Current Environmental Practices Research Articles

Effect of Corporate Environmental Performance on Banks’ Loan Pricing

Effect of Corporate Environmental Performance on Banks’ Loan Pricing

Role of indigenous microbial communities in the mobilization of potentially toxic elements and rare-earth elements from alkaline mine waste

This study aims to evaluate the role of indigenous microorganisms in the mobilization of potentially toxic elements (PTE) and rare-earth elements (REE), the influence of the bioavailability of carbon sources that might boost microbial leaching, and the generation of neutral/alkaline mine drainage from alkaline tailings. These tailings, with significant concentrations of total organic carbon (TOC), were mainly colonized by bacteria belonging to the genera Sphingomonas, Novosphingobium and Solirubrobacter, and fungi of the genera Alternaria, Sarocladium and Aspergillus. Functionality analysis suggests the capability of these microorganisms to leach PTE and REE. Bio-/leaching tests confirmed the generation of neutral mine drainage, the influence of organic substrate, and the leaching of higher concentrations of PTE and REE due to the production of organic acids and siderophores by indigenous microorganisms. In addition, this study offers some insights into a sustainable alternative for reprocessing PMC alkaline tailings to recover REE.

Carbon-Neutral Campuses - An Integrated Assessment Framework for Sustainable Universities in Hong Kong

As global warming and sustainable urban design have become increasingly important topics, universities around the world are adopting net-zero carbon goals. Hong Kong’s government has announced that it would strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, however sustainability practices at its higher educational institutions are still at an early stage. Recent literature reveals that Hong Kong is missing policies related to carbon-neutral campuses, and there are no uniform guidelines to evaluate a campus’ environmental performance qualifications. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an integrated assessment framework for carbon-neutral campuses, to support Hong Kong universities to be carbon-neutral on time. This study has analysed the current environmental practices of three leading overseas universities and used their achievements and processes of change to form a comprehensive assessment framework. The Chinese University of Hong Kong was used as a case study site to test the feasibility of this framework and identify challenges and opportunities as part of a roadmap for further improvement. The research shows how building a carbon-neutral campus is a multi-faceted and multi-year process, encompassing policies and management, infrastructure and facilities, and the joint efforts of everyone. The comprehensive framework for carbon-neutral campuses can provide awareness and strategies for administrators and planners in universities, or other large organisations aiming to achieve sustainable operations.

COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE IN CAMBODIA: GREENWASHING OR REALITY?

From wildfires in Bolivia, floods, and mudslides in South Africa, Nepal, and Myanmar, to heatwaves in Australia and Europe, the impact of climate change is felt globally but in unequal measures, as developing and least developed countries suffer the most devastating impacts despite being the least contributors. As a result, climate change is center stage because countries and their governments, organisations as well as multinationals are battling to contain its effects. Through the Nationally Determined Contributions of the Paris Agreement, countries pledged to mitigate climate change in their capacities. However, some of these contributions are overly ambitious for poor countries like Cambodia measuring it against their national capacities. Therefore, this paper investigates Cambodia’s official position on climate change vis-a-vis its current environmental practices, mitigation policies, and strategies by analysing three major climate change amplifiers – waste, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions to determine whether it is the environmentally friendly country it portrays itself to be internationally or simply greenwashing. This paper merges both qualitative content and document analyses of official policy documents and agreements, reports, data, and publications of major climate change stakeholders in Cambodia. By in-depth analysis, it is established that Cambodia shows commitment to combating climate change, however, with current environmental practices and policy implementation, Cambodia moves towards solving the pressing issues of hunger and poverty with economic growth and development as a priority before consideration for the climate and environment. On this basis, it is recommended that the least developed countries set and maintain realistic climate goals and continue to receive external support from developed countries with monitoring and evaluating systems established to be up to par in the fulfilment of global agendas such as Agenda 2030. Keywords: greenwashing, climate change, El Nino, climate action, Cambodia, climate justice

Practical aspects of business administration of process of environmental management in Ukraine and Poland.

The article shows that environmental policy is one of the most important factors for sustainable development of the state. The essence of problems between society and nature is determined by the ever-increasing need for social production in natural resources and the progressive deterioration of human life. Environmental business management is just one of the slices, or aspects of a broader problem that is about streamlining the economy, and the primary entity at which the problem is to be addressed is the environmental enterprise. This issue was addressed through the example of the nature management mechanism in Poland. A comparative analysis of current environmental practices in Poland and Ukraine was conducted. The essence of natural resources has been identified as an object of management of rational environmental management. The basic mechanisms of natural resource management were identified. It should be noted that a feature of the conceptual development of the deployment of productive forces is a high focus on the needs of practice. The current stage of the formation of state regional policy is focused on the effective use of the internal potential of the territory and the formation of a new institutional structure and its implementation at the regional level. By means of comparative analysis, the state-legal mechanism of environmental protection in Ukraine and Poland was compared. Such analysis helps to reveal the effective and ineffective tendencies of nature management, which proposes to transform the results of the analysis with consideration of Ukrainian peculiarities in the management of natural resources in order to improve the level of administration of environmental management processes in Ukraine, which will undoubtedly positively affect the relationship between the community and nature. Recommendations were given on the use of a range of instruments, both administrative and especially economic in nature, which enhance the effectiveness of state regulation in the field of environmental management and ensure the environmental security of regional development.

Clay nano-adsorbent: structures, applications and mechanism for water treatment

Nanotechnology plays an important role in current environmental practices for remediation of contaminants in environment. From last few years, nano-clay has found more attention because of its unique characteristics and properties. Clay and clay minerals are very important naturally occurring mineral playing key role in environmental protection. Clay basically originates from raw minerals, having different types of geometry and morphology. These clay minerals have been used in disposal and storage of hazardous chemicals as well as for remediation of contaminated water. In several industries, clay minerals have been used as raw materials for hundreds of industrial applications due to its abundant availability and inexpensive nature. Because of unique properties and high removal efficiency, clay is used as nano-adsorbent in many adsorption processes. Nano-clays act as a promising property enhancer found highly effective and efficient for water purification. The use of clay minerals as adsorbents for adsorption of various hazardous substances like-heavy metals, dyes, antibiotics, biocide compounds, and other organic chemicals has been widely studied by a large number of researchers. In the present review paper, authors highlights the nano-composites and their preparation methods, adsorption mechanism and has compiled the past and current research works carried out by different researchers on innovation in nanoclay, upcoming advancement, and/or mechanism for removal of contaminants by different nano-clays for water purification.

Ascertaining the Acid Mine Drainage Potential of a Mineral Concession in South-Western Ghana

Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) poses a myriad of problems in communities where mining of sulphide-containing ores takes place. Thus current environmental practice requires that samples be tested for their AMD potential before mining commences. In connection with this, samples from a gold concession in south-western Ghana have been investigated for AMD generation potential using Acid-Base Accounting (ABA) techniques. Mineralogical studies indicated that the ore zones were conglomerate whereas the country rock was quartzite. There were also intrusives of mafic dykes (doleritic). Quartz was the main mineral with composition above 75%, and minor minerals included feldspars, sericite, chlorite, mica and pyrite. Geochemical analysis and ABA showed that 57% of the samples did not contain sulphide minerals, 38% had sulphur content of 0.01%, and 4% had between 0.02 - 0.03% sulphur. The paste pH of 228 samples out of 230 (99.1%) was above 6.0 with an average of 7.5, implying that these are not likely to generate AMD. The Net Neutralising Potential (NNP) values of 3% of the samples were negative and the ratios of Maximum Neutralisation Potential to Acid Production Potential (NP:AP) were less than 1 confirming the possibility of AMD generation. A proactive strategy was developed to contain the possible environ-mental hazards of this 3%.

LEGAL STRUCTURE OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN TURKEY

Dealing with environmental problems, "participation" has emerged as a central theme. There has, for some time, been a growing recognition within the government and society at large that the future of Turkish environmental protection depends on more effective participation of multiple stakeholders. Along with growing appreciation of the potential benefits has come more systematic understanding of the factors that currently inhibit wider and more effective use of participatory techniques in Turkey. Over the last decade, there has been a succession of studies pointing to the conclusion that current environmental practices, entrenched institutional arrangements and attitudes, and poorly adapted laws are major constraints on participatory approaches. With specific reference to the legal framework, there is a growing consensus that Turkish legislation falls short in comparison to those in most developed countries and acts as a constraint on participation because of its command and control approach, in which most decisions are made by the state and the principal role of law is to ensure compliance and penalise non-compliance with those decisions. The law does not fully reflect current social, economic and environmental realities. The purpose of this study is to focus on the strengths and weaknesses of Turkey's environmental law per se, by highlighting some international lessons and practices that might be useful to Turkey as it considers what future steps to take in improving the legal framework for participation. The 1998 case in which the environmentally damaging activities of the Eurogod Mining Company at Bergama, Western Turkey, were stopped following a petition by local people to the Appeals Court is cited as an example. This case study reflects the people's participation in environmental issues and supports the main argument of this article, from which recommendations are made for improving the legal outline for participation.

The derivation of scientific guidelines for best environmental practice for the monitoring and regulation of marine aquaculture in Europe

The MARAQUA concerted action (Monitoring and Regulation of Marine Aquaculture) aimed to establish scientific guidelines for best environmental practice for the regulation and monitoring of marine aquaculture throughout the European Union. This paper focuses on the specific objectives of the MARAQUA concerted action and describes the processes adopted by the partnership when reviewing current practice in Europe in relation to licensing, regulatory and monitoring procedures. The paper also summarizes the findings of five topic groups established to analyse the scientific and socio-economic basis of current environmental practice in marine aquaculture and identifies the key recommendations for best environmental practice in relation to marine aquaculture.