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.     

Environmental permitting as a driver for eco-efficiency in the dairy industry: A closer look at the IPPC directive

This study contributes to the discussion on the potential of the IPPC Directive to serve as a driver for eco-efficiency through the analysis of case studies of British, Finnish and Swedish dairy industries and the corresponding regulatory bodies. The signals given to the companies on the required improvements and the focus of the permitting process – on the manufacturing process rather than end-of-pipe measures – were identified as major factors in determining the influence of the permitting process with regards to eco-efficiency. The analysis revealed that the influence of the IPPC Directive on the dairy industry would probably be noticeable in the UK but less significant in Finland and Sweden. Key issues that require further attention are presented.     

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”.     

Experiences of environmental performance evaluation in the cement industry. Data quality of environmental performance indicators as a limiting factor for Benchmarking and Rating

Although ISO 14031 gives guidelines for environmental performance evaluation, there is limited experience of applying the standard in the area of benchmarking and external rating, especially when limitations of data quality are considered. This paper evaluates the importance of the data quality of operational performance indicators (OPIs, in this case emission factors) as a limiting factor for benchmarking and external rating between six cement plants in Sweden, Norway and Finland for three types of emissions, dust, NO_x and SO₂. Monthly emission factors for 1993–1999 were collected for these plants and a quality assurance process was undertaken to eliminate factors that decreased comparability. The data were tested against six hypotheses concerning different aspects of the variation of the emission factors. One of the findings was that there is no sharp limit when the quality of emission factors is high enough to make it possible to compare, since quality is a qualitative conception in itself. Instead, organisations using emission factors should strive to adapt a system with quality assurance of emission factors, resulting in widely accpeted emission factors suitable for comparison between plants. This is achieved with a sector specific methodology which can handle irrelevant differences and reflects real differences in environmental performance.     

环境行政执法与环保产业的发展

随着环境保护市场化和环保产业的发展 ,现行的环境行政执法暴露出许多缺陷 ,需要进一步予以完善 ,以促进环保产业的发展。本文对环境执法的必要性 ,存在的问题及其完善进行了分析     

Environmental practices and firm performance: an empirical analysis in the Spanish hotel industry

The impact of environmental practices on firm performance raises an ongoing debate in which the review of the existing literature yields no conclusive results. Different methods have been used to study this relationship and most of the analyses have focused on manufacturing companies. This paper examines the link between environmental practices and firm performance in the Spanish hotel industry using two methods: a cluster analysis and a regression analysis. First, three groups were defined according to their environmental proactivity, and hotels showing a stronger commitment to environmental practices proved to reach higher performance levels. Second, through the regression analysis, findings showed that environmental practices impact significantly on several performance variables.     

Finding the connection: environmental management systems and environmental performance

With more than 130,000 organizations worldwide certified according to ISO requirements, business people, regulatory authorities and other stakeholders have reason to wonder whether the purpose of ISO 14001, which is to help improve environmental performance, is being fulfilled. There is a growing body of literature attempting to answer this question. The results, however, are inconclusive.This meta-study analyzes a pool of 23 studies connecting environmental performance to environmental management systems. It shows that the reason that earlier studies arrived at mixed conclusions is twofold. Firstly, there is no agreement on what environmental performance is or how to measure it. Secondly, there is neither clarity nor agreement about how or why environmental management systems are expected to aid performance. It is therefore unclear whether the mechanisms that lead to improvement are expected to be the same for all companies or dependent on each implementation.The authors conclude that it is more fruitful to research how environmental management systems affect performance, rather than whether they do so or not. The recommended starting point for such studies is environmental performance as each organization defines it. This in turn implies a case by case approach and a need for much more research in the field.     

环境可持续性指数:尝试评价国家或地区环境可持续能力的指标

环境可持续性指数（Eneironmental Sustainability Index,ESI)尝试测量不同国家或地区为其后代保持良好环境状况的能力，从而为环境决策建立基础。本文系统地介绍了ESI的发展、内涵、指标设置及其方法学：列举了2002年报告的ESI用于测量142个国家或地区的结果，分析了典型国家（含中国）的不同表现；最后，概要地评述了ESI的特点与方向。     

Evaluating the environmental performance of a university

An increasing number of organisations are moving towards assessing and reporting their environmental performance in a supply-chain context. Not only are such “footprint”-type assessments seen as more rigorous than sustainability reports created in-house, they also offer more abatement options than assessments limited to an organisation’s premises. Hybrid life-cycle assessment methods combining input-output analysis and process analysis are ideally suited to enumerate organisational footprints, because they were developed to enable overall complete results whilst being application-specific. We apply one of these hybrid methods, the Path Exchange Method to the task of planning for a sustainable campus at the University of Sydney in Australia. We show how this method can be used by an environmental or procurement officer for exploring environmental performance and abatement options across supply chains. We also show how parts of an organisation, for example University faculties, can be assessed and compared against each other. Whilst tools like ones used in this work enable quantitative decision support for procurement and operations policies, it takes staff awareness, engagement and training to successfully put such tools into practice.     

公众环境意识测量指标研究——以大连理工大学环境意识调查为例

环境意识是国民素质的重要组成部分.培养和提高公众环境意识对中国推行可持续发展战略、实现现代化建设目标具有重要意义.但目前有关公众环境意识的调查没有统一的测量指标体系.本文尝试设计一套标准化环境意识测量指标体系,并通过对大连理工大学大学生的调查进行应用检验,以期为深化环境意识理论和实证研究打下基础,同时描述当代大学生环境意识特征.     

The measurement of corporate environmental performance and its application to the analysis of efficiency in oil industry

This paper addresses a measurement of corporate environmental performance, and its application to the analysis of efficiency in the petroleum firms. In order to measure firms' environmental performance, we suggest a framework called “Gscore” that consists of five categories, namely general environmental management (GEM), input, process, output, and outcome. Gscore is a proxy measure of corporate environmental performance based on voluntary environment, health, and safety (EHS) report and is calculated by aggregating the points of the above five-categories. We apply our measurement framework to the data of 39 firms' voluntary EHS reports which are available on the internet. Ten of them, on which efficiency analysis was conducted with Gscore, assets, employee, and profits, are in petroleum and refining industry. According to our results: (1) a gap is found between rhetoric and practical environmental management stemming from calculating the relation between GEM and data part in 39 EHS reports. (2) On the whole, EHS reports of petroleum firms have something in common, but there are significant differences in the type and amounts of disclosed data among the EHS reports. (3) From the results of efficiency analysis, it is found that the number of employee exerts a considerable influence on determining the relative efficiency of petroleum firms, then Gscore, profits, and assets in sequence. Furthermore, Exxon, Ashland, Phillips Petroleum, and ARCO are shown to be efficient among 10 petroleum firms.     

2016年全球环境绩效指数报告分析

《2016年全球环境绩效指数报告》(Environmental Performance Index:2016 Report),对180个国家和地区的环境绩效表现进行了评估.本研究对2016年EPI指标体系和评估方法进行了说明;分析了2016年全球EPI评估总况,我国各项指标的表现以及排名依然靠后的主要原因.从2016年EPI评估结果分析可以发现,环境绩效评估的数据质量控制非常关键,环境绩效表现与政府管理能力紧密关联,建立科学的评估指标体系是EPI的关键所在.研究提出要积极借鉴全球环境绩效指数评估经验加快推进建立中国的环境绩效评估框架,鼓励开展第三方评估,开展绩效评估试点、加快中国多层次、多类型的环境绩效评估机制建设.     

环境要素的环境收益、数量测算与受益归宿

为定量测算环境收益及其受益归宿,理解经济增长与环境保护的复杂耦合关系,匹配了中国工业企业数据库与环境统计数据库,用2011～2013年微观面板数据估计了企业治污成本函数,分介质、分行业加总得到了工业环境收益,采用受约束模型估计了其在企业利润、工资与税收间的分配.结果发现中国年度工业环境收益约9000亿元,是当年GDP和...     

Environmental impact of China''s village and township industry(1988-1992): a comparison with urban industry

This paper starts by a comparitive study of economic-pollutional coefficients between China's village and township industry(VTI) and urban industry, and pointed out that they share a common pattern of pollution discharge growth. An computable method was then proposed for estimating VTI's pollution discharges of the objective year, based on the base-year pollution data, the production growth factor, the abating-pollution-techni que-progress factor. The estimates of VTI's pollution discharges for year 1992 were worked out according to three scenarioes of selecting abating-pollution -technique- progress factor, and the acceptability of results were analyzed and identified. Finally, the VTI's importance for China's environmental management were interpreted in terms of the conservative estimate of VTI's pollution discharges.     

环境侵权与民事救济——兼论环境立法中存在的问题

随着中国环境污染与破坏的加剧,因公害而产生的环境侵权与民事救济将成为中国的一大社会问题。本文分析了传统民事侵权的区别,讨论了环境侵权的归责原则、因果关系推定与举证责任等问题,并提出环境侵权的民事救济应实行预防性的排除侵害与损害、赔偿并重的救济制度,实行利益衡量原则与公害赔偿社会化。最后,作者就如何完善中国环境侵权与民事救济立法提出几点建议。     

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.     

环境保护产业产值与价值评价研究

环境保护产业的价值首先直接体现为可量度的环境保护产业的产值,由于环境保护产业具有全方位渗透特性,以往的环境保护产业产值统计难以全面完整地反映环境保护产业在国民经济中的产值贡献,环境保护产业应体现的价值远大于环境保护产业的产值。本文以环境保护产业的统计产值为基础,提出了基于产业关联渗透系数的环境保护产业产值评价模式;以及基于环境资源价值和环境保护产业产值权重放大系数的环境保护产业价值评价模式。     

The role of environmental statisticians in environmental policy: the case of performance measurement

Environmental statisticians often experience the difficult task to provide clear results for environmental policy objectives on the basis of complex science, limited data, and many sources of uncertainty. This paper highlights the particularly challenging situation of environmental statistics in developing countries before focusing on the role of statisticians working at the nexus of environmental statistics and policy within the context of measuring environmental performance. Three issues create particular tension at the environmental science-policy junction: (1) the general complexity of environmental problems (including scientific uncertainty and insufficient data) and the often negative perceptions associated with their solution, (2) the comparatively recent introduction of quantitative methods and information to the environmental policy process and continued skepticism and ideologically motivated resistance to their routine integration, and (3) the language barriers between policymakers and statisticians as well as between statisticians and other scientists engaged in environmental research. Based on the case study of the 2006 Pilot Environmental Performance Index (EPI) developed by an interdisciplinary team at the universities Yale and Columbia the paper examines how the EPI tackles these tensions while aiming to be a fact-based, statistically sound policy tool that helps countries achieve environmental objectives by tracking progress, identifying environmental “best practices”, and providing strategic peer-group analyses. In conclusion, the paper suggests some remedies for the deficiencies in the co-operation between policymakers and environmental statisticians.     

Mining life cycle modelling: a cradle-to-gate approach to environmental management in the minerals industry

It is common practise in mining Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies to use a predefined set of data to represent mining production systems. Besides this, very little is added to improve data quality, and essential mining process details which affect the ultimate environmental impacts is rarely taken into account. Some significant omissions include exploration and development work, mining method used, production, ore losses, location and the mining/processing method dependent factors that govern the nature of discharges to the environment. The mining system is often represented as a black-box, not lending itself to the interpretation of different processes used in minerals production. The generic data used are often inadequate for a mining LCA, and cannot be used as an accurate account of mining environmental burdens contributing to more complex systems “down-stream”, such as metals, building, chemical or food industries. Therefore, the main objective of the mining LCA model presented in this paper was to develop a tool that is able to represent the mining system in a comprehensive way. To attain this objective, the mining system was studied in more detail, as it is commonly practised during mine feasibility and design stages. It (LICYMIN) was developed as part of an international research project led by Imperial College London. The model integrates the mine production, processing, waste treatment and disposal, rehabilitation and aftercare stages of a mine's life within an LCA framework. The development work was carried out in collaboration with several industrial partners in Europe, including Bakonyi Bauxitbánya Kft. in Hungary. The model structure, database development and examples of field applications from industrial sites are presented.     

稀土产业可持续发展环境经济对策

本文针对内蒙稀土产业，近年发展迅速，但环境污染严重，小冶炼四处泛滥，群众由环境问题不断上访；稀土产业初级产品产量过大，效益明显降低的状况，根据环境经济学理论，提出合理的管理与经济政策。