Regional sustainability contrasts in Brazil as indicated by the Compass of Sustainability – CompasSus

The current need for assessing sustainable processes and states is a driving assumption for this article, having as objective to present preliminary results of a new assessment approach, the Compass of Sustainability (CompasSus), applied to administrative regions of Brazil. Its methodological approach is based on a combination of existing assessment methodologies, such as the Human Development Index and the Ecological Footprint. CompasSus is elaborated under the perspective of rather complementary operational concepts of sustainable development, namely weak and strong sustainability, which are often seen as competing ones. In spite of the advances on the perspective of sustainable development perceived in international agreements for conservation of nature, as well as in the implementation of national policies aiming at sustainability, there still exists an operational ambiguity of the concept of sustainability. Thus, its fuzzy theoretical consolidation for clear definition of objectives and lines of action still leads to different assumptions for diverse stakeholders and authors. Looking at the Brazilian case, conservation strategies are needed to protect the world's largest tropical rainforest against a predatory business – as-usual frontier expansion. As for addressing trade-offs between environmental conservation and regional development demands the CompasSus introduces a combined hemispheric assessment of sustainability. In 2006, the state in which the sustainability index had the best performance was DF (Distrito Federal). This, the seat of the capital city, presents an economy based on the public and the service sectors, both very little carbon and energy intensive. Furthermore, the high income per capita, and good social indicators associated with the small relevance of the agrarian sector grants it the best sustainability index, which is determined by performances in two components representing strong and weak sustainability. In the other extreme is São Paulo (SP) where a high population density and major impacts on waterways have implied a worse performance in weak sustainability index, whereas the high consumption of energy together with high carbon emissions have also determined a low performance in strong sustainability index.     

Uncertainty-based quantitative assessment of sustainability for higher education institutions

Evaluation of sustainability in various facets of life is gaining increasing importance. Traditionally, different multi-criteria decision-making methods have been used for sustainability assessment. “Sustainability” can be a qualitative concept, and as such several researchers have attempted fuzzy logic for the quantitative assessment of sustainability. This paper outlines a new evaluation model based on fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making. The model is tested for sustainability assessment of higher education institutions (HEIs). It is based on a driving force–pressure–state–exposure–effect–action (DPSEEA) framework and is called uncertainty-based DPSEEA-Sustainability index Model (uD-SiM). The uD-SiM is a causality-based model in which the sustainability index is an outcome of nonlinear impacts of sustainability indicators in different stages of DPSEEA. The percent contribution of driving forces on the sustainability index of HEI is investigated using sensitivity analysis. The study reveals that education in sustainability and global and local research trends are the major driving forces for achieving sustainability in HEI, followed by financial and economic growth rate, social equity, energy requirements rate, and institutional enhancement, in descending order. The results of uD-SiM were found to be more realistic and rational than our earlier proposed approach, D-SiM.     

Towards sustainability in urban water: a life cycle analysis of the urban water system of Alexandria City,Egypt

Urban water authorities and water planers in many countries are struggling to satisfy the growing urban water and sanitation demands, while at the same time achieving sustainability of the urban water system. This research focused on the assessment of the environmental impact of today's Alexandria's urban water system and on the identification of options to improve the sustainability of the system. Therefore, a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was used. The urban water system was modelled using SimaPro software, and the impacts of various options on the system were analyzed based on the Eco-indicator 99 assessment method. The results show that the highest impact in today's system is generated by the disposal of primary treated wastewater (68% of the total impact) and by high-energy-consuming water treatment plants (18% of the total impact). The research assessed different scenarios for improving the environmental performance of the system and a paradigm shift (decentralization and separation at-source of different kinds of household wastewater) was found to be the preferred long-term scenario.     

How sustainable is policy incoherence? A rationalist policy analysis of the Cameroonian electricity reform

Instead of being the milestone in Cameroon's economic reform program that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) claimed it would be, the 2001 privatisation of the Cameroonian electricity sector has turned out to be a millstone round the government, and country's neck. This paper documents and analyses the multidimensional incoherence embedded in the Cameroonian electricity sector reforms, initiated under the pressure of structural adjustment credit projects led by the World Bank. More specifically, 12 policy incoherencies are examined in the Cameroonian context. They range from a poor understanding of the electricity sector's problems, to pre-determined solutions and important shortcomings in the assessment of possible impacts. The results of these policy inconsistencies are analysed in terms the sector's sustainability, based upon the five key concepts introduced by Bruntland, suggesting that the reforms have failed to promote social, environmental or economic sustainability. Although this study concerns Cameroon, its relevance goes beyond this specific country, as similar policies are being implemented around the world.     

Explorations on the University's role in society for sustainable development through a systems transition approach. Case-study of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC)

Focusing on the sustainability challenge, a growing number of Universities are redefining their core strategies in order to adapt to the real social needs and expectations of their stakeholders. Beyond integrating sustainability into the University's internal activities (curriculum, research, operations, etc.), the challenge seems to be integrating the University with the sustainable development paths of society. For the last 10 years the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) has tackled this challenge through an overarching strategic plan. The latest strategy, UPC Sustainable Plan 2015 has adopted a different focus, which was designed through a participatory approach, involving many internal and external stakeholders.This work aims to use a conceptual framework based on systems transitions to assess the systems change potential of a University strategy, in this case, the sustainability strategy of UPC. The main objectives of this paper are: to present the sustainability strategy participatory design process and its outcomes at UPC; to analyse the strategy change potential through a new transition/systems renewal method that is proposed; and to compare it with the UPCs previous environmental strategy; The work concludes that the systems transition potential is currently higher with the new strategy and discusses the elements that explain this finding.     

Towards a capability approach of sustainability

Despite having a strong influence on development policies, theories of sustainability have not paid much attention to the capability approach (CA) thus far. Against this backdrop, the present paper argues for the CA’s usefulness of sustainability. In order to avoid just an additional contribution to the already confusing theoretical situation as well as to rely our exploration of the CA’s aptness for a conception of sustainability on a transparent and comparable basis, we will first identify six adequacy conditions for concepts of sustainability. We will then work out a categorial framework for conceptions of sustainability. Finally we will demonstrate how the CA is a promising candidate for filling in the demands of this framework and what further research will be needed.     

University engagement and regional sustainability initiatives: some Danish experiences

With an outset in ‘sustainability’ defined as a continuous process requiring balance between (the emergence of) problems and our ability and capability to solve them using four distinct capitals available, i.e. natural, production, human and intellectual, and social capital, a model of universities as factories is used. The model suggests that the most notable products of a university being graduates, and knowledge in the form of books, journal articles etc., i.e. human and intellectual capital. As a consequence, these are also the most important impacts from a university. Using the case of Aalborg University, Denmark, the linkages (actual, potential and missing) between academic work in research and education and sustainability initiatives are explored. The focus is both on the university's core activities as a provider of research and education and on the university's activities as an organisation, i.e. its own operation and its accounting for this. It is suggested that systematic engagement activities could benefit both the university's ability to manage internal university processes (by learning from its peers) and its ability to produce the right graduates and knowledge. As a consequence, the main societal benefit would be the ability to better cope with emerging problems endangering the sustainable development of our societies. It is concluded that Aalborg University with its long tradition for project-based and problem-oriented learning in fact has every opportunity to be able to lead by example and become the link to sustainability.     

Water pricing towards sustainability of water resources: a case study in Beijing

The role of water pricing for managing water resources is widely recognized in many areas of the world because of the increasing scarcity of water resources, a high competition between water uses and environmental degradation. Based on the analysis of cost of water, this paper explores which types of cost should be reflected in the water pricing enhancing the sustainability of water resources. The principle of full cost pricing in which the cost should include supply cost, opportunity cost and externalities is proposed as a means to achieve the sustainability of water resources. In a case study of Beijing, low water price is analyzed as one reason for unsustainable water consumption. Thus water pricing justified is necessary and pressing. It is proposed to justify water price in phased manner and eventually towards full cost pricing. The assessment of impacts on water resources by raising water price shows water pricing could alleviate the conflict between water supply and demand. This paper concludes that water pricing can play an effective role in enhancing the sustainability of water resources in Beijing.     

基于生态效率的城市可持续性评价及应用研究

综合评价城市复合生态系统是实现区域可持续发展要面对的重要科学问题.城市生态效率反映了城市系统的资源环境与社会福利的投入产出关系,是将可持续发展的宏观目标融入城市发展规划与管理中的有效工具.综合生态足迹和人类发展指数的理论方法,构建了基于生态效率的城市可持续性评价模型.应用该模型对厦门市生态效率进行了时间序列分析:2000～2006年,厦门市生态效率呈现先平稳上升后陡然下降又小幅回升的波动性变化.厦门市人均生态足迹由4.279hm2增加至5.462hm2;人类发展指数由0.831增加至0.896;生态效率下降15.5%,资源效率下降15.7%,环境效率下降15.3%.研究表明,厦门市的可持续性经历了由可持续性次增强→可持续性增强→可持续性减弱→可持续性增强路径的转变,总体趋势仍是可持续性减弱.     

Informal knowledge processes: the underpinning for sustainability outcomes in EIA?

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was originally tailored for restructuring rules and values regarding environmental protection, through interdisciplinary work. EIA has developed as a tool for decision-making for the implementation of projects which potentially pose significant environmental impacts. This paper reviews the sustainability and interdisciplinarity assumptions inherent in EIA. It illustrates through a case study of a proposed landfill extension in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, that these principles can arise more from informal knowledge processes than from legal ones. It can be shown that interdisciplinarity is often misunderstood as multidisciplinarity or simple knowledge clustering, and sustainability has no common definition amongst EIA practitioners, but that there predominates an understanding which delivers weak sustainability, driven primarily by social and economic goals. The conclusion is that EIA cannot achieve the original vision set out in the world's first legislation adopted in 1970 unless a learning-organization approach is taken whereby: the critical role of informal knowledge is recognized; informal knowledge is properly managed by EIA teams to engender a common understanding of sustainable development goals; interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary working practices are adopted.     

PSR模型及在土地可持续利用评价中的应用

论文从土地利用中的人地关系分析入手,阐释土地可持续利用的PSR概念系统,并据此构建评价指标体系,来研究区域土地可持续利用问题。采用Delphi法确定权重,引入功效函数量度因子贡献值,运用协调度函数并进行二次综合评判来确定区域土地可持续利用程度及阶段。提出评价-调控-再评价-再调控的动态渐进模式以促进区域土地利用达到可持续性。利用所建模型与指标体系对江西余江县土地利用状况进行综合评价,评价结果表明:余江土地利用状况正处于可持续利用初始阶段,社会经济与资源环境问题较多,并针对性地提出了有关对策与措施。     

Sustainable island businesses: a case study of Norfolk Island

Conventional measures aimed at tackling the energy and waste issues of island communities focus on technological solutions, such as the introduction of renewable energy sources. There exists a history of technology implementations on small islands that have failed because of a lack of continuing skills and financial resources needed for ongoing operation and maintenance. Despite these experiences, what has received little attention so far are measures aimed at achieving island-friendly solutions by reducing their material metabolism, for example, by recycling and re-use. The two case studies presented in this work show that conservation, efficiency and reductions of the overall material metabolism of economic activity can be as effective as purely technologically driven changes. Both case studies demonstrate exceptional sustainability performance in terms of material flow and greenhouse gas emissions. The income growth scenarios show that – from a sustainability point of view – increasing tourist yield rather than tourist numbers is preferable for coping with price hikes and a finite resource base, and is also more likely to keep within bounds the strain on the island's people and infrastructure.     

Negotiated environmental and occupational health and safety agreements in the United States: lessons for policy

The interest in so-called voluntary approaches to supplement or replace formal environmental, or occupational health and safety regulation has taken on new importance in both Europe and the United States. These approaches fall into two sharp divisions: (1) industry-initiated codes of good practice focusing on environmental management systems or performance goals, and (2) negotiated agreements between government and individual firms or industry sector trade associations focusing on regulation or compliance. This paper addresses the latter.In the United States, the motivations behind negotiated agreements are manifold and sometimes contradictory including desires (1) to facilitate the achievement of legislated or mandatory environmental goals by introducing flexibility and cost-effective compliance measures, (2) to negotiate levels of compliance (standards) fulfilling legislative mandates, (3) to negotiate legal definitions of Best Available Technology and other technology-based requirements, and (4) to weaken environmental initiatives. Efforts in furtherance of negotiated agreements have thus been greeted with mixed results by the various stakeholders. In the context of an anti-regulatory climate in the United States, the Administrative Procedures Act has been amended to allow “negotiated rulemaking” in achieving regulatory agency mandates. However, even before this legal innovation, regulatory agencies have been negotiating regulations. Independent of this legal avenue, negotiated compliance with industry associations is being fostered through the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) “Commonsense Initiative” and with individual firms through “EPA's Project XL”, again with mixed reception.The proposed paper describes and analyses negotiated agreements in the United States in the context of (1) EPA efforts to ensure environmental protection and (2) the Occupational Safety and Health Administration efforts to ensure worker health and safety. These agreements can be described according to the following taxonomy: (a) Negotiated regulation (either preceding formal regulation or as a substitute for formal regulation); (b) Negotiated compliance (implementing regulation or informal agreements) (i) the means and timetable for coming into compliance with emission, effluent, or concentration requirements (ii) negotiation in the context of an enforcement action in which the firm is out of legal compliance (for example, encouraging cleaner production through the leveraging of penalty reductions).The criteria for evaluation include: environmental or health and safety outcomes, effects on stimulating technological change, time for development (time to completion)/implementation (likelihood of court challenge), stakeholder influence (ability of large firms to dominate outcome, environmentalists–industry, or labour–management balance of power),and administrative features.     

Tools and concepts for sustainable development,how do they relate to a general framework for sustainable development,and to each other?

We present a general framework to plan for sustainability and then relate it to some well-known tools for sustainable development. This framework follows from principles for how a system is constituted (ecological and social principles), and contains principles for a favorable outcome for the system (sustainability), as well as principles for the process to reach this outcome (sustainable development). The principles for sustainability define the favorable outcome and direct problem-solving upstream towards problemsources. A program of activities is then constructed by backcasting from defined outcomes to the current problems. This is followed by “metrics”, i.e. various concepts for measuring and monitoring the activities. Most concepts and tools for sustainable development function as metrics, for instance life cycle assessment (LCA), ecological footprinting (EF), and Factor X. An environmental management system (EMS), like ISO 14001 or EMAS, is an administrative vehicle that should systematically align a firm's specific outcomes, activities and metrics with a general framework for sustainability. From a strategic point of view, metrics should measure alignment of activities with the principles contained in a framework for sustainability. A framework is not an alternative to concepts and tools for metrics. We need them all, because they represent different interrelated levels of strategic planning.     

支撑资源循环可持续性评价的经济决策工具——生命周期成本分析的发展与应用

对接经济系统和环境系统是支撑循环经济决策的关键,而可持续性评价以及在传统生命周期影响评价（LCA）基础上发展起来的生命周期可持续性评价（LCSA）是重要决策支撑工具.近年来对可持续性评价的关注使得生命周期成本分析（LCC）及其在资源循环决策中的应用得以快速发展.大量研究表明LCC是有效的经济决策支撑工具.但是由于"生命周期成本分析"的其他相关称谓与LCC术语上模糊,以及成本效益分析（CBA）等相关成本评估工具在方法用途上的类似,使得在实际研究中LCC的相关概念混淆甚至错误使用的现象时有发生.针对如上研究背景,本文采用文献研究法和案例分析法,旨在厘清LCC及相关术语的概念和内涵,并为LCC以及LCSA在未来的研究提出实用性建议.首先,通过文献研究回顾了LCC的发展脉络,厘清了在人们对社会和环境问题关注下,LCC逐渐从普通的成本评估发展成为LCSA核心部分的发展路径.同时,使用Citespace对国内和国际2000-2017年LCC相关论文发表情况进行图谱分析,发现和国内相比,国际期刊的LCC相关研究已经从概念探索和企业成本控制发展到了特定领域系统的成本优化研究.进一步,引入"可持续性三支柱"的概念来阐释LCSA的经济、环境、社会三个维度以及它与LCC的关系,然后区分了LCC的类似术语的定义和成本范围,并阐述了与传统CBA方法的差别.在此基础上,以欧盟VEEP项目为案例,从定性和定量两个维度阐释了LCC的分析视角和计算过程.最后,对LCC在中国未来的研究方向提出了具体建议,包括：扩大运用领域,标准化,研究方法间的结合,以及数据库和软件工具的开发.     

Collaborative governance versus constitutional politics: decision rules for sustainability from Australia’s South East Queensland forest agreement

Australia’s Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) (1995–2000) involved a national program of bioregional assessment for native forest conservation and timber resource management. Eleven assessments covering 46 million ha or 6% of Australia, resulted in nine agreements (RFAs) between federal and state governments. While groundbreaking in some respects, however, the program had significant governance problems. Its main outcomes—intergovernmental agreements—were intended to overcome rather than resolve competing bodies of public opinion, and hence always risked entrenching rather than addressing underlying policy conflicts.This article reviews the problems inherent in the official approach, by contrasting it with the outcome reached in the major forest assessment not translated into an RFA. In September 1999, the South East Queensland assessment resulted in an agreement between lead timber production interests, key environmental NGOs and the state government, although rejected by the national government. Unique in Australia and rare in the world, this state-stakeholder agreement suggests the emergence of new decision rules for long-term resolution of biodiversity and natural resource conflicts. Consistently with other case studies, these centre on a fresh approach to integration of conflicting values, and the need for governments to accept more collaborative roles in environmental governance.     

Cross-cultural education for sustainability: development of an introduction to sustainability course

This paper reports on Ball State University's activities in the area of education for sustainability and current activities to develop an Internet-based Introduction to Sustainability course. As the course will be Internet-based, it will mesh well with and can serve as the introductory course in the sustainability curriculum of Ball State University Land Design Institute's international network of Sustainability Consortia, and can be used in sustainability education programs within the context of other international partnerships. This course will serve as a foundation for that effort and for a broader curriculum that can be delivered across cultures. Ball State University's Clustered Minors in Environmentally Sustainable Practices utilizes three courses to address the social, environmental, and economic aspects of sustainability: environmental ethics; ecology; and environmental economics. The intention is to compose a course comprising elements from all three dimensions. The course will include Internet content and assignments and will exploit the emerging ability for Internet-based teleconferencing for real-time interactions among students and faculty at diverse international sites.     

Lessons from the French experience with voluntary agreements for greenhouse-gas reduction

The paper analyses the French experience with voluntary agreements (VAs) for the reduction of industrial greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. It is based on evidence from two case studies: the VAs signed by the main aluminium producer and by the packaging glass industry association. The analysis suggests that the considerable reductions in specific GHG emissions can hardly be seen as a direct consequence of the VA commitments. Instead they seem to have been triggered by other environmental regulations, and above all, by industry's heavy investments in technology modernisation and cost reduction efforts. Therefore, the observed reduction in specific emissions appears to correspond to industry's business-as-usual behaviour, suggesting that VA objectives were poorly ambitious. These results appear consistent with other VA evaluations. In the French GHG-related VAs, the failure to achieve more ambitious goals appears to result from the lack of a well-articulated policy-mix involving the VAs for GHG policy and energy efficiency promotion, as well as from policymakers' concerns over the potential competitive impact of GHG policy. The question of how to provide incentives for more ambitious GHG reductions without a high impact on firms' competitiveness remains a challenge for future policy.     

Building institutions based on information disclosure: lessons from GRI's sustainability reporting

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the best-known framework for voluntary reporting of environmental and social performance by business worldwide. Using extensive empirical data, including interviews and documentary analysis, we examine GRI's organizational field and conclude that since its modest beginnings in 1999 GRI has been by several measures a successful institutionalization project. But the institutional logic of this new entity, as an instrument for corporate sustainability management, leaves out one of the central elements of the initial vision for GRI: as a mobilizing agent for many societal actors. This emergent logic reflects GRI's dominant constituency – large global companies and financial institutions and international business management consultancies – and not the less active civil society organizations and organized labor. We attribute these developments to factors such as building GRI within the existing institutional structures; the highly inclusive multistakeholder process; and the underdeveloped base of information users. From the institutional theory perspective, this case shows how the process of institutionalization is deeply affected by initial strategies of the founders, and how it reproduces existing power relations. From the governance perspective, this case leads us to question the power of commodified information to mobilize civil society and to strengthen governance based on partnerships.     

A new water quality assessment model based on projection pursuit technique

A new water quality assessment model was built based on projection pursuit technique. A great quantity of sample data was applied to increase the model's precision. A new genetic algorithm combined with conditional optimization method was proposed and applied to the model optimization, which could deal with global optimization problem with various restrictions effectively. The case study shows that this model can give an appropriate assessment of water quality. Moreover, it can determine the index weights in an objective way or provide information for decision makers, which is difficult for other assessment methods.