The natural advantage of regions: linking sustainability,innovation, and regional development in Australia

The combined impacts of the financial crisis and climate change are driving the evolution of sustainable business and changing the way that governments plan for development. Markets are emerging for a range of environmentally orientated products and services as societies move (or lurch) towards reducing impacts and adapt to changing conditions. National governments are actively formulating policy and providing investment to develop green economies as one of the responses to the global financial crisis. Many of the political and economic drivers have been focused at the international and national scale, and while critical for setting the national framework for development, it often neglects the key role that regions and localities can play in ecological modernization. This paper explores two regional case studies in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, that are initiating shifts towards networks of sustainable businesses and communities and offers recommendations for further policy development. The focus of this paper is on the evolving regional sustainability market and its relationship to other social institutions including governments, communities and the individual. The unifying concept is the idea of the ‘natural advantage’, a model that integrates innovation and sustainability as a part of the regional development policy agenda.     

Developing biofuels industry in small economies: Policy experiences and lessons from the caribbean basin initiative

With increasing concerns about rising energy demand and cost, diminishing oil reserves, and climate change, Central American and Caribbean (CAC) nations have the opportunity to become producers of low-carbon sustainable biofuels for domestic consumption and foreign exchange earnings. While the region has a number of comparative advantages for developing a vibrant biofuels sector, including favorable climate and significant agricultural experience, the experience under the favorable Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) has exposed significant technical and non-technical barriers that must be overcome. Using information compiled through interviews with industry executives, government policy makers and civil society stakeholders, we provide a critical analysis of this experience focusing on non-technical barriers to investment. Survey results suggest that political uncertainty, poor regulatory frameworks, and lack of institutional commitment and business incentives are the main non-technical barriers. Having laid out the challenges, we propose potential policy positions to stimulate growth of the regional biofuels sector. Results point to the need to prioritize enhancing national legislation, developing risk prevention plans, creating supply and demand side incentives and increasing multilateral collaboration. While these findings are derived from the Caribbean Basin experience, they may also be applicable to small economies in other regions that are considering policies for biofuels industry development.     

Benchmarking to trigger cleaner production in small businesses: drycleaning case study

This paper reports on research that investigated and implemented benchmarking as a trigger for cleaner production in the drycleaning industry in Western Australia and applies this knowledge to the small business sector. The critical success factors for environmental benchmarking are: identifying cleaner production gaps in areas important to the long-term future of the businesses, promoting the drivers to close the performance gaps, and ensuring managers possess the correct skills to close these gaps. The participants accepted the benchmarks as suitable targets and committed their businesses to achieving these targets in their action plans. Economic benefits and maintaining their licence to operate were found to be the important drivers. Program participants on average reduced hazardous waste generation by 48%, perchlorethylene consumption by 30% and improved their energy efficiency by 9%. Furthermore, managers involved in the program had a significantly higher uptake of cleaner production than the general small business community in Western Australia.     

Marketing P2–CP to business – past,present, and possible future

For over a decade, organizations involved in promoting pollution prevention/cleaner production (P2–CP) to businesses have been asking business managers to change the way they think. But perhaps the greatest adoption of P2–CP will occur when organizations take advantage of the way business managers already think, using strategies of business-to-business (B2B) marketing. In this paper, we trace the evolution of P2–CP promotion from an Educational Strategy, through a Diffusion Strategy, and finally to the B2B Strategy. We argue that P2–CP adoption can be significantly increased if organizations apply the techniques of companies that make their living from selling innovations to businesses and use the B2B markets to bring P2–CP innovations to businesses.     

Local agenda 21; articulating the meaning of sustainable development at the level of the individual enterprise

While there are examples of good practice the engagement of business in Local Agenda 21 has been restricted. This is certainly true in the UK experience. ‘Missing’ the supply side of the economy in this way is clearly unsatisfactory. This problem has been addressed by the Centre for Sustainable Development from a particular perspective, which follows the multi stakeholder principles of sustainable development (SD). This paper analyses a project to make a simple clear communication tool, without jargon, to communicate the meaning of SD in different dimensions to small and medium sized businesses. The project produced a business workbook directly useful to business and that can be utilised by local authorities in the business interaction parts of their Local Agenda 21 programmes. The paper examines further what is involved in a particular aspect of the process of SD, in the regional context, and seeks to underpin the understanding that SD is a process. As part of this issues relevant to culture change are examined. A consideration of the stakeholder relationships and dynamics is central.     

The Oxford Commission on Sustainable Consumption

The Oxford Commission on Sustainable Consumption aims to promote debate and action to achieve sustainable consumption. It has met four times since it was established in 1999. Commission members have undertaken a number of projects around the world, working with communities to explore pathways to more sustainable consumption. This paper summarises the Commission’s progress and the messages emerging from its work. Current consumption trends are supported by a number of social trends, including individualisation, the spread of the market ethos, urbanisation, globalisation, and the increasing awareness of risk and uncertainty. However, these trends contain the seeds of their own limitation. In particular, increasing discourse about ethics and social goals may be the key to a shift towards more sustainable consumption.     

Involvement of final architecture diploma projects in the analysis of the UPC buildings energy performance as a way of teaching practical sustainability

Education is the foundation for achieving sustainable development. With the purpose of facing sustainable challenges in terms of climate change, water and energy consumption, Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) has promoted the culture of energy efficiency in new generations of professionals that will work in the field of building construction. A group of 21 students taking the final official Diploma in Architecture were involved in a project of analysis of energy performance of UPC buildings in order to identify and implement cost-effective ways of promoting a greater environmental responsibility. The development of works focused the attention on introducing energy audits in existing university buildings, analysing the following aspects: surveying construction drawings, building characteristics, energy consumption, use of natural lighting, energy-saving lighting controls, water consumption, and high-efficiency HVAC systems. The ultimate goal was to draft a proposal for greater respect for the environment, and for corrective measures aimed at reducing the environmental impacts.     

Emerging design strategies in sustainable production and consumption of textiles and clothing

This study contributes to current knowledge of sustainability in textile and clothing production and consumption. When the textile and clothing industry aims to promote sustainability, the main change factors have been linked to eco-materials and ethical issues in production. At present, however, business models are mainly linked with a large volume of sales and production. Although industrial development has moved toward smaller environmental impact, production as well as consumption has increased to levels where the benefits of technological development are reduced. A change is thus needed to reach a systemic transformation, not only in production but also in consumption. The aim of this paper is to open up the discussion on opportunities for radical change in this industry. The paper presents ways to rethink and redesign business in the textile and clothing field by offering an overview on several design strategies that exist today in niche markets. Furthermore we evaluate how interested consumers are in these design strategies and discuss the opportunities these design approaches offer to sustainable development through new value creation.     

Sustainable consumption progress: should we be proud or alarmed?

Many environmental strategies relying on a mere improvement of resource productivity and eco-efficiency of processes and products are not able to fully address the environmental impacts induced by increasing consumption. In addition to these strategies, the concept of sustainable consumption calls for changing the levels and patterns of consumption, which require complimentary approaches. However, so far, there has been a noticeable lack of strategies that conceive ways of shifting from a material-intensive consumer culture to a society with less materialistic aspirations.This paper aims to provide a critical overview of the current debate, research trends and main outcomes relating to the area of sustainable consumption. It is based on the study commissioned by the Swedish EPA and focuses on current research streams and activities of main stakeholders. It identifies and discusses the gaps in the existing range of initiatives and policy instruments towards sustainable consumption.     

A scenario analysis of Beijing's private traffic patterns

Sustainable development is a basic state policy of China. Changing the unsustainable production and consumption patterns plays an important role in implementing this policy. In this paper, taking private traffic pattern of Beijing as an example, we compare the life-cycle environmental impacts of different scenarios. Assumptions which concern the role of both consumers and producers are taken in scenarios' development. Scenario results show that combing sustainable consumption and production patterns is essential for future. This paper gives some policy implications about the role of government in promoting sustainable private traffic patterns in Beijing.     

Adaptation to climate change in Southern Africa: factoring in AIDS

This paper addresses the interactions between the AIDS epidemic and climate change in southern Africa, particularly as they impact on food security. An assessment was undertaken through a comprehensive literature review. Understanding the underlying causes of regional food insecurity inevitably means understanding the role of the AIDS epidemic and increasingly climate change amongst other stressors. AIDS cuts through household and community level capacity, as well as the capacity of key facilitators of the adaptation process including state extension services and civil society organisations. The main argument of the paper is that adaptation to climate change must explicitly factor in the existing and long-term effects of the epidemic. While calls for embracing adaptation abound, little is being done to assess and strengthen the organisational capacity of institutions, which should play leading roles in any attempt to help prepare for a changing climate. In particular the capacity of key agencies has been undermined by the AIDS epidemic. This reiterates the need for a multisectoral approach and building bridges between agriculture and health sectors to ensure longer term support to livelihoods where HIV and hunger coexist, often overlaid by climate change.     

Institutional adaptive capacity and climate change response in the Congo Basin forests of Cameroon

Climate change presents additional challenges to a diverse country like Cameroon that shares the Congo Basin rainforest. Not only is the population vulnerable to the direct effects of climate change, forest-dependent communities are also vulnerable to changing environmental policy that may affect their access to forest resources. Using a qualitative approach to data collection through semi-structured interviews and content analysis of relevant documents, the perception of decision-makers within, and the response of the institutions of the state, the private sector and civil society to the complex challenges of climate change in the Congo Basin forest of Cameroon were analysed. Results indicate that while decision-makers’ awareness of climate change is high, a concrete institutional response is at a very early stage. Cameroon has low adaptive capacity that is further constrained by weak linkages among government institutions nationally and between different levels of government and with communities. Civil society institutions play a role in enhancing government capacity to respond, particularly in relation to new international policies on climate change and forests. Adaptive capacity would be further enhanced by facilitating institutional linkages and coordinating multilevel responses across all boundaries of government, private sector and civil society. A collaborative capacity builder could foster the transfer, receipt and integration of knowledge across the networks, and ultimately build long-term collaborative problem-solving capacity in Cameroon.     

浅议环境经济手段在我国的应用

随着经济的快速发展，环境污染问题成为制约我国经济进一步发展的瓶颈之一，严重地阻碍着我国经济与社会可持续发展战略的实施。指出了环境污染问题的特征，分析了以行政干预为主的方法本身所造成的缺陷，提出必须运用适当的环境经济手段来促进环保事业的发展。同时提出了选择环境经济手段的思路，并对其理论渊源、现状和前景等方面进行了分析。     

欧美绿色供应链发展经验及启示

随着工业化、城市化的飞速发展,我国经济社会面临的资源环境瓶颈约束日益突出,实现经济发展和环境保护的同步推进是当前工作的重要内容,环境保护将扮演更为重要的角色。实施绿色供应链管理有利于改善高能耗高污染问题,提高企业生产效率,增强核心竞争力,促进企业和社会的可持续发展。欧盟和美国在推行绿色供应链管理方面成果显著,汲取其先进的政策和实践经验,对中国推进绿色供应链具有重要的借鉴意义。     

企业开展污水回用工作存在的主要问题及对策

发挥政府职能,转变用水观念,拓展筹资方式,开发回用水市场,降低成本等是企业解决污水回用问题的有效对策和措施.文章对泰皇岛港务集团公司污水回用工作的成功实践进行了分析,该实例表明企业完全可以开展污水回用工作,工程社会、经济、环境效益明显,实际运行经验可供其他企业借鉴.     

政府采购环境标志电子产品的环境效益分析

实施政府绿色采购,引导和推动消费和生产向更可持续的方向发展是解决环境问题,实现经济社会全面可持续发展的必然要求.进行绿色采购成本效益分析是政府绿色采购政策可持续推进发展的有力保障.本文在介绍了中国环境标产品政府采购的现状和国外相关政府绿色采购环境效益研究的基础上,针对电子产品展开了相应的环境效益分析,最后对国内广泛开展此项工作的存在的问题和挑战进行了总结.     

社区可持续发展与公众参与

可持续发展是环境、社会、经济的共同发展。社区作为人类赖以生存的场所,社区可持续发展在可持续发展建设进程中具有十分重要的作用。而且社区可持续发展建设离不开公众的积极参与。本文通过阐明社区可持续发展的提出和意义,结合一定的实例,论述了社区可持续发展这一新的发展观的优越性,讨论了公众参与社区可持续发展建设的重要性,提出了完善公众参与社区可持续发展的对策。     

Fostering sustainability through sourcing from small businesses: public sector perspectives

This article examines the opportunities for fostering sustainable development through public sector sourcing from small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Buying from small businesses can make such contributions in a variety of forms, ranging from a contribution to local economic development through providing innovative green products and services, particularly in the food sector, to helping the public sector organisation to better align its operations with its community. Sourcing from small businesses also has implications for the governance of sourcing processes and can benefit from a partnership approach. Barriers to public sector sourcing from small businesses are discussed and suggestions made on how these can be overcome.     

基于可变模糊集理论的海岛可持续发展评价模型——以辽宁省长海县为例

海岛生态环境脆弱,保护海岛及其周边海域生态系统,合理开发利用海岛自然资源,促进海岛经济社会可持续发展是我国海岛保护法的根本宗旨。论文试图借鉴陆域可持续发展指标体系的思路,结合海岛的自然环境与社会经济特殊性,从生存支持、生态环境、经济发展、社会与智力支持四个层面选取指标,并将熵权法和非结构性决策模糊集理论模型相结合确定海岛可持续发展评价指标的权重,构建海岛可持续发展的指标体系;进一步引入可变模糊评价方法,建立基于可变模糊集理论的海岛可持续发展综合评价模型,对辽宁省长海县2001-2011年可持续发展的状况进行评价验证,识别影响长海县可持续发展能力的关键因素、存在的问题与限制性因子,为提高海岛经济社会可持续发展水平提供科学的分析数据。     

Building institutions based on information disclosure: lessons from GRI's sustainability reporting

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the best-known framework for voluntary reporting of environmental and social performance by business worldwide. Using extensive empirical data, including interviews and documentary analysis, we examine GRI's organizational field and conclude that since its modest beginnings in 1999 GRI has been by several measures a successful institutionalization project. But the institutional logic of this new entity, as an instrument for corporate sustainability management, leaves out one of the central elements of the initial vision for GRI: as a mobilizing agent for many societal actors. This emergent logic reflects GRI's dominant constituency – large global companies and financial institutions and international business management consultancies – and not the less active civil society organizations and organized labor. We attribute these developments to factors such as building GRI within the existing institutional structures; the highly inclusive multistakeholder process; and the underdeveloped base of information users. From the institutional theory perspective, this case shows how the process of institutionalization is deeply affected by initial strategies of the founders, and how it reproduces existing power relations. From the governance perspective, this case leads us to question the power of commodified information to mobilize civil society and to strengthen governance based on partnerships.