The whole relationship between environmental variables and firm performance: Competitive advantage and firm resources as mediator variables

The examination of the possible direct link between environmental protection and firm performance in the literature has generally produced mixed results. The present paper contributes to the literature by using the resource-based view as a mediating process in this relationship. The study specifically tests whether or not the resource-based view of the firm mediates the positive relationships of proactive environmental management and improved environmental performance with competitive advantage, which also has consequences for financial performance. We also check the possible link between the adoption of a pioneering approach and good environmental management practices. Our findings support that early investment timing and intensity in environmental issues impact on the adoption of a proactive environmental management, which in turn helps to improve environmental performance. The findings also show that a firm's resources and competitive advantage act as mediator variables for a positive relationship between environmental protection and financial performance. This contribution is original because the present paper develops a comprehensive whole picture of this path process, which has previously only been partially discussed in the literature. In addition, this study clarifies a relevant point in the literature, namely that the effect of environmental protection on firm performance is not direct and can vary depending on the sector considered. Whereas competitive advantage in relation to costs influences financial performance in the IPPC law sector, the relevant influence in the hotel sector comes from competitive advantage through differentiation.     

A survey on the public perception of CCS in France

An awareness and opinion survey on carbon capture and storage (CCS) was conducted on a representative sample of French residents aged 15 years and above. About 6% of respondents were able to provide a satisfactory definition of the technology. The key question about ‘approval of or opposition to’ the use of CCS in France was asked twice, first after presenting the technology, then after explaining its potential adverse consequences. The approval rates, which were 59% and 38%, respectively, show that there is no a priori rejection of the technology. The sample was split in two to test for a semantic effect: half of the questionnaires used “Stockage” (English: storage), the other half “Sequestration”. Manipulating the vocabulary had no statistically significant effect on approval rates. Stockage is more meaningful, but does not convey the idea of permanent monitoring.     

Anoxic-aerobic treatment of the liquid fraction of cattle manure

Cattle manure from a dairy farm was treated in order to reduce its pollution potential. The manure came from a farm with 120 cows kept in stables in a free stall barn. As pretreatment, the manure is usually filtered on the farm using a screw press separator with a 0.5 mm mesh. Approximately 70% of the total filtered volume passes through the screen, thus constituting the liquid fraction. This fraction, with a composition of around 64,500 mg COD/l, 5770 mg total-N/l and 800 mg total-P/l, was subjected to centrifugation followed by a two-step biological treatment (anoxic-aerobic) to reduce organic matter (COD), nitrogen and phosphorus compounds. Centrifugation led to the following removal efficiencies: 35% total solids, 60% COD, 75% total phosphorus and 20% total nitrogen (mainly organic nitrogen). With the subsequent anoxic-aerobic treatment, average removal efficiencies of 85% for COD, 90% for total phosphorus and 75% for total nitrogen were achieved.     

Injury and loss concentration by sinkings in fishing fleets

Sinkings of fishing vessels, when accompanied by human loss, are accidents which lead to a great social upheaval, especially in the local area where they occur. In order to avoid or reduce these accidents, national governments must include in their legislation for this sector the appropriate safety measures. These resources and their distribution must be assigned in accordance with the needs of the accidentality, this requiring a detailed knowledge of the concentration of accidentality of a country’s fishing sector. In this context, the aim of the present work is twofold: first, to formulate a methodology for the fishing sector of a country, allowing the inequalities in the concentration of sinking accidents to be analysed; and second, to apply this methodology to the Spanish fishing fleet. Thus, two indices are constructed per region and type of fishing, for two variables: fishermen and vessels. Results are obtained both for the concentration of accidents and the associated Lorenz curves. An increase in the inequality in the spatial and functional distribution of these accidents is verified.     

Seasonal Differences in the Levels of Gaseous Air Pollutants in the Vicinity of a Waste Dump

Hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, nitrogen dioxide, mercaptans and sulphur dioxide (H₂S, NH₃, NO₂, R-SH, SO₂) concentrations were measured at the location in the vicinity of the waste dump to determine the air pollution level of these pollutants prior to the operation of the Mobile Thermal Treatment Plant. Samples were collected over one year period. Seasonal differences, and the influence of meteorological parameters (temperature, relative humidity, pressure and wind direction) on the air pollution levels were studied. Results show relatively low concentrations of H₂S, NO₂, R-SH and SO₂, while NH₃ levels were higher compared to the guideline values. Good weather conditions (high air pressure and low relative humidity) are connected to long range transport of NO₂, while higher temperatures result in elevated NH₃ and R-SH concentrations. Because of the predominant northeast wind direction (the same as the waste dump direction), the contribution of air pollution from the direction of the waste dump at the measuring site is significant, but that does not necessarily mean that the pollutants originated from that source.     

Soil and vegetation carbon stocks in Brazilian Western Amazonia: relationships and ecological implications for natural landscapes

The relationships between soils attributes, soil carbon stocks and vegetation carbon stocks are poorly know in Amazonia, even at regional scale. In this paper, we used the large and reliable soil database from Western Amazonia obtained from the RADAMBRASIL project and recent estimates of vegetation biomass to investigate some environmental relationships, quantifying C stocks of intact ecosystem in Western Amazonia. The results allowed separating the western Amazonia into 6 sectors, called pedo-zones: Roraima, Rio Negro Basin, Tertiary Plateaux of the Amazon, Javari-Juruá-Purus lowland, Acre Basin and Rondonia uplands. The highest C stock for the whole soil is observed in the Acre and in the Rio Negro sectors. In the former, this is due to the high nutrient status and high clay activity, whereas in the latter, it is attributed to a downward carbon movement attributed to widespread podzolization and arenization, forming spodic horizons. The youthful nature of shallow soils of the Javari-Juruá-Purus lowlands, associated with high Al, results in a high phytomass C/soil C ratio. A similar trend was observed for the shallow soils from the Roraima and Rondonia highlands. A consistent east–west decline in biomass carbon in the Rio Negro Basin sector is associated with increasing rainfall and higher sand amounts. It is related to lesser C protection and greater C loss of sandy soils, subjected to active chemical leaching and widespread podzolization. Also, these soils possess lower cation exchangeable capacity and lower water retention capacity. Zones where deeply weathered Latosols dominate have a overall pattern of high C sequestration, and greater than the shallower soils from the upper Amazon, west of Madeira and Negro rivers. This was attributed to deeper incorporation of carbon in these clayey and highly pedo-bioturbated soils. The results highlight the urgent need for refining soil data at an appropriate scale for C stocks calculations purposes in Amazonia. There is a risk of misinterpreting C stocks in Amazonia when such great pedological variability is not taken into account.     

Heavy metal concentration in fish tissues inhabiting waters of “Buško Blato” reservoar (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Heavy metals concentration (mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, copper, zinc and chromium) in tissues (muscles, liver, kidney and gonads) of Dalmatian barbelgudgeon, the nase, the souffie and brown trout, inhabiting waters of Busko Blato reservoir in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The meat of the tested fish sorts does not contain elevated concentration of most analyzed heavy metals with exception of lead (higher than MAC in Italy, Germany and Denmark) and mercury (in muscles of brown trout higher than MAC in most countries). The lowest level of all heavy metals is always detected in gonads, with higher values in fry compared to milt for copper, zinc, chromium and arsenic. The highest copper concentration is observed in the liver from the souffie which is suggested as a suitable biomonitor for copper intoxication. In muscles of all fish sorts, lead was always present in much higher concentration than cadmium, while in kidneys of most fish sorts, lead and cadmium concentrations were similar. We showed that bioaccumulation of some heavy metals in the fish sorts analyzed is tissue and sex dependent. Also, we concluded that the small water exchange in reversible shallow reservoir does not induce elevated concentration of heavy metals in fish tissues inhabiting Busko Blato.     

Organotins in a medium-size Mediterranean basin (the Herault River)

This study reports the first assessment of organotin pollution in the Hérault watershed, a medium size Mediterranean basin. Organotin compounds were analyzed in surface waters, wells supplying drinking water and sewage treatment plants (STPs). In surface and ground waters, a background contamination by total organotin compounds has been identified in the range of 0.51 +/- 0.02-71 +/- 2 ng(Sn) L(-1), which is of the same order of magnitude as those observed in other European areas. Organotins were systematically present in STP influents and sludge. Total or partial elimination of organotin compounds from treated wastewater was observed. STP effluents appeared nevertheless to be a non-negligible source of contamination not only of rivers but also of aquifers tapped for drinking water supply.Tributyltin concentration was higher than the maximum allowable concentration proposed by the European Commission in some surface waters and wells supplying drinking water. This could compromise the water resource and have serious and irreversible consequences for the aquatic eco-system. As it was the case for the ban of antifouling paints, a regulatory regime in decreasing point-source emissions of these harmful compounds used in household products might be applied.     

Estimation of suspended sediment concentration in rivers using acoustic methods

Acoustic Doppler current meters (ADV, ADCP, and ADP) are widely used in water systems to measure flow velocities and velocity profiles. Although these meters are designed for flow velocity measurements, they can also provide information defining the quantity of particulate matter in the water, after appropriate calibration. When an acoustic instrument is calibrated for a water system, no additional sensor is needed to measure suspended sediment concentration (SSC). This provides the simultaneous measurements of velocity and concentration required for most sediment transport studies. The performance of acoustic Doppler current meters for measuring SSC was investigated in different studies where signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and suspended sediment concentration were related using different formulations. However, these studies were each limited to a single study site where neither the effect of particle size nor the effect of temperature was investigated. In this study, different parameters that affect the performance of an ADV for the prediction of SSC are investigated. In order to investigate the reliability of an ADV for SSC measurements in different environments, flow and SSC measurements were made in different streams located in the Aegean region of Turkey having different soil types. Soil samples were collected from all measuring stations and particle size analysis was conducted by mechanical means. Multivariate analysis was utilized to investigate the effect of soil type and water temperature on the measurements. Statistical analysis indicates that SNR readings ob tained from the ADV are affected by water temperature and particle size distribution of the soil, as expected, and a prediction model is presented relating SNR readings to SSC mea surements where both water temperature and sediment characteristics type are incorporated into the model. The coefficients of the suggested model were obtained using the multivariate anal ysis. Effect of high turbidity conditions on ADV performance was also investigated during and after rain events.     

Statistical Analysis of Air Pollutants and Meteorological Parameters in Afyon, Turkey

In this study, the relation between sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and particulate matter (PM) concentrations periodically measured in the city of Afyon’s atmosphere with meteorological factors such as precipitation, humidity, temperature, wind velocity, and inversion were investigated. The mean values of SO₂ and PM concentrations measured during the winter months of October–March 1990–1999 were correlated with the meteorological parameters of the same period. Simple and multiple linear regression analysis were utilized to evaluate the contribution of meteorological variables. The statistical results show that the pollutants, i.e., SO₂ and PM are dependent upon humidity, temperature, and inversion at the 1% significance level; while the dependence of both pollutants with temperature is negative when those of humidity and inversion are positive. Two models in which temperature and inversion are dependent with multiple variables are recommended for predicting the contribution of meteorological parameters on SO₂ and PM. In addition, the relationship between humidity, temperature, and inversion with pollutants is also determined using nonlinear (polynomial) models.