Adoption Of Environmental Policies Research Articles

Stakeholders’ Perceptions on Influence of Energy Efficiency Practices Adopted on Economic Performance of Selected Small and Medium Sized Manufacturing Enterprises in Nakuru County, Kenya

The adoption of environmental policy among large manufacturing firms has been recognized for enhancing their economic performance. This is crucial for achieving Kenya's Vision 2030, the fourth medium term plan (2023-2027) and the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) for Inclusive Growth. Despite the slow pace, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are now adopting these policies to reduce their environmental footprint. However, there is limited documentation on how these practices affect their economic performance. Hence, this study aimed at examining stakeholders' perceptions on the influence of adopting energy efficiency practices on the economic performance of selected manufacturing SMEs in Nakuru County. The study was guided by the ecological modernization theory (Win-Win principle). An explanatory sequential mixed-method research design was employed, targeting SME proprietors in the manufacturing sector with a sample size of 76 respondents. Descriptive and inferential statistics (linear regression) was used to analyze quantitative data, while content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. The study found out that SMEs largely adopted the use of energy-efficient bulbs and turned off lights when not in use. However, they used solar lighting as an energy efficiency practice to a lesser extent because they consider this practice expensive. The study also found that stakeholders perceived that energy efficiency practices adopted had a significant influence on the economic performance of selected manufacturing SMEs. This finding implied that energy efficiency practices adopted by manufacturing SMEs would have an influence on SMEs economic performance. This study recommends that the government, both national and county should sensitize the SMEs as well as allocate financial and technical resources to support SMEs implement and upscale their energy efficiency practices within their operations. The focus of energy efficiency practices should be on those that reduce production costs and enhance competitiveness such as those that improve SMEs customer base

Uncertainty over uncertainty in environmental policy adoption: Bayesian learning of unpredictable socioeconomic costs

The socioeconomic impact of pollution naturally comes with uncertainty due to, e.g., current new technological developments in emissions' abatement or demographic changes. On top of that, the trend of the future costs of the environmental damage is unknown: Will global warming dominate or technological advancements prevail? The truth is that we do not know which scenario will be realised and the scientific debate is still open. This paper captures those two layers of uncertainty by developing a real-options-like model in which a decision maker aims at adopting a once-and-for-all costly reduction in the current emissions rate, when the stochastic dynamics of the socioeconomic costs of pollution are subject to Brownian shocks and the drift is an unobservable random variable. By keeping track of the actual evolution of the costs, the decision maker is able to learn the unknown drift and to form a posterior dynamic belief of its true value. The resulting decision maker's timing problem boils down to a truly two-dimensional optimal stopping problem which we address via probabilistic free-boundary methods and a state-space transformation. We completely characterise the solution by showing that the optimal timing for implementing the emissions reduction policy is the first time that the learning process has become “decisive” enough; that is, when it exceeds a time-dependent percentage. This is given in terms of an endogenously determined threshold function, which solves uniquely a nonlinear integral equation. We numerically illustrate our results, discuss the implications of the optimal policy and also perform comparative statics to understand the role of the relevant model's parameters in the optimal policy.

Exploring environmental policy adoption enablers for indoor air quality management in higher educational institutions in South Africa

Purpose: This study seeks to investigate the extent to which the indoor air quality (IAQ) management of higher educational institutions (HEIs) in South Africa could be improved through the appropriate implementation of environmental policy adoption enablers. Multiple challenges have been documented to the improvement of IAQ standards in HEIs. However, an alternative to the management of IAQ is possible through environmental behavioral change.Research Methodology: A philosophical stance of post-positivism influences the adoption of a quantitative research approach for this study. Primary data on the views shared by various academic and administrative staff employed by HEIs across South Africa were collected using a closed-ended questionnaire survey. A literature review uncovered 16 influential environmental policy adoption enablers that could further the objective of the study. A four-phase data analytical approach was adopted to interpret the empirical data through screening and reliability assessment, together with descriptive and inferential statistical evaluations, to ascertain the influence held by the surveyed policy adoption enablers on improving the management of IAQ in HEIs.Results: The inferential statistical evaluation using exploratory factor analysis revealed three crucial environmental policy adoption metrical approaches (stakeholder dialogue, institutional commitment, and policy composition) to the management of IAQ in HEIs.Discussion: From a practical perspective, the administrative council of HEIs could consider the identified policy adoption enablers as a catalyst for pro-environmental behavior and the management of IAQ in all respective institutions. Theoretically, this study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing factors associated with environmental policy adoptions for IAQ management and laying the groundwork for future research in environmental behavior, this has been lacking in previous IAQ studies and current environmental management discourse. As an instrumental enabler, the identified policy adoption approaches could inform any existing or new institutional policy adoption initiative aimed at improving current individuals’ perception of workplace comfort, satisfaction, and performance directly associated with their indoor environmental conditions.

Planning for fauna-sensitive road design: A review

Roads can have significant negative impacts on wildlife. Fauna-sensitive road design (FSRD) can alleviate adverse impacts on several species by installing specialised structures, such as wildlife crossing structures. This developing subfield has generally, however, had a limited impact on transportation planning and management. Indeed, most research is focused narrowly on technological solutions, instead of broader policy learnings. This systematic quantitative literature review (SQLR) of international literature sought to identify the biodiversity concerns acknowledged in transport planning policy, as well as the barriers to the adoption of environmental policies within transport planning. Despite considerable literature available on the impacts of roads on wildlife elsewhere, acknowledgement and consideration of both fauna movement and fauna-sensitive road design were limited in road transportation planning research. More broadly, failure to achieve environmental objectives within transport planning occurred primarily as a result of competing sector interests (conflicted knowledge), different political objectives (political interest), and incorrect interpretation of policies. In essence, the results add new layers of understanding to the field of transportation planning and policy, in particular, the gaps in acknowledgement of wildlife movements and the limitations of current fauna-sensitive road design considered. Importantly, the review identified multiple ecological support tools available to transport policy- and decision-makers. Integration of these in road transportation projects could facilitate enhanced uptake and adoption of FSRD measures and thus foster improved sustainability of the transport network.

How does environmental leadership cause adoption of environmental policy?

How does environmental leadership cause adoption of environmental policy?

Performance targets, path dependence, and policy adoption: evidence from the adoption of pollutant emission control policies in Chinese provinces

Although performance targets imposed by high levels of governments are an important vertical result-oriented influence on local governments’ policy adoption, no studies have examined the impacts of performance targets on policy processes. Using the adoption of atmospheric pollutant emission standards by Chinese provinces in the 2000 to 2015 period, this study runs spatial autoregression models to investigate the effects of mandatory performance targets on environmental policy adoption processes in China. The results show that top-down performance targets can drive the adoption of atmospheric pollutant emission standards in Chinese provinces. Furthermore, the influence of vertical environmental performance targets on the adoption of local atmospheric pollutant emission standards is stronger in Chinese provinces that have adopted more similar standards in the previous period. The results show that top-down performance management shapes the policy adoption processes and policy adoption of Chinese provinces under vertical result-oriented performance target pressure is path-dependent.

Culture, Science, and Activism in Florida Lawn and Landscape Fertilizer Policy

Every county and municipality in Florida can adopt its own unique ordinance regulating the fertilization of lawns and landscapes. With increased concern for eutrophication to state waterbodies, many have chosen to implement seasonal fertilizer restrictive periods prohibiting the application of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers, typically during the rainy summer months. These fertilizer “blackout” policies have been the subject of controversy among environmental activists, university scientists, and policy decision makers, with their efficacy being called into question. A Foucauldian discourse analysis was undertaken to trace the dynamics of the controversy, and survey research was conducted with Florida residents and with Florida decision makers to compare their lawncare maintenance practices, sentiments surrounding turfgrass, their trust in landscape science, as well as their awareness of policy in the city or county in which they reside. Differences were found between the two populations in terms of how many respondents fertilized, used automated irrigation systems and hand-pulled weeds. Although both populations had very neutral sentiments around turfgrass with no significant differences, Florida decision-maker respondents had a higher mean response for trust in landscape science. Only 32% of Florida resident respondents were able to accurately identify if their city or county had a blackout ordinance, compared with 81% of decision-maker respondents. Increasing civic science may be the best way for reducing this discrepancy, while also giving power to citizens in environmental policy adoption.

Hazy Accountability in a Federal System: The Role of Air Quality in Gubernatorial Performance Evaluation

DEMOCRATIC THEORY SUGGESTS that elected decision makers will behave in a manner consistent with the desires of their constituents. Those who wish to remain in office must appease their voters; otherwise, they may face tough electoral competition in future elections. Thus, electoral incentives are a compelling framework for understanding the behavior of elected officials, particularly for contemporary high-salience issues such as the economy and terrorism. However, this understanding of elite decision-making loses its appeal when it comes to less salient issues such as the environment. For these issues, the electoral connection withers if the citizenry is unable or unwilling to hold officials accountable in the voting booth. In this article, we seek to further understand the nuances of the electoral connection between the citizenry and elected officials. Prior research suggests a relationship exists between public opinion and environmental policy adoption at the state level. But why do state leaders take actions to address environmental problems? Is it because the federal government incentivizes state behavior? Is it because the citizenry will hold state officials accountable if they do not? Or does policy action happen because leaders have altruistic motives? In this article, we focus on an understudied aspect of this broader puzzle: whether citizens hold elected executive leaders accountable for local air quality.

Global Environmentalism and the World-System: A Cross-National Analysis of Air Pollution

Ambient air pollution represents a global health crisis, leading to 7 million annual deaths worldwide. The rise of a “global environmental regime” manifests in the widespread adoption of environmental policies and laws to reduce ambient air pollution, but debate remains whether they have any effect. Scholars argue that the relationship between the global environmental regime and air pollution depends on the penetration of the global environmental regime. In this analysis, I argue that the relationship between the global environmental regime and air pollution levels is contingent on a country’s position in the world-system. Using fixed effects panel analyses of 144 countries from 1990 to 2010, I find embeddedness in the global environmental regime does predict lower national air pollution levels. This effect, however, is smaller in semi-peripheral and peripheral countries. These findings contribute to an emerging body of scholarship integrating world society and world systems approaches in the study of the environment.

The Effects of Women Officeholders on Environmental Policy

AbstractStudies show that women and girls consistently demonstrate higher levels of concern for the environment than men and boys. Separately, research also indicates that women officeholders pay particular attention to the issues prioritized by their female constituents. Interestingly, despite the consistency of the gender gap in attitudes to environmental issues the literature has paid scant attention to the role of women officeholders in the adoption of environmental policy. The goal of this paper was to start to address that lacuna. Using pooled cross‐sectional time series analyses of environmental standards in 18 Western parliamentary democracies (1990–2012), our initial findings indicate women officeholders are associated with the adoption of higher environmental standards.

Environmental Best Practices, It Begins with Us: Business, Local Governments, and International Community Should Work Together

The paper provides some explanations and best practices for two questions: What factors influence the adoption of environmental policies and regulations as a strategic asset? How do local governments better manage their environmental policies on a global basis? The United Nations has raised interna­tional awareness and has made their best effort to implement such plans to re­solve climate change and global warming concerns. There are various talks about the connection between business and geopolitics in regard to climate change and environmental responsibility. Through these talks, we find that na­tional culture and political forces can substantially affect all policy functions and there are many ways the national culture and geopolitics can affect the adoption of environmental policies. Interestingly, the environmental policies seem to fa­vor rather big companies and developed countries that have the financial re­sources to adopt the policies, while small companies and developing countries are seemingly left in the dust. Having a strong understanding and flexible solu­tion to the problem is immensely required. Bringing all stakeholders into the en­vironmental conversation can greatly benefit business, local governments, and international community as well. The findings of the study may help local gov­ernments formulate better effective environmental policies complying with the international standards.

The influence of institutions, governance, and public opinion on the environment: Synthesized findings from applied econometrics studies

We synthesize the empirical contributions from the existing applied economics literature examining the influence of institutions and governance on environmental policy, environmental performance, and green investment. The literature on the influence of populism and public opinion on environmental policy adoption is also reviewed in line with the special issue. First, the paper describes how the relationship between institutions, environmental performance and environmental policy have been conceptualized and operationalized in the literature and summarizes the main findings. The second part of the paper outlines avenues for future research with specific attention to the energy transition and climate change literature. With respect to the positivist worldview adopted by this paper, we highlight various opportunities for empirical work that have recently emerged with the growing availability of data in the field of green investments, climate, and energy policy. Expanding the current empirical literature towards these research topics is of both scientific and policy relevance and can provide important insights on the broader field of sustainability transition and sustainable development. Regarding the alternative, non-positivist worldviews, future research could explore ways to connect the richer approaches such as complex adaptive systems and socio-technical transition studies with applied econometric methods, as well as future-oriented studies.

Subsistence over symbolism: the role of transnational municipal networks on cities\u2019 climate policy innovation and adoption

Urban areas account for the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions, and increasingly, it is city governments that are adopting and implementing climate mitigation policies. Many municipal governments have joined two different global city networks that aim to promote climate policy development at the urban scale, and there is qualitative evidence that such networks play an important role in motivating cities to adopt climate policies and helping them to implement them. Our study objective is to test this proposition quantitatively, making use of a global database on cities’ environmental policy adoption, and also taking into account a large number of other factors that could play a role in climate policy adoption. Controlling for these other factors, we find that network membership does make a significant difference in the number of different measures that city governments adopt. We also find that there are significant differences between the two different networks, suggesting that the nature of the services that such networks offer their members can play an important role. Our findings lead to the provision of a set of global mitigation strategies: First of all, joining the city networks can lead to a generation of global strategies which can result into climate mitigation benefits. However, cities are required to select the network which provides proper tailor made policies. Second, in the absence of concrete international commitments at the local level, city networks lay the ground for global governance and enable cities to adopt policies independently and proactively. Third, consideration of co-benefits of climate policies can optimize the development of global strategies.

Decomposition method for oligopolistic competitive models with common environmental regulation

Global climate change has encouraged international and regional adoption of environmental policies aiming at reducing the generation of greenhouse gas emissions. Europe has taken the leadership in environmental regulations by introducing the European-Union Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) in 2005 and other policies to mitigate carbon emissions and increase the efficiency of production processes. These environmental policies have significantly affected the production choices of the European energy and industrial sectors. In this paper, we consider a market where a set of players (firms) produce different commodities under a common environmental regulation that limits their emissions. Due to these environmental restrictions, the problem is treated as a generalized non-cooperative game where players have joint (environmental) constraints caused by the common and compulsory emission regulation. The problem is to find a natural mechanism for attaining the corresponding generalized equilibrium state. We suggest a share allocation method, which yields a suitable decomposition type procedure and replaces the initial problem with a sequence of non-cooperative games on Cartesian product sets. We also show that its implementation can be simplified essentially after the application of a regularized penalty method. In the case study, we take inspiration from the EU-ETS and we introduce an environmental regulation that restricts the carbon emissions of firms representing the energy, cement, and steel sectors respectively in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. Our results confirm the important role played by energy sector in reducing carbon emissions.

THE EFFECT OF FIT BETWEEN NATURAL ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH AND BUSINESS STRATEGY ON PERFORMANCE

This field study of 83 chemical firms examines the effect of fit between natural environmental approaches and business strategies on performance. Using factor analysis, the study found three approaches to their natural environment: prevention, information, and correction. Moreover using cluster analysis, the sample firms can be grouped into three categories based on business strategy typology: prospector, defender, and reactors. The findings from regression analysis suggested that prevention, information, and correction approaches insignificantly affect on performance. Compare to reactors, defenders and prospectors realized significant improvements on performance. The prevention has stronger and significant effect on ROA among prospectors than among defenders. The information has stronger and significant effect on sales growth among prospectors than among defenders. However, the significant effects were not found in the interaction between correction and prospectors. Neither was it found between correction and defenders on performance. In general, the results of those findings support the argument that firms benefit from the adoption of environmental policy when natural environmental approaches fit the business strategy.Keywords: Natural Environmental Approach, Business Strategy and Performance

NGOs, INGOs, and Environmental Policy Reform, 1970–2010

We examine the effects of domestic and international environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on pro-environmental policy adoption using cross-national data. We address three views: (1) a bottom-up perspective, prioritizing the role of domestic NGOs; (2) an interaction imagery, stressing alliances or reinforcing pressures between domestic and international NGOs; (3) a top-down view, emphasizing the part of international NGOs. We use event history analysis to model the cross-national adoption of three major pro-environmental policy reforms between 1970 and 2010: omnibus environmental laws, environmental impact assessment reporting requirements, and national environmental ministries. Results show that international NGOs are strongly associated with pro-environmental reforms, with very large effects. By contrast, domestic NGOs are generally not associated with policy adoption in global analyses. In a subsample of democratic countries, we find smaller effects of domestic NGOs for some outcomes. We find no evidence that international NGOs amplify the effects of domestic ones. While there are compelling historical examples of bottom-up and interaction processes, the broad pattern of environmental policy adoption across the world is better explained by global rather than domestic organizational dynamics.

Interaction between output efficiency and environmental efficiency: evidence from the textile industry in Jiangsu Province, China

Environmental efficiency improvement has played a crucial role in the theory and practice of stimulating clean production. This paper analyzes the interaction between environmental efficiency and output efficiency, particularly whether they reinforce each other or compete with each other, on the basis of a data set of 137 firms in the textile industry in China's Jiangsu Province. In the first stage, generalized data envelopment analysis is applied to calculate efficiency measures of energy, waste water, waste gas, soot, and output efficiency taking capital, labor, water, and energy as inputs, industrial output value as desirable output, and waste water discharges, waste gas and soot emissions as undesirable outputs. In the second stage analysis, a structural equation model with latent variables is applied to analyze the interaction between the latent variable environmental efficiency, measured by the four observed environmental indicators, and output efficiency, taking also into account the endogenous variable profit. The main outcomes of the structural equation model are the following. Firstly, environmental efficiency negatively impacts on profit while profit positively impacts on environmental efficiency. In a similar vein, output efficiency is found to depress profit while profit increases output efficiency. Thirdly, environmental efficiency has a positive impact on output efficiency while there is no effect of output efficiency on environmental efficiency. Fourthly, taxes impair a firm's output efficiency. From the findings it follows that a swap of general taxes for an energy tax is likely to improve both output efficiency and energy efficiency. The latter outcome implies a win–win situation which will facilitate the further implementation and adoption of environmental policy. Finally, the paper illustrates the applicability of structural equation modeling in efficiency analysis.

Home rule and environmentalism: the adoption of green initiatives in US municipalities

This article examines the adoption of green initiatives among US municipalities. The author posits that home rule municipalities are more likely to embrace green initiatives than their non-home rule counterparts. Through analysis of an original data set of 50 municipalities, the author finds that the adoption of a home rule charter increases the likelihood of green initiative adoption within a municipality. In conclusion, this research proposes that the consideration of home rule status as an accurate environmental policy predictor needs further scholarly attention and may be a missing link regarding environmental policy adoption at the local government level.

One federal policy, four different policy contexts: An examination of agri-environmental policy implementation in the Midwestern United States

Much research attention has been given to devolved environmental policies and variation in state adoption of environmental policies. Less attention has been paid to variation in top-down federal policies, including in the agri-environmental arena. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is the largest working land conservation program in the United States, incentivizing the adoption of conservation practices on active agricultural land through cost-share and technical assistance. While the program is federal, state offices of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) are charged with implementing the program in their state. Qualitative interviews (n=26) were conducted with NRCS personnel in four Midwestern states to explore similarities and differences between state administrative outputs. Program outputs are determined through a mixture of national, state, and local administrative processes and are driven by dissimilarities in state resource concerns and agricultural systems. The process by which farmers apply for cost-share funding through EQIP is largely the same across states, but states vary in several important outputs, especially resource and conservation practice priority, as well as state and local partnerships. Outreach methods do not tend to vary between states; NRCS districts typically rely on passive recruitment and word-of-mouth recruitment. Divergence in state EQIP outputs constitute a significant difference in the policy context in which farmers make conservation decisions in the Midwest, which has implications for research concerning farmer behavior. While federal policies implemented across the states offer some level of consistency in the setting in which individual land managers make decisions, variation may still exist in many policies that results in different policy outputs.

국제 환경기관의 환경문제가 국가정책채택에 영향력을 미치는 요인에 관한 연구

This research paper examined to the influencing factors to adopt national policies of international organization`s environment. For this a multivariate regression model has been used to examine cross-national differences in environmental policy adoption. The data analysis was conducted by regression analysis, the indexed point of international environmental agreements were ratified by each nation on the measure of independent variables for a sample of 130 countries in all parts of the world. From analysis results, overall, the regression analysis illustrates that the regression model generally fits our predictions for independent variables. The finding has revealed that external determinants are stronger than internal ones in explaining the level of national environmental policy adoption in relation to international environmental cooperation. Namely, All international environmental organizations, international nongovernmental organizations, and regional multinational institutes proved to function in a positive way in influencing number nations to have a favorable attitude toward international environmental policies. The findings of this study will provide helpful information on how to improve the efficacy of the Korean environmental policy system.