Building Greater Transparency in Supply Chains to Advance Sustainability

As company supply chains grow larger, more dispersed, and more complex, companies and their stakeholders are increasingly interested in knowing more about these supply chains and requesting greater transparency regarding them. This article examines several aspects that can assist companies in building greater transparency in supply chains, including supply chain mapping, traceability, third‐party certification, and goal setting, as well as reporting on their progress toward achieving these efforts. In addition, this article provides summaries of how several companies are building greater transparency in their supply chains, efforts that also help companies better manage the environmental impacts from their supply chains.     

基于全产业链视角实施生态资产管理

生态资产是人类赖以生存的基本条件,当前研究尚未充分关注人类活动对生态资产的影响。本文从社会经济系统的全产业链视角出发,探讨产业链不同环节的生产消费活动对生态资产的影响以及所对应的不同政策内涵。分析结果表明,产业链的不同环节对应不同政策内涵,识别不同环节上的关键区域/行业能够为不同类型的政策决策指出着力点。初始投入环节的核算服务于人力资本投入行为的调控;初始生产环节的核算服务于末端控制手段,包括资源节约与污染物减排;中间生产环节和末端生产环节的核算服务于提升生产效率的政策手段;最终消费环节的核算服务于消费行为优化。最终得出应该从全产业链视角实施多环节生态资产管理的结论,并提出,为了从全产业链视角实施生态资产管理,应考虑建立一套标准化、全产业链视角的生态资产需求核算框架,建设支持全产业链视角核算生态资产需求的基础数据库,将全产业链视角管理生态资产的思维融入政策决策等建议。     

打造中国西部绿色旅游供应链

西部地区是中国旅游资源宝库，但生态环境脆弱，保护西部生态环境是发展西部旅游业必须遵循的前提，而打造中国西部绿色旅游供应链是西部旅游业可持续发展的必由之路。介绍了中国西部丰富的旅游资源，建立了西部绿色旅游供应链的模型，构造了西部绿色旅游供应链的管理系统，并提出了西部绿色旅游供应链的建设对策。     

Sustainability in Practice

Sweden has led the way in Europe in environmental protection, ecologically based technological innovation and social democracy. As new economic and ethnographic realities impact upon it, it faces challenges to its policies and practices long familiar elsewhere in Europe. We report on a study for the Swedish Research Councils in which we examined the national framework and political strategy for sustainable development, and how the strategy is being implemented in Sweden's three major cities and two case-study municipalities. History and tradition, cultural homogeneity and a strong and shared sense between sectors of 'the public good', emerged as very important. Until recently, these have obviated the need for formal links between the environmental, social and economic agendas. They now appear inadequately developed at all levels of governance. Tensions in policy are being played out at the level of the municipality, to which power is highly devolved, and Local Agenda 21, interpreted as project rather than process, seems unequal to the task of integration. We suggest what lessons may be drawn from the Swedish experience if issues of power and trust, leadership and participatory vs representative democracy are to be resolved.     

A study of rainwater acidity in Greater Manchester and Greater lisbon

Summary This paper presents data from an educational study of acid rain in Greater Manchester, UK, and Greater Lisbon and Setúbal, Portugal, which was carried out between October and December, 1989. A simple, specified methodology was employed by ten schools in each of the two countries to generate reliable, comparative rainfall acidity data. The results have been described and related to emission sources and meteorological conditions over the three-month experimental period. It is apparent that there are considerable differences in rainfall quantity and quality in the two contrasting areas, and the results are broadly consistent with those derived from the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme. The paper concludes with a short review of rainfall acidity in the UK and Portugal.Sue Hare and Dr James W.S. Longhurst are respectively Education Officer and Director of the Acid Rain Information Centre, Department of Environmental and Geographical Studies at Manchester Polytechnic. Mr A. Marques da Costa is a teacher in the Chemistry Department at the Colégio Militar, Largo da Luz, 1600 Lisboa, Portugal.     

Sustainability in cattle production systems

Cattle production has the potential of being an important component of sustainable agriculture globally. The ability to transform feed not suitable for humans into high-quality food will be of great importance in the long-term for feeding a growing population. Other aspects such as preservation of landscape values and maintenance of rural communities are highly appreciated values, especially in the industrialized part of the world.To exploit the sustainable potential of cattle production systems, problems of pollution (such as ozone destruction, acid rain, and nitrate leaching) and of health and welfare, which are associated with cattle production, are critically reviewed. The possibilities of integrating cattle production with other types of production are evaluated. Cattle can be used for single purposes such as dairy, beef, and draught, but dairy cows can also be used for restricted suckling combining dairy and beef production. In addition a mixture of species makes grazing more efficient, and a combination of cattle and mixed cropping can increase resource efficiency.The possibilities of using organic cattle production systems as prototypes of sustainable cattle production systems are explored. The effects of production constraints which are applied in organic farming systems are studied. The redirection of values and activities in agriculture is a challenge to cattle production research and to traditional research methodologies.     

Measuring Corporate Sustainability

Although sustainable development has been interpreted primarily as a national (or global) goal, there is increasing discussion of the 'sustainable city', the 'sustainable sector' and the 'sustainable business'. In this paper, the notion of corporate sustainability is explored and developed. We argue that one of the keys to understanding corporate sustainability is full cost accounting, that is, valuing pollution in corporate green accounts. Defining and measuring corporate sustainability is more than just an academic concern. Corporate entities are increasingly under pressure to demonstrate how they contribute to the national sustainability goals outlined by government. Hence, this paper seeks to provide practical advice on how businesses might adapt and improve current environmental accounting and reporting practice.     

Community Sustainability Auditing

This paper presents a method for assessing a community's sustainability prospects at a point in time. It argues that an improved methodology is needed to support the development of local area indicators. The method presented is community sustainability auditing. The ethical, conservative, competitive and co-operative aspects of sustainability are emphasized.The method uses an indicator approach within a protocol loosely inspired by International Standards Organization procedures. This involves the development of a set of questions for audit purposes, definition of indicators, analysis of the indicators in the light of the questions and a report summarizing a community's sustainability prospects.     

Local Sustainability Indicators

Local Environment has established a bit of a niche in local sustainability indicator studies. In 1997 it published the important debate between Jeb Brugman and Graham Pinfield, which highlighted that sustainability indicators and their role are contested issues (Vol. 2, Nos 1-3). In 1999 it produce a first special issue on the topic (Vol. 4, No. 2). As the editors identified, this special issue probed ‘deeper into aspects of indicator selection, methodology, theory and practice’. The papers presented there began to discuss a theme that is developed further in this special issue, that of the relationship between the objective and the subjective in indicator development and use. Our special issue brings together three full papers and a commentary presenting research and information from the USA, Sweden, France and Austria. In this editorial we are going to review the growth of interest in sustainability indicators and the changing way in which they are viewed and briefly comment on some recent indicator projects that we have been involved in.     

Fostering Sustainability in Headwaters Country: Using Bioregional and Social Capital Strategies in Support of Sustainability

Abstract

Many of Canada's ex-urban and rural areas face a daunting array of sustainability challenges. In developing effective sustainability strategies, these areas must rely heavily upon local resources and capacities and existing social capital. Part of the solution for these areas may lie in multi-stakeholder collaborative approaches built on sustainability principles and strategies. These include the engagement and mobilization of civil society networks; the cultivation of strategic partnerships among key stakeholders in civil society, the private sector and government; and long-term local programmes of research, education and advocacy that are supportive of sustainability. This article describes and analyses a Canadian case study—Dufferin County, part of the Headwaters Country region in southern Ontario—in which a multi-stakeholder, civil society based approach to fostering sustainability is currently unfolding. The ideological and theoretical underpinnings of the initiative are explored, key process-oriented and substantive challenges to the approach are analysed and action research strategies are discussed.     

Fostering Sustainability in Headwaters Country: Using Bioregional and Social Capital Strategies in Support of Sustainability

Many of Canada's ex-urban and rural areas face a daunting array of sustainability challenges. In developing effective sustainability strategies, these areas must rely heavily upon local resources and capacities and existing social capital. Part of the solution for these areas may lie in multi-stakeholder collaborative approaches built on sustainability principles and strategies. These include the engagement and mobilization of civil society networks; the cultivation of strategic partnerships among key stakeholders in civil society, the private sector and government; and long-term local programmes of research, education and advocacy that are supportive of sustainability. This article describes and analyses a Canadian case study—Dufferin County, part of the Headwaters Country region in southern Ontario—in which a multi-stakeholder, civil society based approach to fostering sustainability is currently unfolding. The ideological and theoretical underpinnings of the initiative are explored, key process-oriented and substantive challenges to the approach are analysed and action research strategies are discussed.     

Sustainability Appraisal in neighbourhood planning in England

The preparation of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) inclusive sustainability appraisals (SAs) for neighbourhood plans (NPs) in England may be required when significant environmental effects are expected to arise from an NP. In this paper, we report on the result of a Ph.D. project, conducted between 2012 and 2015, in which all 15 NP SEA inclusive SAs that had been completed at the time were evaluated. In this context, the quality of SA practice was found to differ substantially. SAs were prepared either ‘in-house’ (i.e. by neighbourhood planning steering groups) or by consultants. The quality of SAs was found to be associated with their overall perceived degree of influence on the underlying NPs. Whilst the focus of this paper is on practice in England, findings are expected to be of interest to a wider international audience, in particular to those experimenting with voluntary neighbourhood/local level plan SA/SEA.     

Communicating About Bioenergy Sustainability

Defining and measuring sustainability of bioenergy systems are difficult because the systems are complex, the science is in early stages of development, and there is a need to generalize what are inherently context-specific enterprises. These challenges, and the fact that decisions are being made now, create a need for improved communications among scientists as well as between scientists and decision makers. In order for scientists to provide information that is useful to decision makers, they need to come to an agreement on how to measure and report potential risks and benefits of diverse energy alternatives in a way that allows decision makers to compare options. Scientists also need to develop approaches that contribute information about problems and opportunities relevant to policy and decision making. The need for clear communication is especially important at this time when there is a plethora of scientific papers and reports and it is difficult for the public or decision makers to assess the merits of each analysis. We propose three communication guidelines for scientists whose work can contribute to decision making: (1) relationships between the question and the analytical approach should be clearly defined and make common sense; (2) the information should be presented in a manner that non-scientists can understand; and (3) the implications of methods, assumptions, and limitations should be clear. The scientists’ job is to analyze information to build a better understanding of environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic aspects of the sustainability of energy alternatives. The scientific process requires transparency, debate, review, and collaboration across disciplines and time. This paper serves as an introduction to the papers in the special issue on “Sustainability of Bioenergy Systems: Cradle to Grave” because scientific communication is essential to developing more sustainable energy systems. Together these four papers provide a framework under which the effects of bioenergy can be assessed and compared to other energy alternatives to foster sustainability.