How to Manage Sustainability

Sustainability has increasingly become a critical issue for wellbeing of human life and maintaining sustainability is responsibility of many parties such as individuals, corporations or governments. When taking its social, economical, or environmental impacts into consideration, maybe the most important player in that arena is organizations and in order to take the necessary actions about sustainability, first of all a common understanding of the topic is needed. For this reason, in this chapter it is aimed to create awareness about sustainability issue and commonly used tools for management of it. In this context, definition of sustainability and four corporate sustainability management tools (Environmental Management System - EMS, Sustainable Value Stream Mapping - Sus-VSM, Total Quality Environmental Management - TQEM and Sustainable Balanced Score Card - SBSC) have been explained.

Conditions for Development of Renewable Energy in Poland

The Paper examines legal and financial tools which are used in Poland to succor the development of energy from renewable resources. In the first part a definition of sustainable development is given and the short history of this idea is shown. Then the concept of Sustainable energy is introduced. The second part describes main policies of European Union on sustainable policy and the Polish Legal System on Renewable Energy is described. The fifth part of the paper analyzes the sustainable development indicators provided by Eurostat for the energy produced from renewable resources. there are 6 indicators analyzed. In the end the forecasts for the development of RES in Poland is given. There are clues for development of different technologies in different provinces of Poland. There are also forecasts for the development of the renewable energy market in Poland.

The Economics of Renewable Energy Promotion Policies

Large-scale deployment of renewable energy technologies, such as wind power and solar energy, has been taking place in industrialized and developing economics mainly because of various fiscal and regulatory policies. An understanding of the economy-wide impacts of those policies is an important part of an overall analysis of them. Using a perfect foresight computable general equilibrium model, this study analyzes the economy-wide costs of achieving a 10 percent share of wind power in Brazil's electricity supply mix by 2030. The study finds that the expansion of wind power would increase GDP in Brazil. The study also finds that a production subsidy financed through increased value-added tax would be superior to a consumption mandate where electricity utilities are allowed to pass the increased electricity supply costs directly to consumers. These two policies would impact various production sectors differently to achieve the wind power expansion targets.

Renewable Energy Sources

Sustainability concerns resulting from the consumption of natural resources, life-threatening levels of pollution, global warming, climate change and the ever-increasing worldwide energy use have brought renewable energy sources to forefront. Given the possibility of depletion of fossil fuels in the near future, the utilization of clean and renewable energy sources have become inevitable. Consequently, governments and global organizations adopted respective regulations to ensure the production and use of renewable energy and promote the respective new investments. In the light of these developments, the aim of this study is to conduct a detailed review and evaluation on the current literature and global energy statistics. The respective projects, binding regulations, incentives, and pricing mechanisms have also been studied to analyze and compare the renewable energy policies adopted worldwide. Ultimately, the goal is to make certain suggestions and lay out possible solutions regarding global energy problems.

Green Growth in Mexico, Brazil, and Chile

This research focuses on identifying the main policy strategies that could potentially contribute to the advance of three Latin American economies, namely Brazil, Chile and Mexico towards a green growth model that is social and inclusive, given the actual patterns of development of those economies. With this aim, we first identify and describe past and current policies in each country in terms of economic, social and environmental indicators. A detailed analysis follows for Brazil, Chile and Mexico, in which we propose a series of green growth indicators and choose a definition and classification of green growth sectors. We estimate an empirical model to explain the determinants of greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation in Latin American countries. We broadly identify the sectors that contribute to its increase and describe the main green policies applied in each country. In turn we identify the sectors with higher potential for the future. Finally, we present policy recommendations and reflections for the future.

Green Development

The focus of this chapter is to assess green or sustainable development concept because of its increased importance throughout the world. Droughts, environmental degradation, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions are important problems that the humankind have been facing since the Industrial Revolution. Renewable energy sources can be used to overcome these problems. The general tendency of modern-day societies is to transform traditional production techniques and development models to new renewable energy sources and also move towards to sustainable development path. Therefore, this study tries to explain current status of Norway, China and Turkey in terms of their renewable energy sources and policy implementations.

Environmental Reporting Quality

The ultimate question of most business practitioners and policy makers now is how to reduce corporate negative environmental performance. One of the most effective ways is to help corporations to set the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of their sustainability performance and to report these KPIs to their stakeholders using corporate reporting cycle. To improve the environmental reporting quality, companies generally adopt and follow widely recognized reporting guidelines and third-party assurance standards, thus improving their environmental disclosure quality and trustworthiness in minds of their stakeholders. Over the last two decades a number of global initiatives (e.g. GRI, ISO, DEFRA, AA1000 APS, and ISAE 3000) have been developed for use in sustainability reporting. This chapter, therefore, aims to shed light on these credibility initiatives developed by governmental and non-governmental bodies to improve the quality of environmental reporting and to see the extent to which these credibility initiatives are different or similar.

U.S. Public Support to Climate Change Initiatives?

The Obama Administration Climate Action Plan is enforcing goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2020, regulating both stationary and mobile sources of pollution. As energy-related carbon dioxide emissions account for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, the plan proposed carbon pollution standards for both new and existing plants. Impacts related to upgraded regulations have been projected as both favorable and not, with public and political opinions showing support among some groups and among other interests a concern. The purpose of this chapter is to analyze factors predicting which groups are supportive and non-supportive on setting stricter carbon dioxide emission limits on coal-fired electricity generating power plants. This topic is explored using multivariate regression analysis and individual level data. Findings suggest that comprehension of the policy area and individual financial situation are the most important factors in predicting support for stricter emission limits.

Sustainability, Risk, and Business Intelligence in Supply Chains

Sustainable Supply Chain Management has become one of the most important managerial trends nowadays. Companies can optimize their supply chains by integrating risk management and sustainability programs. This chapter explains sustainability and risk management concepts in supply chains and discusses the relationship between these two issues in a multidirectional way. Business Intelligence tools are addressed in terms of their role and importance in supporting the management of supply chains, their risks and sustainability. The aim of the chapter is to provide a background to better understand the link between supply chain risk management, sustainability and business intelligence.

An Integrated Approach for Sustainable Environmental and Socio-Economic Development Using Offshore Infrastructure

Seas and oceans offer a vast renewable energy resource and production possibilities with great potential for innovation and growth. Multi-purpose offshore platforms are ocean energy and aquaculture synergies developed in order to achieve efficient use of marine space. Regarding the construction and operation of such infrastructures, environmental and socio-economic benefits should be taken into account. This chapter uses the Ecosystem Services approach and the total economic framework for evaluating different designs of multi-purpose offshore platforms and a participatory approach to ensure their public acceptability.