Environmental indicators for small and medium enterprises in the Philippines: An empirical research

Environmental indicators allow a firm to make measurements related to its environmental performance. In practical terms, they can be used to form a measuring, benchmarking and monitoring tool to track environmental performance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).Within an Environmental Management System (EMS), environmental indicators can be used to check if a firm has met the targets it is required to set for itself. It can also be used in firms that have not yet implemented an EMS. The use of an Environmental Indicators System (EIS) is thus recommended for SMEs, many of which do not have an EMS, in order to enhance their environmental performance. As noted in A Guide to Corporate Environmental Indicators published by the Federal Environment Ministry (Bonn) and the Federal Environmental Agency (Berlin), three categories of environmental indicators can be developed, depending on whether they describe: (1) a company's environmental impact (environmental performance); (2) the management's environmental activities; or (3) the external condition of the company's environment.The objective of this paper is to present how environmental indicators were established and implemented for Philippine SMEs and to show that the indicators significantly correlate with the environmental performance of the SMEs. In order to test this hypothesis, a survey-questionnaire was designed and administered among SMEs covering six industrial sectors in the Philippines. Based on the survey responses, a Gap analysis between the environmental performances of SMEs and state-of-the-art companies was performed. The Gap analysis showed that environmental indicators were indeed able to capture the features of actual environmental performance.Further, a structural equation model was proposed and validated. It yielded a significant linkage between the environmental indicators and environmental performance.     

How environmental management driving forces affect environmental and economic performance of SMEs: a study in the Northern China district

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form the core of societal and economic development. However, most people query on the implementation and performance of environmental management. In this paper, the manufacturing SMEs in Northern China with different pollution levels are studied to explore the main forces (e.g., government, society, market, and enterprise itself) driving SMEs for promoting environmental management. It focuses on the correlation between environmental management and economic performance for SMEs at different pollution levels. The results show that SMEs of different pollution levels have significant differences in the relationship of driving forces and performance. First, for SMEs with high-pollution levels, social and market driving forces and government incentives are revealed having a significant effect on their environmental performance. Driving forces from within the enterprise itself and the market provide a positive effect on the economic performance, while social forces have a negative effect. Second, for SMEs with light pollution, social and market driving forces, and government assistance play a supporting role on corporate environmental performance improvement. It is also found that the driving force of the enterprise itself does not have a significant effect on the environmental performance for SMEs with different pollution levels. In addition, the environmental performance and economic performance for SMEs with high or light-pollution levels are positively correlated. Further, it shows that the environmental performance is moderately correlated with financial indices, but not significantly with the non-financial indices.     

Can teenagers educate children concerning environmental issues?

There are several questions coming from researchers and educators referring to the most efficient approaches for developing an environmental awareness; it is difficult to document which approach can generate increased sensitivity and behavioral changes for effective environmental protection. Therefore research and discussions on the issue are demanding.This paper presents observations concerning the sensitization process for environmental issues, initiated with environmental education classes. The educational work stimulated a group of Brazilian high school students to participate in an international distance learning course and convention (Global Environmental Youth Convention) about preventive environmental management. Both the course and convention were organized by Lund University in Sweden.During the distance course the high school students constructed and executed the project work. They decided to organize course content and prepare teaching materials on environmental issues for eight year old children. The project was presented in the convention.Among the results of this educational project it was observed that a very effective attitude can be obtained from an educational approach that sought a more affective link with nature. It was also observed that teenagers can be effective teachers and motivators of younger children.     

Eco-efficiency in the SMEs of Venezuela. Current status and future perspectives

This paper presents a comparison analysis of eco-efficiency in the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) of Venezuela. The research can be divided into three parts: the first part reviews similar studies in the literature on the level of eco-efficiency exhibited by the companies of Venezuela and other countries. In the second place, the findings of a survey conducted on Venezuelan SMEs allowed the definition of 54 eco-efficiency profiles. Thirdly, six national experts in cleaner production and eco-efficiency were interviewed. The interview was based on a questionnaire similar to that used in the survey of the Venezuelan SMEs. At a second meeting, the experts were asked to discuss on the similarities and differences between their answers and those of the company's managers.The findings of the survey allow us to conclude that Venezuelan SMEs understand the legal environmental regulations that affect them but they do not perceive the influence of external driving forces like customers demand for green products or institutional incentives. The adoption of eco-efficiency practices is not perceived as an incentive to improve competitiveness so that the environmental strategies adopted generally aim at reducing costs or avoiding non-compliance sanctions and negative effects on the company image. Materials recycling and reuse, especially packaging materials, are common practices; however, other environmental tools or practices have not been implemented yet, e.g. environmental management systems (EMS), process, product and services design tools based on the product life cycle, renewable energy resources or green marketing. There are also differences among the eight industrial sectors analyzed, food and chemical industries having the higher index of eco-efficiency practices, and plastic and wood industries the lower.     

Drivers and barriers to engage enterprises in environmental management initiatives in Suzhou Industrial Park, China

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in sustainable development not only for their significant contribution to China’s economy, but also for their large share of total discharged pollutants. Therefore, this research takes the enterprises in Suzhou Industrial Park, China as the case study to investigate the environmental management practices of SMEs, and identify drivers and barriers to engaging businesses in environmental management initiatives. It is shown that, as in other countries, SMEs are less active in adopting environmental management initiatives than larger companies. Legislation remains the key driver to engage SMEs in environmental management initiatives. Based on the analysis, policy recommendations are also presented.     

Using structural equation modeling to test environmental performance in small and medium-sized manufacturers: can SEM help SMEs?

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), defined as manufacturers employing 500 or fewer people, represent an estimated 70–98% of the manufacturing population globally and together have the potential to significantly impact the environment. Many of these small manufacturers throughout the world are not in compliance with environmental regulations, and even fewer see the need to focus on pollution prevention, implement environmental management systems, or to use life-cycle management or other proactive environmental management practices. A validated environmental performance model for SMEs holds the promise of providing a roadmap to more productive environmental results. This paper discusses structural equation modeling as a useful methodology to validate environmental performance models.The paper shares some insights from the use of structural equation modeling, which was used to evaluate the development of an environmental performance model for SMEs. The model was based on the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria. We review SEM methodology and share results from a population of SMEs in the plastics manufacturing sector. Fit statistics confirmed the overall model fit, but not all of the paths in the model were statistically significant. An assessment of the non-significant paths (from leadership and from the system components of the model to environmental results) led the authors to conclude that an improved definition of environmental results is critical. Education of SMEs on the benefits of improved environmental performance is also warranted.     

Implementation of cleaner production in small and medium-sized enterprises

The aim of this article is to analyse whether it is possible for an external group to act as a catalyst when trying to make small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adopt a cleaner production concept. At Linköping University, Sweden, nine SMEs cooperated in a cleaner production project that uses the University and the County Administration as catalysts. This article is based on a survey that evaluated the project. The survey shows that the SMEs did modify their products and processes after taking part in the project. They were especially successful in changing their products. Why products were changed to a larger extent than processes is not fully understood. Maybe this was done as a part of introducing a preventive environmental care system. Most SMEs did, as a part of introducing an environmental care system, introduce an environmental policy and an educational programme. The SMEs also experienced lower costs and better cooperation with the authorities. A reason for this is the good cooperation between the three participants of the project. In general, the SMEs did not think that they had gained marketing benefits. This attitude could have been different if more SMEs from the same value chain (supplier-producer-wholesalers-customer) had been involved.     

Assessment of cleaner production uptake: method development and trial with small businesses in Western Australia

This paper reports on the development of an innovative semi-quantitative assessment method to estimate the level of uptake of cleaner production (CP) in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the basis of three component ratings: awareness of CP ideas and benefits; presence of management features and/or system components conducive to CP; and CP content of recent innovations and operational improvements. The assessment method was designed for application through a telephone survey and was deliberately structured to minimise intentional socially preferable responses. It was trialled on 140 SMEs in four sectors, mostly from Western Australia: printing and book making; dry-cleaning; food processing and metal products. The trial showed that the assessment tool can judge the business’ capacity to implement CP. The levels of CP uptake found in the trial reflect well on the experience of CP practitioners, albeit much lower than reported from previous mail surveys. In the trial the drycleaners performed significantly better than the other businesses, with food processing, metal processing and printing businesses being ranked second, third, and fourth respectively. The higher uptake by drycleaners was expected given that a sector specific CP program was conducted in that sector. Overall, the results suggest that generic (non-industry specific) semi-quantitative proxy indicators can be used for estimating the level of CP uptake in SMEs. Although further verification with quantitative environmental and economic performance data would in principle be desirable, this would be impractical due to the general lack of monitoring and recordkeeping of environmental data in many SMEs, and would also face the common conceptual, methodological and fundamental challenges for CP quantification. The tool may therefore be more useful to target CP promotion efforts, and measure their effectiveness.     

Seasonal food insecurity in Bangladesh: evidences from northern areas

Seasonal food insecurity in Bangladesh is a multidimensional socioeconomic issue emanated from more than just access and availability of food. In general, it has been considered that the northern areas of Bangladesh, treated as monga-prone, is more vulnerable to seasonal food insecurity as compared to any other region of the country. The manifestation of monga is essentially food insecurity and consequent vulnerabilities. The paper investigates the seasonal food insecurity status, coping strategies along with its possible determinants linked to socioeconomic conditions of the affected households in Kurigram, one of the monga-prone districts of northern Bangladesh. A primary survey was conducted to explore the food insecurity status and diverse factors leading to food insecurity in terms of food consumption, livelihood and consequent family experiences in mitigating the severity of food insecurity during the monga (lean) period. The nature of household food insecurity seems to be an outcome of a variety of risk factors, as well as inability to manage those risks due to income and resource constraints. Moreover, a reduction in food intake during the monga period is one of the common scenarios in the study area. Marginal effects and elasticities after probit regression reveal that household’s income, share of per capita medical expenditure, safety net(s) involvement and the area of residence appear to be the leading factors affecting seasonal food insecurity during the monga period to a significant extent. Households with more medical expenditure (68 %), cultivable landholding (9 %) and households residing by the riverside (4 %) have a higher probability of food insecurity than their counterparts. On the contrary, relatively large size family (-16 %), higher income (-4 %) and safety net coverage (-19 %) have reduced the probability of food insecurity during the monga period. Finally, the paper concludes with some policy issues based on on-site observation and econometric analysis to overcome this transitory food insecurity in the monga-prone areas.     

Proposal of a simple indicator for sustainable consumption: classifying goods and services into three types focusing on their optimal consumption levels

We calculated optimal consumption patterns of Japanese households using a linear programming model, taking into account the different environmental burdens to be minimized. Ninety-four industrial sectors and 94 commodities were defined in the model. In terms of environmental burdens to be minimized, this study considered energy consumption, CO₂ emission, waste, and NO_x emission. According to the direction (increase or decrease) of adjusted final demand for a commodity in the household, commodities were classified into three types: (1) a commodity for which optimal demand should be decreased in all cases of reducing various environmental burdens; (2) a commodity whose optimal demand should be increased in all cases; and (3) a commodity whose optimal demand depends on the type of environmental burden. Among 63 commodities whose final demand was assumed to be adjustable, 47 were categorized as commodity type 1, nine were categorized as commodity type 2, and seven belonged to commodity type 3. This work also characterized each type of commodity from the viewpoint of economic and environmental properties.     

Waste minimisation in small and medium-sized enterprises—do environmental management systems help?

The main research question of our study was as follows: What opportunities for upgrading material efficiency and waste minimisation can be found in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)? The empirical material consisted of 41 theme interviews in Finnish industrial SMEs. In the article, the SMEs are assigned to four different categories according to their attitudes towards environmental protection. This analysis also explains why SMEs build up environmental management systems (EMSs). The EMSs do not appear to provide much impetus for SMEs to implement waste minimisation. The reduction of wastes in SMEs is driven more by the costs of raw materials than by waste costs. From the standpoint of environmental authorities, it is therefore crucial to find procedures to support SMEs in increasing their efficient use of materials.     

常州市主城区居民环境意识调查剖析研究

从人居行为模式、居住区环境评价、环境满意率、了解环保知识途径、环保开展程度、环境问题及建议等几方面展开了对常州市主城区居民环境意识的问卷调查,调查结果表明:乱扔垃圾、将洗衣机放置在阳台等行为仍然存在;相关性分析表明公众的环境满意率与其文化程度呈极显著相关关系,与性别和户籍呈显著相关关系,与年龄和收入水平的相关性不太明显;居民对河流水环境、大气环境、噪声环境、卫生环境、基础设施和小区管理等问题都有不同程度的不满.并从宣传教育、政策引导和环保执行力等方面给出改善居民环境的建议和措施.     

城镇生活污染排放系数调查与核算——以常州市为例

污染物排放系数的确定是准确核算城镇生活污染物数量的基本前提和重要保证.以太湖流域上游、经济发达的常州市为例,借助问卷访谈与实地监测等手段,调查与核算经济发达地区城镇居民生活污水排放特点,并解析其影响因素及机理.结果表明:受地区差异的影响,常州市城镇居民生活污染排放系数低于国家污染源普查核定系数;家庭规模、收入水平、文化程度和年龄结构是污染物排放系数的关键影响因素.其中,年龄结构对NH+4-N、TP排放系数的影响最大,年龄结构和收入水平是TN排放系数的关键影响因素,文化程度与COD排放系数的关联性最强.但环保意识对污染排放系数的影响不显著,主要作用仅表现在用水量的节约,而对水质的保护并不显著.     

Fostering pollution prevention in small businesses: the Enviroclub initiative

The Enviroclub initiative was developed by three federal government agencies (Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, Environment Canada and the National Research Council Canada) to assist small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in improving their profitability and competitiveness through enhanced environmental performance. An Enviroclub consists of a group of 10–15 SMEs, each of which carries out one profitable pollution prevention project. To support this practical experience, business participants attend 4 days of workshops on various themes related to environmental performance, spread out over a period of about 6 months. Enviroclubs have been undertaken in several regions of Quebec, and are delivered by not-for-profit organisations, mainly Enviro-Access and the Centre québécois de développement durable. Projects implemented in seven Enviroclubs brought annual savings of CAD$5.1 million and multiple environmental benefits including annual reductions in resource use, such as water (536,000 m³), petroleum products (225,000 litres), wood (11,300 m³) and emissions, such as greenhouse gases (17,100 tonnes equivalent CO₂), hazardous wastes (708 tonnes) and toxic substances (53 tonnes).     

Environmental management accounting in Lithuania: exploratory study of current practices,opportunities and strategic intents

There is a growing consensus among the Lithuanian policy makers, practitioners and industrialists that environmental policy must move from a reactive stance to a more proactive, sustainable development approach. As a result, many companies are increasingly interested in the application of economic incentives at least as supplements or reinforcements of environmental standards.The Institute of Environmental Engineering (EU Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Industrial Development (APINI – SID)) in 1992–2003 has been involved in introduction and implementation of preventive environmental strategy in industry in Lithuania and in other countries. In Lithuania, these efforts resulted in the implementation of more than 200 cleaner production innovations in more than 150 Lithuanian companies. It should be stressed that effective plant maintenance is becoming a higher priority to plant managers. It is important to ensure cost-savings, at all levels, that include maximizing productivity and implementing energy-saving approaches. Effective and efficient maintenance are not just desirable, but fundamental to profitable business operations. Therefore, central to the environmental view of sustainable development is the concept that economic and social systems are sub-systems of the global environment.APINI's experience shows that decision-makers at the company level often fail to recognize the economic values of natural resources as assets as well as the business and financial value of good environmental performance. Therefore, there is a need to upgrade the business decision-making process by including information on material flows and related costs to account for efforts of sustainable development [Staniskis JK, Stasiskiene Z. Promotion of cleaner production investments: international experience. Journal of Cleaner Production 2002;11(6):619–28. ISSN: 0959-6526, Elsevier Science]. Decisions are increasingly affected by environmental costs. Application of environmental management accounting (EMA), which integrates two of the main principles of sustainable development – environment and economics, can help to significantly improve corporate decision-making.EMA is becoming increasingly important not only for environmental management decisions and development of environmental management systems (EMS), but also for all types of routine management activities, such as product and process design, cost allocation and control, capital budgeting, purchasing, product pricing and performance evaluation.Companies, which use EMA as a part of integrated management system, are provided with accurate and comprehensive information for the measurement and reporting of environmental performance.This paper investigates the current state of EMA practices in Lithuanian SMEs that have already been or are being implementing EMS and which have implemented CP innovations. In this case, EMA is analysed as an innovative assessment and evaluation method of EMS and CP innovation's environmental impacts and economic benefits. It should be stressed, that there are obvious differences in case studies from different industries. However, review of the results shows that there are many similarities in what improvements can be suggested for environmentally concerned companies both in terms of environmentally sound operation and for reporting of environmental management accounting information.     

土地沙化区农民特征与其感知的环境灾害风险的关系分析——基于环境公平视角

论文根据对甘肃省土地沙化区农民的调查数据,运用Logit模型,基于环境公平的视角探讨土地沙化区农民特征与其感知的环境灾害风险的关系。从个体特征上讲,受访者性别和婚姻状况与其感知的环境灾害风险之间的相关关系不显著,受访者受教育程度与其感知的环境灾害风险之间呈显著正相关关系;从经济特征上讲,农民所感知的环境灾害风险主要体现在土地经营收入的损失上,且感知的环境灾害风险与其家庭年总收入之间的关系呈现倒“U”型趋势;从生态环境特征上讲,环境的治理和改善有利于降低农民感知的环境灾害风险。通过分析认为农民所承受的环境灾害风险的不公平一定程度上是农民在社会经济领域所受到的不公平的体现,农民对环境不公平的感知在家庭年总收入10万元左右时最明显,环境不公平主要体现在环境灾害风险对土地经营收入的影响上。农民对生态环境治理效果的认知与对环境公平的感知具有一致性。     

Community fire use,resource change,and livelihood impacts: The downward spiral in the wetlands of southern Sumatra

Fire is an important community wetland management tool in Indonesia, but its increasing use in the wetlands of southern Sumatra is degrading the landscape and diminishing household incomes and livelihood options. We studied evolving community land and fire use, resource and livelihood impacts on two sites of roughly 250 km² each using satellite image analysis and biological and socio-economic surveys. Uncontrolled fire use expanded over time in relation to sonor or swamp rice cultivation, logging, fishing, grazing, and annual cropping on drained wetlands. As a result, most of the landscape has been subject to repeated fires of varying intensities, more extensive in El Niño years. Direct burning by companies played a smaller transitory role in fire ignition over the two decades. But company activities and other large-scale developments contributed to expanding community fire-based land use by bringing in more people, improving access to remote wetlands or making them more flammable. Widespread, repeated fires have transformed the landscape from mature high swamp forests to uniform stands of fire-resistant Gelam (Melaleuca cajuputi) forests and thickets, open savannas and grasslands. These new types of land cover are also degrading. Local communities have rapidly adapted to the changing resources and new opportunities. Logging and fishing declined in importance, and sonor and harvesting of Gelam expanded. But resource depletion has led to falling incomes and fewer livelihood options. The impacts extend beyond local areas as workers migrate into neighbouring forests to extract resources. Large-scale developments, community fire-based management practices and landscape transformation are spreading from accessible to formerly more remote wetlands.     

Specifications for an internet based clean technology information support system for SMEs

To address the increasingly pressing issue of environmental degradation, much effort have been dedicated to promote the use of cleaner technologies in the European Union (EU) Member States. Thus, efforts to produce information systems designed to attend companies with their technology acquisition process have been made. However, due to their restricted resources, the existing Technology Intelligence (TI) systems do not correspond to SME-specific needs. To fill this gap, the objective of this paper is to identify Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises' (SMEs) information needs in the field of clean technologies with the aim of making recommendations for the conception of an Internet based clean technology database destined for the use of European SMEs. Also, in order to evaluate to what extent these type of information systems are useful to SMEs when it comes to their technology acquisition process, four clean technology-related databases available on the Internet in English corresponding to one or more of the specifications previously identified in the first section have been selected and analysed. In conclusion, it was established that these information systems were found to be a sound first step for SMEs wishing to obtain concise first-hand knowledge on clean technologies. On the other hand, the time constraints of SMEs and the extent of the information available in such databases make them unfitting to serve as a suitable decision making tool. Incidentally, it might be interesting to consider the development of specialized information systems designed to help SME support actors attend SMEs with their clean technology acquisition process.     

Environmental aspects when manufacturing products mainly out of metals and/or polymers

The most fundamental aspect in the ISO 14001 standard Environmental management systems—Specification with guidance for use is to find out ways by which an organisation influences environment to a significant degree. This paper examines environmental data from companies manufacturing products mainly from metals and/or polymers. The data were collected in a uniform way by use of special guidelines. Weighting or valuation methods often used in life cycle assessments were used to quantitatively compare and rank environmental aspects. The study results suggest that, in general, the largest environmental impact in the investigated manufacturing sub-sector can be associated with product use and/or disposal phases. This in turn shows a need for more attention on environmental work on the design for environment than what the ISO 14001 standard requires. It is further suggested that weighting or valuation methods can aid in determining the significance of environmental impacts and aspects in the context of ISO 14001.