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• Explored the impact of environmental policies on nuclear trade within the EU. • Uncovered connection between environmental policies and nuclear trade relationships. • Countries pursuing environmental policies rely less on nuclear-related imports. • Nuclear trade rises as EU environmental policies align. • Environmentally friendly exporting countries shape the nuclear trade network evolution. This study explores the impact of environmental policies on nuclear trade between European Union (EU) countries. The primary research question revolves around understanding the reasons behind and the mechanisms through which nuclear trade relationships evolve. Our analysis uncovers a compelling connection between the degree of alignment in environmental policies among EU states and the emergence of nuclear trade cooperation. Furthermore, it indicates that countries actively pursuing environmental policies tend to have a reduced dependency on imports of nuclear-related goods. Notably, as environmental policies across the EU converge and become more similar, there is a noticeable inclination to engage in nuclear trade activities. Additionally, our research highlights the significant role played by exporting countries that have strong commitments to environmentally friendly policies in shaping the evolution of the nuclear trade network over time. Moreover, we observe that economic factors have a positive impact on the development of this intricate trade network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to growing awareness and increased pressure from stakeholders, global economies impose stringent environmental policies to control climate changes, which instigate the transition of renewable energy. Following the same aspects, the present study elucidates the impacts of environmental policy stringency and renewable energy transition on environmental quality for BRICS economies. This study employs a cross-section augmented autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework on data from 1990 to 2019. The results reveal that stringent environmental policies are one of the most significant ways to impede carbon emissions (CE) in BRICS economies. Besides, renewable energy has an inverse relationship with CE. On the other hand, the industrial value-added and economic growth are positively significant to CE. Furthermore, renewable energy transition is integrated into the model using interaction terms of renewable energy and stringent environmental policies. The finding described that the combined effects of these two variables are more substantial than their individual impacts on CE reduction, confirming the transition of renewable energy through stringent regulations. The study provides valuable insights to policymakers to facilitate the overall environmental quality in BRICS economies by focusing on strict environmental policies. These results have also delineated the importance of renewable energies to mitigate CE. • Advance panel estimators are applied. • Environmental policy stringency mitigates carbon emissions. • Renewable energy reduces carbon emissions. • Transition of renewable energy is confirmed through stringent regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to remain high despite the federal government's commitment to reduce GHG emissions. Environmental policy across Canadian provinces has largely lacked consistency with some provinces implementing targeted policy such as carbon taxes while others have strongly resisted the federal government's attempts to encourage such policy. This study examines the impact of environmental policy on GHG gas emissions across Canadian provinces with policy uniquely measured by public and business sector spending on environmental protection as well as notable province-specific policies. An extended STIRPAT model is specified with the inclusion of proxies for environmental policy using panel data from Canada's ten provinces from 1995 to 2019. The cointegration and the error correction modelling approaches are employed to estimate the non-stationary panel data. A pooled mean group estimation is applied to provide short run and long run coefficients. The findings indicate that although per capita GDP is the main driver of GHG emissions in Canada, environmental policy has a significant mitigating effect, as shown by the negative association between emissions and private and public sector spending on environmental protection in the long run. Furthermore, provinces with targeted policies, such as Ontario's coal phase-out and British Columbia's carbon tax, experienced significant emissions reductions. The theoretical implication is the successful addition of policy variables to the STIRPAT model, providing the model a new application for future research. [Display omitted] • Assess the impact of environmental protection policies on per capita greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. • Utilize public and private expenditures on environmental protection, along with provincial policies. • Extend the STIRPAT model to incorporate environmental protection policies in an empirical model. • Demonstrate a significant negative relationship between environmental protection policies and GHG emissions. • Offer insights with implications for global environmental sustainability efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental justice – the concept that environmental amenities and burdens should be shared equitably among all races and socioeconomic classes – has gained diplomatic traction internationally, and political traction domestically in the United States, in recent years. In this paper, we focus on developing federal policy relevant to transportation project planning and operation in the U.S.; however, these developments reflect international issues of inequity associated with climate change and environmental burdens. First, we provide an overview of federal policy initiatives related to environmental justice, including President Biden's Justice40 initiative. Then, we examine the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as a potential avenue for mandating environmental justice assessment in the transportation industry, through the lenses of both procedural and distributive justice. Finally, we review several publicly available online Geographical Information System (GIS) tools that were recently developed for purposes of expanding public and governmental understanding of environmental justice challenges, and provide decision support for users to incorporate these tools into the environmental impact assessment process for transportation projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on transformation in sustainable urban governance by examining the prospect of fostering sustainable development through top-down urban governance. It takes a case study of urban development in Saudi Arabia, which had been administered through a centralized framework devoid of the environmental assessment of policies and plans. Urban planning documents made limited references to the environment. Consequently, Saudi cities have been ranked low on environmental sustainability. However, recently, due to the political imperative of addressing the problems, low oil prices, and the Arab Spring, there has been a remarkable transformation in urban governance. The planning of some of the major cities has been decentralized and some policies implemented to curb unsustainable development. This article reviews these changes to investigate how top-down approaches might still be relevant in promoting sustainable development. It concludes that there is a need to implement a framework of legislation and administrative procedures integrated with strategic environmental assessment (SEA) to ensure proper sustainable institutionalised urban governance. The findings could serve as lessons for those operating under similar political contexts especially in developing countries. • Examines the prospect of fostering sustainable development through top-down urban governance • Examines urban governance in Saudi Arabia as a case study • Highlights the transformation in sustainable urban governance in Saudi Arabia • Top-down approach is relevant in promoting sustainable urban governance in some contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Sweet sorghum is one of the best renewable non-grain energy crops for ethanol production due to its high sugar content, short growing period and good tolerance to natural conditions. However, insufficient studies have been conducted on the spatial distribution of sweet sorghum-based bioethanol production potential. This study presents a method, i.e., a land surface process model (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate GIS-based (GEPIC) model) coupled with a life cycle analysis (LCA), to simulate the spatial distribution of potential bioethanol production, energy efficiency and environmental impacts throughout the whole life cycle of sweet sorghum-based ethanol. The results showed that approximately 49.65 million ha of marginal land in China were suitable for sweet sorghum planting, and more than 13.57 million tons of sweet sorghum could be yielded. Based on sweet sorghum, 847.81 thousand tons of ethanol could be produced. A potential net energy gain of 115 billion MJ which is equivalent to 2.38 million tons of 90-octane gasoline would be achieved if all marginal lands could be used. The results of the environmental impact assessment showed that the total environmental effect index was 0.25 million (population equivalents). The global warming potential was the most significant environmental impact category. Guizhou Province can be given priority for sweet sorghum-based bioethanol development in China. Highlights • A method, GEPIC model coupled with a life cycle analysis (LCA), was applied. • The marginal land suitable for sweet sorghum cultivation in China was calculated. • Spatial distribution of bioethanol production, life cycle energy efficiency and environmental impacts were analyzed. • Global warming potential was the most significant environmental impact. • Priorities could be given to Guizhou Province for sweet sorghum-based bioethanol development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Environment protection is important for the survival of residents, and the government must improve its governance model on environmental cost prediction methods to address the increasing level of environmental pollution. Therefore, a science-based investment scheme is of great significance. To improve the accuracy and effectiveness of environmental governance cost prediction method, it is important to consider the completeness of the indicators and their degree of contributions-both of which need to be studied further. Considering the influence of a decision-maker's subjectivity on an investment scheme, this paper proposes a prediction method accommodating the risk preferences of different decision-makers. The proposed method is based on the synthesis of evidential reasoning approach. An objective empowerment is carried out according to the standard deviation method of correlation coefficient to highlight the importance degree of different indicators. At the same time, to improve the practical usage of the synthetic cost prediction method, the future cost is predicted by combining the genetic programming models under different risk coefficients, namely, the risk preference, the risk neutrality, and the risk aversion. Finally, a case study involving environmental governance cost prediction of 29 provinces of China is presented. A comparison of the cost predictions and the actual value of different risk coefficients for the different methods are given to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Highlights • Considering different importance and complete information of indicators. • Considering the influence of decision-maker's subjectivity on cost prediction. • Combining the genetic programming models with different risk coefficients. • Providing a case study of environmental governance cost prediction of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The Swedish generational goal is a unique initiative governing all Swedish environmental policy, aiming at solving all major domestic environmental problems for the next generation without increasing environmental damage abroad. Without a good understanding of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Swedish consumption, the formulation of efficient and well targeted policy initiatives to reach the generational goal is difficult. We have analysed the impacts of Swedish consumption in detail, investigating the impacts of different final consumers and different consumption clusters as well as the geographical location of where GHGs are emitted to satisfy Swedish demand. We use environmentally extended multi-regional input-output (EEMRIO) analysis and the database EXIOBASE3 to compute Swedish consumption-based (CB) GHG emissions over a time period of 20 years. Our study shows that total CB GHG emissions fluctuated but remained rather stable over the years. However, the origin of the emissions changed from within Sweden to outside Sweden's borders. CB emissions within Sweden have decreased substantially through a reduction of direct emissions associated with domestic heating and mobility, whereas GHG emissions outside Sweden have increased, especially in China and in the rest of Asia. We show that manufactured products are responsible for a large share of this development, displaying a strong trend toward future increases. This calls for policy measures targeting consumption, especially of manufactured products such as textiles, clothing and furniture that cause large impacts in other countries. Highlights • Only 35% of Sweden's CB GHG emissions occur in Sweden. • Large emission reductions from domestic heating and road transport. • From 1995 to 2014 GHG emissions from Swedish consumption increased by 18Mt abroad. • Large GHG emission increase in China due to Swedish consumption of clothing. • Non-compliance with the generational goal, due to increasing foreign emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The impact of human civilization on the environment is now obvious. With the rapidly growing human population, the problem of human consumption becomes more and more urgent. It is therefore necessary to try to change the patterns of human life and find a more sustainable way of living. To achieve the goal of sustainable society efficiently, it is crucial to identify hot spots for possible impact reduction. Even though several tools now exist, such as footprint calculators, they usually have a narrow perspective, calculating impact only on a single environmental problem. In this study, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method was employed, to measure the environmental impact of human consumption across the entire life-cycle as well as a wide range of impact categories. The use of LCA to identify the major problems of personal consumption is presented in a case study of an average inhabitant of the Czech Republic. Data of average personal consumption were collected and an LCA model was created in GaBi 8 software. Characterization results, obtained using ReCiPe 2016 (E) methodology, show the environmentally dominant segments of consumption which are: household energy consumption – where the dominant process is heating; and food consumption – where the dominant processes are meat and dairy production. This study provides a thorough impact analysis and identifies the hots spots, where actions should be taken. The results provide the necessary basic data for policy-makers, so that steps to reduce individual personal environmental impact can be taken. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • The ecological crisis is linked to growing population and consumption. • Effective change of personal consumption patterns is necessary for sustainability. • Proposal of LCA as a tool for calculation of personal environmental impact • Energy consumption and food consumption show the biggest environmental impact. • Diet change shows highest potential for the environmental impact reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study re-analysed 14 semi-structured interviews with policy officials from the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to explore the use of a variety of regulatory instruments and different levels of risk across 14 policy domains and 18 separately named risks. Interviews took place within a policy environment of a better regulation agenda and of broader regulatory reform. Of 619 (n) coded references to 5 categories of regulatory instrument, ‘command and control’ regulation (n = 257) and support mechanisms (n = 118) dominated the discussions, with a preference for ‘command and control’ cited in 8 of the policy domains. A framing analysis revealed officials' views on instrument effectiveness, including for sub-categories of the 5 key instruments. Views were mixed, though notably positive for economic instruments including taxation, fiscal instruments and information provision. An overlap analysis explored officials' mapping of public environmental risks to instrument types suited to their management. While officials frequently cite risk concepts generally within discussions, the extent of overlap for risks of specific significance was low across all risks. Only ‘command and control’ was mapped to risks of moderate significance in likelihood and impact severity. These results show that policy makers still prefer ‘command and control’ approaches when a certainty of outcome is sought and that alternative means are sought for lower risk situations. The detailed reasons for selection, including the mapping of certain instruments to specific risk characteristics, is still developing. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • 14 interviews with policy officials re-analysed instrument selection and environmental risk. • Positive, negative and neutral framings illustrated how instruments were perceived. • Low overlap between instrument category and risk significance suggests other influences in play. • Improved knowledge exchange is recommended for risk analysis and policy communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the last decades, the European Union has developed a set of environmental policies whose main objectives have been to protect natural capital and to develop a resource-efficient and green economy. These issues are essential to secure the sustainability in the long-term of the member states. The objective of this paper is to develop the Environmental Performance Assessment Composite Index, in the framework of the 2050 Europe vision, which will be applied to the European Union 28 in the period 2000–2014. It might allow policy makers to obtain information about the strengths and weaknesses of each member state in natural capital, use of sustainable and efficient resources as well as use of more environmentally friendly resources. The results suggest that Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Italy and Germany have the better scores in environmental performance assessment. However, Slovakia, Romania, Czech Republic, Poland and Lithuania have the lowest scores in the composite index. Specific reinforcing actions are proposed for them in order to reduce their environmental impact. Highlights • A composite index of environmental impact assessment is obtained for the EU-28. • It considers the dimension of both sustainable and efficient resources use. • It also aggregates both dimensions of natural resources and resource alternative use. • Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Italy and Germany have the best results. • New policies are required in Slovakia, Romania, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Regulations, definitions, and calculations related to emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) from paints used for horizontal road markings (traffic paints) in North America and in European Union are different, which frequently makes simple comparisons impossible. To illustrate the dissimilarities, solvent packages of various exemplary paints that meet several normative requirements were compared for the nominal emissions according to different calculation procedures. For a unified assessment, volatile portions of the paints were evaluated based on Ozone Formation Potential (OFP). The analysis revealed that similar nominal VOC contents can lead to vastly different OFP, in an extreme case six times higher. Incongruously high OFP, which was calculated for emissions in Southern California despite strict limits can thus be explained. The provided calculations can be used by road administrators as a tool to demand materials with lowest environmental impact, by environmental researchers to pinpoint irregularities between declared and measured discharges, and can assist formulating chemists in selection of raw materials to prepare environmentally friendly road marking paints. Graphical abstract Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerations to decarbonize maritime shipping by implementing the Emissions Trading System (ETS) are underway at the International Maritime Organization (IMO). This study seeks to investigate the impact of ETS on short-term fleet deployment decisions of liner shipping companies. Considering pragmatic scenarios of demand uncertainty and transshipment, we extend state-of-the-art maritime operational planning under climate policies and propose a fleet planning model accounting for carbon emissions to evaluate the decision-making nuances of a liner company. Numerical experiments are conducted to analyze ETS implementations with varying policy design parameters for their efficacy in mitigating emissions and potential impact on stakeholders. The findings indicate that, for liner shipping which is cross-regional by nature, regional ETS implementations are inadequate due to carbon leakage; the efficacy of open ETS policies is limited, particularly when carbon prices are low; strict carbon purchase caps integrated with robust carbon price-setting mechanisms are critical to designing an effective ETS. • Regional Emissions Trading Systems are limited in their decarbonizing efficacy. • Low carbon prices complemented with strict carbon caps induce reduction in CO 2. • Preference for strict carbon caps or high carbon prices depend on policy timeline. • Transition to LNG is not ideal at current free carbon allowance allocation levels. • Incentive schemes must be devised to encourage transition to intermediate fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As environmental impacts continue to rise, the need to identify and quantify the underlying causes of these impacts has prompted important research questions. This is heightened by the fact that the production of goods and services is becoming increasingly global with countries relying on each other through trade. As such, it is important to have a mechanism in place to understand the environmental burden shifts from one country to another. To this end, this paper exploits a paradox in global environmental analysis, which stems from a false decoupling between economic and production systems as observed in most developed nations, which results in improved territorial emissions of these developed countries at the expense of developing countries. Ecological unequal exchange is one such contemporary ecological economic concept that is used to highlight such asymmetric transfer of embodied natural resources and biophysical indicators between countries. Attempts at environmental impacts reduction efforts has largely focused on carbon emissions but given the complex supply chain created through globalisation and international trade, it is important to consider other important metrics such as land and water use alongside carbon emissions to drive environmental policies that will holistically address ecologically unequal exchanges. For developing countries in Africa where the dependence on land use and water use for agricultural activities are crucial to the development of national economies and in combating poverty, an assessment of these metrics has become even more paramount. Against this backdrop, the current work draws upon the theoretical constructs of multi-regional input-output (MRIO) framework to trace country specific sectorial-level flows of the aforementioned metrics between a representative developed nation, UK, and 27 African regions in order to fully examine their ecological exchanges. Key findings in the study suggest that for water consumption and land use, there is a net externalisation of these impacts for all the 27 African regions by the UK. It was also determined that the extent of the imbalance between the UK and the African region is exceedingly far greater for water consumption. It is recommended that in formulating a robust multi-national environmental policy where so many factors are at play, country specific and industry targeted approach to ecological unequal exchange between nations provides better and improved insight into addressing ensuing environmental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate environmental policy issues in ports concerning how and how much an environmental policy affects the cost-benefit structure in a port from the economic and environmental perspectives. To mitigate negative environmental impacts in ports, there are stricter regulations that target creative designs for minimizing pollution. Nevertheless, such policies to mitigate environmental impacts result in a cost for the relevant parties, especially the ports themselves. To analyze the impact of environmental policy on ports, a simulation technique based on system dynamics is introduced with the case of Busan port as an illustration. Results show that both the environmental policies (EPs) and the policy options (POs) create positive effects and negative effects on ports. Although EPs and POs seem to increase the negative effects on the port in the short term, they are helpful to strengthen the competitiveness of ports by the vitalization of port activities and the port cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National ecosystem accounting is an emerging framework for measuring the links between ecosystems and human well-being for national planning. It directly addresses Sustainable Development Goal 15.9, in which countries have agreed to integrate ecosystem values into national planning. The community of practice for national ecosystem accounting includes not only the international and national researchers who develop such a framework, but also the national analysts who implement it and the decision makers who apply it. To foster convergence within this community on such a common measurement platform, it is first necessary to understand the issues of divergence of values and preferences among the diverse and international ethical perspectives, disciplines and roles involved. A cluster analysis of a survey of 131 expert stakeholders in national ecosystem accounting reveals agreement within this community on the need for broadening the scope, addressing multiple decision contexts and mainstreaming national ecosystem accounting in national planning. The most important sources of divergence in this community of practice are attributed to ethical positions regarding monetization of ecosystem services, differences in the interpretation of several core concepts, such as biodiversity and ecosystem services, and the role of spatial analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adoption of green design and technology in buildings, which can mitigate negative impacts on the environment, has been recognized as a key step towards global sustainable development. In addition to technology development, economic viability plays a pivotal role in stimulating the design, construction and use of green buildings. This paper provides a comprehensive review of recent studies on the economic viability of “going green”, including cost-benefit analyses from the perspective of building life cycle and from the perspective of major market participants. While “going green” is more likely to be seen as profitable from the building life cycle perspective, economic viability, from the perspective of developers and occupants, remains unclear due to information, behavior and policy factors. Such discrepancy in the results regarding economic viability is one major reason for the “paradox” of the very gradual diffusion of apparently cost-effective green buildings in most economies. We also propose several key topics that merit future research, including more comprehensive evidence about life-cycle costs and benefits of green buildings, the incorporation of ancillary long-term or intangible benefits in the analysis of economic viability for developers and occupants, an investigation on the dynamics of the adoption of green buildings, and institutional arrangements for stimulating green practices in the building sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internalization of environmental externalities by the economic results of organizations becomes relevant as managers perceive the impacts and risks that degradation of nature exerts on their business. Advances in the evaluation of environmental performance have been made in recent years. However, methods for internalization of externalities by income statements are still scarce. This study presents a Method for the Elaborating of the Statement of Economic and Environmental Results (MESEER). The proposed method is applied to a real petrochemical company. The application of the proposed method allows us to identify that, for the period evaluated, environmental externalities represented a cost equivalent to 12.5% of the consolidated net income of the whole company. The method developed focuses on productive systems, providing managers with a holistic view of their business and broadening the understanding of sustainability in industrial operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The natural flow regime of rivers has been strongly altered world-wide, resulting in ecosystem degradation and lakes drying up, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Determining whether this is due mainly to climate change or to water withdrawal for direct human use (e.g. irrigation) is difficult, particularly for saline lake basins where hydrology data are scarce. In this study, we developed an approach for assessing climate and land use change impacts based on river flow records for headwater and lowland reaches of rivers, using the case of Lake Urmia basin, in north-westen Iran. Flow regimes at upstream and downstream stations were studied before and after major dam construction and irrigation projects. Data from 57 stations were used to establish five different time intervals representing 10 different land use development periods (scenarios) for upstream (not impacted) and downstream (impacted) systems. An existing river impact (RI) index was used to assess changes in three main characteristics of flow (magnitude, timing and, intra-annual variability). The results showed that irrigation was by far the main driving force for river flow regime changes in the lake basin. All stations close to the lake and on adjacent plains showed significantly higher impacts of land use change than headwaters. As headwaters are relatively unaffected by agriculture, the non-significant changes observed in headwater flow regimes indicate a minor effect of climate change on river flows in the region. The benefit of the method developed is clear interpretation of results based on river flow records, which is useful in communicating land use and climate change information to decision makers and lake restoration planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic risk appraisal (SRA) has been applied to compare diverse policy level risks to and from the environment in England and Wales. Its application has relied on expert-informed assessments of the potential consequences from residual risks that attract policy attention at the national scale. Here we compare consequence assessments, across environmental, economic and social impact categories that draw on ‘expert’- and ‘literature-based’ analyses of the evidence for 12 public risks appraised by Government. For environmental consequences there is reasonable agreement between the two sources of assessment, with expert-informed assessments providing a narrower dispersion of impact severity and with median values similar in scale to those produced by an analysis of the literature. The situation is more complex for economic consequences, with a greater spread in the median values, less consistency between the two assessment types and a shift toward higher severity values across the risk portfolio. For social consequences, the spread of severity values is greater still, with no consistent trend between the severities of impact expressed by the two types of assessment. For the latter, the findings suggest the need for a fuller representation of socioeconomic expertise in SRA and the workshops that inform SRA output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving evidence-based environmental management requires that decision-makers have access to evidence that can help identify the most effective interventions for their management context. Evidence synthesis supports evidence-based decision-making because it collates, filters and makes sense of a sometimes large and often conflicting evidence-base, potentially yielding new insights. There are many approaches to evidence synthesis. They each have different strengths and weaknesses, making them suited to different purposes, questions and contexts, given particular constraints. To make sense of the wide array of approaches, we outline the important considerations when selecting the most appropriate method for a particular decision context. These include the purpose for the synthesis, the required outcomes, and the multiple constraints within which decision-makers must operate. We then critically assess a spectrum of approaches to evidence synthesis commonly used within environmental management, detailing the characteristics of each that can be used to determine when it is a suitable method. To guide this selection process we provide a decision tree for those commissioning (e.g., decision-makers or stakeholders) or conducting (e.g., scientists) evidence synthesis, which can be used to identify an appropriate method. The decision tree classifies evidence synthesis methods according to whether their purpose is to test or generate hypotheses, the level of resources they require, the level of certainty in the outputs, and the type and scope of the question being addressed. This tool is a major advance because it helps select an appropriate synthesis method based on the multiple constraints that impact the decision. We conclude that there is an approach to evidence synthesis that will suit all management contexts, but that selecting the right approach requires careful consideration of what is fit for purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancing urban sustainability requires an implementation of various measures such as environmental policy, behavioral change, and technological developments, which have to be taken at various spatial scales. However, choosing the right measures demands considering their potential contribution in reducing the environmental impact and advancing urban sustainability. In recent years, some attempts to assess the contribution of implementing various measures have been advanced by various researchers focusing on different components of urban environmental interactions. While these studies make a significant contribution towards the understanding of the impact of various measures taken for a specific environmental issue, they mostly ignore the diversity and complexity of the urban interface with the environment at different spatial scales, as well as the ecological economics perspective, which approaches the city as a system. This paper uses the UBSI index published recently in this journal, to evaluate the urban biophysical sustainability of the city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa (Israel) in 2014. Based on this data, future scenarios are developed, which examine the potential contribution of various policy measures and different technological processes to the city's sustainability. This examination is conducted while considering population growth and changes of consumption patterns as they are expected to occur until 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock manure is commonly applied on agricultural land for its fertilising properties. However, the presence of toxic substances in animal manure such as pathogens, antibiotics and heavy metals, can result in damages to ecosystems and human health. To date, although relevant for policy-making, e.g. regulation framing, their releases to agricultural land have been incompletely and inconsistently quantified at global and national scales. Here, we thus developed a generic framework for estimating such releases based on the quantities of manure applied and concentrations of toxic substances. Applying this framework, we built a global release inventory for arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, nickel, lead and zinc differentiated into 215 countries and 15 years (period 2000–2014). Comparisons with more narrowly-focused inventories showed overall consistency in our inventory results, although a number of uncertainties and limitations were identified. In particular, the need for harmonising sampling and analytical methods for estimating heavy metal contents in manure and generating more country-differentiated data, especially for developing countries, should be prioritised by future research studies. Using life cycle impact assessment methods, it was additionally found that mercury, zinc and copper are the substances contributing the most to the toxic impacts on human health and freshwater ecosystems resulting from manure application to land. While countries such as China, India, Russia, Brazil and the United States of America contributed to half the heavy metal releases from manure application worldwide, the impact intensity per area of agricultural land was observed to be highest for island countries, the European Union and South-East Asia because of higher per-area applications of manure. These findings demonstrate the need to perform country-specific impact assessment to support policy-making regulating the concentrations of toxic substances such as heavy metals in utilised manure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain lakes are particularly sensitive to global change as their oligotrophic conditions may be rapidly altered after reaching an ecological threshold, due to increasing human impact and climate change. Sanabria Lake, the largest mountain lake in the Iberian Peninsula and with a recent history of increased human impact in its watershed, provides an opportunity to investigate recent trends in an oligotrophic, hydrologically-open mountain lake, and their relationship with climate, hydrological variability and human pressure. We conducted the first systematic and detailed survey of stable isotope compositions of Sanabria Lake and Tera River together with limnological analyses during 2009–2011. δ 18 O lakewater and δD lakewater seasonal fluctuations are strongly linked to river discharges, and follow the monthly mean isotopic composition of precipitation, which is controlled by NAO dynamics. δ 13 C POM and δ 13 C DIC revealed higher contribution of allochthonous organic matter in winter and spring due to higher river inflow and lower primary productivity. Increased phytoplankton biomass in late summer correlated significantly with higher pH and Chl- a , and higher nutrient input and lower river inflow. However, the small δ 13 C POM seasonal amplitude underlines the stability of the oligotrophic conditions and the isotopic variation in POM and DIC reflect small seasonal fluctuations mostly as a consequence of strong throughflow. The stability of hydrology and productivity patterns is consistent with Holocene and last millennium reconstructions of past limnological changes in Sanabria Lake. The results of this study indicate that trophic state in this hydrologically-open mountain lake is strongly controlled by climate variability, but recent changes in human-land uses have increased sediment delivery and nutrients supply to the lake and have to be considered for management policies. Monitoring surveys including isotope techniques provide snapshots of modern isotope variability, and serve as a benchmark for assessing the environmental impacts of future developments and long-term climate changes in mountain lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cycling and walking are commonly recognized as energy-efficient alternatives to motorized transport. Research and practice lack a comprehensive set of methods to assess spatiotemporal patterns of traffic volumes across an entire transportation network. Current non-motorized traffic monitoring programs are primarily implemented in urban areas and for singular components of the network (e.g., off-street trails, specific corridors). Our approach synthesizes ongoing efforts in non-motorized traffic monitoring to estimate Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT), across an entire network in Blacksburg, VA – a small, rural college town. We selected count sites across the network, stratified by street functional class (e.g., major roads, local roads), centrality of the link relative to origins and destinations, and planned bicycle facilities. We collected 45,456 h of pedestrian and cyclist counts using three types of automated counters: pneumatic tube (n = 12), passive infrared (n = 10), and radio beam (n = 3) at both reference locations (n = 4; 1-year) and short-duration locations (n = 97; 1-week) during 2015. We found a strong correlation between manual validation counts and automated counts. We used day-of-year scaling factors to estimate AADT for bicycles and pedestrians and found that temporal and spatial patterns differed between modes. Pedestrian volumes were higher and more variable than bicycle volumes (median [interquartile range] AADT for pedestrians: 135 [89–292]; bicycles: 23 [11–43]); both modes were positively correlated with street functional class, presence of facilities, and proximity to campus. Our approach provides insight for planners or policymakers interested in comprehensive monitoring programs to track performance measures or for use in environmental and health impact studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming and other adverse climate change impacts induced by anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are a major public policy concern around the world including transitional economies. This paper, therefore, examines the impacts of market-based economic reforms on per capita CO 2 emissions in the European and Central Asian transition economies where environmental degradation was pervasive prior to these reforms. A dynamic panel data model is employed for this purpose for 28 countries covering 22 years from 1990 to 2012. Our overall results suggest that economic openness may not necessarily result in sustainable development although reforms in competition policy and corporate governance were the significant drivers of emissions reductions in the region. Hence, advances in competition policy and governance reforms are desirable given the available scope to extend these reforms. The structural shift to and emergence of light industries also contributed to declining CO 2 emissions in the transition process. The direct impact of the Kyoto Protocol in reducing emissions is debatable which also raises doubts on the effectiveness of the Paris agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real estate development is among the main consumers for green building materials (GBM), and developers play a critical role in the development of GBM. Therefore, green procurement (GP) practice adopted by developers is important to the promotion of GBM products. There are various factors acting as an impetus for developers to adopt GP in the areas of business policy, marketing, supplier selection, and enterprise organization. There are a number of attributes to each of these areas, and some of them are key factors playing essential roles in affecting developers' GP practice. This study examines the green features of GBM, factors affecting GP practice, and green procurement behavior in the context of real estate development. Research data used for analysis are collected through a questionnaire survey to developers, with the receival of 39 effective responses. The one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) technique is employed in identifying key factors to GP behavior. The study reveals that the key factors include “Marketing benefits”, “Market pressure” and “Internal pressure within organization”, and the typical reasons for developers to adopt GP are “Policy pressure”, “Marketing benefits” and “Business benefits”. The research findings on these key GP factors provide a valuable reference for assisting relevant government departments to formulate effective policies and regulations in order to encourage real estate developers to adopt GP and consequently promote the development of GBM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opinion polls show that the European Union citizens are increasingly concerned about the impact of environmental factors on their health. In order to respond and provide solid scientific evidence for the numerous policies related to the protection of human health and the environment managed at the Union level, the European Union made a substantial investment in research and innovation in the past two decades through its Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, including the current programme, Horizon 2020, which started in 2014. This policy review paper analysed the portfolio of forty collaborative projects relevant to environment and health, which received a total amount of around 228 million euros from the EU. It gives details on their contents and general scientific trends observed, the profiles of the participating countries and institutions, and the potential policy implications of the results obtained. The increasing knowledge base is needed to make informed policy decisions in Europe and beyond, and should be useful to many stakeholders including the scientific community and regulatory authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's crop production sector faces severe water scarcity issues. Previous research has shown that effective water conservation policies exert strongly negative impacts on agricultural production and farmers' income, which make them politically unfeasible under Chinese conditions. To highlight ways out of this dilemma, the present study tests three alternative water policies complemented by supportive agricultural policies to reduce the trade-offs between water conservation and rural development policy goals. Using the case of the extremely arid Aksu-Tarim Region in northwest China, a regional supply model is developed which serves as the analysis framework. Applied as stand-alone water policies, irrigated area tax, water quota and water pricing differ clearly in effectiveness and efficiency. Combined with agricultural policies (subsidies) into multiple policy instruments, the price-based and quota-based instruments mitigate the negative impacts on rural development goals. Targeting a water conservation rate of 20%, the tested multiple policies perform alike on the level of the entire study region; cotton production decreases by 15%, cereals production remains stable, and regional income decreases by 13%. However, at the sub-regional level, the impacts on water conservation, production and income differ significantly between the alternative policy instruments and sub-regions, constituting a crucial challenge for practical water policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Composite indicators (CIs) are increasingly used to measure and track environmental systems. However, they have faced criticism for not accounting for uncertainties and their often arbitrary nature. This review highlights methodological challenges and uncertainties involved in creating CIs and provides advice on how to improve future CI development in practice. Linguistic and epistemic uncertainties enter CIs at different stages of development and may be amplified or reduced based on subjective decisions during construction. Lack of transparency about why decisions were made can risk impeding proper review and iterative development. Research on uncertainty in CIs currently focuses on how different construction decisions affect the overall results and is explored using sensitivity and uncertainty analysis. Much less attention is given to uncertainties arising from the theoretical framework underpinning the CI, and the sub-indicator selection process. This often lacks systematic rigour, repeatability and clarity. We recommend use of systems modelling as well as systematic elicitation and engagement during CI development in order to address these issues. Composite indicators make trends in complex environmental systems accessible to wider stakeholder groups, including policy makers. Without proper discussion and exposure of uncertainty, however, they risk misleading their users through false certainty or misleading interpretations. This review offers guidance for future environmental CI construction and users of existing CIs, hence supporting their iterative development and effective use in policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of protected areas (PAs) has steadily increased in the past 20 years, but their effectiveness to meet conservation targets is consistently questioned. Most conservation impact evaluations of protected areas assume that formal designations, like that of IUCN categories, reflect site-specific conservation rules, but this is not always true. In this paper we illustrate how conservation rules could be empirically assessed by use of content analysis combined with optimal scaling. This flexible methodology allows us to quantitatively assess strictness levels for use in conservation impact evaluations. The strictness measures could also indicate whether conservation rules are consistently applied in the different IUCN categories thereby providing guidance for future assignment of PAs to the IUCN protected area management categories. We illustrate how policy indicators based on conservation rules could be developed in two contrasting mountain protected area networks in Norway and in British Columbia (BC), including a total of 48 PAs in Norway and 51 in BC. Conservation rules for recreational use, motorized access and resource use were quantitatively assessed, thus providing a measure of how strictly PAs regulate the different human activities. Our results show that the main differences in strictness are between the two countries, followed by the contrast between national parks and provincial parks in BC. Overall, Norway has a more liberal conservation policy than BC and older national parks in BC have a much stricter conservation policy than most of the other PAs in this study. Overarching conservation objectives did not reflect the level of strictness (the conservation rules) that guide the daily management of individual PAs. This applies to both countries. We recommend to empirically investigate site-specific conservation rules to include de facto management of human activities in conservation policy impact evaluations. The methodology is also useful for monitoring downgrading of the protected area status, which is a result of authorizing human activities that are not consistent with conservation objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a case study of leisure boating along the Swedish West Coast, this study explores how two conflicting roles – consumers and environmental citizens – produce and are produced by a highly ambivalent neoliberal discourse. On the one hand, this discourse supports economic growth and increasing consumption, while on the other hand it expects consumers to consider the environmental impacts of their actions and make pro-environmental choices. Through a mixed-method approach based on the application of consumer value theory (CVT) in combination with a motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) model, this study demonstrates how the consumer role is predominantly produced and reproduced through social pressure and market forces as well as emotional and habitual attachment to boat-life and boating. This (re)production of the consumer role conflicts with the environmental citizenship role, as boaters agree that protection is needed while they also put high value on the sea as a place of freedom. The study suggests that there is a need for an environmental policy that recognises how the consumer role is produced and reproduced. Such policy should move beyond the assumption of the sovereignty of the individual and focus more closely on the interaction between humans and the sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The one-out-all-out approach (OOAO) for aggregating the assessments of single elements (e.g. species or ecosystem components) has found application in environmental polices such as the European Water Framework Directive or the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). However, the OOAO has been challenged as being too pessimistic by making positive assessment results virtually impossible along the increasing number of aggregated elements. This study presents a generic approach, the probabilistic One-out-all-out approach, (pOOAO), to account for this issue and thereby reconciling the OOAO with probabilistic aggregation methods The pOOAO allows to determine the minimum number of elements (K GES ), which should meet their assessment benchmarks and thus should achieve a good status. By pre-setting a generic confidence level for each single assessment (e.g. 0.95) the binomial distribution can be used to obtain K GES for any number of assessed elements. The pOOAO can also accommodate for the integration of assessments from multiple indicators within an element by adjusting the confidence level in relation to the number of integrated indicators. Depending on the generic confidence level as well as on the number of and integrated indicators and aggregated elements, the pOOAO is either consistent with the OOAO or allows for a certain number of negative assessment results, which are attributed to statistical uncertainty and error propagation. The pOOAO is consistent with the OOAO if the desired confidence level in the single assessment results is very high (>0.99) and/or the number of aggregated elements and integrated indicators is low. Through this flexibility the pOOAO could find wide application within integrated ecosystem assessments frameworks such as the MSFD, but would require to estimate the confidence level for each single assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Department of Energy's Clean Cities program was created in 1993 to reduce petroleum usage in the transportation sector. The program promotes alternative fuels such as biofuels and fuel-saving strategies such as idle reduction and fleet management through coalitions of local government, non-profit, and private actors. Few studies have evaluated the impact of the program because of its complexity that include interrelated strategies of grants, education and training and diversity of participants. This paper uses a Difference-in-Differences (DiD) approach to evaluate the effectiveness of the program between 1990 and 2010. We quantify the effectiveness of the Clean Cities program by focusing on performance measures such as air quality, number of alternative fueling stations, private vehicle occupancy and transit ridership. We find that counties that participate in the program perform better on all these measures compared to counties that did not participate. Compared to the control group, counties in the Clean Cities program experienced a reduction in days with bad air quality (3.7%), a decrease in automobile commuters (2.9%), an overall increase in transit commuters (2.1%) and had greater numbers of new alternative fueling stations (12.9). The results suggest that the program is a qualified success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The restoration of degraded vegetation can effectively improve ecosystem services, increase human well-being, and promote regional sustainable development. Understanding the changing trends in ecosystem services and their drivers is an important step in informing decision makers for the development of reasonable landscape management measures. From 2001 to 2014, we analyzed the changing trends in five critical ecosystem services in the Xilingol Grassland, which is typical of grasslands in North China, including net primary productivity (NPP), soil conservation (SC), soil loss due to wind (SL), water yield (WY) and water retention (WR). Additionally, we quantified how climatic factors and landscape patterns affect the five ecosystem services on both annual and seasonal time scales. Overall, the results indicated that vegetation restoration can effectively improve the five grassland ecosystem services, and precipitation (PPT) is the most critical climatic factor. The impact of changes in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was most readily detectable on the annual time scale, whereas the impact of changes in landscape pattern was most readily detectable on the seasonal time scale. A win-win situation in terms of grassland ecosystem services (e.g., vegetation productivity, SC, WR and reduced SL) can be achieved by increasing grassland aggregation, partitioning the largest grasslands, dividing larger areas of farmland into smaller patches, and increasing the area of appropriate forest stands. Our work may aid policymakers in developing regional landscape management schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments across the globe are exploring ways to reduce the environmental and human health impacts created by shale energy production. In active areas, environmental regulations tend to be limited. We apply established instruments to empirically estimated environmental impact abatement cost curves for the development of 56 sites in Pennsylvania, USA. We compare the cost to industry of setting a cap on environmental impacts from land-clearing and building of surface infrastructure under two regulations: cap and trade versus a uniform, inflexible regulation. Greatest differences in cost are achieved when firm-level permits are allocated to reduce market-wide potential impacts by 36%. Cap and trade achieved this cap at a cost of 0.05% of not developing and allowed all development to proceed. The uniform, inflexible regulation cost 32% of not developing for a similar outcome and prevented 18% of firms from developing. Cap and trade's performance depended on the regulator's ability to accurately allocate firm-level permits that reflect developers' options. In extreme cases, inaccurate allocations made cap and trade perform worse than other the approach. We conclude that, where developers differ in their ability and cost of minimizing impacts, cap and trade should be explored as an inexpensive alternative to traditional approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The informal waste recycling sector has been an indispensable but ironically invisible part of the waste management systems in developing countries as India, often completely disregarded and overlooked by decision makers and policy frameworks. The turn towards liberalization of economy since 1991 in India opened the doors for privatization of urban services and the waste sector found favor with private companies facilitated by the local governments. In joining the privatization bandwagon, the local governments aim to create an image of a progressive city demonstrated most visibly through apt management of municipal solid waste. Resultantly, the long important stakeholder, the informal sector has been sidelined and left to face the adverse impacts of privatization. There is hardly any recognition of its contributions or any attempt to integrate it within the formal waste management systems. The study investigates the impacts of privatization on the waste pickers in waste recycling operations. Highlighting the other dimension of waste collection and management in urban India the study focuses on the waste pickers and small time informal scrap dealers and this is done by taking the case study of Amritsar city, which is an important historic centre and a metropolitan city in the state of Punjab, India. The paper develops an analytical framework, drawing from literature review to analyze the impacts. In conclusion, it supports the case for involving informal waste sector towards achieving sustainable waste management in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental evaluation of food waste prevention is considered a challenging task due to the globalised nature of the food supply chain and the limitations of existing evaluation tools. The most significant of these is the rebound effect: the associated environmental burdens of substitutive consumption that arises as a result of economic savings made from food waste prevention. This study introduces a holistic approach to addressing these challenges, with a focus on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from household food waste in the UK. It uses a hybrid life-cycle assessment model coupled with a highly detailed multi-regional environmentally extended input output analysis to capture environmental impacts across the global food supply chain. The study also takes into consideration the rebound effect, which was modelled using a linear specification of an almost ideal demand system. The study finds that food waste prevention could lead to substantial reductions in GHG emissions in the order of 706-896 kg CO2-eq. per tonne of food waste, with most of these savings (78%) occurring as a result of avoided food production overseas. The rebound effect may however reduce such GHG savings by up to 60%. These findings provide a deeper insight into our understanding of the environmental impacts of food waste prevention: the study demonstrates the need to adopt a holistic approach when developing food waste prevention policies in order to mitigate the rebound effect and highlight the importance of increasing efficiency across the global food supply chain, particularly in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary approaches to environmental research are calling for a type of scientific inquiry that is able to bring together the natural and social sciences. This with the aim to advance our understanding of environmental issues and produce synthetic and actionable knowledge meant to address these. Yet, interdisciplinarity research of this type is a demanding and challenging pursuit; many have shown that in certain thematic areas and geographic regions practice falls behind discourse. We bring together ideas about interdisciplinary research collaborations (after Patricia L. Rosenfield) and interdisciplinary epistemic synthesis (after Julie T. Klein) that are used to analyse a sample of research projects funded (from 2006 to 2013) by the Slovene Research Agency. We triangulated interview data (with principal investigators) with document analysis and integrated these with other secondary data. Our results suggest for the sample of environmental projects to be interdisciplinary in a narrow sense, this prevalently within natural and life sciences with little input from the humanities and social sciences. Also, the results obtained suggest that environmental research with unambiguous problem solving objectives is preferred over research with a high degree of abstraction, as involved in theoretical and conceptual work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild pigs are a widespread invasive species that pose significant environmental and social risks. A number of wild pig eradication and control measures exist, but many eradication campaigns are ultimately unsuccessful. Decision making regarding how to design and execute an eradication plan is difficult because of multiple costs and benefits spanning various decision criteria that are associated with different eradication and control countermeasures. Moreover, multiple stakeholders are often involved with differing and sometimes competing objectives, and wild pigs are adaptive adversaries, meaning that the ideal countermeasure may change over time. In this paper, we propose the use of formal decision analytic tools which can structure decision problems into a set of relevant criteria, countermeasures, and stakeholder preferences to facilitate the evaluation of tradeoffs. We operationalize this method in a simple Excel-based decision tool and conclude with a path forward regarding how to successfully implement such tools for effective wild pig control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between neighborhood effects and pro-environmental behavior. Working on 1999–2012 data on separate waste collection in Italian provinces, a spatial econometric analysis is carried out. While a substantial stream of research focuses on recycling behavior determinants, spatial dependence among different inter-regional geographical areas has been less studied. Here, empirical support is provided to the existence of spatial effects and heterogeneous behavior in the Italian context. It is found that waste collecting habits tend to be strongly influenced by proximity effects, either in a positive or negative way. Moreover, the paper tests the nature of such influence in terms of time effects, by evaluating non-contemporary spatial dependence. “Good” (or “bad”) pro-environmental behavior as a persistent dynamic effect is found, with the possibility of both self-sustaining virtuous socio-spatial dynamics and perverse lock in. These results call for a rethinking of environmental policies, and in particular for a stronger focus upon the social dimension of spatial diffusion phenomena in pro-environmental behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenhouse gas emissions embodied in international trade have grown rapidly as globalization has progressed and potentially threaten the efficacy of unilateral climate treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol. Consumption-based methods have been put forward as a way of overcoming this issue and help design future climate policies. We improve the Long-term Consumption-based Accounting (LCBA) model, with transfer carbon data from 1948 to 2012 by introducing country-specific import intensities and detailed bilateral trade data from UNcomtrade. Comparisons of our new “LCBA2″ model with existing 4 studies show similar consumption based emission patterns both in trend and magnitude, and significant emission changes in many European countries. The results independently confirm previous findings on the efficacy of the Kyoto Protocol. The results indicate transferred emissions have contributed an historic 36 Gt CO 2 of cumulative emissions, have grown rapidly during the past 30 years (up to 8% of total emissions) and are likely to become increasingly influential in the near future as the global economy recovers. We also use the improved model to study other gases (CH 4 , N 2 O and SO 2 ) embodied in trade, and results indicate similar transfer patterns as CO 2 with comparable or even moderately larger magnitudes. Across-method result differences between LCBA2 with 3 other models are analyzed based on using common input datasets. Large emitters show moderate biases (within 10%) and about 75% of countries have differences within 25%, independent of input dataset. The LCBA2 model provides useful estimates of transferred emissions in both across-country and long-term historical contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study endeavors to explore the driving forces of process eco-innovation and its effect on company performance by adopting an integrative approach. We focus on process eco-innovation, which pertains to technological and non-technological solutions that result in a reduction of material and energy costs for companies. In this regard, the study sheds light on the drivers and outcomes of process eco-innovation adoption, using data collected from 223 Slovenian companies. The results reveal that certain determinants (i.e., competitive pressure, customer demand, managerial environmental concern, command-and-control instrument, and economic incentive instrument) are conducive to the deployment of process eco-innovation. Empirical evidence reveals competitive pressure as the most influential driving force of process eco-innovation, followed by managerial environmental concern and customer demand. Effectiveness in spurring process eco-innovation is also found to be a command-and-control instrument and an economic incentive instrument, while expected benefits do not spur process eco-innovation. Pertaining to the outcomes of process eco-innovation adoption, we can conclude that it pays to be eco; process eco-innovation is worthwhile in terms of company profitability, growth, and competitive benefits. These findings suggest several courses of action for both policy makers and companies. Hence, we conclude by providing implications for both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To further the sustainability agenda of the building sector, recent research and practice suggest that integrating embodied carbon (EC) in the sustainability assessment of buildings is necessary. This paper presents an investigation to assess whether the consideration of EC in the development approval process (DAP) could enhance sustainable construction (SC). A recent proposal for integrating the assessment of EC in the DAP of building projects in Uganda was used. Structured interviews were used to collect data from construction professionals. Findings show that construction professionals were highly aware of SC, suggesting that initiatives of enhancing SC could be easily appreciated. However, the concept of SC was found to be largely interpreted in terms of environmental sustainability, implying that measures that highly promote environmental sustainability could be adopted. A hypothesis test confirmed that integrating the assessment of EC in the DAP of building projects in Uganda could enhance SC. This provided new evidence to corroborate the assertion that assessment of carbon emissions associated with buildings can enhance sustainable construction. Having further found that social sustainability could be enhanced the most, this study provides new evidence linking the assessment of EC to promoting social sustainability. Recommendations on introducing the assessment of EC in the DAP of buildings in Uganda are also provided. These include taking necessary steps to increase awareness of SC, implementation of a pilot program in a selected area of Uganda, and further research to capture more opinions from stakeholders, other than construction professionals. Overall, this study shows that transition to sustainable low carbon development in developing countries is possible and a potential way of achieving this could be through implementing measures that bring carbon emissions to bear on the environmental impact assessment of prospective buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While economic and environmental policies and strategies are largely designed at the international, national or regional level, the environmental impacts of these measures are often felt at a more geographically-localized level. In particular, the effects on water resources, especially regarding water pollution and water stress, are usually localized in very specific hotspots. In this work, we acknowledge these facts and attempt to identify the linkages among the 17 regions in Spain (a semi-arid country with significant geographical variations in water availability), the European Union (EU), and the Rest of the World (RW), while also looking at the local effects of those interactions. In particular, we study the grey water footprints (a measure of the assimilation capacity of water resources) of production, at both the regional and business level, with spatially explicit information, and the extension of those footprints throughout the supply chain, while also computing the water footprints of consumption at the regional level. This process is a combination of a detailed computation of grey water footprints from production, from agriculture (from diffuse pollution), and from more general economic activities (from point source pollution), with a multiregional input–output model that encompasses the 17 Spanish Regions, the EU, and the RW. We also identify hotspots and vulnerable areas, linking the grey water footprints from production originating in these areas to final-consumer responsibilities. As an example of the potential of the combined methodology, we design and evaluate the effects on grey water footprints of scenarios of import substitutions in Spain. Our results show strong final demand in regions such as Madrid and Catalonia, and in net exporting regions such as Andalusia, Aragon, Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Extremadura, and Navarre. Some of these regions contain areas that are clearly vulnerable to nitrates and other pollutants, and parts of these regions, most obviously in Andalusia and Extremadura, suffer water stress, which leads us to question the sustainability of the relationships between the structure of production and trade and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prevailing resource use patterns of the global socio-industrial metabolism are unsustainable. An increasing number of people globally require ever more materials (including energy carriers), land and water for rising living standards and lifestyles converging towards western, industrialised patterns. Therefore, these resources will continue becoming both scarcer and depleted, while environmental impacts associated with their consumption, e.g. run-away climate change, will continue to rise. For effective resource policies, drivers for such unsustainable resource use and their effects need to be better understood and mapped. By means of meta-analysis of more than 60 sources of relevant literature, we identified a set of ten driver categories that affect unsustainable resource use, inter alia prevailing consumption and production patterns, use and design of infrastructure and technology, underlying paradigms and world views, resource prices and the level of knowledge and information of resource users. Cumulative effects of the drivers contribute, for instance, up to 30% of phosphorus loss from soil and around 30% of building energy loss globally. Although the data does not allow clear-cut causal attribution of effects, it enables the distinction between direct and indirect drivers. In relation to a multi-dimensional network of drivers causing unsustainable resource use, resource policy should combine policy objectives and instruments into policy mixes to target key drivers and their interrelations. While policy mixes need to respond to context specific driver settings, targeting consumer behaviour emerges as a general driver focus of policy mixes. Combining different instrument types and implementing them in a time-dynamic sequence can mitigate trade-offs between different instruments and in the longer-term increase feasibility of profound behaviour changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modelers involved in environmental policy assessments are commonly confronted with the lack of uptake of model output by policy actors. Actors have different expectations of models, condensed into three quality criteria: credibility, salience, and legitimacy. The fulfilment of quality criteria is also dynamic as expectations vary, change, and possibly counteract each other. We present a checklist for modelers involved in model-based assessments that is aimed at the identification and monitoring of issues, limitations and trade-offs regarding model quality criteria. It draws upon the literature of integrated assessments as well as case study analysis of environmental policy assessments for the Dutch government, based on expert interviews and embedded experience. The checklist is intended to be consulted during assessments; its application may result in greater awareness among modelers involved in assessments regarding model quality criteria, and may positively affect the uptake of model-based knowledge from environmental policy assessments by policy actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies estimate the immediate impact of climate change on agricultural societies in terms of changes in crop yields or farm income, though few studies concentrate on the immediate secondary consequences of climate change. This synthetic analysis uses a set of indicators to assess the repercussions of predicted income reductions resulting from climate change on food consumption, nutrition, health expenditure, education, and recreation in Zimbabwe, Cameroon, South Africa and Ethiopia. We also assess the potential decline in human development potential among smallholder dryland farmers in these sub-Saharan African countries. In contrast to previous efforts, the current study directly integrates the uncertainties in estimations of income changes and secondary consequences through a weighting scheme. The results reveal moderate to high levels of secondary impacts which could lead to increased vulnerability to diseases, susceptibility to nutritional disorders, deprivation of educational opportunities, and ultimately to a reduction in human and societal development potential among the considered nations. The article concludes by proposing a portfolio of policy options for ameliorating the secondary impacts of climate change in these sub-Saharan African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The provision of healthcare creates significant environmental impacts, and their mitigation is being attempted in a variety of ways which vary from nation to nation in line with differing policy priorities and resource availability. The environmental performance of hospitals has been enhanced through, for example, green building, waste and energy management, and product design. However, unpredictable occupant behaviour, new research outcomes and evolving best practice requires healthcare to react and respond in an ever challenging and changing environment, and clearly there is no one set of actions appropriate in all jurisdictions. Many authors have pointed up negative environmental impacts caused by healthcare, but these studies have focused on particular aspects of mitigation in isolation, and are for this reason not optimal. Here it is argued that tackling impact mitigation through a whole system approach is likely to be more effective. To illustrate what this approach might entail in practice, an evaluation of a systematic implementation of impact mitigation in Ireland's largest teaching hospital, Cork University Hospital is presented. This approach brings together voluntary initiatives in particular those emanating from governmental and non-governmental organisations, peer supports and the adaptation of programmes designed originally for environmental education purposes. Specific measures and initiatives are described, and analysis of results and planned future actions provides a basis for evaluation of successes achieved in achieving mitigation objectives. A crucial attribute of this approach is that it retains its flexibility and connectivity through time, thereby ensuring continual responsiveness to evolving regulation and best practice in green healthcare. It is demonstrated that implementation in Cork resulted both in mitigation of existing impacts, but also a commitment to continual improvement. For such a systems approach to be widely adopted, the healthcare sector needs both leadership from regulators and stakeholders, and strong supports. In Cork it was found that environmental education programmes, especially action and reward based programmes, as utilised by the campus's academic affiliates in particular University College Cork, were especially effective as a framework to address sustainability challenges and should be developed further. However, within healthcare implementation of environmental initiatives must prioritise patient safety. This approach has now been adopted for delivery across the health services sector in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The annual growth of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico is largely attributed to agricultural nutrient loadings that originate from the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB). To effectively target conservation efforts throughout the entire MARB in order to reduce Gulf hypoxia, strategies to rank areas according to their impact on both agricultural production and ecosystem services are extremely important. In this paper, we utilize an Environmental Performance Index (EPI) to rank regions within the MARB according to their environmental performance, that is, their ability to produce agricultural outputs while minimizing nutrient loadings to the Gulf of Mexico. We compare our index rankings to previously used rankings of delivered yields alone and find the spatial distribution of rankings changes considerably when accounting for agricultural productivity. For example, the Corn Belt regions of central Iowa and northern Illinois no longer make up the lowest performing regions of the MARB after accounting for their high levels of agricultural production. Instead, regions along the Missouri river including central Missouri, western Iowa, and southeastern South Dakota as well as areas near the Ohio river including southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and southern Ohio now count among the lowest performing regions using the EPI ranking scheme. We suggest that incorporation of economic production value into large-scale prioritization of agricultural conservation within the MARB is essential to effectively reduce Gulf hypoxia while maintaining food security from efficient farm production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]