Constructing collaborative communities of researchers in the environmental domain. A case study of interdisciplinary research between legal scholars and policy analysts

The article offers an analysis of the interactions between legal and policy science researchers within a European project on flood risk management using a “Policy Arrangement Approach” (PAA). While interdisciplinary research is increasingly becoming a ‘must’ in environmental governance, under what conditions is cooperation possible and desirable? Our analysis shows that the PAA is not mobilized as an interdisciplinary method, but offers a framework for researchers from different disciplines to learn to work together on a subject such as flooding, requiring interdisciplinary insights. The paper shows the steps that are progressively put in place to reach a common language and reformulate issues by benefitting from each other’s view and approaches. The article concludes by drawing attention to new means of knowledge production relating to so-called “messy” or “wicked” problems, such as environmental issues. Within this framework, interdisciplinary work is not considered to be a pre-condition for the study, but rather the result of the research process itself. The analysis draws attention to the actual (working) conditions established to create an interdisciplinary community of flooding practices by challenging disciplinary borders.     

Environmental performance,indicators and measurement uncertainty in EMS context: a case study

EMS is a tool for managing the interaction between the organization and the environment. The aim of an EMS is to improve the overall environmental performance of the organization. The performance should be monitored through measurements, and managed by indicators. Indicators are variables that summarize or otherwise simplify relevant information about the state of a complex system. A correct evaluation of environmental performance arises from the choice of adequate “raw” data and from the relationships among “raw” data.This paper, after a short excursus concerning the rule of indicators in environmental performance evaluation and the mean of uncertainty, proposes an approach to the study and the evaluation, through indicators and indices, of the environmental aspect “wastewater discharges” of a Local Authority who is involved in EMS implementation. Particularly, the critical analysis of one of the indices that has been used is reported. The role of the uncertainty of measurements has been stressed. The results showed that measurement uncertainty is essential for an efficient data comparison and for a correct evaluation of environmental performance, which, in turn, is essential to guarantee the effectiveness of the EMS application.     

A methodology for CSR reporting: assuring a representative diversity of indicators across stakeholders,scales, sites and performance issues

This paper presents a framework called the CSR Deliberation Matrix for the structuring of CSR issue identification, stakeholder dialogues, indicator selection and reporting, with an overarching goal to achieve an appropriate balance between sensitivity to individual situations and the benefits of “generic” indicators applicable to a large spectrum of reporting contexts.We suggest guidelines to (1) define the full spectrum of sustainability concerns and of relevant stakeholder dialogue contexts; (2) mobilise a relevant “data bank” which provides a profile of candidate CSR indicators; (3) obtain a parsimonious selection of indicators in a site-level CSR reporting process through a stakeholder dialogue; and (4) obtain a “representative diversity” of indicators at the interface of site-level and higher-level CSR reporting contexts.     

Energy and environmental attitudes in the green state of Denmark: Implications for energy democracy,low carbon transitions,and energy literacy

This article investigates how a mix of energy-users from Denmark perceives energy and environmental issues such as the affordability of electricity and gasoline, the seriousness of climate change, and preferences for different energy systems. Its primary source of data is a pilot survey and energy literacy test distributed in English and Danish to 328 respondents spread across the country. The survey results are used to test four propositions about energy prices, being “green,” public knowledge and competence about energy issues, and self-sufficiency and sustainable technology. The data supports the propositions that Danes identify with “being green” and prefer national and local policies that endorse sustainable technology and being self-sufficient. However, the data also challenges the propositions that Danes would prioritize low energy prices and affordability as key energy concerns and that they are knowledgeable about energy and environmental issues. In this way, a problematic gap may exist between what many academic articles (and previous surveys) report Danish attitudes to be and what this study suggests they are. Given Denmark's ambitious low-carbon goals, these findings have clear relevance to other communities and countries seeking to decarbonize their own energy sectors.     

Method for assessing impacts on life support functions (LSF) related to the use of ‘fertile land’ in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Degradation of soil quality is a major concern due to the scarcity of fertile land, and needs to be properly addressed in the environmental assessment of agro-forestry systems. This paper addresses the main issues arising in assessing the impacts of fertile land use on “Life Support Functions” in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). These issues include the assessment of occupation and transformation impacts, the references against which such impacts should be measured, and the concept of natural relaxation versus backup technology for recovery from the impacts. The alternative (or reference) situation is defined using the concept of consequential LCA, which facilitates clarification of the allocation issues arising due to successive land uses. This paper presents soil organic matter (SOM) as a robust indicator for soil quality; even though it does not fully consider all aspects of soil functioning, SOM has been often recognised as the best stand-alone indicator for soil quality. Impacts on biodiversity are not included in this indicator and should be assessed in parallel. Alternative data sources for practical implementation of the method are suggested in a hierarchical way, including locally specific data sets describing changes in SOM; mechanistic models for the prediction of SOM evolution; and general data sources for simplified analyses. Thanks to its flexibility in data collection the method is applicable to any agricultural or forestry LCA to fill an important gap in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) of land use.     

Measurement of green productivity and its improvement

The measurement framework of the green productivity (GP) of a product system, or process, and its improvement are discussed. Two types of GP indicators are developed to help understand the practical concept and executive approaches of GP, using environmental management tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) and total cost assessment (TCA). GP index is defined as the ratio of productivity of a system to its environmental impacts. This index is intended for estimating the GP performance of an existing product or process and comparing it with other equivalents. Specifically, the GP index is a measure of the GP performance of a product system throughout its entire life cycle. The “overall” GP index can be divided into a “direct” GP index and an “indirect” GP index which are intended to analyze the GP performances of direct production processes and indirect upstream processes, respectively. For internal managerial decision, GP ratio is developed to select one alternative out of a list of contenders in order to improve the GP performance of an existing system. In addition, GP portfolio is drawn up to check the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives. A case study of a petrochemical company in Korea is provided as an example for illustrating the feasibility of the indicators developed here (GP index and GP ratio) for the measurement of GP and its improvement.     

Complementarity,biodiversity viability analysis,and policy-based algorithms for conservation

Biodiversity conservation “area-selection” strategies include not only trade-offs among society’s needs in land-use allocation, but also allocation of economic instruments such as incentives, levies, and biodiversity credits. For these applications, the key property of an area is its “complementarity”—the context-dependent, marginal gain in biodiversity provided by the area. Given that there has been little implementation of whole-sets of areas generated by the popular computer-based selection methods, we suggest that analogous “policy-based algorithms” would be a more effective real-world application of complementarity. Areas would be “selected” for conservation over time as a consequence of policies in which dynamic complementarity values influence application of economic instruments. These integrated biodiversity/economic strategies can use an extended form of complementarity reflecting marginal changes in regional probability of persistence of biodiversity. While probabilistic measures of biodiversity viability have been explored in area-selection for some time, it remains difficult to make viability statements about “all of biodiversity.” New approaches that use biodiversity surrogate information for “biodiversity viability analysis” (BVA) can take advantage of a general quantitative biodiversity framework in which pattern-based relationships among areas allow predictions at the species level. A standard assumption of “unimodal” species responses to environmental gradients yields an expected distribution of species in an ordination pattern, and allows sampling of inferred species. Based on environmental correlates, inferred species can be mapped in geographic space, forming distribution fragments. This information, when linked to species persistence models, may allow ongoing calculation of areas’ complementarity values. An example illustrates application of these ordination models to museum collection data for lizards from New South Wales (NSW), Australia.     

绿色城市评价指标体系的构建与权重

在全球城市化的高速进程中，城市经济的增长与资源环境的矛盾日渐加剧，城市的"绿色"转型势在必行.对城市绿色发展程度进行评估，是建设绿色城市的重要内容.绿色城市评价指标体系能够反映绿色城市发展潜力及存在问题，而如何选择评价指标及指标权重的设置是开展绿色城市评价的首要科学问题.本文首先基于绿色城市发展理念与指标构建原则，从绿色生产、绿色生活、环境质量3个维度构建了10个二级指标、29个三级指标，并按照属性将基础指标分为正向、负向、特定向指标3类.然后，基于主体功能区与城市发展阶段，分别对不同类型城市设立权重系数，通过整合综合权重系数，实现了对不同类型城市的差异化评价，提升了评价结果的公正性.本研究建立的绿色城市评价指标体系充分结合了联合国可持续发展目标，可为绿色城市评价提供科学依据.     

区域环境健康综合风险评价指标体系的构建及应用研究

探讨区域环境健康综合风险评价指标体系建立的原则、思路和方法,估算各省环境健康综合风险,为制定环境健康政策提供科学依据.运用层次分析法,结合主成分分析和独立性分析,按照"风险压力-风险现状-风险应对"的总体思路构建了23个指标的区域环境健康综合风险评价指标体系及其权重系数.运用2012年31个省(自治区、直辖市)的数据进行实证检验,并将评价结果进行聚类分析探讨地区风险的差异和规律.研究表明全国有9个省区域环境健康综合风险指数超过标准,其中特别发达(北京、天津、上海)及不发达地区环境健康综合风险相对较低,较为发达地区环境健康风险较高.区域环境健康综合风险评价指标较为科学合理,具有较好的推广性和实用性.     

Review of land use impact methodologies

A review was performed of existing approaches on land use methods for LCA. Two main questions arise: how does land occupation relate to (irreversible) land changes, and what indicators are to be used to describe land use impacts. Most approaches aim at a single or limited number of indices for land use impacts, for data availability reasons. Vascular plant species density is the most common basis for an indicator. Methods using many more indicators may be seen as future sophistications, when data is available over the whole life cycle. For silviculture and agriculture crops multi-indicator scores may be applicable now to compare management techniques. Land use efficiency measured by m2.y is presently seen as the inventory step of land occupation impact assessment, but may also be a separate issue. Land management techniques in fact influence long-term changes and should be assessed as such, or not quantified at all. Further discussion and harmonisation is however required.     

生态系统价值核算指标体系研究

生态系统价值核算是开展生态系统保护成效评估的重要手段,也是支撑生态文明制度体系建设的关键技术之一.指标体系的设定是开展生态系统价值核算的重要前提和基础,但当前生态系统价值还缺少统一的核算指标,因此,在一定程度上制约了生态系统价值在生态系统管理与决策中的应用.在总结归纳当前生态系统价值相关指标体系的基础上,以服务于生态系统管理和相关绩效考核为目标,提出了包括生物生产性、人类收益性、保护成效性、实际发生性、实物度量性、数据可获性、持续更新性、非危害性在内的8项生态系统价值核算原则,筛选形成了包括7个功能类别、15个一级科目和26个二级科目的生态系统价值核算指标体系,并针对实物量达到一定数值才能形成服务的指标设定了核算基准.以厦门市为例探讨了这一指标体系的应用能力,其不仅包括了厦门市主要生态系统服务,而且体现了厦门市作为沿海旅游城市的区域特色.在此基础上,探索了开展生态系统价值统计核算的可能途径,主要包括建立生态系统价值统计核算公式,编制技术导则,开展培训、制定定期发布制度等,旨在为实现生态系统价值的业务核算及其应用提供技术支撑.      

‘Dynamic behavioral fingerprinting’: what drives the deployment of environmental information and communication capabilities?

This article investigates the impact of organizational drivers for the implementation of business process and network information and communication capabilities (ICCs) supporting cleaner production in the Dutch food and beverage industry. We do so with the intention to promote ‘dynamic behavioral fingerprinting’.Survey results show, that sub-sectors of this industry are driven to adopt environmental ICCs to a different level. Responses range from compliance-oriented (Slaughterhouses & meat sub-sector) to market-oriented (Bakery and biscuits sub-sector). Knowledge of key drivers and their impact offers opportunities to adjust the environmental policy and instruments to sub-sector specifics so that its effectiveness is improved. We therefore propose ‘dynamic behavioral fingerprinting’: mapping “typical” patterns of managerial response towards environmental issues, in order to improve the effectiveness of public–private interaction and cooperation.     

Farm level environmental indicators; are they useful?: An overview of green accounting systems for European farms

Green accounts or input–output accounting systems (IOA) have been developed in countries with intensive agricultural production to facilitate voluntary improvements in farm environmental performance. There is a need for an overview of indicators used and a review of results and experiences reported. Ten IOA systems covering the topics of the farm’s use of nutrients, pesticides and energy were selected from a survey of 55 systems and compared in this paper. The approaches and indicators used vary from systems based on good agricultural practices (GAP) to accounts based systems that use physical input–output units. Many IOA systems use farm gate nutrient balances, pesticide use per hectare and energy use per kilogram product. These indicators are easy to calculate but the resulting value needs separate interpretation for the farmer. Other systems include modeled emissions and rate the yearly farm results using closed scales, which allows for easy interpretation but builds on implicit normative assumptions of best practices. Participating farmers were most often reported to be motivated for the use of IOA but empirical evidence of improved environmental farm performance was scarce. IOA systems should be linked with production planning tools used by the advisory services. Farmers and advisors needs better reference values to evaluate the indicator levels (environmental performance) on the individual farm possibly based on analysis of a larger number of farms. The statistical properties of IOA indicators need to be researched regarding: (1) the relation between changed management practice and changes in indicator values on a given farm over a period of time; (2) the relative importance of systematic versus coincidental differences in environmental performance of a set of farms. It is concluded that IOA systems could become effective tools for agri-environmental improvement of European farms given further development and standardization.     

基于层次分析法的工业园区环境风险评价指标权重分析

针对环境风险评价的特征,从HJ/T 169—2004《建设项目环境风险评价技术导则》、GB 18218—2009《危险化学品重大危险源辨识》等现有环境风险评估技术规范和标准中直接筛选了物质危险性、主要原料最大存量与临界量、原料中有毒有害物质使用量等10项指标;结合工业园区环境风险区域性、复杂性及综合性等特征,提出了行业类别、危险废物处理处置方式、污染物排放方式和污染物排放浓度达标情况等9项指标,共计19项指标作为工业园区环境风险评价指标体系. 在我国东、中和西部地区近20个工业园区的管理者、企业及园区公众发放600份问卷,运用层次分析法(analytic hierarchy process,AHP)构建了工业园区环境风险评价指标权重递阶层次结构模型. 模型结果显示,影响工业园区环境风险等级准则层权重依次为风险源(0.4663)、监管机制(0.3010)和受体(0.2327);累积性环境风险源特征指标中危险废物处理处置方式 (权重居第1位,下同)和污染物排放浓度达标情况(第2位)指标权重较突发性风险源特征指标——物质危险性 (第4位)、原料中有毒有害物质使用量占比 (第9位)、主要原料最大储存量与临界值(第18位)等指标排序优先;对于体现工业园区环境风险预防和监管的指标权重相对较高,如行业类别,园区环境监控情况、环境风险监管机制中日常环境管理制度中的环境监控情况 (第5位)权重也高出了环境风险制度体系中事故应急预案(第8位)指标权重;但是,在对受体关注程度上生态环境质量和安全等指标的权重仍旧很小.      

Linking analyses and environmental Kuznets curves for aggregated material flows in the EU

The relationship between economy and environmental impacts has been an essential topic in the discussion on environmental problems for a long time. From the 1990s, this relationship has gained a position in environmental policy as well. De-coupling the use of natural resources from economic growth has been set as one of the policy goals in the sixth Environmental Action Programme by the European Commission. In the scientific discussion, the concept of environmental Kuznets curve deals closely with the de-coupling or de-linking phenomenon. Aggregated material flows, on the other hand, have often been considered as a macro-level proxy of environmental degradation. Different methods or approaches have been designed for “sustainability” or “carrying capacity” evaluation as well. The objective of this article is (i) to discuss the possibilities and limitations of using environmental and economic indicators in the sustainability analysis at the macro level, (ii) to present a theoretical framework for the linking analysis including a classification of the degrees of de-linking/re-linking environmental impacts from/to economic growth, and (iii) to give an empirical example by using indicators of direct material flows as a proxy of environmental degradation and by applying the framework into the European Union and its 15 member countries. The results show that the trend in the European Union is a weak de-linking of material flows from economic growth during the years 1980–2000. In other words, material intensity of the economy has generally decreased due to increased efficiency, but the absolute amount of material use has increased, although at a lower rate of increase than economic growth. On the other hand, there is a quite large variation between different EU member countries. However, absolute decrease in the use of materials cannot be found as a continuous trend between the years 1980 and 2000 in any of the studied EU member countries.     

Life cycle assessment of a domestic cooker hood

A life cycle assessment (LCA) of a domestic cooker hood was conducted. Cradle-to-grave analysis was performed using the GaBi software with Eco-Indicator 99 (Egalitarian Approach). The most polluting phases were “manufacturing” and “use”, the environmental impact being affected especially by production materials and the electricity consumed during the product’s lifespan. The study also highlighted that the hood’s environmental impact is closely related to the local power grid mix. This aspect was further analyzed by entering the data for operating it both in Italy and in France. Finally, the improvements obtained by replacing the single-phase electrical motor with an inverter-driven three-phase induction one and the halogen lamps with Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps were assessed with the LCA. These changes entail an improvement of the environmental impact of 36% in Italy and of 24% in France.     

环境损害司法鉴定意见采信标准研究

作为环境司法审判实践的关键环节,环境损害司法鉴定意见是事实判断与法律判断间的纽带。但科学探究与法律辩护是两种不同的认知模式。科学旨在对现象进行分析形成系统的知识;而法律是在有限的期限内对事实问题进行裁决,因此"事实判断""科学判断"与"法律判断"三者之间存在着天然的语言差异。且由于环境资源类司法鉴定的专业性强,鉴定人与法官的知识背景又各不相同,对该领域的知识可能并不了解,这可能会导致科学家(鉴定人)的科学知识不能与法官的法律知识相衔接,鉴定意见中的科学表述不能转化为法庭审判可以采用的关键证据,直接影响环境损害司法鉴定工作效率。为此,应当建立以真实性和充分性为主要类型的证据采信标准作为环境损害鉴定意见采信规则,提高审判质效,确保环境案件审判的科学性和公正性。     

Life cycle assessment of ACQ-treated lumber with comparison to wood plastic composite decking

A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment was done to identify the environmental impacts related to alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ)-treated lumber used for decking and to determine how the impacts compare to the primary alternative product, wood plastic composite (WPC) decking. A model of ACQ-treated lumber life cycle stages was created and used to calculate inputs and outputs during the lumber production, treating, use, and disposal stages. Lumber production data are based on published sources. Primary wood preservative treatment data were obtained by surveying wood treatment facilities in the United States. Product use and disposal inventory data are based on published data and professional judgment. Life cycle inventory inputs, outputs, and impact indicators for ACQ-treated lumber were quantified using functional units of 1000 board feet and per representative deck (assumed to be 320 square feet (30 square meters) of surface decking material) per year of use. In a similar manner, an inventory model was developed for the manufacture, use, and disposal of the primary alternative product, WPC. Impact indicator values, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, fossil fuel use, water use, acidification, smog forming potential, ecological toxicity, and eutrophication were quantified for each of the two decking products. National normalization was done to compare the significance of a representative deck surface per year of use to a family’s total annual impact footprint.If an average U.S. family adds or replaces a deck surfaced with ACQ-treated lumber, their impact “footprint” for GHG emissions, fossil fuel use, acidification, smog forming potential, ecological toxicity, and eutrophication releases each is less than one-tenth of a percent of the family’s annual impact. ACQ-treated lumber impacts were fourteen times less for fossil fuel use, almost three times less for GHG emissions, potential smog emissions, and water use, four times less for acidification, and almost half for ecological toxicity than those for WPC decking. Impacts were approximately equal for eutrophication.     

国家循环经济试点城市评价指标体系设计及案例分析

随着国家循环经济试点进入评判阶段,建立科学的循环经济发展模式评判体系尤为重要.在评述现有方法及评价指标体系的基础上,基于循环经济发展内涵,提出了“目标-结构-响应”3层循环经济评价指标体系.案例研究表明,1996—2008年国家试点城市——邯郸市资源生产力大幅攀升,年均增长率达7.3%,而同期碳排放强度大幅下降,年均下降率达4.5%;生产函数计量结果表明,资源要素对经济增长的贡献率由2000─2004年的34%降至2005─2008年的21%.说明邯郸市在“十一五”期间经济增长与资源输入和环境排放显著脱钩,由资源依赖型向资源效益型发展模式转变.结构和响应层面的指标证明了目标层面上的显著变化.      

Fitting together the building blocks for sustainability: a revised model for integrating ecological,social, and financial factors into business decision-making

Companies committed to integrating sustainability concerns into product decisions are confronted with the daunting task of assessing hundreds, or thousands, of materials and goods. Further complicating efforts have been the rapid growth of environmental and social assessment principles, strategies, actions, and tools. The lack of clarity on how existing approaches are complementary or distinct has resulted in ambiguities about pathways forward for companies. This current state of the field highlights the need to draw out interconnections between the wide range of current work on integrating environmental and social issues into material, product, and other business decisions.This article—developed through collaboration among several environmental, social, and sustainability-oriented researchers and practitioners—addresses this need through building upon pre-existing work [J. Cleaner Prod. 10(3) (2002) 197; J. Cleaner Prod. 8(3) (2000) 243]. It proposes adaptations on a framework for organizing the assessment field, including development of exemplary sustainable product characteristics and their inclusion in a “strategic sustainable development” decision-making model and process [J. Cleaner Prod. 10(3) (2002) 197]. The article also argues for an expansion of analytical approaches within this previously developed framework in order to highlight social aspects of sustainability and landscape-level issues. Finally, the article puts these elements together to describe a pathway forward for companies. In the conclusion, areas for future research are highlighted.