Environmental Cost Management Research Articles

Environmental Cost and Environmental Management in Non-Primary Industrial Companies in the District of Abancay, Apurimac Region, Peru – 2024

The general objective is to determine how the Environmental Cost influences the Environmental Management in the non-primary Industrial Companies of the District of Abancay, period 2024. The hypothetical-deductive method was used, with a quantitative approach, the scope is correlational-causal, and the design is non-experimental-cross-sectional. The population is made up of 882 taxpayers registered in the database of the Peruvian Tax Administration - SUNAT, in the economic activity of non-primary industries, in the District of Abancay, period 2024. The sample is 268, and the unit of analysis was 239 managers surveyed involved in the area of production. A survey was used, using a Likert scale questionnaire. It was concluded that the research has obtained significant results that demonstrated that the Environmental Cost influences the Environmental Management in the non-primary Industrial Companies of the District of Abancay, period 2024, in the directions of prevention, control and image costs. The recommendations point towards timely implementations and follow-ups.

“O.R. GOES GREEN”: a first step toward reducing our carbon footprint in the operating room and hospital

Hospitals in Europe produce approximately 6 million tons of medical waste annually, about one-third of this originating in operating rooms. Most of it is solid waste, which can be recycled if bodily fluids do not contaminate it. Only 2–3% of hospital waste must be disposed of as infectious waste, and this is much lower than the 50–70% of garbage in the biohazard waste stream. In June 2021, at the main operating room of the Department of General Surgery of the University of Turin, we began a separate collection program for materials consisting of plastic, paper, TNT (material not contaminated by bodily fluids), and biohazardous waste. We calculated the number of boxes and the weight of special waste disposed produced every month in one operating room for 18 months. The monthly number of Sanibox and the monthly weight of biohazardous waste decreased during the observation period. The reduction trend was not constant but showed variations during the 18 months. Direct proportionality between number of low-complexity procedures and production of biohazardous waste was found (p = 0.050). We observed an optimization in the collection and filling of plastic, paper and TNT boxes separated and sent for recycling. One of the barriers to recycling hospital waste, and surgical waste in particular, is the failure to separate infectious waste from clean waste. A careful separate collection of waste in the operating room is the first step in reducing environmental pollution and management costs for the disposal of hospital waste.

Experimental study on the application of nanofiltration concentrated water in the preparation of burning-free bricks

ABSTRACT The realization of zero discharge of desulfurization wastewater has become a major trend in the environmental protection of power plants. After the desulfurization wastewater is treated by the nanofiltration process, a certain amount of nanofiltration concentrated water will be produced. Based on the water quality and quantity analysis of nanofiltration concentrate, this study proposes to apply nanofiltration concentrate to the preparation of free-sintering brick to realize the resource utilization of nanofiltration concentrate. The results show that the optimal ratio of the cement-to slag ratio ratio is 1:0.8, the 28d strength of the solidified body is 18.64MPa, the water absorption rate is 15.9%, and the water-soluble chloride ion content is 4.8%. In order to further optimize the production technology to improve the performance of the curing body, the later experiments optimized the curing formulation with the water-reducing agent sodium lignosulfonate as an admixture and obtained the optimal addition ratio of sodium lignosulfonate which was 0.2%. Finally, an economic evaluation was conducted and the use of nanofiltration concentrate for the preparation of free sintering brick could bring considerable economic benefits to the power plant while achieving the purpose of reducing environmental pollution and reducing the investment cost of environmental management.

FEATURES OF THE ORGANIZATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING IN THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

The successful functioning of any business entity in a complex and rapidly changing environment of the economy is determined by its competitiveness. A competitive entity is an organization that has a high value and demand for its products. Therefore, one of the most important conditions for business development and expansion is considered to be the correct accounting of environmental costs, along with the skillful Organization of the methodology for accounting for production costs and costing. This article reveals the need to study environmental accounting in modern conditions aimed at achieving the ultimate goal of any production in order to reduce the impact of environmental damage caused by industrial enterprises. The purpose of the article is to disclose the methodology of "environmental cost accounting", which reflects the relationship between economic costs and environmental protection costs, which allows ensuring the competitiveness and reliability of products. During the execution of the article, various research methods were used, including the dialectical approach, monographic research and graphic methods. The results and conclusions obtained from the study are highlighted by the degree of influence of companies on the effective organization of environmental activities of organizations, in addition to demonstrating the ability of companies to use rational methods of effective management of economic and environmental costs and the formation of cost. In the scientific article, the definition of the formation of the target cost is formulated, the importance and methods of environmental accounting are studied to determine the competitiveness of products and the impact of production on the environment.

Evaluation and quantitative characterization for the ecological environment impact of open pit mining on vegetation destruction from landsat time series: A case study of Wulishan limestone mine

Quantitatively evaluating the ecological environment impacts of vegetation destruction due to open-pit mining activities is vital for enhancing the green mining standard and cost management capabilities of mining enterprises. Based on the Landsat time series, this study proposes an ecological environment impact assessment and quantitative characterization method for vegetation destruction in mining areas resulting from open-pit mining activities. First, the modified normalized difference water index and the normalized difference vegetation index time series data were calculated. The water body thresholds and the fraction of vegetation coverage were ascertained using the K-means clustering algorithm and the dimidiate pixel model, respectively, to determine the area of direct vegetation destruction in mining areas. Second, utilizing the Theil-Sen Median trend analysis and the Mann-Kendall test, the indirect impact area of vegetation in the mining region was identified. Lastly, by integrating vegetation's net primary productivity with the Chinese Emission Allowance price index, the total carbon emission cost of vegetation destruction due to mining activities over 20 years was calculated to be about 2.122 million yuan. The findings indicated that the ecological environmental impact of open-pit mining activities on vegetation destruction cannot be ignored. From 2000 to 2020, open-pit mining at the Wulishan limestone mine in Anhui Province, China, increased the area of direct vegetation destruction by 9.072 × 105 m2, and the indirect impact area on vegetation was 7.371 × 105 m2. The carbon emission cost of vegetation destruction in the direct destruction area was about 104,000 yuan per year, and the carbon emission cost of vegetation damage in the indirect impact area was approximately 2,082.53 yuan per year. This research provides a scientific foundation for ecological environmental protection, regulations, green mining, and cost management for mining enterprises, promoting the harmonious progress of both the economy and environmental protection.

Optimal Scheduling of DC Microgrids based on MOPSO Algorithm

The DC microgrid system contains a variety of distributed power sources, but the distributed power sources are uncertain and intermittent. In order to improve the economy of DC microgrid operation, mainly to reduce the microgrid operation cost and environmental management cost, and at the same time the largest proportion of scenery consumption, the optimization algorithm is effective for microgrid for optimal scheduling. A multi-objective optimal scheduling model for microgrids is established. A microgrid model with wind, photovoltaic, micro gas turbine and energy storage is constructed and solved using a multi-objective particle swarm algorithm. The multi-objective particle swarm algorithm is invoked for a typical 24h daily isolated micro-grid system in a certain region. The simulation results show that the optimal dispatching scheme can effectively improve the economy of the microgrid, reduce its operating costs as well as the ability to consume renewable energy scenery power.

Integrating payment for ecosystem services in protected areas governance: The case of the Po Delta Park

The effective inclusion of Ecosystem Services (ES) in the governance of Protected Areas (PAs) is a key challenge for future environmental governance. In this sense, Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) have been conceived as instruments to internalize costs of environmental management and establish a consequential link between ES users and providers. Thus, while there is a current pressingly need for genuine PES mechanisms, in very rare cases it has been possible to satisfy this requirement. This paves the way for the study of alternative methods, such as PES-like schemes, which may be already in practice in PAs.In order to support and discuss the feasibility of this approach, we present four successful PES-like schemes currently working in the Po River delta Park of the Emilia-Romagna region (Northern Italy). They involve traditional activities, as hunting, fishing, mushroom and truffle (M&T) picking and cultural services, coherent with the UNESCO Man and Biosphere declaration.With the aim of using the peculiar case of the Po Delta Park as a study model, we studied services with direct market value that cover a variety of strategy cases and positive side effects typically observed in genuine PES schemes. The Park authority is a crucial actor with different roles: i) regulator/intermediator in the context of a “command” strategy (for hunting and M&T) and in a public–private partnership (for cultural services) and ii) provider in a trade context (for fishing).Although not originally conceived under the vision of an ES approach, these practices, developed as endogenous processes, were effective in supporting conservation and ES provision. While not accounting for regulating services, PES-like schemes constitute practical evidence of broad interest concerning the role of existing, yet overlooked, mechanisms involving important ES, which could be reframed within the terminology of PES to strengthen their functioning and strategic value.

Environmental Reporting and Performance of Nigerian Listed Oil and Gas Firms

The study investigated the environmental reporting and performance of listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design method using existing data from the financials of selected firms. The population of the study consisted of thirteen (13) listed firms as of 2021, out of which ten (10) were purposively selected based on the availability of annual reports and accounts. Secondary data were extracted and the results of the unit-roots test informed the adoption of Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Error Correction Techniques. The study found a positive and significant relationship between Environmental Management Cost (EMC) and ROCE (p<0.05), also a positive but insignificant relationship between Environmental Protection Cost (EPC) and ROCE (p>0.05). However, there was a negative and significant relationship between Environmental Research and evelopment Cost (ERDC) and ROCE (p<0.05). The study concluded that environmental accounting reporting contributed to the firms’ performance of Nigerian listed oil and gas firms. Therefore, these firms should be cost-effective and efficient when planning environmental activities to improve firms’ performance.

ENVIRONMENTAL COST DISCLOSURE AND CORPORATE PROFITABILITY: EVIDENCE FROM NIGERIAN OIL AND GAS FIRMS

Environmental Accounting as an emerging field in accounting pedagogy and practice is gaining wide acceptance among stakeholders as they communicate significant information regarding the sustainability of the firm's activities while assisting management in enhancing environmental performance of their firm. This research aims at examining the effect of environmental cost disclosure(ECD) on corporate profitability in listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria, adopting ex-post facto research design, 10 firms were sampled from a population of fifty listed oil and gas firms. Data on Return on equity(ROE), Net Profit Margin(NPM) and Earning per share(EPS) were gleaned from the annual reports of the sampled firms from 2010-2020, the research findings, indicates that ROE have negative and significant effect on environmental cost disclosure of firms, net profit margin (NPM) has a positive relationship with environmental cost disclosure among listed firms and earnings per share (EPS) have no significant effect on environmental cost disclosure among listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that Firms should ensure efficient management of environmental conservation costs in order to enhance their profitability. Keywords: Environmental Cost Disclosure, Return on Equity, Earnings per Share, Net Profit Margin, Environmental Management Accounting.

Does environmental regulation promote green merger and acquisition? Evidence from the implementation of China’s newly revised Environmental Protection Law

Green merger and acquisition (Green M&A) is one of the ways of corporate environmental investment, which is vital for their green transformation and sustainable development. With the implementation of the newly revisedEnvironmental Protection Lawin 2015, this paper investigates the impact of environmental regulation on corporate green M&A using the Difference-in-Difference method with a sample of Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2020. We found that firms’ green M&A increases significantly after the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law. The promotion effect is more pronounced when the firm is state-owned or faces lower financing constraints. Further analysis reveals that green M&A significantly reduces firms’ environmental management costs, enhances green innovation, and has no effect on market performance. This result confirms that after the implementation of the newEnvironmental Protection Law, companies engage in green M&A for cost and innovation motives rather than market motives.

The Analysis of Environmental Cost Control of Manufacturing Enterprises Using Deep Learning Optimization Algorithm and Internet of Things

Under the background of the Internet of things (IoT), the problems between the actual production and the environment are also prominent. The environmental cost control in the production process of manufacturing enterprises are discussed to reduce the environmental cost and promote the improvement of production efficiency. First, the environmental cost under the background of IoT is analyzed. Also, the environmental cost control methods in the production process of traditional manufacturing enterprises are investigated. Second, based on the principle of traditional genetic algorithm, the fast-nondominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) of multiobjective genetic algorithm is introduced to complete the optimization of BP neural network (BPNN) algorithm in deep learning (DL), and the multiobjective GA optimization BPNN model is established. Finally, the multiobjective GA algorithm is used to empirically analyze the environmental cost control capability of a paper-making enterprise. It is compared with enterprises with excellent and poor environmental cost control capabilities in the same industry to find out secondary indexes. The results show that environmental costs have long-term and economic characteristics. The global search ability of BPNN optimized by multiobjective GA is improved, and the local optimal dilemma is avoided. Through empirical analysis, it is found that the comprehensive capability of the environmental cost control of the enterprise is better, scored 79 or more, and the indexes of insufficient development and advantages are obtained. As IoT rapidly develops, it is necessary to further improve the ability of enterprises in environmental cost management, which is very important to promote the development of enterprises and enhance their core competitiveness. It is hoped that this investigation can provide certain reference significance for improving the environmental cost management capability of enterprises, increasing production efficiency, and reducing environmental costs.

A multi-objective optimization approach for supply chain design of alum sludge-derived supplementary cementitious material

Most alum sludge is disposed of in landfill sites in Australia, resulting in significant environmental pollution and management cost. Effective management of sludge in a more sustainable manner remains a critical social, environmental, and economic concern. To simultaneously solve the dilemma of sludge management, economic expenditure of disposal, greenhouse gas emissions, and social impacts, this study proposed a multi-objective model for supply chain design of alum sludge-derived supplementary cementitious material as a viable solution. This study identified and quantified the potential social benefit by considering different impacts of new working opportunities based on their type and location, optimized the greenhouse gas emission saving for the potential supply chain, and assessed the economic benefit of the optimal untapped supplementary cementitious material value chain. The viability and applicability of the model are demonstrated through a case study in Australia, where potential utilization paths for available alum sludge are valued. A set of Pareto-optimal solutions was generated using the ɛ-constraint method, and three compromise Pareto-optimal solutions showed a clear trade-off among three objectives. The result analysis of each single-objective optimization indicates that the maximum working opportunity brought by the proposed supply chain was over 3.6 million working hours. Besides, up to 5.5 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions saving was reported when maximizing the environmental objective, and the maximum economic benefit in the form of net present value was over 200 million Australian dollars in simulated 20 years. The Pareto-optimal solutions report a trade-off among three objectives, and two compromised solutions are proposed based on the level of objective values.

Environmental Disclosure and Financial Performance of Listed Non-Financial Companies in Nigeria

This study examines the influence of environmental disclosure (ED) on financial performance of listed non-financial companies in Nigeria from 2013-2020. A sample of seventy-six (76) companies listed as non-financial was drawn from the population of one hundred and thirteen (113) companies. Audited annual reports and accounts were used for data extraction. The analysis was done using descriptive statistics and multiple regressions. Explanatory research designed was adopted in the study to find out the influence of ED on financial performance. Variables used include the ED measured using ordinal coding scheme based on GRI guidelines (G4) focusing on environmental prevention expenditure disclosure(EN40), Waste disposal, emission treatment and remediation cost disclosure (EN41), Prevention and environmental management cost disclosure (EN 41) used as proxies for independent variable and financial performances’ accounting and market based measures proxy by earnings per share and Tobin’s Q was used as the dependent variable. Robustness tests such as multicollonearity test, heteroscedasticity test, normality test and Hausman specification test were conducted to validate the results. The study revealed that there is positive significant relationship between EPED, WDCD, PMCD and EPS while negative with TQ of listed Nigerian non-financial companies. The study therefore, recommends that the management of listed non-financial companies in Nigeria should create awareness on the importance of EPED, WDCD, PMCD and the other benefit that can be derived by a company and investors as a result of engaging in environmental activities as this may create good relationship between the company and the environment and consequently will improve financial performance. And also professional accounting bodies in Nigeria like the ICAN and the ANAN should key into introducing environmental and sustainability reporting into their mandatory professional education programs as this is a contemporary issue in accounting development this will help accountants to be trained on environmental accounting and reporting.

The Scheme of Ecological Environment Governance under International Discourse Power from the Perspective of Ecological Civilization.

Ecological civilization construction is an important field of global ecological environment governance, and biodiversity is an important foundation of ecological civilization construction. In the process of building international discourse power of ecological civilization, governments, enterprises, and individuals should attach great importance to ecological environmental protection. Especially in the context of the new era, the promotion of international discourse power of ecological civilization and the governance of ecological and environmental problems must be in the process of further consolidating the foundation of ecological economy, paying particular attention to the management of enterprise ecological and environmental costs. Therefore, from the perspective of practical research, fuzzy analytic hierarchy process is used to comprehensively evaluate enterprise environmental cost management. Through research, the importance of enterprise environmental cost management and the help to ecological environment management are proved, and on this basis, ecological environment management countermeasures are put forward.

Research on environmental cost accounting of textile enterprises based on activity-based costing

Since the reform and opening up, while transforming the mode of production and improving the production efficiency, the industry and manufacturing industry with extensive development mode is also consuming natural resources at an unprecedented rate and destroying the environment on which people rely. With the rapid development of economy and the continuous progress of society, the environmental situation is becoming increasingly severe, which also puts forward higher requirements for environmental protection. In this context, environmental cost has been put forward and gradually recognized by the accounting academic community. It is the general trend of current social development to introduce environmental cost accounting into the daily production and operation of enterprises. This paper will choose activity-based costing as the method of environmental cost accounting, on the basis of reference to the previous research, with a specific textile enterprise as an example, elaborated based on activity-based costing environmental cost accounting basic ideas and general procedures, in order to provide some reference and suggestions for enterprise environmental cost management.

Research on environmental cost control of manufacturing enterprises under double carbon target——Take the "public benefit snack box" product as an example

Environmental cost control is an important part of enterprise cost management, which is based on the premise of enterprise environmental cost management objectives, environmental cost prediction, and the adoption of appropriate models and policies to control the whole process of environmental cost formation. This paper focuses on manufacturing enterprises and takes "charity snack box" as an example to establish a comprehensive environmental cost control system and performance evaluation system for charity snack box. It adopts specific methods to assist analysis, promote the development of environmental cost control for charity snack box enterprises and maximize the comprehensive benefits of economic and environmental benefits.

Impact of COVID-19 on healthcare waste generation: correlations and trends from a tertiary hospital

Abstract Background COVID-19 has represented an emergency not only for the sanitary issues, but also from the environmental and operative perspective, with largely increased waste disposal due to non-reusable personal protective equipment and packaging. This study aimed at estimating the increase in healthcare waste (HW) generation during the outbreak, based on data from a tertiary hospital. Methods From the purveying office statements of “SS Antonio e Biagio e Cesare Arrigo” Hospital of Alessandria (Italy), monthly data on HW generation from January 2015 to March 2021 were retrospectively retrieved. Trend analyses were performed through linear regression and the impact of COVID was evaluated following the Interrupted-Time Series regression model. Moreover, HW generation data were compared to the proportion of patient-days and admissions due to COVID (out of respective totals) through Pearson's correlation test. Results HW generation rose from a baseline of 35.9 ± 3.8 tons/month (2.4 ± 0.2 kg per patient-day, kg/PD) in 2015-2019, to 46.3 ± 6.0 tons/month (3.3 ± 0.6 kg/PD) during the outbreak (2020-2021), with a peak in March-April 2020. Segmented regression showed that the already increasing trend was not appreciably modified as for its slope, whereas a significant level change could be detected between baseline and outbreak period (+0.6 kg/PD, corresponding to a 28.6% increase compared to baseline intercept, p < 0.001). HW generation was significantly correlated to the proportion of admissions (p = 0.005, R2=0.70) and patient-days (p = 0.006, R2=0.69) related to COVID-19. Conclusions The study showed a significant rise in HW generation in 2020-2021, reasonably due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Moreover, this happened without affecting the generally increasing trend. These results underline the effect of the pandemic on the amounts of waste generated by healthcare facilities, with noticeable impact on the environment and higher costs associated with HW management and disposal. Key messages Due to extensive use of disposable equipment and packaging, COVID-19 strongly impacted on healthcare waste generation, with an average 28.6% increase compared to baseline levels (+0.6 kg/patient-day). The generally increasing trend in healthcare waste generation, along with the remarkable increase due to COVID-19, results in high environmental impact and management costs for healthcare facilities.

Characterization of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) as Antimicrobial Biocomposite Film: A Review

Packaging is a critical process in the food industry because it is used to prevent spoilage, extend shelf-life, and provide an attractive presentation of the food product. Plastic packaging is used all over the world, and its production is increasing year after year. It comes in a variety of colours and designs. However, it has caused serious environmental problems, particularly to the ocean that has become a place for discarded plastic packaging. To address this issue, biodegradable packaging was developed to replace the use of plastic packaging because it helps to reduce environmental impact and waste management costs. Biodegradable packaging is also known as environmentally friendly packaging because it can be degraded into carbon dioxide, water, inorganic compounds, and biomass by microorganisms, algae, fungi, as well as enzyme catalysts. Biodegradable biocomposite film such as starch, cellulose, chitosan, and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is required to produce biodegradable packaging. Therefore, this paper aims to characterize PVA as a biocomposite film in biodegradable packaging. PVA has excellent properties to form films, as well as biodegradable, abundant in the environment, and cost-effective. However, it has some limitations in terms of thickness and mechanical properties; thus, the incorporation of PVA with essential oils and fiber is required to improve its mechanical properties, thickness, and provide antimicrobial properties to the packaging.

RESEARCH ON CONFIRMATION AND MEASUREMENT OF CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS-BASED ON GREEN ECONOMY

Green economy can effectively solve the issue of environmental damage happened during economic development. Meanwhile, many countries have taken the development of green economy as an economic development mode, in which the protection of ecological and environmental, and the development of economic and social could be simultaneously realized. Since the deteriorating environmental situation has seriously affected the healthy development of human society, the environmental cost management should be incorporated into the enterprise cost management research as soon as possible. This paper mainly studies the theory of natural resources and environmental system in the enterprise cost management theory, discusses the enterprise environmental cost management, confirmation and measurement under low carbon economy, provides new ideas for improving the enterprise environmental cost theory and realizing the sustainable development of economy.

Measuring pollutant emissions of cattle breeding and its spatial-temporal variation in China

The rapid development of animal husbandry has resulted in serious pollution issues in the livestock and poultry breeding industry, increasing the cost of environmental management. This issue is particularly prominent in China due to its rapid economic development, significant domestic consumption, and aggressive carbon neutrality targets. This study analyses pollution emissions and spatial-temporal variation in China's cattle breeding industry. Using an emission coefficient method and panel data of 31 Chinese provinces/municipalities between 2002 and 2017, we measure the total volume of pollutant emissions from China's cattle breeding industry and five major pollutants: chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, copper, and zinc. We also analyse the dynamic variation of the spatial distribution. The results show that both the total emissions volume and emissions of the five major pollutants have decreased to different extents, among which chemical oxygen demand has decreased the fastest. Spatial divergence is strengthened as the heavy pollution areas have moved from the southeast to the northwest of the country. This study contributes to current research by its focus on the cattle breading industry and by our improvements to the pollutant emission measurement method.