Environmental Performance Standards Research Articles

Financing a mega LNG project and ‘raising the bar' in securing a social licence to operate

A significant part of the development funds for the INPEX-operated Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) Project comes from a record-breaking US$20 billion project financing package, which involves commitments from eight export credit agencies and over 24 global banks. Due to the scale and complexity of the project and the size of the investment, there is a high level of ongoing scrutiny by the project’s lenders with a particular focus on social and environmental performance. Financing from lenders demanded extra requirements to obtain and maintain the project’s social licence. This included a commitment to ensure the project’s plans for managing environmental and social issues met additional obligations, including International Finance Corporation’s Environmental and Social Performance Standards. While these extra commitments posed some challenges, they have also supported INPEX and the project to improve its approach in engaging and working with local communities, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, in the areas in which the project operates. The auditing of these requirements also provided independent and objective performance reviews that have supported INPEX and the project to continuously improve performance. The requirements have also encouraged INPEX to engage effectively and more openly with stakeholders to further develop and deepen positive and trusted relationships with key stakeholders. Through delivering on commitments to lenders, INPEX has raised the bar, to deliver higher standards of social performance. This has reaffirmed the Company’s commitment to community and social engagement and strengthened our performance within Australia, by adopting best practice approaches.

Effectiveness of 5S Practices

Problem statement: 5S practice is one of the techniques to improve quality environment, health and safety at the workplace. Evaluation of 5S practice can be done through implementation of 5S audit at each division in the company. Approach: Through 5S audit, it enables each company to identify the potential level of quality improvement and at the same time can analyze their ability and weakness of each division in the company. Therefore, in order to assess the implementation of 5S practice, two manufacturing companies were involved in this study. Results: The study started with understanding background of the company, recognizing divisions to be assessed in the company and come out with the complete 5S checklist for each division for auditing process. Based on the result, both companies basically perform an excellent 5S practice, but there are a few weaknesses that still need to be considered such as arrangement of the documents, tool and equipment. Conclusion/Recommendations: Moreover, both companies agreed that the 5S practice is seen as an effective technique that can improve housekeeping, environmental performance, health and safety standards in their workplace. However, effort and participation from top management is a key factor that determines the success of the 5S practice.

The Social Framework for Projects: a conceptual but practical model to assist in assessing, planning and managing the social impacts of projects

The Social Framework for Projects assists in understanding, assessing, planning and managing the social issues associated with big projects, such as those leading to the resettlement or displacement of people. The Framework was iteratively developed by assessing existing models (e.g. Sustainable Livelihoods Approach of the UK Department for International Development; the Impoverishment Risks and Reconstruction model of Michael Cernea; the Capability Approach of Amartya Sen; Asset Based Community Development and other capitals-based approaches), reflecting on our practical experience in large projects, and on the basis of input and feedback from a wide range of stakeholders. It was designed to be compatible with the International Finance Corporation’s environmental and social performance standards and international best practice. It consists of 8 key social and environmental categories which address all the issues that contribute to people’s well-being and the social sustainability of projects, namely: people’s capacities, abilities and freedoms to achieve their goals; community/social supports and political context; livelihood assets and activities; culture and religion; infrastructure and services; housing and business structures; land and natural resources; and the living environment. The Framework is a conceptual model, a practical methodology and a communications tool to ensure that the process of mitigating negative social impacts and enhancing the benefits of large projects is effective and accessible to all stakeholders.

Waste management of health services: a study on the situation in the Brazilian hospital sector

In spite of the arising benefits of voluntary certificate, the adoption of environmental management systems is associated with external and internal barrier and hospitals usually have a reactive behaviour towards the environmental regulations. The study aims to analyse the contribution of environmental regulations for the healthcare waste management procedure (HCWMP) through a bibliometric survey of theses and dissertations available in the Brazilian digital library of theses and dissertations in the period of 2007-2012. As a result, 14 dissertations and three theses with a predominance of single case studies of qualitative and quantitative research were obtained. Regarding the main flaws in HCWMP, it can be highlighted that the authors reported the lack of employees' environmental training as one of the main problems. In conclusion, the contribution of environmental regulations enforced in healthcare establishments for the establishment of standards of issuance and performance, it is noted that even though a great majority of establishments show HCWMPs, a significant improvement was not obtained for the environmental quality and performance standards which is one of the objectives of these instruments once healthcare units show problems in all of the stages described and regulated by the current legislation.

Coupling Nitrogen Removal and Anaerobic Digestion for Energy Recovery from Swine Waste Through Nitrification/Denitrification

Abstract As a major swine-producing state, North Carolina (United States) has adopted incentives for energy recovery from swine waste and environmental performance standards for new swine facilities. However, there are no treatment performance requirements for existing farms; therefore, management of swine waste in open lagoons with spray irrigation for disposal is nearly universal in North Carolina. Emissions of nitrogen to the atmosphere and the landscape from large industrial swine farms have led to concerns over the impact on environmental quality and human health. Accordingly, there has been increasing interest in developing alternate treatment methods for swine waste, including methods that allow for energy recovery. To evaluate the technical feasibility and limitations of coupling biological nitrogen removal with anaerobic digestion of swine waste for energy recovery, we operated a pilot nitrification/denitrification system at an 8,000-head finishing farm already practicing full-scale anaerobic dig...

The Australian Engineering Construction Sector: shifting environmental values and practices

Whilst many studies have examined environmental attitudes and practices in the broader construction industry, few have done so specifically in the context of the Australian Engineering Construction Sector (AECS) including national infrastructure projects. This paper aims to extend the knowledge base on environmental culture in construction, specifically on non-building projects. It seeks to demonstrate how the sector is shifting in response to global environmental concern and how this is reflected in the value systems and work practices for non-building projects. The study presents a conceptual model to illustrate how organisations can achieve high standards of environmental performance supported by value systems and work practices. A representative organisation in the sector is assessed against key criteria regarding environmental values and practices. Finally, the paper identifies possibilities for further case study analysis to develop a strategic model for environmental performance in the AECS.

From neighbors to future generations: we are all together! On integration in impact assessment practice

Impact assessment (IA) practice unfolded into several branches. Concerns that the proliferation of assessment types may impair effectiveness and nurture arguments detracting its qualities are voiced and result in calls for integration. This paper responds to the argument that integration could be achieved through better scoping. Additional evidence of specialization is provided while the Environmental and Social Performance Standards adopted by the International Finance Corporation are commented as an integrative approach to IA. Obstacles to better scoping are discussed.

A 101 Second Clip to Create Change: Palm Oil Role Play

This case examines a case of ’targeted social activism’ aimed at a company with high brand value and a growing reputation for responsible business. It uses a revealing case linked to a role play that involves two rounds to illustrate the tactics, challenges and managerial choices that arise when a company is subject to ‘targeted social activism’ by an NGO. In the past social activism has been targeted on companies with low standards of social and environmental behaviour or performance, and on ‘green-wash’ on companies with inconsistencies between policies and practice. This case is rather different. It looks at a company targeted precisely because of its brand and growing reputation and position linked to responsibility, where this is used to leverage the targeted company’s power to bring about change in other organisations in a supply-chain and the field – the field is Indonesian palm oil industry. In round 1 the case deals with the multiple perspectives and complex managerial issues raised by this campaign for five organisations with commercial and other interests in the use of palm oil. The case places students in a situation where they have to understand the complex environmental, social and organisational issues. It provides opportunities for students to develop an appreciation for making decisions in complex settings, where economic analysis is subordinated to situations informed more by the interpretation on business principles. These outcomes provide a context to round 2 where students have to consider what the targeted company – Nestlé will do in response to the targeted campaign. The case provides a very real and challenging introduction to many contemporary aspects of corporate responsibility and sustainability in companies and management practice.

CAFOs and Environmental Justice: The Case of North Carolina

On the coastal plain of eastern North Carolina, families in certain rural communities daily must deal with the piercing, acrid odor of hog manure—reminiscent of rotten eggs and ammonia—wafting from nearby industrial hog farms. On bad days, the odor invades homes, and people are often forced to cover their mouths and noses when stepping outside. Sometimes, residents say, a fine mist of manure sprinkles nearby homes, cars, and even laundry left on the line to dry.1 Today’s industrial-scale farms—called concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)—house thousands of animals whose waste is periodically applied to “spray fields” of Bermuda grass or feed crops.2,3 The waste can contain pathogens, heavy metals, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria,4,5 and the spray can reach nearby homes and drinking water sources. The odor plume, which often pervades nearby communities, contains respiratory and eye irritants including hydrogen sulfide and ammonia.6,7,8 A growing body of research suggests these emissions may contribute not only to mucosal irritation9 and respiratory ailments10 in nearby residents but also decreased quality of life,11 mental stress,12,13 and elevated blood pressure.14 The home of a minority family in Kenansville, North Carolina, situated next to a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO. Dust, odors, and manure from CAFOs can reach nearby residents’ homes, including their laundry. Although the Midwest is the traditional home for hogs, with Iowa still the top-producing state, North Carolina went from fifteenth to second in hog production between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s.15 This explosive growth resulted in thousands of CAFOs located in the eastern half of the state—squarely in the so-called Black Belt, a crescent-shaped band throughout the South where slaves worked on plantations.16,17 After emancipation many freed slaves continued to work as sharecroppers and tenant farmers. A century later, black residents of this region still experience high rates of poverty, poor health care, low educational attainment, unemployment, and substandard housing.18,19 The clustering of North Carolina’s hog CAFOs in low-income, minority communities—and the health impacts that accompany them—has raised concerns of environmental injustice and environmental racism.20 As one pair of investigators explained, “[P]eople of color and the poor living in rural communities lacking the political capacity to resist are said to shoulder the adverse socio-economic, environmental, or health related effects of swine waste externalities without sharing in the economic benefits brought by industrialized pork production.”21 Although North Carolina is not the only area with environmental justice concerns vis-a-vis CAFOs, it has become one of the best studied.

As if God existed: religion and liberty in the history of Italy

Develtere spends almost no time discussing the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in alleviating poverty. He cites the case of Repsol as the role model for appropriate transnational corporate (TNC) behavior. Tell that to President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina, who nationalized Repsol’s YPF SA in April 2012 and the late President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who on July 24, 2012, threatened Repsol against taking any action against Argentina. I would emphasize that foreign direct investment provides tax revenues and job creation! A quick look at the World Investment Report 2012 reveals the positive impact of the $1.5 trillion in FDI that took place in 2011: $904 billion were greenfield projects of which developing and transition countries received 55 percent, sub-Saharan Africa received $37 billion, Latin American received $211 billion, and LDCs received $33.3 billion. Foreign affiliates of TNCs support 69 million jobs. Transnational corporations have signed Corporate Social Responsibility Codes and set supplier codes for Social and Environmental performance standards. I could go on. Overall, the book is worth a read. I would also suggest that his next edition include a subject index.

Sustainable Wood Procurement: What the Literature Tells Us

Wood procurement teams in the forest products industry must simultaneously meet the raw material cost, quality, and volume requirements of their firms while accounting for long-term raw material sustainability and satisfying environmental performance standards. This study synthesizes 208 published studies on forest operations efficiency and environmental improvements to (1) specify applicable forest operations costs and environmental savings, (2) highlight areas of synergy between operational efficiency gains/cost savings and environmental improvements, and (3) identify critical gaps in the existing literature to help prioritize future research. This research synthesis highlights several areas of operational and environmental synergies related to forest harvesting, log transportation, and the storage of wood raw materials. In comparing research across topics and US regions, this study specified “practical“ and “relevance“ tests for identifying key research gaps. Areas identified for additional research were specific questions related to biomass harvesting and trucking logistics.

Development of Environmental Thresholds for Streams in Agricultural Watersheds

Global increases in consumption of chemical nutrients, application of pesticides, and water withdrawal to enhance agricultural yield have resulted in degraded water quality and reduced water availability. Efforts to safeguard or improve environmental conditions of agroecosystems have usually focused on managing on-farm activities to reduce materials loss and conserve habitat. Another management measure for improving environmental quality is adoption of environmental performance standards (also called outcome-based standards). This special collection of six papers presents the results of four years of research to devise scientifically credible approaches for setting environmental performance standards to protect water quantity and quality in Canadian agriculturally dominated watersheds. The research, conducted as part of Canada's National Agri-Environmental Standards Initiative, aimed to identify Ideal Performance Standards (the desired environmental state needed to maintain ecosystem health) and Achievable Performance Standards (the environmental conditions achievable using currently available and recommended best available processes and technologies). Overviews of the papers, gaps in knowledge, and future research directions are presented. As humans, livestock, and wildlife (both terrestrial and aquatic) experience greater pressures to share the same limited water resources, innovative research is needed that incorporates a landscape perspective, economics, farm practices, and ecology to advance the development and application of tools for protecting water resources in agricultural watersheds.

Application of nitrogen and phosphorus criteria for streams in agricultural landscapes

Efforts to control eutrophication of water resources in agriculturally dominated ecosystems have focused on managing on-farm activities to reduce nutrient loss; however, another management measure for improving water quality is adoption of environmental performance criteria (or 'outcome-based standards'). Here, we review approaches for setting environmental quality criteria for nutrients, summarize approaches developed in Canada for setting 'ideal' and 'achievable' nutrient criteria for streams in agricultural watersheds, and consider how such criteria could be applied. As part of a 'National Agri-Environmental Standards Initiative', the Government of Canada committed to the development of non-regulatory environmental performance standards that establish total P (TP) and total N (TN) concentrations to protect ecological condition of agricultural streams. Application of four approaches for defining ideal standards using only chemistry data resulted in values for TP and TN spanning a relatively narrow range of concentrations within a given ecoregion. Cross-calibration of these chemically derived standards with information on biological condition resulted in recommendations for TP and TN that would likely protect aquatic life from adverse effects of eutrophication. Non-point source water quality modelling was then conducted in a specific watershed to estimate achievable standards, i.e. chemical conditions that could be attained using currently available and recommended management practices. Our research showed that, taken together, short-term achievable standards and ultimate ideal standards could be used to set policy targets that should, if realized, lower N and P concentrations in Canadian agricultural streams and improve biotic condition.

Promoting ecological sustainable planning for natural stone quarrying. The case of the Orosei Marble Producing Area in Eastern Sardinia

This paper presents an analysis of the main environmental impact factors (noise, vibration, fumes, dust, vehicle traffic) associated with marble quarrying and processing in the Orosei industrial area and their effects. Solutions are also proposed to prevent, mitigate and, where possible, eliminate the impact on the environment. Using three-dimensional topographic models, the authors simulated quarry and industrial processing development, with projections over the next 10, 30 and 50 years. The aim of these simulations was to establish land management planning guidelines for the optimal and environmentally sustainable development of the Orosei Marble industrial area. Lastly, careful quarry development planning is important both for enhancing LCA and for improving production processes through sustainable technologies that yield green label products meeting environmental performance standards.

The landscape infrastructure footprint of oil development: Venezuela's heavy oil belt

Oil exploration and production activities (OEPA) and other extractive endeavors can create large-scale and permanent landscape alterations through the establishment of infrastructure features such as roads, well pads, pipelines and production facilities. These structures can lead to or increase landscape fragmentation and degradation, reduce biodiversity, disrupt important ecosystem services and attract informal settlements that further alter the landscape, deplete area resources and lead to social conflict. Aside from regulatory standards, many energy (oil and gas) companies include voluntary environmental performance as part of their sustainability reporting. However, they do not account for these site-specific alterations in a systematic, quantifiable and transparent way. This paper proposes a calculation of a modified Landscape Infrastructure Footprint (LIF) of OEPA based on landscape ecology metrics measured via GIS and remote sensing techniques. Three Venezuelan heavy oil belt (HOB) operations were examined with reference to the years 1990 and 2000. Results indicate that Ameriven displayed the smallest LIF. Newer technologies, best practices, land cover, competing economic interests and type of management may explain observed alterations.LIF methods provide four important benefits. First, they can help to reduce surface disturbances by informing planning practices in current as well as in new projects. Second, they fortify environmental reporting by providing objective measures of environmental performance tied to extractive activities. Third, by including LIF in their sustainability practices, extractive industries can improve their competitive advantage. Finally, the LIF helps create a set of transparent environmental performance standards that industry and regulators can adopt in order to measure and monitor landscape alterations resulting from extractive activities.

Implementation of 5S Practices in the Manufacturing Companies: A Case Study

Problem statement: 5S practice is one of the techniques to improve qua lity environment, health and safety at the workplace. Evaluation of 5 S practice can be done through implementation of 5S audit at each division in the company. Approach: Through 5S audit, it enables each company to identify the potential level of quality improvement and at the same time can analyze their ability and weakness of each division in the company. Therefore, in order to assess the implementation of 5S practice, two manufacturing companies were involved in this study. Results: The study started with understanding background of the company, recognizing divisions to be assessed in the company and come out with the complete 5S checklist for each di vision for auditing process. Based on the result, both companies basically perform an excellent 5S pr actice, but there are a few weaknesses that still need to be considered such as arrangement of the do cuments, tool and equipment. Conclusion/Recommendations: Moreover, both companies agreed that the 5S pract ice is seen as an effective technique that can improve housekeeping, environmental performance, health and safety standards in their workplace. However, effort and p articipation from top management is a key factor that determines the success of the 5S practice.

Multicriteria Review of Nonpoint Source Water Quality Models for Nutrients, Sediments, and Pathogens

Abstract There now exists a large number of nonpoint source models that have been developed for watershed management issues. As part of the National Agri-Environmental Standards Initiative (NAESI), it was necessary to evaluate which model or models would be the best choice for examining various best management practices for nutrients, sediments, and pathogens in test watersheds. Environment Canada has committed to the development of environmental performance standards that will guide environmentally sustainable agricultural practices and management. A literature review was carried out and a short list of 13 models was selected that met the basic needs of the project. These models were subsequently evaluated based on a multicriteria analysis that considered 21 model characteristics. A weight and a total score quantify the relative importance of each criterion. The top six models were SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool), AnnAGNPS (Annualized Agricultural Nonpoint Source), BASINS (Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources), GIBSI (Gestion Intégrée des Bassins versants á l'aide d'un Systéme Informatisé), AGNPS (Agricultural Nonpoint Source), and HSPF (Hydrologic Simulation Program - Fortran).

Using Material Flow Analysis for Sustainable Materials Management

Using Material Flow Analysis for Sustainable Materials Management

Are We Missing the Boat? Collaborative Solutions for North American Fish Wars

Are We Missing the Boat? Collaborative Solutions for North American Fish Wars

US and international policies affecting liquid biofuels' expansion and profitability

US and International Policies Affecting Liquid Biofuels' Expansion and Profitability. Biofuel expansion and profitability is driven by more than just biofuel policy. While direct policies such as subsidies and mandates are analysed, issues such as exchange rates, the blending wall, land use, and indirect greenhouse gas impacts, as well as petroleum prices, greatly affect biofuels' expansion and profitability. The linkage between petroleum prices, ethanol prices and corn prices can be broken when ethanol supplies hit the blending wall. Finally, environmental product performance standards as a condition for renewable standards/subsidies may be an effective mechanism to meet environmental concerns.