. These shared opinions may provide bridging concepts between the schools of thought. Also both clusters agree with respect to a wide range of future fields of sustainability economics research. Yet, the research agenda of the ecological-economics cluster contains a large number of additional topics, primarily related to social, distributional and evolutionary aspects of sustainable development. Strong divides between the clusters that seem to be more suitable for a scientific competition of ideas are primarily related to the question of how to achieve sustainability, including appropriate environmental policies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper addresses the lack of empirical evaluation of the use of web based surveys in the context of contingent valuation surveys. We compare, using a case study, in-person interviews with web based surveys regarding response rate, information additivity effects and respondents'' attitudes towards paying. The web based survey had a much lower response (5.1%) than the in-person interviewing (84%). We find the web based contingent valuation surveys to be neither more susceptible to information additivity effects nor more prone to zero protest responses. We conclude in favor of the use of web based surveys, namely in Portugal, where the number of Internet users is rapidly increasing, although further research efforts are required on their use. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Public decision making, especially about our natural environment, is inherently exposed to a high conflict potential. The necessity to capture the complex context has led to an increasing request for decision analytic techniques as support for the decision process. Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) is deemed to overcome the shortcomings of traditional decision-support tools used in economics, such as cost-benefit (CBA) or cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA). This is due, among other, to its ability of dealing with qualitative criteria (e.g. sensitive ecological factors), as well as with uncertainties about current or future impacts. Unlike CBA or CEA, MCA is rarely required by national laws or directives. Nonetheless, a number of recent MCA applications were supported by public authorities who either initiated or directly participated in such analyses. Given the theoretical assumptions about MCA''s potential to support complex decision problems, as is often the case for environmental or sustainability policies, the key concern in our paper is to evaluate whether this potential has already been recognised in public decision making. For limitation purposes, the present work focuses on real-life case studies reported during the last decade with an insight in the initiation, the actors involved and the importance of the MCA results in the decision process. We argue that the significance and role played by MCA so far reaches beyond its current legal requirements. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper presents a method that addresses the problem of the amount of green space required for the environment areas of lower biodiversity by the ecological element threshold method. The original habitat had been highly disturbed by human activities in most developing countries. Taking the population carrying capacity, the balance of carbon–oxygen, and the supply–demand equilibrium of water resource as a group of conjugate restriction factors of green space planning, it quantifies the total amount of green space required to keep the ecological system in balance for the town of Shaliuhe, Hebei Province as the case study. The results show that the main restrictive factor at Shaliuhe town is the imbalance between the supply and demand for the water resource, 89.34% of which is used in agriculture. Therefore, the effects of various ecological improvements are calculated for the years 2005, 2010 and 2015. This case study could be used as a model for the planning of other towns on the northeast China plain to improve the environment, ecology and sustainability. Similarly, the Chinese scenario might provide a useable reference to other developing countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A paper published in Ecological Economics [Varma, A. 2003. The economics of slash and burn: a case study of the 1997–1998 Indonesian forest fires. Ecological Economics 46,159–171] claims to show that slash and burn agriculture is socially inefficient and should be banned. However, its conclusions and recommendations are flawed. It defines slash and burn agriculture too broadly and misrepresents the nature and causes of the 1997–98 fires by virtue of attributing them entirely to slash and burn agriculture. Its economic assessment of the costs of the fires is also problematic. The recommendations to ban land-clearing fires and to provide alternative livelihoods to slash and burn farmers cannot be supported. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents a case study of deliberative energy modelling focused on the future of electricity in Saskatchewan, Canada. Participants included representatives from the provincial electricity utility and from environmental organizations. These diverse social actors participated in defining the desired scope and output of the model, providing data and insights that were incorporated into the model, and conducting extended peer review of modelling assumptions and design. Participants then attended a face-to-face workshop to co-create scenarios for Saskatchewan's electricity future using an interactive version of the electricity futures model. The interactive model served as a platform for discussing the social, environmental, and economic impacts of competing scenarios. Post-workshop analysis indicates that the deliberative energy modelling process contributed to participant learning, increased trust and communication amongst participants, reinforced the idea that wind energy could play a greater role in the Saskatchewan electricity system, and contributed to an increased focus on deliberative engagement at the Saskatchewan electricity utility SaskPower. The process did not, however, lead to consensus on the proportion of electricity that could be provided by renewable energy in Saskatchewan. • Case study testing the impact of deliberative electricity futures modelling. • Diverse participants co-created electricity futures in deliberative workshops. • Participant-designed scenarios indicate a potential for greater use of wind energy. • Post-workshop analysis indicates social learning, but not a convergence of views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an evidence-based contribution to understanding coastal governance in response to hurricane hazards. It uses the five-part conceptual framework for coastal governance, which includes 1) complexity, 2) vulnerability, 3) adaptive management, 4) stakeholder participation, and 5) the integration of technical knowledge in decision-making. A case study of the Harvey-impacted Texas communities in the Gulf of Mexico is presented within this framework. This particular case is important because of current high level discussions that suggest subnational, state-centric policy response to hazards may be the new model for disaster response moving forward. This study presents insights on the current trends toward devolved, subnational policy response to disasters, as well as a revised framework for coastal governance, where resilience is linked to all concepts in the governance framework as an outcome. Several major findings are discussed. First, higher scales of government take much longer than is necessary to respond to hazards because of their complex administrative policies and procedures. This is worsened in places that have not experienced hazards in recent decades. Innovative adaptation by subnational policy-makers may be one pathway to quicken policy response, as are the commendable but fragmented efforts of charities and voluntary groups. However, devolved policy responses may face their own challenges in implementation, increasing adaptive capacity but decreasing resilience. This study found that participatory, multi-stakeholder processes enhance resilience through disaster simulation exercises and participatory planning processes. These participatory processes enhance learning and the capacity to implement recovery-focused public policy within the constraints of the disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the issue of sustainability at the macro scale employing multi-criteria decision aid (MCDA) methods. The incommensurability of values and the essentially multi-dimensional and dynamic nature of sustainability challenge the use of composite measurement indices. This determined the choice of MCDA methods. Austria was chosen as a case study, due to the wide availability of data, especially on indicators of strong sustainability. The structure of the multi-criteria problem comprised the evolution of different sustainability dimensions over time. The process for selecting criteria included a critical assessment of institutional sustainability agendas (UN, EU and Austrian Government) and theoretical recommendations. After an assessment of MCDA methods, the NAIADE method demonstrated the most suitable properties for sustainability assessment. The application of this outranking approach was undertaken in two separate settings: long-term from 1960 to 2003 and medium-term, 1995–2003 with varying numbers of criteria. The response of results to the addition of evaluating criteria and periods was tested. The degree of credibility for accepting preference relations was also employed for sensitivity analysis. According to the results of the long-term assessment, especially in the weak sustainability setting, sustainable progress is taking place in Austria. In the medium term, in the stronger sustainability setting and, especially as the number of criteria increases, more incomparable periods appear and trends are less determined. Moreover, it is shown how results crucially depend on the methodological choices. This is one of the first applications of the multi-criteria tools to the dynamic analysis of sustainability at the macro scale. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]