Improvement Of Environmental Performance Research Articles

Organizational sensemaking and environmental performance: A longitudinal study of publicly traded firms' sustainability reports

AbstractEnvironmental strategy research has often used organizational interpretation as a key lens for understanding how firms engage in sensemaking around natural environmental issues and environmental performance. This work has rarely empirically tested the proposed relationships of organizational interpretation in firms' sensemaking around environmental issues nor the relationship between firms' environmental sensemaking and environmental performance. We empirically test this relationship, capturing environmental sensemaking through computer‐aided text analysis (CATA) of published sustainability reports, and environmental performance with the Trucost environmental dataset. Mixed‐effects general linear modeling on a bespoke longitudinal dataset of 117 publicly traded companies from 2005 to 2018 reveals the three stages of the organization interpretation model of sensemaking—scanning, interpreting, and responding—align as expected. We also find firms' environmental scanning relates with year‐over‐year improvement in environmental performance, yet environmental interpreting correlates with worsening environmental performance. Additionally, larger firms and firms in industries with high carbon emissions gather more environmental data and exhibit more extensive environmental interpreting. This research provides insight for scholars by testing environmental sensemaking and exploring the boundary conditions of sensemaking and performance, and for practitioners and policymakers by offering a new framework for analyzing and interpreting sustainability reports and corporate environmental performance.

Possibilities of Changes in Energy Intensity of Production Depending on the Scale of Farm Investments in a Polish Region

The purpose of this paper was to analyze the possibility of changes in energy intensity of production in the context of farm investment scale. The empirical section relies on unpublished FADN microdata. The study answers the question of whether investments and fixed capital growth can contribute to improvements in environmental performance of agricultural production. As it turns out, the group of farms with the greatest amount of investments saw an increase in energy consumption costs, though at a much slower rate than growth in production value. As a result, there was a drop in energy intensity of production, defined as the ratio between energy costs and production value. These findings corroborate the hypothesis advanced in this study, namely that upon reaching a sufficiently large amount of investments, farms can become capable of reducing the energy intensity of their production activity. Hence, higher levels of capital productivity are attained when the farms invest in more energy-efficient fixed assets. Conclusions cannot be universal, as the analysis involved a portion of selected farms. However, the research indicates a trend in the study of energy intensity of production depending on the scale of investment and the validity of the investment comprehensiveness approach. These conclusions provide a basis for recommendations for an agricultural policy which should include support for investments that are large and comprehensive (in relation to the farm’s assets) and go beyond the simple renewal of assets. Therefore, in its investment-oriented measures, the agricultural policy should take the innovativeness (including energy efficiency) criterion into account.

Green Intellectual Capital Driving Environmental Performance: The Mediating Role of Green Ambidexterity and Moderating Influence of Environmental Ethics

This empirical investigation explores the relationship between Green Intellectual Capital (GIC) and Environmental Performance (EP) within Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry. Employing quantitative methods and data form 286 respondents, findings reveal a positive correlation between GIC and EP. The significant and positive association between GIC and Green Ambidextrous Innovation (GAI) unveils a novel pathway for leveraging intellectual capital to foster innovation in environmentally sustainable practices within organizations. Moreover, the study underscores the pivotal role of GAI in enhancing EP, emphasizing its potential as a catalyst for environmental performance improvement. The observed moderating effect of GAI on the relationship between GIC and EP highlights the importance of cultivating ambidextrous capabilities to fully harness the benefits of intellectual capital for environmental sustainability. Additionally, the interaction between Environmental Ethics (EE) and GAI reveals s strong effect, underscoring the significance of ethical considerations in shaping organizational responses to environmental challenges. These findings offer valuable insights for scholars and industry practitioners, informing strategies for enhancing environmental performance and competitive advantage in the pharmaceutical sector, while contributing to the academic discourse on green innovation and corporate sustainability.

Rethinking Cultural Ecosystem Services in Urban Forest Parks: An Analysis of Citizens’ Physical Activities Based on Social Media Data

Urban forest parks play a vital role in promoting physical activities (PAs) and providing cultural ecosystem services (CESs) that enhance citizens’ well-being. This study aims to reevaluate CESs by focusing on the physical activity experiences of park visitors to optimize park management and enhance citizen satisfaction. This study utilized social media data and employed natural language processing techniques and text analysis tools to examine experiences related to physical activities in Beijing Olympic Forest Park, Xishan Forest Park, and Beigong Forest Park. A specialized sports activity dictionary was developed to filter and analyze comments related to PA, emphasizing the impact of natural environments on enjoyment and participation in PA. The importance–performance analysis (IPA) method was used to assess the service characteristics of each park. The findings reveal that urban forest parks are highly valued by citizens, particularly for their natural landscapes, leisure activities, and the emotional fulfillment derived from PA, with 82.58% of comments expressing positive sentiments. Notably, appreciation for natural landscapes was exceptionally high, as evidenced by the frequent mentions of key terms such as ‘scenery’ (mentioned 2871 times), ‘autumn’ (mentioned 2314 times), and ‘forest’ (mentioned 1439 times), which significantly influence park usage. However, 17.11% of the reviews highlighted dissatisfaction, primarily with the management of facilities and services during sports and cultural activities. These insights underscore the need for performance improvements in ecological environments and sports facilities. This study provides a novel perspective on assessing and optimizing urban forest parks’ functions, particularly in supporting active physical engagement. The rich CESs offered by these parks enhance physical activity experiences and overall satisfaction. The findings offer strategic insights for park managers to better meet citizens’ needs and improve park functionality.

Unlocking potential for a circular bioeconomy transition through digital innovation, lean manufacturing and green practices: a review

PurposeToday’s businesses are looking for a circular bioeconomy (CBE) to develop a sustainable manufacturing process as industrial operations result in significant amounts of waste materials and the depletion of natural sources. The industry commonly applies techniques such as lean manufacturing (LM), digital innovations (DI) and green practices (GP) for operational and quality improvement. However, publications explaining how these technologies enable the CBE transition are scarce. This study examines CBE components, common practices of each technology facilitating the CBE transition, problems of solitary technology deployment as well as coupling technologies for the CBE transition.Design/methodology/approachA scoping review was conducted to analyse previous studies in this new field. The data collection is in a quantitative manner, but the data synthesis process follows a similar method of synthesising data in the grounded theory method, which includes familiarisation with the data, open-coding and finalisation of the themes.FindingsCritical components of CBE were identified as biobased goods, industry symbiosis, material resource efficiency, renewable energy, product lifecycle and sharing economy. GP is the most prominent in moderating the CBE transition. We identify each technology has coupled relationships (Lean-4.0, Green-Lean and Green-4.0) technologies facilitated by the circularity concept, which form the core pillars of enablers and advance the CBE paradigm.Research limitations/implicationsThis study demonstrates that combining lean principles with green technology and digital technologies can effectively decrease waste and resource usage in biobased manufacturing processes, therefore endorsing the concept of resource efficiency in circular bioeconomy models.Practical implicationsThe results allow entrepreneurs to strategically incorporate different existing technologies to meet CBE fundamental objectives by initiating it with dual technologies and facilitate industry professionals and regulators to support the improvement of environmental sustainability performance in the manufacturing industry. The management will be able to focus on the common practices across the technologies, which have a dual benefit for both operational and environmental performance.Originality/valueThe paper makes the first attempt to present the synergic impact of the three quality management technologies on a new concept of sustainability, CBE.

Investigating the mediating role of green performance measurement systems in the nexus between green intellectual capital and environmental performance

Purpose This study aims to propose and examine a conceptual model that shows how green performance measurement systems (GPMS) mediate the relationship between green intellectual capital components and environmental performance. Design/methodology/approach The research surveyed 407 Vietnamese publicly listed companies to gather empirical data. Then, the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) are used to examine the degree of emphasis firms place on using GPMS to transform green intellectual capital into firm value. Findings The results indicate that both green human capital and green organizational capital have a direct positive impact on environmental performance. On the contrary, the influence of green social capital on environmental performance was found to be indirect through the mediation of GPMS. Practical implications GPMS can be considered a tool that helps managers renew, develop and synchronize their systems to take advantage of green resources in environmental performance improvement. Social implications The effective assimilation of GPMS within industrial entities holds the potential to mitigate air pollution and hazardous waste, thereby ameliorating social conditions for both employees and the neighboring community. Besides that, proficient implementation of GPMS enhances collaborative efforts within the industrial sphere, yielding collective societal benefits. Originality/value This study emphasizes the importance of aligning green intellectual capital with appropriate control mechanisms, such as performance measurement systems, to maximize the benefits derived from these capital resources. The findings provide insights for organizations seeking to enhance their environmental performance and sustainability practices by effectively using their intellectual and social capital while implementing robust measurement systems.

Single rollover or dual rollover: How a monopoly NEV manufacturer responds to NEV credit policy

The NEV credit policy plays a crucial role in advancing the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry and environmental conservation. This study investigates the monopoly NEV manufacturer’s optimal rollover strategy (Single Rollover (SR) vs. Dual Rollover (DR)) and pricing scheme (skimming vs. penetration) under the government’s stricter calculation criteria for NEV credit policy, considering a two-period market with strategic consumers. We find that the NEV manufacturer typically adopts a skimming pricing scheme in DR strategy, while a penetration pricing scheme in SR strategy. The choice between SR and DR strategy hinges on the government’s calculation criteria for NEV credits, product upgrade speed, and vehicle environmental performance improvement. When the calculation criterion for NEV credits is moderate, or when it is low, coupled with fast product upgrade speed and marginal improved environmental performance of the new vehicle, SR strategy is beneficial to the NEV manufacturer to avoid the cannibalization between new and old vehicles. In contrast, the NEV manufacturer can benefit from DR strategy through price discrimination between new and old vehicles to attract consumers from different market segments. However, stricter calculation criteria for NEV credits do not always result in higher social welfare.

How does green finance policy affect firms' pro‐environmental mergers and acquisitions?

AbstractThe study reveals that the Green Credit Guidelines significantly encourage firms' pro‐environmental mergers and acquisitions (M&As) among polluting industries, as evidenced by difference‐in‐differences estimations with Chinese listed firms (2004–2020). Three primary mechanisms include increased commercial credit financing, improvements within firm agencies, and heightened scrutiny from external analysts. The effect is more prominent in non‐state‐owned firms, firms with a higher number of executives with financial backgrounds, and regions with lower levels of green financial development and environmental regulations. Post‐M&A, acquiring firms demonstrate a marked decrease in environmental governance expenses and carbon emissions, alongside an improvement in overall environmental performance.

Driving sustainability: assessing KPI effectiveness in the Saudi chemical industry

This study explores the relationship between Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and environmental performance improvement within the Saudi chemical industry. Against the backdrop of global sustainability imperatives and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which promotes sustainability for economic diversification, this research aims to assess the effectiveness of KPIs in driving environmental sustainability practices. The motivation for this study stems from the identified gaps in the systematic implementation and utilisation of KPIs and the lack of awareness regarding certain aspects of environmental impact management within the industry in the Kingdom. The methodology involved a structured survey administered to a diverse range of chemical manufacturing companies, followed by rigorous data analysis using descriptive evaluation, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), reliability analysis, and t-tests. The results revealed insights into pollution areas, KPI utilisation, methods for pollution assessment, alignment with strategic goals, and governance regulations. Descriptive analysis highlighted air quality management as a priority, with notable attention to water and land pollution, while quantitative analysis confirmed the significance of KPIs in driving environmental performance improvement in the area. However, it also unveiled the absence of a systematic approach to implementing and utilising KPIs effectively, coupled with a lack of awareness regarding certain aspects of environmental impact management, consequently leading to uncertainty. Overall, this study contributes to advancing sustainability efforts within the Saudi chemical sector, providing actionable insights for industry stakeholders and policymakers.

Environmental Exhaust Emissions reduction and Performance Improvement Analysis of biodiesel operated Diesel Engine Performance Using Operating Parameters

<p style="margin-top:3px; margin-bottom:3px; text-align:justify; text-indent:31.5pt">The present investigation aims to study the performance and emission characteristics of a CI DI diesel engine using biodiesel blends derived from Jatropha seed feedstock. Four blends, namely B25, B50, B75, and B100, are employed as fuels to run the diesel engine at a rated speed of 1500 rpm, and their performance and emission characteristics are determined under different operating conditions in the first phase. The blend B25 of JME is found to be the optimum blend, and the optimum compression ratio is found to be 18.5.The optimum blend exhibits better performance in terms of brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and brake thermal efficiency (BTHE), along with a decline in the emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC), except for the emission of nitrogen oxides (NOX) at the optimum compression ratio of 18.5. At maximum load, with a compression ratio of 18.5, the optimum blend results in better BSFC and BTHE, which are 0.255 kg/kW-hr and 31.87%, respectively.</p>

Discrete Space Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithm Based on Support Vector Machine Recursive Feature Elimination

Algorithms for training agents with experience replay have advanced in several domains, primarily because prioritized experience replay (PER) developed from the double deep Q-network (DDQN) in deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has become a standard. PER-based algorithms have achieved significant success in the image and video domains. However, the exceptional results observed in images and videos are not as effective in many domains with simple action spaces and relatively small states, particularly in discrete action spaces with sparse rewards. Moreover, most advanced techniques may improve sampling efficiency using deep learning algorithms rather than reinforcement learning. However, there is growing evidence that deep learning algorithms cannot generalize during training. Therefore, this study proposes an algorithm suitable for discrete action space environments that uses the sample efficiency of PER based on DDQN but incorporates support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE) without enhancing the sampling efficiency through deep learning algorithms. The proposed algorithm exhibited considerable performance improvements in classical OpenAI Gym environments that did not use images or videos as inputs. In particular, simple discrete space environments with reflection symmetry, such as Cart–Pole, exhibited a faster and more stable learning process. These results suggest that the application of SVM-RFE, which leverages the orthogonality of support vector machines (SVMs) across learning patterns, can be appropriate when the data in the reinforcement learning environment demonstrate symmetry.

A study of the impact of digital investment on corporate environmental performance

The improvement of corporate environmental performance is an important way to realize sustainable development.This article, based on a sample of Chinese non-financial A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2022, attempts to determine the extent to which digital investment can facilitate the improvement of corporate environmental performance. The study finds that digital investment can significantly improve corporate environmental performance. The mechanism study finds that digital investment can improve corporate environmental performance by enhancing corporate green innovation. Furthermore, the conclusions remain robust to instrumental variable substitution and endogeneity issues.

Developing a low carbon brick for residential building construction

The construction industry is trying to become more eco-friendly and minimise environmental impact. One way to achieve this is by using innovative building materials. Traditional clay bricks are not eco-friendly due to the depletion of resources, emissions, and waste generated during production. In this study, a new alternative called the Novel Organic Brick (NOB) was produced and evaluated, which was made from recycled construction and demolition sand and red clay as partial replacements for traditional virgin clay. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was conducted to compare the environmental impact of NOBs to that of Kiln Fired Bricks (KFBs). The inventory flows from material sourcing to brick shaping were modelled in SimaPro 8.1 and characterised into impact indicators using the ReCiPe 2016 method. The LCA showed that NOBs can reduce the impact of climate change by 39-56% compared to KFBs, depending on the type and source of recycled sand. This study encourages the construction industry to adopt alternative solutions for greater sustainability by demonstrating the viability of incorporating secondary materials and quantifying environmental performance improvements in India.

녹색혁신의 결정요인, 녹색혁신 및 성과간의 관계

[Purpose] Companies are facing internal and external pressure to accelerate the paradigm shift centered on low carbon and adapt and implement environmentally friendly business activities. According to this trend, it is becoming important for companies to actively promote the adoption and implementation of environmentally friendly activities such as green innovation. This paper aims to develop a model that verifies the determinants supporting green innovation and the impact of green innovation on performance. [Methodology] A research model was designed based on previous studies and theories, and a questionnaire survey was conducted on manufacturing companies to verify this. 96 samples of the questionnaire were used for the final analysis, and the hypothesis was verified using PLS－SEM. [Findings] It was found that corporate environmental ethics and market demand have a direct positive effect on both green product innovation and green process innovation. It was found that stakeholder interest had a positive effect on green process innovation, and management commitment had a positive effect on green product innovation. It was found that green product innovation had a positive effect on environmental and organizational performance. Environmental performance was found to have a positive effect on organizational performance. This supports the ‘Win－Win’ paradigm of environmental efficiency that improvement of environmental performance has a significant effect on organizational performance. [Implications] Green innovation is driven by corporate environmental ethics, market demand for green products, stakeholder interest, and management commitment. It suggests that participating in environmental business practices such as green innovation can help improve environmental and organizational performance.

The Role of Certain Knowledge Management Processes in Improving Environmental Sustainability: An Exploratory Study of the Opinions of a Sample of Employees in the Iron and Steel Company in Mosul

The research aims to determine the relationship between some knowledge management processes, how to apply and invest them properly, and what is their active role in improving environmental sustainability. The needs of the individual and society The goal of sustainable development is to develop business by meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations, as the world faces the danger of environmental degradation, so development needs must not be abandoned and operations aimed at achieving sustainability must be conducted Environmental in business and its development, for example, how to recycle and others while preserving the environment because it is part of a multidimensional perspective related to economic, cultural and health aspects. This type of sustainability creates a safe and beautiful environment that seeks to reduce environmental impacts that have a role in the movement towards sustainable development by finding solutions to environmental problems. Organizations should consider a set of procedures and policies related to regular management and continuous improvement of environmental performance, and the analytical descriptive approach was relied upon In the completion of the research, a questionnaire was designed on a sample of (60) individuals working in the iron and steel company, and the data was analyzed through statistical programs using the program (spss) and access to the results. In light of it, the research presented a set of proposals for the field under study.

Experimental Combustion of Different Biomass Wastes, Coals and Two Fuel Mixtures on a Fire Bench

When designing settlements according to the “Green Building” principle, it is necessary to develop a heating system based on climatic conditions. For example, in areas with a sharply continental climate (cold and prolonged winters), it is sometimes necessary to use solid fuel boilers (in the absence of gas). However, to use these, it is necessary to use biomass or biomass-coal blends as fuel to increase their combustion heat. The addition of biomass waste to coal can be aimed at achieving various objectives: utilization of biomass waste; reduction of solid fossil fuel consumption; improvement of environmental performance at coal-fired boiler houses; improvement of the reactivity of coals or to improve the technical and economic performance of heat-generating plants due to the fact that biomass is a waste from various types of production, and its cost depends only on the distance of its transportation to the boiler house. In this work, combustion of various biomass wastes, including sewage sludge, was carried out on a fire bench emulating the operation of a boiler furnace. Fuel particles were ignited by convective heat transfer in a stream of hot air at a velocity of 5 m/s in the temperature range of 500–800 °C, and the experimental process was recorded on a high-speed, color video camera. The obtained values were compared with the characteristics of different coals used in thermal power generation (lignite and bituminous coal). The aim of the work is to determine the reactivity of various types of biomass, including fuel mixtures based on coal and food waste. The work presents the results of technical and elemental analysis of the researched fuels. Scanning electron microscopy was used to analyze the fuel particle surfaces for the presence of pores, cracks and channels. It was found that the lowest ignition delay is characteristic of cedar needles and hydrolyzed lignin; it is four times less than that of lignite coal and nine times less than that of bituminous coal. The addition of hydrolysis lignin to coal improves its combustion characteristics, while the addition of brewer’s spent grain, on the contrary, reduces it, increasing the ignition time delay due to the high moisture content of the fuel particles.

Monocentricity or polycentricity? The study on the enterprise environmental performance of urban spatial structure

Under the promotion of urban planning and land development policies, the urban spatial structure of China is undergoing a transformation towards polycentricity. The improvement of environmental performance during the process of urban spatial transformation is crucial for urban sustainable development. This paper uses high-resolution population grid data from LandScan for the years 2001–2019 to measure the urban spatial structure of Chinese cities. Then we match the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database with the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Pollution Emission Database for the years 2001–2014. This paper empirically examines the impact and mechanisms of the polycentric spatial structure of Chinese cities on enterprise pollution reduction at the micro-level. The findings indicate that compared to monocentricity, polycentricity is more conducive to improving enterprise environmental performance. Mechanism tests demonstrate that the improvement in enterprise environmental performance resulting from polycentricity can be achieved through three channels: increasing urban population and density, mitigating urban environmental pollution, and promoting enterprise innovation ability. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that polycentricity is more beneficial for emission reduction among small enterprises, young enterprises and enterprises in regions with higher environmental regulations. This paper provides micro-level evidence and policy implications for further strengthening the aggregation effect of polycentricity and improving enterprise environmental performance in the future.

The impact of green credit guidelines on environmental performance: Firm-level evidence from China

The Green Credit Guidelines (GCG) regulates the environmental behaviour of firms with high pollution, high energy consumption, and surplus production capacity (known as “two high and one surplus”, THOS) through environmental and social risk assessment and credit management, thereby improving firms' environmental performance. Adopting the panel data of 461 Chinese A-share listed firms from 2008 to 2020 and the Difference-in-Differences (DID) model, this paper employs the promulgation of GCG in China as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate the effect of GCG on THOS firms' environmental performance and its potential mechanisms. The main findings are reported as follows. Firstly, the promulgation of GCG significantly improves the THOS firms' environmental performance. Secondly, after dividing the firms' environmental performance into the environmental strengths and concerns, the policy effect is stronger on environmental strengths that focus on process control. Thirdly, the firms' environmental performance improvement effect of the GCG is mainly achieved by promoting green innovation and exacerbating financing constraints. Finally, the improvement effect of the GCG on firms' environmental performance is more pronounced in firms with weaker external monitoring, environmental information disclosure and lower capital dependence.

Potential water reuse pathways from a life cycle analysis perspective in the poultry industry

Achieving sustainable water use in the food industry requires a paradigm change and transforming it towards circularity by exploring opportunities for water reuse. Life Cycle Assessment can comprehensively evaluate the environmental impacts of the water management and reuse options throughout their life cycle to ensure improvement of environmental performance. Through the example of a poultry processing plant it was shown that improving wastewater treatment technology can reduce the metal depletion category by almost 30 % by cutting down chemical use by 90 %. Further mitigation of environmental damage could be achieved by either choosing technological or agricultural reuse options depending on the needs or local constraints. While the improvement is not massive since the implementation of additional technologies require further resources, the Reduce scenario (technological reuse with 50 % reduction of water consumption) compared to the direct discharge into a surface water body resulted a decrease of 11.0 % and 17.1 % in freshwater consumption and 7.6 % and 2.6 % in metal depletion units. On the contrary, irrigation is better than technological reuse with regard to human health and resource scarcity indicators. Legislative requirements and social acceptance issues might slow down the process of closing the loop in the water management of the food industry; nonetheless results show that opting for water reuse is an environmentally sound solution even in this sector.

Decreasing environmental footprints of dairy production systems through optimization of feed rations and origins

Environmental impacts of livestock production systems are a global concern, because of the large greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) losses associated with feed production and livestock rearing. These losses are in part related to the system of livestock production and their feed rations and feed origin. This study aims to investigate the economic and environmental impacts of optimizing feed configurations of dairy farms in Inner Mongolia (China), using data from farm surveys, life cycle assessments and linear optimization programming. The findings of our study reveal that feed optimization may lower carbon footprints by 36–44%, nitrogen footprints by 35–42%, and phosphorus footprints by 42–71%, compared to the baseline. The need for cropland decreased by 11–38% per kilogram of milk, feed costs decreased by 15–48%, and net profit increased by 39–129%. Further, we found a statistically significant negative correlation between environmental footprints and feed self-sufficiency of dairy farms. Notably, energy-rich feeds, silage maize, and grass should be grown on-farm. These findings underscore the potential of adjusting feed rations and origin to decrease environmental footprints and enhance net profits of dairy farms. However, we observed several barriers to widespread adoption of optimal feed rations and origin, which relate to land scarcity, high land rental costs, and lack of trust and cooperation with nearby arable farms. Our research provides a scientific foundation for optimizing feed rations and origins for diverse dairy systems to achieve improved environmental and economic performance.