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A significant fraction of the energy spent in Brazil is associated with industrial consumption (40.6%). The purpose of this work was to demonstrate one of many ways to reduce electric energy consumption by the industry and, consequently, reduce emissions associated with the generation, transmission, and consumption of this resource. The search for energetic efficiency, coupled with economic, social, and environmental practices can shift the industry in the direction of sustainability. The emission of CO2/kWh was chosen as a sustainability indicator to monitor the energy consumption pattern during the development of this research. The main objective was to assess the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions associated with a more efficient electric energy consumption strategy adopted by a large manufacturer. At this company, a cellulose pulp milling system used during a diaper manufacturing process was replaced by another system with higher efficiency. Energy consumption was reduced by 60%, and greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by an estimated 80 ton/year of carbon dioxide (CO2). These results demonstrate the relationship between adopting a more energy efficient system and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, these practices contribute to significant industrial cost reduction.

Many European northern periphery (NP) communities are likely to experience increased and complex environmental, social and economic impacts of tourism in the near future. Therefore, approaches that see tourism as included in complex socio-ecological systems are critical for identifying and assessing sustainability indicators in the NP specifically. This study aims to develop and assess systemic sustainability indicators for tourism in Vatnajökull National Park (VNP), Iceland, and adjacent communities, based on public participation, and to discuss the usefulness of the approach in NP tourism. Interviews with tourism stakeholders in VNP identified eighteen sustainability indicators for VNP. The interconnectedness of these indicators and their role within the system were analyzed by applying a systemic indicator method. The results show five indicators that are currently most influential for the tourism system in VNP and to be the major driving forces for local tourism development: 'destination attractiveness', 'economic seasonality', 'social carrying capacity', 'societal seasonality' and 'local economy'. The smallest change in any of these indicators has major effects on other indicators. Moreover, these five indicators are more important for the sustainability of the community than any external factors. This study concludes that a systemic approach to sustainability indicators can help identify important sustainability issues and is thus especially useful in NP communities where tourism is not a prioritized development path in policies, despite being identified as economically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological footprint of mining can be used as an indicator to monitor and regulate mining operations and ensure long-term environmental sustainability. It can be viewed as a mining footprint, which is surrogate of the environmental impacts of mining. In this paper, a methodological framework is developed to demonstrate how ecological footprint can be used as an indicator of environmental degradation. Nine air quality and 26 soil quality samples are collected from the adjoining area of a mechanized coal mine, located in Raniganj coal mining belt of Burdwan district, West Bengal. Geographical information system is used for data interpolation and preparation of air and soil quality maps. The weights of different air and soil quality parameters are calculated by running principal component analysis. These derived weights are used for preparation of final composite air and soil quality maps. The composite maps show the mining footprints, expressed as land equivalent, around the active mine sites. The impact zones reveal the extent of degradation of the soil and air qualities in the areas near a mine. It is found that the impact zones, with respect to air and soil qualities, extend over areas which are 7.7 and 7.8 times the actual mining areas, that is, the area covered under mining operations, respectively. The results show the extent of degradation of air and soil qualities of the area. At different stages of mining, these footprints can be used as indicators to reveal the areas where soil and air qualities are adversely impacted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of a circular economy (CE) has become popular and important issue in environmental management in recent years; however, there are not particular indicators dedicated to it in regional policy. CE approach is an industrial system that is restorative by design, and it emphasises that it is important that, rather than extracting natural resources, the materials that have already been taken can and should be recovered and reused in different ways, thereby securing natural resources from over-exploitation. In order to meet CE assumptions, modern and innovative technologies that allow for the recovery of valuable materials should be developed. This also applies to eco-innovation that connects technology development with environmental aspects. It is therefore obvious that issues of CE and eco-innovation are linked, and a uniform methodology aimed at compare the levels of moving to CE including eco-innovation solutions should be established. Because the focus in European Union (EU) has been paid on regions, measuring of CE-eco-innovations levels is especially important at the regional level. In this paper, the proposals of CE indicators, based on eco-innovation factors, which can be possible to create based on existing data set (Eurostat, Cohesion policy) are presented. It is recommend to use of five group indicators for measuring regional CE-eco-innovation. Based on Eco-Innovation Scoreboard which describes innovation measurement, three of proposed indicator groups are associated directly with innovations, taking into account the principles of CE: CE-eco-innovation inputs, CE-eco-innovation activities and CE-eco-innovation outputs, and other two groups of indicators are effects of the CE-eco-innovation introduction: resource efficiency outcomes and socio-economic outcomes. This way of measuring CE-eco-innovation allows for create holistic, systematic and integrated approach for the CE concept at the regional level. Proposed indicators can be used in current transition stage for assessment of implementation regional policy and as a base for creation final CE indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global power plant capacity has experienced a historical evolution, showing noticeable patterns over the years: continuous growth to meet increasing demand, and renewable energy sources have played a vital role in global electrification from the beginning, first in the form of hydropower but also wind energy and solar photovoltaics. With increasing awareness of global environmental and societal problems such as climate change, heavy metal induced health issues and the growth related cost reduction of renewable electricity technologies, the past two decades have witnessed an accelerated increase in the use of renewable sources. A database was compiled using major accessible datasets with the purpose of analyzing the composition and evolution of the global power sector from a novel sustainability perspective. Also a new sustainability indicator has been introduced for a better monitoring of progress in the power sector. The key objective is to provide a simple tool for monitoring the past, present and future development of national power systems towards sustainability based on a detailed global power capacity database. The main findings are the trend of the sustainability indicator projecting very high levels of sustainability before the middle of the century on a global level, decommissioned power plants indicating an average power plant technical lifetime of about 40 years for coal, 34 years for gas and 34 years for oil-fired power plants, whereas the lifetime of hydropower plants seems to be rather unlimited due to repeated refurbishments, and the overall trend of increasing sustainability in the power sector being of utmost relevance for managing the environmental and societal challenges ahead. To achieve the 2 °C climate change target, zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 may be required. This would lead to stranded assets of about 300 GW of coal power plants already commissioned by 2014. Gas and oil-fired power plants may be shifted to renewable-based fuels. Present power capacity investments have already to anticipate these environmental and societal sustainability boundaries or accept the risk of becoming stranded assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general purpose of this research is to analyze the environmental Impact exercise for acvies at Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Son (UNESP), Campus of Tupã, from the calculaon of the Ecological Footprint. The methodology involved case study, the mixed approach and the collection of primary And secondary data with applicaon of semistructured quesonnaires to students, Professors and administrave technicians, considering 12 months. For the calculaon Of Ecological Footprint were admissible the same equations of a research conducted At Campus of São Carlos, University of São Paulo (USP), allowing a comparison Of results. This research contributes to the knowledge of responsibilities of each other And private instuon through its environmental impact, as well as can provide Information for possible atudes more sustainable in management and collecve Behavior and individual at Tupã Campus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Brazil, the introduction of a national urban mobility policy occurred only in 2012. In this context, the federal government has provided hundreds of millions in investment to improve mobility conditions in urban areas. The main financial institution responsible for analyzing and monitoring developments of this nature considers the following criteria for project assessment: cost, environmental licensing, compatibility, and functionality. However, a project’s contribution to sustainable urban mobility is not taken into account. Thus, the work reported herein aimed to develop a method to assess the sustainability of urban mobility projects. This involved indicator selection, and the development of a tool based on sustainability indicators for project assessment. In addition, an Urban Mobility Project Sustainability Index (UMPSI) was proposed to summarize the assessment, which was tested in five urban mobility projects funded in the Curitiba Metropolitan Region (RMC), presented in a companion paper. Environmental, social, and economic aspects of project design and implementation are considered in the assessment. The proposed method consists of 17 sustainability indicators, grouped according to their connection with environmental, social, and economic aspects. Addition of the proposed method to the contracting and monitoring processes of future urban mobility projects supports the sustainable development of the urban landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout Brazil as part of the preparations to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup, urban mobility, stadiums, and tourism development projects were proposed. In Curitiba and the surrounding metropolitan area, these mobility works were financed with public resources. A financial institute directly related to the federal government monitors these projects, which are a part of the National Policy of Urban Mobility, instituted in 2012, and yet no criteria to assess their contribution to sustainable development were adopted. Thus, the objective of this study was to identify the sustainability indicators of these projects through a sustainability assessment method. The Urban Mobility Project Sustainability Index (UMPSI) was determined for such projects, as well sub-indices for environmental, social, and economic aspects, in order to verify their contribution in all of the three sustainability dimensions. The values of the UMPSI resulted between 43 and 75%, according to the proposed scale of the index, which has an upper limit of 100%. Finally, minimal benchmarks are suggested to determine the economic viability of mobility enterprises in order to contribute to sustainable urban mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact derived from the exploitation of natural resources can be quantified using statistical indicators. We analyse the groundwater level evolution of jeopardised aquifers using the Temporal Variation Index and the Piezometric Situation Index. The application of both piezometric indicators to the aquifers linked to the Fuente de Piedra playa lake (southern Spain) allows us to investigate their suitability to manage groundwater resources in order to preserve its associated ecosystems. The results obtained showed that the aquifers, a detrital aquifer enclosed within Miocene-Quaternary rocks and two carbonate aquifers formed by Jurassic units, show a dissimilar piezometric level drop. In the Miocene-Quaternary aquifer various sectors are under strong pressure and piezometric levels do not recover after rainy periods. In the Jurassic aquifers, the piezometric level drops continuously over time. In view of these results, we recommend an urgent limitation of the groundwater extraction from the carbonate aquifers. This case study proves that piezometric indicators constitute a valuable tool to managers and stakeholders for identifying sectors affected by overexploitation and, thus, help to design management strategies and public participation to preserve these types of ecosystems in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]