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1
Yazdeen, Haji Haji. "Integrating Material Flow Cost Accounting with Life cycle assessment to Assess the Economic an Environmental Performances of Selected Wood Industries in the Landes de Gascogne Forest, France." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Bordeaux, 2023. http://www.theses.fr/2023BORD0153.
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Il y a une préoccupation croissante quant à l’impact de nos modes de consommation et de production sur notre planète, au point que nous atteignons les limites de croissance avec la planète incapable d’assimiler indéfiniment les effets des activités anthropiques. En conséquence, au cours des dernières années, les préoccupations croissantes concernant le changement climatique ont poussé les organisations commerciales à changer leurs priorités, non seulement pour atteindre des objectifs économiques, mais également pour considérer les objectifs écologiques. La foresterie, qui est une partie importante de la nature, a traditionnellement été un fournisseur de matières premières renouvelables pour l’utilisation industrielle (sciage, pâte et papier, panneaux de particules, etc.) et pour le bois de chauffage domestique. Bien que de nombreuses études aient été menées dans ce domaine, peu d’attention a été accordée à l’importance de l’évaluation monétaire de l’impact environnemental négatif pour déterminer le véritable prix des produits en bois et prendre une décision éclairée pour l’investissement. Cette étude vise à évaluer la performance économique et environnementale de cinq produits en bois de pin maritime, issus du processus Gate-to-Gate dans la forêt des Landes de Gascogne en France. Les données ont été collectées sur la base d’une revue de la littérature et des références mentionnées dans le chapitre quatre et le chapitre cinq de cette étude, puis ces données ont été utilisées dans l’analyse du logiciel semipro pour identifier l’impact environnemental (Gate-to-gate) pour les produits étudiés par la méthodologie d’évaluation du cycle de vie (LCA) et un modèle de coût a été établi pour chaque produit par la méthodologie de coût du cycle de vie (LCC). Ensuite, les deux méthodologies ont été liées en utilisant la comptabilité des coûts des flux de matières (MFCA), et les résultats ont correspondu à la part de marché spécifiée dans le chapitre trois par l’analyse des flux de matières (MFA)There is an increasing understanding that our consumption and production patterns have to change to stay within our planetary boundaries, the planet being unable to indefinitely assimilate the effects of current anthropic activities. Correspondingly, in recent years, growing concerns about climate change pollution and biodiversity loss have driven business organizations to change their priorities, not only to achieve economic objectives, but also to consider ecological goals. Forestry, an important part of natural systems, has been a traditional supplier of renewable raw materials for industrial use (e.g., sawmilling for construction wood, pulp and paper, particle boards), as well as for domestic fuelwood. Although many studies have been conducted in this field, little attention has been paid to the importance of the monetary valuation of negative environmental impacts in order to determine the true price of wood products to take informed investment decisions. This study aims to assess economic and environmental performance of five maritime pinewood products during the gate-to-gate process (harvesting to semifinal product) in the Landes de Gascogne Forest (“Landes Forest”) in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France. The product groups considered are construction wood, pulp, plywood, pellets and pallets. For this purpose, the study uses several systemanalytical methods in combination: material flow analysis (MFA), life-cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC) and material flow cost accounting (MFCA). The relevant MFA data in Chapter 3 was collected from an industrial partner and based on databases, literature sources and other references to obtain Life Cycle Inventories for the LCA study in Chapter 4. The LCA software SimaPro was used for this analysis, applying the ReCiPe life-cycle impact assessment method to identify the environmental impact (gate-to-gate) of the studied products. A cost model based on the Environmental Prices Handbook was developed in Chapter 5 to estimate the external costs based on the environmental impact results. This has been set for each product group and integrated into environmental LCC to compare the external with the internal costs, in far as possible with the data available. The methodologies have been tied together in Chapter 6 using MFCA; results correspond to the market share specified in Chapter 3 by MFA. We found that, among the studied products, unbleached pulp and plywood production have the highest economic and environmental costs at €32.36/€15.13 and €27.22/€7.14, respectively. That means that the best use of raw timber is as construction wood due to two reasons: first, the long lifespan of construction wood compared to other studied products; second, not only is less energy is required in the production process, but chemical materials are also absent from the process. This study proposes a suitable methodology framework for the economic and environmental assessment of forest products and other industries. Moreover, this work reviews the design and monitoring of wood from a sustainable resource and environmental impact perspective The environmental impacts costs (external costs or externalities) and key internal costs have been estimated for studied product groups. [...]
2
Song, Danbee. "Effects of the ISO 14001 Voluntary Environmental Program on Economic and Environmental Performance." The Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1560641816980076.
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Bollmann, Chad A. (Chad Arnold) 1974. "Optimization of DUPIC cycle environmental and economic performance." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45495.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Nuclear Engineering; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-111).
A study of the DUPIC (Direct Use of Spent PWR Fuel In CANDU) cycle was made to analyze cycle performance relative to that of PWR and CANDU fuel cycles in terms of uranium utilization and spent fuel production efficiency. The DUPIC cycle was found to be most efficient in terms of minimizing spent fuel production as well as most efficient (within limits) in terms of maximizing natural uranium utilization. It was found minimally productive to change PWR fuel management practices in order to extend burnup in the CANDU portion of the cycle. A policy analysis regarding potential implementation of the DUPIC cycle in North America, between the U.S. and Canada, was also made. CASMO computer models of PWR, CANDU, and CANFLEX fuel assemblies were created and benchmarked. The PWR models were then used to develop analytical correlations that predict PWR spent fuel isotopic compositions. Correlations that predict reactivity gain and burnup increase in CANDU reactors due to AIROX processing of PWR spent fuel were created. An estimate of fission product removal fractions during AIROX processing was developed. An integrated model that predicts CANDU discharge burnup extension due to the use of spent PWR fuel and AIROX processing was completed and used to analyze and compare the DUPIC cycle to other fuel cycles. The potential issues involved in implementation of a DUPIC cycle between the U.S. and Canada were examined. Stakeholders and influential groups were identified and their values were projected. A significant unresolved issue centers around which nation assumes custody of the DUPIC spent fuel and the disposal costs of that fuel. A plan for DUPIC cycle implementation was developed.
by Chad A. Bollmann.
S.M.
4
Boronos, V., and Zh Pronikova. "Economic analysis methods motivation to practice environmental performance of economic entities." Thesis, Sumy State University, 2015. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/40711.
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Today, the dynamic development of the world economy leads to an aggravation of the ecological situation. Climate change, water shortage, soil erosion, genetic and electromagnetic pollution and so lead to the fact that countries and the international community have to find new ways to reduce ekodestruktyvnoho human impact on nature. In this regard, each state independently develops methods for greening business.
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Kuusela, Olli-Pekka. "Three Essays in Natural Resource and Environmental Economics." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/50508.
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This dissertation analyses the impact of political and macroeconomic uncertainties on environmental outcomes and design of policy instruments. The first essay examines how the rate of agricultural land expansion in tropical countries depends on the nature and persistence of new political regimes. We use a novel panel data method that extends previous studies. We find that both new autocratic and democratic regimes have accelerated the expansion of agricultural land, thus yielding support to some of the findings in the earlier literature. Interesting differences emerge between regions, with the impact being most pronounced in Latin America. The analysis is developed more formally using a simple competitive land use model with political regime dependent confiscation risk and agricultural subsidy policy. The second essay evaluates the effectiveness of performance bonding for tropical forest concession management in achieving first and second best outcomes concerning reduced impact logging (RIL) standards. As a novel contribution, this essay introduces a simple model of two-stage concession design, and focus on the impact of three complications: harvester participation constraints, government repayment risk, and imperfect enforcement. We find several new and interesting results, in particular, imperfect enforcement and bond risk may deter implementation of bonding schemes as either the bond payment has to be set higher or the penalty mapping has to become more punitive. Policy implications, including potential for mechanisms such as REDD+ in improving the bonding outcomes, and the degree of financial support required to guarantee full implementation of RIL, are also examined. The third essay focuses on the relative performance of fixed versus intensity allowances in the presence of both productivity and energy price uncertainties. Both allowance instruments achieve the same steady-state emissions reduction target of 20%, which is similar to the current policy proposals, and the regulator then chooses the allowance policy that has the lowest expected abatement cost. We use a standard real business cycle (RBC) model to solve for the expected abatement cost under both policies. Unlike previous studies, our results show that under a reasonable model calibration, fixed allowances outperform intensity allowances with as much as 30% cost difference.Ph. D.
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Arndt, Stephanie, Gunnar Gaitzsch, Carsten Gnauck, Christoph Höhne, Anne-Karen Hüske, Thomas Kretzschmar, Ulrike Lange, Katrin Lehmann, and André Süss. "The Relation between Corporate Economic and Corporate Environmental Performance." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2011. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-38454.
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For almost 40 years researchers have been trying to identify the relationship between corporate environmental and corporate economic performance. Neither theoretical debate nor empirical studies investigating the relationship show conclusive results. Within a field research seminar at Technische Universität Dresden, nine students conducted a meta-analysis of 124 studies to assess different aspects of the relationship between corporate economic and corporate environmental performance. In the first part of our paper, we analyze and present the theoretical background based on a review of literature. In the second part, we test for empirical evidence. At first, the conceptual frameworks and measurement methods for corporate economic and corporate environmental performance are discussed. We also look at the impact of environmental performance on shareholder value. Thereafter, we examine the influence of time, industries and publication bias. In conclusion, our research indicates that the quality of journals merits further examination to improve results.
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Lusth, Tobias. "The Effect of Environmental Policy Instruments : -An empirical study of the OECD countries’ environmental performance." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Nationalekonomi, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-146282.
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The concept of environmental performance is in this study regarded as either countries’ carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per capita, or an index that considers not only reduction in emission levels but also produced output. Two environmental policies that are available for mitigating CO2 emissions will be discussed. First, the use of environmentally related taxes (ERT:s), where both a general measure and specific ozone tax is used when examining the effect of ERT:s on environmental performance. The results are ambiguous and in many cases not statistically significant. Second, the effect on countries’ environmental performance caused by participating in the EU ETS system is tested. A conclusion that can be made is, that participating in the EU ETS system reduces CO2 emissions per capita. Time lags of one and four years are used to evaluate the rigidity of these two policies. The results are unclear, but the effect of a four-year lag seems to be stronger for the EU ETS case.
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Onabanjo, Tosin. "Techno-economic and environmental assessment of gas turbines utilizing biofuels." Thesis, Cranfield University, 2015. http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/9280.
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The continued global reliance on fossil fuels with impact on resource depletion, human health, atmospheric pollution and environmental degradation has necessitated a global drive to integrate renewable fuels such as biodiesels. Biodiesels are described as “fuels composed of fatty acid methyl or ethyl esters and obtained from vegetable oils or animal fats”. Their use in energy generation could diversify the world’s energy mix, reduce fossil fuel dependence, reduce emissions and energy cost to bring about other economic benefits, especially for developing economies and rural communities with lack of adequate access to modern energy. A techno-economic and environmental life cycle assessment is however required to ensure that these fuels are fit for use in engines and meet any regulatory standard and sustainability criteria. This thesis has evaluated the use of Jatropha- and microalgae-biodiesel for power generation in two industrial gas turbines with open and combined cycle configuration. This was achieved using a techno-economic and environmental life cycle impact assessment framework. Comparative fuel assessments have been carried out between biodiesels and fossil fuels. Furthermore, the concept of microbial fuel degradation was examined in gas turbines. The thesis have identified Jatropha biodiesel as a worthwhile substitute for conventional diesel fuel, because it has close performance and emission characteristics to conventional diesel fuel with added advantage of being renewable. The consequent displacement of conventional diesel fuel with Jatropha biodiesel has significant environmental benefits. For economic viability and sustainability of gas turbine operated power plants, energy producers require a minimum monetary amount to recover the added cost of operating 100% Jatropha biodiesel. Other integration mechanisms are also available for utilizing the fuel in engines without compromising on plant’s economic performance. In worst case scenarios, where there are no government incentives, local conditions such as high life cycle cost of electricity, open opportunities for distributed and independent power generation from renewable fuels like Jatropha-biodiesel. Furthermore, this thesis has identified salient energy conversion processes that occur in gas turbine fuels, especially with biodiesels and developed a bio-mathematical model, Bio-fAEG to simulate these processes in gas turbines. This platform is a first step in quantifiable assessment and could enable a better understanding of microbial initiated processes.
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Sanchez, Rodrigues Vasco Augusto. "Uncertainties affecting the economic and environmental performance of freight transport operations." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2010. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/55483/.
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The mitigation of supply chain uncertainty within transport operations can minimise the risk of disruptions in the delivery process, so transport resources can be utilised in the most efficient and least polluting manner. The overall aim of this thesis is to link the uncertainties originating within the supply chain and externally with the economic and environmental performance of road freight transport operations and also to identify potential mitigation tools and/or approaches to minimise their effects. In the deductive stage, a conceptual model was developed by adapting existing manufacturing-focused uncertainty frameworks. This model has been refined through the application of focus groups and confirmed in a structured questionnaire-based survey. The outcome was the four main uncertainty clusters that affect transport operations in the UK. These uncertainty clusters are: delays, variable demand and/or inaccurate forecast, delivery constraints and insufficient supply chain integration and coordination. Furthermore, the main uncertainty cause found in the focus groups was unplanned road congestion. In the inductive stage, uncertainty evaluation assessments in three FMCG distribution networks were undertaken to evaluate the effects that different uncertainty causes have on the economic and environmental performance of such operations. An "extra distance" measure was developed for these assessments, further complemented by including the time dimension of performance in two of them. As a result of this, a new and innovative transport uncertainty evaluation tool has been developed. The main uncertainty clusters found in the deductive stage of the research are the uncertainty clusters found in the deductive stage of the research are those that contribute more to the generation of unnecessary kilometres run within the distribution networks assessed.
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Jammernegg, Werner, and Heidrun Rosic. "The economic and environmental performance of dual sourcing: A newsvendor approach." Elsevier, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2012.12.007.
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We extend the dual sourcing model based on the newsvendor framework by considering the
environmental impact of transport. In our context, dual sourcing means that a company, e.g.
a retailer, uses an offshore and an onshore supplier. We include environmental regulations for
transport in the model. Firstly, emission taxes for the transport from the offshore source are
considered. It can be shown that with increasing emissions taxes the company sources less from
offshore. This improves the environmental performance but the economic performance (expected
profit) is severely harmed. Secondly, we propose that an emission trading scheme is valid for
transport activities. In this case, the optimal policy turns out to be a two-sided control-limit
policy. If the emission limit (expressed in product units) is set to the minimal offshore order
quantity the environmental impact of transport can be reduced while the economic performance
is nearly not affected. Thus, from managerial perspective emission trading is preferred to an
emission tax on transport. Also from the perspective of policy-making emission trading is reasonable
as it helps to limit the negative environmental impact of transport but does not strongly
reduce the competitiveness of individual companies.
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Mobus, Janet Luft. "Environmental Accounting: The Relationship Between Pollution Performance and Economic Performance in Oil and Gas Refineries." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1997. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc279042/.
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A research study is undertaken to determine if economic incentives exist for noncompliance with regulatory standards, and if accounting related disclosure of regulatory enforcement actions is a determinant of environmental performance.
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Jiang, Shirley. "MONEY AND THE ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE LOBBYING AND FIRM ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2018. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1979.
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In the U.S. firms spend millions of dollars each year on climate lobbying. Climate lobbying is often seen as “dirty” firms lobbying against environmental regulations; however, my study reveals a subset of major climate lobbying contributors actually have positive environmental performance records. This paper analyzes the relationship between firm-level environmental performance indicators and climate lobbying expenditures. To explore this relationship, I combine a firm level climate lobbying expenditures dataset from the Center for Responsive Politics, financial measures from Compustat and CRSP, and environmental performance indicators from MSCI. My results indicate more climate lobbying among firms that derive substantial revenues from products and services with environmental benefits and those with proactive carbon emission reduction policies/technologies
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Onita, John. "How does industrial symbiosis influence environmental performance?" Thesis, Linköping University, The Tema Institute, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-7766.
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A collaborative approach to industry-environment issues is acknowledged as a key aspect of sustainable development. Sincerely, resource sharing among firms offers the potential to increase stability of operations, especially in supply-constrained areas, by ensuring that access to important inputs such as water, energy and raw materials are guaranteed. Industrial Symbiosis (IS), a sub-field of Industrial Ecology, is primarily concerned with the cyclical flow of resources through networks of industrial units as a means of cooperatively approaching environmentally sustainable industrial activity. In line with this principle, a critical assessment of the change in environmental performance brought about by industrial symbiosis (IS) was conducted in nineteen selected eco-industrial park case studies identified in all regions of the world with the exception of the African continent. Case study selection criteria were based on models of eco-industrial parks proposed by Chertow (2000). A description of the type of material exchanges that go on in each case study was carried out which revealed evidence of implemented synergies in respective case studies. A comparative assessment of cross-case patterns which is a semi-quantitative matrix used to quantify the degree of environmental performance showed that there was a clear evidence of improved environmental performance among respective case studies investigated where water, energy and material flows served as indicators. Results obtained from the study showed a common pattern of industrial presence in respective case studies reflecting the occurrence of heavy process industries such as oil refineries, cement industries, petrochemical industries, and steel industries. The principle of “anchor tenant” proposed by some experts in the field of industrial ecology was strongly supported by the obtained results. Symbiotic cooperation among participating firms in respective case studies were mainly on areas like cogeneration, re-use of materials, recycling and wastewater treatment and re-use.
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Khodabandeh, Afsaneh, and Diala Nahra. "Do The CSR activities help to attain Sustainability in SMEs within the Swedish Pharmaceutical Industry?" Thesis, Högskolan i Gävle, Avdelningen för ekonomi, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-26214.
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Aim and method: This study aims to investigate the implementation of CSR activities to attain sustainability in SMEs by focusing on the pharmaceutical industry in Sweden.To achieve the aim of this study, qualitative method has been used to conduct multiple case study of 10 SMEs in the pharmaceutical industry in Sweden. Result and conclusion: This study has shown that the CSR activities in the studied pharmaceutical SMEs are at the primary stage as most of them currently go through research and development. There is no balance between three aspects of the CSR(social, environmental and economic), and CSR activities could not be fully implemented to maintain holistic sustainability. Ethics seems to have a high impact on CSR activities in the pharmaceutical sector, especially due to its involvement in the betterment of lives all over the world. Thus, in a way, this industry is ethically responsible for providing affordable treatments. Contribution: The present study contributes to the literature by investigating the CSR activities in the Swedish pharmaceutical SMEs and their ability to attain sustainability in terms of employment, society, revenues and supporting the economy. A new framework, which consists of three pillars namely ethical, environmental and social, could be used to assess the CSR activities in order to achieve sustainability in SMEs. In this framework, ethics would be a pillar of the CSR instead of the economic one.
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Tekin, Ilknur Mary Joy Nirmala. "Green Index: Integration of Environmental Performance, Green Innovativeness and Financial Performance." PDXScholar, 2014. http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/1815.
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The integration of sustainability performance of companies is becoming increasingly important. The recent global requirements (i.e. the Kyoto Protocol) for significant reduction of the negative impact of companies on the environment over the next 6 years have been putting pressure on the companies, requiring them to lower the negative environmental impact of market performance. This requirement challenges the profitable growth of the companies' business functions, given the change needed for business operations to improve on their environmental impact.
In this dissertation a new corporate sustainability performance index, called: The Green Index, for measuring and assessing the integrated sustainability performance of companies is developed. The Green Index integrates Environmental Performance, Green Innovativeness and Financial Performance, by quantifying the expert opinions toward their integration. Development of the Green Index is a holistic approach in defining and measuring "green" performance for companies, integrated into their market performance. Green Index, for the first time in the literature, introduces Green Innovativeness in defining and measuring Green Performance of companies, in integration with Environmental and Financial Performance.
In the literature and business practices, there are various sustainability indices used, and methodological approaches in measuring corporate sustainability performance with more than hundred performance indicators. The Green Index, uniquely refers to the collective expert opinion of management researchers, executive managers of corporations, high-tech companies' R&D managers, financial managers, corporate social responsibility managers, in defining a shorter list of 29 performance measures under the three core performance dimensions. Hierarchical Decision Modeling is used for the development of Green Index based on experts' collective decisions. At the next level, desirability levels for each one of the 29 performance measures are scaled by a group of angel investors and investors. And their collective desirability quantifications are used toward the application of the Green Index to quantify the Green Index value for a set of scenario analyses for alternative company performance states.
Green Index fills a major gap in the scholarly literature and business practices. It meets the needs prioritized in the near future strategy of World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) towards development of new performance metrics and business models for industries that are financially successful while innovating with green products as they are reducing their negative environmental impact (WBCSD Annual Report 2010, 2011).
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Corbo, Leonardo <1983>. "Collaborative Change: Environmental Jolt, Network (Re)Design and Firm Performance." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2012. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/4489/1/corbo_leonardo_tesi.pdf.
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Motivated by the need to understand which are the underlying forces that trigger network evolution, we develop a multilevel theoretical and empirically testable model to examine the relationship between changes in the external environment and network change. We refer to network change as the dissolution or replacement of an interorganizational tie, adding also the case of the formation of new ties with new or preexisting partners. Previous research has paid scant attention to the organizational consequences of quantum change enveloping entire industries in favor of an emphasis on continuous change. To highlight radical change we introduce the concept of environmental jolt. The September 11 terrorist attacks provide us with a natural experiment to test our hypotheses on the antecedents and the consequences of network change. Since network change can be explained at multiple levels, we incorporate firm-level variables as moderators. The empirical setting is the global airline industry, which can be regarded as a constantly changing network of alliances. The study reveals that firms react to environmental jolts by forming homophilous ties and transitive triads as opposed to the non jolt periods. Moreover, we find that, all else being equal, firms that adopt a brokerage posture will have positive returns. However, we find that in the face of an environmental jolt brokerage relates negatively to firm performance. Furthermore, we find that the negative relationship between brokerage and performance during an environmental jolt is more significant for larger firms. Our findings suggest that jolts are an important predictor of network change, that they significantly affect operational returns and should be thus incorporated in studies of network dynamics.
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Corbo, Leonardo <1983>. "Collaborative Change: Environmental Jolt, Network (Re)Design and Firm Performance." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2012. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/4489/.
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Motivated by the need to understand which are the underlying forces that trigger network evolution, we develop a multilevel theoretical and empirically testable model to examine the relationship between changes in the external environment and network change. We refer to network change as the dissolution or replacement of an interorganizational tie, adding also the case of the formation of new ties with new or preexisting partners. Previous research has paid scant attention to the organizational consequences of quantum change enveloping entire industries in favor of an emphasis on continuous change. To highlight radical change we introduce the concept of environmental jolt. The September 11 terrorist attacks provide us with a natural experiment to test our hypotheses on the antecedents and the consequences of network change. Since network change can be explained at multiple levels, we incorporate firm-level variables as moderators. The empirical setting is the global airline industry, which can be regarded as a constantly changing network of alliances. The study reveals that firms react to environmental jolts by forming homophilous ties and transitive triads as opposed to the non jolt periods. Moreover, we find that, all else being equal, firms that adopt a brokerage posture will have positive returns. However, we find that in the face of an environmental jolt brokerage relates negatively to firm performance. Furthermore, we find that the negative relationship between brokerage and performance during an environmental jolt is more significant for larger firms. Our findings suggest that jolts are an important predictor of network change, that they significantly affect operational returns and should be thus incorporated in studies of network dynamics.
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McCullough, Gerard John. "Essays on the economic performance of U.S. freight railroads under deregulation." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/12237.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 154-156).
by Gerard J. McCullough.
Ph.D.
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Mulwa, Richard M. "Economic and environmental performance of sugarcane production in Kenya non-parametric frontier approaches." Weikersheim Margraf, 2006. http://deposit.d-nb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?id=2939503&prov=M&dok_var=1&dok_ext=htm.
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Prinsloo, Thomas Frederik. "Does it pay to be green? : an empirical study of the South African mining industry / T.F. Prinsloo." Thesis, North-West University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/4615.
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In recent years, the growing importance of environmental and social issues has put pressure on companies to implement environmental and social systems. With the pressure on companies to improve environmental performance, environmental management accounting can provide a valuable tool that enables companies to respond to environmental challenges. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between environmental performance and economic performance in the South African mining industry and also to identify and evaluate the opportunities to improve both a company's environmental performance and economic performance.
In this study, scatter plot diagrams were used to determine the relationship between environmental performance and economic performance in the South African mining industry. Ten South African mining companies were selected for the study and their financial information as well as environmental information for the period 2005 to 2009 was used.
After the analysis of the scatter plot diagrams was done, it was found that it pays to be green for coal–mining companies, but not for gold– and platinum–mining companies. This study also identified that environmental management accounting is essential to identify and effectively manage environmental costs to improve environmental performance and that it is a very important tool to help companies to implement environmentally friendly programmes for ensuring a company's long–term strategic position. Despite all the risks and challenges facing the mining industry, opportunities to improve a company's environmental performance and economic performance, include emissions trading, development of new technologies, investing in projects in renewable energy and an increase in demand of mining products due to the effects of climate change. ii
The value of the study is that it is the first study to investigate the relationship between environmental performance and economic performance in the South African mining industry. This study is also unique as it takes into account how investors see the company in terms of environmental performance. This study uses economic performance measures from an internal and external point of view and not merely from an internal point of view like the previous studies. Companies in the mining industry as well as investors can use the findings presented in this study to realise the importance of preserving the environment as well as the importance of triple bottom line accounting.Thesis (M.Com. (Management Accounting))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.
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Abaad, Abdelmanam. "Design, techno-economic and environmental risk assessment of aero-derivative industrial gas turbine." Thesis, Cranfield University, 2012. http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/7929.
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Increased availability of natural gas has boosted research and
development efforts to further increase gas turbine performance. Performance
has been increased remarkably and unit cost reduced due to achievements
gained in improving thermodynamic cycles and cooling technologies. However,
increased complexity in power industry regulations and fluctuations in fuel price
have indicated that all the aforementioned improvements in gas turbine
performance could not cope with the increased competition in the gas turbine
industrial market. Innovation within the aero-derivative concept has enabled
further significant improvement in the performance of industrial gas turbines. It
allows a more beneficial approach than developing new designs of industrial
gas turbines owing to reduced designing time and cost. Objectives in this
project focus on developing a methodology of design and assessing aeroderivative
gas turbine engines derived from a 130-seat aircraft engine.
Developed methodology includes techno-economic and environmental
assessment, conducted through further developments of models based on
Techno-economic and Environmental Risk Assessment (TERA) philosophy, to
be applied in further industrial applications.
Tools used in this investigation include a significant literature research on
the development of aero-derivative gas turbine technologies, including
thermodynamic cycles and its land-based applications. Turbomatch is a homebased
code developed in Cranfield University, used in calculating design point
and predicting off-design performance of parent aero-engine and the aeroderivative
engines developed. Excel and FORTRAN code are also used in
calculating engine’s design parameters, and creating a model of life estimation
Creep. Moreover, FORTRAN code is used for building emission and economic
models for power generation and combined heat and power applications.
Finally, MATLAP code is used in creating a small model for generating
performance TXT files, and running marine integrated models platform. All models needed to develop the methodology have been created, and
calculations of an engine’s performance and assessment were conducted
based on this developed methodology. Sensible results are generated from the
investigated methodology and they show acceptable designs of aero-derivative
engines on different thermodynamic cycles. Based on the acceptable level of
technology and material thermal barriers, all design and off-design performance
limitations of new developed aero-derivative engines have been determined for
a wide range of ambient conditions. Techno-economic and environmental
assessment performed through implementing the developed aero-derivative
engines on power generation and marine applications under different operating
scenarios. Results of operating the engines on power generation and marine
applications have been investigated and compared. It is observed that engines
respond differently when operating under different environmental profiles,
depending on the number of units engaged and their thermodynamic cycle as
well as mechanical configurations. Also, the selected specific gas turbine
engine can be the best economical choice for operating on determined
scenario, while it cannot be when operating in different scenarios. Assessment
of developed engines on the investigated application shows how the lowest
specific cost (small engine size) can constitute important criteria in engine
selection.
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Tindall, Nathaniel W. "Analyses of sustainability goals: Applying statistical models to socio-economic and environmental data." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/54259.
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This research investigates the environment and development issues of three stakeholders at multiple scales—global, national, regional, and local. Through the analysis of financial, social, and environmental metrics, the potential benefits and risks of each case study are estimated, and their implications are considered.
In the first case study, the relationship of manufacturing and environmental performance is investigated. Over 700 facilities of a global manufacturer that produce 11 products on six continents were investigated to understand global variations and determinants of environmental performance. Water, energy, carbon dioxide emissions, and production data from these facilities were analyzed to assess environmental performance; the relationship of production composition at the individual firm and environmental performance were investigated. Location-independent environmental performance metrics were combined to provide both global and local measures of environmental performance. These models were extended to estimate future water use, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions considering potential demand shifts. Natural resource depletion risks were investigated, and mitigation strategies related to vulnerabilities and exposure were discussed. The case study demonstrated how data from multiple facilities can be used to characterize the variability amongst facilities and to preview how changes in production may affect overall corporate environmental metrics. The developed framework adds a new approach to account for environmental performance and degradation as well as assess potential risk in locations where climate change may affect the availability of production resources (i.e., water and energy) and thus, is a tool for understanding risk and maintaining competitive advantage.
The second case study was designed to address the issue of delivering affordable and sustainable energy. Energy pricing was evaluated by modeling individual energy consumption behaviors. This analysis simulated a heterogeneous set of residential households in both the urban and rural environments in order to understand demand shifts in the residential energy end-use sector due to the effects of electricity pricing. An agent-based model (ABM) was created to investigate the interactions of energy policy and individual household behaviors; the model incorporated empirical data on beliefs and perceptions of energy. The environmental beliefs, energy pricing grievances, and social networking dynamics were integrated into the ABM model structure. This model projected the aggregate residential sector electricity demand throughout the 30-year time period as well as distinguished the respective number of households who only use electricity, that use solely rely on indigenous fuels, and that incorporate both indigenous fuels and electricity. The model is one of the first characterizations of household electricity demand response and fuel transitions related to energy pricing at the individual household level, and is one of the first approaches to evaluating consumer grievance and rioting response to energy service delivery. The model framework is suggested as an innovative tool for energy policy analysis and can easily be revised to assist policy makers in other developing countries.
In the final case study, a framework was developed for a broad cost-benefit and greenhouse gas evaluation of transit systems and their associated developments. A case study was developed of the Atlanta BeltLine. The net greenhouse gas emissions from the BeltLine light rail system will depend on the energy efficiency of the streetcars themselves, the greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity used to power the streetcars, the extent to which people use the BeltLine instead of driving personal vehicles, and the efficiency of their vehicles. The effects of ridership, residential densities, and housing mix on environmental performance were investigated and were used to estimate the overall system efficacy. The range of the net present value of this system was estimated considering health, congestion, per capita greenhouse gas emissions, and societal costs and benefits on a time-varying scale as well as considering the construction and operational costs. The 95% confidence interval was found with a range bounded by a potential loss of $860 million and a benefit of $2.3 billion; the mean net present value was $610 million. It is estimated that the system will generate a savings of $220 per ton of emitted CO2 with a 95% confidence interval bounded by a potential social cost of $86 cost per ton CO2 and a savings of $595 per ton CO2.
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Gilbraith, Nathaniel. "Evaluating How Demand Side Resources Affect the Environmental and Economic Performance of Energy Systems." Research Showcase @ CMU, 2015. http://repository.cmu.edu/dissertations/671.
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The recent history of energy systems is succinctly summarized as building enough energy extraction, conversion, and delivery infrastructure to meet growing energy demand. Among the benefits of this energy systems framework, we observe that access to modern energy services helps to improve peoples’ standards of living and energy consumption has been positively correlated with gross domestic product. Among the draw backs of focusing solely on the supply side of energy extraction, conversion, delivery, and consumption are concerns regarding inefficient energy consumption (i.e. over-consumption of energy) and the growing evidence of large energy-related human, environmental, and climate impacts. As governments begin to recognize the economic and environmental costs of additional supply side infrastructure, governments, academic institutions, and advocacy groups highlight the “low hanging” nature of demand side interventions. On the surface, demand side interventions offer a win-win situation: use technology or data to identify energy consuming processes that can be optimized (i.e. reduced) or incur very large energy system costs. The energy system becomes more “cost effective” when incentives or regulations can decrease the energy consumption of those processes at a lower cost than actually meeting the baseline energy demand of those processes. This Dissertation goes further and evaluates how these energy saving policies, incentives, and regulations interact with our existing energy systems in ways that are not immediately apparent. In the second chapter, I assess how mandatory commercial building energy codes can reduce air pollutant emissions and provide social benefits. The U.S. government currently does not use estimates of the benefits of codes to determine the appropriate level of policy stringency 5 or set adoption incentives and thus systematic estimates of social benefits are necessary. Quantitative estimates of code benefits at the state level that can inform the size and allocation of these incentives are not available. We estimate the state-level climate, environmental, and health benefits (i.e., social benefits) and reductions in energy bills (private benefits) of a more stringent code (ASHRAE 90.1-2010) relative to a baseline code (ASHRAE 90.1-2007). We find that reductions in site energy use intensity range from 93 MJ/m2 of new construction per year (California) to 270 MJ/m2 of new construction per year (North Dakota). Total annual benefits from more stringent codes total $506 million for all states, where $372 is from reductions in energy bills, and $134 is from social benefits. These total benefits ranges from $0.6 million in Wyoming to $49 million in Texas. Private benefits range from $0.38 per square meter in Washington State to $1.06 per square meter in New Hampshire. Social benefits range from $0.04 per square meter annually in California to $0.50 per meter foot in Ohio. Reductions in human/environmental damages and future climate damages account for nearly equal shares of social benefits. In the third chapter, I explore how improvements in building natural gas energy efficiency can help natural gas utilities avoid capital intensive natural gas system infrastructure investments. Recent periods of pipeline congestion, high natural gas and electricity prices, and controversial infrastructure proposals have increased the public and policymaker scrutiny of the existing natural gas system infrastructure and investment process. In order to help inform the debate of New England’s energy system options, we estimate the benefits of natural gas end-use efficiency programs for utilities in New England. In particular, we model how efficiency programs affect utility firm pipeline capacity purchases and the excess capacity that utilities resell in the short-term capacity markets (i.e. the “capacity value” of the efficiency program). We 6 find that when the utility currently owns sufficient pipeline capacity to meet demand projections, the capacity value of natural gas energy efficiency measures is high because implementing an efficiency program allows the utility to resell additional excess capacity in the high-value, shortterm resale market: $4 to $5 per thousand cubic feet (MCF) of natural gas savings over the life of the space heating efficiency program and $3 per MCF for water heating efficiency programs. When the utility needs to purchase additional firm pipeline capacity to meet projected demand growth, the efficiency program may avoid part of the planned purchase but also resells less excess capacity. For this scenario, the capacity value of space heating efficiency programs is approximately -$2 to -$3 per MCF of natural gas savings, and $1 per MCF for water heating efficiency programs. Given the current capacity situation of utilities across New England, our findings suggest that some existing natural gas efficiency programs in southern New England (CT, MA, RI) may not be cost effective while a greater number of natural gas efficiency programs in northern New England (ME, NH) may be cost effective. The capacity value of natural gas efficiency programs, and thus the cost effectiveness of these programs, is sensitive to the revenue that utilities receive when they sell excess capacity in the short-term market. We recommend that public utility commissions consider including the revenue that utilities receive from reselling excess capacity in the cost effectiveness testing framework for efficiency programs. PUCs could accomplish this by valuing excess pipeline capacity at the basis differential between New England and production areas or by working with utilities and other stakeholders to identify a mutually agreeable value. In the fourth chapter, I quantify how allowing residential consumer to self-provide electric energy using distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays will change overall electricity 7 system costs in Portugal. Further, I quantify the distribution of the benefits of solar PV among solar panel owning and non-solar panel owning ratepayers. In 2008, the European Parliament adopted the European Commission’s (EC) “20-20-20” goals in order to address global climate change concerns and to tap the potential economic and energy security benefits of energy systems based on renewable energy resources. Under the 20-20-20 package, Portugal needs to produce 60% of total electricity using renewable energy sources (or RES) by 2020. However, the total cost of subsidy policies that lead this transition now account for approximately 33% of residential consumers electricity bills. In light of both the 20-20-20 climate goals and the increasing need to achieve these goals in a cost effective manner, we quantifying the benefits and costs of distributed solar PV in Portugal for panel owners, ratepayers as a whole, and the specific group of ratepayers that does not own solar panels. We measure the benefits and costs of distributed solar PV from these perspectives by computing and comparing the present value of the cost of a distributed solar PV array, the present value of grid electricity purchases that solar panel owners avoid, and the present value of grid generation and delivery costs that the grid avoids when panel owners consume less electricity. We find that solar PV is net present value positive for the average Portuguese electricity ratepayer that owns a solar array. The most attractive option for an average consumer is a 500W array, with a net present value of 700-800€ relative to a present cost of about 1500€. On the other hand, distributed solar PV generation has a higher cost than using the grid to produce and deliver a marginal unit of electricity during periods that solar PV arrays generate electricity. Ratepayers as a whole pay 900-2600€ more in total costs for each kilowatt of distributed solar PV capacity that panel owners install; the 500 W solar array increases total system costs by 1600€. Further, panel owners also avoid paying sunk grid costs, such as revenue guarantees to other renewable 8 generators and the costs of grid infrastructure. In order to recover these sunk costs from ratepayers, retail prices will increase for all consumers. As a result, non-panel owners will pay an additional 1600€ in bills (total across all non-panel owners) for each 500W array that panel owners install. This is equivalent to a 140€/MWh subsidy to panel owners, which is larger than the subsidy that many other Portuguese generators receive but smaller than the subsidy for existing solar PV arrays. Portuguese policy-makers could reduce this subsidy by instituting some type of solar PV fee (more straightforward) or changing the rate structure such that retail prices more closely reflect underlying costs (more complex). Alternatively, Portuguese policy makers could maintain the existing policy. The subsidy per unit of installed solar PV will not change; however, the large number of consumers that live in multi-family housing (and may not be able to install solar PV) suggests that the total value of the subsidy from panel owners to non-panel owners will remain limited.
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Daniel, Shantha Esther. "The economic and environmental performance of cogeneration under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act." [Ames, Iowa : Iowa State University], 2009.
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Barker, Greg. "Using economic and regulatory approaches to improve the environmental performance of buildings in South Africa." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5288.
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Allet, Marion. "Microfinance and the environmental bottom line." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/209516.
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Microfinance has strongly developed over the past decades on the promise of reaching a double bottom line of financial viability and social impact. Recently, some actors have started to advocate that microfinance, to be truly responsible, should include a third environmental objective as well. However, little scientific knowledge exists today on environmental management within microfinance institutions (MFIs). The objective of this PhD thesis is to shed light on how MFIs manage their environmental bottom line. More specifically, we identify the strategies adopted by MFIs to improve their environmental bottom line, we propose a new framework to assess the environmental performance of MFIs, and we analyze their motives for going green, the characteristics of MFIs involved in environmental management, and the challenges that they face when implementing environmental programs./La microfinance s’est fortement développée ces dernières années sur la base d’une double promesse :celle d’atteindre une viabilité financière tout en ayant un impact social. Récemment, certains acteurs ont commencé à déclarer que la microfinance, afin d’être véritablement responsable, devrait inclure un troisième objectif, environnemental. Aujourd’hui, les connaissances scientifiques liées à la gestion environnementale au sein des institutions de microfinance (IMF) sont toutefois limitées. Cette thèse s’intéresse donc à la manière dont les IMF gèrent leur impact environnemental. Plus particulièrement, elle identifie les stratégies adoptées par les IMF pour améliorer leur performance environnementale, propose un outil de mesure de la performance environnementale des IMF, et analyse leurs motivations pour devenir vertes, les caractéristiques des IMF engagées dans la gestion environnementale, et les défis auxquels elles sont confrontées lors de la mise en œuvre de programmes environnementaux.Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished
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Mamouni, Limnios Elena Alexandra. "Incorporating complex systems dynamics in sustainability assessment frameworks : enhanced prediction and management of socio-ecological systems performance." University of Western Australia. Faculty of Business, 2008. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2009.0012.
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[Truncated abstract] The application of reductionism, breaking down problems to simpler components that can be solved and then aggregating the results, is one of the bases of classical science. However, living organisms, ecosystems, social and economic structures are complex systems, characterised by non-linear interactions between their elements and exhibit emergent properties that are not directly traceable to their components. Sustainability assessment frameworks oversimplify system interactions, achieving limited predictive capacity and causing managerial behavior that may reduce system's ability to adapt to external disturbance. Intrigued by the importance of complexity, we explore the central theme of how complex thinking can influence the understanding and progress towards sustainability. The purpose is to conceptualize the relationship of key terms (such as sustainability, functionality and resilience), and consecutively develop new or adjust existing sustainability frameworks to take into account complex systems interactions. We aim at developing theory and frameworks that can be used to raise awareness of the pitfalls of the growth paradigm and direct towards modest positions when managing complex systems. We seek to define the structural elements that influence system adaptive capacity, allowing identification of early signs of system rigidity or vulnerability and the development of knowledge and techniques that can improve our predictive and managerial ability. The focus has been on a variety of system scales and dynamics. At the collective community level, a number of stakeholder engagement practices and frameworks are currently available. However, there is limited awareness of the complexity challenges among stakeholders, who are commonly directed to a triple bottom line analysis aiming at maximizing a combination of outputs. An attempt is conducted to measure the functionality of the processes underlying a standing stock, in contrast to sustainability measures that only assess the variations of the standing stock itself. We develop the Index of Sustainable Functionality (ISF), a framework for the assessment of complex systems interactions within a large-scale geographic domain and apply it to the State of Western Australia. '...' Finally, we focus on smaller systems scales and develop a methodology for the calculation of Product Ecological Footprint (PEF) including elements from the accounting method of activity based costing. We calculate PEF for three apple production systems and identify significant differences from first stage calculations within the same industry. Cross-industry application will provide a practical way to link individuals' consumption with their ecological impact, reduce misperceptions of products' ecological impacts and develop a market-driven approach to internalizing environmental externalities. At the firm level PEF can be compared with investment costs, resulting in the opportunity to optimize both functions of financial cost and ecological impact in decision making. We have developed methods for incorporating complexity in sustainability assessment frameworks. Further work is required in testing and validating these methodologies at multiple system scales and conditions. Integrating such tools in decision making mechanisms will enhance long-term management of socioecological systems performance.
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Galeazzo, Ambra. "Environmental Management in Operations: Antecedents, Strategies, Performances." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Padova, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3422141.
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In the last few decades, the natural environment has increasingly received attention among policy makers, media and the international community. In such a context, firms have approached the environmental issue by developing different strategies and adopting practices that contribute to pollution reduction, resources savings and, more generally, to green efficiency.
The present Ph.D. dissertation blends together the natural environment and operations management. As plants are the major responsible of pollution in the industry, this thesis aims at investigating their environmental choices and actions within the framework of manufacturing strategy. The thesis consists of three papers, each corresponding to a chapter. The first one addresses the environmental issue from a general perspective and defines the role of environmental strategy as long as the drivers underlying higher proactiveness; the second one deals with the environment as a competitive priority to understand which firm-related characteristics affect environmentally oriented manufacturing strategies; and the final one analyses the implementation of green and lean practices and the effects on plant performance.
More precisely, the first chapter investigates the concept of proactive environmental strategy (PES). The literature has defined this strategy as a set of voluntary practices that go beyond mere compliance with regulations. In order to examine this concept and provide a narrower definition of PES, I first propose that PES is composed of two dimensions: the technical/organizational dimension and the embeddedness dimension. Second, I propose a theoretical framework that allows identification of different typologies in a firm’s environmental strategy. I finally outline the dynamics that drive shifts among PES typologies. In such a way, my final intention is to show that proactive environmental strategy is multidimensional and that there is not a unique definition of it, thus recommending an in-depth investigation of its position within the firm’s strategy.
The second chapter allows understanding the role of the natural environment within the manufacturing strategy. Particularly, I analyse the effects of the organizational context on the emphasis that plant managers place on the environmental priority compared to the competitive priorities of cost, quality, delivery, flexibility and innovation. A multinomial logit model is used to explore whether and to what extent the organizational context, proxied by plant- and supply chain-related characteristics, influences three clusters of different manufacturing strategic patterns: environmental-oriented group, balanced set group, and cost-oriented group. Data is collected from a survey of manufacturing plants from Canada in the fabricated metal products, machinery, electronics, and electrical appliances industries. The results highlight that the organizational context affects the emphasis managers put on the environmental issue. In particular, they show that an international supply chain leads the plant to adopt an environmental oriented strategy. This might be explained by arguing that plants are more exposed to environmental risks caused by their international stakeholders, thus threatening their image or raising the chances to monetary fines.
The final chapter analyses environmental management from a more operational perspective. Specifically, it contributes to the exploration of how lean and green practices might fit together to improve competitiveness. The relationship of lean manufacturing and environmental performance on the one side, and environmental management and operational performance on the other side, has widely been investigated but final benefits are still uncertain. Anyway, several researches have shown that some lean and green practices actually synergistically interact to improve plant performance. Using a case study methodology, the present paper aims to understand how the two sets of practices interact together and how they affect operational and environmental performance. Based on the analysis of three successful projects of two Italian plants, I find that the timing of implementation, i.e. sequential vs simultaneous, defines modes of managing lean and green practices, i.e. planning vs mutual adjustment, that ultimately affect plant performance. Finally, the findings identify what drivers foster lean practices and green practices to be synergic and jointly produce a positive impact on both environmental and operational performanceNegli ultimi decenni, l’ambiente è stato al centro di un crescente interesse tra regolamentatori, media e comunità internazionali. In tale contesto, le aziende si sono ritrovate ad affrontare la questione ambientale attraverso lo sviluppo di strategie e l’implementazione di pratiche atte a ridurre l’impatto inquinante, l’uso di risorse e, in generale, ad accrescere la propria efficienza in ottica green. La presente tesi di dottorato ha lo scopo di analizzare congiuntamente la questione ambientale e le operations. Questo tema è particolarmente interessante perché prende in considerazione le fabbriche, ovvero le principali responsabili di inquinamento, allo scopo di investigarne le scelte e le azioni ambientali nell’ambito della strategia manifatturiera. La tesi è formata da tre articoli, ognuno dei quali corrisponde ad un capitolo. Il primo tratta della questione ambientale partendo da una prospettiva generale e definendo qual è il ruolo della strategia ambientale e quali sono i fattori determinanti per accrescerne la proattività; il secondo considera l’aspetto ambientale come una possibile priorità competitiva e cerca di individuare i fattori legati alle caratteristiche dell’azienda che incidono su una strategia manifatturiera orientata alla protezione dell’ambiente; infine, l’ultimo capitolo esplora il processo di implementazione di pratiche lean e green nelle fabbriche e l’effetto che questo produce sulle performance. In particolare, il primo capitolo analizza il concetto di strategia ambientale proattiva (SAP). La letteratura ha definito questa strategia come un insieme di pratiche volontarie che non si limitano ad applicare le norme in materia ambientale. Allo scopo di formulare una puntuale definizione, dapprima identifico le dimensioni di SAP: una dimensione tecnica e organizzativa e una dimensione di intensità relazionale. Secondo, propongo una struttura teorica che permetta di individuare differenti tipologie di strategia ambientale. Infine, provo a delineare le spinte dinamiche che sono alla base dei cambiamenti tra una tipologia di SAP e l’altra. In questo modo, metto in evidenza che la strategia ambientale proattiva è multidimensionale e che non può essere definita univocamente, rendendo pertanto opportuno capirne il ruolo all’interno della strategia aziendale. Il secondo capitolo affronta il tema dell'ambiente naturale nell'ambito della strategia manifatturiera delle aziende. In particolare, lo scopo è analizzare gli effetti del contesto organizzativo sull'enfasi che i managers pongono sulla priorità ambientale con rispetto alle tradizionali priorità competitive di costo, qualità, consegna, flessibilità e innovazione. Grazie a una regressione logistica multinomiale, indago la relazione tra il contesto organizzativo, espresso in termini di caratteristiche dell'azienda e della catena di fornitura, e tre diverse possibili strategie manifatturiere: strategia orientata al sostegno ambientale; strategia orientata alla riduzione dei costi; e strategia con simile enfasi su tutte le priorità competitive. L'analisi empirica si basa su un campione di aziende manifatturiere canadesi operanti nei settori dei metalli, dei macchinari, dell’elettronica e delle apparecchiature elettroniche. I risultati dell'analisi evidenziano che il contesto organizzativo influisce sull'enfasi che i managers decidono di dare alla sostenibilità ambientale. Infatti, essi mostrano che quanto più la catena di fornitura si estende internazionalmente, ovvero i clienti e i fornitori sono dispersi in diverse aree geografiche, tanto più l'azienda adotta una strategia manifatturiera che pone enfasi sulla protezione dell'ambiente naturale. Questo è probabilmente motivato dal fatto che un'azienda ha maggiore difficoltà a controllare i potenziali rischi ambientali causati dai propri stakeholders operanti in diverse aree geografiche, dai quali possono derivare sanzioni pecunarie su pezzi importati non conformi alle norme e/o un danno alla propria visibilità a livello globale. L’ultimo capitolo affronta il tema della gestione ambientale da una prospettiva esclusivamente operativa. Nello specifico, questo articolo contribuisce a esplorare come le pratiche di lean management e le pratiche di green management possono essere implementate insieme per migliorare la competitività. La relazione tra lean manufacturing e performance ambientale da un lato, e tra gestione ambientale e performance operativa dall’altro, è stata ampiamente studiata ma senza arrivare a una visione univoca dei benefici che ne derivano. Tuttavia, un certo numero di ricerche hanno mostrato che alcune pratiche di lean e green sono complementari. Basandosi sulla metodologia dello studio di caso, il presente articolo ha lo scopo di capire come i due insiemi di pratiche interagiscono tra di loro e producono effetti sulle performance operative e ambientali. Attraverso l’analisi di tre progetti di successo di due aziende italiane, identifico che il timing di implementazione, sequenziale vs simultaneo, definisce le modalità di gestione delle pratiche da adottare – pianificazione vs mutuo aggiustamento. Questo aspetto ha un effetto significativo sulle performance dell'azienda in quanto l'approccio simultaneo porta a risultati maggiori rispetto all'approccio sequenziale. Infine, l'analisi dei casi mi permette di individuare i drivers che influenzano la relazione tra pratiche green e lean nell'implementazione di progetti ambientali
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Zilkens, Matthias. "Towards sustainability of wheat and maize cultivation in Beijing region : economic performance and environmental impacts /." Aachen : Shaker, 2004. http://www.gbv.de/dms/zbw/500401152.pdf.
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Walsh, John. "Anaerobic digestion : its potential to improve the economic and environmental performance of organic farming systems." Thesis, Bangor University, 2013. https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/anaerobic-digestion--its-potential-to-improve-the-economic-and-environmental-performance-of-organic-farming-systems(67bdfe0b-34a3-42e1-8260-3604b07d0a02).html.
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Håkansson, Caroline, and Kristin Salu. "Sustainability in the European Union : The Role of Financial Development in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Performance." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Nationalekonomi, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-176781.
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This thesis addresses the relationship between financial development and CSR performance, based on countries within the EU. The main objective of this thesis is to critically analyse and discuss the impact of financial development on CSR performance, through using ESG performance as a proxy. Additionally, this study aims at analysing the inclusion of institutional factors when examining the relationship. While the issue of how financial development impacts individual sustainability dimensions is quite well-researched, only one study is found to examine the precise relationship between financial development and ESG performance, concluding a positive linkage in Asia. No similar study is found in the region of the EU. We find the relationship to be complex, where various channels of influence are identified when examining ESG dimensions separately. To examine this relationship, we used panel data regression analysis, based on country level data for EU’s individual member states. Our findings show a complex relationship, implying that financial development has various impacts on ESG performance and varies throughout the range of financial development. This is in contrast to previous empirical research regarding the relationship, concluding an overall positive impact. This study provides no evidence that institutional factors affect the relationship between financial development and ESG performance, but argues for the importance of institutional inclusion, due to the identified influence on ESG practices through channels such as governing laws, regulations, norms and culture. Finally, financial development is concluded as an important catalyst to promote ESG performance within the EU. When suggesting any policy implementation, it is important to keep in mind that different countries within the EU may have different needs regarding the most efficient approach to increase ESG.
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Günther, Edeltraud, Thomas Günther, and Holger Hoppe. "Are environmental aspects value drivers for companies? A review of empirical studies." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2004. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:swb:14-1077795832156-35502.
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"Umweltaspekte und ihre Wertrelevanz für die Unternehmen: Eine Zusammenfassung existierender empirischer Forschungsergebnisse!" (diese Version ist nicht mehr aktuell! 03.04.2007)
The management of the value of a firm requires the identification of important value drivers. The main objective of the paper is to find out whether value based management (e.g. shareholder value oriented management) has to take into account environmental aspects. In order to answer this question, the paper will determine whether there is an empirically proven relationship between the economic and environmental performance of companies. The paper is divided into three main parts: The development of a basic theory, the examination of existing empirical results and the concluding integration of theory with empirical results. Basic Theory: To build a basis, the paper first specifies the theoretical connection between economic and environmental performance of companies. Economic performance (e.g. definable by financial statement and/or capital market data) and environmental performance (e.g. definable by operational and strategic data) are linked in a model. Based on the model the influence of environmental aspects on corporate value is examined resulting in seven hypotheses for the relationship of environmental and economic performance. Empirical Results: In order to test the developed theoretical relation, empirical studies are identified and assessed, with regard to the relationship between economic and environmental performance. The research results in 122 studies from all over the world, which are subject to further investigation. The analyzing process includes different steps. First, the studies are divided and reviewed as far as their empirical method and soundness are concerned. Mainly they can be differentiated in regression, event and portfolio studies. Furthermore the study categorizes the environmental and economic variables used in the analyzed studies. Economic measures are divided into the following categories: market based measures (e.g. stock price), accounting based measures (e.g. RoA), accounting and market based measures (e.g. Tobins q), perceived performance measures (i.e. derived from questionnaires) and miscellaneous measures (e.g. shadow prices). Environmental measures on the other hand are divided into the seven categories: strategic environmental performance, operational environmental performance, questionnaires, rating/ranking, events, environmental disclosure and mutual funds. The next step identifies the empirical result of every study as well as important determinants (e.g. the distinguished environmental and economic categories) of the results. The objective is to show whether general patterns for the existence of different results can be defined. Overall it can be shown that about 40% of all studies report a significant positive relationship between economic and environmental performance, contrary to only 11% reporting significant negative results. Furthermore, in order to assess the special role of environmental aspects as value drivers 23 suitable studies are analyzed on the basis of Rappaport?s shareholder network. Results provide an even stronger evidence for the value creating role of environmental aspects. Conclusion: Finally we can detect statistically proven environmental value drivers combining theoretical and empirical research. At the same time, the empirical methods are also evaluated, especially with regard to there ability to provide useful support for the development and examination of the theoretical research. Overall it seems to the authors that the whole research on the topic runs parallel and is not combined. There are only a few studies who are built on already recognized relations or which try the confirm such relations. Based on these cornerstones, requirements for further empirical research are identified and specified.
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Günther, Edeltraud, Thomas Günther, and Holger Hoppe. "Are environmental aspects value drivers for companies? A review of empirical studies." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2006. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:swb:14-1156505776534-88699.
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The management of the value of a firm requires the identification of important value drivers. The main objective of the paper is to find out whether value based management (e.g. shareholder value oriented management) has to take into account environmental aspects. In order to answer this question, the paper will determine whether there is an empirically proven relationship between the economic and environmental performance of companies. The paper is divided into three main parts: The development of a basic theory, the examination of existing empirical results and the concluding integration of theory with empirical results. Basic Theory: To build a basis, the paper first specifies the theoretical connection between economic and environmental performance of companies. Economic performance (e.g. definable by financial statement and/or capital market data) and environmental performance (e.g. definable by operational and strategic data) are linked in a model. Based on the model the influence of environmental aspects on corporate value is examined resulting in seven hypotheses for the relationship of environmental and economic performance. Empirical Results: In order to test the developed theoretical relation, empirical studies are identified and assessed, with regard to the relationship between economic and environmental performance. The research results in 122 studies from all over the world, which are subject to further investigation. The analyzing process includes different steps. First, the studies are divided and reviewed as far as their empirical method and soundness are concerned. Mainly they can be differentiated in regression, event and portfolio studies. Furthermore the study categorizes the environmental and economic variables used in the analyzed studies. Economic measures are divided into the following categories: market based measures (e.g. stock price), accounting based measures (e.g. RoA), accounting and market based measures (e.g. Tobins q), perceived performance measures (i.e. derived from questionnaires) and miscellaneous measures (e.g. shadow prices). Environmental measures on the other hand are divided into the seven categories: strategic environmental performance, operational environmental performance, questionnaires, rating/ranking, events, environmental disclosure and mutual funds. The next step identifies the empirical result of every study as well as important determinants (e.g. the distinguished environmental and economic categories) of the results. The objective is to show whether general patterns for the existence of different results can be defined. Overall it can be shown that about 40% of all studies report a significant positive relationship between economic and environmental performance, contrary to only 11% reporting significant negative results. Furthermore, in order to assess the special role of environmental aspects as value drivers 23 suitable studies are analyzed on the basis of Rappaport?s shareholder network. Results provide an even stronger evidence for the value creating role of environmental aspects. Conclusion: Finally we can detect statistically proven environmental value drivers combining theoretical and empirical research. At the same time, the empirical methods are also evaluated, especially with regard to there ability to provide useful support for the development and examination of the theoretical research. Overall it seems to the authors that the whole research on the topic runs parallel and is not combined. There are only a few studies who are built on already recognized relations or which try the confirm such relations. Based on these cornerstones, requirements for further empirical research are identified and specified.
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Contarini, Antonio. "Flat roofs renovation: a life cycle approach for environmental impact assessment and economic effectiveness." Master's thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2012. http://amslaurea.unibo.it/3313/.
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The high energy consumption caused by the building sector and the continuous growth and ageing of the existing housing stock show the importance of housing renovation to improve the quality of the environment. This research compares the environmental performance of flat roof systems (insulation, roofing membrane and covering layer) using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The aim is to give indications on how to improve the environmental performance of housing. This research uses a reference building located in the Netherlands and considers environmental impacts related to materials, energy consumption for heating and maintenance activities. It indicates impact scores for each material taking into account interconnections between the layers and between the different parts of the life cycle. It compares the environmental and economic performances of PV panels and of different materials and thermal resistance values for the insulation. These comparisons show that PV panels are convenient from an environmental and economic point of view. The same is true for the insulation layer, especially for materials as PIR (polyisocyanurate) and EPS (expanded polystyrene). It shows that energy consumption for heating causes a larger share of impact scores than production of the materials and maintenance activities. The insulation also causes larger impact scores comparing to roofing membrane and covering layer. The results show which materials are preferable for flat roof renovation and what causes the largest shares of impact. This gives indication to the roofers and to other stakeholders about how to reduce the environmental impact of the existing housing stock.
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Lehtonen, Markku. "Environmental policy evaluation in the service of sustainable development : influence of the OECD environmental performance reviews from the perspective of institutional economics." Versailles-St Quentin en Yvelines, 2005. http://www.theses.fr/2005VERS021S.
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Cette thèse vise à étudier les conséquences en terme de changement institutionnel pour un développement durable de l’évaluation des politiques environnementales d’un pays, meneés par une organisation intergouvernementale. Les fondements philosophiques et théoriques de l’économie institutionnelle fournissent le cadre retenu pour construire une grille de lecture permettant d’analyser l’approche théorique, l’impact et les facteurs conditionnant l’impact de l’évaluation des politiques environnementales dans l’optique de développement durable. Les examens des performances environnementales de l’OCDE sont ensuite étudiés moyennant une approche d’étude de cas qualitative. Malgré l’attention relativement faible accordée par le public à ces examens, leur intérêt réside dans une plus grande légitimité des politiques et des autorités environnementales, et dans le renforcement des politiques environnementales basées sur les principes de contrôle, suivi, évaluation et coût-efficacité. Ces impacts opèrent à travers de quatre chemins parallèles, représentant les objectifs de reddition des comptes et de l’apprentissage. La forme et l’intensité de l’influence de ces impacts dépendent de la capacité des examens à mobiliser les acteurs clés, de leur sensibilité au contexte, ainsi que de la crédibilité et le poids politique de l’OCDE auprès des acteurs des pays étudiés. Nonobstant leur conception du développement durable relativement éloignée des principes institutionnalistes, les examens contribuent au développement durable en réduisant les déséquilibres de pouvoir et en améliorant ainsi certaines des conditions pour une démocratie délibérativeThis thesis examines what consequences, through which pathways, and under which circumstances, does country-level environmental policy evaluation, carried out by an intergovernmental organisation, have for institutional change towards sustainable development. The philosophical and theoretical frameworks of institutional economics are proposed as the lens through which to assess experiences from evaluation research. This is done in order to elaborate a conceptual framework for analysing the approach, the impact and the factors conditioning the influence of environmental policy evaluation in the context of sustainable development. The OECD Environmental Performance Review programme is examined through an in-depth qualitative case study approach. It is found that in spite of engendering relatively modest interest among the public, the reviews increase the legitimacy of environmental policies and authorities, and strengthen a performance-oriented environmental policy emphasising evaluation, monitoring and cost-effectiveness. These impacts operate through four parallel pathways, representing the purposes of learning and accountability. The type and intensity of influence depends on the capacity of the reviews to mobilise key change agents and to be sensitive to the context, as well as on the credibility and political weight of the OECD in the reviewed country. It is concluded that notwithstanding the distance of the prevailing OECD conception of sustainability from the institutionalist principles adopted as the benchmark for the appraisal in this thesis, the reviews contribute meaningfully to sustainable development by redressing asymmetries of power, thereby improving some of the conditions for deliberative democracy
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Tokunaga, Meagan. "Implementing (Environmental) Justice: Equity and Performance in California's S.B. 535." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_theses/137.
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This thesis evaluates the equity performance of a recent state environmental justice policy, California’s Senate Bill 535 (S.B. 535). “Environmental justice” refers to the disproportionate environmental harm imposed on low-income and minority communities. S.B. 535 uses competitive grants to provide funding to these communities. The research is centered around two questions: (1) to what extent has S.B. 535 experienced successful implementation in its first year of operation, and (2) how can policy actors improve implementation while balancing performance and equity goals? In regards to the first question, I utilize a case study of the policy’s implementation within 17 local governments in Riverside County. I find that the number of actors involved and the alignment of their interests prevent the policy from more successful implementation. Local government officials identify staff capacity as a primary concern in the program’s implementation. I then evaluate the policy’s balance of program performance and equity with an econometric analysis that characterizes the decisions of local governments to implement the policy. I find impressive equity performance, as low-income and minority populations are more likely to participate. The implementing governments have sufficient capacity to achieve program goals, as larger cities and cities with more staff per capita are more likely to participate. My findings support the use of competitive grants in environmental justice policies. The S.B. 535 grant program demonstrates the ability to distribute funding to governments with both socioeconomic disadvantage and the capacity for successful implementation. The analysis concludes with policy recommendations.
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Patel, C. "Techno-economic performance analysis and environmental impact assessment of energy production from biomass at different scales." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2013. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1396237/.
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Burning fossil fuels contributes largely to the release of CO2 emissions, which CO2 accounted for 84% of the total UK greenhouse emissions in 2009. Energy production can affect climate change because it is currently produced using non- renewable fuels. As a result the UK Government has set a target of 15% renewable energy use by 2020. Renewable energy is the production of energy using fuels that are produced and sourced sustainably. Maximising renewable energy by using alternative fuels to produce our heat and electricity can help decrease our emissions and reach Government targets. The main objective of this work is to investigate the techno-economic assessment and life cycle assessment of energy from different types of biomass in the UK context. Energy use in the UK and climate change is discussed to present a case for sustainable energy. An extensive review of the thermal treatment options, as well as the different types of biomass available in the UK has been presented. Issues related to energy from biomass such as food vs. fuel and land vs. fuel are also discussed. In this thesis two second generation types of biomass are individually investigated - solid recovered fuel (SRF) and forestry waste wood chips (FWWC). A techno-economic assessment was performed on small to medium scale combustion plants using SRF (50 ktpa and 100 ktpa) or FWWC (50 ktpa, 80 ktpa and 160 ktpa). These are waste forms of biomass one of which is a mixed waste source (SRF) and the other a single waste source (FWWC), of which we have a great untapped resource in the UK. Discounted cash flow analysis, internal rate of return and levelised cost for the plants are calculated. The techno-economic assessment for the SRF plants were done previously by Yassin et al., (2008) and updated in this study using new cost data, such as landfill disposal costs and the new banded ROC’s scheme. The techno-economic performance of the FWWC was devised in the same way as for the SRF plant to ensure consistency. The results showed that the small and medium scale SRF plants were technically and economically viable, whilst only the largest scale FWWC plant was economically viable. A sensitivity analysis on the economic assessment was also performed, to investigate changes in levelised cost when seven different parameters were changed by 10% and 30%. As a result of these investigations a life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed on the large scale plants to investigate environmental aspects of sustainability. Hot-spot analysis was conducted for both plants and landfill reference systems were investigated for the SRF plant, whilst the FWWC plant investigated the emissions associated with leaving wood in the forest. In addition, the plants were compared against fossil fuel alternatives at the same production scale. The results of the LCA showed that both types of biomass are more environmentally friendly than fossil fuel alternatives. The SRF hot-spot analysis showed that the Fairport Process releases the most CO2. The FWWC hot-spot analysis showed harvesting released most CO2. The work was developed further by investigating a first generation liquid form of biomass rapeseed oil (RSO) for the production of energy using internal combustion engines. RSO is grown in increasing amounts in the UK for bio-diesel production but can also be used crude to produce energy. A techno-economic assessment of energy from RSO was conducted at small (27 ktpa) to medium (40 ktpa) scale plants, using the identical methodology as above. The results found only the medium scale plant to be economically viable. A sensitivity analysis on the economic assessment was also performed using the same percentage changes as above. An LCA was performed for the 40 ktpa RSO plant. A base case was investigated and compared to the plant. A hot-spot analysis was investigated, which showed the harvesting and cultivating units released the most CO2. The effects of growing rapeseed oil and how we use our land is investigated. The results showed the plant releases least emissions when the rapeseed is grown on rotation, using reduced tillage methodology.
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Roos, Erica Caetano. "Um estudo exploratório sobre avaliação de desempenho ambiental em portos." reponame:Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFRGS, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10183/148020.
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Portos são elos que ligam o transporte terrestre ao transporte marítimo e são fundamentais para o comércio internacional. Por sua importância para o desenvolvimento dos países, portos vêm demandando técnicas mais aprimoradas para sua gestão e também para a avaliação de seu desempenho. Nesse contexto, surgem questões importantes, tais como a definição, métricas utilizáveis e também dimensões de desempenho a serem avaliadas. Uma questão que surge é a da avaliação de desempenho ambiental do porto, já que por serem interfaces entre a terra e o mar, portos impactam nos ecossistemas marinhos e terrestres. Porém, a avaliação ambiental geralmente envolve critérios técnicos, e o impacto econômico e financeiro acaba em segundo plano. Sendo assim, esta dissertação propõe compreender as questões envolvidas na avaliação de desempenho de portos, e especificamente na avaliação de desempenho ambiental nos mesmos. Para isso, foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória que busca compreender o tema de avaliação de desempenho ambiental levando em consideração aspectos econômicos e financeiros. Ao longo desta pesquisa, os resultados apontam que ainda havia uma lacuna na literatura, onde não havia um modelo que levasse em consideração critérios econômicos e financeiros ao avaliar o desempenho ambiental. Para solucionar este problema, foi proposto um modelo de indicadores de referência. Entretanto, para avaliar a viabilidade de implantação do modelo proposto, foram realizadas entrevistas com stakeholders do setor portuário. Os entrevistados foram a Gerência de Meio Ambiente da ANTAQ (Agência Nacional de Transporte Aquaviário), a SEP/PR (Secretaria Especial de Portos da Presidência da República) e duas Superintendências do Rio Grande do Sul, que são responsáveis pelos portos públicos do estado: a SPH (Superintendência de Portos e Hidrovias) e a SUPRG (Superintendência do Porto do Rio Grande). Os resultados das entrevistas apontam que o modelo proposto não seria aplicável neste momento. Então, a proposta foi adaptada e criou-se um modelo simplificado e outro que poderá ser implantado quando já houver base de dados suficiente para tal. Portanto, a contribuição acadêmica deste trabalho está relacionada à criação de indicadores para a medição de desempenho ambiental e econômico em portos e a discussão do tema para portos brasileiros.Ports are links that connect the inland transport to maritime transport and are essential for international trade. Because of its importance to the development of countries, ports are demanding improved techniques for their management and for evaluating their performance. In this context, there are important issues such as the definition, usable metrics and also dimensions of performance to be evaluated. One important question is the environmental performance of the port. Ports impact both on maritime and inland ecosystems, and it is necessary to minimize these impacts. However, the environmental assessment usually involves technical variables, and economic and financial impact are not taken into account. Thus, this dissertation proposes to understand the issues involved in assessing the performance of ports, and specifically in environmental performance evaluation on them. For this, an exploratory research was carried out aiming to understand the environmental performance evaluation issue taking into account economic and financial aspects. Throughout this study, the results showed that there was still a gap in the literature, where there was not a model to take into account economic and financial criteria to evaluate environmental performance. To solve this problem, a model with indicators to evaluate the performance was proposed. However, to assess the implementation feasibility of the proposed model, interviews were held with stakeholders in the port sector. Respondents were Environmental Management Sector of ANTAQ (National Agency of Waterway Transportation), SEP/PR (Special Secretariat of Ports of Precidency of Republic) and two Superintendents of Rio Grande do Sul, which are responsible for public ports in the state: SPH (Superintendence of Ports and Waterways) and SUPRG (Superintendence of Port of Rio Grande). The results of the interviews show that the proposed model would not apply at this time. So the proposal was adapted and created a simplified model and one that can be deployed when there is already sufficient database. Therefore, the academic contribution of this study is related to the establishment of indicators for measuring the environmental and economic performance in ports and the subject of discussion for Brazilian ports.
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GRANDIC, DAJANA. "The impact of environmental management systems (EMSs) and ISO 14001 standards on corporate performance." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata", 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2108/203401.
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Dieste, Gracia Marcos. "The impact of lean practices on the environmental performance of manufacturing companies." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Padova, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3426834.
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Lean production has emerged in the past decades as one of the most popular subjects in business and manufacturing literature and it is the most widespread production paradigm currently applied in industry. The lean paradigm is characterized by five principles (value, mapping the value stream, flow, pull and continuous improvement) and by the relevance of reducing waste (muda). In parallel, the environmental performance of a company in terms of pollution prevention and reduction of the use and waste of resources is an issue increasingly concerning both firms and customers in recent years. This focus on these topics has fostered an area of research that it is frequently acknowledged as green production. Lean and green production paradigms are both focused on waste reduction and various scholars have studied their relationships (common points and divergences) and the synergic effects of joining these two management approaches. However, the impact of lean practices on environmental performance is still unclear, as limited empirical research has been conducted in this field. From this idea arises the aim of this research, which is to analyse the relationship between lean and environmental performance in manufacturing with a strong empirical focus. This research was carried out in two main stages: a review of the relevant literature as an exploration stage and a multiple case study analysis in five manufacturing companies to empirically analyse the aforementioned impacts. Onsite data were collected from firms during a time span of research of five years, involving archival data and developing semi-structured interviews. Besides, a cross-case analysis was carried out to map the possible relationships between lean practices and environmental measures. The findings of this thesis indicate that the environmental performance of the companies analysed is generally enhanced in the long-term after the implementation of lean practices. Moreover, the results from the multiple case study suggest that the environmental performance of the firms under study is mainly improved using JIT and TQM practices in a lean transformation context. These results are perfectly aligned with the preliminary evidences obtained in the literature review analysis developed in this thesis and provides robustness to the conclusions obtained. The research findings provide a better understanding of the phenomena, unveil new evidences and can be particularly useful for both researchers and practitioners who are facing the challenge of studying and implementing lean without omitting environmental performance goals, sharing efforts as much as possible.
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González, Juncà Arnau. "Combined heat and power generation systems for optimum environmental and economic performance : a case study in Catalonia." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/396270.
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In the current energy conjunction, with an expected growth of energy consumption in a context of fossil fuel depletion, more focus is being placed on renewable energy sources (RES) for electricity generation. To enhance their deployment worldwide, hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) are a trendy alternative, because they can effectively take advantage of scalability and flexibility of these energy sources, since combining two or more allows counteracting the weaknesses of a stochastic renewable energy source with the strengths of another or with the predictability of a non-renewable energy source.
This work presents an optimization methodology that was developed for life cycle cost optimization and multi-objective cost and environmental impact optimization of a grid-connected HRES based on solar photovoltaic, wind and biomass power. In such a system, biomass power seeks to take advantage of locally available forest wood biomass in the form of wood chips to provide energy in periods when the photovoltaic (PV) and wind power generated are not enough to match the existing demand and, additionally, produce thermal energy when a combined heat and power (CHP) scheme is adopted. The developed model was tested in a sample township in central Catalonia using real wind, solar irradiation and electricity demand data from a certain location on an hourly basis.
To assess different situations and system layouts, four different case studies were carried out and the model was adapted to each of the situations analyzed. Sensitivity analyses that allowed detecting to which variables the system was more sensitive in each situation were performed. In all cases, the model responds well to changes in the input parameters and variables while providing trustworthy sizing solutions.
When looking to a grid-connected HRES consisting of PV and wind power technologies, the results of its cost optimization show that it would be economically profitable in the studied rural township in the Mediterranean climate region of central Catalonia (Spain), being the system paid off after 18 years of operation out of 25 years of system lifetime.
Placing the focus into a grid-connected PV-wind-biomass HRES, the results show that such a system could be installed with smaller upfront investments than the previous case, counteracted by higher life-cycle costs. However, such a system would have benefits in terms of energy autonomy and environment quality improvement, as well as in term of job opportunity creation as biomass is the RES with greater impact on local job opportunities creation.
The same system was also analyzed under a multi-objective perspective, considering not only its life-cycle cost, but also its life-cycle environmental impact (EI). In that case, the results show that they are contradicting criteria. Low EI layouts highly dependent on RES have higher costs than the ones more reliant on the electricity from the public grid, which present high environmental impact. Results also show that improving the rate of return on investment in HRES would be a very beneficial measure to encourage the use of renewable energies for electricity production, as it has significant positive outcomes in terms of both cost and environmental impact reduction.z<
The last hypothesis analyzed was the possibility of adopting a CHP scheme. The system showed lower return on investment rates, making it profitable after around 10 years that are required to pay back the initial investment. That is a result of the usage of thermal energy produced through biomass conversion, which makes more efficient the whole system as that energy is, otherwise, thrown away. The trade-offs between cost and environmental impact show again that small investments on renewable energies (RE) have great returns in terms of environmental impact reduction, especially when the starting point is the current grid situation with more than 50% of energy sources being fossil fuel-based with their associated EI.En l'actual situació de l'energia, amb un pronosticat augment del consum energètic en un context d'esgotament dels combustibles fòssils, s'està posant més atenció en les fonts d'energia renovable per generació elèctrica. Per millorar el seu desplegament arreu, els sistemes híbrids d'energia renovable són una alternativa en puixança, donat que aquests poden aprofitar l'escalabilitat i flexibilitat de les fonts d'energia renovable donat que la combinació de dues o més fonts permet contrarrestar les debilitats d'una font d'energia no controlable amb les fortaleses d'una altra o amb la controlabilitat d'una font d'energia no renovable. Aquest treall presenta una metodologia d'optimització que ha estat desenvolupada per a optimització del cost de cicle de vida i per la optimització multi-objectiu de cost i impacte ambiental (IA) de cicle vida d'un sistema híbrid d'energia renovable connectat a la xarxa elèctrica i basat en l'ús de les energies solar fotovoltaica (FV), eòlica i de la biomassa. En aquest sistema l'ús de la biomassa busca l'aprofitament del recurs forestal autòcton en forma de 'wood chips' per proporcionar energia en aquells períodes en els què les energies FV i eòlica no són suficients per a subministrar la demanda existent i, addicionalment, produïr energia tèrmica adoptant un esquema de cogeneració. El model desenvolupat ha estat testat i validat en un municipi rural situat a la Catalunya central i utilitzant dades reals de velocitat de vent, irradiació solar i demanda elèctrica amb una precisió horària. Per a evaluar diferents situacions i disposicions del sistema, s'han dut a terme 4 casos d'estudi, i el model ha estat adaptat a cada una de les situacions analitzades. També s'han dut a terme anàlisis de sensibilitat que permeten detectar a quines variables és més sensible el model i el sistema de producció elèctrica. En tots els casos, el model respon adequadament als canvis implementats en les dades d'entrada, a la vegada que proporciona resultats del dimensionat òptim del sistema. Fixant-nos en un sistema FV - eòlic, els resultats de la seva optimització de cost mostren que seria econòmicament viable la seva instal·lació en la localització evaluada, amb un període de retorn de la inversió de 18 anys dels 25 anys de vida útil del sistema. Si ens fixem en un sistema FV - eòlic - biomassa, els resulstats mostren que el sistema requereix de menys inversió inicial que l'anterior, avantatge contrarrestat per un cost de cicle de vida major. No obstant, aquest sistema aportaria beneficis en termes d'autonomia energètica, millora de qualitat ambiental i en creació de llocs de treball derivats del processat de la biomassa forestal, una font intensiva en demanda de llocs de treball. El mateix sistema també s'ha analitzat des d'una perspectiva multi-criteri, considerant també l'IA. En aquest cas, els resultats mostren que cost i impacte ambiental són criteris contradictoris: sistemes de baix IA tenen costs més elevats que aquells que se sustenten en l'energia de la xarxa elèctrica, que presenta un elevat IA. Els resultats també mostren que la millora de la taxa de retorn de la inversió seria una mesura molt beneficiosa per fomentar l'ús de les energies renovables per a la generació d'electricitat degut al seus retorns positius en termes de reducció de cost i IA. La darrera hipòtesi analitzada ha estat l'adopció d'un esquema de cogeneració. En aquest cas, el sistema mostra menors períodes de retorn de la inversió, fent-lo rentable a partir dels 10 anys. Això es deu a la utilització de l'energia tèrmica produïda en la valorització energètica de la biomassa, que té efectes en la millora de l'eficiència al aprofitar energia que d'altra manera es malbarata. Els balanços entre cost i impacte ambiental mostren de nou que petites inversions en energia renovable tenen grans retorns en termes de reducció de l'IA, en especial partint d'un sistema elèctric on més d'un 50% de fonts energètiques són combustibles fòssils amb elevat IA
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Zilkens, Matthias [Verfasser]. "Towards Sustainability of Wheat and Maize Cultivation in Beijing Region : Economic Performance and Environmental Impacts / Matthias Zilkens." Aachen : Shaker, 2004. http://d-nb.info/1170539858/34.
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Venkatachalam, Jayasurya. "How can we measure the technical, socio-economic, and environmental performance of circular business models and supply chain?" Thesis, KTH, Skolan för industriell teknik och management (ITM), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-302533.
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Circular business models can assist in reshaping and transitioning away from the current linear consumption pattern which can in turn allow us to achieve a circular economy. Businesses can change their operating model and consider a more sustainable alternative to their current production and consumption method. For businesses to assist in the transition of circular economy, the circular economy strategies can be integrated into their business models. Companies have already started to align goals and objectives to achieve this by measuring performance indicators. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are used to effectively communicate and set targets to be achieved within different levels of an organization. KPIs can be used to monitor the progress of different aspects of sustainability including environment, economic and social. Due to this reason, many industries are shifting towards a circular business model to ensure better resource utilization and sustainable operations. For companies to evaluate their progress towards their set targets and goals, performance measurement is crucial. In this study, relevant existing circular KPIs have been identified which can be implemented by the case companies to measure the performance of their supply chain and entire business model. The technical, environmental, and socio-economic dimensions are focused on this study while identifying the Key Performance Indicators. A systematic literature review was initially performed during this study. Data achieved from literature was then compared with empirical data. The empirical data is based on interviews and surveys conducted with the case companies which were later compiled to develop the suitable indicators.Cirkulära affärsmodeller kan hjälpa till att omforma och övergå från det nuvarande linjära konsumtionsmönstret, vilket i sin tur kan göra det möjligt för oss att uppnå en cirkulär ekonomi. Företag kan ändra sin driftsmodell och överväga ett mer hållbart alternativ till sin nuvarande produktions- och konsumtionsmetod. För att företag ska bistå vid övergången till cirkulär ekonomi kan strategierna för cirkulär ekonomi integreras i deras affärsmodeller. Företag har redan börjat anpassa sina mål för att uppnå detta genom att mäta prestationsindikatorer. Key Performance Indicators (KPI) används för att effektivt kommunicera och sätta upp mål som ska uppnås inom olika nivåer i en organisation. KPIs kan användas för att övervaka utvecklingen av olika aspekter av hållbarhet, inklusive miljö, ekonomisk och social. Av denna anledning övergår många branscher mot en cirkulär affärsmodell för att säkerställa bättre resursutnyttjande och hållbara operationer. Prestandamätning är avgörande för att företag ska kunna utvärdera sina framsteg i förhållande till sina uppsatta mål. I denna studie har relevanta befintliga cirkulära KPIs identifierats som kan implementeras av fallstudieföretagen för att mäta prestanda för deras försörjningskedja och hela affärsmodellen. Fokus för denna studie är de tekniska, miljömässiga och socioekonomiska dimensionerna samtidigt som de viktigaste prestationsindikatorerna identifieras. En systematisk litteraturöversikt utfördes initialt under denna studie. Data erhållen från litteraturen jämfördes därefter med empiriska data. De empiriska uppgifterna är baserade på intervjuer och undersökningar som gjorts med fallstudiebolagen som senare sammanställdes för att utveckla lämpliga indikatorer.
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Klossner, David. "FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE FIRMS’ ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE: AN EXAMINATION OF LARGE COMPANIES." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1395301067.
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Jaax, Alexander. "Essays on disparities in innovative performance and economic development in emerging countries : a regional and firm-level investigation." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2016. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3540/.
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The global economic system has been undergoing fundamental changes since the 1980s. Many emerging countries drastically increased their openness to trade and foreign investments. Formerly socialist countries entered a transition towards a market-based model and deepened their integration into the global economy. As a result, the geography of trade, investment flows, and innovation is becoming more multipolar. This thesis seeks to improve our understanding of the links between these macro-level shifts and the geography of innovation, spatial patterns of economic deprivation, as well as firm-level outcomes in emerging countries. This thesis is structured into an introductory chapter and four analytical papers. The introductory chapter outlines three themes corresponding to the areas to which this thesis makes a contribution: (1) the interplay of the local and the global dimension in shaping regional patterns of knowledge creation, (2) the link between the relative weight of the private sector and spatial patterns of economic deprivation, and (3) the role of global production networks and the changing geography of trade in shaping regional patterns of innovative performance and heterogeneous firm-level outcomes. The first paper examines the geography of innovation in Russia, adopting a perspective that combines Soviet-era legacies, contemporaneous regional conditions, and global linkages. The results shed light on multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) role as key agents providing Russian regions with knowledge from distant places. The findings simultaneously point to the importance of path dependencies in regional patterns of knowledge generation. The second paper investigates the link between regional innovative performance in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia and investments of MNEs categorized by entry mode and business function. The analysis suggests that the relationship between global linkages established by MNEs and regional knowledge creation is jointly shaped by the heterogeneity of MNEs’ investments and the heterogeneity of region-specific conditions in Latin American economies at different stages of technological development. The third paper focuses on Vietnam, a country that has seen some provinces act as pioneers and others as laggards in the journey towards an outward-oriented marketbased economy. The link between the private sector’s weight in the economy and economic deprivation is a topic of considerable policy interest, but its subnational dimension remains underexplored. The analysis considers the relationship between provincial differences in the change of private firms’ formal employment share and changes in the geography of economic deprivation. The findings reveal that increases in private firms’ employment share are associated with reductions in poverty. MNEs appear to be a key driver of this association. Finally, the fourth paper concerns Vietnam’s growing trade with China. It looks at the link between imports from China and firm-level outcomes in Vietnam’s manufacturing sector. The results show that, contrary to previous findings for advanced economies, exposure to imports from China is positively linked with firm-level employment. Information on trade in intermediates suggests that inputs imported from China may support Vietnam’s export growth. The findings cast light on the necessity to consider the role of global production networks and trade in intermediates when assessing the developmental implications of changing trade patterns.
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Antonini, Carla. "An empirical analysis of environmental externalities incidence on financial performance." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/386554.
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An increasing body of scientific evidence continues to fuel concerns regarding the effects of economic human activity on the environment. In this call, environmental accounting attempts to increase accounting transparency in order to facilitate environmentally sound decision-making. The main objective of this dissertation is to actively engage in the design and implementation of new ways of integrating environmental and accounting information. To this end, it examines the potential of environmental indicators as a tool for this integration. The use of indicators to estimate variables that cannot be measured precisely has been well documented through the history of environmental sciences and is considered appropriate in accounting where variables cannot be directly observed.
This dissertation is made up of three independent articles exploring different aspects of the topic. The first article addresses boundaries setting of environmental indicators for sustainability reporting. The contribution of this study is twofold: (a) it inquires into the methodological foundations of boundary setting for improved sustainability reporting and (b) it explores current corporate practice in this area. This article adopts a survey methodology and performs content analysis on a a sample of 92 sustainability reports from companies included in the 2012 Financial Times Global 500 list. Results show that in our sample reporting boundaries are financially restricted and therefore they do not allow to disclose a complete and inclusive view on entities environmental performance. The second article is related with the use of proxy indicators. Most environmental impact have no available market valuation. A way of assessing the value of environmental impact is the use of something that approaches the measurement of immeasurable variables. The study performs a panel data analysis of environmental costs on a farm accounting database across European regions over the 1989-2009 period. It uses farm output per hectare as an indicator of productivity and expenditures on energy, pesticides and fertilisers per hectare as proxies of environmental costs. Results show decreasing productivity and a significant steady increase in environmental costs across time.
The third article uses weighting and aggregation to allow aggregate group of materials with common characteristics. It performs an empirical analysis on the relationship between environmental and economic performance using own collected data from 9 rice farms located in Spain. It uses yields, revenues and incomes as indicators of economic performance. It considers greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption as indicators of environmental performance. It applies the AgriClimateChange Tool software that allows the calculation of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Results show that in the farms under study, the achievement of higher yields is attributable to the greater use of chemical inputs and fossil fuels.
The contribution of this thesis is to find empirical evidence suggesting that environmental indicators can be a good way to integrate environmental and accounting information. Overall, results in three chapters included in this thesis suggest that although it is undoubted that companies will not survive without natural resources, unfortunately, there is still a disjunctive perspective between corporation and environmental perspective. The integration of environmental indicators into the accounting framework could help to optimize natural resource usage and, as a consequence, to improve the economy as a whole and, more importantly, ecosystems sustainability.
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Pepino, Camille. "La performance en droit des affaires." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018AIXM0500/document.
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Les opérateurs économiques sont confrontés à un fort accroissement de la concurrence combiné à des préoccupations sociales et environnementales désormais devenues indispensables. De ce constat, il semble que la performance qu’elle soit de type économique, social ou environnemental, soit devenue une valeur intrinsèque qui s’intègre ponctuellement à des obligations, ou engendre des obligations. Elle sera parfois extérieure au contrat et imposée par le droit lui-même. En ce sens, le législateur impose que la rémunération de certains dirigeants de sociétés soit obligatoirement indexée sur des critères de performances. Mais la performance sera parfois interne au contrat et constituera un élément essentiel pour ce dernier. Ces manifestations traduisent un mouvement d’ensemble rendant nécessaire la construction d’une réflexion juridique sur la performance, prisme de lecture devenu inévitable et particulièrement crucial. En dépit de l’attrait de la quête de performance, le droit est à la recherche d’un point d’équilibre de nature à permettre un développement économique dans les meilleures conditions, adossé au respect de l’environnement, naturel, humain, voire sociétal. C’est dans cette perspective que la dynamique de cette étude est construite. Elle appréhende la performance comme le fait d’atteindre un objectif, avec des moyens et des méthodes efficientes, tout en limitant les pertes financières et les effets néfastes. La performance est la nouvelle clé de lecture de la vie en société, et le droit des affaires s’impose à cet égard comme l’un des premiers relaisEconomic operators are facing a sharp increase in competition combined with social and environmental concerns that have become of the essence. From this observation, it seems that the performance, be it economic, social or environmental, has become an value that is part of obligations, or creates itself obligations. It will sometimes be outside the contract and imposed by the law itself. In this sense, the legislator requires that the remuneration of certain companies executives is compulsorily indexed on performance criteria. But the performance will sometimes be internal to the contract and will be an essential element for the latter. These events reflect an overall movement making it necessary to construct a legal dissertation on performance, a new reading prism that has become inevitable and particularly crucial. Despite the attractiveness of the quest for performance, the law is seeking a point of balance likely to allow economic development in the best conditions, backed by respect for the environment, natural, human, even societal. It is in this perspective that the dynamics of this study is built. It understands performance as achieving a goal, with efficient means and methods, while limiting financial losses and adverse effects. Performance is the new key to reading life in society, and business law is one of the first relays
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Argentin, Micol <1995>. "Automotive Corporations’ Performance in the Environmental Field. A comparison between the European Union and the United States." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/17500.
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Nowadays, the commitment to reduce emissions in all productive sectors is more than ever a paramount goal that each country in the world should try to achieve.
The Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement have contributed in spreading all over the world the unavoidable need of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and making the productive processes more sustainable. Countries like the European Union and the United States of America work as examples to others due to their long experiences in regulating emissions from multiple sectors and in implementing key strategies for incentivizing the change towards sustainability. Either through effective emission trading schemes or specific directives and regulations, both the European Union and the USA are currently covering the majority of their productive sectors.
In this paper, the focus will be on the automotive industry, a major source of CO2 emissions, which contribute to climate change, and harmful pollutants, which are dangerous for human beings. An analysis of the actions taken in the two similar markets of the European Union and the USA will be conducted, and, in particular, the attention will be put on the legislation affecting the light-duty vehicles manufacturers.
The standards, the targets and their levels of stringency for reducing GHG emissions will be examined, taking into account the changes that took place throughout the years since the beginning of their implementation and the ultimate goals of limiting global warming to 1.5°C and of reducing CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030. In addition, particular attention will be granted to incentives encouraging carmakers to invest in, produce and sell low-emission and alternative fueled vehicles.
The aim of this paper is to investigate strategically whether the instruments adopted by the European Union and the United States of America to regulate the environmental side of the automotive sector are truly effective, especially from the corporate point of view. Considering the different targets and standards set by the EU and the US, the performance of automotive corporations’ will be assessed to determine which one works better in terms of environmental goals’ achievement and businesses’ incentives.
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Michelon, Elena <1996>. "The misalignment between Companies' Environmental Disclosure and Performance. An analysis of the determinants of Greenwashing and Brownwashing." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/18172.
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Recently, when talking about sustainability issues, particular attention has been given to the environmental dimension due to increased attention from the public eye on global warming, pollution and resources mismanagement. Claims made by companies about their environmental actions may not always be truthful and matched by an equal level of environmental performance. Due to different underling factors (e.g. their motives, their ability and the internal organization complexity), companies may result in either overstating or understating their environmental efforts, resulting respectively in Greenwashing or Brownwashing behaviours.
The aim of this study is therefore to establish the determinants of such environmental Disclosure-Performance gap, distinguishing between the concept of Greenwashing and Brownwashing. Previous research suggests that, among others, determinants include financial performance, size and country specific factors, that will indeed be investigated. The relationship between the determinants and Greenwashing & Brownwashing is assessed through a regression analysis, using data ranging from 2006 to 2017 for 4106 listed companies based in 61 different countries, for a total of 25026 observations.
Empirical results suggest that, as expected, firm size, the absence of corruption and Environment Wellbeing result in less misalignment between environmental performance and environmental disclosure, while Economy Wellbeing has a positive impact on the degree of Greenwashing. Moreover, firm size has a moderating effect on the relationship between financial performance and Brownwashing activities.
Relatively to the relationship between financial performance and Greenwashing & Brownwashing, results are mixed and not always significant, indicating that Environmental Disclosure-Performance gap is not necessary influenced by financial performance.
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Weiss, Martin, Peter Dekker, Alberto Moro, Harald Scholz, and Martin K. Patel. "On the electrification of road transportation – A review of the environmental, economic, and social performance of electric two-wheelers." Elsevier, 2015. https://publish.fid-move.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A72787.
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Electrification is widely considered as a viable strategy for reducing the oil dependency and environmental impacts of road transportation. In pursuit of this strategy, most attention has been paid to electric cars. However, substantial, yet untapped, potentials could be realized in urban areas through the large-scale introduction of electric two-wheelers. Here, we review the environmental, economic, and social performance of electric two-wheelers, demonstrating that these are generally more energy efficient and less polluting than conventionally-powered motor vehicles. Electric two-wheelers tend to decrease exposure to pollution as their environmental impacts largely result from vehicle production and electricity generation outside of urban areas. Our analysis suggests that the price of e-bikes has been decreasing at a learning rate of 8%. Despite price differentials of 5000 ± 1800 EUR2012 kW h−1 in Europe, e-bikes are penetrating the market because they appear to offer an apparent additional use value relative to bicycles. Mid-size and large electric two-wheelers do not offer such an additional use value compared to their conventional counterparts and constitute niche products at price differentials of 700 ± 360 EUR2012 kW−1 and 160 ± 90 EUR2012 kW−1, respectively. The large-scale adoption of electric two-wheelers can reduce traffic noise and road congestion but may necessitate adaptations of urban infrastructure and safety regulations. A case-specific assessment as part of an integrated urban mobility planning that accounts, e.g., for the local electricity mix, infrastructure characteristics, and mode-shift behavior, should be conducted before drawing conclusions about the sustainability impacts of electric two-wheelers.