Environmental Indicator System Research Articles

Spatial impact of green finance reform pilot zones on environmental efficiency: A pathway to mitigating China's energy trilemma

The energy trilemma is a critical global challenge requiring urgent resolution; however, existing solutions remain inefficient. This study utilizes a detailed environmental input-output indicator system, applying the SBM-DEA model for measurement and incorporating the Spatial Difference-in-Differences (SDID) model to assess the impact of Green Finance Policy (GFP) on environmental efficiency in Chinese cities from 2006 to 2021. The findings demonstrate that GFP significantly enhances environmental efficiency within a 500-km radius, as confirmed by various robustness tests. Mechanism analyses indicate that optimizing industrial structure, reducing energy consumption, advancing green innovation, and strengthening environmental regulations are critical pathways to improving environmental efficiency. Heterogeneity tests further examine the spatial policy effects under different factor endowments. Ultimately, the study concludes that improving environmental efficiency through GFP can alleviate the energy trilemma. This paper highlights the importance of implementing city-specific policies, offering new insights into energy economics, and providing fresh perspectives for policymakers, financial institutions, and enterprises. Despite the study's contributions, future research should further explore the comprehensive effects of GFP on energy, the environment, and the economy to provide more precise and holistic solutions for addressing the energy trilemma.

Water and Carbon Neutral Buildings: systemic approaches and hybrid strategies

Abstract In order to achieve a real green transition in the design, construction and use of the built environment, especially in contemporary urban contexts, it is necessary to assess the water saving benefits combined with binding energy efficiency and climate neutrality targets in a holistic manner. This approach cannot focus on stand-alone requirements. Special emphasis is placed on technological solutions that transform energy and water consumption from negative to positive at all stages of the life cycle, including construction and operation. The aim is not just to reduce expenditure, but to increase the effectiveness of the savings through an effective and cyclical approach over the long term. This paper presents the results of a research project that develops a set of integrated indicators in accordance with the Itaca Protocol standard, UNI/PdR Practice 13.0:2019, with the introduction of elements from the Level(s). The environmental indicator system is designed to simultaneously assess the requirements of water-neutral and carbon-neutral construction, in line with EU recommendations C/2021/2279 and C/2021/9332. The hybrid water-energy strategies used in the application of this system are evaluated in terms of their potential to achieve the aforementioned goals. This approach, illustrated by best practice examples, aims to provide a holistic assessment of the environmental performance of integrated buildings in contemporary urban contexts, taking into account both water efficiency and carbon reduction. The objective is to guide the technological design and construction of sustainable buildings, promoting a synergetic approach to water and carbon footprint management, starting from the case study of a building in Palermo.

УЧЕТ ТРЕБОВАНИЙ ПОЖАРНОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ ПРИ РАЗРАБОТКЕ СИСТЕМЫ СБАЛАНСИРОВАННЫХ ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКИХ ПОКАЗАТЕЛЕЙ ДЛЯ ИННОВАЦИОННОГО ТЯГОВОГО ЖЕЛЕЗНОДОРОЖНОГО ПОДВИЖНОГО СОСТАВА

Open Joint Stock Company «Russian railways» is actively implementing projects to create innovative traction rolling stock that is safe for the environment and people, which is in good agreement with the goals of sustainable development. For effective management, comprehensive assessment and justification of the main directions for the development of locomotive traction, it is necessary to create a system of balanced environmental indicators. The issues of ensuring fire safety of locomotives remain relevant. The purpose of the work is to form a system of balanced environmental indicators for innovative traction railway rolling stock, taking into account fire safety requirements.
 The analysis of the activities of the world's largest railway companies in the field of environmental safety is carried out. The concept of balanced ecological development in the field of development and operation of innovative locomotives is presented. It is determined that the problems of environmental protection are considered separately from the issues of fire safety. An analysis of the concept of «balanced environmental development» is presented. The importance of the «Fire safety» criterion in the system of priorities for the development of traction rolling stock has been determined. Indicators that take into account fire safety requirements are presented.
 The expediency of their inclusion in the system of balanced environmental indicators is substantiated. Their characteristics are given. A methodology for calculating the effectiveness of implementing environmental and fire safety requirements for newly developed locomotives is proposed.

Creating environmental performance indicators to assess corporate sustainability and reward employees

Assessing environmental performance, measuring the circular economy and quantifying decarbonization have become crucial in green management in recent years. Both scholars and practitioners have focused on different strategies to create performance indicators capable of tackling all these aspects. At the same time, companies have started connecting managers’ and employees’ incentives to the achievement of corporate goals. We analysed a case study of an Italian food company which uses environmental performance indicators to assess corporate sustainability and reward managers and employees. Through a series of interviews with members from all departments, we identified around 200 different key performance indicators, i.e., performance, commitment, control, reactivity, economic, consent, transversal and multifunctional. A final dashboard of around 70 indicators was then created and linked to employees’ rewards. A tailor-made methodology was, thus, used to define target for the company’s management by objectives, taking into account the trend of each indicator. This is the first attempt to investigate how a company can create an environmental performance indicator system to assess corporate sustainability and reward employees through management by objectives. Our study further extends not only the academic literature, but also provides a practical and operative contribution to all the companies that aim to create a new key performance indicator system. Lastly, we merged the management and strategies for promoting green practices amongst employees through a reward system with the environmental performance of each organisational department by creating a methodology to define management by objectives.

Особенности образования и использования твердых отходов в Республике Беларусь

The purpose of the work is to justify the priority of processing municipal solid waste over other solid waste. The methodology chosen is the analysis of statistical data characterizing the generation and use of solid waste in Belarus. It has been established that over 60% of solid waste in the Republic is generated as a result of the activities of OJSC Belaruskali, which specializes in the extraction of potassium salt and the production of mineral fertilizers. These production wastes are characterized by a low level of danger and are sent for temporary storage. Only 1.6% of all production waste generated is subject to burial, which in world practice is recognized as the least desirable method of disposal. Municipal solid waste accounts for about 6% of the mass fraction of all generated solid waste. However, the municipal solid waste segment accounts for 86% of all waste disposed of in landfills. There is a trend towards an increase in the share of municipal solid waste use from 9% in 2010 to 30% in 2021, which means a general decrease in the volume of waste disposal in Belarus. The growth in the use of municipal solid waste is hampered by its complex morphological composition, therefore, before using waste, it is advisable to sort it or separate collection. To improve monitoring of waste generation and use in Belarus, some additions to the existing statistical system of environmental indicators are also proposed.

Research on the problems and countermeasures of environmental design of rural residential areas based on deep learning model

Abstract This paper first starts by analyzing the environmental design problems of rural settlements and constructs an evaluation system of environmental design indicators of rural settlements based on the AHP-TOPSIS-POE model. Then the index weights are calculated by using the hierarchical analysis method, the priority ranking of index weights is realized by the TOPSIS method, and the feedback analysis of index evaluation is carried out based on POE theory. Finally, the validity of this paper’s index system is verified and analyzed with the example of a new rural construction and several rural residential area environmental design schemes. The results show that humanistic respect, square space and landscape greenery have weights of 0.5819, 0.5434 and 0.4463, respectively, in the environmental design of rural residential areas, and the index system can rank the advantages and disadvantages of environmental design solutions, and then provide effective environmental design solutions to improve villagers’ happiness.

The role and importance of environmental development and safety indicators in the strategic planning system

Currently, the system of indicators of environmental protection, nature management and environmental safety is so extensive and cumbersome that it does not allow to promptly and reliably assess the effectiveness of both decisions taken and economic and legal mechanisms. The authors show that the quality of environmental safety indicators creates the basis for the quality of management, for the formation of goals and objectives, for the creation of control and monitoring systems. At the same time, the system of environmental safety indicators is currently indistinguishable in practical terms from environmental protection indicators.This cannot be considered correct. According to the authors, there should be a separate and special area of environmental lawmaking, which is designed to create a basis for indicators of ““environmental quality”” as the basis of safety and thereby determine the ““quality of environmental policy””. It seems advisable to develop a unified methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of the implementation of these documents, which is largely due to the lack of a system of environmental indicators and standards of the ““strategic”” plan, which dramatically reduces the effectiveness of the impact of these plans and programs on the state of both the economy, management, and environmental safety.

Impact of Environmental Regulation and Industrial Agglomeration on Carbon Emissions in the Yangtze River Economic Belt

Carbon reduction is an important aspect of achieving high-quality environmental development; environmental regulation and industrial agglomeration are important ways to affect carbon emissions. Therefore, studying the relationship between industrial agglomeration, environmental regulation, and carbon emissions has important theoretical and practical significance. Firstly, this article adopts the method of location entropy to measure the indicators of industrial agglomeration. Secondly, it proposes an environmental regulation indicator system based on the experience of previous scholars and measures the environmental regulation indicators using the entropy method. Next, eight types of energy consumption are used to measure carbon emissions based on the carbon emission coefficient method provided by the IPCC. Finally, based on the Moran index, the spatial correlation of carbon emission levels in various regions of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) is tested. A spatial econometric model was introduced to explore the relationship between industrial agglomeration, environmental regulation, and carbon emissions at a deeper level, and the following conclusions were drawn: (1) The regression coefficient of the spatial term of industrial agglomeration on carbon emissions is 0.848, which is significantly positive at the 10% level, indicating that under the influence of spatial effects, industrial agglomeration has a significant promoting effect on carbon emissions. (2) The regression coefficient of the spatial term of environmental regulation on carbon emissions is −0.011, which is significantly negative at the 10% level, indicating that environmental regulation has an inhibitory effect on carbon emissions under the influence of spatial effects. Based on the above conclusions, useful suggestions have been provided for optimizing industrial structure, improving environmental regulation levels, and alleviating carbon emission issues.

Validation of a methodology for forest industry sector sustainability assessment

The research is devoted to the development and testing of a methodology for assessing the level of sustainability of the forest industry. The work presents the general specifics of the methodology, the formula for calculating the sustainability index, the justification of the original approach, taking into account the specifics of the forest industry. The method is based on a system of economic, environmental and social indicators. The evaluation is based on the example of the forest sector logging sector. As a result of the approbation, it was determined that sustainability of forest industry development is below average in most regions of the country. The proposed methodology can be used as a justification for the necessity of transformations in the forest industry sector. This direction of industry is recognized as one of the underestimated and perspective in the sphere of modern requirements of the society to development of economy. The activity of the forest industry is associated with both timber production (deforestation) and reforestation. This makes it a unique industry. By using renewable resources in production, the industry can be seen as truly capable of adopting and implementing sustainable development. As a consequence, studies aimed at evaluating the various projects related to sustainable development in the forest industry are highly relevant.

ЕКОЛОГІЧНІ ВИМІРИ ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ БЕЗПЕКИ НАЦІОНАЛЬНИХ ЕКОНОМІК

The academic paper is devoted to studying the environmental component in the system of economic security of national economies. The author has demonstrated that environmental degradation and climate change pose a threat to modern sustainable development in every country in the world. As a result, the development of an efficient system for accounting for and monitoring environmental indicators is a prerequisite for the creation of an effective environmental risk management system. The scientific article provides a systematization of environmental indicators, the change of which affects the sustainability and security of development. The proposed approach is based on an algorithm that provides for the implementation of sequential actions within the framework of establishing a system of environmental security indicators, substantiation of the essence of each indicator from the standpoint of independence, sustainability, stability, and dynamism of national economies; systematization of indicators by the nature of their impact on the level of economic security, calculation of threshold, critical, and permissible values that can be used in the system of monitoring economic threats, determination of methods of normalization of individual parameters, which will ensure their reduction to a comparable form and allow aggregation into the appropriate structure of the final integrated security index. Using the tools of multidimensional evaluation, an integral index of the environmental component of economic security is proposed, which in turn is based on indicators of energy intensity, level of renewable energy consumption, level of renewable energy generation, air quality, carbon intensity index of the economy, environmental efficiency index, green growth index. The proposed methodology makes it possible to assess the level of security and classify countries by the state of development security, to identify areas of security/danger (risks) by indicators, in particular, environmental ones. The practical application of the proposed toolkit enabled the ranking of EU countries and Ukraine by the level of environmental safety, grouping them by the level of danger, which will allow taking these features into account when developing measures to increase the level of sustainability of economic development, considering environmental aspects.

Developing a system of environmental indicators reflecting the water management aspects of an enterprise in the light of sustainable development

Developing a system of environmental indicators reflecting the water management aspects of an enterprise in the light of sustainable development

Screening of Factors for Assessing the Environmental and Economic Efficiency of Investment Projects in the Energy Sector.

In view of the current agenda in the field of climate and environmental conservation, the requirements for environmental project appraisal are being tightened: the evaluation of environmental indicators of project implementation should be carried out on a par with indicators of its economic performance. Current approaches to the assessment of environmental and economic efficiency do not completely cover the negative environmental impacts of a project’s implementation, and this reduces the effectiveness of the evaluation. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a system of environmental indicators that will address the specifics of the industry. This is made possible on the basis of determining a list of key factors that should be included in the evaluation system. The purpose of this study is to determine the most significant factors for establishing a simple yet thorough assessment framework to evaluate the efficiency of energy investment projects. Research methodology includes an a priori ranking method and analysis of interrelations between factors. Based on the results obtained, the authors have formed a list of key factors that could become the basis of a future system of environmental indicators for the efficiency assessment of energy projects.

Corporate Environmental Governance Performance Evaluation and Index System Construction under the Mobile Communication System

As environmental pollution has become more and more serious, in order to alleviate environmental and energy problems, people have begun to find new ways of governance in environmental management. Many countries have proposed to incorporate environmental performance into corporate performance for assessment. Under the historical background that the construction of ecological civilization has risen to a national strategy, the research on corporate environmental performance has attracted more and more attention. This paper constructs an environmental performance evaluation index system, evaluates the environmental performance of the enterprise, finds out the problems in the environmental performance of the enterprise, and proposes improvement suggestions. This is conducive to the change of the environmental policy of the enterprise, the improvement of the environmental performance level of the enterprise, and the protection of the ecological environment. This article introduces the mobile communication network, constructs the LMS model of the satellite mobile communication system, and analyzes the structure and main functions of the model. The article explains the role of corporate environmental governance, builds an environmental performance indicator system, selects several companies to evaluate the environmental governance performance of the past two years, and obtains the comprehensive performance index, stress index, state improvement index, and response index of the four companies in 2020. The four indexes of company A are 1.28, 1.3, 12, and 1.45, and the four indexes of company B are 2.96, 3.1, 8, and 2.9.

ASSESSMENT OF INDUSTRIAL WASTE MANAGEMENT EFFICIENCY AS PART OF COMPANY'S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

The article proposes recommendations for the construction of information and analytical support for industrial waste management based on the balanced scorecard concepts, which makes it possible to assess the environmental, economic and social efficiency of waste management in accordance with the strategic objectives of business development. The information basis of the industrial waste management process is the waste accounting system at the life cycle stages of their handling recommended by the authors in the context of key management objects: industrial waste (in physical terms and at fair value) and the cost of industrial waste management (in terms of actual costs for their collection, accumulation, recycling and burial). The analytical support of the industrial waste management process is the developed complex system of environmental, economic and social indicators of the organization efficiency itself and the effectiveness of management efforts in the field of waste management, which will determine the degree of implementation of the strategic goals of organization sustainable development.

ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF THE LAND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND AGRICULTURAL LAND-USE BY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCERS

To assess the effectiveness of the management of land resources for agricultural enterprises suggested factors affecting the market for agricultural products, which integrates a system of environmental, economic and social indicators in this area. The paper highlights main theoretical aspects of the land resource management of the agricultural enterprises. The essence of land resource management is shown based on the definition of the objects of management, which are land resources of agricultural enterprises, subjects of management, which are landowners and employees of such agricultural enterprises, and objective of management, which is providing and maintaining the efficiency of land resources usage as a key factor of agricultural production. The land market and its structure are presented in detail. The characteristic structure of land resources leading European countries. Described prospects management of land resources of agricultural enterprises. A complete analysis of mortgage lending secured by agricultural lands has been carried out. A decrease in the number of agricultural enterprises, which is mostly connected with imperfections of land governance, formed in the state, has been identified. Relationships between strengths and weaknesses of agricultural enterprises, opportunities, and threats of efficient land use have been identified. Scenarios of economic development have been considered, which should be taken into account while developing a strategy.

A proposed environmental indicator's system for assessing the environmental sustainability performance of Egyptian industrial zones Case study "Al-Tebeen City in Al-Saleb District"

development goals. The paper proposes a framework for a comprehensive set of indicators for the identification of more sustainable environmental performance for industrial zones. The indicator system cover aspects of Environmental sustainability performance. The framework is applicable across industries; however, more specific indicators for different sectors have to be defined. Thus, it serves as a tool that can assist environmental planners and decision-makers in assessing their performance concerning the goals and objectives of sustainable development. The methodology developed to identify key indicators utilized for evaluating sustainable environmental performance consists of three basic steps to further strengthen the process of assessing sustainability and identifying adaption strategies. The key indicators restricting for industry development, and adaptation and recommendation policy forward to enhance industry development

Strategic land use management: Environmental trade-offs for the purpose of ensuring the sustainability of agricultural enterprises

An important condition for the formation of sustainability of agriculture is the ability to achieve environmental tradeoffs in the process of land use. The purpose of research is development of methodical approaches to formation of strategy of rational land use by means of improvement of administrative activity at microlevel. Authors have formulated concept of strategy of rational use of land, basic principles, elements and sequence of its construction. The structural mechanism of realization of strategy of maintenance of readiness of the personnel to rational use of land, and also bringing material and technical, financial and land resources in strategic conformity for achievement of ecological compromises in the course of conducting agricultural activity is offered. The authors developed a conceptual model of a strategic map of rational land use on the basis of a balanced system of economic and environmental indicators, and proposed directions for its implementation.

The role of corporate integrated reporting in the management decision-making conditions of the transport industry

Internationally, the availability and transparency of financial reporting and analysis of companies’ accountability is of interest to investors and owners in the context of making optimal management decisions. Certainly, providers of capital (owners-shareholders and investors) are willing to supply investments based on reliable and complete information about financial condition, financial results, financial forecasts, complemented by a system of social, environmental and economic indicators contained in social reporting. In the transport industry, as in other sectors, information on the value creation process in the short, medium and long term is constantly being formed and is qualitatively reflected in corporate integrated reporting, which has a significant impact on the conditions of management decision-making in the transport industry.

Sustainable Development of Oil and Gas Resources: A System of Environmental, Socio-Economic, and Innovation Indicators

Following the principles of sustainable development in the development of oil and gas fields in the Arctic will ensure that hydrocarbon production and transportation operations comply with stringent environmental regulations, the economies of the northern regions become integrated into the national economy of Russia, production systems in the oil and gas sector are upgraded in an innovative manner, and further development of this region is balanced from the environmental perspective. The purpose of the study is to develop and provide a rationale for a balanced system of environmental, socio-economic, and innovative indicators for assessing whether the development of the Arctic’s unique hydrocarbon reserves is sustainable. The theoretical framework of the study draws upon the foundations and key principles of the sustainable development concept and upon modern approaches and methods for assessing the sustainability of production systems. The study presents an analysis of conceptual approaches to defining sustainable development in reference to oil and gas resources, including those found in the Arctic, defines target priorities for the sustainable development of the Arctic’s resource potential, and identifies the relationship between the environmental, socio-economic, and innovative domains of sustainability in the context of Arctic resource development. The results of the study demonstrate how large-scale gas projects can influence regional development and provide for making informed conclusions about whether the development of the Arctic’s oil and gas reserves can be considered sustainable (in accordance with the basic principles of the sustainable development concept).

An environmental component of securing the national economy’s innovative development in the Industry 4.0

With the development of Industry 4.0, the transformation processes are taking place at the level of the national economy. The needs for energy supply, renewal of fixed assets, expansion of production, and ensuring innovative development are growing. These transformations require the introduction of additional mechanisms to ensure environmental safety. The article investigates the principles of development and functioning of the environmental component of securing the innovative development of the national economy in Industry 4.0. The system of environmental indicators of innovative support of the economy’s industrial and technological development is monitored, namely capital investments in environmental protection, the share of publications in ecology and environment, the share of renewable energy consumption, emissions of pollutants and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A relatively high emission rate of 0.57 tons of CO2 per $ 1,000 of GDP is set and this figure is graphically visualized in Ukraine and other countries. The distribution of administrative territories according to the level of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere from stationary sources is presented. The highest values of pollutant emissions from stationary sources are observed in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions - 31.4% and 23.4%, respectively. The positive dynamics of the growth of renewable energy capacities is determined. The positive preconditions for the introduction of ecological innovations are identified, namely a new procedure for establishing and distributing the ecological tax, a new state environmental policy, bringing Ukrainian environmental policy in line with the standards of leading countries. Ukraine’s position on the Environmental Efficiency Index is determined. The main measures for the development of the environmental component of the economy in the leading countries are analyzed. Recommendations for improving the state policy of industrial and technological development in the framework of activating the environmental component are provided.