A Systems Thinking Approach to Environmental Follow-Up in a Swedish Central Public Authority: Hindrances and Possibilities for Learning from Experience

This study analysed the environmental follow-up of a public organisation from a systems thinking approach, including follow-up within different phases of operation and with different environmental management tools. The Swedish Rail Administration (SRA), a public authority responsible for Swedish rail infrastructure, was used as a case organisation. The main aim was to identify different follow-up activities during planning, construction and operation of rail infrastructure. Additional aims were to identify limiting factors for effective environmental follow-up and to provide suggestions on how SRA follow-up can better be used as an organisational learning tool. The follow-up proved to be highly influenced by Environmental Management System and was mainly used for showing compliance with legal regulations or contract requirements. Use of environmental monitoring data was limited to the specific project in which the follow-up was carried out, possibly because of the project-based structure of the organisation following rail deregulation. Theory on organisational learning was applied in the study to discuss how to improve the distribution and use of follow-up data. A more complete ‘organisational memory’ seems to be required for learning from experience and adapting to change.     

Using Goals in Environmental Management: The Swedish System of Environmental Objectives

In Sweden, environmental policy is essentially carried out through a system of environmental objectives adopted by Parliament in the late 1990s. This system contains principles, objectives, interim targets, strategies, and follow-up mechanisms, which together provide a solid ground for increased efficiency and improved prioritization in environmental policies. Despite the ambitious approach of the Swedish Parliament, the system of environmental objectives suffers from certain shortcomings. Some of the objectives are imprecise and difficult to evaluate, and there are no rules or principles that may be used to solve goal conflicts and to prioritize between different objectives. As a consequence, the environmental objectives tend to differ in their degrees of operationalizability, and the priority-setting between different objectives is often unclear.*Rskr. denotes a written communication (from the Swedish Parliament to the Swedish Government) of a Parliamentary decision. Note: This version was published online in June 2005 with the cover date of August 2004.     

A Hierarchical Fuzzy Decision Support System for the Environmental Rehabilitation of Lake Koronia,Greece

This article presents the design of a fuzzy decision support system (DSS) for the assessment of alternative strategies proposed for the restoration of Lake Koronia, Greece. Fuzzy estimates for the critical characteristics of the possible strategies, such as feasibility, environmental impact, implementation time, and costs are evaluated and supplied to the fuzzy DSS. Different weighting factors are assigned to the critical characteristics and the proposed strategies are ordered with respect to the system responses. The best strategies are selected and their expected impact on the ecosystem is evaluated with the aid of a fuzzy model of the lake. Sensitivity analysis and simulation results have shown that the proposed fuzzy DSS can serve as a valuable tool for the selection and evaluation of appropriate management actions. Note: This version was published online in June 2005 with the cover date of August 2004.     

VTB-Based Design of a Standalone Photovoltaic Power System

Abstract

Design and prototyping of a standalone photovoltaic power generation system using the Virtual Test Bed software environment is presented. The design includes establishing physics-based models for components, prototyping system architectures, implementing control algorithms, testing and evaluating the system performance using the actual weather data at a particular geographical location. The dynamic performance of the photovoltaic power system and its components are revealed in great details through the system level simulation. This knowledge is used for verification and improvements of the system design in order to achieve the best system power capability, efficiency and size.     

Land Conversion for Suburban Housing: A Study of Urbanization Around Warsaw and Olsztyn,Poland

In Poland of the 1990s, urban demand for housing land around city agglomerations increased rapidly. The decreasing profitability of agricultural production also caused farmers to become interested in the sale of agricultural land for nonagricultural purposes, and new land legislation granted them the right to sell their land. Polish counties simultaneously received self-governing status, which allowed them to define the priorities for local development. Counties received additional responsibility for land management and quickly demonstrated strong support for land conversion, which was perceived as a factor of local development. This paper argues that decentralization and the extension of private control over land have led to a loss of rural landscapes in Poland because farmers, county governments, and rural society in general gained from the conversion of agricultural to housing land. Rapid urbanization has significantly reduced the availability of open space around cities and threatened valuable landscapes, for it has occurred in the absence of environmental safeguards. This paper reports findings from research in two counties, located in regions with diverse economic growth rates. Decentralization is particularly problematic if tax regulations and intergovernmental fiscal relations reward local authorities for urbanization but not environmental protection. Note: This version was published online in June 2005 with the cover date of August 2004.     

Use of Physical Sciences in Support of Environmental Management

Offshore drilling for oil and gas has been conducted since the early 1900s. Oil and gas under the seabed continue to be an important part of the energy resources of the United States. The need to balance the value of these resources against the potential for environmental damage is an important concern. This article explains why and how the Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the US Department of the Interior uses research in physical sciences to help fulfill its environmental goals, and it provides background information on the role of physical sciences in decision-making for Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil, gas, and other minerals development. Established in the 1970s, the MMS Environmental Studies Program is a highly focused marine research program designed to provide the environmental information necessary for OCS energy and nonenergy minerals planning and development activities. The physical sciences research supported by MMS includes physical oceanography, oil-spill risk analyses, atmospheric sciences, and sand and gravel studies. Instead of giving a comprehensive review on physical sciences research in MMS, this article presents sample MMS studies and illustrates how these studies are utilized to support decision-making in environmental management.Published online Note: This version was published online in June 2005 with the cover date of August 2004.     

The role of perceived government style in the facilitation of self-determined and non self-determined motivation for pro-environmental behavior

Most North Americans are concerned about the environment and feel that responsibility for its protection lies primarily with government; however, no research to date has examined the influence of the government's approach toward environmental regulation on the motivation of individual citizens. According to self-determination theory, social contexts that support one's autonomy should facilitate self-determined motivation and social contexts that thwart autonomy should lead to non self-determined motivation and a sense of apathy or amotivation. In this study (n = 283), we examined the influence of perceptions of the government's approach toward environmental regulation on motivation toward the environment and frequency of self-reported pro-environmental behavior (PEB). Using structural equation modeling, we tested the hypothesis that frequency of PEB is predicted by motivation toward the environment and that motivation is predicted by the extent to which individuals perceive the government to be autonomy-supportive versus controlling in the implementation of environmental policies. The analysis revealed that perception of government autonomy-support contributed positively to autonomous motivation and negatively to amotivation, while perception of government control was positively related to both controlled motivation and amotivation. As predicted, autonomous motivation was positively, and amotivation was negatively, associated with frequency of PEB.     

行政事业组织建立环境管理体系探讨

目前，我国建立ISO14001环境管理体系的组织主要是企业，然而行政事业组织亦具有建立体系的必要性和可行性，并具有重要意义。行政事业组织在建立体系时，环境因素识别和控制的重点在于资源和能源的消耗及危险废物的处理和处置。体系的建立应与组织的行政管理职能紧密结合，促进环境管理程序化、规范化和法制化，从而实现“绿色行政”的目标。     

A Case-study of ISO 14001-based Environmental Management System Implementation in the People's Republic of China

The ISO 14001 implementation process among certified firms in China was examined by conducting a questionnaire survey distributed to all certified firms as of December 1998. Results showed that the ISO 14001-based environmental management system (EMS) has a significant effect on firms' daily environmental activities and performance. Recycling, natural resource consumption and released pollutants have been managed in a better way and, in some cases, pollutants have been reduced. The study showed that firms' main targets for adopting the system were to: enhance the firm's public image; enhance employees' environmental awareness; improve the EMS inside the firm; improve the environmental aspects and performance inside the firm; and improve relations with government offices and local citizens. ISO 1400-based EMS implementation showed that it is a promising tool for helping build a better partnership between three main stakeholders, government, local citizens and enterprises. The system has enabled firms to consider the role of the local people in a more effective way. For example, special consideration is given to involving local citizens in health and emergency preparedness during firms' daily environmental activities. Moreover, enhancing environmental awareness among the local citizens and giving more consideration to co-operation with other firms from the same industrial groups are reported by certified firms. Finally, there are strong demands for government support to build more reliable information systems, ISO 14001-related research, more incentives for eco-labelling and tax exemptions.     

Bike Networking in Rio: The challenges for non-motorised transport in an automobile-dominated government culture

Rio de Janeiro has developed, since 1992, an 84 km cycling network, more as the outcome of green and NGO lobbying than of clear cut and continuous government choices. The city transport policies are widely dominated by car and bus oriented priorities with insufficient investment in rail, ferryboat and other mass transport options. Bicycle use is potentially part of a new policy aimed at reducing automobile dependence and its social and environmental consequences. The Rio experience was influenced by the Dutch example, especially the Amsterdam achievements. The process of building this cycling infrastructure is also a political and cultural one, sometimes encountering tough resistance from some sectors of the city government and the public, hostile to an investment they consider futile. However, opinion polls conducted in Rio have shown impressive support for bike networking. The main conditions for success are: good integration, maintenance and security; appropriate support infrastructure; and continuity with regular investments and upgrading.     

Screening of environmental pressure from products in the Swedish railway infrastructure: Implications for strategic environmental management

This paper proposes a method to be used in environmental reviews as an initial tool for estimating upstream environmental pressures from material use in organisations dealing mostly with construction materials. Upstream environmental pressures are often omitted in environmental reviews from organisations and instead tend to be site specific, with a limited life-cycle perspective. This paper uses the Swedish National Rail Authority as a case to present the approach. An energy indicator is used to estimate the environmental pressure of material use.In the studied building project, a small set of products contribute to a major part of the material use and the material-related energy use. The energy use is almost exclusively of nonrenewable energy carriers. The three most important products are all homogenous and non-complex, which makes the energy indicator well suited for the analysis. The organisation can use the results to focus on the most important products and also to see which parts of the organisation contribute to the material-related energy use. Rail traffic in Sweden is almost exclusively from non-fossil-based energy carriers. This highlights the importance of the infrastructure to the overall environmental pressure of the railway. Consequently, if road transport were to shift away from fossil fuels, railways earlier environmental advantages would diminish, since research suggests that railway infrastructure is more energy intensive than road infrastructure.     

用能产品绿色设计浅议

随着全球环境问题日益加剧,绿色设计已经逐渐成为人们关注的焦点.与非用能产品相比,用能产品的特性决定了它在整个生命周期中会对环境产生更为严重的影响.因此,把绿色设计方法集成到用能产品的设计流程中,提高产品的环境性能,具有重要的现实意义.     

Engaging Economic Development Agencies in Environmental Protection: The case for embedded autonomy

This article examines the role of economic development agencies in strengthening the environmental performance of industry within rapidly industrialising East Asian economies. Three case-study examples are considered, namely, the role of the Industrial Development Board in reducing industrial pollution in Taiwan, pollution control in the palm oil industry in Malaysia, and the role of the Economic Development Board in influencing environmental performance of industry in Singapore. The concept of embedded autonomy is developed to consider the ways in which agencies of economic development can work with firms and industries while simultaneously remaining autonomous from these firms with respect to setting and enforcing performance standards. The three cases suggest that a form of policy integration that more directly integrates economic and environmental goals within agencies of economic development may be feasible, but only where there exists a strong autonomous government bureaucracy and where there is strong societal commitment to improving the environmental performance of industry.     

Influence of Motivations for Seeking ISO 14001 Certification on Perceptions of EMS Effectiveness in China

This study examines the motivations of mainland Chinese facilities in seeking ISO 14001 certification and examines the linkages between these motivations and self-reports of the effectiveness of major environmental management system (EMS) components. In a sample of 128 facilities in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, the main drivers for certification were reported to be to ensure regulatory compliance, to enhance the firms reputation, and to improve environmental performance, in that order. Although motivation to achieve cost reductions were least emphasized, a broad range of motivations appears to be considered in the decision to seek certification to ISO 14001. Regression models linking these motivations to the EMS components suggests that internal motivations have an influence on most EMS components. One interesting exception to this, however, is that no significant relationship was observed between internal motivations and the promulgation of environmental objectives and targets. The relationships associated with external motivations for certification (i.e., those in response to customer and other stakeholder pressures) and EMS components, on the other hand, are weaker and tend to occur earlier in the process cycle. No significant relationships were found between motivations to reduce costs and perceptions of the effectiveness of EMS components. Overall, these findings suggest that ISO 14001, as currently being implemented in mainland China, may have a modestly useful role when used in combination with other policy mechanisms to move the Chinese economy toward more sustainable practices. It is asserted that the ISO standard could provide even greater benefits if Chinese registrars were more proactive in developing EMS in conjunction with even more rigorous third-party audits.Published online     

The Commons in Transition: Agrarian and Environmental Change in Central and Eastern Europe

This paper analyzes institutional dynamics surrounding common-pool resources in postsocialist Central and Eastern Europe. It is conceived in close conjunction with the case studies by Penov, Schleyer, and Wasilewski and Krukowski (this issue). The purpose of this paper is to frame the individual case inquiries, compare their findings, and relate those to broader agrarian and environmental changes in the region.The case studies report a broad shift in resource governance from the previously dominant legal and administrative state hierarchies towards markets. In addition, state power has moved from central towards local authorities. The waning and decentralization of state power has caused the emergence of significant gaps between property legislation and rights-in-practice, which have been particularly stark in fragmented political systems. The discrepancy between legal texts and rights-in-practice leads to the exclusion of wider interests in favor of individual interests in the management of common-pool resources, resulting in resource deterioration and dwindling resource stocks. Thus, the comparative assessment suggests a tentative framework for understanding the effects of postsocialist transformations on governance of the commons and environmental change in Central and Eastern Europe. Its findings indicate an additional dimension to the diversity and distributive conflicts characterizing postsocialist privatization: the distribution of various rights to a resource among different actors. The findings also suggest the need for postsocialist states to take an active role in the governance of common-pool resources, particularly in the enforcement of legal rights. Note: This version was published online in June 2005 with the cover date of August 2004.     

Certification of environmental management systems—for iso 9000 and competitive advantage

ISO 9000 has become the buzzword of many industries worldwide as they strive to gain competitive advantage by registering their quality systems. At the same time, environmental performance and improvement is becoming increasingly important in the global marketplace. Work has begun to integrate these two important concepts into a new one: certification of environmental management systems. This article explains the new standard and why companies need to recognize and react to their international environmental impact.     

Application of environmental risk assessment for strategic decision-making in coastal areas: case studies in China

Environmental risk assessment (ERA) is a powerful technical tool for analyzing potential and extreme adverse environmental impacts, and has found wide application in supporting decision-making processes over the last two decades. However, to date there has been no interrelated application of ERA to support the processes of strategic decision-making (SDM), especially in coastal areas.

In this paper, we attempt to verify the feasibility of the proposed integrated ERA–SDM approach and its methodology by applying it to two case studies (in Xiamen Bay and Luoyuan Bay) of the principal coastal functional zoning (PCFZ, a kind of SDM and similar to the coastal and marine spatial planning in western). The results show that the integrated ERA–SDM approach could integrate ERA into the entire SDM process, directly support the PCFZ, and avoid or mitigate dire environmental risk that can be introduced by SDM processes.     

Elements of effective DFE program management and product stewardship

Design for the Environment (DFE) is a systems-oriented approach for designing more ecologically and economically sustainable product systems. It couples the product development cycle used in business with the physical life-cycle of a product. DFE integrates environmental requirements into the earliest stages of design so total impacts caused by product systems can be reduced. With DFE practices, environmental, performance, cost, cultural, and legal requirements are balanced. Concepts such as concurrent design, total quality management, cross-disciplinary teams, and multiattribute decision making are essential elements of DFE.¹ In this article, the authors show how these DFE initiatives can provide the design and product development teams with the training, information, decision support tools, and procedures that ensure improved product development decisions and environmental performance.     

Kodak's safety performance indexing—a tool for environmental improvement

Safety performance has a direct effect on employees' productivity and quality of work life, and on company profits and image in the community. Enormous human and financial losses can result from poor safety performance, and all such losses are preventable. To prevent these potential losses, safety performance must be continually improved across all levels of the organization. Effective safety programs are the key to improved safety performance. But how do we know when a safety program is effective? How can we measure safety performance and set goals for improvements? How can we track progress toward these goals? This article demonstrates how a powerful performance management tool —performance indexing— can be used to help improve safety performance throughout your company. This tool can also be used to measure, track, and improve environmental and occupational health performance.     

A hybrid design methodology for structuring an Integrated Environmental Management System (IEMS) for shipping business

The International Safety Management (ISM) Code defines a broad framework for the safe management and operation of merchant ships, maintaining high standards of safety and environmental protection. On the other hand, ISO 14001:2004 provides a generic, worldwide environmental management standard that has been utilized by several industries. Both the ISM Code and ISO 14001:2004 have the practical goal of establishing a sustainable Integrated Environmental Management System (IEMS) for shipping businesses. This paper presents a hybrid design methodology that shows how requirements from both standards can be combined into a single execution scheme. Specifically, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Axiomatic Design (FAD) are used to structure an IEMS for ship management companies. This research provides decision aid to maritime executives in order to enhance the environmental performance in the shipping industry.