ABSTRACT With the rapid uptake of renewable energy generation and increasing price volatility, there are multiple opportunities emerging for businesses to earn additional revenue and reduce electricity bills by implementing demand response. However, commercial and industrial consumer implementation of demand response is not well understood and largely absent in energy management guidelines, which focus on reducing energy consumption and driving energy efficiency. Based on interviews with managers from 24 commercial and industrial businesses, we describe a practical implementation framework for demand response. The framework identifies unique implementation features for demand response - the activation steps. Energy management guidelines may have underemphasised approaches to demand response and inclusion of its unique features for businesses because benefits to be gained from demand response have focussed on benefits for the utilities in the electricity system, not benefits for individual businesses. The article concludes there is an opportunity for market operators to encourage organisations who produce energy management guidelines to include demand response, to promote awareness of the opportunities for businesses and provide practical guidance for implementation, therefore providing support for greater renewable energy penetration and reduced energy costs for businesses.

ABSTRACT The Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan 2017–2022 identified that changes to evaluation practices were an urgent need if ambitious water quality targets were to be realised. To understand if progress had been made, this study synthesised publicly available evidence for ten projects aiming to engage sugarcane growers in practice change. The aims of this study were to identify factors facilitating or preventing practice change in sugarcane growing, drawing on monitoring and evaluation evidence that was publicly available for the ten projects. Twenty-one peer-reviewed articles and government and industry reports were collated and analysed. Thematic analysis identified seven enablers of engagement with practice changes resulting from project participation: government and industry partnerships, effective communication, training and education, grower or community leadership, financial support, return on investment and social factors. This review showed that a lack of enabling factors is a barrier to program adoption and practice change. Additional barriers were lack of availability of alternatives, lack of clear and transparent monitoring and evaluation for projects, lack of trust between stakeholders and competing stakeholder interests.

ABSTRACT This study empirically examines the impact of stakeholder pressure and concerns about public image on the use of technological innovations i.e. the use of innovations in environmental products and processes, and the subsequent impact on environmental and financial performance. Data were collected by mail survey from a random sample of 577 chief financial officers in Australian manufacturing organisations. The results show that pressures from stakeholders have a direct association with the use of innovations in environmental processes, and an indirect association with environmental and financial performance due to the subsequent association of the use of innovations in environmental processes on these outcomes. Public image is directly associated with the use of innovations in both environmental products and processes, and indirectly associated with environmental and financial performance due to the subsequent association between the use of innovations in environmental processes with these outcomes. The findings provide managers with an insight into the importance of improving environmental processes to enhance both environmental and financial performance, and how pressures from stakeholders to consider environmental issues and concerns about public image promote the enhancement of technological innovation.

ABSTRACT In this study, we analyse how beliefs concerning environmental action influence choices in a stated preference survey on coastal water quality and marine habitat areas. Survey respondents were presented with a series of choice tasks featuring improvements in water clarity, reef health, seagrass area and a series of costs in the form of reallocated state budget against a baseline of no new improvements and no change in the budget. The reallocated budget scenario was used as it is likely to be realistic to respondents. Estimates of willingness to reallocate were obtained using a hybrid choice model which included the choice data, attitudinal data regarding support for environmental action and sociodemographic characteristics. Our results suggest that beliefs supporting environmental action influence the willingness to reallocate for attributes that change coastal water quality. A decision support tool for policy analysts was developed to illustrate how public support, as a probability of supporting reallocation, is shaped by beliefs and changes with sociodemographic characteristics.

ABSTRACT This study aims to (1) explore the extent to which Australian companies respond to regulatory, physical and market risks associated with climate change, and (2) examine the impact of stakeholder pressure and corporate governance structure on the extent of corporate response to these risks. We collected survey data from 120 top risk managers of Australian companies. Our analysis shows that companies respond to regulatory risks to a greater extent than to physical and market risks. With respect to the impact of stakeholder pressure, the results show that overall, pressure from government, non-governmental organisations, competitors, and the media are positively and significantly associated with companies’ climate change risk responses. Disaggregated analyses show differences in how particular stakeholder groups’ pressure affects the corporate response to physical risks. With respect to corporate governance structure, the results demonstrate that female representation on the board of directors and existence of a climate change risk committee facilitate companies’ increased climate change risk response.

ABSTRACT Research into the best forms of conservation management or climate intervention is critically important, but carries its own risks of impacts. Unless research requires a legal permit, evaluation of whether the benefits of such research outweigh risks is left to research ethics processes. We ask whether the ethics processes governing outdoor research in Australia ensure that potential environmental impacts are addressed adequately. We examine how environmental considerations are incorporated into Australia’s research ethics governance framework 25 years after the Australian Science, Technology and Engineering Council issued national guidelines for the ethical conduct of environmental research. These guidelines have not been incorporated into national research ethics frameworks or institutional processes. Current ethics codes apply only partially to environmental research and no research institution has developed its own processes or body for considering the environmental impacts of research. The national guidelines are partially reflected in protected area permitting requirements, but these lack explicit mechanisms for ethical deliberation. We conclude that the national guidelines remain relevant today. We stop short of recommending new formal ethics requirements, but encourage researchers and research institutions to consider how the deliberative procedures and substantive principles reflected in the ASTEC Guidelines might be relevant to their work.

ABSTRACT This research examines how income inequality interacts with urbanization in its influence on carbon dioxide emissions. We analyze national level data of 95 countries between 1961 and 2015 using the system generalized method of moments to explore the nature of interactions. The results indicate that the environmental impact of income inequality varies with the rise of urbanization. Environmental performance of developing communities improves initially, but when the urbanization ratio is above 35.2 per cent, inequality suppresses progress in environmental performance until the urbanization ratio is greater than 55.7 per cent. This inverted U shape relationship adds further evidence on the conflicting views on the interactions between the two social justice and environmental quality goals of development. While aggregate data often masks within-country variations, these analyses provide valuable insights for policymakers about the forces influencing these aggregate measures and the importance of local context in tackling environmental issues of development.

ABSTRACT Predator Free 2050 (PF2050) is an ambitious goal that aims to remove three types of invasive mammals from New Zealand by 2050. It will require a significant amount of funding, research, and support. Young adults will have an important role to play for this programme to be successful. Therefore, understanding the awareness and attitudes of young adults towards PF2050, and predator control, is an essential consideration. A survey of 1479 18- to 24-year-olds was conducted in 2017. The results showed that a higher percentage of young adults than members of the broader public view the small, introduced mammals as threats to New Zealand’s environment. Furthermore, this study highlights support for the control of feral, stray, and domestic cats. More focused research on attitudes towards cats is recommended to gauge which control methods are approved of by young adults. Indeed, methods appear to be a key factor to young adults supporting PF2050. The aerial distribution of poison was largely viewed negatively, and moderate concern was expressed about the targeted animal’s welfare. Interestingly, young adults appeared to be open to the use of gene editing and gene drive, although they expressed caution. Targeted communication towards young adults on toxins and genetic methods is recommended.

ABSTRACT This article explores emergent practice in renewable energy adoption supporting the pursuit of UN Sustainable Development Goal 7, to ‘Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.’ A Strategic Niche Management (SNM) model is adapted to interpret a complex web of activities being undertaken in seven Australian longitudinal case studies. The SNM model was developed to better reflect the evolutionary and strong collaborative nature of the observed entrepreneurial practice. A combination of an interactive SNM model and PESTLE analysis helps to provide an explanation in different settings incorporating a theoretical feedback loop. We conclude that community engagement is helping to deliver targeted renewable energy outcomes in the pursuit of UN SDG7 outcomes through collaborative actions being taken at an enterprise project level. Advice is included for practitioners following the renewable energy deployment path articulated.