National culture and environmental sustainability: A cross-national analysis

This paper demonstrates the significance of culture in examining the relationship between income and the environment. Specifically, we examine the relationship among scores on the Environmental Sustainability Index of the World Economic Forum and the four dimensions of national culture proposed and measured by Hofstede (1983). We find that there are significant multidimensional interrelationships among the cultural and environmental sustainability measures. As an important application, we examine the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) phenomenon. Our finding suggests the limited applicability of the EKC notion when cultural variables are included in the model.     

发展中国家经济可持续发展实施途径浅析

论述了发展中国家应如何实现可持续发展。通过环境库兹涅茨曲线通道,说明发展中国家可以走上经济与环境协调发展的道路:(1)在合理评估资源环境经济价值的基础上,进行资源的产权界定;(2)必须通过技术创新来实现;(3)用可持续发展的思想修正度量经济增长的指标—GDP。     

中国对外贸易、经济增长与环境污染的路径演化关系

基于环境库兹涅茨曲线(EKC)理论,结合广义脉冲响应函数和方差分解法,采用1990-2008年我国相关数据,对三类环境污染物排放指标与人均GDP、商品进出口总额等之间的关系进行了实证分析,指出随着我国人均GDP和对外贸易的进一步增长,污染物排放量呈总体上升趋势,而对外贸易比人均GDP对环境的影响更为显著。     

Does Financial Development Affect Environmental Degradation? Evidence from the OECD Countries

In this study, building a simple model that incorporates static and dynamic elements, the relationship of financial development and economic growth to environmental degradation is investigated together with the validation of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Our analysis is based on an unbalanced panel data set covering the OECD countries over the period 1970–2014. Our approach thoroughly accounts for the presence of cross‐sectional dependence between the sample variables and utilizes second generation panel unit root tests in order to investigate possible cointegration relationships. The empirical findings do indicate that local (NO_x per capita emissions) and global (CO₂ per capita emissions) pollutants redefine the EKC hypothesis when we account for the presence of financial development indicators. Specifically, in the case of global pollution an N‐shape relationship is evident in both static and dynamic frameworks, with a very slow adjustment. Lastly, our study calls for a strengthening of the effectiveness of environmental degradation policies by ensuring sustainability of the OECD banking system in order to drastically reduce emissions. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

绿色城市:城市发展与环境的动态关系

不久的将来,世界上大多数的人都将在商业化的城市中生活和工作。数十亿人的生活质量将取决于自由市场经济的发展与绿色城市的关系。有的城市在增长时环境会恶化,而有的城市却可以保护甚至提高环境的质量,这个问题得到了众多研究者来自不同角度的关注。论文在大量文献与数据的基础上探讨了城市发展与环境之间的动态关系,介绍了经典的环境库兹涅茨曲线假说,并从人口增长、城市空间蔓延以及外部性等方面对环境库兹涅茨曲线假说进行了补充与完善。     

不同工业化阶段环境库兹涅茨曲线研究——以广州、佛山与肇庆市为例

运用环境库兹涅茨曲线,对广州、佛山、肇庆三个处于不同工业化阶段城市的工业废水排放量、工业废气排放量、工业固废产生量与人均GDP的关系进行拟合,并运用灰色关联分析法分析其主要影响因素。三市不同污染指标的EKC形状各异,呈现出不同的经济发展与环境污染的关系;除广州市工业废水排放量和佛山市工业废气排放量外,其余各种污染均呈现不同程度的增长趋势;工业污染排放受多种因素影响,不同工业化阶段主要影响因素各不相同,但经济规模和经济结构对工业污染变化的影响始终是巨大的。     

基于库兹涅茨曲线经济增长与环境质量关系的实证分析——以南京市为例

以环境库兹涅茨曲线（EKC）理论为基础,根据南京市统计年鉴1993～2006年的经济与环境数据,构建了以南京市工业“三废”排放量为因变量,人均GDP为自变量的环境库兹涅茨曲线模型,运用统计软件SPSS对南京市近几年经济发展与环境污染的关系进行相关分析,做出经济指标与各环境指标的回归模型图,发现南京市的经济增长与环境污染之间存在着密切关系。研究表明,南京市环境库兹涅茨曲线并不完全符合标准的“倒U形”,而是呈现两种情况：工业废水曲线为“U形＋倒U形右侧”;工业废气曲线和工业固体废物曲线呈现非EKC关系。     

Environmental degradation,energy consumption and sustainable development: Accounting for the role of economic complexities with evidence from World Bank income clusters

The anthropogenic consequences of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and air transport have been assessed enormously in the literature. However, given the complexities in many economies of the world today, it is important to reassess the ecological concerns of these factors in light of the Environmental Kuznets Curve framework. Therefore, this current study investigates the global assessment using data from World Bank Development database from 1995 to 2016. Evidence from the method employed, sys-GMM, revealed that the economic complexities index increases the carbon emission in low-income groups while it significantly decreases the carbon emission for upper-middle and high-income groups. For the combined group, the EKC hypothesis holds, and ECI significantly hampers carbon emissions. For the other variables, it is worthy of note that (1) economic growth contributes to the high carbon contents across the income group especially for low-income, upper-middle-income and high-income group; (2) the effects of air transport on carbon emission is positive for lower-middle-income and high-income group and negative for the upper-middle-income group; (3) the use of coal rents and energy use leads to high release of carbon contents across all the income groups; and (4) a significant increase in the utilization of energy leads to increase in carbon contents except for lower-income group, it leads to a decrease. From this empirical assessment, vital energy policy directions are suggested.     

Let the data speak: semiparametric evidence on the environmental Kuznets curve in Africa

This paper revisits the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis and applies a flexible semi-parametric panel fixed effects technique to identify the true shape of the income-pollution relationship for a sample of 49 African countries for the period 1990–2010. Compared with standard panel data techniques which yields different conclusions, the former show that the income-pollution nexus is non-monotonically increasing and decreasing for \(\hbox {CO}_2\) and \(\hbox {PM}_{10}\) emissions respectively. Hence, the effect of economic growth differs with each atmospheric pollutants and is not sufficient for improving environmental quality. There is need for policies that emphasizes sustainable economic growth and the use of cleaner energy sources.     

The dynamics of regional inequalities

This paper analyses the link between regional inequalities and GDP per capita at the country-level. Our starting hypothesis is that the evolution of regional inequalities should follow a bell-shaped curve as national GDP per capita rises since growth by its very nature is unlikely to appear everywhere at the same time, as has been argued by a number of authors, from Kuznets [Kuznets, S., (1955), Economic growth and income inequality, American Economic Review 45(1), 1–28] to Lucas [Lucas, R.E., (2000), “Some macroeconomics for the 21st century”, Journal of Economic Perspectives 14 (1), 159–168]. We test this hypothesis econometrically using semi-parametric estimation techniques and regional data for a panel of European countries. Our results provide strong support for such a bell-shaped curve and are robust to changing the regional administrative units and the time period, as well as controlling for other possible determinants of regional inequalities. We also find support for this hypothesis when considering non-European countries.     

Corporate environmental commitment: Developing the operational concept

This article attempts to develop an operational measure of the notion of Corporate Environmental Commitment (CEC), through an examination of CEO's perceptions of their firms' behaviour regarding a number of environmental items. This is done by identifying a number of salient items in the literature and integrating them into a survey instrument. The mail survey was administered to the key informants of the 1000 largest organisations in Australia of which 306 responded. Iterative Factor-Analysis of the data revealed that the questionnaire items (55 items in total) could be statistically collapsed into four factors representing the overall degree of ‘Corporate Environmental Commitment’. The four factors were (1) the degree to which environmental audits are emphasised as an environmental evaluation tool (Audit); (2) the existence and role of a clear and well disseminated environmental policy (Policy); (3) consideration of environmental impacts in assessing future corporate activities including investments & projects (Future Activities) and (4) incorporation of environmental issues in corporate appraisal systems (Appraisal Systems). Internal consistency within each of the four factors revealed significant reliability of all factors. It is suggested that the use of the four-factor method uncovered in this study bears significant practical relevance, allowing firms to assess their environmental commitment (EC) at the corporate level.     

What We Know About Environmental Policy: An Inductive Typology of the Research

Environmental performance is a multidimensional concept that is difficult to measure since it concerns the pollution generated by companies, their energy consumption and their different environmental policies. Academic research has used objective and/or non‐objective indicators to measure this performance, dealing with both its managerial and measurement dimensions. This paper provides an inductive typology of the academic work concerning environmental policy through a computerized content analysis of 151 articles from 1992 to 2014 related to the management and measurement of environmental performance. The results highlight four major themes around which the academic research is organized: the relationship between environmental and financial performance, environmental performance under stakeholder engagement and institutional pressures, the strategic management of environmental performance, and increasing awareness of the sustainable development issue. Environmental performance research has evolved from a quantitative towards a more managerial dimension, highlighting the integration of performance within the management of a corporate business strategy. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Measuring the Choice of Environmental Sustainability Strategies in Creating a Competitive Advantage

Environmental sustainability has often been claimed as a means to providing a competitive advantage by encouraging efficiencies, attracting customers and obtaining business. This work critically considers this idea in the context of the hotel industry by comparing the strategic intent and implementation of sustainability initiatives in hotels across North America. Environmental sustainability strategies can employ a low cost, a differentiated or a hybrid (a combination of the two) approach to creating a competitive advantage. Controlling for the type and age of hotel we find that the hotels sampled in this study used a combination of all three approaches but tended to rely on their need to create environmental sustainability legitimacy by placing an emphasis on differentiation through environmental sustainability branding. A lack of recognition by management of the contribution to their future economic success that low cost strategies can provide has implications for hotel owners. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Environmental management codes and continuous environmental improvements: insights from the chemical industry

The chemical industry has the highest quantity of toxic releases and hazardous waste generation in the US. We present survey results that examined compliance with seven major environmental statutes at small and medium‐sized chemical facilities. This survey was designed to complement the findings of the US Environmental Protection Agency/Chemical Manufacturers Association ‘Root Cause’ survey, which attempted to determine reasons for environmental noncompliance at large chemical facilities. Results of our study indicated that 30% of the respondents did not have an Environmental Management System in place, including Responsible Care, even though Responsible Care is required for active membership in their trade association. Also, survey respondents looked beyond their own facility for meeting their compliance assistance needs. Statistical analysis of the results showed that for six of seven environmental laws examined, company size had a statistically significant correlation with awareness of compliance requirements. Only in the case of one major environmental statute was the hypothesized relationship not statistically significant. The results point to the need for trade associations, state and federal government and management to devote additional resources to improving environmental compliance for smaller chemical companies. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Testing the Porter hypothesis: the effects of environmental investments on efficiency in Swedish industry

The main objective of this paper is to test the Porter hypothesis by assessing static and dynamic effects of environmental policy on productivity. According to the hypothesis, stringent environmental regulations have dynamic effects on firm performance, and these effects eventually generate profits that offset the adaptation costs. We extend previous analyses by using unique data on environmental protection investments in the Swedish manufacturing industry as a proxy for environmental stringency. These data enable us to separate environmental protection investments into pollution prevention and pollution control. This distinction is crucial since the hypothesis claims that it is investments in prevention that have positive dynamic effects on firm performance. To test the hypothesis, a stochastic production frontier model is estimated where firm inefficiency is a function of investments in environmental protection. In general, we find no support for the Porter hypothesis within the time frame of our study, indicating that environmental regulations lead to efficiency losses. This result is even stronger in the harshly regulated pulp and paper industry.     

Measuring the impact of sustainability policy and practices in tourism and hospitality industry

This paper aims to investigate the impact of environmental policy and training aspects on hotels' sustainability practices, as well as the impact of these practices on their environmental and financial performance. Based on survey data from 312 managers operating in tourism and hospitality industry, this study applies structural equation modelling. Empirical results reveal that hotels' environmental policy and training aspects are positively related to sustainability practices. Environmental communication has almost equal degree of impact on resource and energy conservation, whereas both resource conservation and energy conservation have a significant positive impact on both environmental and financial performance. The main findings of this research highlight that hotels are increasingly considering sustainability issues in their business models and strategies. These findings provide practical managerial implications for the development of tourism and hospitality industry in emerging countries.     

Defining Eco‐efficiency: A Case Study on the Finnish Forest Industry

Environmental reporting is a tool of corporate environmental management that can also be used as research material. The aim of this paper is to produce a comprehensive definition of eco‐efficiency based on the literature and then compare it with definitions identified in the environmental reports published by selected companies. In addition, this paper presents a conceptual framework of the relationship between environmental and economic performance in the companies. Three Finnish companies in the forest industry are selected as case companies. This analysis reviews environmental reports published by the companies from 1998 to 2007. In short, eco‐efficiency can be seen either as an indicator of environmental performance, or as a business strategy for sustainable development. The case companies very seldom give an exact definition of eco‐efficiency in their environmental reports. However, different aspects of eco‐efficiency are often referred to. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

环境影响报告书(表)质量评定探讨

要使环境影响评价制度真正在实际工作中得到正确的贯彻执行,就必须保证环境影响报告书(表)的质量。如何评定环境影响报告书(表)质量的优劣,是实施环境影响评价制度的实际问题。本文就环境影响报告书(表)的格式、内容要求、质量要求、评定程序、质量评定等级划分等问题进行了探讨,供环评机构、评估机构参考。     

Environmental Kuznets Curves for Air Pollutant Emissions in Italy: Evidence from Environmental Accounts (NAMEA) Panel Data

This paper provides new empirical evidence on delinking and Environmental Kuznets Curves (EKC) for greenhouse gases and other air pollutant emissions in Italy. A panel dataset based on the Italian NAMEA (National Accounts Matrix including Environmental Accounts) for 1990–2001 is analysed. The highly disaggregated dataset (29 production branches, 12 years and nine air emissions) provides a large heterogeneity and can help to overcome the shortcomings of the usual approach to EKC based on cross-country data. Both value added and capital stock per employee are used as alternative drivers for analysing sectoral NAMEA emissions. Trade openness at the same sectoral level is also introduced among the covariates. We find mixed evidence supporting the EKC hypothesis. The analysis of NAMEA-based data shows that some of the pollutants such as two greenhouse gases (CO₂ and CH₄) and CO, produce inverted U-shaped curves with coherent within-range turning points. Other pollutants (SO_X, NO_X, PM₁₀) show a monotonic or even N-shaped relationship. Macro sectoral disaggregated analysis highlights that the aggregated outcome should hide some heterogeneity across different groups of production branches (industry, manufacturing only and services). Services tend to present an inverted N-shape in most cases. Manufacturing industry shows a mix of inverted U and N-shapes, depending on the emission considered. The same is true for industry (all industries, not only manufacturing): although a turning point has been experienced, N-shapes may lead to increased emissions with respect to very high levels of the economic driver. In general, EKC evidence is more pronounced for greenhouse gases. The results suggest that analysis at macro sector (whole industry, manufacturing only and services) can be the most promising approach to future research on EKC.     

环境成本核算与应用问题研究

环境成本在会计核算方面主要涉及环境成本的确认依据和确认原则，以及环境成本的分配问题。环境成本可在费用效果分析、环境治理和资源综合利用以及构建企业战略开发和产品绿色流程等方面得到应用。我国企业在环境成本核算上尚缺乏规范，应用方面也存在局限，需要建立相关的会计规范，转变观念，构建环境成本控制系统和责任中心。