Water privatization and regulation in England and France: a tale of two models

Several United Nations Member States have recently decided to privatize their water supply and sewerage services in order to improve economic efficiency and to tap private investments for infrastructural improvements. Since the English and French models of water privatization have produced some of the most interesting innovations in this area, this article examines these two models with a view to determining their usefulness for other countries. The main aim of the paper is, however, not to analyze water privatization per se, but the regulation of an industry with strong natural monopoly tendencies. The article concludes that water privatization should be accompanied by effective regulatory mechanisms to deal with monopoly power.     

Toward sustainable use of natural resources: Nexus between resource rents,affluence, energy intensity and carbon emissions in developing and transition economies

Sustainable use of natural resources would entail ensuring that derived economic benefits today do not undermine the welfare of generations to come. On this basis, this study examines the nexus between natural resource rents and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions disaggregated into production and consumption-based (i.e., trade-adjusted) CO₂ emissions for a selected panel of 45 developing and transition economies over the period 1995–2017. The empirical model also incorporates the impacts of population, affluence, and energy intensity. The results show that affluence increases production-based CO₂ emissions by 1.407%, with the EKC's predicted inverted U-shaped curve only explaining consumption-based CO₂ emissions. Economic reliance on natural resource rents and energy intensification contribute 0.022% and 0.766%, respectively, to CO₂ emissions embedded in territorial production inventories and 0.035% and 0.583%, respectively, to CO₂ emissions embedded in consumption inventories. The bootstrap non-causality test shows that historical data on each variable has significant predictive power for future CO₂ emissions from both sources. The historical information about natural resource rents has significant predictive power over the future levels of affluence and energy intensity. Clearly, the results show that the environmental impact of natural resource rents is stronger when CO₂ emissions are adjusted for trade and varies among the countries, with Bangladesh, Guinea, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe among the most affected countries. Overall, this study provides motivation for policies to keep the use of natural resources within sustainable limits.     

Government fiscal strategy for mining to 2000

World Bank studies predict little or no change in mineral demand in the 1990s, and also an extended period, in real terms, of low mineral prices. In such a climate the fiscal strategy of government needs to be one which emphasizes revenue sources which are independent of mineral prices. In the 1970s, rising prices made fiscal regimes which capture economic rents attractive. In the 1990s, royalties and other duties which are dependent on the level of production and would also take advantage of any short boom in mineral prices would seem to be the best fiscal regime for a government to follow.     

The Scottish economy: the development of underdevelopment?

This paper describes the recent economic history of the Scottish economy and uses a synthesised theory of labour market segmentation and the dual economy to identify the origins of the relative decline of Scottish industry and labour over the period, critically evaluating the role of the SDA and of government policy in general. Incorporating the impacts of takeover and merger of indigenous companies, the promotion of the branch plant economy, the selective effects of emigration and training schemes, and the reliance on small and medium sized companies to regenerate the economies of city‐regions, an analysis based on the importance of the centre‐periphery relations of monopoly capitalism for the Scottish economy is undertaken.     

Natural resources and 'gradual' reform in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan

Among low‐income transition reformers, natural resource rents are an important initial condition that helps explain choice of reform strategy. Resource‐rich Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and resource‐poor China and Vietnam all claim to pursue gradual reform, but their strategies differ. In China and Vietnam, low resource rents have nurtured developmental political conditions and encouraged efficient resource use, which initially promoted agriculture as a dynamic market sector, capable of absorbing labour from the lagging state sector. In contrast, the scale and ease of natural resource rent extraction in the Central Asian countries has consolidated authoritarian governments that postpone reform. Despite high energy rents, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan still extract agricultural rents in ways that repress farm incentives, perpetuate environmental degradation and liquidate irrigation assets. Uzbekistan uses its rents to subsidize a manufacturing sector, that is neither dynamic nor competitive. As its dynamic sector, Turkmenistan promotes natural gas exports that depend on volatile markets. Resource‐driven development models suggest that reform is required in both countries to avert a growth collapse. Turkmenistan's large energy rent‐stream may postpone a collapse for some years, but Uzbekistan's position is already precarious: it has run down its rural infrastructure and accumulated sizeable foreign debts and will require external assistance to recover from a growth collapse. Such assistance should be made conditional on accelerated economic and political reform.     

MEASURING INTANGIBLE BENEFITS -SOME NEEDED RESEARCH1

ABSTRACT. Society has long sought to maximize the welfare of its members by allocating its limited resources so as to provide maximum satisfaction. As long as all of the values that society gains or loses are measured in the market place in terms of price, the process of maximizing through economic models is relatively straightforward. In fact, however, the total value that society receives from the use of its resources is not completely measured through the private market transactions. There are some values created which are external to the market system. The resulting underinvestment in natural resources by the private sector necessitates the entry of the public sector. The presence of intangible benefits and intangible costs has long been recognized, but completely satisfactory methods for including these in the quantitative analysis of benefit-cost have not been developed. Some progress has been made in including recreational values in project analysis via the expenditures method, the Gross National Product method, consumer surplus method, cost method, market value method, and monopoly and discriminating monopoly methods, but little has been done in the area of aesthetic values. Techniques for including such values in project evaluation need to be further researched. Tradeoff models developed by market researchers, the advertising industry, social psychologists and sociologists may have some applicability. Methodology for including proposed multiple objective functions in project analysis is also a critical need.     

轮毂行业涂装车间环境污染与防治

轮毂行业快速增长的同时,涂装车间作业排放的废气、废水、废渣、噪声,对环境造成了严重的污染。分析了轮毂行业涂装车间的环境污染状况,包括污染物的来源和种类,指出采用低污染材料、先进的生产设备,并优化生产工艺,是解决涂装“三废”问题的有效途径。     

加强乡镇工业环境管理的几点粗浅建议

本文通过对新津县乡镇工业污染源调结果的分析，肯定了乡镇工业在振兴农村经济中发挥的重要作用，同时简要评估了乡镇工业污染源排放的污染物对乡镇环境带来的不良影响，阐述了乡镇工业环境管理中存在的问题，有针对性地提出了加强乡镇工业环境管理的若干建议。     

我国造纸工业对环境的污染及解决方法

本文论述造纸工业的主要污染源及解决造纸工业对环境污染问题的关键技术和方法, 提出我国造纸工业环境保护的基本对策,认为我国的造纸工业也能成为洁净工业。     

成都市居民生活与第三产业污染源调查分析

居民生活与第三产业污染源是影响城市大气环境质量的重要因素之一。本文对居民生活与第三产业污染源进行了调查分析。了解其对成都市大气环境的影响程度，为成都市大气环境质量控制策略提供依据。     

美国油气行业国家温室气体清单和报送体系

甲烷是由人类活动造成的仅次于二氧化碳的第二大温室气体,大幅度减少甲烷排放有助于降低近期温升,是实现巴黎协定目标的必要手段,也是中国实现“碳中和”目标的重要抓手。相比其他排放源,油气行业的甲烷减排最快、最有经济性。而有效的减排政策和监管必须建立在完整、准确的甲烷排放清单基础上。文章以甲烷为重点,概述了美国国家温室气体清单和油气行业的报送制度,介绍了两个报送体系的覆盖范围、要求等相关差异,说明了设施界定、排放因子和活动水平来源、监测方法以及有待改进之处,并针对中国油气行业甲烷排放数据的质量改善提出了建议。     

关于泸州市发展环保产业的思考

本文对泸州市环保产业发展现状及存在的问题进行了分析,认为泸州市发展环保产业具有丰富的资源和得天独厚的条件,要发展泸州市的环保产业要在微观上找准路子,宏观上给予支持和扶持。     

'British Columbia Is Open for Business': Environmental Justice and Working Forest News in the Vancouver Sun

This paper analyses the Vancouver Sun's coverage of the Working Forest Initiative, which the provincial government of British Columbia (BC), Canada, introduced in 2002. The Working Forest originally defined forestry as the primary use of all forested Crown land in BC that was not within protected areas. By 2003, this policy initiative was transformed into a largely symbolic recognition of the importance of the forest industry. Through the Sun, the debate over the Working Forest is simplified into a conflict between a discourse of 'certainty and stability' for the forest industry and an oppositional discourse that challenges the conflation of the interests of forestry corporations with a reified 'general interest'. In the Sun, debate over the Working Forest is dominated by sources from government, environmental organizations and the forest industry. Other important news sources are rendered silent, including First Nations and forestry labour voices.     

昌吉州高耗能炼焦业污染物排放现状及社会经济贡献分析

应用昌吉州第一次全国污染源普查成果,并在此基础上综合分析了昌吉州煤化产业的前景,炼焦业的现状、污染状况以及社会经济贡献,对发展昌吉州焦化产业与减轻环境污染提出了对策建议。     

PERSPECTIVES FROM THREE YEARS EXPERIENCE OF REGIONAL WATER SERVICES IN THAMES WATER AUTHORITY1

ABSTRACT: Thames Water is one of ten regional Water Authorities established in 1974 to manage all water services in England and Wales. This paper looks back at water reorganization and reviews the achievements and highlights of the last three years. Constitutionally, Water authorities are a combination of a nationalized industry and local authority. This has advantages and disadvantages. Freedom of action, particularly in financial matters, is constrained by Government and official agencies. A severe pollution of the upper Thames and the drought of 1976 tested Thames Water's ability to deal with emergencies. Thames Water does not have an operational monopoly. Private Water Companies supply one third of the water demand and local authorities manage nearly all the sewers. But Thames Water's control over planning and investment ensures that the river basin is managed in a coordinated fashion. Tariff structure changes have led the Authority to bill all its consumers direct. The Thames is a small but intensively used river and vigilance is needed to maintain water quality. Thames Water is proud of the restoration of the tidal Thames from a typical grossly polluted metropolitan estuary to its present excellent condition. The British Government intends to establish a national water industry strategic planning organization but at the same time they affirm that there can be no departure from the principle of integrated river basin management.     

Comparison of the cost effectiveness of industrial energy conservation

Energy cost for industry depends largely on the kind of energy used (or energy mix) and the in-country price of individual energy sources. The benefits of energy conservation measures may therefore not be uniform across industries and countries. A method is presented to evaluate the economics of energy conservation measures by industry. Thailand is used to illustrate how the method is applied.     

简述排污许可制下火电行业现状及发展

实施排污许可制度,是强化排污者责任、提高固定污染源环境管理效能、改善环境质量的重要制度保障。火电行业作为典型的高架固定源,先行试点实施排污许可制度。通过分析火电行业发展和环保现状,结合排污许可管理要点,简述排污许可制对火电行业发展的影响。     

我国炼油行业碳排放估算与分析

针对目前我国炼油行业排放总量不清楚的问题,文章首先对我国炼油行业二氧化碳排放源和影响因素进行简述,进一步借鉴欧洲炼厂二氧化碳排放系数,对我国炼厂二氧化碳排放总量进行估算,并对结果进行了分析。研究结果可为进一步了解我国炼厂二氧化碳排放情况及进一步的减排工作起到参考作用。     

再生铜行业环境管理问题的若干思考和建议

随着我国铜冶炼(原生铜和再生铜)行业对含铜二次资源需求量的增加,集废旧资源回收、拆解和分选、二次资源出售、铜再生利用于一体的产业链逐渐发展壮大起来。然而高能耗、高污染、低质量、低产出的特点在再生铜行业依然存在,环境监管政策和标准也不健全不完善。随着人们对美丽生态环境诉求的增加,必须加强有色金属行业的环境管理。本文对再生铜行业发展和环境管理做了一些思考,特别是对再生铜行业环境管理存在的问题进行了分析,并针对问题提出了几点政策性建议,以期为我国再生铜产业的环境友好发展和环境监管提供借鉴。     

声屏障在化工行业的应用

化工行业噪声源多,声级高,防火、防爆、防腐、防风险等要求特别严格。采用常规噪声控制措施受到许多限制,而采用隔声吸声屏障降噪有一定效果。本文以上海几个化工企业为例,论述了隔声吸声屏障的设计、应用及效果。