The impact of ISO 14001 on corporate environmental performance: a study of Swedish manufacturing firms

The debate concerning the environmental effectiveness of environmental management systems (EMS) based on ISO 14001 is still open and scholars have called for further studies that can explain the contrasting evidence in previous research. As a response, this study aims to contribute knowledge about the effects of ISO 14001-based EMS by presenting fact-based environmental data. The study focuses on changes in performance over a period of 12 years and includes both firms with an EMS (66 firms) and firms without one (50 firms). Consideration is given to the improvement efforts in the firms before EMS adoption making it possible to neutralize any selection effects where better environmental performance precedes ISO 14001 adoption. Analysis has been carried out using statistical methods for six different environmental areas. No statistically significant differences between certified and non-certified firms concerning the change in the rate of improvement could be found in any of the six areas. However, it can be suspected that EMS adoption has positive effects on energy use and waste production whereas the non-adopting firms seem to perform better concerning air emissions. These mixed results mirrors previous research, which is rather worrying considering the worldwide popularity of EMS based on ISO 14001 in industry.     

Environmental health in the complex city: a co-evolutionary approach

While public health and urban planning were closely linked in the past, today both domains are institutionally separate. In most cases, health intersects with spatial planning processes only through obligatory evaluations, such as environmental impact assessments, or restrictive environmental legislation. This institutionalisation of health criteria in most western countries has difficulty in dealing with recent environmental health challenges, leading to continual distrust and conflict between citizens and the government. This impasse has recently been discussed by academics who acknowledge the complexity of both city and health issues. It seems, however, that the full extent of the issue has not been covered yet, leading to recommendations and frameworks that are useful but fixed and retrospective. This paper moves beyond those fixed frameworks to develop a better understanding of the complexity of the current disconnect and explores ideas for a future planning approach, grounded on new ideas of co-evolutionary and adaptive planning.     

Ecological risk and accessibility analysis to assess the impact of roads under Habitats Directive

We propose a method for the appropriate assessment of adverse effects of roads in compliance with the European Union Habitats Directive. The method incorporates an analysis of ecological risk of edge effects by the proposed roads with the related increase in accessibility. The method was tested on 30 km of planned forest roads inside an 8,000-ha reserve included in two Natura 2000 sites. As a result, the cumulative effect of 19 road segments was judged as not significantly affecting the integrity of the sites, although they made accessible an extra 314 ha. On the basis of the accessibility calculation, 20 ha of land were set aside from forest exploitation as a mandatory mitigation measure. The method objectively determined the cumulative adverse effects, enabled comparison of plan revisions and alternatives and proved to measure direct and indirect significant effects with a realistic effort in terms of field survey and geographic information system processing.     

Gendered knowledge and adaptive practices: Differentiation and change in Mwanga District,Tanzania

We examine the wider social knowledge domain that complements technical and environmental knowledge in enabling adaptive practices through two case studies in Tanzania. We are concerned with knowledge production that is shaped by gendered exclusion from the main thrusts of planned adaptation, in the practice of irrigation in a dryland village and the adoption of fast-maturing seed varieties in a highland village. The findings draw on data from a household survey, community workshops, and key informant interviews. The largest challenge to effective adaptation is a lack of access to the social networks and institutions that allocate resources needed for adaptation. Results demonstrate the social differentiation of local knowledge, and how it is entwined with adaptive practices that emerge in relation to gendered mechanisms of access. We conclude that community-based adaptation can learn from engaging the broader social knowledge base in evaluating priorities for coping with greater climate variability.     

Laboratory investigation of three distinct emissions monitors for hydrochloric acid

The measurement of hydrochloric acid (HCl) on a continuous basis in coal-fired plants is expected to become more important if HCl standards become implemented as part of the Federal Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) standards that are under consideration. For this study, the operational performance of three methods/instruments, including tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS), cavity ring down spectroscopy (CRDS), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, were evaluated over a range of real-world operating environments. Evaluations were done over an HCl concentration range of 0–25 ppmv and temperatures of 25, 100, and 185 °C. The average differences with respect to temperature were 3.0% for the TDL for values over 2.0 ppmv and 6.9% of all concentrations, 3.3% for the CRDS, and 4.5% for the FTIR. Interference tests for H₂O, SO₂, and CO, CO₂, and NO for a range of concentrations typical of flue gases from coal-fired power plants did not show any strong interferences. The possible exception was an interference from H₂O with the FTIR. The instrument average precision over the entire range was 4.4% for the TDL with better precision seen for concentrations levels of 2.0 ppmv and above, 2.5% for the CRDS, and 3.5% for the FTIR. The minimum detection limits were all on the order of 0.25 ppmv, or less, utilizing the TDL values with a 5-m path. Zero drift was found to be 1.48% for the TDL, 0.88% for the CRDS, and 1.28% for the FTIR.

Implications: This study provides an evaluation of the operational performance of three methods/instruments, including TDL absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS), cavity ring down spectroscopy (CRDS), and FTIR spectroscopy, for the measurement of hydrochloric acid (HCl) over a range of real-world operating environments. The results showed good instrument accuracy as a function of temperature and no strong interferences for flue gases typical to coal-fired power plants. The results show that these instruments would be viable for the measurement of HCl in coal-fired plants if HCl standards become implemented as part of the Federal Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) standards that are under consideration.     

Colonized beads as inoculum for marine biodegradability assessment: Application to Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonate

An innovative biodegradation test system was developed in order to fill the current gap for cost effective and environmentally relevant tools to assess marine biodegradability. Glass beads were colonized by a biofilm in an open flow-through system of seawater with continuous pre-exposure to Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonate (LAS) (20 μg/L). Thereafter, such colonized beads were added as inoculum in different test systems. [¹⁴C]-LAS (5–100 μg/L) was added and primary and ultimate biodegradation were assessed. The bacterial density collected on the beads (10⁹ bact./mL beads) was ca. 3 orders of magnitude higher than the typical seawater content. The LAS mineralization lag phase duration decreased from 55 to < 1 days and the mineralization extent increased from 53 to 90% as the colonized beads volume increased from 10 to 275 mL. This is the first demonstration of marine bacteria's ability to mineralize LAS. On the opposite, less than 13% LAS was mineralized in seawater only. The colonized beads possibly enhanced the probability to encounter the full degraders' consortium in a low volume of seawater (100 mL).     

Extending the environmental risk assessment for oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) under pandemic use conditions to the coastal marine compartment

In case of an avian-influenza-derived human flu pandemic, an inordinately high use of medicines over several weeks is predicted, in particular for the recommended influenza antiviral oseltamivir (Tamiflu). While the risk of oseltamivir to sewage works and freshwater bodies has already been assessed, the fact that a large percentage of the human population worldwide lives relatively close to the sea raises concern for its environmental compatibility in coastal marine waters. The potential risk of high oseltamivir use to the marine compartment is assessed in this publication, based on the 2003 European Community Technical Guidance Document (TGD) for risk assessment. Subchronic embryo–larval ecotoxicity tests with three marine invertebrates (Pomatoceros triqueter, Annelida; Mytilus edulis, Mollusca; Paracentrotus lividus, Echinodermata) and chronic growth inhibition tests with two different groups of marine microalgae (Isochrysis galbana, Haptophyta; Skeletonema costatum, Heterokontophyta) were performed with the active substance oseltamivir carboxylic acid to derive a dependable marine predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC). This was compared to a predicted environmental concentration (PEC) for oseltamivir in coastal waters, based on the worst-case freshwater PEC. The PEC/PNEC risk characterisation ratio for the marine compartment is well below 1, which in the terminology of the TGD signifies no immediate concern. Further, while oseltamivir may be persistent (P), it is not bioaccumulative (B) nor highly ecotoxic (T) and therefore not a PBT substance. In conclusion, even a high pandemic use of oseltamivir would not lead to a significant risk for the marine compartment, in confirmation of the risk assessment for sewage works and freshwaters.