Environmental Award Research Articles

Environmental Reporting in Ghana: Issues and Determinants

This study investigates the factors influencing Environmental Disclosure (ED) of companies in Ghana and the nature of ED generally. It examines the relationship between ED and other variables; firm- specific and corporate governance variables. It dwells on the notion of disclosure theory and argues for the inclusion of environmental information as part of the broader corporate disclosure practices of companies. The nature of environmental reporting in consonance with the accounting principle of faithful representation was thus assessed through corporate annual reports. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression model developed was used to ascertain the relationship between the variables. Sample included companies listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GES) and non-listed companies. The study found mixed results for firm specific variables. Regulation and location were found to be significant and insignificant respectively, in relation to the ED. The study recommends the need for regulators to ensure a movement from mere ED to monetary disclosure. Also, the institution of Environmental Award Schemes by government to encourage ED is recommended coupled with ensuring that companies develop an Environmental Management System as part of the broader Management Information System.

Environmental Performance and Voluntary Disclosure on Specific Environmental Activities: An Empirical Study of Carbon vs. Non-Carbon Intensive Industries Legitimacy Proactive Approach

Adopting legitimacy proactive approach, this paper examines and evaluates relationship between levels of environmental performance (measured by environmental awards) and the quality of specific voluntary environmental disclosure using a sample of UK FTSE 100 companies. Companies in the sample have been grouped according to industry membership (carbon intensive vs. non-carbon-intensive) and environmental performance (poor performers vs. better performers). Statistical techniques have been used to test for variations in the quality of voluntary environmental disclosure between the companies in these groups. The findings reveal that the extent of quantitative environmental disclosure by companies with poor environmental performance in the carbon intensive group was significantly higher than similar disclosures made by either better environmental performers or poor environmental performers from non-carbon intensive industries for some activities. In contrast, quantitative environmental disclosure by better performers is found to be of a significantly higher quality than similar disclosures made by either poor performers or better performers from carbon intensive group for other activities. The results have some implications for various stakeholders and offers opportunities for future research, specially, in relation to environmental awarding bodies and their criteria for awarding.

Method based on life cycle assessment and TOPSIS to integrate environmental award criteria into green public procurement

Green public procurement (GPP) aims to integrate environmental criteria into public tender as instrument to develop and encourage production and consumption of sustainable products and services. Inclusion of award criteria in GPP is a key factor of its success. To this aim, a new method for assessing environmental award criteria in GPP processes is introduced in this study, providing easy and effective communication of the environmental benefits of the products and services purchased. The method is intended for its use by public authorities and companies. The main novelty of the method lies in its ability to evaluate the achievement of each award criterion during the GPP process using a simplified life cycle assessment methodology and a further simplification of the environmental indicators in one score using TOPSIS. This method is applied to public procurement of urban furniture as a case study.

Salmon Plan Wins Environmental Award

The Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) Salmon Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for Upper Cook Inlet, Alaska was the winner in the Environmental category of the Alaska Chapter, American Planning Association (APA) 2015 Awards program. The plan, which used the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to identify, structure and prioritize specific issues related to program goals and objectives, was showcased in November, 2015 during the APA’s annual convention in Anchorage, Alaska.https://doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v9i3.512

HOTEL ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES WITHIN INSTITUTIONAL THEORY FRAMEWORK

The purpose of this paper is to explain factors influencing the environment sustainability practice (ESP) in a Sarawak based hotel using the isomorphism tenet. An explanatory case study was applied. A semistructured interview with the hotel personnel was conducted and the hotel website was analysed. The coercive isomorphism arises from the invitation by the National Resource Environmental Board (NREB) to participate in the Sarawak Chief Minister Award and compliance with the ASEAN Tourism Standard, an indication of legitimacy, to be socially acceptable. In terms of the mimetic isomorphism, Hotel A imitated the best practices of its peers in the same organizational field. Finally, normative isomorphism evidence was proven by professional networking via attendance in the environmental award presentation. The content analysis reveals that there is a low disclosure of sustainability information on the hotel’s website. This research contributes to the CSR literature in the hotel industry particularly in an emerging economy in terms of promoting the particpation in the Environmental Award competition and disclosure on the website. Keywords: Sustainability, environment, hotel, websites, isomorphism

Pengaruh Faktor Motivasi Kerja Ditinjau dari Aspek Finansial, Lingkungan Kerja dan Penghargaan terhadap Kinerja Pegawai Biro Kepegawaian Sekretariat Daerah Provinsi Kalimantan Selatan

This study aims to obtain empirical evidence about the influence of motivational factors through the financial aspects, Work Environment and employee performance appraisals, the Civil Service Bureau of the Regional Secretariat of South Kalimantan Province. The hypothesis put forward is a hypothesis I, Simultaneously Finance, Working Environment Award and affect the performance of employees in the Civil Service Bureau of the Regional Secretariat of South Kalimantan Province. Hypothesis II partial financial aspect is more dominant influence on the performance of employees in the Civil Service Bureau of the Regional Secretariat of South Kalimantan Province. Through a questionnaire submitted to the respondent on the financial aspects with 20 items of questions, aspects of the work environment with 11 items of questions, and aspects of the awards with 9 items of questions, with three alternative answers a, b and c with a score of 3.2, and 1. The questionnaire performance with 16 items of questions and respondents as many as 102 people. The results showed that the hypothesis I stating together the financial aspects, work environment and rewards affect the performance of employees at the Civil Service Bureau of the Regional Secretariat of South Kalimantan Province, is acceptable. Hypothesis II stating financial has more dominant influence on the performance of employees in the Civil Service Bureau of the Regional Secretariat of South Kalimantan Provinceconvicted.Keywords: Finance, working environment, and Performance Award

Transforming Rehabilitation and Approved Premises

This article considers the impact that Transforming Rehabilitation has had upon Approved Premises (APs) since the process began following the publication of the National Probation Service Review Paper, E3 Blueprint (the three Es being Effectiveness, Efficiency and Excellence), in November 2015. This paper outlines what service delivery across the organisation will look like in the near future. At the time of writing we are in the consultation phase, which has yet to be concluded. I have drawn upon quality assurance information from a number of National Probation Service (NPS) North West Region Approved Premises documents published between 2009 and the dissolving of Probation Trusts in 2014. This has enabled some analysis of the efficacy of existing group work programmes and purposeful activities in place at each AP. The paper reflects the personal experiences of the author, including experiences from a previous change process, and how the initial transfer from Trusts to the NPS altered the practice and political landscape for an innovative and creative AP team. The paper concludes by considering the potential consequences for APs as their rehabilitative regimes will inevitably change. It considers how this could be a constructive process as each hostel is measured against quality improvement and assurance measures determined by an external body – the Royal College of Psychiatry (RCP). This is as a consequence of each hostel working towards or having achieved the RCP Enabling Environment Award (EEA) status, involving full team training in the Knowledge and Understanding Framework to better understand and respond to residents who have emerging or diagnosed personality disorders. Reaching and then retaining this EEA standard is likely to be an ongoing challenge. Refreshingly, creating an enabling environment demands high levels of engagement, coupled with the development of understanding, nurturing and caring relationships for residents and staff alike.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY HOUSE WITH COMPLEX USE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN HARSH ENVIRONMENTS

The mathematical model and algorithms developed for the energy optimization of the building areas without connection to centralized electricity and gas networks. The model takes into account particular climate conditions characteristic of sharply continental climate: big seasonal and daily changes in temperature, extremely low temperatures in winter. On the basis of the calculations and optimization of the model of joint use of a number of power supply system based on renewable energy sources (wind turbines, solar collectors, photovoltaic cells, heat pump) with a diesel generator cogeneration source of electricity and heat. It is shown that this model reduces the energy consumption of diesel fuel and the environmental burden on the territory of more than 1.5 times. The calculation results are the basis for energy efficiency projects farmhouse, which was implemented in the Sverdlovsk region (the village Rising). In 2009, the project received the National Environmental Award Vernadsky.

Pathways to sustainable landscape management: peer recognition as an indicator of effective ‘soft’ actions

New Zealand is a food producer and exporter that combines neoliberal policy with performance-based environmental management, using ‘soft’ governance and actions where possible. Voluntary environmental farm awards are analysed to identify the landscape management activities recognised as best practice by peers at a farm level. Results highlight the importance of whole farm system management. However, the efficacy of reliance upon voluntary mechanisms is coming under increasingly critical scrutiny, as environmental conditions in intensive agricultural landscapes continue to decline. The research question this poses is whether whole farm plans can be practically and formally connected in three concurrent ways – to supply chain management, and to statutory planning frameworks and environmental regulations and to local landscape co-management – while still maintaining flexibility of action for the farmer.

An Assessment of the Extent to Which Zimbabwean Organizations Have in Practice Begun to Make the Shift Towards Triple Bottom Line Reporting (TBL).

The purpose of the study was to assess the extent to which corporations in Zimbabwe make shifts towards the triple bottom line reporting and asses the balance of the three Ps. This was done through a content analysis of company annual reports of 40 listed companies in Zimbabwe for period 2009 to 2012. The assessment criteria comprised among others of TBL balance, inclusion of TBL elements in reporting, environmental policy in place and reported, stakeholder assurance, GPI reporting, Quantification of the other two Ps, any Environmental award obtained. Results showed that companies in Zimbabwe generally are making shifts towards the TBL reporting although not remarkable. Whilst companies are making shifts towards the TBL reporting, the standard of reporting is still below one’s expectation as there are a lot of irregularities between companies and sectors. Considerable coverage was realized in the mining sector, Beverage, Food processing, and Building and associated industries’ sectors. Since there is no specific law that makes TBL reporting mandatory, variations in terms of consistence and quality will always be a norm hence, it was recommended that environmental and social audits by the government agencies like the Environmental Management Agency, Ministry of Environment and Tourism and NSSA among others

NHS morality and care based on compassionate values.

It is difficult to disagree with the main thread of Cox & Gray’s argument that the National Health Service (NHS) as a whole has lost its grip on being person-centred in any genuine way, amidst the industrialisation and authoritarian managerialism of the modern NHS.1 However, I would take issue that the College Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI) is being idle about the matter. For over 12 years, I have worked with CCQI staff to set up and develop three projects to promote exactly what Cox and Gray are asking for: robust systems of quality assurance and quality maintenance which focus on the emotional experience of the patients in their particular treatment environments. The Community of Communities quality network for therapeutic communities2 started in 2002; the Enabling Environments Award3 (which is suitable for any setting) was established in 2009; and the National Enabling Environments in Prisons project began to improve relational-based practice in participating British prisons in 2009. All three projects continue to flourish, and more are planned. The Enabling Environments Award is based on a set of ten value statements which define ‘relational excellence’ in work environments. These value statements have been processed to form ten standards, each with several criteria for demonstrating that they have been met. Naturally, compassion and the quality of relationships are at the centre of the expectations. The standards are measured by submission of a portfolio, for which we have designed a flexible and hopefully enjoyable process, rather than a persecutory inspection. Rather than being part of the regulatory burden that many units nowadays feel, our experience to date is that participants take great pride in the process and receiving the resultant award. It is important to note that the award was prominently mentioned in the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ report Cox & Gray are commenting on, OP92: ‘The Enabling Environments Award recognises that good relationships promote well-being, but that many organisations and groups fail to address this aspect of people’s lives’.4 It therefore already forms part of the College’s response to the Francis report. Unfortunately, the response from NHS organisations (mental health and others) has not been encouraging and the award is much better used and recognised in the prison service and all sorts of different third-sector units. I believe this may be caused by a deeper malaise in the NHS, very much in line with what Cox and Gray are arguing in their paper. In short, the NHS is being run with a competitive business model to such an extreme and aggressive extent that ‘soft’ values such as empathy, emotional intelligence and kindness are given no force. Related to this, it is worth mentioning that the Institute of Group Analysis, alongside other organisations including the Royal College of Psychiatrists, are running a 6-month listening exercise to gather information from staff across the range of NHS professions and specialties.5 When the information is collected and collated, it will be used to negotiate with politicians of all parties in advance of next year’s general election. As Cox & Gray argue, this is a moral question – and a profoundly important one for all of us who want the NHS to survive in a form that we can once again be proud of.

Environmental performance and voluntary disclosure on specific environmental activities: an empirical study of carbon vs. non-carbon intensive industries. Legitimacy proactive approach

Adopting legitimacy proactive approach, this paper examines and evaluates relationship between levels of environmental performance (measured by environmental awards) and the quality of specific voluntary environmental disclosure using a sample of UK FTSE 100 companies. Companies in the sample have been grouped according to industry membership (carbon intensive vs. non-carbon-intensive) and environmental performance (poor performers vs. better performers). Statistical techniques have been used to test for variations in the quality of voluntary environmental disclosure between the companies in these groups. The findings reveal that the extent of quantitative environmental disclosure by companies with poor environmental performance in the carbon intensive group was significantly higher than similar disclosures made by either better environmental performers or poor environmental performers from non-carbon intensive industries for some activities. In contrast, quantitative environmental disclosure by better pe...

Determinants of Receipts of Environmental Awards & Certifications by Hotels: Experience from the Western Province in Sri Lanka

This paper attempts to assess the receipts of environmental awards and certifications by the hotel sector in the Western Province of Sri Lanka and the factors determining such receipts. The assessment is based on primary data collected from the 94 registered hotels in the Western Province, using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Key informant interviews and stakeholder discussions were carried out in formulating the questionnaire. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect required data. The analysis was done using the Probit approach. It shows that nearly 19 percent hotels in the sample have received environmental awards and certifications. According the econometric results, chain affiliation and the luxury level of the hotels are significant determinants of receipts of environmental awards and certifications. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/jepsl.v3i2.7845 Journal of Environmental Professionals Sri Lanka: 2014 Vol. 3 No. 2: 41-47

How Do Environmental Violation Events Harm Corporate Reputation?

AbstractThis study, based on attribution theory, provides empirical evidence for how environmental violation events (EVEs) damage corporate reputation, using media reputation as a proxy. Hypotheses are developed to address the influences of violating firms’ past environmental behaviors and ownership on the reputational effect of EVEs. The results show that firms with a history of unfavorable behaviors (precedent environmental violation) are deemed by the media to be more culpable for adverse environmental events and consequently suffer more damage to their reputation, while for firms with a favorable environmental record (environmental awards and honors gained) the reputational harm of an EVE is alleviated to some extent. EVEs cause more reputational damage to foreign‐owned enterprises than to domestic‐owned firms. These findings reveal that certain company behaviors could exert an indirect effect on a firm's reputation by influencing public perception of later relevant behaviors, and imply a discriminatory treatment in a host country for foreign‐owned enterprises. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Salvage insurance and salvor's liability insurance

The Paper examines the salvage insurance coverage and salvor's liability insurance coverage. Following brief introductory remarks and key terms' definitions, the Paper analyzes the role of marine insurance in the maritime industry, the function of P&I insurers, and the role of traditional market insurers, with respect to the salvage enterprise. Further points of interest are the PIOPIC Clause and the parallel development of salvor's specific right to invoke the right to limit the liability for maritime claims. A special consideration is devoted to the division of responsibilities between traditional market insurers and P&I Clubs with regard to the payment of overall costs connected to the salvage operation. This section includes brief key remarks concerning the Montreal Compromise, the denied proposal of establishing Environmental Award, and the problems with regard the implementation of 2004 York-Antwerp rules. Following the previous segment, the final section examines the salvor's liability insurance coverage offered by both the traditional market insurers and P&I insurers, keeping especially in mind the issue of sub-contracts and the Absent Tug coverage. Finally, the Paper considers the meaning and the role of salvor's liability insurance coverage.

Environmental Awards for Printing Facilities and Green Printing Certification: Turning the Printing Industry into an Environmental Industry through Two Schemes

Environmental Awards for Printing Facilities and Green Printing Certification: Turning the Printing Industry into an Environmental Industry through Two Schemes

Professional discourse in winning images: objectivity and professional boundaries in environmental news images in the World Press Photo contest, 1992–2011

This article applies the ecological theory of professions to analyze professional discourse in the World Press Photo (WPP) contest, an international photojournalism contest held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The article analyzes the content of 148 photojournalism works that received environmental awards in the period 1992 to 2011, the two decades after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The article seeks to understand the representation and negotiation of objectivity and the claims of professional boundaries by the media of both developed and developing countries as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It also seeks to interpret the professional discourse of the WPP in relation to ideologies and power dynamics in both journalism and global environmental politics. The results suggested that the media of developed countries dominated the discourse, and the conventional notion of journalistic objectivity remained intact. However, the results also showed that global environmental politics and the situation of journalism created openings for the media of developing countries and NGOs to enlarge jurisdictional claims in the area of natural disaster reporting and to challenge the conventional notion of objectivity. The results also showed that the conventional notion of objectivity did not necessarily hinder explanations of the complexity of environmental issues, which was made possible by choosing unique angles of storytelling, planning multiple shots, and using richly suggestive, naturalistic images.

Awards 2012: Initiatives - Enabling environments award

Awards 2012: Initiatives - Enabling environments award

Environmental impacts and the most economically advantageous tender in public procurement

The “most economically advantageous tender,” as defined in the EUʼs public procurement directives, allows public purchasers to combine environmental aspects, price and other award criteria in decision making. The directives do not, however, determine how the environmental criteria should be built. Indeed, there could be different means to assess the “greenness” of competing tenders, and these various measurements of environmental impacts may lead to different assessments of the most economically advantageous tender. In this article, the determination of environmental award criteria is examined through a case study on a purchase of a goods transportation service, where the most economically advantageous tender is calculated by life cycle assessment and the environmental cost calculation method suggested by the EU, and compared to the results gained by the purchaserʼs equation. Also the contribution of the weighting for the “green” purchasing decision is discussed.

Environmental Impacts of Transport as Award Criteria in Public Road Construction Procurement

Green practices and the life cycle approach are increasingly being adopted in the public procurement of road construction works. One example is the Finnish pilot project ‘Improvement of Highway 9’ carried out by the Finnish Road Administration in 2004, which aimed at using a life cycle assessment (LCA) in formulating the environmental award criteria in the tender competition.Although public purchasers are being encouraged to apply more LCA-based environmental criteria in their procurement, the extent to which the EU legislation on public procurement complies with this aim is not straightforward. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the LCA-based environmental award criteria used in the ‘Highway 9’ pilot project from the viewpoint of the basic principles and subsequent legislation on public procurement in the EU, focusing on the relationship between transport distance as an award criterion and the public procurement legislation. This study is carried out as an analysis of the legal aspects of the LCA-based environmental award criteria that were used in this specific case. The compliance of the environmental award criteria with the EU’s legal framework of public procurement is assessed by analyzing to what extent the criteria fulfil the requirements based on the procurement directives and Treaty principles, also called a ‘test of general principles’.The transport distance of materials is an inherent part of the scientific method LCA, but, due to the legal framework, it is not obvious that the offers can be evaluated in relation to the environmental burdens of transport without potentially discriminating against some bidders. Nevertheless, this paper looks for conditions and justifications to use the criterion of ‘transport distance’ and, more generally, the ‘environmental impacts of transportation’ as award criteria in the procurement of construction works within the EU. The ‘Highway 9’ pilot serves as a progressive example of taking green criteria, especially the environmental impacts of transportation, into account in the award criteria for road construction contracts.