Geographic Jurisdiction Research Articles

Uterine fibroids and Black people of African descent globally: a scoping review protocol.

Evidence suggests that when adjusted for age and other factors such as Body Mass Index, age of first pregnancy, years since last pregnancy and alcohol consumption, Black women are three times more likely to suffer from fibroids compared with the general population. When compared with the general population, Black women experience larger uterine fibroids with an earlier onset and more frequent and severe symptoms debilitating symptoms. Reported symptoms include pelvic pain, bladder issues, and heavy and/or abnormal menstrual bleeding. For Black women in perimenopause or menopause, uterine fibroids are more likely to continue growing rather than slow or cease. To design empirical research that addresses the issue of uterine fibroids among Black people of African descent, it is important to understand the current state of literature on this issue. The objectives of this scoping review are to understand and describe the extent and type of literature available regarding Black people of African descent with uterine fibroids globally, to identify the gaps within existing literature, and to provide recommendations for future research. This scoping review will be conducted in accordance with JBI scoping review methodology and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews Checklist. Eligibility criteria for this review include sources that involve Black people of African descent who have uterine fibroids. This review is global in context and does not include jurisdictional, geographical, regional or study setting restrictions. A comprehensive search strategy developed in collaboration with a health sciences librarian will be used to identify and retrieve relevant peer-reviewed and grey literature. Databases including CINAHL (EBSCO), MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Elsevier), Gender Studies Database (EBSCO), Scopus (Elsevier) and LILACS (VHL) will be searched from inception to January 2024. Unpublished studies and grey literature searches will include The Society for Women's Health Research, Black Women's Health Imperative, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global (ProQuest), Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD.org) and Google search. All relevant sources will be uploaded to Covidence and undergo title and abstract screening by two independent team members. Selected sources will then undergo full-text review by two independent team members. Sources meeting the eligibility criteria will undergo extraction by two independent team members. Thematic analysis will be used to classify the extracted data points into categories according to the purpose or objective of the source, the methods used, the geographical region or jurisdiction of the source, key findings and recommendations. The synthesis of results will align with the review objective and question using charts or tables where necessary. This scoping review does not require ethical approval. Dissemination of the review results includes the publication of a full report in a peer-reviewed journal as well as presenting the review results at local, national and international conferences. The results of the scoping review will also be disseminated through community events and social media using infographics and brochures.

Tukutendereze: Contextualizing Salvation in Kigezi Sub-Region

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to contextualize the concept of salvation among the Anglican Christians in the Kigezi Sub-region. It takes time to investigate whether the salvation that Jesus offers is not enough in solving the Christians’ problems in the Kigezi sub-region and if the subjective theory of salvation that the East African revival movement espoused is relevant to the Bakiga Christians today. Methodology: The researcher employed qualitative research approach. This study was conducted in the geographical jurisdiction of Kigezi Sub-region in the present-day dioceses of Kigezi, North Kigezi, Kinkizi and Muhabura. These were the cradle of revival movement in 1930s. The population for this research was the Bakiga who are the adherents to the Anglican faith in Kigezi Sub-region. the researcher used the purposive sampling technique. The key respondents in total were 8 people who included the surviving members of 1930s and 1950s Revival movement in Kigezi Sub-region, the church leaders and ordinary Christians who are only adherents to Anglican faith. The researcher used the questionnaires and interview guides. The data was analyzed by the researcher in a descriptive way Findings: The study argues that Contextualization is central to any attempt to weave the gospel to cultures together. The context in which theology takes place shapes the form and influences the contents of the theology. All people, whether they realize it or not, are shaped by the culture in which they live. Culture even shapes a person’s reception of the Christian faith. This study asserts that no one ever meets universal Christianity in itself: we only ever meet Christianity in a local form and that means a historically, culturally conditioned form. The study concludes that there is nothing wrong in having local forms of Christianity if we remember that they are local. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommends that, when crisis strikes, believers should not deny the existence and potency of demonic spirits, but they should not yield to them. Instead, believers should affirm their radical commitment to the sovereign Lord. There is need for all Christians to address their cultural postulated reality of crises pastorally with seriousness, sensitivity, and respect.

Exploring French venality in the seventeenth century: Insights from a new database on offices

Venality was the French system of sales of public positions called offices. It was a stable and central institution within the French Old Regime. Though widely studied by historians, the topic lacks large-scale quantitative analysis. In this article, we fill this gap by presenting a novel and comprehensive database of 17th-century French offices, which includes more than 15,000 offices and large information about their characteristics, the institution they depended on, and their geographical jurisdiction. We also propose three quantitative examples of how this database could be used. Following the proposed research agenda, our database could be used for quantitative empirical studies and for multidisciplinary work, including history, political sciences, economics and administration.

Assessing the Quality of Financial Technology Patents Through the Development of a Patent Quality Index for Comparing Jurisdictions, Technical Domains, and Leading Organizations

This article examines the issue of patent quality in the Financial Technology (FinTech) field and proposes a way of assessing patent quality through the development of a patent quality index based on key indicators proposed in the literature. The index uses a sample of 16 387 patents in the FinTech field registered over 20 years to assess the average quality of patents. To illustrate the utility of the index, the 1) top geographic jurisdictions, 2) top technical domains, and 3) leading organizations were analyzed to map out patterns of intellectual property registration and protection. This article provides significant insights on leading patent jurisdictions, illustrating the growing impact on FinTech of jurisdictions, such as the Republic of Korea, and the focus of patents within the USA in particular domains, such as payment protocols, e-commerce, and identification mechanisms. This article contributes to both theory and practice through the development and validation of a novel patent quality index, which has significant utility to multiple stakeholders and advances knowledge on assessing patent quality. Furthermore, by surfacing a positive association between the quality of an organization's FinTech patents and earnings, the article illustrates the value to organizations in developing high-quality patents in this field.

Creating a system wide third sector - health system partnership

Introduction: The volunteer (third) sector provides double the care in the community than does the healthcare system. However, within the geographic jurisdictions that a health system operates, there may be thousands of third sector organizations. In order to best meet individual and population medical and social needs, care provided by the third sector needs to be integrated with health system care. This can be challenging given the complexity of a health care system and the number of third sector organizations. The process by which the province of Alberta, Canada approached this integration challenge is described below.
 Target audience: This topic is pertinent to those working at a systems level in healthcare, government and the third sector.
 Who was engaged: In developing this approach government, health system planners, and a variety of third sector representatives, typically “umbrella” organizations representing a number of individual groups, were involved.
 What was done: With a single healthcare system divided into five administrative zones, we used the approach of doing centrally, zonally and locally that which made sense to do at those levels. Third sector actors functioning at those levels were engaged with their health system counterparts. Joint committees, accountable only to the members, were typically established to set a common vision and to coordinate activities in support of that joint vision. Wherever possible, an asset-based community development approach was used to identify what services existed at the various levels, service deficits, the wants and needs of individuals and communities, and the way in which the community could be supported to address those needs and wishes. From an infrastructure perspective, the health system, government and third sector leadership established mechanisms to facilitate cooperation.
 Results: Creating formal linkages between the health system and third sector, at all levels, was extremely helpful for the healthcare system to understand community needs and factors impacting health. The third sector found the relationship helpful to focus their efforts on programs or interventions which most effectively impacted health and wellness. Individuals and communities benefitted from an integrated approach to health and wellness.
 Learnings: Giving up control, on the part of the health system, was initially uncomfortable. However, the effectiveness of joint committees accountable to the members, rather than to a hierarchy, was found to be an extremely effective way of working together. At a more local level, allowing communities to determine priorities and approaches similarly resulted in much more effective and productive relationships in meeting the needs of the community, the healthcare system and its providers. Components of the quadruple/quintuple aim were much more effectively addressed than by using a medical model of community engagement.
 Next steps: From a health system perspective, we plan to use this approach at a community level. However, we find that our workforce will need to be adapted to include those who have skills in developing and maintaining relationships, are comfortable working in complex systems and with uncertainty, and an ability to adapt in keeping with a learning health system. 

Geographic variations of pre-exposure prophylaxis reversal and abandonment among United States counties.

In the United States, one in five newly insurer-approved pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) prescriptions are reversed with over 70% of those reversed, being abandoned. Given the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative's goals, we assessed geographic variations of PrEP reversal and abandonment across EHE and non-EHE counties in the United States. This was a cross-sectional analysis of secondary data. Data were collected from Symphony Analytics for adults 18 years and older, with a newly prescribed PrEP claim. Using the proportion of PrEP prescriptions by county, hotspot analysis was conducted utilizing Getis Ord Gi∗ statistics stratified by EHE and non EHE counties. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with residing in hotspots of PrEP reversal or PrEP abandonments. Across 516 counties representing 36,204 patients, the overall PrEP reversal rate was 19.4%, whereas the PrEP abandonment rate was 13.7%. Reversals and abandonments were higher for non-EHE (22.7 and 17.1%) than EHE (15.6 and 10.5%) counties. In both EHE and non-EHE counties, younger age, less education, females, and an out-of-pocket cost of greater than $100, were significantly associated with greater likelihood of residing in hotspots of PrEP reversal or abandonment, while Hispanics, Medicaid recipients, and an out-of-pocket cost of $10 or less had lower likelihood of residing in hotspots of reversal and abandonment. Findings indicate the need for implementation of focused interventions to address disparities observed in PrEP reversal and abandonment. Moreover, to improve primary PrEP adherence, national PrEP access programs should streamline and improve PrEP accessibility across different geographic jurisdictions.

Buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction – the moderating role of COVID-19 protocols: a study of small apparel fashion enterprises in the regional shopping malls in Ghana

PurposeThe study explored the relationship between buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction in the small apparel fashion enterprises in the emerging markets. The moderating role of COVID-19 protocols implementations on buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction was further examined.Design/methodology/approachBuyer–seller interactions affecting customer satisfaction were divided into three constructs, namely, interactions relating to the overall customers shopping experience, smooth payment process and in-store interactions, and the COVID-19 protocols implementations were used as a moderator. A convenient sampling strategy was adopted to survey 450 customers of apparel fashion enterprises within the four regions in Ghana, of which 397 were validly used for the analysis. Existing questionnaires were adapted to collect data from the respondents. The data collected was therefore analysed using SPSS and SmartPLS programme to ascertain the nature of the relationships among the variables.FindingsThe study found that, in-store interactions, shopping experience and smooth payment processes directly influence customer satisfaction. However, the implementation of COVID-19 protocols failed to moderate the relationship between buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of the study involve its context-specific, focusing on the small apparel and fashion market. Also, future researchers can re-examine the model in other geographical jurisdictions, focusing on small apparel owners’ competencies and other variables that position buyer–seller interactions as precursors of customer satisfaction in the small apparel fashion industry. The theoretical and managerial relevance of the findings are also discussed.Originality/valueThe paper extends the domain of buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction phenomena within the apparel fashion industry. Its examination of the impact of COVID-19 protocols’ implementation on customer satisfaction provides an insight into managers regarding how the applications can affect customers in a typical shopping environment.

Severity analysis of red-light–running behavior at signalized intersections

Red-light running (RLR) is one of the riskiest behaviors at signalized intersections. This study utilizes intersection- and corridor-level characteristics to identify variables that impact the frequency and severity of RLR violations. The severity of RLR is defined based on the time when the violations happened. That is, less severe violations are the ones that occur within 3 seconds of the signal light turning red (RLR3), while more severe violations happen between 3 and 10 seconds of the signal light turning red (RLR10). Results of the zero-inflated negative binomial model showed that an increase in intersection delay and split failure increases the frequency of both types of RLR severities. An increase in the yellow interval, cycle length, and number of lanes reduces the frequency of RLR3 but increases the frequency of RLR10. Furthermore, based on the factor importance analysis conducted through the random forest, it was shown that split failure is one of the most predictive variables for RLR3 and RLR10. The findings of this research could help transportation agencies in different geographic jurisdictions utilize the calibrated models to understand the impact of varying intersection- and corridor-based characteristics on the frequency and severity of RLR.

Trends and variation in prostate cancer diagnosis via transperineal biopsy in Australia and New Zealand.

To describe changes in the use of prostate biopsy techniques among men diagnosed with prostate cancer in Australia and New Zealand and examine factors associated with these changes. We extracted data between 2015 and 2019 from 7 jurisdictions of the Australia and New Zealand Prostate Cancer Outcomes Registry (PCOR-ANZ). Distribution and time trend of transrectal (TR) vs. transperineal (TP) biopsy type, differences in the proportion of biopsy type by geographic jurisdiction, diagnosing institute characteristics (public vs. private, metropolitan vs. regional, case volume) and patient characteristics such as socio-economic status (SES), and location of residence were analyzed. We analyzed data from 37,638 patients. The overall proportion of prostate cancer diagnosed by TP increased from 26% to 57% between 2015 and 2019. Patients living in a major city, a more socioeconomically advantaged area or who were diagnosed in a metropolitan or private hospital were more likely to have TP than TR. While all subgroups were observed to increase their use of TP over the study period, uptake grew faster for men from low SES areas and those diagnosed at a regional or low-volume hospital but slower for men living in outer regional/remote areas or treated at a public hospital. In this binational registry, prostate cancer is now more commonly diagnosed by TP than the TR approach. While the gap between uptakes of TP has diminished for patients with low vs. high SES, disparity has widened for patients from outer regional areas vs major cities and public vs. private hospitals.

Do local governments compete or cooperate for resiliency? The case of state spending in Colorado

Management of urban resilience requires both individual action and coordination between multiple governments sharing common geographic jurisdictions. Where strong intergovernmental networks exist, governments with low capacity may be able to enhance their capabilities by depending on larger governments. We hypothesize that local governments will be most likely to participate in planning, preparing, and recovery from disasters when they have network connections to governments with experience in resiliency programs. We use the case of resiliency funding in Colorado to test this hypothesis. The Colorado Department of Local Affairs maintains competitive grant funding for programs to enhance resiliency efforts. We utilize supervised machine learning to identify grants that target resiliency. Using resiliency grant funding as the outcome of interest, we leverage a Bayesian spatial lag model to assess how capacity and experience of overlapping governments in grant programs is associated with differing probabilities of governments achieving funding in the period from 2010 to 2018. The results demonstrate that grant-winning experience of geographically overlapping governments is negatively correlated with future funding of other nearby governments; however, local administrative capacity of other governments in the previous time period is associated with increased funding.

Breaking Boundaries

This thought-provoking paper explores the intriguing issue of Indonesia’s limited geographical jurisdiction concerning extradition treaty implementation. Extradition, the process of returning fugitives to face justice, is frequently impeded by complex legal obstacles stemming from a country’s membership in the United Nations and commitment to human rights principles and values. Due to their legal jurisdiction or concerns regarding human rights violations, many nations are not obligated to deliver over suspects, posing a unique difficulty for Indonesia. Nevertheless, there is optimism. International cooperation and the development of extradition agreements can serve as a road map for nations seeking to enhance their extradition practices. Countries can negotiate multilateral or regional agreements that satisfy the concerns and interests of all parties by comprehending the complexities of the extradition process, such as the list of extraditable offences and customary international law. Our paper suggests that nations investigate legal models and extradition treaties that offer viable solutions for overcoming these obstacles. By collaborating and sharing information, we can surmount obstacles to justice and ensure that fugitives face the consequences of their actions, regardless of where they hide.

Can Domestic Environmental Courts Implement International Environmental Law? A Framework for Institutional Analysis

AbstractThe rapid and widespread establishment of domestic environmental courts and tribunals raises important questions regarding their implications for international environmental law and global environmental governance. I use an interdisciplinary, multi-method approach to consider the capacity of domestic environmental courts to identify and apply norms and principles of international environmental law in domestic opinions. I first review existing literature, identifying jurisdiction, judicial discretion, and a court's position in a legal system as key institutional determinants of this capacity. I then develop a typology of domestic environmental courts and tribunals, which suggests that, all else being equal, a court with national geographic jurisdiction that also enjoys attributes of broad subject-matter jurisdiction and discretion may be expected to be best equipped to implement norms and principles of international environmental law. Next, I integrate existing assessments of environmental court presence with original outreach and web research to identify all countries which possess environmental courts, and assess a subset of eight existing national-level institutions. The analysis of this subset highlights the diversity of institutional models that can incorporate theorized best practices. Based on these findings, I draw several theoretical conclusions: specifically (i) the relevance of environmental court research to individual- and institutional-level analysis in transnational and international environmental law, (ii) the need for further legal-institutional analysis in global environmental governance scholarship, and (iii) the opportunity for further interdisciplinary analysis of the role of domestic courts in environmental governance.

Working from home 22 months on from the beginning of COVID-19: What have we learned for the future provision of transport services?

COVID-19 has delivered an unintended positive consequence through working from home (WFH). While it may be some time until we are able to indicate, with some confidence, the impact that WFH will have on traffic congestion and crowding on public transport, there is a sense already that it is a game changer, and indeed is one of the most effective policy levers that the transport sector has had for many years in ‘managing’ the performance of the transport network. This paper draws on multiple ways of survey data that have been collected since March 2020 when the pandemic first resulted in severe restrictions in Australia. We present the evidence up to December 2021 on the incidence of WFH in two geographical jurisdiction – the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area (GSMA) and South-East Queensland (SEQ) - and how it has been received by employees and employers from the height of restrictions up to a period when restrictions were relaxed, followed by further lockdowns throughout Australia. We show what this might mean for work productivity, lifestyle, and the changing preferences for passenger modes. With a growing preference, within some occupation classes, to WFH 1–2 days a week, and a good spread through the weekdays, we discuss what this means for the way we analyse the impact of transport initiatives on the performance of the transport network with a particular emphasis on the growth in suburbanisation of transport improvements, less costly service and infrastructure improvements, and the changing role of public transport.

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors for Trichotillomania: A Case Series.

Despite several decades of research, there are no US Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for trichotillomania or medications generally approved in other geographical jurisdictions. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors show efficacy in the treatment of depression and some possible promise for obsessive compulsive disorder. We present new data from a case series collected in a specialty clinical practice over a 4-year period. In 5 treatment-resistant patients whose trichotillomania had not improved with at least 1 course of cognitive behavior therapy and trials of n -acetyl cysteine, an antipsychotic, and a serotonin selective reuptake inhibitor, 2 had marked clinical improvement (>40% improvement) on phenelzine, 1 improved on tranylcypromine, and 2 showed no improvement (<10%) on phenelzine. In 2 of the 3 patients who experienced improvement, there was co-occurring depression. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors in trichotillomania may deserve large-scale randomized controlled trials, particularly in specialist settings where first-line interventions have proven inadequate to manage severe symptoms.

Risk factors for developmental vulnerability: Insight from population-level surveillance using the Early Development Instrument

Objectives Population-level studies may elucidate the most promising intervention targets to prevent negative outcomes of developmental vulnerability in children. This study aims to bridge the current literature gap on identifying population-level developmental vulnerability risk factors using combined social and biological/health information. Methods This study assessed developmental vulnerability among kindergarten children using the 2016 Early Development Instrument (EDI) and identified risk factors of developmental vulnerability using EDI data cross-linked to a population-wide administrative health dataset. A total number of 23,494 children aged 5–6 were included (48% female). Prenatal, neonatal, and early childhood risk factors for developmental vulnerability were investigated, highlighting the most important ones contributing to early development. Results The main risk factors for developmental vulnerability were children with a history of mental health diagnosis (risk ratio = 1.46), biological sex–male (risk ratio = 1.51), and poor socioeconomic status (risk ratio = 1.58). Conclusion Our study encompasses both social and health information in a populational-level representative sample of Alberta, Canada. The results confirm evidence established in other geographic regions and jurisdictions and demonstrate the association between perinatal risk factors and developmental vulnerability. Based on these results, we argue that the health system should adopt a multilevel prevention and intervention strategy, targeting individual, family, and community together.

On the Development of Marital Law

ABSTRACT This issue of the Journal of Legal History results from a conference organized by Dr Jennifer Aston (Northumbria University) and Dr Frances Hamilton (University of Reading) held virtually at Northumbria University on 20th May 2021. At this event we explored the changing legal and cultural definitions of marriage in any geographical location or jurisdiction across the period c.1450 – present day, utilizing a range of historical, literary, artistic, and cultural perspectives. This issue concentrates on the historical, legal, religious, and cultural perspectives on the development of marital law in England and Wales from the sixteenth to the early twentieth century. The interaction between legal, historical, and religious source materials serves to bring fresh insights, demonstrating how women and Dissenting religious groups experienced the laws relating to marriage and were important actors in driving forward legislative and social change.

Impact on the Sales of Cultural Sarees due to Imports from Inbound Mergers in the South India by Product Interrelations

Existing studies have demonstrated the negativity of cultural distance in international investments more particularly in the case of inbound mergers across the globe. It is famous speculation that the increasing import of foreign products would certainly affect the use and value of cultural goods of the particular state or nation, due to various influencing factors like consumer temperaments, choice and arousals. In this hypothetical situation, various governments across the globe have started imposing restrictions and authoritative conditions on Inbound Mergers thereby curtailing the scope of further business. When a closer study in respect of Indian trade and culture is carried out, it is quite interesting to note that there are no significant findings on the impact of cross-border inbound mergers on cultural sarees in India. This existing ambiguity appears even more substantial in the case of Southern States as this part of the country is often known for their cultural values and existing cultural sarees at the same time the Inbound Mergers in the said geographical jurisdiction is also increasing. Hence in order to address this ambiguity, this study is carried out so as to find out the Impact of cultural sarees on Inbound mergers in the Southern States of India as it is necessary to identify if there is an adverse impact on sales rate of cultural sarees. Further, this impact might be due to various factors, in order to bring in a regulation or change in law, it is essential to figure out if there is product interrelations.

Top-down local management, perceived contribution to people, and actual detriments influence a rampant human‒top predator conflict in the Neotropics

In most Neotropical countries the proliferation of illegal firearms, limited funding, and low presence of authorities precludes effective application of top-down governance. Despite that, to our knowledge, top-down governance and top predator detriments or benefits to people (perceived and actual) have never been integrated into an empirical study of human‒top predator conflict. We hypothesize that people’s tolerance towards the black-and-chestnut eagle (Spizaetus isidori), a Neotropical top predator, will vary based on the eagle’s perceived contributions to people, actual detriments to people, people’s support of the top-down local management, and country governance. We tested our hypothesis by carrying out a closed-ended question survey in human communities around 27 eagle nesting sites in two countries (Colombia and Ecuador). People’s tolerance towards the eagle showed a negative relationship with perceived detriments, actual detriments, and disapproval of the top-down local management, but there was no influence of country governance. Overall, most people showed high (41.13%) or neutral (35.46%) tolerance towards the eagle and less than a quarter (23.41%) showed low tolerance. Forty percent of people disapproved of the top-down local management. We documented human persecution of this top predator in the majority of sampled nests (59%, 16 of 27) and across all the geographical jurisdictions assessed. Our results suggest that poor governance could also negatively affect other human‒top predator conflicts in the Neotropics. To be more effective at saving top predators in the Neotropical Region, structural changes such as a better balance between bottom-up and top-down approaches and, thus, co-management among stakeholders are needed.

Overallocation and Correction of Carbon Emissions in the Evaluation of Carbon Footprint

This paper points to several carbon footprint data distortions that overallocate carbon footprints to individual companies, and to several carbon data intricacies that lead to improved data integrity. Data distortion due to the same company being listed in multiple geographical jurisdictions or through different share classes overstates Emissions Scope 1 by 4.6%, Emissions Scope 2 by 5.5%, Emissions Scope 3 by 10.6% and Reserves by 6.0%. Data distortion due to index construction by having different market capitalization in representative indices overallocates Emissions Scope 1 by 33.9%, Emissions Scope 2 by 27.6%, Emissions Scope 3 by 21.3% and Reserves by 57.2%. A significant amount of carbon data is not precise but is estimated by third-party providers through proprietary techniques. The estimated data for Scope 1 Emissions is 46.4% for the companies in the index. In addition, carbon data is stale, resulting in 94.5% of data being two years old or more. Usage of carbon data in a present format may incorrectly remove some companies from portfolios (negative screen, complete removal) or incorrectly reduce some companies’ weight in a portfolio (partial screen, fractional removal).

Overallocation of Carbon Data in the Evaluation of Carbon Footprint

This paper points to several carbon footprint data distortions that over allocate carbon footprint to individual companies and to several carbon data intricacies that lead to improved data integrity. Data distortion due to having the same company listed in multiple geographical jurisdictions or through different share classes overstates Emissions Scope 1 by 4.6%, Emissions Scope 2 by 5.5%, Emissions Scope 3 by 10.6%, and Reserves by 6.0%. Data distortion due to index construction by having different market capitalization in representative indices over allocates Emissions Scope 1 by 33.9%, Emissions Scope 2 by 27.6%, Emissions Scope 3 by 21.3%, and Reserves by 57.2%. A significant amount of carbon data is not actual but estimated by third party providers through proprietary techniques. The estimated data for Scope 1 Emissions is 46.4% of the companies in the index. In addition, carbon data is stale, resulting in 94.5% of data to be two years or older. Usage of carbon data in a present format may incorrectly remove some companies from portfolios (negative screen, complete removal) or incorrectly reduce some companies’ weight in a portfolio (partial screen, fractional removal).