Searching for the profit in pollution prevention case studies in the corporate evaluation of environmental opportunities


Book Description

The concept of pollution prevention, or "P2," signifies a new, proactive environmental mindset that targets the causes, rather than the consequences, of polluting activity. While anecdotal evidence suggests that P2 opportunities exist and that many have been pursued, there is also the perception that the pace of P2 is far too slow. To explore that claim -- and to shed light on barriers to P2 innovation -- this paper presents case studies of industrial P2 projects that were in some way unsuccessful. Economic, financial, and accounting analysis is used to assess the rationale for, and soundness of, these corporate decisions. While based on a very limited sample, the evidence contradicts the view that firms suffer from organizational weaknesses that make them unable to appreciate the financial benefits of P2 investments. Instead, the projects foundered because of significant unresolved technical difficulties, marketing challenges, and regulatory barriers. Based on evidence from the cases, the paper concludes with a discussion of environmental policy reforms likely to promote P2 innovation.




Green Profits


Book Description

Green Profits covers two tightly connected topics, environmental management systems (EMS) and pollution prevention (P2), in a single volume. Authored by an environmental engineer and an economist/planner, Green Profits shows how to implement an EMS, especially ISO 14001, so that it leads to profitable pollution prevention innovations, and how to identify and implement pollution prevention measures in a sound strategic business framework. Green Profits provides the knowledge and tools for enterprise managers to achieve the benefits of both EMS and P2, and to do so in ways that fit in with existing management systems in their enterprises.Environmental management systems are planned and organized ways for an enterprise to manage its interactions with the environment, in particular those interactions that consume resources, degrade the environment, and create human health risk. Part I of Green Profits provides a thorough and practical understanding of the elements of EMSs in general and ISO 14001 in particular, tools and techniques for implementing an EMS and achieving ISO 14001 certification, and help with getting the implementation process started.Pollution prevention involves replacing process technologies that generate pollution with those that do not or that do so much less. It focuses on improving production processes to minimize waste rather than treating effluents or emissions, which add to costs. Part II of Green Profits provides tools such as step-by-step guides to conducting a P2 audit and energy and material balances for identifying P2 opportunities in an enterprise; examples of P2 practices in specific industry sectors; and a set of tools for assessing potential P2 investments from a bottom-line point of view.With this New Handbook -- · Bring your facility into compliance · Improve your corporate image · Reduce your company's environmental liabilities · Identify and save millions of dollars from pollution prevention projects This New Handbook Includes -- · A step-by-step approach to implementing ISO 14001 · A step-by-step approach to implementing Pollution Prevention · Contains nearly 100 useful charts and tables used by the experts in establishing environmental action plans, gap analyses, establishing an Environmental Management System · Contains dozens of useful charts and calculation methods with examples for evaluating the costs and savings to your company in implementing Pollution Prevention · Dozens of industry-specific case studies that you can learn and profit from · Shows you in stepwise fashion how project financing principles and environmental cost accounting methods, when coupled with EMS can save your company moneyThis New Handbook is unique because unlike other volumes that separately cover Environmental Management Systems and Pollution Prevention, you have it all in one single volume, written by Experts that are Practitioners.




Computer Simulated Plant Design for Waste Minimization/Pollution Prevention


Book Description

Full of examples based on case studies from a variety of industries, Computer Simulated Plant Design for Waste Minimization/Pollution Prevention discusses preventing pollution and minimizing waste using computer simulation programs. The author examines the computer technologies used in the field, including the design and analysis of computer-aided flow sheets. With this book, readers will understand how to use computer technology to design plants that generate little or no pollution and how to use information generated by computer simulations for technical data in proposals and presentations and as the basis for making policy decisions.




Material Concerns


Book Description

Material Concerns offers new perspectives on key environmental issues - pollution prevention, ecological economics, limits to sustainability, consumer behaviour and government policy. The first non-technical introduction to preventative environmental management, Material Concerns offers realistic prospects for improving the quality of life.




Corporate Environmental Responsibility


Book Description

Traditionally, industry has been accused of sacrificing sustainable development in the pursuit of short-term profit. Yet today, under the banner of Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER), a growing number of business organizations are claiming to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. So, what is this emerging phenomenon of CER and what does it aspire to achieve? How pervasive is it and what are its implications for both business and the environment? This collection of essential articles and papers maps the development of the CER concept, traces the principal debates concerning its contribution to environmental protection, assesses the evidence as to what extent corporations are seeking to "do well be doing good" and explains why some companies have gone down this path when others, similarly situated, have been unwilling to do so. In essence, it asks: what has CER accomplished, what can it accomplish, and what is beyond its reach?




Empirical Studies of Environmental Policies in Europe


Book Description

The visible encroachment of industrial development on the environment, and its unintended consequences, has increased public demand for better environmental management and policy. As policy makers struggle to meet these demands, empirical analysis of the effects of environmental policies is crucial for guiding the development, the implementation, and the evaluation of alternative government interventions and regulatory approaches. Such analysis is scarce, however. The need for empirical studies is particularly large in Europe, where environmental policy debates are still mainly theoretical and tend to reflect different ideological positions more than informed assessments of alternative policies. Empirical Studies of Environmental Policies in Europe presents contributions on empirical environmental policy evaluation. The individual chapters, written by authors from Europe and the US, contain quantitative studies of proposed and implemented environmental policies, at both the micro and macroeconomic levels. The policy issues studied in this volume include the 'double dividend-hypothesis' of carbon taxation, the political economy of en




EPA Publications Bibliography


Book Description