The Concept of Introducing Eco-Friendly Criteria into The Contract Procurement System

The article analyses the current level of development of the topic of "green" public procurement both in Russian legal acts and in domestic scientific literature. The authors conducted a categorical analysis of the term "green" public procurement, based on which the definition recommended for use in the Russian system was derived. The analysis of international experience in the implementation and development of green procurement was followed by a description of the specifics of legal regulation in several countries. By means of an electronic questionnaire survey of contracting system entities, the current level of application of environmental criteria in procurement was empirically assessed and the attitudes of Russian customers and suppliers towards the introduction of new environmental requirements in procurement legislation were identified. Thus, customers are not motivated to use "green" criteria, as they are not aware of them and their application may be regarded by regulatory authorities as a restriction of competition, and suppliers are not interested in producing such products, since they will not be competitive due to the high price. Based on the results obtained, recommendations were developed for the gradual, step-by-step incorporation of norms and practices related to the greening of the procurement process into the contract system.

Local barriers in the efficient use of Green Public Procurement - case of Slovaki

Green public procurement is a voluntary tool through which public procurers can contribute to the objectives of environmental policy. The legal framework and public policy of green procurement is covered by the European Union. The main goal is to contribute to the consideration of environmental characteristics in public purchases as well as environmental management and the life-cycle costs of the goods, services and work. However, the objectives of the legal framework and the policy to promote green public procurement are often not achieved due to the barriers posed by economic practice. The aim of the article is to analyze the local barriers in the effective use of green public procurement in Slovakia. The processing of results is based on the annual evaluation reports to the National Action Plan for Green Public Procurement in Slovakia for 2016-2020. Identified local barriers include financial constraints on contracting authorities and a preference for evaluating contracts based on the lowest price criterion, insufficiently built administrative (personal) capacity to implement green public procurement, fear of discrimination in incorporating environmental criteria into tender documents and subsequent sanctions from control bodies. Last but not least, the voluntary application of green public procurement at regional and local level is also included among the barriers in the efficient use of this tool in practice.

A Systematic Methodology for Design of Sustainable Urban Neighborhood Energy Infrastructure

The growing share of global energy consumption by cities (currently over 65%) raises the requirements for a systematic holistic approach for designing urban energy infrastructure in order to ensure its sustainability. A literature review of state-of-the-art modeling of urban energy infrastructure design emphasized the incomprehensive sustainability of the performed evaluations, as they accounted for several aspects of sustainability but missed others. Omitting important aspects can have significant implications which can put the sustainability of the energy infrastructure at risk. In this study, we attempted to develop a comprehensive model for designing sustainable energy infrastructure for urban districts, which accounts for the four aspects of sustainability: social, technical, environmental, and economic. The model is based on a four-step methodology: district characterization, a technological survey for distributed generation and energy storage, selecting suitable technologies according to social and technical criteria, and simulations of different energy infrastructure configurations to find the most suitable configurations basing on economic and environmental criteria. The research includes a case study in which the model was implemented for the Technion campus in Haifa. The developed model proved to be a comprehensive, efficient, and versatile tool for designing urban energy infrastructure.

The Optimum Site Selection for Solar Energy Farms using AHP in GIS Environment, A Case Study of Iraq

Recently, renewable energy (RE), such as solar energy, sources have proven their importance as an alternative source of fuel. The utilizing of solar energy can contribute to move the world towards relying on clean energy to curb global warming. However, the placement of solar farms is a major priority for planners as it is a critical factor in the succession energy project. This study combines one of the multi-criteria decision-making techniques Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Geographic Information System (GIS) to assess the suitability of land for establishing solar farms in Iraq. Numerous climatic, geomorphological, economic, and environmental criteria and some exclusionary constraints have been adopted in modeling process. It is supported by expert knowledge and a comprehensive literature review. The results showed that approximately 19% of the study area are optimal areas for installing solar farms. The southern, southeastern, and a few western regions obtained the largest part of the suitable lands. Furthermore, this approach can be adapted easily to cover different criteria and different weights in order to assist planners in deciding solar farm locations.

Role of folk culture in ecological education

At the present stage, the topic of environmental research is actively developing in all areas of human activity, and becomes a cornerstone in their formation and development. The following concepts are widely accepted: ecological nurture, the issue of ecology in science and art, ecological education, ecology of culture, ecology of human behavior, ecological safety of the environment, etc. The conservation and development of environmental criteria seems to be a factor in the sustainable development of all processes of human activity in the context of globalization and internationalization. The issues of preserving the identity and ecology of culture are of particular importance. In this article, using the Kazakh language as an example, are given the words that reflect the essence of the cultural ecology of the people. According to the opinion of the authors, the study of a foreign language must begin with words that reveal spiritual life, ideology, worldview, beliefs, a strong connection that unites the outdated, living and future generations of the people into one great historical living whole. It is proposed to adopt a comprehensive method of learning a foreign language through the study of the entire culture of the people.

Developing a Method to Simulate and Evaluate Effects of Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change on Wheat Crop Production: A Challenging Multi-Criteria Analysis

Adaptation of cropping management strategies is necessary to ensure the sustainability of our agriculture, which is facing threats arising from climate change. A methodology is proposed to find out and compare the most promising adaptation strategies in this context considering both biotic and abiotic stresses. A set of pre-selected strategies were evaluated based on economic, plant health and environmental criteria. A dedicated workflow combining the STICS crop model, epidemiological models and multi-criteria analysis was designed, implemented and tested for a wheat production situation. Flexible by design, this methodology can consider different criteria weights to be used as an exchange support with stakeholders.

Assessing Sustainable Urban Mobility Policies in the Mediterranean Tourism Destinations Through Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Models

This chapter presents the assessment of 11 sustainable urban mobility measures according to 10 criteria for European medium-sized touristic cities, using multi-criteria decision-making. The study includes the viewpoint of six different European stakeholder groups, identifying their interests and comparing their ranking on appropriate mobility measures. It was found that the majority of stakeholders give the highest priority to the wellbeing of local communities and the quality of life, despite the economic implications of services and the potential impact on incoming tourism. Mostly they emphasise on at least two out of five criteria categories: Society and Environment or Society and Mobility. Tourism stakeholders showed a high preference for environmental criteria, demonstrating the continuously raising awareness on the links of tourism and environment. “Mobility management and travel plans” policy was the most popular policy amongst all groups, indicating that the provision of information, personalised plans, and smart applications can increase the use of sustainable mobility modes and have a significant positive impact in all examined categories. Overall, the multi-criteria analysis performed in this study can be a valuable tool for decision-makers during the shaping of future policies for sustainable mobility in urban tourist destinations, considering numerous parameters and stakeholders’ viewpoints. Moreover, it can be further developed and adapted to specific needs.

Environmental Portfolios—Evidence from Screening and Passive Portfolio Management

Environmental portfolios via screening or optimization with respect to ecological criteria are not clear-cut concepts. Often, they urge investors to reduce the asset universe, which is accompanied by diversification losses. In this article, we show that a simple passive asset selection strategy based on environmental criteria allows ecological investors to adjust their portfolios without compromising or even reducing risk-adjusted financial performance. In detail, we show that screening does not lead to a significant financial performance reduction. Moreover, we propose an asset selection based on an environmental criteria that improves the portfolios’ financial performance, and further improves its potential positive environmental impact. Our results suggest that a combination of a screening and an environmental-scoring-based asset allocation seems to be a viable option for environmentally responsible investors leveraging the advantages of both strategies. Furthermore, we construct a risk factor CMP (clean minus polluting) and document a significant factor loading when added to the Fama–French five-factor model, suggesting the existence of a risk premium based on a firm’s environmental performance.

An Overview on Composite Sorbents Based on Polyelectrolytes Used in Advanced Wastewater Treatment

Advanced wastewater treatment processes are required to implement wastewater reuse in agriculture or industry, the efficient removal of targeted priority and emerging organic & inorganic pollutants being compulsory (due to their eco-toxicological and human health effects, bio-accumulative, and degradation characteristics). Various processes such as membrane separations, adsorption, advanced oxidation, filtration, disinfection may be used in combination with one or more conventional treatment stages, but technical and environmental criteria are important to assess their application. Natural and synthetic polyelectrolytes combined with some inorganic materials or other organic or inorganic polymers create new materials (composites) that are currently used in sorption of toxic pollutants. The recent developments on the synthesis and characterization of composites based on polyelectrolytes, divided according to their macroscopic shape— beads, core-shell, gels, nanofibers, membranes—are discussed, and a correlation of their actual structure and properties with the adsorption mechanisms and removal efficiencies of various pollutants in aqueous media (priority and emerging pollutants or other model pollutants) are presented.

Digital Eco-Design and Life Cycle Assessment—Key Elements in a Circular Economy: A Case Study of a Conventional Desk

In recent times, there has been an indisputable need to move towards a more sustainable economy, known as a circular economy, which is basically aimed at reducing the consumption of newly extracted raw materials to manufacture products, and thus, reduces waste generation by recycling products beyond their useful life to ultimately close the economic flow of the product. For the economy generated by products to close the circle, it is essential to tackle the problem at the source, that is, the process to achieve the desired product should be conducted by designing the product with environmental criteria (eco-design) and analysing its life cycle from the extraction process to the point when it ends its useful life (LCA). This article presents an ECO + LCA methodology that provides designers with an easy way of visualising the effect of their design decisions on the final environmental impact of the product. This methodology was tested on a case study of a conventional desk, with four alternative scenarios presented and an assessment of their final impact with a cradle-to-grave perspective. The final design obtained reduces the environmental impact by more than 30% and reduces costs by more than 11%.