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Commercial land use management that focuses on a future-oriented urban and regional development must address multiple goals. Effective policy mixes need to simultaneously (1) improve city-regional and inter-municipal cooperation, (2) reduce land take, and (3) assure the long-term economic development of a region. Using the Northern Black Forest in Germany as a case study, we brought together planning and land use research with public policy analysis. We applied cross-impact balances (CIB) to build and analyze a participatory policy-interaction model. Together with a group of 12 experts, we selected effective individual measures to reach each of the three goals and analyzed their interactions. We then assessed the current policy mix and designed alternative policy mixes. The results demonstrate that current approaches to commercial land use management present internal contradictions and generate only little synergies. Implementing innovative measures on a stand-alone basis runs the risk of not being sufficiently effective. In particular, the current practice of competing for municipal marketing and planning of commercial sites has inhibiting effects. We identified alternative policy mixes that achieve all three goals, avoid trade-offs, and generate significant synergy effects. Our results point towards a more coherent and sustainable city-regional (commercial) land-use governance., BMBF German Federal Ministry of Education and Research

This article examines the role of sustainable finance and investment in Japan and how the Japanese financial sector can mitigate growing climate risks and support Japan's transition towards a zero-carbon, sustainable economy. It first illustrates Japan’s exposure to physical and transitional climate risks before reviewing emerging practices in sustainable finance. These include the growing importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria in financial decision-making; more rigid reporting and disclosure standards; and the development of green bond and sustainable investment markets. The article also assesses the role of policies and regulations in scaling up sustainable finance and low-carbon infrastructure investments. Subsequently, it analyses transitional climate risks via scenario analysis, applying the Paris Agreement Capital Transition Assessment (PACTA) tool to examine the exposure of subsectors of the Japanese equity market over several climate scenarios. The article concludes with policy recommendations for aligning Japan’s financial sector with global climate and sustainability goals.

This paper examines the emergent role of sustainable finance and investment in Japan and scrutinises the need for the Japanese financial system to mitigate growing climate risks and support the transition of the Japanese economy to a low-carbon, sustainable pathway. It first illustrates Japan’s exposure to physical and transitional climate risks, before reviewing the developments and emerging practices in sustainable finance. These include the growing importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria in financial decision-making; more rigid reporting and disclosure standards; the development of a green bond market; and the growing importance of sustainable lending by the banking sector. The paper also assesses the role of policies and regulations in scaling up sustainable finance and low-carbon infrastructure investments in Japan. Subsequently, it analyses transitional climate risks via scenario analysis, applying the Paris Agreement Capital Transition Assessment (PACTA) tool to examine the exposure of sub-sectors of the Japanese equity market over several of the International Energy Agency’s climate scenarios. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for aligning Japan’s financial sector with sustainable development and net-zero carbon emission goals.

This paper investigates whether the micro-firm level of environmental, social and governance (ESG) development affects national economic growth and whether this micro-ESG effect performs differently for developed countries and emerging markets. Using dynamic panel techniques – difference GMM and system GMM estimators, we find that an increase of micro-ESG performance can result in the improvement of living standards, and environmental and social practices are positively associated with national overall economic growth at a global scale. When we test this link by market, it is suggested that firm-level social performance in a country is positively associated with both GDP per capita and GDP growth in developed and emerging markets. In contrast, albeit micro-environmental performance affects macro-economic performance in emerging countries, this effect remains insignificant in developed countries.

日本のサステナブルファイナンス・セクターは近年、急速に成長している。政治や省庁等の認知度向上も背景に、日本はサステナブルファイナンス及び環境・社会・ガバナンス（ESG）投資における主要国となりつつある。日本の金融機関や事業会社は、ESG要因を組織レベルで考慮することを体系的に検討し始めている。とはいえ、重要なESG要因をより実質的に取り込むためには、日本の企業及び投資家は自身のキャパシティ拡充を通じて、ESGに関する情報開示やサステナブル投資の量と質の向上を図る必要があろう。日本のサステナブルファイナンス・セクターを世界的なベストプラクティスの基準と整合させるには、関係者間の知識格差や人材不足に対処する必要がある。例えば、大学での関連コースや社会人向け講座等の充実による能力向上の取り組みの促進が求められる。ESGを適切に取り入れることの複雑さに鑑みると、日本の金融システムをサステナブルなファイナンス・モデルへと移行させる上で、経営陣の理解度向上や将来的な専門家の育成は欠かせないと言えよう。, In recent years, the sustainable finance sector in Japan has experienced rapid growth. Shifts in awareness at the political and institutional levels have been gradually transforming Japan into one of the main players in the areas of sustainable finance and ESG investing. Many actors across the Japanese financial and corporate sectors have started to systematically consider the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors at the organisational level. However, in order to take account of material ESG factors in a more substantial way, Japanese companies and investors will have to build up additional internal capacities to scale the quantity and quality of their ESG disclosures and sustainable investments. Technical knowledge gaps among local stakeholders and human resource shortages constitute some of the key barriers in further aligning the Japanese sustainable finance sector with global best practice standards. A coordinated expansion of capacity-building efforts, including university courses and professional training programmes, could address some of these shortcomings. Given the complexity of proper ESG integration, the training of existing management teams and future experts is essential in transitioning the Japanese financial system towards a sustainable finance model.

This paper serves as an introduction to the Journal of Environmental Investing’s issue (Vol. 10, No. 1, 2020) on climate and green bonds. Fixed income securities that integrate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors have become a crucial component of most sustainable investment and climate-related risk management strategies. Global green bond issuance has grown from USD87.2bn in 2016 to USD257.7bn in 2019. However, this issue is addressing some of the challenges of rapid market scaling. The first pertains to the labeling of green bonds. Albeit the term “green bond” becoming synonymous for all ESG-aligned fixed income securities, there now exists a plethora of labels, names, and designations for green bonds, often resulting in confusion of what exactly constitutes a green bond. By providing the most comprehensive overview to date of all green bond variants, this issue explores the core attributes of green bonds, such as their potential returns from financial and non-financial angles, taxonomical and underlying conceptual considerations, and academic assessment of the market as a whole. In conclusion, this paper and the corresponding issue provide contemporary insights and an up-to-date snapshot of the evolving characteristics of climate and green bonds.

This paper investigates whether the development and adoption of firm-level environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices affects national macroeconomic performance, and whether this differs between developed countries and emerging economies. Using dynamic panel techniques – generalised method-of-moments (GMM) estimators – we find that an increase of micro-ESG performance can result in the improvement of living standards as measured by GDP per capita. When we test this link by country type, we find that firm-level social performance in a country is positively associated with GDP per capita in both developed countries and emerging economies. As for the other two components of firm-level ESG measures, namely environmental and governance performance, we find that these affect macroeconomic performance in emerging economies, but that the effects remain insignificant in developed countries. While further research is needed, these results may be of particular interest to policymakers and central banks, as they suggest that encouraging the adoption of ESG practices at the firm-level could support macroeconomic performance.

With sustainable finance and #responsibleinvestment taking off, concerns around greenwashing and the lack of science-based impact measurement and data verification have been growing. There are now an increasing number of observations regarding inflationary tendencies in managers and practitioners starting to label themselves as experts in sustainablefinance, climatefinance, or ESG. However, looking at numerous profiles and levels of expertise, only a minority have genuine scientific backgrounds, which is worrisome as we need better impact measurement, reporting, and verification #MRV of green financial products. People do not become subject-matter experts by completing a short ESG-related online course or attending a week-long sustainability leadership program. These programs are important in raising ESG awareness, but awareness does not equal expertise. The new concept of competence greenwashing issues is framed in detail and the risks it poses in dealing with complex ESG data. Looking up ESG ratings on a terminal is not the same as critically evaluating ESG data. We need more scientific expertise in the ESG sector by promoting more diverse ESG teams. For climatechange, we trust and listen to scientists; for ESG, we should do the same.

The 2011 Fukushima Daiichi-I accident and the subsequent shutdown of the entire nuclear reactor park has left Japan in a situation in which it has to reform its energy market in order to accommodate more electricity from renewable forms of energy generation such as wind- or geothermal power; with special focus on large-scale installations, which are most likely to increase renewable energy (RE) generation significantly in the short-term. New Zealand is a country with a similar energy potential as Japan and is already capable of producing more than two-thirds of its electricity through renewables. By comparing the legal and policy aspects of both countries’ energy market environments, it will be examined how certain laws, policies and regulations can be designed to create a market- and business environment in which it is easier to promote RE development. Relying on in-depth analysis of the respective national environmental law frameworks and the specific provisions therein, it will be attempted to demonstrate that administrative hurdles, more precisely the complicated environmental impact assessment (EIA) regulations, constitute one of the major factors in the Japanese system that stifles potential RE investment the most. These should be further reorganized and reformed in order to enhance the appeal and lower the cost of the entire approval process. In 2009, New Zealand introduced certain streamlining measures such a dedicated government agency and the creation of priority areas, which combined did reduce the cost and time of the EIA process notably for many large-scale RE power station projects. In conclusion, New Zealand environmental law offers an example of how Japan can modify certain laws to improve administrative efficiency.

Physical environmental change and societal responses to environmental change, particularly climate change and the transition to a net zero emissions economic system, create many risks and opportunities for financial institutions. A key barrier for financial institutions responding to these challenges are shortcomings in the availability of appropriate forms of data, information, and analysis. In particular, the failure to utilise asset-level data is a major barrier to financial institutions and financial regulators (among others) that prevents them appropriately understanding environmental risks, returns, and impacts. Detailed and complete data on corporate assets are required in order to adequately assess risk in companies and the diffusion of that risk through the financial system. At present, data on corporate assets may only be released piecemeal, incomplete, or long after the fact, and the public is usually reliant on patchy voluntary disclosure in order to assess absolute and relative corporate risks.Not only does this put various stakeholders in a problematic position, but regulators are frequently forced to make crucial decisions against a backdrop of pervasive uncertainty. This paper outlines the potential benefits and users of asset-level data and details the construction of a demonstrator asset-level database: the Assets@Risk database. This database aggregates asset-level data across the globe for the major carbon emitting industries:Power, Steel & Iron, Cement, Automobile, Airlines, and Shipping industries, and applies robust peer-reviewed methodologies for the construction of Cumulative Committed Carbon Emissions (CCCEs) and technologies for Reducing Cumulative Committed Carbon Emissions (RCCCEs) to each individual asset. Furthermore, each industry database comprises sufficient assets to account for at least two-thirds of total global emissions within its industry. This combined database uniquely allows for the granular estimation of global climate related risks and the potential for their mitigation.

Remerciements à:A Madame Sylviane LAURENTIE Chef du département pharmacovigilance à l’ANMV, Pour nous avoir confié ce sujet, accueilli au sein de l’unité et encadré tout le long de ce travail, Mes sincères remerciements. A Madame Elisabeth BEGON et Monsieur Eric FRESNAY, Vétérinaires experts en pharmacovigilance à l’ANMV, Pour leurs remarques judicieuses, leur aide précieuse et leur sympathie confraternelle, Tous mes remerciements.; Antiparasitics are broadly used in cats and dogs, especially against fleas and ticks. Laboratories lately launched numerous innovative drugs which are still insufficiently evaluated particularly regarding their innocuity. The pharmacovigilance department of the French Agency for Veterinary Medicinal Products funded a retrospective study on serious adverse events related to the use of these products between 2011 and 2015, looking to evaluate their risks, as statistical tools used in pharmacovigilance detected a signal of serious adverse events peaking with some drugs. Overall available specialties show a very good innocuity: serious adverse events are reported in France for one animal out of 250 000 exposed, and death occurs in one animal out of 650 000 treated. Nonetheless, some drugs show a higher risk of serious adverse events than competing products, but this seems to be mostly linked to an incorrect use. It comes down to the veterinarian to choose the right drugs depending on the animal and its environment, and to communicate with the owner to optimize treatments against ectoparasites. We also have the opportunity to remind practitioners with the importance of reporting any adverse event to enable continuous monitoring of drugs authorized.; Les antiparasitaires externes contre les puces et les tiques sont des médicaments très utilisés chez les carnivores domestiques. Ce marché a connu de nombreuses innovations récentes encore peu évaluées. Le département de pharmacovigilance de l’Agence Nationale du Médicament Vétérinaire a ainsi lancé une étude rétrospective sur les effets indésirables graves de ces produits entre 2011 et 2015 afin d’évaluer les risques liés à leur usage, les outils statistiques consacrés en pharmacovigilance ayant en effet mis en avant un signal vis-à-vis de certains médicaments. Globalement les spécialités disponibles montrent une très bonne innocuité : des effets indésirables graves sont rapportés en France pour un animal sur 250 000 exposés, et des décès pour un animal sur 650 000. Toutefois, certains produits présentent un risque plus élevé d’effets indésirables graves que les concurrents et d’action similaire, mais cela semble souvent lié à une mauvaise utilisation. Il revient au vétérinaire bien choisir les médicaments adaptés selon l’animal et son environnement, et de communiquer avec le propriétaire pour optimiser la lutte contre les ectoparasites. C’est également l’occasion de rappeler aux praticiens l’importance de la déclaration des effets indésirables pour assurer le suivi des médicaments sur le marché.

Remerciements à:A Madame Sylviane LAURENTIE Chef du département pharmacovigilance à l’ANMV, Pour nous avoir confié ce sujet, accueilli au sein de l’unité et encadré tout le long de ce travail, Mes sincères remerciements. A Madame Elisabeth BEGON et Monsieur Eric FRESNAY, Vétérinaires experts en pharmacovigilance à l’ANMV, Pour leurs remarques judicieuses, leur aide précieuse et leur sympathie confraternelle, Tous mes remerciements.; Antiparasitics are broadly used in cats and dogs, especially against fleas and ticks. Laboratories lately launched numerous innovative drugs which are still insufficiently evaluated particularly regarding their innocuity. The pharmacovigilance department of the French Agency for Veterinary Medicinal Products funded a retrospective study on serious adverse events related to the use of these products between 2011 and 2015, looking to evaluate their risks, as statistical tools used in pharmacovigilance detected a signal of serious adverse events peaking with some drugs. Overall available specialties show a very good innocuity: serious adverse events are reported in France for one animal out of 250 000 exposed, and death occurs in one animal out of 650 000 treated. Nonetheless, some drugs show a higher risk of serious adverse events than competing products, but this seems to be mostly linked to an incorrect use. It comes down to the veterinarian to choose the right drugs depending on the animal and its environment, and to communicate with the owner to optimize treatments against ectoparasites. We also have the opportunity to remind practitioners with the importance of reporting any adverse event to enable continuous monitoring of drugs authorized.; Les antiparasitaires externes contre les puces et les tiques sont des médicaments très utilisés chez les carnivores domestiques. Ce marché a connu de nombreuses innovations récentes encore peu évaluées. Le département de pharmacovigilance de l’Agence Nationale du Médicament Vétérinaire a ainsi lancé une étude rétrospective sur les effets indésirables graves de ces produits entre 2011 et 2015 afin d’évaluer les risques liés à leur usage, les outils statistiques consacrés en pharmacovigilance ayant en effet mis en avant un signal vis-à-vis de certains médicaments. Globalement les spécialités disponibles montrent une très bonne innocuité : des effets indésirables graves sont rapportés en France pour un animal sur 250 000 exposés, et des décès pour un animal sur 650 000. Toutefois, certains produits présentent un risque plus élevé d’effets indésirables graves que les concurrents et d’action similaire, mais cela semble souvent lié à une mauvaise utilisation. Il revient au vétérinaire bien choisir les médicaments adaptés selon l’animal et son environnement, et de communiquer avec le propriétaire pour optimiser la lutte contre les ectoparasites. C’est également l’occasion de rappeler aux praticiens l’importance de la déclaration des effets indésirables pour assurer le suivi des médicaments sur le marché.

Annular, or ring-like, skin lesions are a distinctive cutaneous morphology. Dermatologic diagnosis is based on morphology and distribution, and therefore the generation of a differential diagnosis based on these criteria can lead to proper identification of an eruption. For many dermatologic conditions, considering a differential that includes infection, immune phenomenon, neoplastic process, physical etiology, and idiopathic process will assure that one thinks broadly and is likely to reveal the best diagnosis. Several of these categories are covered in this review of annular eruptions in children. [ Pediatr Ann . 2015;44(8):e199–e204.]