Framework for integration of urban planning, strategic environmental assessment and ecological planning for urban sustainability within the context of China

Sustainable development or sustainability has been highlighted as an essential principle in urban master planning, with increasing recognition that uncontrollable urbanization may well give rise to various issues such as overexploitation of natural resources, ecosystem destruction, environmental pollution and large-scale climate change. Thus, it is deemed necessary to modify the existing urban and regional administrative system so as to cope with the challenges urban planning is being confronted with and realize the purpose of urban sustainability. This paper contributed to proposing a mechanism which helps to make urban planning with full consideration of issues with respect to sustainable development. We suggested that the integration of urban planning, SEA and ecological planning be a multi-win strategy to offset deficiency of each mentioned political tool being individually applied. We also proposed a framework where SEA and ecological planning are fully incorporated into urban planning, which forms a two-way constraint mechanism to ascertain environmental quality of urban planning, although in practice, planning and SEA processes may conditionally be unified. Moreover, as shown in the case study, the integration of the three political tools may be constrained due to slow changes in the contextual factors, in particular the political and cultural dimensions. Currently within the context of China, there may be three major elements which facilitate integration of the three political tools, which are (1) regulatory requirement of PEIA on urban planning, (2) the promotion or strong administrative support from government on eco-district building, and (3) the willingness of urban planners to collaborate with SEA experts or ecologists.     

Redesign of a component based on ecodesign practices: environmental impact and cost reduction achievements

This paper focuses on ecodesign and its application in the footwear industry aiming to identify how the ecodesign can be applied to the redesign of a shoe component in order to minimize the environmental impact and simultaneously reduce costs of production and assembling. The factors that influence the use of ecodesign, the benefits and the difficulties were also investigated. A longitudinal case study was developed in a company that produces shoe stiffeners. The process of ecodesign implementation and the practices of ecodesign considered during the product redesign were analyzed. A cost reduction of about 10% was observed (in relation to the use of natural fibers and polymers in its composition-31% of biomass and 69% of fossil material). Toxic materials were completely eliminated and a reduction of energy consumption was also noticed (during the injection process). The main contributions of this study are: ecodesign constructs to be further researched the conjoint analysis of technological ability and market potential in a redesign project, and the requirements to gain managerial support for a redesign project.     

Effects of waste recovery on carbon footprint: a case study of the Gulf of Bothnia steel and zinc industries

This article analyses the impact of waste recovery on climate change mitigation on a regional scale. We focus on the EU End of Waste (EoW) policy, which aims at reducing negative impacts on the environment through the minimization of generated waste. At the same time, the EU climate objectives set challenging goals for the industry to lower greenhouse gas emissions. We argue that the goals of these two policies are conflicting: under certain circumstances, the EoW will lead into increased greenhouse gas emissions because of a number of negative feedback effects that function on multiple spatial and temporal scales.To assess the effects of waste recovery on greenhouse gas emissions, we carry out a consequential life-cycle inventory on a proposed industrial ecosystem around the Gulf of Bothnia between Finland and Sweden. The system recovers currently unutilized steelmaking dust and slag from four steel mills in Finland and Sweden and converts them into iron and zinc raw materials in a novel rotary hearth furnace. The recovered iron is led back into the blast furnace of one of the steel mills and zinc is treated in an existing zinc plant. In the European scale, the model system is significant in size, serving thus as a model for integrated EoW and carbon footprint assessments in other similar cases within the EU.The analysis reveals the relative greenhouse gas emissions from raw material extraction and production, heat and power generation, transport and the production process itself, in comparison to the present system with limited material recovery. To test the model viability, we conduct a sensitivity analysis with respect to increasing energy and production capacity. Our analysis shows that from the point of view of a single operator, material recovery may bring noteworthy reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. If the scale of the assessment is expanded beyond the confines of a single plant, however, we find limited potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through further recovery of steelmaking residues. In conclusion, we provide policy recommendations with which the EoW paradigm can provide better support for climate change mitigation on a regional scale.     

Integrating carbon footprint into supply chain management: the case of Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) in the automobile industry

The purpose of this paper is to improve our understanding of carbon footprint within the context of automobile supply chain management. The case study approach is employed as a research method. Primary data were collected through site visits and extensive interviews with HMC’s corporate and plant management. First, identification and measurement of direct and indirect carbon footprint is critical for mitigating supply chain risks. Second, setting the system boundary of measurement is another important issue to integrate the issue of carbon footprint into supply chain management. Third, developing a map of product carbon footprint facilitates identification and measurement of carbon emissions across the supply chain. Companies today operate in a carbon-constrained world. In particular, the automobile industry is under pressure to take a close look at its product carbon footprint. Managing the downstream consequences of the use of its products and inputs from upstream suppliers is critical for developing carbon risk-mitigated supply chain management. This paper is of benefit to academics and managers by providing a new way to integrate carbon emissions in supply chain management. Since climate change and carbon footprint present challenges to many industries, increasing our understanding of how to integrate carbon footprint in supply chain management is necessary, but has seen little research in the automobile industry.     

Public policy as a part of transforming energy systems: framing bioenergy in Finnish energy policy

Government interventions have been identified as important for energy systems change, because they can either facilitate or hinder transitions toward more sustainable energy systems. This article analyses how bioenergy options have been framed in Finnish policy strategies and how the framing has changed over time. The empirical material includes the content of 15 government programmes and nine national energy/climate strategies. On the basis of this assessment, both the link between bioenergy framings in strategies and the actual transformation of Finnish bioenergy systems are explored.On the basis of bioenergy framings, the development of energy policy can be divided into three phases: support for domestic energy sources in 1979-1991, support for wood- and industry-based bioenergy in 1992-1998, and diversified bioenergy in the context of climate change in 1999-2010. For two decades, primarily wood-based bioenergy was supported despite alternative technological developments occurring elsewhere. After the turn of the millennium, the importance of climate policy increased and alternative bioenergy sources were raised on the government policy agenda, also resulting in some new policy instruments. Rather than adopting a visionary outlook to guide system transformation, climate and energy policy has strengthened those technological options that have been selected elsewhere. If public policies are to enhance the shift toward low-carbon, sustainable energy systems, they would need to be more comprehensive, be more consistent over time, and emphasise energy use more.     

Expert views on environmental impacts and their measurementin the forest industry

The paper argues that corporate environmental management should be based on significant environmental aspects that result in significant environmental impacts. The Finnish forest industry has substantially reduced its emissions but, being heavy industry, it still causes significant environmental impacts. This paper presents expert views on environmental impacts and their measurement. They were gathered through semi-structured theme interviews. The most frequently mentioned environmental impacts and significant environmental impacts related to water, energy and air. Positive environmental impacts resulted from recycling, forest industry products and use of energy. Traditional emission measurement was considered a well-measured issue. The target subjects of the measurement and especially environmental impact measurement require improvement. The contribution of this research is concerned with the development of measurement and two issues arising from the research are emphasised. First, environmental impact measurement should be further developed. Second, the measurement of the production chain that is physically outside the boundaries of forest industry mills should also be developed.     

Adapting to climate change: reducing water-related risks in Europe – EU policy and research considerations

Climate change impacts on the hydrological cycle, e.g. leading to changes of precipitation patterns, have been observed over several decades. Higher water temperatures and changes in extremes hydrometeorological events (including floods and droughts) are likely to exacerbate different types of pressures on water resources with possible negative impacts on ecosystems and human health. In addition, sea-level rise is expected to extend areas of salinisation of groundwater and estuaries, resulting in a decrease of freshwater availability for humans and ecosystems in coastal areas. Furthermore, climate-related changes in water quantity and quality are expected to affect food availability, water access and utilisation, especially in arid and semi-arid areas, as well as the operation of water infrastructure (e.g. hydropower, flood defences, and irrigation systems). This paper serves as an introduction to the special issue of Environment Science & Policy dealing with climate change impacts on water-related disasters. It provides a brief background about relevant EU water policies and examples of EU-funded research trends which illustrate on-going efforts to improve understanding and modelling of climate changes related to the hydrological cycles at scales that are relevant to decision making (possibly linked to policy).     

Coastal flood protection: What perspective in a changing climate? The THESEUS approach

Coastal areas are vital economic hubs in terms of settlement, industry, agriculture, trade and tourism to mention some key sectors. There are already many coastal problems including erosion, flood risk and long-term habitat deterioration. As economies continue to develop the asset base at risk will grow, while accelerating climate change will increase the likelihood of damaging extreme events, as well as accelerate habitat decline. Existing coastal management and defence approaches are not well tuned to these challenges as they assume a static situation.THESEUS project is developing a systematic approach to delivering both a low-risk coast for human use and healthy habitats for evolving coastal zones subject to multiple change factors. The project examines innovative mitigation and adaptation technologies and integrate the best of these technical measures in a strategic policy context through overarching guidelines. THESEUS activities are carried out within a multidisciplinary framework using 8 study sites across Europe, with specific attention to the most vulnerable coastal environments such as deltas, estuaries and wetlands, where many large cities and industrial areas are located.This paper describes THESEUS approach, and specifically: the Source-Pathway-Receptor-Consquence model for coastal risk assessment; the engineering, social, economic and ecological mitigation measures under analysis; the participatory approach with end users and coastal authorities for the selection and identification of the appropriate defence strategy to be planned in sudy sites.     

FloodProBE: technologies for improved safety of the built environment in relation to flood events

The FloodProBE project started as a FP7 research project in November 2009.Floods, together with wind related storms, are considered the major natural hazard in the EU in terms of risk to people and assets. In order to adapt urban areas (in river and coastal zones) to prevent flooding or to be better prepared for floods, decision makers need to determine how to upgrade flood defences and increasing flood resilience of protected buildings and critical infrastructure (power supplies, communications, water, transport, etc.) and assess the expected risk reduction from these measures.The aim of the FloodProBE-project is to improve knowledge on flood resilience and flood protection performance for balancing investments in flood risk management in urban areas. To this end, technologies, methods and tools for assessment purposes and for the adaptation of new and existing buildings and critical infrastructure are developed, tested and disseminated.Three priority areas are addressed by FloodProBE. These are: (i) vulnerability of critical infrastructure and high-density value assets including direct and indirect damage, (ii) the assessment and reliability of urban flood defences including the use of geophysical methods and remote sensing techniques and (iii) concepts and technologies for upgrading weak links in flood defences as well as construction technologies for flood proofing buildings and infrastructure networks to increase the flood resilience of the urban system.The primary impact of FloodProBE in advancing knowledge in these areas is an increase in the cost-effectiveness (i.e. performance) of new and existing flood protection structures and flood resilience measures.     

New policies to deal with climate change and other drivers impacting on resilience to flooding in urban areas: the CORFU approach

In the context of urban flood management, resilience is equal to resisting, recovering, reflecting and responding. The variety of causes of flooding and their consequences underpin the need for increased and internationally coordinated efforts to enhance technologies and policies for dealing with floods. This paper addresses this issue and presents some novel research ideas related to resilience to flooding in urban areas, which are under development within the EU FP7 project ‘Collaborative research on flood resilience in urban areas’ (CORFU). The approach adopted in this project aims to quantify the cost-effectiveness of resilience measures and integrative and adaptable flood management plans for different scenarios of relevant drivers: urban development, socio-economic trends and climate changes. It is believed that the way in which the different models are being put together, combined with the variability of conditions in case study areas in Asia and in Europe, will ultimately enable more scientifically sound policies for the management of the consequences of urban flooding.