Factors for implementing end-of-life product reverse logistics in the Chinese manufacturing sector

Dedicated, skilled and relatively cheap manpower coupled with efficient manufacturing techniques has elevated China’s status as the world’s factory. China is now capable of producing virtually any product, from cheap toys to some of the most sophisticated goods and equipment. The resultant economic benefits and associated enormous consumption due to rise in per capita income are accompanied by an equally unprecedented negative environmental impact arising from the huge increase of end-of-life (EoL) products. This study aims to understand and prioritise EoL product reverse logistics (RL) factors from Chinese manufacturing sector perspective. Multiple case studies in five different industries within the manufacturing sector have been carried out and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been employed to prioritise the governing factors for the successful RL implementation in the Chinese manufacturing sector. Results indicate that Chinese firms are unlikely to embark on RL operations without external factors such as strict government legislation.     

The Determinants of an Environmentally Responsive Firm: An Empirical Approach

Our empirical results indicate that a firm's formulation of an environmental plan is positively influenced by customer pressure, shareholder pressure, government regulatory pressure, and neighborhood and community group pressure but negatively influenced by other lobby group pressure sources and a firm's sales-to-asset ratio. Firms which view environmental issues as important in the next 5 years are also more likely to have a plan. Relative to the manufacturing sector, firms in the natural resource sector are more likely to formulate environmental plans while firms in the service sector are less likely to have plans. Our results provide insight into how firms react to environmental issues. They also offer policymakers a list of determinants which can be used either as an alternative or complement to environmental regulation.     

Influence of eco-innovation on Indian manufacturing sector sustainable performance

Manufacturing firms are striving to improve their sustainable performance in order to satisfy multiple stakeholders. Eco-innovation is a promising approach that decreases environmental impact and helps firms to increase their business value. There are several antecedents which help the firms to innovate and improve their triple bottom line performance. Among the antecedents, management and innovative practices are directly related to eco-innovation. It is not well known what practices and innovations help the firms to eco-innovate as well as to improve sustainable performance. Hence, the research objective of this paper is to identify the suitable combination of management and innovative practices that help firms to eco-innovate as well as to achieve overall sustainable performance. The paper develops an eco-innovation conceptual model which relates the management and innovative practices (antecedents) and overall sustainable performance (consequences) of eco-innovation using institutional theory. Using Indian manufacturing sector’s empirical data and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach, this paper determines the effect of eco-innovation’s antecedents and consequences. In the Indian context, this study suggests that the role of management practice is more significant towards eco-innovation than innovative practices. The results reflect practitioners’ view on how to increase innovation rate and to focus more on social aspects. The finding suggests that training on environmental related practices could tackle innovation and social aspects in the Indian manufacturing sector context.     

Organizational adoption of sustainable manufacturing practices in India: integrating institutional theory and corporate environmental responsibility

Organizations are increasingly engaging in socially and environmentally sustainable initiatives. This paper focuses on the institutional isomorphism mechanisms to analyse the organizational adoption of sustainable manufacturing practices like eco-design, source reduction, and environmental management practices. This paper empirically examines the role of institutional influence in the organizational adoption of sustainable manufacturing practices among firms in India. The results of this study confirm the significance of the three institutional isomorphism mechanisms in influencing sustainable responses, but not all mechanisms influence the organizational response equally. In particular, the results show a strong influence of self-regulatory normative isomorphism on the implementation.     

Environmental policy with upstream pollution abatement technology firms

This paper examines how the existence of an upstream abatement technology sector affects optimal environmental policy. We explore whether the policy should be especially stringent in order to spur a successful export industry based on abatement technology. Furthermore, we investigate if a stringent policy can be used to increase competition in the upstream sector. Our point of departure is a three-stage game between a government in a country with a polluting downstream industry, and a limited number of upstream firms supplying abatement technologies. The government moves first, and may use its environmental policy strategically to influence the behavior of the upstream technology firms. We find that an especially stringent environmental policy towards the polluting downstream sector may be well founded, as it increases competition between the technology suppliers, leading to lower abatement costs. However, to our surprise, an especially stringent environmental policy is not a particularly good industrial policy with respect to developing successful new export sectors based on abatement technology.     

Pollution havens and industrial agglomeration

This paper examines the pollution haven hypothesis using a spatial-economy model of two countries and two sectors. The manufacturing sector generates cross-border pollution which reduces cross-sectoral productivity of agricultural goods, and lowers local income. We derive a demand-reducing effect that discourages firms to move to the country with laxer environmental regulations, in the absence of any comparative advantage. Our analysis also demonstrates that manufacturing agglomeration forces can alleviate the pollution-haven effect: a pollution haven may not arise if environmental regulation is slightly more stringent in the larger country.     

Heterogeneous firms and the environment: a cap-and-trade program

Currently, cap-and-trade programs are a cornerstone of many countries' climate change policies and proposals. This paper investigates the economic and environmental effects of different climate change policy designs in a general equilibrium setting with heterogeneous firms and monopolistic competition. The analysis predicts that the cap on emissions perfectly defines the environmental quality but has no effect on firms' profits, or decisions to enter or exit the market. In contrast, increasing the share of free allocations of emission allowances, as opposed to auctions, has no effect on environmental quality but reallocates resources among firms toward the most productive ones which has an impact on firms' entry and exit decisions, the mass of firms, and the composition of the market. Firm heterogeneity magnifies these economic effects of changes in the initial allocation of allowances. The paper provides a decomposition of the change in aggregate emissions which takes account of the changes at sector level, across the firms within a sector, and at the firm level.     

Controversial sectors in banks’ sustainability reporting

Albeit indirectly, through its lending and investing, the financial sector can contribute substantially to achieve sustainable development. One of such practices concerns investment on or financing of entities that deal with environmentally or socially sensitive transactions (gambling, tobacco, alcohol, arms, etc.). Although there is a wealth of literature on banks’ CSR and its reporting, one can count on the fingers of one hand the studies mentioning explicitly these issue. What is more, this CSR practice gets treated only cursorily in these few studies. This study focuses on the communication of information on investment and financing of firms from controversial sectors in banks’ sustainability reports. We begin by examining whether financial institutions in our sample report having such policies or not. Then, we investigate what kind of policies are reported. In addition, this study seeks to capture the influence of national culture and firm-specific characteristics (type of property, listing status and multinationality) on the reporting of such issues. Ordinal regression analysis is used to analyse the relation of these factors with such reporting. Our findings suggest that the disclosure of information on policies regarding investment on and financing of firms from controversial sectors is not widespread, and the organizations reporting policies of total exclusion of some sectors or projects on ethical grounds are few. This study may encourage more detailed analyses of the type of CSR policies examined and of their impacts. It also may be of utility to banks by raising awareness about the need to consider these issues.     

Constructing meaningful environmental indices: A nonparametric frontier approach

Environmental information disclosure programs seek to motivate firms to reduce their environmental impact. A variety of environmental impacts are reported in these programs and often this information is aggregated into a composite environmental index (CEI) for easier communication. The challenge is to create a meaningful index that allows environmental performance to be compared over time and space without ambiguity. In this paper, we argue that it is important to develop a cardinally meaningful and standardized CEI and use a nonparametric frontier approach to constructing such an index. This approach has the advantage to handle issues associated with data irregularity and the mixed measurability of underlying variables. We apply this approach to constructing a CEI for evaluating the environmental performance of manufacturing facilities in different industrial sectors in Los Angeles based on data from the toxic release inventory. We show how the CEI can be used to improve facility-level environmental performance. A sensitivity analysis is conducted with respect to the uncertainty in data accuracy, which demonstrates the robustness of the nonparametric frontier approach in constructing meaningful environmental indices.     

Directing technical change from fossil-fuel to renewable energy innovation: An application using firm-level patent data

In this paper we provide an analysis of directed technical change in the sector of electricity generation. We rely on patent data in fossil-fuel (FF) and renewable energy (REN) technologies for 5471 European firms over the 1978–2006 period. The novelty of our approach is in the focus on firm׳s heterogeneity in driving technological change. We make a distinction between small specialized firms, which innovate in only one type of technology, and large mixed firms, which innovate in both technologies, to analyse how REN patents can replace FF ones at the sector level both through a shift in innovation activities within existing firms and through firms׳ entry and exit. We use zero-inflated count data estimation techniques to identify the factors that affect specialized versus mixed firms׳ patenting behaviour both at the intensive (i.e., levels of innovation) and extensive (i.e., technological entry) margins. We further investigate the implications of our firm-level estimations for reducing the gap between REN and FF innovation at the aggregate level. We establish two key findings: (1) a decrease in the FF-REN technology gap mainly comes about through technological entry of specialized REN firms following an increase in REN market size; (2) increases in FF prices, FF market size, and FF knowledge stocks all increase the technology gap by increasing mixed firms FF innovation rates. An important implication of our results is that policies aimed at increasing REN innovation should focus on helping small firms to start and sustain innovation in the long-run.     

Development of environmental management system in China’s financial sector

The establishment of the environmental management system in the financial sector can be effectively promoted through the introduction of the environmental protection concept and its implementation by the financial sector. The impact of a sustainable development system on the sector is analyzed in this article from three aspects: environmental risk assessment, financing support for environmental protection projects, and financial services to environmentally friendly corporations and individuals. Influential factors on the development of the environmental management system in China’s financial sector are discussed from the perspective of various entities such as financial institutions, financial regulation authorities, environmental protection departments, corporations, and the public. It is pointed out that China’s financial sector is now in the transitional phase from a defensive attitude to a preventive attitude. Strengthening governmental guidance, the supervision of regulators as well as public awareness of environmental protection should be used to enhance the initiative in the development of the environmental management system in the Chinese financial sector.     

The activity of Polish non-governmental organisations regarding the implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development

The growing interest of citizens in environmental issues is reflected in the mission statements and actions of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), defined as bodies that are voluntary, non-profit and independent of public authority. The article analyses the activities of Polish NGOs with regard to the environmental dimension of sustainable development. The overarching research question posed in this article refers to the extent to which entities of the third sector adopt, implement and appropriately report the implementation of the principles of sustainable development. The empirical basis for the analysis has been found in the statements made by public benefit organisations, as well as in data concerning the activities of NGOs from publications covering the concept of sustainable development.     

Economic value and management of mangrove forests in Cameroon

Mangrove forests constitute a pantropical ecosystem that has been much misused and mismanaged, without regard for actual and potential value to coastal resources. This paper uses primary and secondary data sources to assesses the economic value and pollution problems affecting a mangrove ecosystem. It concludes that this fragile ecosystem is under increasing biological stress resulting from industrial, agro-industrial, fishing and urban activities because both the private and public sector regard this ecosystem as wasteland. The paper concludes that, in order to achieve sustainability of the remaining forest, there is need for financial evaluation of the potentials of this ecosystem. Finally, the study identifies sustainable development and management options for mangrove forest and challenges scientists, researchers, natural resource managers and mangrove biologists to provide government authorities and society with evidence of the true potentials of mangrove ecosystems.     

Environmental federalism and environmental liability

Environmental federalism considers what level of government should optimally regulate pollution. This paper addresses this question for accidental pollution, which government regulates through the ex post liability regimes of either negligence or strict liability. We find that decentralizing the choice between these regimes does not, in general, induce the socially optimal outcome. When firms can pay all damages, all regions may choose negligence and impose an overly strict standard of due care. When firms may be bankrupted by damages, all regions may choose strict liability, which induces too little care. In addition, asymmetric equilibria are possible in which some regions choose negligence, others strict liability. Combining negligence with a Pigovian tax, or strict liability with a bonding requirement can align regional authorities' incentives with those of a central government.     

Stochastic pollution, costly sanctions, and optimality of emission permit banking

This paper identifies a new economic motive for pollution regulations that allow polluting firms to bank and borrow emission permits over time. When aggregate pollution is stochastic, an intertemporal permit trading regime can provide firms with efficient incentives for pollution abatement without the need for costly government enforcement actions that would otherwise be required.     

边境贸易发展的环境影响预测及其调控研究——以满洲里市为例

边镜贸易作为我国作为开放的重要组成部分，进展显著。本文在概述我国边境贸易发展所产生的环境问题的基础上，以我国最大的陆边口岸－－满州里市为例，运用灰色预测，动态规划等方法探讨边境贸易与环境保护协调发展的途径。     

中国消耗臭氧层物质非法进出口贸易状况和对策分析

分析了我国在保护臭氧层工作中在进出口贸易方面存在的问题,重点分析了消耗臭氧层物质（ODS）非法贸易的形式,尤其是ODS作为制冷剂的非法贸易形式,论述了ODS非法贸易工作的防范重点。同时,分析了非法贸易产生的主要原因,阐述了我国控制ODS非法贸易的措施和成效,以及非法贸易对我国履行环境国际公约工作的危害。最后,就强化ODS进出口管理、减少杜绝ODS非法贸易提出工具体的对策建议：调整氟化工行业产品的出口退税率,加强打击“三非”能力和ODS进出口管理机构建设。     

Rent dissipation and efficient rationalization in for-hire recreational fishing

Recreational fisheries are increasingly important in fisheries management; for some species, recreational take rivals or exceeds the amount harvested by commercial fishermen. Most recreational fisheries are regulated with gear restrictions, bag limits, and time/area closures, but there is increasing interest in the market-based solutions employed in commercial fisheries — this despite the lack of an adequate bioeconomic theory of the joint commercial/recreational aspects of many recreational fisheries. This paper integrates a detailed production specification with traditional bioeconomic tools in order to better understand the implications of rationalization schemes targeted at the charter sector. While confirming some of the qualitative conclusions of the commercial fisheries literature on open access and regulated open access our model also generates rich and novel predictions with respect to input choices, the number of vessels and congestion externalities. We devise a system of instruments that generate efficient outcomes and extensively discuss issues associated with their real-world implementation.     

Strategic environmental policy; eco-dumping or a green strategy?

The Porter hypothesis claims that a strong environmental policy best serves the interests of a nation's export industry. While this hypothesis seems to be based on some form of bounded rationality, this paper argues that governments may have good reasons for setting an especially strong environmental policy even though firms are fully rational. If the available abatement technology turns the environment into an “inferior input”, competitiveness is spurred by a strong environmental policy. The government should take advantage of this, and set an especially strict emission quota or an especially high emission tax. The findings in the paper also has consequences for the desirability of international cooperation with respect to national environmental policy. If a strict environmental policy spurs competitiveness, the environment is better protected without cooperation.