Perspectives on Finland’s sustainable consumption and production policy

The Finnish approach that is starting from the basic human needs of food, housing, mobility and related lifestyles enables us to address the social dimension of sustainable development alongside the ecological and economic dimensions. In this context environmental problems cannot be resolved in isolation from people’s everyday lives, as can happen if environmental policies are based purely on emissions.But it is also worth questioning the potential for national SCP programmes in today’s global markets. Over the last ten years, domestic material flows within the Finnish economy have remained fairly constant, with gains in material efficiency cancelled out by increasing levels of material consumption. However, external material flows and the consequent environmental impacts have steadily increased, and the magnitude and environmental impacts of both imports and exports are approximately the same as for domestic flows. This means that the role of external material flows can no longer be ignored in national SCP policies.It is also important to integrate SCP with climate policies. Finland’s national climate and energy strategy is mainly based on the need to reduce CO₂ emissions from energy production and industrial installations, but there is also a need for complementary actions to reduce the carbon footprints caused by private and public consumption.     

流域生态补偿支付方式研究

通过对国内外流域生态补偿支付方式的系统研究,指出作为公共支付的重要补充,市场贸易支付在国外已经比较完善,但在中国,其所占份额少,尤其是开放式贸易支付方式尚未起步。建立和完善相关交易标准、法律和规章平台,充分发挥市场贸易支付的作用,对于改善流域生态补偿效果具有重要意义。同时,本文还对流域生态补偿支付方式的选择进行了探讨。     

PM2.5中典型水溶性离子在线观测标准曲线优化研究

为了研究在线离子色谱法测定大气PM2.5中NH4^+、NO3^-、SO4^2-的不确定性来源,探讨了标准曲线的浓度范围及浓度梯度设置对离子浓度结果的影响,并对标准曲线设定方案进行了优化。结果表明:不同浓度范围的标准曲线对于NH4+的浓度结果有较大的影响,存在1. 87%~14. 91%的偏差,对于NO3^-、SO4^2-的影响较小,相对偏差分别为2. 94%和2. 82%;非均匀布点和均匀布点标准曲线定量NH4+的结果存在4. 15%~4. 25%的偏差,对于NO3^-和SO4^2-,相对偏差分别为0. 10%和5. 99%。对于二次拟合的NH4^+,在样品浓度波动较大时,可以将样品划分为低浓度范围和高浓度范围,分别选用低浓度段标准曲线和高浓度段标准曲线,以期得到更合理的浓度结果。     

Value in sustainability: the process industry perspective

The most important driver for management is successful business that increases its value to shareholders. The adoption of environmentally responsible business practices can open up an additional range of opportunities for companies, for example by improving material efficiency. The choice to improve environmental performance of a company tends to also improve its financial performance. In this paper, our aim is to study the value of sustainability in process and mining industry from the perspective of interest groups such as investors, customers and the public, by using case examples. Interviews and workshops were employed to investigate whether or not investors and customers are interested in sustainability in the process and mining industries. We also illustrate how easy it can be to jeopardize corporate reputation through. The present situation and challenges faced in bringing sustainability into everyday business practices are summarized and proposals made concerning ways to achieve increased sustainability.     

Investigating supportive conditions for participation in voluntary environmental programs

Voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) are commonly construed as contracts between industry and government that encourage businesses to voluntarily mitigate their environmental impacts beyond legal requirements. This research explores conditions under which polluting firms are likely to participate in VEPs. We analyze 34 comparable VEPs whose shared goal is to reduce greenhouse gases emissions, with focus on the alleged influences of three factors drawn from existing scholarship: government supervision; economic instruments; and public disclosure of participants' environmental records. The statistical results show a greater effect from government supervision than complete voluntarism and the positive effect of financial subsidies on firms' participation in VEPs. Although recent debates over regulatory reform have been oriented towards vesting greater discretion in regulatees to better address environmental harms, the findings imply that even in a highly privatized form of regulation, government oversight and assistance are necessary for promoting this new mode of environmental regulation.     

环境管理的经济手段分析

环境管理中占主导地位的是直接管制手段，直接管制手段就是政府行政管理机构以指令控制的方式向污染排放者下达法令或提出具体的标准。直接管制在环境管理中取得了很好的成绩。但在环境和经济的协调效率上还不够灵活有效，显示出相当的局限性。阐述了排污收费,使用费，产品费,排污权交易、环境税收等常用的经济手段，并进行了比较分析。     

关于《水污染防治法》修订中加强经济政策手段的思考

"十二五"以来,我国对水污染防治运用经济政策手段进行了积极探索。党和国家出台的政策文件、新修订的《中华人民共和国环境保护法》以及《水污染防治行动计划》等都对水污染防治经济政策手段的制定和实施提出了新的要求。因此,亟需在未来《水污染防治法》的修订过程中加强对相关经济政策手段的规定,给予相关手段明确的法律地位,充分发挥经济政策在水污染防治中的重要作用。为此,本文建议着眼于"十三五"及未来更长一段时期水环境质量改善以及水污染防治形势和突出问题,以推动构建和实施系统、协调和高效的水污染防治经济政策体系为目标,结合党和国家相关文件、法律、行动计划的最新要求,借鉴国际上通过立法保障水污染防治经济政策手段制定和实施的经验,重点从投融资政策、税费和价格政策、排污交易政策等三个方面对现行《水污染防治法》进行修订、补充和完善。具体建议包括:一是完善关于财政投入和融资渠道的相关规定,要求加大水污染防治财政投入和补贴力度、鼓励水污染防治第三方治理方式和PPP模式以及建立流域上下游(跨界)生态补偿机制等;二是完善对于环境税(费)和其他价格机制的相关规定,增加关于环境保护税的说明等;三是增加逐步推行重点水污染物排污权交易的条款等。     

The carrot or the stick: individual adaption against varying institutional arrangements

This study employs a unique household-level data-set to investigate the effectiveness of various waste separation policies under consideration of local socioeconomic contexts. Our results confirm previous findings that most demographic factors are generally not statistically significant. The findings suggest that waste separation knowledge, social capital, free provision of sortable containers and community collecting recyclables are positively associated with household involvement in waste separation. More importantly, while an increase in the garbage fee motivates non-sorting households to separate their waste into two categories of recyclables and non-recyclables, it also crowds out households’ preexisting motivations for sorting waste into three or more categories. The introduction of a garbage fee indeed substitutes rather than complements free provision of sortable containers and community collection of recyclables. Apart from actively fostering the creation of social capital, local authorities should, therefore, comprehensively design a compatible policy mix to adjust and optimize current management schemes for enhancing waste management practices.     

我国辐射环境监测快速发展中遇到的问题、困难及对策

本文概述了全国辐射环境监测网络的建设及现状情况,梳理了辐射环境监测国控网空气自动监测站、陆地辐射监测点、水体国控监测断面、饮用水源地、地下水监测点、海水监测点、土壤监测点、电磁辐射监测点以及国家重点监管民用核设施监督性监测的设置规模,分析了辐射环境自动监测站、核电厂外围辐射环境监督性监测、核应急监测、辐射监测仪器设备国产化、部分省市委托监测等方面工作上存在的一些技术问题及困难,并针对问题和困难提出了相应的对策措施建议。     

Application of Tradable Emission Permits in Europe

The purpose of this study is merely to review the current situation in the designing and implementation of the emission trading programs in Europe. Historical data show that although there is a series of shortcomings in their current functioning, employing such instruments for GHG reduction policy making is strongly expected to be efficient and effective. The European Union Emission Trading Scheme （EU ETS）, Clean Development Mechanism （CDM） and Joint Implementation （JI） are just a few examples of the ambitious EU initiative that heavily relies on such instruments. We dwell on their operations and achievements by far and all the content in this article is expected to convince the Chinese government and regional public authorities to take positive actions and attitudes in promoting these instruments.