Дисертації з теми "Social and environmental award criteria"

The demand for sustainable criteria for environmental technology has over the past few years increaseddue to competition amongst companies in the business due to legal demands. Using criteria for environmentaltechnology is a way for companies to show buyers that their product is a long term investment. Byimplementing sustainable criteria for environmental technology, companies can be sure they are buying andusing the best available technology adjusted to their economy. Sustainable criteria for environmental technologymay in the future be used as eco-labelling, showing that companies are sustainable and proactive.The aim of this master thesis is to develop a basis of what should be included in criteria for environmentaltechnology. This basis is developed by using existing strategies and criteria and to perform further developmentof these. The development of strategies for sustainable environmental technology was made from strategies takenfrom the Agenda 21 document which were transformed and elucidated. Agenda 21 was chosen because itis sprung from the Brundtland report which holds the definition of sustainable development used in thisreport. Existing criteria for sustainability found during this work was placed under strategies from Agenda 21. Inorder to adjust the criterion to environmental technology this project also looked at what had been done inthis area, both by companies, international organisations and municipalities. The sustainability criteria thusfound were also placed under Agenda 21 strategies. After this stage there was an examination and a discussionof what criteria was missing to gain a sustainable perspective. This thesis shows that it is possible to use Agenda 21 for the development of strategies. The strategies haveto be complemented in order to gain a holistic perspective. It is also possible to take criteria from companiesand eco-labelling and place them under different strategies. Those criteria are not adjusted to environmentaltechnology and additional adjustments are needed. Implementation of sustainable criteria for environmentaltechnology is another issue to be discussed further.
www.ima.kth.se

Moteur incontournable de l'économie publique, les marchés publics ont toujours fait l'objet de revendications diverses, voire opposées. L'efficacité de la gestion budgétaire et la transparence de la vie publique, s'agissant des ordres juridiques nationaux, la libre concurrence et le libre accès de tous les opérateurs économiques facilitant les échanges intracommunautaires, s'agissant du droit européen: tous ont tenté de monopoliser le droit de la commande publique, afin de se réaliser. Dans le même temps, la perspective de l'instrumentalisation de ce droit au service d'objectifs politiques qui ne lui sont pas directement attribués a suscité des intérêts très variés. Or, la question de la conciliation des politiques sociales et environnementales avec les prescriptions de nature principalement économique du droit des marchés publics s'inscrit dans une logique de valorisation de cet instrument juridique et financier. Ces politiques, répondant à la fois à des finalités d'intérêt général et à des objectifs prioritaires du droit communautaire, sont à la recherche de leur rôle et de leurs instruments en matière de marchés publics. Dans un contexte politique mouvant, la superposition des systèmes juridiques résultant des interventions réglementaires des États, en quête de leur pouvoir discrétionnaire dans la planification des leurs politiques, comme des interventions du droit communautaire dans le cadre de sa propre œuvre d'harmonisation des procédures de passation, vient redéfinir le rôle des politiques sociales et environnementales, tant au sein des objectifs endogènes du droit des marchés publics qu'en dehors de son cadre réglementaire, appelé dans ce cas à servir de levier.

Moteur incontournable de l’économie publique, les marchés publics ont toujours fait l’objet de revendications diverses, voire opposées. L’efficacité de la gestion budgétaire et la transparence de la vie publique, s’agissant des ordres juridiques nationaux, la libre concurrence et le libre accès de tous les opérateurs économiques facilitant les échanges intracommunautaires, s’agissant du droit européen : tous ont tenté de monopoliser le droit de la commande publique, afin de se réaliser. Dans le même temps, la perspective de l’instrumentalisation de ce droit au service d’objectifs politiques qui ne lui sont pas directement attribués a suscité des intérêts très variés. Or, la question de la conciliation des politiques sociales et environnementales avec les prescriptions de nature principalement économique du droit des marchés publics s’inscrit dans une logique de valorisation de cet instrument juridique et financier. Ces politiques, répondant à la fois à des finalités d’intérêt général et à des objectifs prioritaires du droit communautaire, sont à la recherche de leur rôle et de leurs instruments en matière de marchés publics. Dans un contexte politique mouvant, la superposition des systèmes juridiques résultant des interventions réglementaires des États, en quête de leur pouvoir discrétionnaire dans la planification des leurs politiques, comme des interventions du droit communautaire dans le cadre de sa propre œuvre d’harmonisation des procédures de passation, vient redéfinir le rôle des politiques sociales et environnementales, tant au sein des objectifs endogènes du droit des marchés publics qu’en dehors de son cadre réglementaire, appelé dans ce cas à servir de levier
As a fundamental driving force of public economy, public procurement has traditionally been an area of diverse and often competing interests. Such contradictory interests are the efficiency of budgetary management and transparency in public life within national legal systems, free competition and open access of financial stakeholders in award procedures within the European regulatory framework. At the same time, the instrumentalisation of public procurement in order to serve political goals not directly linked to it has triggered considerable debate. The attempt of conciliation of social and environmental considerations with the financial requirements of public procurement law aims at enhancing this legal and financial instrument. The role and the legal means for the integration of social and environmental considerations in public procurement, which serve general interest purposes and overriding European law objectives, have not yet been clarified. The regulatory interventions of the Member States, on the one hand, and the harmonization attempts of the European Union, on the other, create a constantly changing political climate. In that context, the role of social and environmental policies is redefined both within the framework of primary objectives of public procurement law, as well as outside this regulatory framework which is used as a policy tool in this context

This thesis examines European Union (’EU’) biofuels sustainability criteria in the context of the law of the World Trade Organization (’WTO’). The criteria were introduced as part of the 2009 EU Renewable Energy and Fuel Quality Directives. There has been no dispute; however, uncertainty about the criteria’s WTO-compatibility has inspired a number of legal analyses concluding that they are not compliant. Whether or not there is the political will for a dispute, it is interesting to consider sources of potential non-compliance. As they pursue ’sustainability,’ the EU criteria are well positioned to prompt larger questions regarding the relationship between international trade rules and sustainable development, described by the WTO Secretariat as a central WTO principle. The thesis identifies a core challenge: dispute settlement mechanisms to identify de facto discrimination risk including regulations that exhibit particular characteristics. EU criteria exemplify these characteristics, which also seem likely to apply to sustainability regulation more broadly. These include breadth, complexity and process-orientation, and response to emerging environmental problems. Thus, the criteria may be perceived as protectionist even though this is not their intent. The larger implication is that, despite its centrality in principle, applying sustainable development through national regulation raises particular challenges of WTO law. The Appellate Body must strike a balance between achieving the WTO’s primary mandate of trade liberalization and showing appropriate deference toward trade-restrictive regulations, particularly those, like EU criteria, that pursue climate change mitigation and other important social and environmental objectives. While this case study suggests a potential imbalance in favour of trade liberalization, the Appellate Body may redress this without major structural reform, as relevant WTO provisions have a range of interpretation, and dispute settlement outcomes continue to evolve.

Environmental policymaking is a difficult issue for governments. It is desirable to have the decisions based on the results of quantitative and analytical studies. On the other hand, by their very nature, many such decisions have political aspects, whose subtleties are difficult to be captured by quantitative approaches alone. It is left to the political establishments to decide how best to allocate the efforts to improve environmental conditions. In this respect, evaluating the countries by generating environmental indices and the subsequent ranking of the countries with respect to those indices is a common practice. Perhaps the best known environmental sustainability index, the Environmental Performance Index-2008 (EPI-2008), is a composite index that comprises 6 core policy categories and 25 indicators. While recognizing the qualitative aspects of such decision making, in order to support and guide the policymaking process, we develop analytical tools to assist the process. We carefully delineate our models to be limited only to the provable quantitative properties of the available objective data. However, such data are processed into more meaningful statements concerning the available options. Specifically, using EPI-2008, meaningful mathematical models that shed further light onto the country sustainability measures are developed.

Sustainability is a fairly new emerging business concept for manufacturing industry and this thesis will focus on smartphone manufacturing industry. In 2015 there were 1.86 billion smartphone users and it is estimated to increase to 2.87 billion in 2020. Currently the average lifetime of a smartphone is 21 months and According to Consumer Technology Association the technical life expectancy of a smartphone is 4.7 years. The European Commission approximated that from 17–20 kg of electronic waste is produced per person per year and that smartphones are contributors for increase of electronic waste. Also the smartphone manufacturing process has an impact on the people who are involved with manufacturing and resource extraction process.  Related social problems include conflict minerals, issues in manufacturing campuses, health problems and excessive worktimes. There has been suspicion that large manufacturing companies use labour market in areas that have a high risk of poverty or lack of national authority that can protect labour rights. To investigate these emerging issues that has an impact on smartphone manufacturing sustainability, a sustainability ranking criteria for individual smartphones devices and their manufactures was developed. Furthermore, the aim of the research is to develop a ranking system using life cycle perspective and to evaluate sustainability of a smartphones upcycling, recycling, and social aspects. This aim will be accomplished by the following objectives: Develop evaluation system for smartphones using Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) to evaluate sustainability; Comparing sustainability of smartphones Fairphone 2, iPhone 7, Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5, using developed Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA); Conducting general sustainability- focused survey about consumer demand for sustainable and ethical electronics. The method used in this research to assess smartphone sustainability was Multi-Criteria Analysis(MCA), based on eco-design trends and three pillars of sustainability, – economic, environmental and social. Eco-design will be supported using EcoDesing Roadmap by Conrad Luttropp and Göran Brohammer. In parallel with MCA method a survey was developed to briefly assess consumer’s behaviour in terms of choosing sustainable electronics. For better understanding about the consumer value on purchase decision, a survey was made considering the technical and sustainable aspects. The results of this survey will be used as indicator. Furthermore, results from this research (Table 1 MCA evaluation results) revealed that majority of chosen smartphones where lacking sustainable products aspects. This MCA ranking system also confirm that for sustainable designed smartphone it is equally important to have well established environmental management system for overall manufacturing process and afterlife of smartphone. Continuing, after conducting deeper analysis with combined results from MCA, survey revealed that general public are willing to pay more for sustainable products, but consumers lack information about the overall manufacturers` sustainability, as well Indicating that communication between manufacturers and consumers are very weak or even one way. The conclusion of the study about Smartphone sustainability assessment using multi-criteria analysis and the consumer survey has provided better understanding about the lack of transparency and complex logistics manufacturing process of smartphone. The lack of qualitative data and transparency from the manufactures side is a major issue that creates lot of uncertainties about smartphone manufacturing process and social issues for workforce that is involved in this manufacturing process.

The contribution of local knowledge to land use planning and sustainable utilization of natural resources is enormous, yet often overlooked by conventional top-down approaches of regional integrated land use plans. The rich knowledge of local land users contribution to implementation of top-down plans is very important. This study investigated the importance of environmental criteria analysis in sustainable land management through engaging the community at local level, using Salambala Conservancy in Katima Mulilo Rural, Lusese Village in Kabbe and Mayuni Conservancy in Linyanti constituencies, Caprivi region, North East Namibia as case studies.

The leaders of all countries of each sector and level of society are compelled to work together to address [social and environmental] challenges by maintaining sustainable human development and ensuring that the benefits of globalization are shared more widely. It is in the interests of businesses that these benefits continue both for companies and for others in society.   The Venture Capital is a financial capital provided to the startup firms in their early stages which has a high potential for growth but also entail high risk. The Venture capital firms typically look for new and small businesses with a perceived long term growth potential that will result in a high payout for investors. Venture capital is a subset of private equity of the firms. On other hand, Private equity is an asset class consisting of equity securities, which are not quoted in the stock market. An investment in private equity most often involves either an investment of capital in a mature firms as well as buyout firms.             The purpose of this study is to explore the gap between UK and U.S venture capital and private equity firms on the base of ESG criteria into investment decision making process. To find a relationship between venture capital and private equity firms mainstream investment with ESG criteria and also highlight new trends and the issues, which are potential barrier of ESG criteria implementation in UK and US firms. The authors used different academic literature, previous studies to find a gap and a relationship of ESG criteria into mainstream investment decision making process in UK and U.S firms.   The research is based on both primary & secondary data under descriptive nature of study. A technique with the name of content analysis was used to collect the quantitative data from the U.K and U.S Venture Capital and Private Equity firms. These firms are further categorized in the sample size under the umbrella of clean tech and non-clean tech. Total sample size is 120 firms (60 VC & 60 PE), where 56 are clean tech and 64 are Non-clean tech firms. The find a relationship between variables regression analysis technique is used through SPSS for verifying the validity and variability of collected Data.   We found that, an ESG criterion is on development stage, and there is no such technique and standards that are developed by the venture capital and private equity firms. We found, that firms are mostly focusing on responsible investment strategy; it is somehow same like whole ESG for purpose of their investment screening process. We found that ESG consideration in some UK and U.S venture capital and private equity firms exist, but vary from firms to firms. Some firms are considering just one factor while some other firms consider more than one.  Large firms have more focus on ESG as compared to small firms; due to the nature of business and size, and number of employees, focus is only limited towards investment options and development of strategies for the firm. The result of this study interpret that the U.S firms are focusing more on investment returns, and pay less attention towards ESG as compared to U.K firms, Where UK Venture capital and private equity firms results shows that, they are more focused towards ESG and feel free to incorporate ESG criteria into their investment strategies without incurring any cost in terms of risk and returns.

Urban regeneration has become a frequently and widely used urban transformation strategy in many cities since the beginning of the 1990s. A number of urban regeneration projects have been implemented in declining city centres, old-industrial and harbour sites, and the working-class residential areas and undermined historical heritage sites of cities. The rise and mushrooming of such projects all over the world however brings about the questions related to their success level. This thesis aims to assess the success level of urban regeneration projects according to the measurable (qualitative and quantitative) features of integrated planning approaches. It seeks to develop a model to examine the success level of urban regeneration projects in physical, environmental, economic and social terms. Using case study as a research method, the research focuses on the on-going &
#8216
Rehabilitation of the Fener and Balat Districts Programme&
#8217
in the Istanbul Historical Peninsula, and tries to answer the question of how far this Programme can be successful in terms of regenerating the Fener-Balat Districts physically, environmentally, economically and socially.

La commande publique et la contribution au développement durable relèvent a priori de deux logiques distinctes. D’un côté, les marchés publics ont pour fonction de répondre aux besoins des personnes publiques. De l’autre, la contribution au développement durable dépend traditionnellement d’actes juridiques non contractuels. Pourtant, les personnes publiques recourent de plus en plus aux contrats de la commande publique pour engager des politiques publiques de développement durable.La présente recherche identifie ce phénomène et démontre que ces contrats à objet de développement durable participent d’une modification de la fonction de la commande publique. Dès lors, ils deviennent des instruments de l’action environnementale et sociale des personnes publiques. Ce changement majeur de la fonction de l’achat public est renforcé par l’adoption des directives communautaires sur les marchés publics du 26 février 2014 et s’inscrit dans le cadre de la définition renouvelée du marché intérieur. Partant, la réussite d’une telle évolution implique nécessairement d’être accompagnée d’une réforme contentieuse afin de donner toute son efficience à cette ouverture de la commande publique aux politiques de développement durable. Plus encore, il sera démontré que cette régénération de la commande publique dépasse l’objet de développement durable et s’élargit à la mise en œuvre d’autres politiques publiques. L’ensemble du droit de la commande publique s’en trouve ainsi affecté
Public procurement and contribution to sustainability come, seemingly, from two distinct logics. On one hand, public markets function to meet the needs of public citizens. On the other hand, contribution to sustainability is traditionally dependent on legal, and not contractual, acts. However, public citizens increasingly use public procurement contracts to affect public policy on sustainability.This research identifies this phenomenon and shows that these contracts relating to sustainability are similar to a modification of the function of public procurement. Subsequently, they become instruments of environmental and social action for public citizens. This major change in the function of public buying is reinforced by the communal directives on public markets dated 26th of February 2014 and is recorded in the renewed definition of the domestic market. The success of this evolution necessarily implies a need for it to be accompanied by a legal reform in order for the complete efficiency of this opening up of public procurement to sustainability policies to be reached. Furthermore, this research will show that this regeneration of public procurement goes further than sustainability and reaches more widely into the sphere of other public policies. The whole body of public procurement law is as such affected

No contexto organizacional, o departamento de suprimentos exerce papel fundamental na melhoria dos desempenhos sociais e ambientais de uma cadeia. Dentre as atividades desempenhadas pela função de suprimentos está a seleção de fornecedores na qual são definidos os critérios utilizados para a escolha de um fornecedor. Sendo assim, pode-se afirmar que a função de suprimentos é capaz de estender a sua cadeia requerimentos econômicos, sociais e ambientais. Como objeto desse trabalho foi selecionada a indústria química, uma vez que trata-se de uma indústria base para diversas outras atividades econômicas e com grande importância na economia brasileira. Além disso, é um segmento marcado por acidentes ambientais bem como programas de apoio ambiental e social mundialmente reconhecidos como o Responsible Care. Diante desse contexto, esse trabalho buscou propor um modelo conceitual de seleção de fornecedores que incorpore critérios sociais e ambientais para a indústria química. A partir da revisão de literatura, elaborou-se a proposta de um modelo conceitual capaz de abranger organizações compradoras em diferentes níveis de maturidade para incorporação de critérios sociais e ambientais em seu processo de seleção de fornecedores. A primeira etapa proposta no modelo consiste na utilização de ferramentas simples como listagens, nessa primeira etapa o objetivo é proteger a organização compradora de um comportamento não adequado por parte do fornecedor à legislação pertinente. A segunda etapa do modelo consiste no desenvolvimento de uma base gerencial, estabelecimento de critérios sociais e ambientais e utilização de certificações para seleção de fornecedores. Através do método survey, por correio eletrônico, entre abril a setembro do ano de 2015, objetivou-se compreender as atitudes dos responsáveis por formular e implementar as estratégias de compras em direção às compras sustentáveis. A pesquisa demonstrou que há descompasso entre estratégia e execução no sentido de incorporar as perspectivas sociais e ambientais em um processo de seleção de fornecedores. O estudo indicou que as organizações ainda se encontram em estágios iniciais de seleção do fornecedor e compras em se tratando da inclusão de uma perspectiva socioambiental. As ações apresentam-se mais em termos de políticas e documentações, do que em nível operacional.
In the business environment, purchasing department plays a fundamental role in improving social and environmental performance of a chain. Among the activities carried out by the procurement function is the supplier selection in which the criteria are set used for choosing a supplier. Thus, the supply function is able to extend its chain economic, social and environmental requirements. The focus of this work was chemical industry, since it is a key industry for many other economic activities and with high importance in the Brazilian economy. In addition, a segment is marked by environmental accidents as well as environmental and social support programs globally recognized as Responsible Care. In this context, this study aimed to propose a conceptual model of selecting suppliers that incorporates social and environmental criteria for the chemical industry. From the literature review, a conceptual model was elaborated. The model was able to absorb purchasing organizations at different levels of maturity for incorporating social and environmental criteria in their supplier selection process. The first step in the proposed model is the use of simple tools such as listings. The goal is to protect the purchasing organization unsuitable by the supplier to the relevant legislation behavior. The second step of the model is the development of a management base, establishment of social and environmental criteria and use of certifications for selecting suppliers. Through the survey by email, from April to September/2015, the author aimed to understand the attitudes of those responsible for formulating and implementing purchasing strategies toward sustainable procurement. Finally, we proceeded to a comparison between the proposed conceptual model and the results obtained in the survey. The research identified organizations are still in the early stages of supplier selection containing social and environmental criterias. Actions are more related to policies and documentation than operational level.

Essa pesquisa tem como foco a tomada de decisão para a escolha de modais de transporte urbano coletivo e analisa os desempenhos operacionais e funcionais dos sistemas Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Veículo Leve sobre Trilhos (VLT) e Monotrilho. Um modelo de apoio multicritério à decisão (AMD) em cenários complexos é utilizado na análise e tem como dados de entrada as preferências subjetivas de agentes de decisão (stakeholders) e os desempenhos objetivos e subjetivos dos três modais com relação a um sistema de cinco critérios e 22 subcritérios. Tal sistema cobre os eixos de eficiência energética, custo, viabilidade econômica e financeira, qualidade da viagem e impactos ambientais. Stakeholders selecionados com perfis de operador, vizinho, usuário, fornecedor de equipamentos e serviços e consultor em transportes urbanos atribuem suas preferências, pontuando-as em escala numérica de 1 a 9. Visando a aplicação do modelo na região da cidade de São Paulo, foram coletadas 138 opiniões de preferências através de formulários de avaliação e entrevistas conduzidas nessa região. Cada um dos três modais, após ser configurado para atender aos requisitos operacionais e funcionais do serviço de transporte definido por uma unidade funcional comum, tem os seus desempenhos com relação ao mesmo conjunto de critérios e subcritérios pontuados em uma escala numérica. Um índice global (IG), que define a prioridade de cada alternativa, é obtido pela agregação das preferências e desempenhos com uma função aditiva. O modelo foi aplicado em um estudo de caso que simulou a operação dos três modais no trecho entre as estações Vila Prudente e São Mateus da Linha 15 do Metrô de São Paulo, cujos requisitos definiram a unidade funcional. Dentro dos limites e premissas estabelecidas para o estudo de caso, os índices globais calculados indicaram a preferência pelo modal Monotrilho, seguido, na ordem, pelo VLT e BRT.
This research focuses on decision-making support methods to choice public urban transport modes and analyzes the operational and functional performances of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Monorail systems. A multicriteria decision aided model (MDAM) in complex scenarios is used in the analysis and has as input data the subjective preferences of stakeholders and the objective and subjective performances of the three modalities in relation to a set of five criteria and 22 subcriteria. This system covers the axes of energy efficiency, cost, economic and financial feasibility, travel quality and environmental impacts. Stakeholders selected with profiles of operator, neighbor, user, equipment and service provider and consultant in urban transport assign their preferences, scoring them on a numerical scale from 1 to 9. In order to apply the model in the region of the city of São Paulo, 138 opinions were collected through evaluation forms and interviews conducted in that region. Each of the three modes, once configured to meet the operational and functional requirements of the transport service defined by a common functional unit, has its performances against the same set of criteria and subcriteria scored on a numerical scale. A global index (GI), which defines the priority of each alternative, is obtained by aggregating the preferences and performances according to an additive function. The MDAM model was applied in a case study that has simulated the operation of the three transport modalities in the stretch between the stations Vila Prudente and São Mateus of the Line 15 of the São Paulo Metro, whose general requirements did define the functional unit of the case. Within the limits and assumptions defined for the case study, the calculated global indices indicated the first preference for the Monorail modal, followed, in sequence, by the LRT and BRT.

Tese de doutoramento em Sistemas Sustentáveis de Energia, apresentada ao Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra
Concerns about environmental and social sustainability of sugarcane production in Brazil have been raised, such as damage on health due to pre-harvest burning and poor working conditions of sugarcane field workers. Meanwhile, the landscape of sugarcane sector in Brazil is rapidly changing due to increasing adoption of mechanical harvesting. Few studies have researched the environmental and social impacts of sugarcane production changing from manual to mechanical harvesting, especially from a life cycle perspective. This thesis compares the life cycle environmental impacts (with a focus on health effects of particulate matter) and social impacts of sugarcane production in Brazil with manual and mechanical harvesting. An attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) of manual vs. mechanical sugarcane harvesting compared the environmental impacts of one tonne of sugarcane at the distillery. The ReCiPe life cycle impact assessment method was applied to characterize impacts on eight mid-point categories and three end-point categories. Impacts on climate change were assessed considering different soil carbon sequestration scenarios. Characterization factors of health effects of PM2.5 for Brazil were calculated differentiating emission sources, population densities and burdens of disease. According to mid-point impact indicators, manual harvesting has higher impacts on photochemical oxidant formation and particulate matter formation mainly due to pre-harvest burning. Mechanical harvesting may lead to higher impacts on fossil depletion, ozone depletion and terrestrial acidification resulting from higher use of fertilizers and diesel. Differences of impacts on climate change between two systems vary depending on the soil carbon sequestration scenario. At the end-point level, manual harvesting has higher impacts on human health but lower impacts on resources use. The health effects of PM2.5 vary considerably with population density. Changing from manual to mechanical harvesting close to urban areas leads to a 93% reduction of health effects, while for rural only 15% and for remote areas 5%. When considering average population density, the health effects of PM2.5 of manual harvesting are approximately six times higher than mechanical harvesting. Health effects of PM2.5 calculated with ReCiPe are much lower and may underestimate the effects of primary PM2.5 emissions. A screening social life cycle assessment (SLCA) was conducted to identify the social hotspots of sugarcane production in Brazil and compare the social impacts of manual and mechanical harvesting. A novel approach integrating Social Hotspots Database (SHDB) and content analysis was developed. First, life cycle social impacts of sugarcane in Brazil were modelled in SHDB. The results derived from SHDB were enhanced by results based on a systematic analysis of relevant literatures. Content analysis was applied to analyze 38 relevant publications including peer-reviewed articles, “grey literature”, non-governmental organization reports and conference presentations. Impacts of manual and mechanical harvesting were compared on eight social themes and visualized by a color scheme. The results suggest that sugarcane sector in Brazil contributes to most of the social impacts among all the country-sectors associated with sugarcane life cycle. Nine social themes are identified as social hotspots. Health & safety and labour rights & decent work are identified as the impact categories with higher negative impacts. Comparing manual and mechanical harvesting, mechanical harvesting performs better on social indicators, except local employment and access to material resources. Besides negative impacts, content analysis is capable of identifying several positive impacts of mechanical harvesting in Brazil, such as improving safe and healthy living conditions, promoting public commitment on sustainability of Brazil´s sugarcane sector, and increasing the average salaries of sugarcane field workers. To support the evaluation of the overall environmental and social impacts of manual and mechanical harvesting of sugarcane, an additive multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) model was developed to improve the robustness of weighting in LCA and SLCA. Brazilian LCA and SLCA experts were surveyed about the weights of relevant environmental and social indicators. The novel MCDA approach explores all the possible convex combinations of the weights provided by the surveyed group. The results of the MCDA model show that mechanical harvesting has lower overall environmental impacts at the end-point level and better social impacts. Decision-making based on the results of environmental impacts at the mid-point level is less robust. Manual harvesting is more likely to have lower negative impacts than mechanical harvesting; but the advantage of mechanical harvesting over manual harvesting can be greater than the reverse. The results obtained in this study are an incentive to accelerate mechanization of sugarcane harvesting in Brazil considering its health benefits and reduction on overall negative environmental and social impacts. Social hotspots identified can also inform policy-making aiming to improve social sustainability of sugarcane production in Brazil. In addition, this thesis contributes to various aspects of methodological developments of LCA and SLCA.
A produção de cana-de-açúcar no Brasil está associada a diversas questões ambientais e sociais, incluindo impactes na saúde associados à queima pré-colheita e às condições precárias de trabalho nos campos. Actualmente, o sector está a sofrer uma rápida transformação associada à introdução de colheita mecanizada. Poucos estudos abordaram os impactes ambientais e sociais associados a esta transição, de colheita manual para mecanizada, em particular numa perspectiva de ciclo de vida. Esta tese compara os impactes ambientais (com foco nos impactes na saúde associados à emissão de material particulado) e os impactes sociais da produção de cana-de-açúcar no Brasil, com colheita manual e com colheita mecanizada, numa perspectiva de ciclo de vida. Um estudo de avaliação de ciclo de vida (ACV) atribucional foi desenvolvido para comparar a produção de uma tonelada cana-de-açúcar (até à destilaria) com colheita manual e com colheita mecanizada. Impactes para oito categorias mid-point e três end-point foram calculados com o método ReCiPe. Relativamente às alterações climáticas, os impactes foram avaliados considerando diferentes cenários de sequestro de carbono pelo solo. Para avaliar os efeitos na saúde associados à exposição material particulado (PM2.5), calcularam-se factores de caracterização considerando diferentes fontes de emissão, densidades populacionais e causas de doenças, no Brasil. Relativamente aos indicadores mid-point, a colheita manual está associada a maiores impactes na formação de oxidação fotoquímica e de partículas, devido à queima pré-colheita. A colheita mecanizada está associada a maiores impactes nas categorias de depleção fóssil, depleção da camada do ozono e acidificação terrestre, resultantes do uso de fertilizantes e gasóleo. As diferenças nos resultados para alterações climáticas entre os dois sistemas de colheita depende do cenário de sequestro de carbono pelo solo. Relativamente aos resultados end-point, a colheita manual está associada a maiores impactes na saúde humana, mas menores impactes a nível do uso de recursos. Os efeitos na saúde associados a PM2.5 variam significativamente com a densidade populacional. A transição para uma colheita mecanizada pode reduzir os impactes na saúde em 93% em zonas próximas de áreas urbanas, enquanto em zonas rurais e remotas esta redução é de 15% e 5%, respectivamente. Considerando uma densidade populacional média, os efeitos na saúde associados à emissão de PM2.5 na colheita manual são cerca de seis vezes maiores do que na colheita mecanizada. Os efeitos na saúde associados a PM2.5 calculados com o método ReCiPe são muito inferiores aos resultados obtidos, e podem subestimar os efeitos associados a emissões primárias. Em relação aos impactes sociais, foi desenvolvida uma avaliação social de ciclo de vida (ASCV) para identificar os aspectos críticos na produção de cana-de-açúcar no Brasil, que compara os impactes com colheita manual e com colheita mecanizada. Foi desenvolvida uma nova abordagem que integra a Social Hotspots Database (SHBD) e análise de conteúdo. Primeiro, modelaram-se os impactes sociais da produção de cana-de-açúcar no Brasil em SHDB. Os resultados foram depois refinados com base numa análise sistemática da literatura relevante: fez-se uma análise de conteúdo para 38 publicações relevantes, incluindo artigos com revisão por pares, literatura publicada informalmente (“grey literature”), relatórios de organizações não-governamentais e apresentações em conferências. Impactes associados à colheita manual e à colheita mecanizada foram comparados em oito temas sociais e visualizados através de um esquema de cores. Os resultados sugerem que o sector de produção de cana-de-açúcar é o que contribui mais para os impactes sociais no país. Nove aspectos sociais são identificados como críticos. Entre estes, “saúde e segurança” e “direitos e trabalho digno” estão associados aos impactes negativos mais significativos. Comparando a colheita manual e a mecanizada, a segunda tem melhores resultados do ponto de vista social, excepto nas categorias de “emprego local” e “acesso a recursos materiais”. Além dos impactes negativos, a análise de conteúdo permite identificar vários impactes positivos da colheita mecanizada no Brasil, como é o caso da contribuição de acabar com a prática da queima pré-colheita que contribui para a melhoria das condições de segurança e saúde, para a promoção do compromisso e empenho da comunidade na sustentabilidade do sector da cana-de açúcar no Brasil e para o aumento da média salarial dos trabalhadores dos campos de cana-de-açúcar. Para apoiar a avaliação dos impactes ambientais e sociais da produção de cana-de-açúcar com colheita manual e com colheita mecanizada, desenvolveu-se um modelo aditivo de análise de decisão multicritério (ADM) que permite analisar a robustez de conclusões obtidas a partir da ponderação de impactes em ACV e em ASCV. Fez-se um questionário a peritos em ACV e ASCV no Brasil no sentido de recolher opiniões sobre o peso de diversos indicadores ambientais e sociais relevantes. O modelo de ADM explora todas as combinações convexas possíveis dos pesos sugeridos pelo grupo de peritos. De acordo com os resultados do modelo de ADM, a colheita mecanizada está associada a impactes mais baixos na avaliação ambiental end-point, bem como melhores impactes na avaliação social. Os resultados para impactes ambientais a nível mid-point são menos robustos para o apoio à decisão: a colheita manual estará com maior probabilidade associada a menores impactes do que a mecanizada; no entanto, a mecanizada pode superiorizar-se à manual por uma diferença maior do que o contrário. Os resultados obtidos nesta tese são, antes de mais, um incentivo para acelerar a transição para a colheita mecanizada de cana-de-açúcar no Brasil, tendo em conta os benefícios evidentes na saúde e a redução geral de impactes ambientais e sociais. A identificação e avaliação de aspectos sociais críticos pode também informar e apoiar a tomada de decisão e o desenvolvimento de políticas com vista à melhoria da sustentabilidade social da produção de cana-de-açúcar. Esta tese contribui ainda em vários aspetos de desenvolvimento metodológico da ACV e da ASCV.
FCT Project SABIOS “Sustainability assessment of bioenergy systems: a life cycle multi-criteria decision-support approach, including land use change” (FEDER/FCT PTDC/AAG-MAA/6234/2014, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-0116765)
FCT project SUSTAINFOR "Sustainability assessment of forest sector management strategies in the context of a bioeconomy" (FEDER/FCT PTDC/AGR-FOR/1510/2014, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016764)

This thesis holistically examines the potential for tidal stream turbine (TST) integration to displace diesel generated electricity in remote coastal First Nations communities within the Marine Plan Partnership for the North Pacific Coast region of British Columbia. This thesis utilizes a combination of spatial analysis (GIS Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis) to identify sites; stakeholder engagement to assess TST suitability, bridge knowledge gaps, and understand desired characteristics of community energy systems; and Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) analyses for existing diesel and externality included scenarios along with potential TST costs in a candidate community. Results illustrate the need for information within these communities, from resource quantification to characteristics of renewable energy technologies and system feasibility; self-sufficiency as being the primary transition driver; and funding/human resource capacity as being substantial barriers. Within the study region ≈89.8 km2 of feasible resource was identified, with ≈22 km2 of potentially suitable tidal resource in proximity to nine communities. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in difficulties contacting and arranging interviews with the most suitable communities. Driven by the holistic research mandate requiring community stakeholder engagement to occur in tandem with the economic analyses, Queen Charlotte Village and Skidegate Landing on Haida Gwaii were chosen as the candidate communities, despite not being the most suitable identified communities. The community interviews revealed TSTs as being an acceptable renewable energy technology. Furthermore, the identified site in Skidegate Inlet (SI) was found to have favourable Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) for TST development. Existing diesel generation carries a LCOE of $0.63/kWh, being $0.08-0.14 more per kWh than the literature cited LCOE range for TSTs. The LCOE for CO2 equivalent externalities at current carbon tax prices was found to be an additional $0.02/kWh. Despite having a technically viable peak spring current speed, the SI site was financially unviable for 284 kW of rated capacity across all diesel LCOE scenarios driven by capacity factor (1.62%), high cabling costs (approximately one third of capital costs), and outdated data/assumptions within the Natural Resources Canada Tidal Project Cost Estimation tool used in the tidal LCOE calculations. This work contributes to the progression of tidal energy development on BCs coast along with demonstrating the utility of holistic assessment frameworks for RETs across environmental, social, and economic considerations. The results of this thesis can inform existing MSP efforts in the Marine Plan Partnership for the North Pacific region and the framework developed can be built upon and altered for global use in pursuit of sustainable energy transitions.
Graduate

Companies are increasingly pressed to consider sustainability aspects when making decisions during product development. However, the methodological support for doing so is immature. The immaturity is particularly pronounced regarding the social dimension (or pillar) of sustainability and regarding strategic sustainability considerations. The overall aim of this thesis was to explore how the social dimension of sustainability and a strategic sustainability perspective could be better included in methodological support for product development. This was pursued in two ways.   Firstly, a two-staged review of the literature was conducted. Stage one focused on summarizing the state of the art of integration of social sustainability aspects in product development and stage two focused on critically analyzing and evaluating these efforts. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development was used to guide the analysis of the current integration efforts and the evaluation of their potential for supporting sustainable product development and strategic sustainable development in general. Secondly, a recently published principled definition of social sustainability was used to enhance two approaches for including sustainability considerations in product development. One of these approaches is focused on decision-making support at concept selection, based on assessment and comparison of sustainability implications of the considered product concepts. The other approach is focused on developing sustainability criteria and a related sustainability compliance index in support of concept development.   In the literature review, social life cycle assessment methods (Social LCA) were found to represent a large part of the current efforts, and several challenges with those methods were identified. From a decision support perspective, they were found to have weaknesses regarding applicability and robustness: results from the assessment, usually performed by scientists to evaluate a scientific question, may be too complex to interpret from a business standpoint; the impact perspective may be too narrow, missing important aspects of social sustainability; and generally they lack a strategic perspective. The use of a strategic sustainable development perspective in the approaches prototyped in this thesis is a way of tackling these challenges. The use of backcasting from visions framed by sustainability principles can: help organize and make sense of the general field of sustainability, highlighting where overlaps between objectives exist; provide the long term perspective needed for sustainability; allow for product developers to gain awareness of potential impacts of a product’s life cycle phases within existing knowledge, time and resource constraints; help build a roadmap in order to reduce a product’s contribution to unsustainability (including social unsustainability).   Future research will focus on further testing and development of the suggested approaches and specifically on further development of tactical design guidelines that provide support for the fulfilment of long-term sustainability criteria and clarify the connection between decisions taken during product development and a product’s sustainability profile.

Dissertação de mestrado em Finanças
This dissertation investigates the performance of socially screened stock portfolios of 1089 European companies from 2005 to 2019. Using a dataset of environmental, social and governance (ESG) company ratings, we form synthetic portfolios based on stocks’ social characteristics in the previous year. We employ three different approaches to form socially screened portfolios: the positive approach, the best-in-class approach and the high and low CSP industry portfolios approach. We then evaluate the financial performance of the portfolios by using alternative performance evaluation models. The results show that companies with high Environmental performance outperform those with low Environmental performance, regardless of the weighting scheme applied or the exclusion or inclusion of financial companies. Furthermore, these results persist when constructing portfolios under the best-in-class approach and the high and low CSP industry portfolios approach. Under the positive approach, long-short portfolios formed on Environmental scores yield positive and abnormal returns since 2010, regardless of the cut-off chosen, the weighting scheme applied or the exclusion or inclusion of financial companies. However, in the first subperiod (2005-2009), investors obtain negative and statistically abnormal returns. Our results suggest that this poor performance is associated with the financial effects of the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Additionally, we document positive and abnormal returns from a long-short strategy of portfolios of companies with high governance performance if their corresponding industry performance is below the average.
Esta dissertação investiga o desempenho de carteiras de ações socialmente responsáveis de 1089 empresas europeias entre 2005 e 2019. Usando critérios ambientais, sociais e de governação, criamos carteiras de ações formadas com base nas caraterísticas sociais do ano anterior. Implementamos três diferentes abordagens para formar carteiras socialmente responsáveis: a abordagem positiva, a abordagem best-in-class e a abordagem high and low CSP industry portfolio. De seguida, avaliamos o desempenho financeiro das carteiras usando modelos de avaliação de desempenho alternativos. Os resultados mostram que empresas com elevado desempenho ambiental superam o desempenho financeiro das empresas com baixo desempenho ambiental, independentemente do esquema de ponderação aplicado ou da inclusão ou exclusão de empresas do setor financeiro. Adicionalmente, estes resultados persistem quando as carteiras são construídas de acordo com a abordagem best-in-class ou a abordagem high and low CSP industry portfolio. Sob a abordagem positiva, estratégias long-short formadas com base em critérios ambientais produzem rendibilidades positivas desde 2010, independentemente do cut-off escolhido, do esquema de ponderação aplicado ou da inclusão ou exclusão de empresas do setor financeiro. No entanto, no primeiro subperíodo (2005-2009), os investidores obtêm rendibilidades negativas e estatisticamente significativas. Os resultados sugerem que este fraco desempenho está associado aos efeitos financeiros da crise financeira de 2008-2009. Adicionalmente, observamos rendibilidades positivas de uma estratégia long-short quando as carteiras concentram ações de empresas com alto desempenho em termos de governação se o desempenho da correspondente indústria for abaixo da média.

Private Protected Areas (PPAs) are increasingly considered a promising complement topublic-run protected areas. Their rapid proliferation worldwide and increased adoption as policy tools, have made the PPA phenomenon one of the most important in current nature protection strategies. Nevertheless, there has been little scholarly attention paid to their emergence and the implications of their implementation, especially in Europe. This dissertation explores the genesis of PPAs as innovative institutional arrangements for conservation policies and investigates their suitability for enhancing nature conservation without neglecting social issues. To begin with, an investigation into PPAs used as policy tools in European countries, showed that PPA institutional models resemble public-private partnerships that differ among countries: in the roles of public actors as regulators and facilitators for the involvement of private actors, and in the distinct typology of the latter. Hence, in countries that have centered their conservation policy on public-run protected areas and top-down approaches, PPA adoption appears to be an emblematic result of a change in governance towards voluntary approaches and partnerships with non-state actors. The research focus then shifts to Portugal, where PPA adoption clashes with the centralized top-down institutional heritage. A diachronic analysis on non-state actors’ involvement in the establishment and management of protected areas revealed that the privately governed protected areas are not a recent model within the national system of conserved areas. However, the novelty of the current model lies in its emergence against a backdrop of conservation governance rescaling and restructuring and the professionalization of NGOs, which has resulted in access to international funding for conservation. The subsequent research line aims to question the suitability of PPAs to protect nature in a socially just way, challenging a dichotomous viewpoint, alternatively presenting PPAs as a panacea or rejecting them altogether as neoliberal techniques. To do so, we developed a multicriteria assessment framework, which draws on the concepts of social and ecological institutional fit and is underpinned by a socio-ecological system approach. This framework is applied to the case of the Faia Brava natural reserve. Our findings suggest that the current Portuguese PPA institutional model, is unable to avoid the (re)production of some of the drawbacks and social issues usually associated with topdown regulations in public-run protected areas, nor to elude the risk of advancing a neoliberal conservation. The main issues to be addressed include the risk of allowing a concentration of land to be placed into the hands of private actors without guarantee of long-term protection; the lack of recognition criteria aimed to target the most endangered sites; the lack of public funding that would avoid a tendency towards nature commodification. Alongside the development of the socio-ecological assessment tool, this dissertation provides new insights into the debate on the government to governance shift in nature conservation, with empirical contributions regarding the institutional arrangements and practices of PPAs. An additional key contribution, with respect to the overarching research approach, is a reflection on the meta-theoretical bases offered by Critical Realism, to advance our understanding of policy change and socio-ecological systems.
As Áreas Protegidas Privadas (APPs) são consideradas um complemento promissor às áreas protegidas públicas. A sua rápida proliferação como ferramentas das políticas de conservação da natureza, tornaram o fenómeno das APPs um dos mais importantes a nível mundial em termos de estratégias de proteção ambiental. Contudo, há poucos estudos sobre o seu surgimento e as consequências da sua implementação, especialmente na Europa. Esta dissertação explora a génese das APPs como modelos de inovação institucional no contexto das políticas de conservação e investiga a adequação dos mesmos para uma preservação da natureza integradora das questões sociais. Começou-se por explorar as APPs como instrumento de política pública em países Europeus. O estudo comparativo mostrou que as APPs têm características de parcerias público-privadas e diferem pela configuração do papel do ator público, como regulador e facilitador do envolvimento de atores privados, e pela tipologia destes últimos. Em países que centraram a sua política de conservação na implementação de áreas protegidas públicas e em abordagens de cima para baixo, a adoção das APPs parece emblemática de uma mudança no sentido da promoção de abordagens voluntárias e parcerias com atores privados. Seguidamente, a investigação centrou-se em Portugal, onde a adoção das APPs colide com uma tradição de administração pública centralizada. Uma análise diacrônica sobre o envolvimento de atores não estatais (i.e. administração central) no estabelecimento e gestão de áreas protegidas, revelou que as APPs não são, contudo, uma alternativa recente. A novidade do modelo atual situa-se no seu surgimento no contexto de uma reestruturação da governança da conservação e da profissionalização das ONGs, e.g. no acesso a financiamentos internacionais. A linha de pesquisa subsequente questionou a capacidade das APPs de levar a cabo a sua função de proteção da natureza de maneira socialmente justa, desafiando um debate dicotômico, que as apresenta alternativamente ou como uma panaceia ou as rejeita por completo como soluções neoliberais. Para isso, desenvolveu-se uma ferramenta de avaliação multicritério baseada no conceito de encaixe institucional e sustentada por uma abordagem socio-ecológica. O enquadramento desenvolvido foi aplicado ao caso de estudo da reserva natural da Faia Brava. Esta investigação sugere que o atual modelo português para as APPs não é capaz de evitar a (re)produção de conflitos e problemas sociais associados às áreas protegidas públicas, nem evitar o risco de emergência de uma abordagem neoliberal de conservação da natureza. As principais questões incluem o risco de concentração de terras nas mãos de atores privados sem garantia de proteção da natureza a longo prazo; a falta de critérios de reconhecimento de APPs que privilegie os sítios mais ameaçados; e a falta de financiamento público destinado a evitar a mercantilização da natureza. Para além do desenvolvimento desta ferramenta de avaliação, contribui-se para o debate sobre a mudança do modelo de governança da conservação da natureza em Portugal, com contributos empíricos sobre modelos e práticas das APPs. Um contributo adicional é uma reflexão sobre as bases meta-teóricas que o Realismo Crítico oferece para avançar o nosso entendimento sobre as mudanças nas políticas públicas e nos sistemas socioecológicos.