Mapping of environmental and technological performance of food and beverage sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The objective of this paper is to discuss the mapping methodology implemented in the selection of BAT candidates and to present the results of the mapping of B&H food and beverage sector, prepared as a baseline for the development of national reference documents on Best Available Techniques. The subsectors subject to analysis were: dairy, fish farming, fish processing, fruit and vegetable processing, meat processing, breweries, and slaughterhouses.The sector was mapped from several aspects, including socio-economic, legal, and environmental point of view. The socio-economic aspect focused on understanding the sector’s structure and financial capabilities, pricing for water, energy, and solid waste consumption, as well as employee profiles, in order to better assess the sustainability of decisions taken. Legal mapping focused on relevant regulations, including policies from the following sectors: environment, water use and protection, food safety, agriculture, and veterinary, in order to determine legal requirements from an environmental protection aspect set in the various sector policies. Environmental performance indicators were calculated in order to assess present resource efficiencies and relevant environmental impacts. In addition, the mapping process also addressed the existing level of BAT implementation in the subsectors under consideration.The paper presents a rationale for methodology selection, offers a review of the mapping methodology used, discusses mapping results and provides conclusions in regards to that methodology used and discusses issues that need to be considered in the selection of BAT candidates.     

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.     

A multiple-criteria environmental impact assessment for the plastic injection molding process: a methodology

This paper proposes a multiple-criteria methodology for evaluating environmental impacts in the plastic injection molding process (PIMP) and incorporates the findings of an empirical study conducted in Hong Kong. The paper identifies and explains various indicators of environmental impact assessment and establishes a multiple-criteria rating matrix. It then elaborates on the implementation of a pilot program and discusses the relevance of the methodology inside and outside of the work environment. Results show that the methodology provides manufacturers with a feasible means to assess their environmental performance and perform benchmarking analysis. The methodology can also be modified and applied in different industry sectors.     

Use of LCA to evaluate the environmental benefits of substituting chromic acid anodizing (CAA)

Chromic acid anodizing processes are currently being replaced in many industrial sectors because of the recognized adverse effect on the environment and health of used hexavalent chromium compounds. The environmental impacts of the existing processes must, however, be quantified in order to constitute a baseline against which the environmental performance of potential alternative options could be compared. The whole life cycle of the process should also be taken into account to ensure that the possible chosen solution for eliminating or lowering chromium (VI) emissions would not drastically damage the overall process performance in other environmental areas. In our study, we used a simplified life cycle assessment methodology that only took into account the key environmental issues of the considered industrial sector. Both the scope and the data needs were reduced by focusing only on significant flows and by using a generic database for steps other than the anodizing one. A precise literature review was carried out to evaluate bath atmospheric emissions. The results of the performed assessment confirmed that the only way to efficiently deal with hexavalent chromium compounds is to substitute the electrolyte used in the bath as the most Cr(VI) emissions are caused by other stages than the main one. Other specific issues, such as water and energy consumptions have, nevertheless, to be studied throughout the whole life cycle of the chemical substitute to monitor performance against CAA.     

Measuring the environmental performance of IPPC industry: II. Applying the Environmental Emissions Index to quantify environmental performance trends from routinely reported data

Reported emissions data were collated for 35 pharmaceutical-manufacturing installations and 18 power stations holding IPPC licences in Ireland. Consistent and essentially complete sectoral emissions time-series were generated, covering 2002–2006 for the pharmaceutical sector, and 2001–2006 for the electricity-generating sector. Applying the Environmental Emissions Index (EEI) to reported emissions indicated environmental performance improvements of 35 and 30%, respectively, for these two sectors. However, considerable uncertainty was attributed to reporting of heavy metals, NO_x and NMVOC emissions at the installation level, and overall NMVOC emissions from the pharmaceutical sector appeared to be considerably under-reported. The fixed average toxicity factor applied to NMVOC emissions in the EEI may deviate from potential temporal changes in the NMVOC compound mix. Overall, reporting uncertainties were found to have a greater impact on EEI outputs than assumptions made in the EEI model, and including an estimate of total sectoral NMVOC emissions reduced the pharmaceutical sector's environmental performance improvement to 24%. The EEI facilitates the comparison and visualisation of reported emissions, integrating them into environmental performance trends. It should optimise interpretation of abundant, detailed, and underutilised ‘bottom-up’ emissions data generated by IPPC installations. For Ireland's pharmaceutical sector, these data are considerably more comprehensive than EPER data.     

Cluster analysis for studying industrial sustainability: an empirical study in Shanghai

Compared with the extensive research on industrial sustainability in cities of the developed world, similar empirical work in developing countries is rare. This article examines industrial sustainability of the manufacturing sector in one of the central districts in Shanghai, PR China, using hierarchy cluster analysis, based on selected variables that reflect the industrial advantages, social contributions, environmental management and economic performance of the manufacturing sector. The variables represent the competition capability, proportion of employees in the relevant sector to the total number of employees in the manufacturing industry, the coefficient of environmental protection and market shares. Twenty-five manufacturing sectors are grouped into four clusters in the district. According to the characteristics of the various clusters, suggestions are proposed for improving their industrial sustainability.     

An approach to scenario analysis of the sustainability of an industrial sector applied to clothing and textiles in the UK

Companies aiming to be ‘sustainability leaders’ in their sector and governments wanting to support their ambitions need a means to assess the changes required to make a significant difference in the impact of their whole sector. Previous work on scenario analysis/scenario planning demonstrates extensive developments and applications, but as yet few attempts to integrate the ‘triple bottom line’ concerns of sustainability into scenario planning exercises. This paper, therefore, presents a methodology for scenario analysis of large change to an entire sector. The approach includes calculation of a ‘triple bottom line graphic equaliser’ to allow exploration and evaluation of the trade-offs between economic, environmental and social impacts. The methodology is applied to the UK's clothing and textiles sector, and results from the study of the sector are summarised. In reflecting on the specific study, some suggestions are made about future application of a similar methodology, including a template of candidate solutions that may lead to significant reduction in impacts.     

Measuring the environmental performance of IPPC industry: I. Devising a quantitative science-based and policy-weighted Environmental Emissions Index

This paper describes the derivation of an Environmental Emissions Index (EEI) intended to quantify the environmental performance of Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) installations and sectors. Characterisation and normalisation methods used in lifecycle analyses were applied to 20 routinely reported emissions parameters, pertaining to six environmental impact categories. Distance to policy targets for relevant emissions were used to weight impact categories, and link the EEI to policy priorities. Ireland and the EU15 were considered as scales of context. The European Pollutant Emission Register was a convenient source of normalisation data, but restricted the context of the EEI to industrial emissions, and distorted outputs. Using national and EU15 total loading estimates for normalisation resulted in an EEI that better reflected the relative contribution of reported emissions towards overall environmental pressures. Using Ireland's pharmaceutical sector as a case study indicated that weighting factors, and the toxicity range of NMVOC emissions, were the largest sources of EEI uncertainty. Through the integration of inventory data, scientific characterisation, and policy targets, the EEI translates reported emissions data from IPPC installations and sectors into a benchmark of environmental performance. It may be regarded as an evolving tool of potential utility to regulators and policy makers.     

Analysing the determinants of environmental technology investments. A panel-data study of Spanish industrial sectors

The aim of this paper is to empirically assess the determinants of environmental technology investments in the Spanish industrial sectors with the help of panel data econometric techniques. The paper confirms the relevance of the stringency of environmental regulation to explain overall investment patterns in environmental technologies. These investments are also positively related to human and physical capital intensity and R&D intensity, and negatively related to the export intensity of sectors. Furthermore, the study shows that the determinants for investments are likely to differ between environmental technology types (i.e., end-of-pipe versus cleaner technologies).     

Evaluation of the implementation of best available techniques in IPPC context: an environmental performance indicators approach

In this paper an integrated methodological approach is presented for the evaluation of the implementation of the Best Available Techniques (BAT) in facilities operated under Integrated Prevention Pollution and Control (IPPC) Directive, based on the development and application of a set of sub-indices. An aggregated form of sub-indices that could be used as a composite IPPC facility index is proposed. A sector specific index can be derived from facilities composite indices.This approach uses environmental performance data from European Polluting Emissions Register (EPER) reports, environmental permits and BAT Reference Documents, and gives a coherent and interesting picture of the degree of BAT implementation and an indication of IPPC obligations fulfilment.A specific application is demonstrated concerning the paper manufacturing sector in Greece. It is concluded for this sector that there is a measurable discrepancy from the BAT fulfilment obligations and that the most problematic sub-indices are the “Releases to Water” and “Releases to Air”.     

Environmental management practices in the defence sector: assessment of the Portuguese military's environmental profile

Environmental management practice in the military is a growing reality in many countries. The goal of this research was to assess Portuguese military environmental profile, as a first step towards evaluating environmental performance. This paper assesses how environmental practices have been adopted in this sector, based on a self-assessment by the services. A national survey was carried out, involving a representative sample of the armed forces and defence administration. Overall results show that the integration of environmental practices into the Portuguese military is quite new, although with a positive trend when compared with other public sectors. Among the three military branches, the air force has adopted the most environmental practices.     

挥发性有机物税收政策对我国经济的影响分析

基于可计算的一般均衡模型,引入不同税率的间接税作为环境税的征收方式,在3种情景下对挥发性有机物的减排效果以及对我国宏观经济和产业部门的影响进行了分析.模型运算结果表明,从环境角度分析,对主要挥发性有机物排放部门征收间接税,对其排放起到了立竿见影的控制作用.从经济角度来看,环境税对国民经济发展的宏观指标,比如国民生产总值、总投入、总产出和消费等都产生了负面的影响,仅对政府收入的提高有促进作用.并且税率越高,对污染的控制力度越强,对经济的发展的影响也越加地明显.本文建议,挥发性有机物排放量的控制政策,需要以行政命令型控制手段为主,以逐步在重点污染排放行业征收低的间接税收政策为辅.     

A process systems approach to life cycle inventories for minerals: South African and Australian case studies

In this paper, we present a process synthesis approach to the development of Life Cycle Inventories (LCIs) for production of minerals from primary ore bodies, based on a heuristics-driven flowsheeting methodology. Technologies are specified to a level of detail consistent with information availability and mass balance closure. This approach enables the creation of flowsheets for all minerals processing activities using a “cradle-to-gate” system boundary, from which it is possible to generate LCIs using accepted practices for the mapping of resource flows and emissions onto a profile of environmental burdens. In this work, LCIs are presented only for the foreground system (i.e. the flows from background systems, such as electricity generation, are documented but their environmental burden profile is not included in the LCIs reported). This method allows for the detailing of these inventories on a commodity, sector, or geographic (regional) basis. The approach has been demonstrated for all sub-sectors of the Australian and the South African minerals processing industries. A case study of the gold sub-sector in each region is presented in some detail, in order to highlight the key features of the approach and the usefulness of the LCI profiles generated. The potential for this approach to support comparative technology assessment and sub-sectoral performance is demonstrated for the copper sub-sector. Some indication of the value of the approach to assist in company benchmarking is presented. The performance of all key sectors, namely coal, gold, non-ferrous metals, ferrous metals, uranium, platinum group metals and mineral sands, though not detailed here, is available on our on-line data-base.¹. This information is used to develop an aggregated picture of minerals LCIs for the minerals processing activity in Australian and South Africa.     

The potential of water markets to allocate water between industry,agriculture, and public water utilities as an adaptation mechanism to climate change

One of the climate change scenarios that have been developed for the Netherlands predicts hotter and drier summers and a substantial drop in river discharge. This might lead to water scarcity with detrimental economic and environmental effects. Among the possible adaptation responses to climate change-induced water scarcity, the re-allocation of water resources among competing uses should also be considered. In this paper, we extend and apply a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to assess the potential of water markets (water allocation according to its shadow price) to guide the allocation of scarce water across agriculture, manufacturing, and public water supply. We develop four scenarios in which the scope of water markets is increased from industry-specific to economy-wide. The results show that the agricultural sector bears nearly all of the losses from a new water-scarce climate, while the manufacturing sectors are able to mitigate their losses to a large extent by technical measures. Extending the scope of water markets unambiguously increases economic output and results in a re-allocation of water to the manufacturing sector from the agricultural sector and from public water services. If, perhaps for political reasons, public water services are excluded from water trading, water is re-allocated from agriculture to manufacturing. Depending on which sectors are included, the construction of a water market can have negative or positive effects on a sector’s output, and although the implementation of water markets may be positive for overall economic output and can hence assist adaptation, the effect on vulnerable or societally sensitive economic sectors, such as public water, should be taken into account when implementing such a market.     

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.     

Analysis of the benefits and challenges of implementing environmental regulatory programmes for mining: Tanzania case study

All mining activities in Tanzania are regulated according to the Mining Act, 1998, and associated regulations. The enactment of the 1998 mining legislation and thus the repeal of the 1979 Act was a result of the overall restructuring of the country's economy. In order to encourage the private sector to take a leading role in economic development, the Government identified priority segments of the economy, which included the mining sector. With the mining sector identified as one of the priority sectors, it was thought imperative to put in place a transparent and competitive legal and regulatory framework, an effective and conducive fiscal regime, and an environmental framework. A new Mining Act, which incorporated the mining legal and regulatory, fiscal and environmental frameworks, was enacted in August 1998. The Act was then equipped with the regulations which provide clear guidance for administration and enforcement.Since the enactment of Tanzania's new mining legislation, the mineral sector has been the fastest growing sector of the economy, which has posed numerous managerial challenges. This paper discusses the benefits of the current environmental legislation and the challenges facing the Government in meeting the demands of a rapidly expanding mining sector. The paper examines the institutional set-up, its capacity to execute tasks (financial, technical, working facilities, etc.), the roles played by related institutions in managing the mining sector, and the interaction between mining and other sectors of the economy.     

Drinking water quality governance: A comparative case study of Brazil,Ecuador, and Malawi

Human health is greatly affected by inadequate access to sufficient and safe drinking water, especially in low and middle-income countries. Drinking water governance improvements may be one way to better drinking water quality. Over the past decade, many projects and international organizations have been dedicated to water governance; however, water governance in the drinking water sector is understudied and how to improve water governance remains unclear. We analyze drinking water governance challenges in three countries – Brazil, Ecuador, and Malawi – as perceived by government, service providers, and civil society organizations. A mixed methods approach was used: a clustering model was used for country selection and qualitative semi-structured interviews were used with direct observation in data collection. The clustering model integrated political, economic, social and environmental variables that impact water sector performance, to group countries. Brazil, Ecuador and Malawi were selected with the model so as to represent the diversity of the clusters. This comparative case study is important because similar challenges are identified in the drinking water sectors of each country; while, the countries represent diverse socio-economic and political contexts, and the case selection process provides generalizability to our results. We find that access to safe water could be improved if certain water governance challenges were addressed: coordination and data sharing between ministries that deal with drinking water services; monitoring and enforcement of water quality laws; and sufficient technical capacity to improve administrative and technical management of water services at the local level. From an analysis of our field research, we also developed a conceptual framework that identifies policy levers that could be used to influence governance of drinking water quality on national and sub-national levels, and the relationships between these levers.     

基于边际治理成本的环境保护税税率标准探究与政策建议

税负水平是税收调节作用的重要因素,各地区需要科学地制定符合本地区发展水平的环境保护税税率来平衡环境保护与经济发展.基于2016年东北某省14个市的钢铁、电力、化工、水泥行业的排污及治理成本数据,建立污染削减费用函数模型,计算该省大气、水中主要污染物的边际治理成本,并设置不同环境保护税税率的情景方案,以探究环境保护税税率对该省经济发展的影响.结果表明:①SO₂、NO_x、COD、NH₃-N的边际治理成本分别为3.44、5.03、3.81、8.15元/污染当量. ②重点行业主要污染物的边际治理成本不同,钢铁行业主要污染物的边际治理成本较高,其COD、NH₃-N的边际治理成本均高于总体边际治理成本;化工行业的COD边际治理成本高于总体边际治理成本;电力行业的大气主要污染物边际治理成本高于总体边际治理成本;水泥行业的大气主要污染物边际治理成本则相对较低. ③适当提高环境保护税税率对经济发展总体影响不大.研究显示:该省的边际治理成本远高于目前的环境保护税征收标准,若以边际治理成本作为环境保护税税率,不但会增加企业负担,而且会导致不同行业的边际治理成本相差较大,因此,建议提高该省的环境保护税税率标准,即大气污染物征收标准为2.4元/污染当量,水污染物征收标准为2.8元/污染当量,并设置环境保护税税率的行业差异化,将有利于政策功能的发挥.      

淘汰落后产能政策对我国重点工业行业二噁英类减排的影响

淘汰落后产能可以显著降低由工业热过程排放的非故意产生类持久性有机物染物.对该类政策带来的二噁英类污染物减排进行估算可以客观评价我国在履行《关于持久性有机污染物的斯德哥尔摩公约》所做出的努力和贡献.作者曾对2006~2010年间淘汰落后产能政策的减排影响作过分析,本研究拟在此基础上根据我国2010~2013年关停的落后产能情况,估算得出电力行业、焦炭行业和钢铁行业(含铁合金)由于关闭落后产能累计带来的二噁英类向大气减排(以I-TEQ计,下同)分别约86.13、133.94和78.78 g·a-1.除了上述提到的重点工业部门,关闭落后产能涉及到的水泥、电石、金属冶炼、造纸等行业也会由于政策的实施而减少二噁英类的排放,该研究为以后进行全面评估提供了思路和方法支持.     

天津市工业节能减排绩效及其与经济效益协调性评估

利用节能绩效-减排绩效关系图,以及节能绩效、减排绩效与经济效益协调关系三角图,研究了2006─2008年天津市18个行业及滨海新区8个企业的节能减排绩效关系及其经济协调性状态和趋势. 结果表明:天津市18个行业节能减排绩效(节能绩效和减排绩效)主要由减排绩效贡献;冶金及相关产业的节能减排绩效很差,化工及相关产业节能减排绩效较差,其他行业节能减排绩效处于一般～好的状态,各行业节能减排绩效无变好的趋势;滨海新区大部分企业的节能减排绩效主要由减排绩效贡献. 2008年,天津市大部分行业节能减排绩效与经济效益协调性较好,仅有化学原料及化学制品制造业、非金属矿物制造业和电力煤气及水的生产和供应业等3个行业处于较不协调状态; 天津市大部分行业按弱协调性趋势发展;滨海新区企业的经济协调性状况堪忧,仅有2个企业处于很强或强协调状态.