Tesis sobre el tema "Economic sustainability"

In the last decades, often we heard about the growing phenomenon of foundations and the problems related to their sustainability. The evolution of cultural organizations can be explained by the interest aroused in the entrepreneurs and businessmen who consider sustainability as an increasingly and integral part of doing business in any type of industry. That is the reason why, the phenomenon of the diffusion of cultural organizations and cultural foundations have been multiplied in the last years. Nowadays, cultural foundations can be found in different sectors, they have a variety of goals and operational logics, and they own a surprising flexibility in organizational choices. We can underline some main characteristics of cultural foundations which can be considered as important. First of all, the independence of foundations which should be able to guarantee the realization of its aims, the fact that it can be innovative because in many cases it can be seen as tool to face particular problems related to the society, the culture or institutions, and its continuity because a foundations is something that is created to lasts. From what we can see, even if Italy is considered as the cultural and historical homeland of the World, there is a relatively small number of cultural foundations and it is not comparable in terms of resources and social presence with respect to the American, German and British scenario. This is caused by the different typologies of foundations that exists and by the multiple legal and financial environments that we find in every country. Cultural foundations can be seen as an economic unit which offer charitable services by accepting financial help from the general public. Accounting standards were created to encourage the appropriate use of funds, promote transparency and to help supervise activities. Moreover, they offer the support to managers and auditors during the review of financial reporting. Even if accounting standards might be complex, they are needed to safeguard the general public and to endorse comparability between cultural organizations. These regulations are created to underline the fact that these type of organizations are capable of produce a successful program or activity rather than focusing on the net income. In this cultural scenario, it has therefore begun a managerial and organizational transformation which yield to define strategies aiming at the internal growing and development of every organization. Starting from this concept, we will analyze the importance of the stakeholders’ management which is considered as fundamental element for the implementation of strategies used to reach the entity’s mission. The background is not just referred to forprofit organizations but also to those cultural institutions and no-profit organizations and their development; depending on the different cultural environment the number of stakeholders can change. More important than this is crucial understand why stakeholders in some particular situations or cases seems to do not be present. To be able to analyze this problem, we want to show the economic and financial relationships within the actors involved, how the resources are managed and how the factors of production are employed to reach the final mission. Moreover, we will focus on a case study which will emphasize the problem of stakeholders and sustainability issues in details. Lastly, there is a review of our discussed topics and the final conclusions.

My purpose in this work is to argue that the resolution of capitalism’s contradictions, as they are understood by Marx, fits the criteria of an economic movement towards sustainability. The Marxist analysis of capitalism, while accurate in many respects (especially with the explanation of contradictions generated in the capitalist free market), requires more explanation of the manner in which the economic process of valuation is to continue in the stages succeeding late capitalism. This work will provide an explanation of this economic transition that remains faithful to Marx’s understanding of history and the historical development of the productive forces and the relations of production. I will propose the inclusion of ideal capital (the valuation of non-material goods) as an economic component to help explain a sustainable economic arrangement under a Marxian framework. I will additionally address critiques arising from Bohm-Bawerk in my endorsement of a Marxian economic analysis.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2005.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 152-160).<br>The connections between sustainability, transport, and economic development are and will remain essential in the governance of cities. Sustainability concepts include valuing and preserving the earth's resources so that future generations can enjoy their benefits. It requires changing human behavior and practices to be more efficient and less damaging to the environment, especially with the current rates of population growth and urban concentration. In addition, there is the element of social equity in which investments should secure benefits for all classes of society, not just the affluent. These concepts are particularly applicable in transportation systems, because they have been neglected in the traditional quantitative approaches to planning and investment. Of course, policies defining transportation and those enacted for sustainability impact economic development, which is a chief priority of governments. Therefore, future success in urban areas lies in balancing an array of interests and adopting the most comprehensively advantageous policies. This study will demonstrate the need for rethinking traditional urban transportation development strategies. It will detail the problems associated with urban transport that infringe on environmental conditions and human quality of life. This paper will explain approaches to transportation that can lead to improvements in the negative corollaries currently experienced. It will also present policy measures and tools that can be implemented. This research paper will provide information for city officials and planners to better understand the implications of transportation policies and the options available for governance.<br>(cont.) These decisions are becoming more critical as urban growth leads to large metropolitan regions with incredible transportation demands. More optimistically, the challenges facing society from transport can be overcome through commitment to better policies and the strengthening of institutions that oversee them.<br>by Justin Charles Tobias.<br>S.M.

Economics<br>Ph.D.<br>This dissertation focuses on assessing the sustainability of China’s long-term economic growth. The evaluation is performed, first, by examining economic and social issues from the past thirty years that shape China to where it is now, and second, by taking an empirical approach in understanding what factors are critical to China’s economic growth. The empirical model framework consists of three blocks representing the main areas of development in China: economic growth, health and environmental development, and the model is estimated with two-stage least squares methodology. We identify strong, simultaneous feedback between economic growth and health development. The estimation results show that continued improvements in the health status of Chinese workers are important to support stronger economic growth in China. Environmental stress is detrimental to China’s long-term health status, which indirectly reduces the country’s long-term economic potential. We test the robustness of our model, and confirm that, the proposed model setup produce a set of forecast values that are closer to the actual values than a model without health- and environmental-related variables.<br>Temple University--Theses

City officials are in the position to adopt and implement policies within their jurisdiction that can have lasting impacts for businesses, people, and the environment. Sustainability research has highlighted the need to protect the environment by adopting policies which support the three E's of sustainable development (environment, equity, and economy). Stepping aside from the traditional mechanisms for building a successful city focused on economy first can be challenging for policy makers. The problem city officials face is that changes towards environmental protectionism have long been considered harder on city economy than traditional development focused on economic prosperity. Additionally, sustainability planning is thought to mitigate potential negative impacts that planning for environmental protectionism and social equity may have on economic prosperity. To examine this problem faced by city officials, ordinal regression analyses was used to analyze (1) the possible effects of environmental protectionism and social equity on a city's economic prosperity, and (2) whether sustainability planning has a moderating affect between environmental protectionism, social equity, and economic prosperity. This analysis demonstrates that environmental protectionism and social equity are not associated with a decline in economic prosperity. Sustainability planning was directly associated with increased economic prosperity but did not moderate the relationship between environmental protectionism and economic prosperity.

Throughout the last two decades, biodiversity has been increasingly acknowledged as a valuable asset. However there are numerous challenges to managing the asset. Firstly, there is no universally accepted measure of biodiversity per se. As a consequence, rather than measuring the intrinsic value of biodiversity the focus has typically shifted to valuing biodiversity services. Secondly, biodiversity issues should not be considered in a vacuum, but rather alongside general natural resource management problems. Conservation agencies and regulators alike would greatly benefit from more transparent biodiversity targets for conservation policies and natural resource management. This thesis makes a number of contributions to meet these challenges including measuring biodiversity, modelling diverse ecosystems and considering biodiversity outcomes in the management of an environmental resource. To value biodiversity, it is essential to measure it. Focusing on pairwise genetic dissimilarities at the species level, this thesis develops two models for measuring biodiversity. An axiomatic diagnosis of the existing and new measures is presented. This comparison suggests that the adequate biodiversity measure depends on the context. The diversity measures describe the biodiversity catalogue available at a given point in time. Modelling biodiversity is important for forecasting the impact of conservation decisions and understanding the future value of biodiversity. The importance of each species, however, depends on its role in the ecosystem as well as its genetic diversity. The interactions between species are therefore investigated and described, using a new model built around CES production functions. Three existing models based on predator-prey equations are extended to the multi-species case. These interaction models provide the necessary link for biodiversity maintenance over time. The four models are compared using simulations and an axiomatic approach. This approach shows that the new model performs well, offers the flexibility required to describe different types of ecosystems and is less data intensive. Finally, a case study of natural resource exploitation is presented, illustrating the idea that biodiversity loss can have direct economic implications in natural resource management. The model shows the impact of market structures on the extraction path of the resource and the distribution of the resource rent.

The construction industry is one of the most important components in the economic development of a developing country, being a major contributor to the national economy of many such countries. This industry is largely responsible for the physical provision of housing and infrastructure and, as such, can be the backbone of prosperous economies, providing social development and employment. The construction industry in the developing economy of Yemen is plagued by difficult economic and technical problems, which permeate most aspects of the industry. In addition, construction procedures in Yemen consume excessive capital, time and resources that have a direct flow-on effect for the national economy and the nation's socio-economic development. Macroeconomic problems in unemployment, inflation and an inequitable balance-of-payments all add to the existing difficult economic situation in the construction industry. Further, the lack of appropriate infrastructure, weak and inefficient legal, administrative and financial institutions are also major contributors. The recent global shift to sustainable development also requires that the construction industry in Yemen initiate important strategic developmental policies in order to meet future demand for economical and sustainable development. This research uses a comprehensive literature review to design and conduct a survey into the existing local development barriers and then obtains a census of expert opinions using the Delphi methodology to rank a set of sustainable developmental policies and strategies. The research then establishes a comprehensive list of recommendations for achieving economicly sustainable industry. Proposed policies and strategies are formulated from various international studies, including Agenda 21 for Sustainable Development. The proposed policies and strategies are specifically chosen as they are considered to be compatible with the Yemen case and are also seen to more readily integratable with cultural aspects of Yemen, particularly in focusing on the hardships of its local needs and capabilities. The construction industry in the developing nation of Yemen appears aligned in many ways to the needs of other developing economies and, as such, it is expected that the findings of this research will be of great interest to professionals involved in the construction economies of other such developing nations.

Abu Dhabi has experienced an unprecedented development during the last half century, growing rapidly from a remote desert settlement to a thriving metropolitan. Today, the Emirate ranks among the countries with the highest GDP per capita in the world, and this impressive development is anticipated to continue in the decades to come.<p><p>However, there are several challenges to the sustainability of the current economic prosperity, and the environmental degradation that was caused by the rapid development is an important factor in this context. Today, the United Arab Emirates as a country has the highest ecological footprint per capita in the world and Abu Dhabi, hosting the major part of the heavy industries and oil extraction capacity in the country, has an even larger footprint. Key drivers of this poor environmental track-record are the high greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption levels.<p><p>This deterioration of environmental conditions has growing implications for the economic welfare and physical well-being of the population. So far, the government's environmental policy is mostly symbolic, and concrete policy measures are largely lacking today. On the contrary, there are crucial elements in the governmental policy that have strong negative impacts on environmental conditions and thus on the sustainability of Abu Dhabi's growth, such as generous implicit subsidies on energy commodities and water and an ambitious strategy for economic growth, depending on a strong expansion of heavy industry.<p><p>This poses the question how environmental conditions will develop, when the population boom and economic expansion are anticipated to continue. However, the academic literature on environmental sustainability issues in Abu Dhabi as well as in the wider Gulf region is limited. Moreover, applied policy studies on the topic are absent as well.<p><p>This dissertation intends to contribute to the academic literature as well as to insights from existing policy studies, by projecting the impact of sustained economic growth on environmental conditions in Abu Dhabi. It compares a baseline scenario of economic growth with the four most relevant policy options aimed at footprint reductions available to policy makers in the Emirate: i) The introduction of a nuclear power plant; ii) An abandonment of utility price controls; iii) Shifts in the subsidization policy of water and energy markets; iv) Energy efficiency improvements in selected parts of the economy.<p><p>A recursively dynamic, multi-sectoral computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is used to generate the results in this dissertation, focusing on the two most important aspects of the ecological footprint in Abu Dhabi mentioned above. The CGE model is calibrated to a SAM for Abu Dhabi for 2009, and its specification is chosen to facilitate a focus on energy consumption and sustainability issues. Besides, it is extended by an environmental module and a fossil fuel module, and it incorporates several other modifications that are tailored to the Abu Dhabi economy.<p><p>Simulation results under a baseline scenario of economic growth show that carbon emissions will grow by 282% by 2030 compared to the base year 2009, and water consumption is anticipated to increase by 312%.<p><p>The introduction of nuclear plants, at the scale that is previewed today, will yield a reduction in emissions of 2.6% compared to the baseline scenario. The economic impact will be positive, with a 0.5% increase in GDP and small gains in employment levels.<p><p>Price liberalizations in the utility markets are a politically sensitive theme. When implemented, they can yield a 7.6% reduction in emissions and a 2.3% in water consumption by 2030 (vs. baseline). However, the economic cost involved amounts to 0.3% of GDP.<p><p>An abandonment of subsidies in the energy and water markets can lead to a 11.1% drop in carbon emissions, and a 28.8% decline in water consumption vs. baseline. The domestic economic impacts of this change are negative, but the GDP shows a modest 0.6% growth, due to improvements in the foreign trade balance.<p><p>Finally, efficiency improvements can lead to reductions in carbon emissions (13.8%) and water consumption (17.5%) compared to the baseline, and bring economic gains of 1.0% of GDP.<p><p>All four simulated policy scenarios in this dissertation bring about reductions in the ecological footprint, compared to the baseline as described above. Nonetheless, the consumption levels of energy and water as well as the related carbon emissions will be substantially higher in 2030 than they are today, under each of these scenarios. As a policy implication, the dissertation therefore finds that the previewed deterioration in environmental conditions requires active policy, if current welfare and prosperity are to be sustained. When assessed in the appropriate policy context, environmental conservation and improvements in the ecological footprint should be treated with a higher priority in the broad portfolio of development goals in Abu Dhabi.<p><br>Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion<br>info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Urban and regional development decisions have long-term, often irreversible impacts on the natural and built environment. These changes impact society’s wellbeing, yet rarely occur in the context of well understood economic costs and benefits. The cumulative effects of these individually small land use decisions are also very large. Ecological economics provides several frameworks that could inform more sustainable development patterns and practices, including ecosystem service valuation (ESV) and the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI). This dissertation consists of a series of articles addressing urban and regional development from an ecological economic perspective, using GPI, ESV, and evaluation of tax and subsidy programs. The GPI has been well developed at the national level but is of growing interest to stakeholders and citizens interested in better measuring social welfare at local and regional scales. By integrating measures of built, human, social, and natural capital, GPI provides a more comprehensive assessment of social welfare than consumption-based macroeconomic indicators. GPI’s monetary basis allows these diverse metrics to be integrated, and can also facilitate intra- and inter-regional comparisons of social welfare. Ecosystem services are also increasingly recognized as important contributors to human well-being, particularly in areas where they are becoming scarce due to rapid land conversion. Despite recent advances in measuring and valuing ecosystem services, they are often not considered in decision making because of both scientific uncertainty and the difficulty in weighing these values in tradeoffs. Techniques to speed the valuation process while maintaining accuracy are thus in high demand. As public recognition of the value of ecosystem services grows, ESV can serve as the basis for a variety of policy tools, from inclusion in traditional permitting or conservation easement programs to new programs such as payments for ecosystem services. Ideally planners, citizens, and decision makers would better weigh the diverse costs and benefits of land use decisions as part of development and conservation planning. By quantifying changes in: 1) contributors to social welfare and 2) the value of ecosystem services across the urban-rural gradient, the GPI and ESV frameworks developed as part of this dissertation can thus be used to better inform local and regional policy and planning.

Dubai’s rapid double-digit economic growth was severely challenged by the global financial crisis of 2007, which raised many concerns questioning the sustainability of the Dubai model of economic development and the viability of the emirate’s economic managerial practices. Although the economic landscape of Dubai has experienced a significant transformation over the last two decades, from a basic traditional economy of US $17.9 billion in 2001 to a diversified non-oil dependent economy of US $ 86.7 billion in 2012, there are few convincing empirical academic studies to assess and explain the Dubai model of economic development. This doctoral research provides a crucial assessment of the Dubai model in light of its political and socio-cultural contexts. For this purpose, a multidisciplinary theoretical framework that stems from the literature of economic geography, cultural economy and managerialism, has been designed in order to critically interpret the mechanism of the emirate’s economic practices in today’s global capitalism. This involves a methodological approach based on the study of narratives and performance to explain Dubai’s narratives and macro-economic performance. The multidisciplinary theoretical framework adopted is useful in analysing the Dubai model as an alternative to the discipline of mainstream economics, which ignores cultural and social dimensions and conditions that not only influence but also shape a given economic landscape. The research was undertaken by analysing a wide range of data, including intensive macro-economic statistics, financial and economic reports, international and local press, as well as conducting empirical in-depth elite interviews with fifty-six key stakeholders in the economy of Dubai: senior government officials, representatives of financial institutions, senior managers in the private non-financial sector, and academics. The research findings reveal that although the political and socio-cultural contexts naturally support Dubai's economic model, institutional and managerial problems were also exposed following the global financial crisis and the property shock of 2007. Dubai represents a financialized economy in which the government has adopted a hybrid model of government-driven developments and corporate managerial features within an environment that encourages commercial liberalism and market capitalism. However, despite this financialized economy, tensions remain in Dubai's pursuit of these goals. Finally, the research stresses the need for appropriate government mechanisms to foster oversight over economic performance and long-term sustainable economic development.

The construction industry is one of the most important components in the economic development of a developing country, being a major contributor to the national economy of many such countries. This industry is largely responsible for the physical provision of housing and infrastructure and, as such, can be the backbone of prosperous economies, providing social development and employment. The construction industry in the developing economy of Yemen is plagued by difficult economic and technical problems, which permeate most aspects of the industry. In addition, construction procedures in Yemen consume excessive capital, time and resources that have a direct flow-on effect for the national economy and the nation's socio-economic development. Macroeconomic problems in unemployment, inflation and an inequitable balance-of-payments all add to the existing difficult economic situation in the construction industry. Further, the lack of appropriate infrastructure, weak and inefficient legal, administrative and financial institutions are also major contributors. The recent global shift to sustainable development also requires that the construction industry in Yemen initiate important strategic developmental policies in order to meet future demand for economical and sustainable development. This research uses a comprehensive literature review to design and conduct a survey into the existing local development barriers and then obtains a census of expert opinions using the Delphi methodology to rank a set of sustainable developmental policies and strategies. The research then establishes a comprehensive list of recommendations for achieving economicly sustainable industry. Proposed policies and strategies are formulated from various international studies, including Agenda 21 for Sustainable Development. The proposed policies and strategies are specifically chosen as they are considered to be compatible with the Yemen case and are also seen to more readily integratable with cultural aspects of Yemen, particularly in focusing on the hardships of its local needs and capabilities. The construction industry in the developing nation of Yemen appears aligned in many ways to the needs of other developing economies and, as such, it is expected that the findings of this research will be of great interest to professionals involved in the construction economies of other such developing nations.

Economic growth is often linked to service economy. Sustainable economic growth is based upon economic, environmental and social sustainability. Some argue that economic and environmental sustainability has its foundation on social sustainability. By analysing the effects of service economy on society, one can identify potential threats to social sustainability. Theoretical analysis is supported by historical events from around the world focusing on highlighting threats that service economy countries are exposed to.Findings were that while on short term post-industrial economies boost development and sustainability, on long term countries are facing challenges in terms of ageing population, sustainable communities and access to social equity. Furthermore, depending on local policies, in some cases a trade-off is needed among factors in order to reach the highest level of social sustainability.

According to Kent Portney's seminal two-part study, cities across the U.S. are taking sustainability seriously by implementing a range of sustainable policies and programs. Yet by doing so, low-income people are seemingly pushed further into poverty. Local government officials and policymakers however, are urged to take sustainability seriously, often by well meaning constituencies that may but do not necessarily include the poor. They thus have significant interest in continuing to implement such practices and policies. This thesis seeks to address the problem of the impacts that result from cities taking sustainability seriously. I ask two main questions: are cities that take sustainability seriously experiencing a boost in economic growth? And are these cities potentially experiencing a negative side effect of a rise in poverty rates? The findings from these research questions are provided through a mixed methods approach, first by quantitative data analysis. Secondly, and to supplement this, the thesis provides a qualitative case study analysis of three U.S. cities in the 'Rust Belt' region. Cleveland, OH, Indianapolis, IN, and Milwaukee, WI all 'take sustainability seriously' while addressing the problems of economic development and poverty. I conclude that these cities are hindered in their efforts to take sustainability, economic development and poverty seriously. The three cities have boosted local economic growth yet also experience an increase in poverty as a result of the economic recession of 2007-'08. The primary hindrance experienced by the cities is state level jurisdictional authority, exercised as 'neoliberalism' that undermines 'interventionist' efforts on the part of city governments to 'seriously' address sustainability, growth and poverty as interwoven problems.<br>Master of Arts

xvi, 298 p. : col. map. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.<br>Cities in the United States are increasingly challenged with sharpening inequalities, social exclusion and the effects of a swelling environmental footprint. In response, city officials, political interest groups and residents have seized the framework of urban sustainability to address these mounting social and environmental problems. However, the push for environmental and social sustainability often directly contradicts the push by influential urban business coalitions for cities to be more economically competitive with other locales. I explore the compatibility of urban sustainability and economic development through a case study of Eugene, Oregon's Sustainable Business Initiative, led by Mayor Kitty Piercy. In this Initiative, the interaction between the urban sustainability and economic development discourses calls into question current entrepreneurial strategies and opens the door to exploring the implications of integrating sustainability and social justice concepts with urban economic development policy. Labor-community-environmental coalitions, with a broad vision for sustainability and regional equity, present an alternative to traditional business coalitions' influence on economic development policy and provide a strategy for economic development based in wealth redistribution and environmental health.<br>Committee in charge: Gregory McLauchlan, Chairperson, Sociology; Yvonne Braun, Member, Sociology; Linda Fuller, Member, Womens and Gender Studies; Michael Bussel, Outside Member, History

Rural energy access has been a persistent issue in India causing the country to become one of the most energy poor nations of the world. Despite the launch of several heavily funded programs for the provision of electricity and modern fuels to rural areas, majority of the country‘s village households remain neglected and deficient in energy. Calls have been made for the reconstruction of policies, programs and institutional frameworks that engage in dispersion of energy to the rural poor. Such policies, programs and institutional frameworks vary across different states within India. These differences need to be understood in depth to formulate suitable mechanisms for energy access. In particular, social and economic aspects of energy access need to be studied to overcome barriers in providing energy to the rural poor. This study discerns how different states are performing in terms of providing sustainable energy access to rural people. It conducts an analysis of the socio-economic sustainability of energy access to the rural household in six states of the country (Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal) over the course of two time periods(1996-2002, 2005-2011), with the aid of key performance indicators. Results indicate that all the states have improved their energy access conditions over the past few decades. However, the rates of growth are vastly different and some states still continue to remain highly inadequate in their performances. Punjab has consistently been the most successful state while West Bengal continues to be the most energy-poor state despite a reasonable growth in energy sustainability. The possible reasoning behind these disparities could be dissimilarity in economic development between the states, size and population density of the states, isolation of villages and ineffectiveness and inequity of subsidy schemes. These needs further exploration at individual state level. Transition to less-expensive and easily installable renewable technologies, communicating benefits of modern energy to rural population and channeling subsidies towards lower income groups can improve reach of modern energy towards the rural poor of India.

Many leaders of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) lack strategies to build and maintain a financially sustainable organization to continue providing vital social services. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the financial strategies some NPO leaders used to maintain financial sustainability during general economic downturns. Five purposively selected leaders of an NPO in northwestern Indiana participated in the study. The resource dependency theory and the change management theory were the conceptual frameworks that guided the study. Data were collected from face-to-face and telephone interviews and a review of company documentation. Member checking was conducted with participants and data triangulation occurred with an analysis of organization documents that reinforced the validity of the findings. Data were analyzed using Yin's 5-step process of coding of participants' responses, including examining, categorizing, tabulating, creating a data display, and testing the data. Data analysis of organizational documents, interview transcripts, and the organization's social media sites revealed 3 themes: partnerships, fundraising, and diversification as the strategies used to maintain financial sustainability during periods of economic downturns. The findings of this study might contribute to positive social change by providing information to NPO leaders to help improve financial strategies and sustainability for community service organizations during general economic downturns and maintain social services.

This thesis contains some of the main results obtained during my research activity in these years, in the Statistical Physics sector at SISSA and in the Quantitative Life Sciences sector at ICTP. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction and is kept brief, because each of the following chapters has a separate introduction containing more details on the different problems that have been considered. In Chapter 2 several models of wealth dynamics are discussed, with focus on the stationary distributions that they have. In particular, we introduce a stochastic growth model that has a truncated power law distribution as a stationary state, and we give an interpretation for the mechanism generating this cut-off as a manifestation of the shadow banking activity. Chapter 3 is devoted to the issue of wealth inequality, and in particular to its consequences, when in a system with a power law wealth distribution, economic exchanges are considered. A stylized model of trading dynamics is introduced, in which we show how as inequality increases, the liquid capital concentrates more and more on the wealthiest agents, thereby suppressing the liquidity of the economy. Finally in Chapter 4, we discuss the issue of complexity and information sensitiveness of financial products. In particular, we introduce a stylized model of binary variables, where the financial transparency can be quantified in bits. We quantify how such information losses create sources of systemic risk, and how they should affect the pricing of financial products.

L’urgenza di diversificare le fonti energetiche, l’aumento di fabbisogno energetico e il maggiore interesse nei confronti del cambiamento climatico hanno portato a una crescente attenzione verso le risorse energetiche rinnovabili. Secondo l’International Energy Agency (IEA), oltre l'80% della fornitura totale di energia primaria mondiale deriva da combustibili fossili. Le energie rinnovabili e i biocarburanti nel settore dei trasporti possono svolgere un ruolo importante nel ridurre la dipendenza dai combustibili fossili e aumentare la sicurezza dell’approvvigionamento, contribuendo anche alla riduzione delle emissioni di gas serra. Tuttavia, una serie di questioni hanno ultimamente alimentato il dibattito sui reali benefici di un costante sviluppo dei biocarburanti, almeno per quelli di prima generazione dall’aumento dei prezzi agricoli per gli elevati costi di produzione, alla crescente concorrenza dei terreni agricoli agli effettivi benefici ambientali derivanti dai biocarburanti. I biocarburanti sono stati nell’occhio del ciclone, in particolare a partire dal 2008, durante la crisi dei prezzi quando sono stati da molti considerati la causa del loro aumento determinando pesanti critiche nell’opinione pubblica e costringendo gli stessi governi, tra cui la Commissione europea, a riconsiderare i propri obiettivi in termini di biocarburanti. L’anno successivo, il dibattito intorno a biocarburanti si è calmato traducendosi in una forte azione politica volta all’adozione di programmi di sostenibilità per la produzione di biocarburanti. Lo scopo del presente lavoro è quello di studiare la sostenibilità del settore agro-energetico, in particolare, dei biocarburanti nell’Unione europea e in Italia, tenendo conto del loro impatto economico, sociale e ambientale non solo in Europa ma anche a livello globale. La sostenibilità è un concetto multidimensionale e riguarda più gruppi socio-economici (produttori, consumatori e governo) (Khanna et al, 2009). Al fine di fare considerazioni riguardanti gli impatti della produzione di biocarburanti e la loro sostenibilità, il presente lavoro si divide in due parti: la prima riguarda i fattori che hanno contribuito allo sviluppo dei biocarburanti negli ultimi anni mostrando lo scenario attuale del loro sviluppo a livello mondiale, europeo e italiano. La seconda parte esamina le conseguenze del loro sviluppo partendo dai risultati economici del settore del biodiesel e dell’olio vegetale nel contesto italiano, per i quali dati dettagliati sono stati raccolti. Gli impatti dei biocarburanti sui prezzi dei prodotti alimentari e in ambito ambientale (come cambiamento di uso del suolo) saranno successivamente analizzati attraverso un review degli studi economici presenti in letteratura e attraverso l’applicazione di un modello di equilibrio generale (GTAP).<br>The urgent need to diversify energy sources, the increased energy demand and the international policy debate on climate change have led to a growing attention for renewable energy resources. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), more than 80% of the total primary energy world supply was derived from fossil fuels. Renewable energy and biofuels in transport sector can play an important role in reducing dependence on fossil fuels and increase security of supply, as well as contributing to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. However, a number of issues fuel the debate over the real benefits of a steady development of biofuels, at least first generation biofuels. It concerns the range of increase in agricultural prices to high production costs, from competition for land to achievable environmental benefits. Biofuels have been in the eye of the storm, in particular since 2008, when the food crisis was considered by many to be caused by their increased production. Heavy criticism in public media made various governments, including the European Commission, to reconsider their targets and ambitions for biofuels. A year after the climax of the food (and biofuels) crisis, the debate around biofuels has calmed down and the debate has translated into strong policy action: sustainability schemes for biomass and biofuel production are developed and implemented around the globe. The aim of the present work is to investigate the sustainability of the agro-energy and, in particular, biofuels productions in the European Union and in Italy, taking into account their economic, social and environmental impacts not only in Europe but also at a global level. Sustainability is a multidimensional concept and affects multiple socio-economic groups (such as producers, consumers and government) (Khanna et al, 2009). In order to make consideration about the sustainability and global impacts of biofuels production, the present work is divided in two parts: the first part pays attention to the factors that contribute to the development of biofuels in recent years and it shows the actual scenario at world, European and Italian level. The second part considers the consequences of their development starting from the economic results regarding biodiesel and vegetable oil sectors for the Italian context, for which detailed data will be discussed. Recent concerns about biofuels impacts on food prices and on environment (e.g. land use change) will be then considered through results provided by the literature reviews and results provided by the application of a general equilibrium model (GTAP).

The national framework of local economic development (LED) in South Africa (2006 – 2011) has the goal to support the growth of sustainable local economies through integrated government action. Municipalities as custodians of integrated development programs and local economic development strategies work with different stakeholders such as private industry, other government departments, non-government organizations and relevant community sectors in attaining envisioned developmental goals; thus are avoiding wasteful duplication of effort and resources. LED in the context of this study is defined as development of infrastructure within the BCMM for sustainability of small medium and micro enterprises in alleviating poverty in the area. This report presents an evaluation of the impact of local economic development in terms of basic infrastructure availability on the sustainability of small medium and micro enterprise development in the Buffalo City Metro Municipality (BCMM). This refers to amongst others accessibility of electricity and telecommunication in the operations of a business. The overall approach followed by the researcher throughout this research is the mixed methods or pragmatic approach. The research method followed is that one of a descriptive approach. The results of this study indicate that local economic development is still a new notion which is still unclear. There is evidence that there is a lack of basic services in some areas in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipal, this including access to electricity. The respondents also saw the local municipality as not doing much in support of new and small business and creating job opportunities for them. The study recommends that factors such as skills development, accessibility to basic service, development and promotion of SMMEs, are also major contributors to the effective impact of LED in BCMM.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS)<br>A total of 25 million South Africans are living in poverty, the majority of them in rural areas (SPII, 2007) added to this, the percentage of people living in poverty in rural areas more than doubles those living in the same conditions in an urban context (Armstrong, Lekezwa & Siebrits, 2008). Alleviating poverty and promoting development in rural areas is Strategic Priority no.3 in the National Government’s medium term strategic framework, through the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (DRDLR, 2010). It has also been shown that poverty alleviation through small-scale agricultural projects can be successful in both creating income and improving household nutrition (Lahiff, 2003). The South African Government has attempted multiple varied approaches towards poverty alleviation in rural South Africa with mixed success. One of these approaches is that of a formalised strategy for Local Economic Development (LED) at the municipal government level. LED has been placed firmly in the remit of local government and in some areas has been undertaken by LED agencies (LEDAs) which are autonomous entities but are operating within municipal legal structures. The Blue Crane Development Agency (BCDA) is one such LEDA based in the Blue Crane Route Municipality of the Cacadu District of the Eastern Cape. The main aim of this study is to explore how the BCDA’s agricultural projects affected the livelihoods of their participant communities. The study utilises the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) in order to measure primarily qualitative differences the LED program has made to local livelihood strategies and outcomes. The research takes the form of a case-study, utilising in depth interviews and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools. It was found that the agricultural LED projects did increase livelihoods and capital during the time they were ongoing. However, as the projects had ended there was no long term increase to livelihood strategies and security. Multiple factors were responsible for the project failures. These include the lack of clear delineation in roles between the BCDA and their employees, lack of re-investment once projects were inherited by the beneficiaries and insufficient post hand-over mentoring.

The ability of countries to preserve the current fiscal policy without running into solvency problems and possible default has become a great concern for many industrialized countries, which experienced significant increases in their national debt levels during the aftermath of the economic and financial crisis. Sustainable public finances and lower public debt burdens are important elements to ensure that countries are strong enough to cope with adverse macroeconomic contexts and projected implicit liabilities related to aging, i.e. pension, health care, and long-term care expenditures. The aim of this thesis is to provide different perspectives on the study of pension systems and fiscal sustainability. In the first chapter, we estimate the impact of immigration on the sustainability of Italian public finances using the methodology of Generational Accounting, showing that the burden of current fiscal policy reduces as integration of the foreignborn increases. In the second chapter, we investigate how uncertainty regarding future mortality and life expectancy outcomes have affected the Italian public pension budget, revealing a consistent underestimation of actual life spans when forecasts are based on expectations. Finally, in the third chapter, we analyze in a general equilibrium framework labor market distortions and capital accumulation arising within different pension systems to highlight the importance of guaranteeing both financial viability and retirement income adequacy.

Selective logging of tropical forests, particularly reduced impact logging (RIL), has long been suggested as a benign compromise between profitable land-use and biodiversity conservation. Throughout human history, slow-renewal biological resource populations have been predictably overexploited, often to extinction. This thesis examines the degree to which timber harvests beyond the first-cut can be financially profitable or demographically sustainable, both of which remain poorly understood. Data on legally planned logging of ~17.3 million m3 of timber were obtained from 824 government-approved private and community-based concession management plans. Results indicate that neither the post-depletion timber species composition nor total value of pre-harvest forest stands recover beyond the first-cut, suggesting that commercially most valuable timber species become predictably rare or economically extinct in old logging frontiers. Additionally, smallholders appear to exert strong high-grading pressure upon high-value hardwood species, thereby accruing higher gross revenue productivity per unit area and were more likely to inconsistently report areas of unlogged forest set-asides as required by Brazilian law. Selective logging leads to several forms of collateral damage (CD) to the residual forest stand. This pattern of structural disturbance is poorly quantified or understood despite representing a key form of forest degradation, or the second ‘D’ of REDD+ (United Nations Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation). A review of studies on selective logging impacts on tropical forest fauna revealed that ~90% failed to at least report or attempt to quantify CD. This thesis also examined CD associated with a certified industrial-scale RIL operation of eastern Brazilian Amazonia and finds that for every harvested tree, there is an estimated loss of ~12 damaged stems (≥10cm DBH). Over 30% of total ground sampling area of logged forest was cleared within felled-trees impacts alone. Finally, using RIL concession data from an 11-year time series where ~0.34 million trees were harvested, we estimated the total biomass and carbon stock of harvested trees, their CD, and the infrastructure damage associated with roundlog removal. If only harvested trees and their associated CD are considered, the estimated cost incurred in sparing logging-induced forest degradation through carbon financing projects such as REDD+ could compensate for the ~393 US$ ha-1 yr-1 logging revenues accrued to concession owners.

This thesis aims to increase the knowledge and capacity of Canadian communities and their small businesses in order to enable their transition towards sustainability. This was accomplished through interviews with Canadian Community Economic Development (CED) experts, and surveys from Small Business (SB) operators in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. We suggest the potential roles for CED proponents and SB operators include: (1) Shared development of community vision; (2) Local business networks for sustainability; (3) Community capacity building through dialogue.

This thesis explores the evolution of the Coldstream Research Campus, a high-tech research park operated by the University of Kentucky. Conceived of in the late 1980s and built in 1992, Coldstream was expected to become the „economic engine‟ of central Kentucky through the commercialization of applied scientific and technological research coming out of the university. Twenty years later, with Coldstream having failed to live up to expectations, the university initiated the process of updating the Coldstream Master Plan to incorporate a decided emphasis on the concept of sustainability. Through a mix of archival research and semi-structured interviews, this thesis argues that the newfound emphasis on sustainability is important insofar as it opens up the possibility for perpetuating the existence of the Coldstream Research Campus as a real estate development, even in spite of its failures in other arenas.

Ecovillages, Timebanks and a Local Exchange Trading Schemes are part of global social movements as well as offering innovative approaches to local sustainability. The current study looks at these three community-economic initiatives as a means of addressing the connected social, economic and environmental challenges of local sustainable development. Investigating these collective practices builds on current approaches to studying pro-environmental behaviour change in the social sciences. Two research questions structured this investigation. These focussed on i) how members understand their experiences within the selected groups and ii) processes leading to the formation, maintenance and contraction of the initiatives. Five individuals were interviewed from each group and interviews were analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Secondary data sources also contributed to a broad analysis of group processes and contexts. Diverging from traditional approaches, this multi-level, interdisciplinary account is able to capture more of the complex reality of these organisations than would be possible within a single discipline or through focussing on a single element of group membership. Indeed this comprehensive approach to studying community-based models for sustainability is the unique contribution of this study, moving forward methodological debates in this field. Findings that emerged from this study emphasise group members’ motivation to enhance their personal resilience. Participation provided members with a sense of agency and community connection, as well as being a means to express alternative cultural identities. Informal reciprocal exchange was also preferred to more formal exchange practices, with implications for the understanding and development of community exchange systems. This study widens the focus of environmental psychology to include socio-economic practices, and contributes towards the growing interdisciplinary field of complementary currencies and grassroots innovation. Finally, it provides a template for the evaluation of sustainable community-economic initiatives more generally. The thesis concludes that these initiatives and their wider movements are a promising avenue for research and development in sustainability.

Sustainability has become an undoubtedly popular and important topic, being discussed among many researchers as well as practitioners. Previous research has focused on the importance of implementing sustainability into organizations’ core business, as well as highlighting potential risk of an inadequate focus on the economic perspective of the triple bottom line (TBL). However, it has still been argued that there is not enough theoretical and practical knowledge on how to implement sustainability with the use of management control systems (MCSs). The aim of the study was thus to explore how traditional management control (metrics and measurements) as well as culture, values and communication can be used to implement the social, economic and environmental perspectives of sustainability into the organization. The authors performed an exploratory study, interviewing six sustainability managers/directors working at companies with a strong sustainability focus, as well as collecting data from the chosen companies’ sustainability reports. The findings suggest that companies implemented and created awareness for the sustainability objectives through the use of both metrics and measurements relating to the TBL perspectives, as well as through communicating and spreading the organizational learning of the culture and values connected to sustainability. The study also provided for challenges and possibilities when implementing the TBL perspective of sustainability.

Tea is an important crop in Tanzania, contributing over US$45 million to exports each year. It is grown by over 30,000 smallholder households, and a further 10,000 people are employed in the estates sector. In this context, this study explores the current and potential contribution of the smallholder tea sector towards economic sustainability of the Tanzanian tea industry and rural livelihoods. Following literature review and an exploratory study of key stakeholders, a methodology incorporating two main components, an Asset Based Model of Sustainability and a Value Chain Assessment Model, was developed and applied to assess the sustainability of the smallholder tea production systems. The tea based livelihood systems and the associated tea value chains for three case study areas were compared involving a survey of over 300 tea growing and over 100 non-tea growing households, and three processing factories. The study showed that there is an existing synergy between processing factories and smallholder producers which is important for the future development as factories are set to expand the volume of greenleaf sourced from smallholders. At farm level, greenleaf prices, yield, access to input credit, access to research and extension support, availability of farm labour, and access to a reliable greenleaf markets were identified as critical factors that influence the livelihood of the tea growing households. The quantitative analysis showed clear association between farmers involvement in tea production and accumulation of assets (natural, physical and financial), confirming the role of tea in supporting livelihoods. The study concludes that the smallholder tea production systems can contribute to sustainable livelihood systems. Finally the study gives recommendation for various groups of stakeholders regarding ways to improve the performance of the smallholder production systems.

Agricultural production is a subject to many environmental and economic risks. Any farm production decision plan is typically associated with multiple potential outcomes with different probabilities. Weather, market developments and other events cannot be controlled by the farmer but have a direct incidence on the returns from farming. In this context, the farmer has to manage risk in farming as part of the general management of the farming business. Hazards and unforeseen events occur in all economic and business activities and are not specific to agriculture. However, farming risk and risk management instruments in the sector may have a certain number of specificities. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/10059

Tea is an important crop in Tanzania, contributing over US$45 million to exports each year. It is grown by over 30,000 smallholder households, and a further 10,000 people are employed in the estates sector. In this context, this study explores the current and potential contribution of the smallholder tea sector towards economic sustainability of the Tanzanian tea industry and rural livelihoods. Following literature review and an exploratory study of key stakeholders, a methodology incorporating two main components, an Asset Based Model of Sustainability and a Value Chain Assessment Model, was developed and applied to assess the sustainability of the smallholder tea production systems. The tea based livelihood systems and the associated tea value chains for three case study areas were compared involving a survey of over 300 tea growing and over 100 non-tea growing households, and three processing factories. The study showed that there is an existing synergy between processing factories and smallholder producers which is important for the future development as factories are set to expand the volume of greenleaf sourced from smallholders. At farm level, greenleaf prices, yield, access to input credit, access to research and extension support, availability of farm labour, and access to a reliable greenleaf markets were identified as critical factors that influence the livelihood of the tea growing households. The quantitative analysis showed clear association between farmers involvement in tea production and accumulation of assets (natural, physical and financial), confirming the role of tea in supporting livelihoods. The study concludes that the smallholder tea production systems can contribute to sustainable livelihood systems. Finally the study gives recommendation for various groups of stakeholders regarding ways to improve the performance of the smallholder production systems.

Thesis (MPA) --(University of Limpopo), 2007<br>This study had two aims. Firstly, it investigated the existence of the Local Economic Development (LED) strategy, and secondly, the sustainability of such a strategy at the Thembisile municipality in Mpumalanga province. The rationale behind this study was to provide the municipality with possible mechanisms to improve the development and implementation of the LED policy. The concept of Local Economic Development has been studied and debated widely in South Africa. The importance of introducing policies that assist to stimulate economic activities at the local sphere of government has been acknowledged by a number of scholars. The LED policy in South Africa was developed as a way of creating a platform for municipalities to play a role in economy of the municipality and the country. This study focused on how the LED policy has been developed and implemented at the Thembisile municipality. In order to achieve this, various strategies were used to collect data. Firstly, policy documents such as the Mpumalanga Provincial Growth and Development Strategy and the Thembisile Municipality’s LED strategy were studied. Secondly, questionnaires were administered to participants. Interviews were also conducted with members of the LED Committee at the municipality and entrepreneurs. The study mainly used the Evaluation Research methods to analyze the various critical aspects of policy implementation. The results of the study show that there are possible improvements both in the development and implementation of the LED strategy at Thembisile municipality. It is also critical that the element of sustainability enterprises established should be prioritized. Finally, the study provides recommendations for improvement for the municipality.

Biofuels started to raise interest almost 40 years ago, when the Arab oil embargo pushed oil prices up and therefore spurred the research towards new forms of energy. Nevertheless, biofuel production has not really taken off until recently, when the combination of high oil prices, concern about greenhouse gas emissions, and the progressive reduction of oil reserves induced many countries across the world to implement policies encouraging biofuels production. At the beginning of the 2000s, biofuels were seen as a panacea for energy security (domestic energy source, highly reliable), economic stability (energy price stability, rural development, employment generation, reduce supply-demand gap for agricultural commodities), and for environment protection (better waste utilization, GHG emissions reduction), especially after the drawing up of the Kyoto protocol, according to which signatory countries had to reduce their GHG emissions by about 5% from their 1990 levels, by 2012. Biofuels are currently produced from agricultural commodities, therefore their repercussions on the agricultural and food sector might be substantial. In this framework it is clear that the responsibility that big countries (those able to affect world prices) have is substantial. Countries like the US, Brazil, and the EU have been encouraging biofuel production in recent years and ended up artificially creating a new market for agricultural commodities without fully understanding, a priori, the possible negative consequences of such decision. They decided to subsidize renewables because of the increased pressure by the public opinion towards greenhouse gas emissions reduction, reduce dependency on oil imports, and the need to meet the targets set by both the Kyoto protocol. Biofuel expansion took place not only in a controversial manner, without coordination at international level, but also in a critical historical moment. The past two decades have been characterized by a strong increase in world food demand, mainly due to economic expansion in emerging economies like China, India, Brazil, and some South East Asian countries. The strong increase in demand faces an agricultural supply that in the short period is inevitably inelastic, which results in higher prices and higher volatility (due to reduced stocks). Much of the initial enthusiasm towards biofuels has been declining in the last few years. First of all, biofuel expansion has increased the demand for many agricultural commodities, which, in a framework of increasing food demand in the world, triggered a sharp increase in agricultural prices with strong negative implications for poor people especially in developing countries. Many doubts have also been raised concerning the real effectiveness of biofuels in reducing GHG emissions. Emission-computing methodologies are not always accurate and sometimes are difficult to put in practice. Agriculture intensification and land use changes, both consequences of biofuel expansion, are two of the factors more likely to have increased GHG emissions rather than reduced. Furthermore, biofuel policies have been designed and implemented by countries on an individual basis, without the coordination at international level that would have been needed to avoid the numerous side-effects that biofuels have been having on international food markets and on the environment. My doctorate research analyzes all aspects of the biofuel sector at world level with special emphasis on its sustainability under an economic, environmental, and ethical point of view. The research starts with a description of what biofuels are and in which sub-categories they can be divided. Then, it provides a review of biofuel policies around the world and data on production, prices and trade. The work also provides figures on production, prices and trade of the main agricultural commodities used for biofuel production and the evolution of cropped and forest areas worldwide in the last twenty years. Main biofuel producers are the US, Brazil and the EU. In the first two countries is ethanol the main biofuel produced (obtained from corn in the US and from sugarcane in Brazil), while in the EU the leasing biofuel is biodiesel (from vegetable oils). In 2011, 51.8% of Brazilian sugarcane production and 42.2% of US corn production were used to produce ethanol. Areas cropped with sugarcane and corn, in the two countries were 4.2 and 15.5 million hectares in 2011, which correspond to 1.5% and 16% of total agricultural area respectively. By 2021 ethanol production will absorb almost 61% of Brazilian sugarcane production and 57% of US corn production, ceteris paribus. In 2021 the amount of land needed to grow all sugarcane needed to produce ethanol in Brazil will be more than 8 million hectares, almost equal to the entire current sugarcane area in the South American country. In the US the area that will be needed to cultivate corn for ethanol production will grow to slightly less than 20 million hectares, equal to 53% of current corn area in the US and 20% of current total agricultural area. These data highlight the different impact sugarcane- and corn-based ethanol have on agricultural production. Brazilian and American ethanol production was 22.9 and 52.8 million m3 in 2011 respectively, implying an “ethanol yield” of 5.5 m3/hectare for sugarcane ethanol and of 3.4 m3/hectare for corn-ethanol. This means that producing ethanol from sugarcane is more efficient and less consuming in terms of land than corn-ethanol. Considering also biodiesel, the amount of land needed to crop biofuel feedstocks, in Brazil and the US grows to 3 and 18.4% of total agricultural land. These areas are forecasted to increase to 6.3 and 23% by 2021, implying an increasing competition for land. In 2011 the EU used 5.4 million tons of domestically produced rapeseed oil and at least 3.9 million tons of imported palm oil to make biodiesel. The amount of land needed to grow rapeseed within the Union and oil palm in third countries (mainly Indonesia and Malaysia) was 5.2 and 1.3 million hectares respectively. The area needed to crop rapeseed for biodiesel production, in the EU, was equal to 5.2% of total agriculture area. Assuming that the percentage of rapeseed oil on total vegetable oil production in the EU will remain the same of 2011 and that the share of it employed in the food sector will also remain unchanged, it is possible to forecast that, in 2021, the EU will need 6.6 million tons of rapeseed oil and at least 10 million tons of palm oil from third countries to meet its consumption targets. This means that at least 3.4 million hectares of land, in South East Asia will be needed to produce palm oil destined to the EU. The core of the thesis is the analysis of the sustainability of biofuels on one hand, and of biofuels’ implications on food production on the other. The sustainability of biofuel production is analyzed through a literature review and re-interpretation of the existing literature on the topic, encompassing effects of mass biofuel production on the environment, GHG emissions, land use changes, water availability, and implications for developing countries. One of the most important aspects of biofuel sustainability is their effects on agricultural production and agricultural prices. The empirical part of this thesis employs econometric tools to assess the degree of integration between energy and agricultural markets in the main biofuel producing countries and price transmission elasticity between international and EU agricultural markets before and after the last reform of the CAP. In the US and in Brazil energy and agricultural prices move together in the long-run and the influence of oil prices has been growing over time. This means that policy-makers, in the future, will have to pay great attention to the mutual influence energy and agricultural policies can have on each other. In Europe this close relationship between energy and agricultural prices was not detected, however European agricultural markets have been influenced by biofuel policies in the US, and to a lesser extent Brazil, indirectly, through their effects on international commodity prices. What emerges from this work is that biofuels, in the current political, economic demographic, situation are, for many aspects, not sustainable. Side-effects of biofuel production are many and often even difficult to quantify. Solutions provided are often utopic or, even if good in theory, very difficult to implement. Biofuel production has been having negative effects on food production and prices, biodiversity and social welfare in the last decade, inside and outside the countries of production. The “original sin” was the initial lack of coordination between policies issued unilaterally by different countries, something that now seems extremely difficult to fix. Governments should, as it has been recently suggested by the United Nations, consider the option of modifying their biofuel programs because of their negative consequences on food security in many low-income countries. Also the promotion and implementation of biofuel policies in developing countries should be avoided as a measure for fostering development. It is very unlikely that rural poor will benefit from policies subsidizing the biofuel sector since most of the land in developing countries is owned by big multinational companies or by foreign states (land grabbing). The development of the biofuel sector would also increase food prices even in countries where such increase has been marginal so far because of scarce price transmission from the world market. Poor people living in urban areas would be worse off by higher food prices as well as small farmers who, in developing countries, are often net-purchasers of food. It has been suggested by many scholars and international organizations that, in order to become sustainable, biofuel production should shift from first-generation to second-generation technologies (those that allow the use of non-food crops or wastes for biofuel production). This will not be easy to achieve. Current second-generation biofuel production is still very small and will not grow substantially unless major investments are made by governments and, under the right conditions, private companies. Moreover it is not governments nor policy-makers who decides whether is profitable to put marginal land under cultivation and to crop non-food biofuel crops on it. Farmers are those making such decisions and they will not do it unless it is profitable. Current record-high agricultural commodity prices raise many doubts on the fact that farmers will shift from food to non-food crops without substantial government subsidies. An increase in subsidies to the agricultural sector, even just for energy crops, is unlikely to happen anytime soon because of the financial and economic crisis that hit many countries around the world and because of pressure by the WTO and other international organizations to reduce the degree of protection. In case it will be decided to keep subsidizing biofuels, new polices will have to be designed and implemented at world level, needing a very high degree of coordination between countries and flexibility, which is difficult to imagine can be reached in the short or even the medium term. An emblematic case, in this sense, is GHG emission accounting mechanisms that currently are based on life-cycle assessment analysis and that are often incomplete (i.e. limited to a single country or region) or unable to take all factors into account (i.e. indirect land-use changes). Research, in the next years, will have to focus on two main topics. On one hand second- and third-generation techniques for biofuel production will have to be refined and made economically (but also environmentally and socially) viable, possibly together with progressive reduction in the support in favor of first-generation biofuels. On the other hand, a better definition of the methodologies to assess the environmental, economic and social impacts of biofuel production will be crucial in order to correctly evaluate the sustainability of biofuel programs. In particular, the development of reliable methodologies to assess the environmental impact of biofuel production is very important since, in the future, subsidies could be calculated in a way to reward the production of biofuels able to provide (proved) positive externalities to the environment as well as increase social welfare.<br>Di biocarburanti si iniziò a parlare circa 40 anni fa, in concomitanza con la crisi petrolifera determinata dall’embargo da parte dei paesi OPEC. Il conseguente forte aumento del prezzo del petrolio stimolò infatti la ricerca nel campo delle forme di energia alternative. La produzione di biocarburanti è tuttavia decollata solo di recente, grazie all’azione combinata di molteplici fattori: elevate quotazioni del petrolio, necessità di contenere le emissioni di gas serra e la riduzione delle scorte di combustibili fossili; tutte cose che hanno indotto molti paesi a mettere a punto programmi volti allo sviluppo del settore dei biocarburanti. All’inizio degli anni 2000 i biocarburanti venivano considerati la soluzione ideale per risolvere i problemi dell’approvvigionamento energetico, della stabilità economica (stabilizzazione dei prezzi dell’energia, sviluppo rurale, creazione di posti di lavoro, aumento della domanda di materie prime agricole) e della protezione dell’ambiente (utilizzazione più efficiente dei rifiuti e riduzione delle emissioni di gas serra). Un impulso decisivo allo sviluppo delle politiche fu dato dalla stipula del Protocollo di Kyoto nel quale i paesi firmatari si impegnavano a ridurre le proprie emissioni di gas serra del 5% rispetto ai livelli del 1990 entro il 2012. Al momento attuale i biocarburanti vengono in larga parte prodotti a partire da materie prime agricole, quindi le ripercussioni della loro produzione sul settore agricolo possono essere rilevanti. In tale àmbito appare chiara la forte responsabilità, in termini di effetti sui mercati agricoli mondiali, che hanno i paesi che più di tutti hanno sovvenzionato il settore: Stati Uniti, Brasile e Unione Europea. Tali paesi, tramite le loro politiche, hanno creato un nuovo mercato di sbocco per molte materie prime agricole, senza capire a fondo, a priori, le conseguenze di tale azione. Le principali motivazioni addotte dai decisori politici per giustificare le sovvenzioni al settore dei biocarburanti furono la necessità di ottemperare ai dettami del Protocollo di Kyoto, aumentare l’indipendenza energetica, creare nuovi posti di lavoro, migliorare il reddito degli agricoltori e stabilizzare i prezzi dell’energia. L’espansione del settore dei biofuel è avvenuta non solamente in maniera quantomeno controversa, senza coordinazione a livello internazionale, ma anche in un momento storico molto delicato. Gli ultimi venti anni sono stati infatti caratterizzati da un grande aumento della domanda mondiale di cibo, soprattutto a causa della forte crescita economica dei cosiddetti paesi emergenti: Cina, India, Brasile e paesi del Sud-Est asiatico. Il forte aumento della domanda si scontra contro un’offerta di materie prime agricole giocoforza rigida nel breve termine, cosa che genera forti aumenti di prezzo e della volatilità delle quotazioni (soprattutto a causa del forte ridimensionamento delle scorte). Negli ultimi anni gran parte dell’entusiasmo iniziale nei confronti dei biocarburanti è andato scemando. Per prima cosa l’espansione del settore dei combustibili “verdi” ha aumentato la domanda per molte materie prime agricole che, in un contesto contraddistinto da un forte aumento della domanda mondiale, ha generato un sensibile aumento dei prezzi alimentari, con ripercussioni particolarmente negative per le fasce più povere della popolazione, soprattutto nei paesi meno sviluppati. Anche l’effettiva efficacia dei biocarburanti nel ridurre le emissioni di gas serra è stata fortemente messa in dubbio. Le metodologie utilizzare per il conteggio delle emissioni non sono sempre accurate o di facile attuazione. L’intensivizzazione dei processi agricoli e i cambiamenti d’uso dei suoli, entrambi conseguenza dell’aumento della produzione agricola, sono due fattori che molto probabilmente hanno causato un aumento delle emissioni di gas serra invece che una diminuzione. Inoltre, le politiche a favore del settore delle energie rinnovabili sono state progettate e messe in pratica in maniera spesso unilaterale da parte dei vari paesi, senza quella coordinazione a livello internazionale che sarebbe stata essenziale a evitare le conseguenze negative sui mercati agricoli e sull’ambiente. La mia ricerca di dottorato analizza tutti gli aspetti del settore dei biocarburanti a livello mondiale con particolare attenzione a quelli della sostenibilità: economica, ambientale e sociale. La ricerca inizia con una descrizione delle varie tipologie di biocarburanti attualmente prodotti a livello mondiale e prosegue con una rassegna delle politiche a favore dei biocarburanti nei principali paesi. In séguito vengono analizzate le produzioni, i prezzi e il commercio internazionale di biocarburanti e delle materie prime dalle quali sono ottenuti. I principali paesi produttori di biocarburanti sono gli Stati Uniti, il Brasile e l’Unione Europea. Nei primi due viene prodotto principalmente etanolo (a partire dal mais negli Stati Uniti e dalla canna da zucchero in Brasile), mentre nell’Unione Europea è il biodiesel il biocarburante di riferimento (prodotto a partire da oli vegetali). Nel 2011, il 51,8% della produzione brasiliana di canna da zucchero e il 42,2% di quella statunitense di mais sono state usate per produrre etanolo. Le superfici necessarie, nei due paesi, per la coltivazione della materia prima per la produzione del biocarburante sono state pari a 4,2 e 15,5 milioni di ettari, che rappresentano l’1,5 e il 16% della superficie agricola totale dei due paesi. Nel 2021, ceteris paribus, la produzione di etanolo assorbirà circa il 61% della produzione brasiliana di canna da zucchero e il 57% di quella statunitense di mais. Sempre nel 2021, in Brasile, le superfici necessarie per coltivare canna da zucchero destinata la settore dell’etanolo raggiungeranno gli 8 milioni di ettari, pari a tutta l’area attualmente coltivata a canna da zucchero nel paese sudamericano. Negli Stati Uniti le superfici necessarie a coltivare il granturco per la produzione di etanolo cresceranno fino a sfiorare i 20 milioni di ettari, un’estensione pari al 53% dell’area attualmente investita a mais e al 20% della superficie agricola totale del 2011. Da questi dati è possibile osservare la forte differenza, in termini di impatto sulle produzioni agricole, tra la produzione di etanolo brasiliana (imperniata sulla canna da zucchero) e quella statunitense (basata sul mais). La produzione brasiliana e statunitense di etanolo, nel 2011, è stata rispettivamente di 22,9 e 52,8 milioni di metri cubi, implicando una “resa” in etanolo di 5,5 e 3,4 metri cubi a ettaro. Ciò significa che la produzione di etanolo a partire dalla canna da zucchero è più efficiente in termini di superfici necessarie alla coltivazione della materia prima. Tenendo in considerazione anche il biodiesel, in rapida espansione in entrambi i paesi (dove viene ottenuto a partire dall’olio di soia), l’incidenza percentuale delle superfici utilizzate per coltivare la materia prima per la produzione di biocarburanti (etanolo e biodiesel) cresce fino a raggiungere il 3% del totale della superficie agricola in Brasile e il 18,4% negli Stati Uniti. Tali percentuali sono destinate a raggiungere il 6,3 e il 23% entro il 2021. Nel 2011 l’Unione Europea ha impiegato 5,4 milioni di tonnellate di olio di colza (prodotto all’interno dell’Unione) e almeno 3,9 milioni di olio di palma (importato da Indonesia e Malesia) per produrre biodiesel. Le superfice necessaria, all’interno dell’UE, per la coltivazione della colza usata nel settore dei biocarburanti è stata di 5,2 milioni di ettari nel 2011, mentre quella impiegata per la produzione di olio di palma nei paesi terzi di almeno 1,3 milioni di ettari. Sempre nel 2011, il 5,2% della superficie agricola totale dell’Unione è stato utilizzato per la coltivazione di colza da destinare alla produzione di biocarburanti. Assumendo che la percentuale di olio di colza impiegata nel settore alimentare nell’Unione Europea rimarrà la stessa anche negli anni a venire, è possibile prevedere che, nel 2021, l’UE avrà bisogno di 6,6 milioni di tonnellate di olio di colza e di almeno 10 milioni di tonnellate di olio di palma (importato da paesi terzi) per raggiungere i suoi obiettivi di consumo in materia di biodiesel. Ciò implica che almeno 3,4 milioni di ettari di terreni, presumibilmente in Indonesia e Malesia, saranno necessari per produrre tutto l’olio di palma di cui il settore del biodiesel comunitario avrà bisogno. Il fulcro di questa tesi è l’analisi della sostenibilità della produzione di biocarburanti e le sue conseguenze sulla produzione di materie prime agricole. La sostenibilità dei biocarburanti viene esaminata attraverso una revisione della letteratura esistente sull’argomento, con particolare enfasi sugli effetti della forte espansione del settore dei carburanti “verdi” sull’ambiente, sulle emissioni di gas serra, i cambiamenti d’uso del suolo, la disponibilità idrica e le implicazioni per i paesi in via di sviluppo. In termini di sostenibilità, uno degli aspetti più importanti riguarda gli effetti del forte aumento della produzione di biofuel sulla produzione e sui prezzi delle materie prime agricole. Questa tesi, nella sua parte empirica, utilizza tecniche econometriche per misurare il livello di integrazione tra i mercati energetici e quelli agricoli nei principali paesi produttori. Viene inoltre anche stimata l’elasticità di trasmissione dei prezzi tra il mercato mondiale e quello comunitario nel caso delle principali materie prime agricole, prima e dopo l’ultima riforma della Politica agricola comune (Riforma Fischler). Negli Stati Uniti e in Brasile i prezzi agricoli e quelli dell’energia (petrolio ed etanolo) condividono il medesimo trend di lungo periodo, con l’influenza del prezzo del petrolio che è andata crescendo negli ultimi anni. Ciò implica che i decisori politici dovranno, in futuro, prestare grande attenzione agli effetti che le politiche energetiche hanno sui mercati agricoli e viceversa. In Europa non è stato possibile dimostrare la presenza di una relazione diretta tra prezzi agricoli e prezzo del petrolio, tuttavia è possibile affermare che i mercati agricoli europei subiscano le conseguenze delle politiche a favore dei biocarburanti di altri paesi, in particolare degli Stati Uniti, in maniera indiretta, cioè tramite l’effetto di tali politiche sui prezzi internazionali. Ciò che merge da questo lavoro è che i biocarburanti, nella situazione economica, politica e demografica attuale, sono, per molti aspetti, non sostenibili. Gli effetti collaterali della produzione di biofuel sono numerosi e spesso difficili da quantificare. Le soluzioni proposte dalla letteratura sono spesso utopiche o, seppur corrette dal punto di vista teorico, molto difficili da applicare. L’espansione del settore dei biocarburanti sta avendo effetti negativi sulla produzione e sui prezzi delle materie prime agricole, sulla biodiversità e sul benessere sociale, sia all’interno dei principali paesi produttori che all’esterno di essi. Il “peccato originale” è stato la mancanza di coordinazione iniziale tra le varie politiche, progettate e messe in pratica in maniera unilaterale dai vari paesi; una cosa alla quale, oggi, è molto difficile porre rimedio. I governi dovrebbero, come è stato recentemente raccomandato dalle Nazioni Unite, considerare la possibilità di modificare in maniera sostanziale i propri programmi di sviluppo del settore dei biocarburanti a causa soprattutto delle pesanti conseguenze che hanno sulla sicurezza alimentare nei paesi a basso reddito. Per questa ragione l’utilizzo dei biocarburanti come misura volta a stimolare lo sviluppo nei paesi poveri dovrebbe essere evitata. È altamente improbabile che i poveri nelle zone rurali traggano alcun beneficio dallo sviluppo del settore dei biocarburanti nei loro paesi poiché gran parte della terra è posseduta da grandi compagnie multinazionali o, in alcuni casi, da paesi terzi (land grabbing). Lo sviluppo del settore dei biocarburanti nei paesi in via di sviluppo contribuirebbe, dall’interno, a mantenere elevati i prezzi dei generi alimentari anche dove finora tale effetto, a causa del basso livello di trasmissione dei prezzi agricoli mondiali, è stato marginale. L’aumento dell’inflazione alimentare causato dalla produzione di biocarburanti avrebbe effetti negativi sia sui poveri delle aree urbane che sue quelli delle aree rurali poiché in molti casi i piccoli coltivatori, nei paesi in via di sviluppo, sono compratori netti di generi alimentari. Molti studi, anche da parte di organizzazioni governative internazionali, mettono in risalto il fatto che la produzione di biocarburanti possa diventare sostenibile solo attraverso lo sviluppo delle cosiddette tecnologie di seconda o terza generazione (cioè quelle che permettono l’uso di materia prima non-food per la produzione di biocarburanti) e l’uso di terreni degradati e marginali per la coltivazione delle materie prime. Tuttavia, tutto ciò è di difficile realizzazione. Attualmente i biocarburanti di seconda o terza generazione sono ancora in fase di sviluppo e la loro produzione non crescerà in maniera sostanziale se non tramite forti investimenti da parte dei vari governi e, in determinate circostanze, di investitori privati. Va ricordato che non sono i governi quelli che decidono se la coltivazione di materia prima per la produzione di biocarburanti in aree degradate o marginali sia economicamente conveniente: sono infatti i coltivatori quelli che prendono le decisioni ed essi non lo faranno se non vi troveranno alcun beneficio economico. L’attuale livello, molto elevato, dei prezzi agricoli pone seri dubbi sul fatto che i coltivatori siano disposti a passare dalla produzione di materie prime food a quelle non-food in assenza di forti incentivi pubblici in tal senso. Tuttavia, un aumento del livello di supporto all’agricoltura, anche solo nel caso delle colture energetiche, difficilmente avverrà nel breve termine, a causa soprattutto della crisi economica, che ha ristretto i budget di spesa di molti paesi, e le pressioni, in sede WTO, per una riduzione del livello di protezione dei mercati. Nel caso in cui si decida di mantenere gli aiuti di stato al settore dei biocarburanti, sarà necessario progettare e sviluppare nuove politiche, questa volta a livello sovranazionale, cosa che implicherebbe un elevato livello di coordinazione e di flessibilità tra i vari paesi, oltre che difficile da raggiungere nel breve o medio termine. Un caso emblematico, in tal senso, è rappresentato dalle metodologie di conteggio delle emissioni di gas serra che sono attualmente basate sull’analisi del ciclo di vita e che sono molto spesso incomplete (limitate, ad esempio, a determinati paesi o regioni) o ancora non in grado di considerare il ruolo di tutti i fattori (es. cambiamenti indiretti d’uso del suolo). La ricerca, negli anni a venire, dovrà focalizzarsi su due argomenti principali. Da una parte, le tecniche di produzione dei biocarburanti di seconda e terza generazione dovranno essere raffinate, rese economicamente convenienti e sostenibili dal punto di vista sociale e ambientale. Possibilmente ciò dovrà avvenire di pari passo con la progressiva riduzione del livello di supporto ai biocarburanti di prima generazione. Dall’altra parte, sarà necessario definire meglio le metodologie di quantificazione dell’impatto dei biocarburanti in termini ambientali, economici e sociali, in modo da determinare con certezza la loro sostenibilità e da consentire lo sviluppo di politiche più appropriate. In particolare, la messa a punto di metodologie affidabili per la valutazione dell’impatto dei vari biocarburanti è molto importante poiché, in futuro, le sovvenzioni potrebbero essere calcolate in maniera tale da premiare la produzione di quei biocarburanti in grado di fornire esternalità positive per l’ambiente e il benessere sociale.

<p>The Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems defines sustainability or industrial ecology as ?the wise use of resources through critical attention to policy, social, economic, technological, and ecological management of natural and human engineered capital so as to promote innovations that assure a higher degree of human needs fulfilment, or life support, across all regions of the world, while at the same time ensuring intergenerational equity? (Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems 1998). Developing and integrating sustainable energy systems to meet growing energy demands is a daunting task. Although the technology to utilize renewable energies is well understood, there are limited locations which are ideally suited for renewable energy development. Even in areas with significant wind or solar availability, backup or redundant energy supplies are still required during periods of low renewable generation. This is precisely why it would be difficult to make the switch directly from fossil fuel to renewable energy generation. A transition period in which a base-load generation supports renewables is required, and nuclear energy suits this need well with its limited life cycle emissions and fuel price stability. Sustainability is achieved by balancing environmental, economic, and social considerations, such that energy is produced without detriment to future generations through loss of resources, harm to the environment, etcetera. In essence, the goal is to provide future generations with the same opportunities to produce energy that the current generation has. This research explores sustainability metrics as they apply to a small modular reactor (SMR)-hydrogen production plant coupled with wind energy and storage technologies to develop a new quantitative sustainability metric, the Sustainability Efficiency Factor (SEF), for comparison of energy systems. The SEF incorporates the three fundamental aspects of sustainability and provides SMR or nuclear hybrid energy system (NHES) reference case studies to (1) introduce sustainability metrics, such as life cycle assessment, (2) demonstrate the methods behind exergy and exergoeconomic analyses, (3) provide an economic analysis of the potential for SMR development from first-of-a-kind (FOAK) to nth-of-a-kind (NOAK), thereby illustrating possible cost reductions and deployment flexibility for SMRs over large conventional nuclear reactors, (4) assess the competitive potential for incorporation of storage and hydrogen production in NHES and in regulated and deregulated electricity markets, (5) compare an SMR-hydrogen production plant to a natural gas steam methane reforming plant using the SEF, and (6) identify and review the social considerations which would support future nuclear development domestically and abroad, such as public and political/regulatory needs and challenges. The Global Warming Potential (GWP) for the SMR (300 MWth)-wind (60 MWe)-high temperature steam electrolysis (200 tons Hydrogen per day) system was calculated as approximately 874 g CO2-equivalent as part of the life cycle assessment. This is 92.6% less than the GWP estimated for steam methane reforming production of hydrogen by Spath and Mann. The unit exergetic and exergoeconomic costs were determined for each flow within the NHES system as part of the exergy/exergoeconomic cost analyses. The unit exergetic cost is lower for components yielding more meaningful work like the one exiting the SMR with a unit exergetic cost of 1.075 MW/MW. In comparison, the flow exiting the turbine has a very high unit exergetic cost of 15.31, as most of the useful work was already removed through the turning of the generator/compressor shaft. In a similar manner, the high unit exergoeconomic cost of $12.45/MW*sec is observed for the return flow to the reactors, because there is very little exergy present. The first and second law efficiencies and the exergoeconomic factors were also determined over several cases. For the first or base SMR case, first and second law efficiencies of 81.5% and 93.3% were observed respectively. With an increase in reactor outlet temperature of only 20?C, both the SMR efficiencies increased, while the exergoeconomic factor decreased by 0.2%. As part of the SMR economic analysis, specific capital and total capital investment costs (TCIC) were determined in addition to conditional effects on the net present value (NPV), levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), and payback periods. For a 1260 MWe FOAK multi-module SMR site with 7 modules, the specific capital costs were 27-38% higher than that of a 1260 MWe single large reactor site. A NOAK site, on the other hand, may be 19% lower to 18% higher than the large reactor site, demonstrating that it may break even or be even more economical in average or favorable market conditions. The NOAK TCIC for single and multi-module SMR sites were determined to be $914-$1,230 million and $660-$967 million per module, respectively, reflecting the substantial savings incurred with sites designed for and deployed with multiple modules. For the same NOAK 7-unit multi-module site, the LCOE was calculated as $67-$84/MWh, which is slightly less than that of the conventional large reactor LCOE of $89/MWh with a weighted average cost of capital of 10%, a 50%-50% share of debt and equity, and a corporate tax rate of 35%. The payback period for the SMR site, however, is 4 years longer. Construction delays were also analyzed to compare the SMR and large reactor sites, demonstrating the SMR NPV and LCOE are less sensitive to delays. For a 3 year delay, the SMR NPV decreased by 22%, while the large reactor NPV decreased by 34.1%. Similarly the SMR and large reactor LCOEs increased by 7.8% and 8.1%, respectively. An NHES case with hydrogen production and storage was performed, illustrating how the profit share of revenue is improved with the addition of hydrogen production. Although the costs are increased with the addition, 78% of the hydrogen revenue is profit, while only 50% of the electricity generation revenue is profit. A second NHES case study was analyzed to assess the NPV, LCOE, and payback differences in deregulated and regulated electricity markets. For a 60 year lifetime, Case C (with nuclear, wind, and hydrogen production) is economical in the deregulated market with an NPV of ~$66.3 million and a payback period of 10 years, but not in the regulated one with an NPV of approximately -$115.3 million and a payback period of 11 years. With either market type, the plants levelized costs remain $82.82/MWh, which is still reasonable with respect to prior LCOE values determined for SMR and large reactor sites. Utilizing all the methodology and results obtained and presented in this thesis, the SEF may be calculated. The NHES SEF was determined to be 18.3% higher than that of natural gas steam methane reforming, illustrating a higher level of sustainability. The SEF quantitatively uses the exergoeconomic cost and irreversibilities obtained from the exergy analysis, the GWP obtained from the life cycle assessment and costs/fees associated with emissions and pollutants, and relevant economic data obtained from an economic analysis. This reflects the environmental, socio-political, and economic pillars of sustainability.

Sustainability has become a popular term within the official and local government. The concept of sustainability is now as visible in the work of the municipalities as it is at a national level. However, the term sustainability lacks a viable definition in city planning. The ecological and the social dimensions of sustainability are clearly more visible in planning processes and in planning documents than economic sustainability. Research shows that the economic perspective in city planning often is neglected compared to the other dimensions of sustainability. Thus the importance of economic sustainability is diminished in planning processes and is often left to be used as a framework to the ecological and the social dimensions of sustainability. Given this problem, this study wishes to unfold if the municipality of Trollhättan, Sweden plans for a economic sustainable development. A qualitative case-study is used were data is generated by an interview in addition to several literature analysis. In the literature analysis code words were identified to help find the relevant data. The empirical data is then analyzed and the results of the study were that the municipality of Trollhättan plans for an economic sustainable development, however the term is rather inserted in other aspects of sustainable development than treated as a sole aspect. Understanding the usage of the implementation of the term economic sustainability in city planning can help further research of development and economically sustainable communities.

The thesis focuses on the interaction between default and inflation risk on public debt bonds. We lighten the trade-off between flexibility to adverse shocks and credibility, in the debt management field, and identify the conditions under which the credibility effect can be dominant. EMU is now fully operating, including most of the European candidates that have been let in under a more relaxed interpretation of the Maasticht Treaty criteria. In particular, the debt criterion originally set at 60% of the GDP, was reinterpreted to require a debtlGDP ratio declining towards the target. As some of the countries have levels of debt above 100% of GDP (Belgium and Italy) and as European Central Bank is committed to price stability, what does giving up inflation imply for post-EMU debt management?

This thesis explores the concept of sustainability in the context of the community expectation for sustainability in cities. Effective sustainability performance requires all three pillars of environmental sustainability (stewardship), social equity and economic efficiency to achieve complementary outcomes rather than simply individual outcomes. For cities, one challenge of sustainability is centred on urban form, transport characteristics and the interactions between these and the communities they support. Better understanding of these dynamics is an important step in a meaningful interpretation of sustainability performance of cities. Reviews of methodological gaps in sustainability performance of cities are framed into a statement of problem. Gaps include a holistic assessment framework, methodologies to better understand urban dynamics, the drivers that produce sustainability performance and to objectively measure the performance of all three pillars of sustainability. The common transport planning and land-use planning methods are identified as suitable building blocks for improvements in sustainability assessment, and accessibility is established as an important part of sustainability. In a new approach to sustainability analysis, a sustainability framework is formulated. A concept of "environmental sustainability - accessibility space" is introduced as a novel visualisation of sustainability performance. Propositions are formed that a city's sustainability performance can be analytically quantified and simply visualised in terms of the three pillars of sustainability. Sydney, a global city with a history of planning, is the case study to empirically test the propositions, with the sustainability framework providing the conceptual reference points. Having developed a picture of the urban dynamics in the Sydney case study, the proposed sustainability metrics are developed and the propositions tested. Sustainability metrics consisting of three typologies are shown to indicate the sustainability performance characteristics for the three pillars of sustainability in terms of data set shape, frequency and spread in the "environmental sustainability accessibility space". The visualisations although built from many thousands of pieces of data provided a simple representation giving a holistic view of the sustainability characteristics and trends. Collectively, the sustainability framework, sustainability metrics, companion urban dynamics metrics, and urban system measures are demonstrated as a meaningful methodology in assessing city sustainability performance.

This research addresses life cycle environmental and economic sustainability in the baby food sector. In the UK, this sector has been growing rapidly, expanding by around 30% between 2009 and 2014, by which time it was worth an estimated £181 million per year. This growth sits within a context of high emissions from the food sector: in 2015, UK net GHG emissions were estimated to be 496 million tonnes (Mt) and the domestic food chain was responsible for 115 Mt CO2 eq. emissions. However, within this overall food chain, very little is known about the sustainability of the baby food sector, with almost no prior literature in the area. The research presented here begins with market research to identify the characteristics of products available in the ready-made food market, in which wet and dry products in jars and pouches dominate sales. Subsequently, 12 representative products are selected from those available on the market and each is assessed in detail to establish its environmental and economic impacts using life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC) and value added (VA) assessment. The findings of these product-level assessments are then compared to home-made equivalents and finally scaled up according to sales volumes to provide an overall view of the baby food sector as a whole. Wet and dry variants of ready-made porridge products are assessed first as the most commonly consumed breakfast option. The dry product is shown to have 5%-70% the impacts of the wet, on average, and the importance of product formulation is clear: for dry porridge, reformulation could reduce impacts by up to 67%. For the wet porridge, switching from glass jars to plastic pouches is also shown to decrease impacts by up to 89%. Assessment of 11 wet ready-made products demonstrates that the highest impacts are found in spaghetti Bolognese and salmon risotto, and that raw materials are the major hotspot of the life cycle, contributing 12-69%, followed by manufacturing at 2-49%. When combined into a range of weekly diets limited differences are observed between diets, except in cases where dairy-free diets result in compensatory increases in meat consumption. When the aforementioned selection of ready-made products is compared to its home-made equivalent, the home-made options are shown to have lower impacts by 50% to 17 times. This is due to the avoidance of manufacturing and extra packaging stages, as well as shorter supply chains resulting in less waste overall. At the product level, the LCC of ready-made meals ranges from £0.08 to £0.26 per 125 g product, compared to £0.02-£0.20 for the home-made equivalents. Value added is, on average, approximately four times higher for ready-made meals than homemade, illustrating the potential profit of the sector. Annually, the ready-made baby food sector has an LCC of £40m and carbon footprint of 109 kt CO2 eq. This carbon footprint represents only 0.1% of the UK food and drinks sector. The results of this research show that considerable improvements can be made to the environmental and economic sustainability of baby foods, both ready- and homemade, while home-made options tend to have lower costs and environmental impacts. The outputs provide benchmarking and improvement opportunities for industry and government, as well as insight for consumers.

The study on which this thesis is based, investigated the economic sustainability of Kwakwatsi. Kwakwatsi is a former black township in the Free State Province of South Africa. The economic sustainability of the township was determined by the income generating activities in the area, household income derived from various sources, projects proposed by the LED strategy, and the impact these may have on poverty and unemployment in the area. The premise is that in a sustainable economy, poverty and unemployment is reduced over time. To measure the sustainability of the township, data relating to the status quo in terms of poverty and unemployment was captured at a point in 2009. The study employed household indicators to map an economic profile of the area. Poverty and unemployment are defined and then measured for the township. The HSL which is defined as an estimate of the theoretical income needed by an individual household to maintain a defined minimum level of health and decency in the shortterm was used as a measure of poverty in the area. The survey results showed that 72.9% of all sampled households are poor and on average have an income shortage of 56% to the poverty line. The average monetary shortfall per household is calculated at R1158. The average monthly income for a poor household is R688. Of all sampled households, 45% depend on the state's old-age pension grant as their main source of income. The analysis of the sources of income of the poor showed that government grants constitute 79% of household income, with the state old pension grant alone contributing 40% to household income for a poor family. The unemployment rate of the poor is 86.9% compared to 79% for the whole sample population. The expenditure patterns of the residents show that 34.4% of household income goes to buying food. A considerable number of people in the area fail to have a decent standard of living due to a lack of employment opportunities. Unemployment is the primary cause of poverty in Kwakwatsi. In the absence of any intervention, the poverty rate for Kwakwatsi is estimated to continue to increase from 72.9% in 2009 to 82.6% by 2020. An investigation into the economic sustainability of Kwakwatsi The average annual increase of poverty and unemployment between the years 2010 to 2020 is estimated at 0.89% and 0.34%, respectively. The unemployment rate for Kwakwatsi is estimated to increase from 72.9% in 2009 to 85.44% in 2020. The impact of the local production of basic household items was determined using the poverty impact model. The adoption of an import substitution initiative by producing goods for local consumption can help in reducing poverty and unemployment for the area, thus improving the economic sustainability of the area. If projects focusing on the poor unemployed who are currently looking for employment are created at a minimum monthly income of R500 per person for each poor unemployed person, the poverty rate could be reduced from 72.9% to 52.9% in Kwakwatsi.<br>Ph.D. Economics, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010

In an attempt to meet its ambitious climate change targets, the UK government has decided to incentivise the uptake of bioenergy. However, the full economic costs and environmental impacts of this decision have not yet been quantified at a national level. This is the topic of this research which evaluates the life cycle environmental and economic sustainability of different options for electricity and heat generation using biomass available in the UK, notably waste wood, agricultural residues and wastes, straw, municipal solid waste (MSW), food waste, and energy crops. These results are then used to evaluate the environmental impacts and costs for the whole bioenergy sector in the UK.The results suggest that the environmentally and economically most sustainable electricity generating options are, in descending order: manure/agricultural residue anaerobic digestion (AD) combined heat and power (CHP), Miscanthus co-firing with coal, and chicken litter gasification CHP. The most sustainable heat-generating systems are manure/agricultural residue ADC CHP, waste wood gasification CHP, and chicken litter gasification CHP. However, the use of these technologies is limited by the availability of their respective feedstocks. The research finds that there is currently 30.4 million odt of biomass produced annually in the UK which could be used for electricity and heat generation and that potentially 77.8 million odt could be produced if greater amounts of energy crops are grown. Dry biomass makes up the largest proportion of available biomass, which itself largely consists of wood wastes and energy crops. Dry biomass can therefore make the largest contribution of electricity or heat to potential bioenergy sectors. The electricity-generating biotechnologies identified as those which would make the most sustainable use of wood wastes and energy crops are biomass power plants and co-firing plants. Heat would be most sustainably generated from these feedstocks using biomass gasification CHPs and biomass boilers. According to the results, it is more sustainable to use the UK’s current and potential biomass resources for generating electricity, rather than for producing heat. Electricity from biomass has higher potential for reducing the majority of environmental impacts compared to the current UK electricity grid. Despite this, some impacts are expected to increase, including eutrophication, terrestrial ecotoxicity, depletion of elements and acidification. Furthermore, the economic sustainability of most biomass options is often dependent on subsidies being available, mainly because of the high capital costs. It is recommended that the government look beyond climate change and consider full life cycle impacts when deciding which technologies to incentivise to avoid solving the one problem at the expense of others. It is also advised that subsidies be tied to the sustainability of the feedstock, incentivising the use of waste over energy crops (at least in the short term) and encouraging the displacement of coal and oil. Furthermore, the government should consider scaling the FIT and RHI subsidies smoothly with capacity and consider scaling ROC payments which are currently not linked to capacity at all. Improvements to the environmental sustainability of bioenergy could be gained by funding research into cleaning emissions from biomass combustion, enforcing strict regulation of ash disposal and digestate treatment, and encouraging the reuse and recycling of rare elements.

The concept of sustainability has recently become integrated into mainstream commercial spheres of cocoa-chocolate industries, whilst the concept remains elusive and debateable in the political sphere. The sustainability initiatives attempt to improve both farm management and farmer livelihoods by voluntarily integrating certification schemes (e.g., RA, Utzcertified, and Fairtrade) along with other initiatives. Exploring the implications of the sustainability initiatives beyond vertical industrial governance, this study contributes to the extant literature on GVCS/GPNs and provides an understanding of the extension of sustainability concept into horizontal extrafirm bargaining strategies. This study highlights the increasing industrial-centred power beyond a reorganisation of industrial activities of two case studies, Mars and Nestlé. The initiatives have resulted an increase vertical coordination with the upstream cocoa production networks, as the schemes become an instrument to minimise the supply risks. Also, the horizontal engagement through public private partnerships has created a negotiation space with extrafirm actors, yet the state participation in sustainability (keberlanjutan) discourse appeared to support local industrialists and the transnational firms to secure cocoa supply. Sustainability has strengthened the firm position in the upstream production networks, but the local actors and farmers continue struggle to overcome increasing market barriers and uneven competition. Eventually, the initiatives emphasize the economic interests, but at the expense of the cheaper productive capital supplied by the smallholder farmers and creating new processes of uneven development.

<p> Church financial leaders were affected by the economic crisis after the 2008 recession. In a 2009 group study conducted nationwide with church financial leaders, 57% stated that the economy had a negative effect on their church budgets. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore successful strategies that some church financial leaders used to ensure financial sustainability during economic crises. Resource dependence theory was the conceptual framework. Data were collected from 6 church financial leaders at 4 churches in the northeastern region in the United States; church financial leaders were selected through purposeful sampling to participate in semistructured interviews. Data were also collected from church documents, such as financial records and budget statements. These data were analyzed to identify emerging themes using Yin&rsquo;s 5-phase process: compiling, disassembling, reassembling (and arraying), interpreting, and concluding. The 3 themes that emerged from the data analysis were (a) provide strategies to acquire external resources, (b) specify plans to establish internal strategic factors, and (c) provide strategies to improve financial and strategic management. Findings and recommendations of the study could contribute to positive social change by providing church financial leaders with successful strategies to ensure financial sustainability during economic crises and by increasing church revenue and improving social programs, which help improve the needs of staff, members, and people in the community.</p><p>