Changing Policy Environment Research Articles

Environmental investment is a powerful "support" for the progressive and sustainable growth of the post-pandemic economy of Russia

The objective need for environmental investment to overcome the reproduction of anti-sustainable environmental trends in the modern Russian economy and its post-pandemic recovery is substantiated. Environmental investments that meet the criteria of the global ESG agenda are positioned as responsible in their essence and transformative in their functional role. Original scientific judgments are presented on the impact of such investments on the dynamics and intensity of "green" innovations (new technologies, production processes, supply chains capable of solving issues of waste processing and industrial reproduction of raw materials from waste resources, as well as the use of alternative energy sources, etc.), which are able to generate long-term and sustainable growth of aggregate factor productivity (TFP) and ensure the radical transformations of the economic system associated with the formation of a "green" circular economy. Regressive models (growth curves) have been constructed for the current domestic economy, taking into account the volume of environmental investment, confirming the hypothesis of the "weakness" of this process in the Russian Federation, including due to the lack of significant changes in the state environmental policy. The minimum necessary economic tools of the state policy in the field of stimulating environmental investment in Russia have been formed in order to post-pandemic recovery of its economy and ensure long-term sustainable growth of TFP. The conducted research makes a certain contribution to the development of the theory of endogenous economic growth by taking into account the impact of environmental investment, which is initially focused on the effective use of natural capital, on the maximum involvement of waste resources in economic turnover, the replacement of traditional production technologies with environmentally friendly or low-carbon, the improvement of ecosystems, the production potential of the economy, the quality of the environment and social changes.

Neighbor interactions and settlement intentions of African Migrants in urban China: A case study of Guangzhou

AbstractThe presence of African migrants in Chinese cities has attracted extensive scholarly interest. While several studies have noticed a decline in the population of African migrants in Guangzhou along with the recent changes of policies on immigration control, the present study casts new light to the currently remaining African migrants in Guangzhou who are less susceptible to the strict immigration control measures and are more likely to be socially included due to the recent favorable policies. It attempts to investigate what factors can further motivate their willingness to stay permanently in the city, and draws attention to the effects of neighbor interactions given their importance for the African communities in China as recently uncovered. Empirical data on 468 respondents were derived from a questionnaire survey conducted in the Xiaobei area of Guangzhou. Through descriptive and multivariate analyses of the determinants of settlement intentions, the present study finds that neighbor interactions affect the settlement intentions of the two major groups of African migrants, namely overseas students and businessmen, in quite different ways. Better affective neighbor relations are conducive to stronger settlement intentions for businessmen, while such an effect is found insignificant for the overseas students. The present study contributes new insights to the literature on settlement intentions by highlighting the importance of neighborhood supporting systems. It also has the potential to encourage new avenues for further research on the settlement intention of foreign populations in urban China, who are confronted with the constantly changing policy environment on immigration control.

Do environmental quality and policy changes affect the evolution of consumers’ intentions to buy new energy vehicles

The decision-making process of car purchase tends to last relatively longer which makes consumers' intention to purchase new energy vehicle may affected by various factors and significantly change. For the first time, we divide consumers’ intention to buy new energy vehicles into three stages, early intention and later intention in the decision-making process and future intention, and then extend the influencing relationships that have been verified from the study of future purchasing intention into these stages. This provides a new perspective for an in-depth understanding of the evolution process and the influence mechanism of purchasing new energy vehicles. Specifically, we collect a data set including 2,565 families with cars and then use the partial least squares structural equation model, to verify the theoretical model. The results show that our model has universal applicability to samples from different regions, indicating that it is stable and can be applied to other regions and countries. Consumers’ willingness to purchase new energy vehicles shows a decreasing trend in the early stages and then rises in the subsequent stages. Although consumers’ cognition of the role of new energy vehicles in environmental governance is biased, it improves consumers’ purchase intention at all stages. Finally, some corresponding policy measures are put forward to promote the further development of new energy vehicles.

How does corporate R&D investment respond to climate policy uncertainty? Evidence from heavy emitter firms in the United States

AbstractThis study explores how climate policy uncertainty (CPU) affects research and development (R&D) investment of heavy emitter firms in the United States during 2000–2019. Our empirical evidence indicates that while CPU exerts a positive impact on R&D investment of general firms, it seems to be a completely different story for heavy emitter firms. After a battery of sensitivity tests, we find a robust negative impact of CPU on R&D investment of heavy emitters, suggesting that those firms play a “wait‐and‐see” strategy in response to changes in environmental policies until more is known to make decisions. However, such behavior is not observed in light emitters. Even among heavy emitters, we show that the impact of CPU is only pronounced in heavy emitters with more technology uncertainty. Further analyses show such an impact varies with management sentiment, managerial ability, and firm maturity. Our findings have implications for policymaking and corporate strategy of heavy emitters in response to CPU.

Impact of COVID-19 on the environment sector: a case study of Central Visayas, Philippines

<abstract> <p>The pandemic has underscored the importance of the environment. In this study, the environmental condition of Central Visayas, Philippines has been assessed and evaluated before and during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to deal with a possible association between the environmental indicators and the pandemic. The relationships between environmental key variables namely: air quality, air pollution, water quality, water pollution, and solid waste management have been quantified. The study utilized secondary data sources from a review of records from government agencies and LGUs in Region 7. This study also provides a framework which is the pandemics and epidemics in environmental aspects. The paper concludes by offering researchers and policymakers to promote changes in environmental policies and provide some recommendations for adequately controlling future pandemic and epidemic threats in Central Visayas, Philippines.</p> </abstract>

Examining the framing patterns of environmental issues: Episodic and thematic analysis of Pakistani and British news stories

Practice and applicability of environmental journalism accelerate changes in environmental policy, foster environmental awareness amongst the public and encourage environmentalism in the society. Reporting news in episodic instead of thematic manner is imperative in altering the public narrative regarding environment as well as providing assistance for significant decision making, to concerned stakeholders for better policy formation. The comparative design of this study utilized quantitative content analysis to examines framing approach of Pakistani and British environmental news stories. Using simple random sampling technique total (n=1139) environmental news stories analysed from all four newspapers since 2007 to 2016-time period. The findings indicate the contrast among four newspapers of two countries (Dawn & Nation) from Pakistani print media however (Guardian & Telegraph) from Great Britain identify the divergent framing characteristics of Pakistani and British environmental news stories with thematic and episodic preferences. Guardian and Telegraph framed thematic news stories focusing on structural attributions while Dawn and Nation news stories evoke individualistic attributions with episodic frames. In spite of media’s regular journalistic practice of featuring episodic news stories still communicators can shift their professional approach by learning the construction of persuasive thematic environmental news stories for bigger social change.

ASSESSMENT OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON INDUSTRIAL WASTE MANAGEMENT WITHIN LAKE NATIONAL PARK AND ITS ENVIRONS

Lake Nakuru National Park is choking of solid and liquid waste pollutants emanating from upstream more so during the windy and rainy seasons. Due to the nature of terrains, most of the flashflood water and the drainage system find its way to the lake. The strong winds from the upper area of the town collect waste which ends up on top of the forest trees around the lake. Further, at times the sewer system bursts and discharges the raw sewer to the park. These unfortunate incidences lead to damage or destruction of the ecosystem that has been protected over the years. The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of Corporate Social Responsibility on Industrial Waste Management within Nakuru Environs and Lake National Park. The study adopted Stakeholders and Institutional theories for its study. A sample of 55 employees of Lake Nakuru National Park and 15 Community Business Leaders were used for the study. Primary data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedule. It was established that an effective industrial waste management practices on the environment has positive economic effects for businesses prosperity, flora and fauna conservation as well as a sustainable environmental. Environmental conservation awareness trainings for most businesses had been undertaken. Most of the business people held some sense of responsibility on managing waste as they conduct their businesses but the issue mainly lies on the part of the consumer’s disposal of packaging materials. Consumers were also becoming increasingly aware, sensitive and alive to the fact that a clean and safe environment is important. The emerging model shows the need to shift from the traditional 3Rs to 5Rs, owing to changes in national environmental policies, which emphasis on the use of Repackaging of products in terms of quality management, and reduce as additional waste management practices, thus, a shift from the 3Rs to 5Rs. The study recommended that the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources should mobilize financial, technical and physical resources for building the capacity of the local community, and the business community towards effective industrial waste management. There should be strict compliance to industrial waste management policies by all stakeholders. Emphasis on the 5R’S from the marketing perspective was also recommended. This way, waste will be minimized and the environment will be conserved. The recommendations will be beneficial to the County Government, the Business Community as well as the Park Management. It can also assist the National government in formulating policies that can assist in addressing issues to do with environmental concerns and management. KEY WORDS: Corporate Social Responsibility, Industrial Waste Management, Environmental Education Programs, Waste Management Infrastructure, Recycling

Educators’ Perceptions of Immigration Policy Implications on Their Schools: A Mixed-Methods Exploration

Background/Context: This article draws from a larger study focused on how recent immigration policies have influenced school districts across the United States and how educators have responded to support their immigrant-origin students. Scholars have found that immigration policy powerfully shapes the lives of many immigrant youth in multiple ways. Since the 2016 election, increasingly restrictive immigrant policies have had troubling consequences for immigrant-origin youth and their families. Although researchers have found schools to be crucial contexts for immigrant-origin youth, there is a need for additional research on how educators serving immigrant-origin youth are making sense of recent immigration policies and their implications for schools. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: Focusing on data from one school district in Illinois, we explored educators’ perceptions of the implications of immigration policies on their schools along with the factors that influence their perceptions. Our research question was as follows: “What factors influence how educators perceive immigration policy implications on their schools, and how do these factors influence educators’ perceptions?” Research Design: We used an explanatory sequential design in a mixed-methods approach to data collection and analysis. We began the study by collecting and analyzing quantitative data. We then collected and analyzed qualitative data with the intent of explaining and expanding on the quantitative results. We took this two-phased approach because we wanted to see if there were factors that significantly influenced educators’ perceptions of immigration policy implications from a larger data set provided through survey results. Findings/Results: According to the quantitative analysis, White educators in nonteaching roles who had a high sense of responsibility to respond to the political climate were more likely to report an impact of immigration policies and rhetoric in their schools. The qualitative data supported the patterns shown by the regression results and highlighted one more influencing factor not captured by the survey data. Conclusions/Recommendations: This article contributes to research in immigration and education by taking a deeper look at educators’ perceptions of immigration policy implications and the factors affecting those perceptions. In a sociopolitical context with a legacy of anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric, it is important to become more aware of educators’ perceptions of immigration because those perceptions greatly influence how educators understand and interact with their immigrant-origin students. Immigrant-origin students need more support in an uncertain and changing policy environment, and as researchers, we must work with practitioners to bring more awareness to how our own perceptions can shape our actions.

Teachers’ Organizations Responses to COVID-19 in Canada: Balancing Resistance, Rapprochement, and Renewal

Teacher federations are often criticized as “roadblocks” to educational change. It is arguable, however, that their advocacy work has been paramount in securing safer return to school conditions across Canadian Educational jurisdictions. Utilizing Carter et al. (2010) framework of union responses to changing policy environments, this paper draws on publicly available documents and social media posts from March through to October of 2020 to examine the ways in which teacher unions in various Canadian contexts have responded to the issue of school reopening plans amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the paper analyzes the extent to which Canadian teacher unions have been able to move into the realm of union renewal as a means of building internal capacity and developing external networks to strengthen their public advocacy work.

Advanced NO<sub>2</sub> retrieval technique for the Brewer spectrophotometer applied to the 20-year record in Rome, Italy

Abstract. A re-evaluated data set of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) column densities over Rome for the years 1996 to 2017 is here presented. This long-term record is obtained from ground-based direct sun measurements with a MkIV Brewer spectrophotometer (serial number #067) and further reprocessed using a novel algorithm. Compared to the original Brewer algorithm, the new method includes updated NO2 absorption cross sections and Rayleigh scattering coefficients, and it accounts for additional atmospheric compounds and instrumental artefacts, such as the spectral transmittance of the filters, the alignment of the wavelength scale, and internal temperature. Moreover, long-term changes in the Brewer radiometric sensitivity are tracked using statistical methods for in-field calibration. The resulting series presents only a few (about 30) periods with missing data longer than 1 week and features NO2 retrievals for more than 6100 d, covering nearly 80 % of the considered 20-year period. The high quality of the data is demonstrated by two independent comparisons. In the first intensive campaign, Brewer #067 is compared against another Brewer (#066), recently calibrated at the Izaña Atmospheric Observatory through the Langley method and there compared to reference instrumentation from the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC). Data from this campaign show a highly significant Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.90 between the two series of slant column densities (SCDs), slope 0.98 and offset 0.05 DU (Dobson units; 1.3×1015 molec.cm-2). The average bias between the vertical column densities is 0.03 DU (8.1×1014 molec.cm-2), well within the combined uncertainty of both instruments. Brewer #067 is also independently compared with new-generation instrumentation, a co-located Pandora spectrometer (#117), over a 1-year-long period (2016–2017) at Sapienza University of Rome, showing linear correlation indices above 0.96 between slant column densities, slope of 0.97, and offset of 0.02 DU (5.4×1014 molec.cm-2). The average bias between vertical column densities is negligible (−0.002 DU or -5.4×1013 molec.cm-2). This, incidentally, represents the first intercomparison of NO2 retrievals between a MkIV Brewer and a Pandora instrument. Owing to its accuracy and length, the Brewer data set collected in Rome can be useful for satellite calibration/validation exercises, comparison with photochemical models, and better aerosol optical depth estimates (NO2 optical depth climatology). In addition, it can be employed to identify long-term trends in NO2 column densities in a metropolitan environment, over two decades witnessing important changes in environmental policies, emission loads and composition, and the effect of a worldwide economic recession, to offer just a few examples. The method can be replicated on the more than 80 MkIV spectrophotometers operating worldwide in the frame of the international Brewer network. The NO2 data set described in this paper can be freely accessed at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4715219 (Diémoz and Siani, 2021).

Productivity, changes and resilience in New Zealand grassland agriculture over the last three decades

This paper discusses key changes in New Zealand pastoral agriculture over the last three decades at the national scale, and how these have influenced the performance of grasslands, animal productivity, and the resilience of pastoral livestock systems. It assesses the positive and negative impacts of land-use change, changes in pasture production and supplementary feeding and dry matter (DM) consumed, and the key management practices implemented by farmers to enhance farm system resilience. It also notes environmental and other policy changes and examines how sectors and Government have started to respond. The largest estimated increase in DM consumed by livestock from 1990 to 2018 was from increased supplementary feed in the dairy sector. The largest estimated decline in DM production was due to pasture-land conversion to planted forests, followed by weed and pest impacts. In 2018, the dairy sector consumed the most DM at an estimated 25.0M t/yr, followed by sheep at 16.6M t/yr and beef at 10.1M t/yr. The total consumed DM in 2018 was 51.9 M t/yr which corresponds well with the independently estimated national pasture DM production of 64M t/yr. The environmental impacts of managements to enhance resilience in DM availability are becoming evident and future regulations may limit the extent some of these practices can expand.

The Evolution of India's Environmental Policy

Environmental policies are influenced by a multitude of factors and determine how environmental resources are accessed, apportioned, consumed, conserved and governed. Using existing literature, the paper tracks the evolution of India's environmental policy post-independence. We discuss the key milestones in the country's environmental journey and their drivers. We found that India's environmental policy took shape in the 1970s and 1980s when environmental obligations were included in the constitution and federal laws were framed. It led to the creation of an extensive protected area network, albeit by overlooking the needs of the forest dwellers. In the 1990s, the judiciary innovated by creating space for civil society to take up environmental issues and played an active role. This period also saw a gradual shift towards participatory natural resource management and collaboration between the state and the civil society. However, by the early 21st century this bonhomie weakened when civil society successfully secured the tenurial rights of the forest dwellers. The last decade has seen a weakening of participatory forest management, a shift towards re-centralization, and a relentless tussle between a strong state and a resilient civil society. The key influencing factors of environmental policy change were discerned as international diplomacy, political leadership, judicial activism, civil society advocacy and environmental disasters.

Sustainability and legitimacy theory: The case of sustainable social and environmental practices of small and medium‐sized enterprises

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to identify and gain insights into small and medium‐sized enterprises' (SMEs) rationales (why) for engaging in sustainable social and environmental practices (SEPs) that influence social and environmental policy and sustainability changes. Specifically, we depart from the predominately quantitative‐orientated SEPs literature by conducting in‐depth interviews and analysis of owners and managers of SMEs in the United Kingdom within a legitimacy theoretical framework. Our findings from a comprehensive number of interviewees show that SMEs employ a complex mix of both symbolic and substantive SEPs with the aim of enhancing the legitimacy and sustainability of their operations. The results emphasise the strengths of social engagement, reputation and image, environmental embeddedness, industry differentiation and education facilitators. In particular, the paper shows that legitimating strategies can have a dual purpose of being symbolic in nature but also inferring a substantive legitimacy claim. Evidence of SMEs maintaining their legitimacy position stretches further via either a moral and/or a pragmatic standpoint.

Creative Learning and Policy Ideas: The Global Rise of Green Growth

AbstractIdeas play an important role in policy change. Theories of policy change, including rational and bounded learning, bracket what needs to be explained: the creation of new ideas. We develop a theory of creative learning in international organizations (IOs). It posits that IO officials respond to new problems and state practices by creating novel concepts and policy ideas. New ideas help officials to manage multiple pressures in their organization’s strategic situation. They enable officials to mediate principal demands while seeking to mobilize client states. We theorize three modes of creative learning that generate new ideas:conceptual combination,translation, andrepurposing. Empirically, we explain a major change in global environmental policy: the rise of green growth ideas among major IOs, including the OECD, the UN, and the World Bank. Green growth ideas include new arguments drawn from Keynesian and Schumpeterian economics, which claim that environmental policies can drive economic growth. We show how these ideas were a creative response to the problem of climate change and emerging state interventions in support of clean energy. Our theory of creative learning applies beyond IOs to domestic politics and takes on added significance in times of transformative change that challenge the scripts of policymaking.

Which industries benefited from Trump environmental policy news? Evidence from industrial stock market reactions

We investigate whether election of Donald Trump as the president of the United States of America (the US) and subsequent changes in environmental policies and regulations affected any of the 49 different industry sectors in the US. We analyze 19 different events during Trump’s tenure that were mainly rollbacks of previously created regulations and policies. To analyze stock market effects, an event study methodology is used to assess industry reactions. We assume that Trump loosened environmental regulations and policies to strengthen the US economy. Results show that the lax enforcement of environmental regulations and policies was not effective. Only the coal industry can be considered a beneficiary because it experienced repetitive significant positive abnormal returns, whereas other industries experienced mixed or negative reactions or discontinuous positive reactions. Our results contribute to the extant literature on the US environmental policy within the scope of industry.

European Dairy Farmers’ Perceptions and Responses towards Development Strategies in Years of Turbulent Market and Policy Changes

Farmers operate in a changing market, policy and social environment so questions arise as to how they experience these changes and react in their business orientation. This topic was examined in the period 2011 to 2016 in a strongly fluctuating product market and food policy environment, e.g., abolition of milk quotas in Europe. The study was based on unique panel data for 290 dairy farms in Poland, Slovenia, Lithuania and The Netherlands, questioned up to three times in 2011, 2013 and 2016. The conceptual framework was composed of Farmer goals, Resources, Opportunities and Threats (O&T), and Future expectations (performance) as continuous variables, and countries and strategy farmer groups as categorical variables. Data were analysed applying PCA, ANOVA, cluster and regression analyses. Dairy farmers seemed not to be motivated or educated to take strategic decisions that made the best use of their resources and to take opportunities and mitigate threats to achieve their personal goals. Farmer perceptions were strongly affected by country of origin, local environment and milk price, and less by the strategy group. The market situation is one of the dominant factors affecting the mind-set of farmers in Europe. Future expectations were evaluated highest in 2013 (period with ‘high’ prices), lowest in 2016 (price crisis) and intermediate in 2011 (moderate price period). The large dependence of farmers on the price of their product could be a sensitive issue for politicians, but also food chain members and farmers’ syndicates. They may anticipate a fluctuating attitude of farmers with respect to organisational and institutional plans and implemented measures, depending on the market situation and related policy context.

Impact of particulate matter on the morbidity and mortalityand its assessment of economic costs

Kazakhstan's cities experience high concentrations levels of atmospheric particulate matter (PM), which is well-known for its highly detrimental effect on the human health. A further increase in PM concentrations in the future could lead to a higher air pollution-caused morbidity and mortality, causing an increase in healthcare expenditures by the government. However, to prevent elevated PM concentrations in the future, more stringent standards could be implemented by lowering current maximum allowable PM concentration limit to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s limits. Therefore, this study aims to find out what impact this change in environmental policy towards PM has on state economy in the long run. Future PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were estimated using multiple linear regression based on gross regional product (GRP) and population growth parameters. Dose-response model was based on World Health Organization's approach for the identification of mortality, morbidity and healthcare costs due to air pollution. Analysis of concentrations revealed that only 6 out of 21 cities of Kazakhstan did not exceed the EU limit on PM10 concentration. Changing environmental standards resulted in the 71.7% decrease in mortality and 77% decrease in morbidity cases in all cities compared to the case without changes in environmental policy. Moreover, the cost of morbidity and mortality associated with air pollution decreased by $669 million in 2030 and $2183 million in 2050 in case of implementation of OECD standards. Thus, changing environmental regulations will be beneficial in terms of both of mortality reduction and state budget saving.

On the heterogeneity in consumer preferences for electric vehicles across generations and cities in China

China is currently the world's biggest electric vehicle (EV) market, in which mostly mature consumers in first-tier cities are buying EVs. However, the changing market and policy environment are challenging the sustainability of this trend. This study conducts a nationwide stated preference (SP) experiment in China to examine preference heterogeneity towards EVs across (1) different generations and (2) different tiers of cities. Discrete choice analysis reveals that the tier of cities has a significant effect on adoption preferences for EVs. Surprisingly, consumers in smaller cities exhibit stronger preference for EVs, while an insignificant difference in preference is found between consumers of different generations. The interaction effect between the tier of cities and the generations further demonstrates that younger consumers in small cities most prefer EVs. This can be explained by their evaluations of the psychosocial advantages of EVs and their aspiration for a future of EV-based mobility. This research contributes to the broad literature of technology adoption, but more specifically, the research offers new insights on consumers’ EV preference heterogeneity with respect to geographic and demographic dimensions. The study has important business and policy implications relating to the EV transition in China in consideration of the two tested dimensions.

Strategic foresight for agriculture: Past ghosts, present challenges, and future opportunities

Strategic foresight is systematic means to explore plausible futures. In the agricultural context, strategic foresight allows decision-makers to explore how alternative investments in agriculture research may function given anticipated futures associated with a variety of drivers ranging from climate change to increasing wealth to a changing policy environment. This paper presents an overview and context for six recently published articles in Global Food Security that comprise a virtual special issue on agricultural futures. Each of the papers takes a distinct perspective and addresses key issues from how past trends drive future outcomes to specific commodity systems to issues around employment and rural transformation. While each of the included papers stands on its own merits, the collection presents a unique opportunity to unpack the role of investment in agriculture research from a variety of perspectives. Collectively, the special issue offers insights to support current and future investment planning to better target desired outcomes associated with long-term agricultural research.

Economic growth and environment in the United Kingdom: robust evidence using more than 250 years data

Using a long span of data (from 1751 to 2016), this paper empirically investigates the relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and economic growth (real GDP per capita) in the United Kingdom. The empirical results provide strong support for the existence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in the UK, i.e., an inverted U-shaped relationship between CO2 emissions and economic growth, with turning point estimated around the mid-twentieth century. This turning point corresponds with the introduction of changes in environmental standards and policies, which reflects the regulatory efforts to limit pollution by reducing the discharge of grit into the atmosphere, as well as the decline in the use of coal as source of energy, which reflects the country willingness to ensure the energy transition necessary for sustainable development.