Effective Environmental Management System Research Articles

Understanding the influence of religion on pro-environmental behaviors: an investigation in Muslim families using the theory of planned behavior customized with a religiosity-based subjective norm

This study is to examine the effect of religion on pro-environmental behaviors in a Muslim developing country, using a religiosity-based subjective norm structure rather than important others in the theory of planned behavior. Data collected from 460 families revealed important insights into the religiosity-based subjective norm, planned behavior theory, and three pro-environmental behaviors. The findings implied that an important minority with a strong foundation or belief may have been more influential than many important others in the formation of a subjective norm. The research model worked seamlessly for pro-environmental behaviors at home and in purchasing. However, for pro-environmental transportation behavior, all predictors failed, including intention. Religiosity-based subjective norm had significant power in both influencing other planned-behavior structures and indirectly influencing pro-environmental behavior at home and in purchasing. These results could be used by governments, policymakers, and researchers to design and implement effective environmental management systems.

Prevalence of Foreign Bodies in the Rumen and Reticulum of Goats Slaughtered at Herat Governmental Slaughterhouse, Afghanistan

Goat rearing plays a crucial role in fighting poverty and food insecurity in Afghanistan. However, devastating droughts and poor environmental management systems cause various health issues, such as the ingestion of indigestable foreign bodies (IFBs). The ingestion of IFBs can have serious consequences for goats, including reduced production, weight loss, electrolyte imbalances, and even death. The current study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of IFB ingestion in goats in Herat Slaughterhouse, Herat, Afghanistan. A cross-sectional study was performed at Herat Governmental Slaughterhouse, Herat-Islam Qala Highway, Herat Province, Afghanistan, from July to September 2023. A total of 600 goats were included in this study. The age, sex, and body condition of all included goats were recorded. After the slaughter, the goats were inspected for IFBs, and their rumen and reticulum were incised and examined. Indigestable foreign body classifications were noted and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 26. out of six hundred goats (487 male and 113 female), 147/600 (24.5%) had IFBs in their rumens. No IFBs were observed in the reticulum. Plastic was the most commonly detected IFB at 86/600 (14.33%), followed by a plastic thread at 27/600 (4.5%), bag thread at 7/600 (1.16%), lather at 8/600 (1.33%), mixed at 6/600 (1%), chocolate cover at 3/600 (0.5%), balloon at 4/600 (0.66%), wood at 2/600 (0.33%), piece of cloth at 1/600 (0.16%), camel dung at 1/600 (0.16%), cotton thread at 1/600 (0.16%), and wire at 1/600 (0.16%). A total of 116/600 (19.33%) of the goats aged ≥ 1 and ≤2 years presented a high frequency of IFBs. The lowest prevalence of IFBs was detected in goats aged 6 years (1/600; 0.16%). There was no correlation between IFBs and body condition in the examined goats in the current study. The occurrence of IFBs was demonstrated in goats slaughtered at Herat Governmental Slaughterhouse, which can negatively affect the overall productivity and production of goats in Herat Province. In conclusion, effective environmental management systems, safe waste disposal, and prompt foreign body removal are crucial preventive measures.

ВЗАИМОУВЯЗКА СЭМ И УПРАВЛЕНИЯ БИЗНЕС-ПРОЦЕССАМИ В СИСТЕМАХ ПОДДЕРЖКИ ПРИНЯТИЯ РЕШЕНИЙ

The relevance of the work is due to the fact that most enterprises, especially industrial ones, have a negative impact on the environment, which requires taking measures to reduce environmental risks and optimize management processes. Along with the growing attention of society to environmental issues and sustainable development, the need to develop and implement effective environmental management systems in organizations is becoming increasingly urgent. The implementation of business processes in environmental management can allow organizations to effectively manage environmental aspects in their activities.

The 1972 Stockholm Conference and China's diplomatic response

Increasing public pollution and US President Nixon's environmental diplomacy strategy led to the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (also known as the Stockholm Conference), to which China was invited as one of the United Nations member states. Before the conference, the Chinese government clearly understood the purpose of its participation in international environmental issues and the way to demonstrate its political position. During the conference, the Chinese delegation promoted the establishment of a group to revise the declaration on the human environment by uniting with Third World countries. China quickly established an effective environmental management system and contributed to the improvement of international environmental issues by acquiring scientific and technical information through participation in international conferences.

ЕКОЛОГІЧНІ ВИМІРИ ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ БЕЗПЕКИ НАЦІОНАЛЬНИХ ЕКОНОМІК

The academic paper is devoted to studying the environmental component in the system of economic security of national economies. The author has demonstrated that environmental degradation and climate change pose a threat to modern sustainable development in every country in the world. As a result, the development of an efficient system for accounting for and monitoring environmental indicators is a prerequisite for the creation of an effective environmental risk management system. The scientific article provides a systematization of environmental indicators, the change of which affects the sustainability and security of development. The proposed approach is based on an algorithm that provides for the implementation of sequential actions within the framework of establishing a system of environmental security indicators, substantiation of the essence of each indicator from the standpoint of independence, sustainability, stability, and dynamism of national economies; systematization of indicators by the nature of their impact on the level of economic security, calculation of threshold, critical, and permissible values that can be used in the system of monitoring economic threats, determination of methods of normalization of individual parameters, which will ensure their reduction to a comparable form and allow aggregation into the appropriate structure of the final integrated security index. Using the tools of multidimensional evaluation, an integral index of the environmental component of economic security is proposed, which in turn is based on indicators of energy intensity, level of renewable energy consumption, level of renewable energy generation, air quality, carbon intensity index of the economy, environmental efficiency index, green growth index. The proposed methodology makes it possible to assess the level of security and classify countries by the state of development security, to identify areas of security/danger (risks) by indicators, in particular, environmental ones. The practical application of the proposed toolkit enabled the ranking of EU countries and Ukraine by the level of environmental safety, grouping them by the level of danger, which will allow taking these features into account when developing measures to increase the level of sustainability of economic development, considering environmental aspects.

Family ISO 14000 standards as a tool of achieving environmental sustainability of enterprises

Environmental sustainability and its achievement at the national level is one of the key strategic development goals for most countries who are the largest environmental pollutants. Environmental sustainability implies the maximum possible reduction of negative environmental impact through the development of green energy, the increase in energy efficiency, the rational use of natural resources, the introduction of the principles of circular economy and increasing public awareness of environmental protection and climate conservation. There are many administrative tools to encourage enterprises worldwide to switch to a more environmentally friendly direction of its operating and development, among which is the introduction of international standards and subsequent certification of the enterprises. In addition to such obvious advantages as the introduction of effective environmental management systems, compliance with requirements in the field of environmental audit and monitoring, certification allows to increase credibility in the face of consumers and partners that leads to a favorable reputational effect. The objective of this study is to review and analyze the family ISO 14000 standards and assess their role in achieving environmental sustainability of enterprises. The authors determined the degree of influence of groups of standards on the achievement of environmental sustainability and identified their benefits and drawbacks.

The path selection on improving the quality of environmental information disclosure – configuration analysis based on fsQCA

ABSTRACT The environmental information disclosure system is regarded as an important tool to supervise and manage the environmental behavior of public companies in China. The corporate environmental governance mechanism could be utilized to improve the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure. Based on the 248 public firms in the chemical industry in China, this paper uses the NCA and fsQCA approach to study the joint roles of environmental regulations and other internal and external factors on the quality of environmental information disclosure. The results show that enterprises can strengthen environmental information disclosure through the combinations of multiple factors, rather than focusing on a single factor. The government should establish an effective environmental management system to strengthen environmental supervision and enhance environment enforcement on public companies.

Environmental management in a kennel: assessment and reduction of the environmental impacts

The abandonment of domestic animals in public places is a severe socio-environmental problem, hence municipal kennels are essential to the management of these animals. However, many kennels do not have an effective environmental management system, as they have limited financial and human resources. Thus, this work aimed to identify the environmental aspects and impacts of a kennel located in the south of Minas Gerais (Brazil) and also to propose low-cost solutions for reducing significant environmental impacts. The significant environmental impacts of the kennel are water and soil pollution, resulting from wastewater generation, besides animal feces and unused and expired medicines disposal. Therefore, it was proposed the construction of a septic tank followed by an anaerobic filter and a biodigester, and also the correct disposal of the pharmaceuticals. Finally, the kennel is essential to the zoonose control in the locality.

Environmental policy and corporate sustainability: The mediating role of environmental management systems in circular economy adoption

AbstractCompanies see adopting the circular economy (CE) model as an opportunity to become more sustainable and aligned to the growing demand for more environmentally friendly products. Governments, institutions and researchers alike have highlighted the importance of organisations having an environmental policy, and that this policy be implemented though effective environmental management systems (EMSs) as the way to achieving corporate sustainability. However, despite exploring the relationship between EMSs and moving towards the circular model in the business world, research on this increasingly critical issue remains limited. To address this gap, research was carried out on 85 Spanish manufacturing companies. Results show that implementing an EMS has a positive effect as the companies analysed adopted a higher number of CE practices. From a managerial perspective, managers are challenged to show leadership initiative by exploring new, more sustainable ways of operating that engage new stakeholders. Implications for regulators focus on enhancing the circularity of EMS.

Improving the Efficacy and Efficiency of the Environmental Management System in the Romanian Powerplants on Coal – the Condition of the Environmental Performance

After a decade-long evolution, the use of coal for energy production is growing again. Carbon is still an important source of energyin Europe, covering about one-fourth of electricity production. There are plans to open around 50 new coal-fired power plants.But the continued use of coal has a price, we pay all, mainly with our health can be affected by excessive environmental pollutionToday more and more emphasis on the concept of „green economy” that should be reflected in improving people’s lives througheffective management of environmental issues and reducing environmental risks Thus, through the present paper we aim to highlightthose aspects that would allow the improvement of the environmental performance of coal-fired power plants in Romania byimproving the efficiency and effectiveness of the Environmental Management System (EMS) as a component of the Integrated ManagementSystem along with the Quality, Health and Safety Management System . We start from the premise that the developmentand implementation of an effective and efficient environmental management system (EMS) becomes a priority for all companies inthe field , especially since their activities based on coal burning , are considered among the most polluting.

Towards Municipal Environmental Development: Environmental Management Systems for Local Formal Education Establishments

Educational institutions create certain environmental impacts in their operation – these impacts can be grouped into the sectors of waste, water, energy, transport and others. There is a need for educational institutions to adopt effective environmental management systems in order to reduce these impacts, as well as those of the whole municipality. The Eco-Schools programme is one of the most comprehensive and popular models of environmental education and management in the world. In recent years, the Eco-Schools programme has proved its effectiveness in numerous evaluations in several countries. The programme aims to raise awareness about environmental issues. Therefore, this programme encourages environmentally responsible behaviour involving not only members of specific schools but also reaching out to the local community. The aim of the present study was to evaluate an environmental management model of the Eco-Schools programme in Latvia. Moreover, the author assessed the country’s potential to develop environmental management systems in schools, improve environmental education and create pro-environmental attitudes and values. For research, qualitative and quantitative research methods were used: analysis of documents and a survey. The conducted survey helped to evaluate the experience of the Eco-Schools programme and prepare recommendations for policy proposals about the Eco-Schools programme as an environmental management instrument in Latvia. Also, the role of the Eco-Schools programme in promoting sustainable development was assessed. As a result, the benefits and drawbacks of the programme were identified to plan further development and, therefore, to promote efficient environmental management in educational institutions and local communities.

Methods to decrease the influence of the vehicles’ service and repair system on the environment

Article notes that vehicle maintenance and repair system have a significant negative impact on the environment. To reduce it, dealers must develop and implement an effective environmental management system. Identification of environmental aspects, as well as works and operations related to these aspects were performed. Model’s algorithm of the territorial accommodation of vehicle’s dealers is presented. This model will allow to find a balance between the vehicle’s service system efficiency indicators of the, the costs for owners to delivery of vehicles, waiting in the queue and maintenance and the impact on the environment.

GREEN-BASED GOVERNANCE AND EXTERNAL PRESSURE: DO THEY INFLUENCE ENVIRONMENTAL DISCLOSURE? EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM ISO 14001 COMPANIES IN MALAYSIA

Purpose: The primary objective of this study is to investigate the synergistic influence of green-based governance and external pressure on the quality of environmental disclosure among ISO14001 certified companies that are publicly-listed in Malaysia.
 Methodology: Content analyses have been conducted on the 2014 annual and sustainability reports of ninety (90) ISO14001 certified companies.
 Results: The results of the multiple regression analyses reveal that green-based governance in the form of an effective environmental management system (EMS) and external pressure from industry membership influence the quality of environmental disclosure. The findings of the study signify that a proper EMS system needs to be implemented in order to reduce agency conflicts arising from information asymmetry.
 Implications: Companies need to have an effective environmental management system such as ISO14001 companies are motivated to provide quality environmental information to reduce information asymmetry and agency conflicts between managers and stakeholders.

Effective environmental management system of acid mine drainage at Kyisintaung copper surface mine in Myanmar

Copper products are being utilized in many utilities such as electrical equipment, mechanical, architecture, and military industries. Basically the copper processing begins with the mining of copper ore which causes the environmental and social problems unless proper management systems are being exercised. This study focus on the effects of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) of Kyisintaung mine, located near the confluence of the Yama Creek and the Chindwin River in Monywa, Sagaing region, Myanmar. To identify the effects, surface and ground water in the vicinity of the mine are sampled and analysed at the certified national laboratory. The study highlights the detailed analysis of the study programme and the results and findings have been discussed thoroughly. It has been observed that the hydrometallurgy method and zero discharging system are utilized at the mine. The results indicates that the effects of AMD around the area are insignificant because the laboratory analysis results of studied pollutants such as pH, temperature, hardness, conductivity, TDS, DO, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mg, SO4 2-are within the acceptable range of national environmental quality guideline. Finally, it has been noticed that there are no significant effects of AMD to surface and groundwater around the mine site, no water pollution sources to the environment, no serious environmental damages caused by AMD to near-by areas, and hence the adopted EMS of the mine is considered to be an effective system.

Influence of Leadership Practices on Organizational Safety Performance

This study analyzes the reasons why leadership does not influence the counteraction to incidents (through the implementation of safety systems and technology), which cause serious injuries or deaths in US oil and gas companies. The modified Delphi method summarizes eight oil and gas industry experts’ consensus on how leadership can reduce workplace incidents and improve organizational safety performance. The study selects eight safety specialists and leadership experts in executive positions in the US oil and gas industry, who participated in three rounds of discussions regarding the impact of leadership practices on the effectiveness of the safe conditions and were interviewed through a series of questionnaires. The study identifies five key aspects that can help improve the safety process efficiency in the company and provide the basis for future research: empowering employees to stop dangerous operations; formation of effective health, safety and environmental management system; employees’ involvement in the formation of organizational safety initiatives, the creation of corporate culture in the company, the use of consistent behavior patterns in promoting safety improvements across the organization. The study concludes that preventing incidents and improving safety performance in an organization requires effective coordination of the five components, which, according to the experts’ evaluations are the most important in terms of organization development. Therefore, leaders and practitioners in this field, who often face safety performance challenges, should apply a safety ecosystem approach to prevent incidents from occurring and improve safety performance within their businesses. The study results contribute towards a deeper understanding of how organizational management can apply existing knowledge on compliance with safe working conditions to prevent incidents in the company using different strategies to counteract them. The study identifies the main limitations related to the use of the modified Delphi method. They include the difficulties in determining the optimal sample size and attracting a sufficient number of study participants. The second limitation is that due to fewer participants, the conclusion from the study represents the views of the participants which may vary if a sufficiently large number of participants took part in the study. Keywords: Incident Prevention, Leadership, Management System, Organizational Culture, Safety Culture.

Establishing the enterprise contextfor the implementation of an environmentally effective environmental management system

Establishing the enterprise contextfor the implementation of an environmentally effective environmental management system

An analysis of environmental incidents for a national Antarctic program

Research stations in Antarctica are concentrated on scarce ice-free habitats. Operating these stations in the harsh Antarctic climate provides many challenges, including the need to handle bulk fuel and cargo increasing the risk of environmental incidents. We examined 195 reports of environmental incidents from the Australian Antarctic Program, spanning six years, to investigate the impacts and pathways of contemporary environmental incidents. Fuel and chemical spills were most common, followed by biosecurity incursions. The majority of reports were assessed as having insignificant actual impacts. Either the incidents were small, or active, rapid response and mitigation procedures minimised impact. During the period only one spill report (4000 l) was assessed as a ‘high’ impact. This is despite over 13 million litres of diesel utilised. The majority of incidents occurred within the existing station footprints. The pathways leading to the incidents varied, with technical causes predominately leading to spills, and procedural failures leading to biosecurity incursions. The large number of reports with inconsequential impacts suggest an effective environmental management system with a good culture of reporting environmental incidents. Our findings suggest that the key to continual improvement in an ongoing environmental management system is to learn from incidences and take action to prevent them occurring again, with an end-goal of minimising the residual risk as much as possible.

Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) implementation in the European Union: survey of Estonian certified organisations

Nowadays the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is considered as one of the most credible and effective environmnetal management tools, which adds valuable elements to an effective environmental management system. However, the number of EMAS registered companies in Estonia remains low, therefore the authors considered it useful to reveal the main reasons of this phenomenon and determine the main obstacles and benefits of EMAS implementation.The main aim of the research was to find out positive and negative aspects associated with the EMAS certification and implementation; the role of EMAS for the stakeholders and the added value derived from the EMAS implementation.The authors conducted interviews and distributed a questionnaire among the EMAS certified organisations in April-May 2015. The main findings of the research suggest that the most substantial value added by the EMAS system is the imporved reputation, credibility and transparency derived from the preparation and publication of environmental reports, which is a compulsory component of EMAS. Organisations also recognized an added value of EMAS by the imporved environmental performance. However, EMAS seemed to have less or no effect on other aspects such as risk management and employee motivation. Based on the results of the research it may be concluded that the value added to organisations by the implementation of EMAS was not significant.Even though implementation of EMAS brings along numerous positive impacts, it is also rconsidered as time, moneyand effort consuming. Authors believethat more initiatives from the state side are strongly required to promote EMAS implementation and to increase the public awareness of the EMAS system, its main benefits and added values.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.11.17982

Avaliação de Sustentabilidade: Eficiência Energética em Edifícios de uma Universidade Comunitária

This research aims to analyze the degree of sustainability of a building in a community university (object of analysis), as regards its energy efficiency. Therefore, it seeks out to contribute to the literature, provide a basis for the application of SICOGEA system in other buildings and contribute to the consolidation of an effective and consistent environmental management system. The research can be classified, as to its technical procedures, as a case study. As to its objectives it is descriptive, with a qualitative approach. The literature on environmental management and sustainability assessment of buildings was used to support the research. As to the results found, the overall University sustainability rate was 48%, which can be classified as regular, that is, it aims to deal with the legislation only. Therefore, it is believed that the institution can make improvements to achieve a more efficient index. By taking into consideration the deficit items, the following is suggested: to introduce sustainable procurement; to strive for stamps and certifications; to avoid environmental fines and indemnity; and to implement environmental auditing. However, it is clarified that these are suggestions that should be taken into consideration along with financial matters and within the institution planning questions. The analysis of financial sustainability was considered good and, ideally, it will go on.

Application of Project Management Process on Environmental Management System Improvement in Mining-Energy Complexes

Aims and background: Mining and energy complexes in Serbia are recognized as a major source of a large number of pollutants. Serbia’s environmental performance reports clearly indicate that large mining and energy complexes are the dominant source of air pollution. It is difficult to determine which of them remarkably threaten the quality of the environment, as all the basic elements of the environment (air, water, and soil) are threatened, not just one. Mining and energy complexes significantly reduce the quality of the immediate environment, as the distance areas throughout water and air pollution propagation. Additional motivation for this study lies in the fact that large mining and energy complexes are particularly interesting because they are located in the immediate vicinity or large rivers (mostly the Danube), which are protected in many national and international legislation acts (particularly the Danube). The basis for the preservation of environmental quality is an effective environmental management system (EMS) in mining and energy complexes. The aim of this study is to promote and elaborate the possibility for improving the mining and energy complex environmental protection/management system by applying the basic principles of sustainable development. Methodology: Project management methodology is selected as a tool. Project management is based on the application of a network planning technique (Critical Path Method), because of its suitability for representing the logical structure of environmental protection system. The survey was conducted in the area of the city of Kostolac. The examined area included mining and energy complexes in Kostolac, which incorporate three surface mines (Ćirikovac, Klenovik, and Drmno) and two thermal power stations (TE “Kostolac A” (100 MW) and TE “Kostolac B” (2 × 348.5 MW)). The PSR model (Pressures, State, Response) was used for the organization of the interactions within “society–environment” system as the basis for indicator selection. Results: Procedures to identify and determine the significance of the environmental aspects should be established by executive staff in mining and energy plants and complexes. Identification of environmental aspects is the first part of the planning system of environmental management and the activities related to them. The accomplishment of critical path activities represents the basis for improving the environmental protection system in mining and energy complexes. Discussion: Application of sustainable development principles depends on the country’s energy potential and the application of the adopted environmental policy regarding mining and energy complexes. Strict enforcement of existing laws and regulations presents an opportunity to rectify many shortcomings while providing economic benefits, restoring the usable value of ravaged land, and preserving air and water quality.