The carbon footprint is the most important measure to achieve sustainable development, generating information that facilitates the establishment of sound environmental policy by policy makers. This study attempts to investigate the factors that influence the carbon footprint from a global economic perspective. The empirical analysis is conducted using panel data from 98 countries with annual observations that span from 1990 to 2007. The results show that the increase in the carbon footprint resulting from economic growth cannot be counterbalanced by technological advances in environmental protection at different stages of economic development. Furthermore, international trade, industrial structure and energy demands have significant effects on the carbon footprint. The results also indicate that the adjustment of industrial structure for a low carbon footprint economy is more important than other factors. Because the expansion of international economic activity is associated with industrial structure and energy demands, governments must re-examine their policies that affect these urgent issues in the effort to achieve low carbon footprint economies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

This study assesses for the first time the environmental sustainability of development organizations involved in North–South cooperation by quantifying the carbon footprint as a widely adopted indicator. Our objectives are to (1) analyze the criteria that should be met for correct greenhouse gas accounting of development organizations, (2) gain insight into the emission profile for a limited sample of development organizations from Belgium and Germany, and (3) set forward policy options for more sustainable practices. Carbon footprints are calculated following official guidelines and include available data from different institutions. Mobility of staff is on average responsible for 60% of total annual emissions of the organizations under study, mainly owing to air travel (40%), followed by electricity and heating of offices. These emissions may be partially offset through voluntary carbon market transactions or within development projects themselves. Either approach requires the adoption of high standards of carbon accounting by development organizations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The mixed results of previous empirical investigations on the relevance of firms’ reporting on sustainable development could be due to the absence of a theoretical paradigm able to capture the differences across countries. We apply the varieties of capitalism approach on a sample of European listed banks from 2005 to 2011, to evaluate whether the different institutional contexts affect the value relevance of sustainability reporting in European stock markets. The results show that sustainability reporting is more relevant in coordinated market economies compared with liberal market economies and mixed market economies. The main findings are that systemic and institutional factors influence the impact of sustainability reporting on the firm's market value, and the varieties of capitalism approach provides an important theoretical framework to grasp and highlight differences across European countries on the value relevance of firms’ reporting on sustainable development. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Malaysia aims to be a developed state by 2020. Various programs and policies towards this have been promulgated and development is rapidly arising as a result. Nevertheless, there is a vital need to balance development and sustainability of water resources in Malaysia. This is important as water demand is steadily increasing in the country's industrialized and highly populated cities. It is significant that water resources be managed efficiently and water conservation efforts such as rainwater harvesting be promoted across the country. This paper aims to examine development policies that may affect the sustainability of water resources and their implementation from the legal point of view. This doctrinal study involves analyses of related laws and development policies and their impact over the development process. The paper concludes that, although important laws and policies have been introduced, implementation has been hindered by lack of support from stakeholders and lack of integration between water agencies. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Drawing on innovation literature, this article contests the wisdom of the conventional linear innovation model (invention–demonstration–commercialization–diffusion) and argues that innovation in the case of biogas is, instead, characterized by numerous feedback loops between research, demonstration, commercialization and diffusion. Furthermore, these feedback loops are heavily influenced and shaped by public sector interventions in many aspects of the innovation activities. The article presents the history of Danish farm biogas plants and their present status and discusses the development and implementation of the technology in relation to innovation achievements. The article thus concludes that innovation can be better understood in terms of a dynamic model drawing on initiatives by private, public and academic actors. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

The idea of trading greenhouse gas emissions has become an important tool to tackle the problem of global climate change. Malaysia has started to strive towards a low carbon economy through various policies and initiatives. The main objective of this article is to document the exiting policy developed by the Malaysian government and review some of the current practices pertaining to the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The objective of such analysis is to understand what initiatives have been taken by the Malaysian government. Challenges and barriers will be documented for further research to provide a solution. In addition, it will also provide insight into the current CDM practices in Malaysia. It aims to provide a useful reference that could act as a foundation for future study to explore these issues further, particularly in the Malaysian context. It could also be an important reference for practitioners starting a CDM project. Although a review of the existing policy indicates that Malaysia has undertaken several initiatives, much more can be done. More research is now being carried out in order to provide support to the government. Stakeholder engagement is one way of acquiring input for the government to formulate a new policy. The main stakeholders – industry and the bankers – need to be engaged and made to understand to ensure smooth implementation and easy acceptance. Malaysia can also look to the advanced countries if necessary and modify what it learns for the Malaysian context. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

We investigate the corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies of commercial banks in developing countries. Our analysis is based on a sample of 402 banks from 44 countries. We also analyze how bank and country characteristics connect with banks' CSR policies. We find that there is a significant difference regarding the CSR scores among individual banks and countries. There is not much difference along various per capita income classes. We establish a positive and significant association between CSR policies and bank characteristics such as total assets and return on assets, as well as with country specific characteristics such as financial development and the ability of citizens to freely express their opinions. The openness of a country is negatively associated with banks' CSR policies. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This study analyses the performance of the financial sector with respect to corporate social responsibility and sustainability. Because this sector has a strong influence economically and on sustainable development, both risk management issues and stakeholder pressure drive the financial sector into a more sustainable direction. In contrast to polluting sectors, the financial sector does not affect the environment and society by direct emissions or the use of resources like other industries. To compare the financial sector with other sectors regarding their sustainability performance, we analyzed the performance in the fields of sustainability reporting, business ethics and product responsibility, labor issues, environmental performance, community issues, and corporate governance. The study is based on more than 1800 firms including 400 organizations from the financial sector. We link CSR to sustainability and define it as corporate self-regulation in order to manage sustainability risks and opportunities. The results suggest that financial sector performance is relatively low regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) in general. Weaknesses of the financial sector with regard to CSR are reporting, business ethics and product responsibility, and labor issues. Strengths of the financial sector regarding CSR can be located with respect to community relations. Further research is needed with respect to the factors influencing CSR performance. It is still not clear what influences regulations, stakeholder pressure or potential financial benefits have on sustainability performance in the financial sector. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The Sustainable City study of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) uses an analytical–deliberative approach to generate integrated options for strategic, long-term urban development policies in the Netherlands. Scenarios for the sustainable city were designed using visions and roadmaps that were actively developed by actors involved in urban development and planning. The subsequent scenario analysis on potential, coherence and distributional effects across socio-economic groups was combined with the narratives from the stakeholder dialogues to develop model-based narratives. These model-based narratives indicate the necessity of extensive national and international policy choices in the fields of energy, transport and spatial planning for the ecological sustainability of cities. The local level emerges as crucial when it comes to social sustainability. A transition that would benefit sustainability on all dimensions may be reached when citizens and civic and private organizations start to value (more) aspects of urban design and development that contribute to and create a sustainable quality of life. Thus far, little attention has been paid to policy-relevant knowledge on the urgency and complexity of triggering any such transitions. Based on the lessons learnt from this study, it can be concluded that, in the follow-up to this study, issues crucial to urban sustainable development have to be made more specific and concrete and more attention is needed for technological, institutional and societal feasibility. Interaction with policy makers and other stakeholders is again crucial. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This article uses critical discourse analysis to analyse national level discourses of sustainable development in the UK through the 1990s and 2000s, as revealed in five documents produced by successive national governments during this period. After briefly reviewing the concept of sustainable development and its interpretations, national sustainable development discourses are analysed in the context of the wider political discourses that have arisen around the political ideologies of neo-liberalism, Thatcherism and New Labour. A critical discourse analysis, using the concept of ‘discursive techniques’, reveals the way in which the concept of sustainable development has been adapted to conform to the dominant political discourses of neo-liberalism, Thatcherism and New Labour. In this process, the term has been used to emphasize the compatibility of economic growth and environmental protection, and hence, arguably, has been used to avoid rather than to facilitate radical action. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Public participation in Sustainable Development Planning (SDP) of cities represents significant challenges to governments and private organizations responsible for developing infrastructure. In this study, a regional government used a series of electronic discussion papers and questions to enable online forum discussions and exchanges between 196 participants on the major SDP issues related to city development up to 2030. This study used a rigorous and structured QSR nvivo analysis of 690 online forum postings to determine the participants' major SDP concerns for the city over a 20-year period. The collective results of the investigation show that future integrated transport networks, higher density residential and commercial land use, and sustainable population growth are still the subject of concern and intense debate among forum participants, SDP experts and the government. The research also demonstrates the capacity of green information and technology systems to serve as important mechanisms for SDP participation and consultation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

A significant number of different sustainable initiatives have emerged to improve sustainability and inclusion of small farmers in global supply chains. These include production process adjustment advice and implementation of different sustainable product standards. In practice two different approaches are taken. Development projects focus on enabling farmers to adjust their practices to Organic, Fairtrade and other standards requirements. In international trade, buyers from developed countries implement separate supply chain assurance systems. This article presents nine case studies of practices from both approaches in the cotton supply chain in India.

The results show improvements in the livelihoods of small farmers but increased market access depends on what approaches are used. The future challenge is to combine the different approaches, creating market links and enhancing supply chain efficiency while providing development support at community levels. With such a balance it will be possible to assure project sustainability and maximize long-term economical, environmental and social benefits. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Drawing on empirical research from a qualitative study in the Russian Federation, this paper contributes to the limited academic literature on environmental awareness and sustainable development in Russia. Using data from nearly 100 interviews with firms, NGOs and environmental regulators, we explore current barriers to public environmental awareness and the avenues to sustainable development, in the context of a transition country. We conclude by calling for further research that investigates the possibilities for environmental education and sustainability in contemporary Russian society and the institutional barriers thereto. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Studying the roles of governments in adopting green innovations is significant for analysing the transition to a more sustainable energy system. This article presents a comparative study of policies for popularizing domestic solar water heaters in three countries: China, Israel and Australia. Expanding the analysis beyond the economics of innovation, it demonstrates the institutional dimension of green technology deployment in these three countries. By examining the diverging roles of governments in facilitating green technology adoption in existing social routines and practices, it finds that governments' motivations, support and implementation mechanisms are remarkably different in these three countries. In particular, the paper argues that solar water heater popularization has been distinguished as a business opportunity in China, energy security in Israel and environmental responsibility in Australia. In addition, the institutional settings have a real impact on governments' roles in adopting green innovations, in terms of the policy instruments chosen and implementation mechanisms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The emerging concept of Green Jobs has yet to be clearly defined. This study uses critical discourse analysis and framing theory to analyse the meaning of Green Jobs claims, and their representation and transformation. Based on an analysis of print media from 1999 to 2009 and supporting policy documents, five predominant frames were identified in Green Jobs discourse: Environment–Economy Bridge, Green Entrepreneurship, Nascent Industry Creation, Internal Industry Transformation, and Structural Adjustment. Coverage of Green Jobs discourse has sharply increased since 2008. Although the term remains loosely defined and is employed in multiple ways, it is predominantly used as a strategic link between the recession and climate change policy. The fractured framing used in Green Jobs discourse hinders its uptake as a meaningful concept informing job creation, greening of industry, and sustainable development policy. Media, policymakers and advocacy groups should clarify the underlying definition when using the term. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

With the elaboration and diffusion of the concept of sustainable development, various projects have been defined as ‘sustainable’, even though they do not necessarily differ from what they would have been otherwise. Even extractive industries' activities, traditionally considered as both environmentally and socially harmful, have endorsed the sustainable development idea. We discuss the reasons why the Chad–Cameroon pipeline project, which aimed at being a ‘model’ project, did not meet the expectations in terms of sustainable development, putting the emphasis on its social dimension. Focusing on the World Bank, which played a key role in the implementation of the project, we critically examine the adoption of preventive measures, the identification of vulnerable populations and the level of participation of local populations. We argue that economic objectives still prevail over other considerations, and we question the very nature of the project as a (sustainable) development project. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

This article offers an exploratory and descriptive analysis of the characteristics of inter-disciplinary sustainability studies (ISSs). The paper explores the academic and disciplinary nature of inter-disciplinary inquiry and studies themes, imperatives and methodologies, together with institutional characteristics. Our analysis of 70 articles published between 2003 and 2008 suggests that the publication of ISSs is growing and that this effort is largely based upon attempts to integrate aspects of different disciplines. These studies mostly relate to resource management studies and typically adopt qualitative, case study or mixed methodologies. The articles reviewed have a practical orientation, with nearly two-thirds of studies explicitly addressing policy-making issues, and over half cover the orientations, mechanisms and institutions towards people's participation in decision-making. The research effort is typically made in Europe and North America, and by scholars working in inter-disciplinary teams. The implications of these findings for research in, and the practice of, sustainability studies are discussed in conclusion. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Recent resurgence of interest in social aspects of sustainability has enjoined with on-going debates on environmental justice and equity. However, discussions on the socio-geographic distribution of environmental (dis-) benefits have substantially overlooked the issue of class (as defined by Marx). This paper begins to address that deficit by presenting a new conceptualization of sustainable development explicitly drawing on Marxist theorizations of class. Capital and labour have a fundamental conflict of interest; governments have limited potential, or interest, in intervening on labour's behalf. Environmental policies have been portrayed as offering economic and social benefits including so-called green jobs. This paper argues that such policies generate competition for investment rather than promoting equity. Green jobs may offer distributional benefits to individual workers, in certain locations, but cannot benefit labour as a class. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Resource extraction often precludes sustainable forms of land use and poses long-term threats, and yet it is promoted as a development opportunity for poor countries. This is illustrated by a case study of the Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. Compared with a large gold mine, most alternative activities, such as tourism, trophy hunting, cottage industry and pastoralism, can only generate negligible benefits. Other, potentially much more important, sources of income for poor countries are payments for ecosystem services taking the form of compensation preventing unsustainable forms of land use. The discussion focuses on how these could be organized to provide viable alternatives to mining. It is concluded that such systems need to be arranged at the international level and to complement the current international cooperation (aid) regime. In Central Asia, reviving the regional water management system would be an important first step in this direction. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

This article argues that creativity and organizational learning can help to challenge the traditional Newtonian and Cartesian mental models and foster more sustainable societies. The recognition and acceptance of creativity by individuals, groups, organizations, and finally society can create new knowledge and metanoia. Creativity helps to break through the knowledge barrier of current reductionist mental models, while learning helps to consolidate and institutionalize the new mental models. This is especially the case where learning questions underlying assumptions and develops new theories and methodologies that constantly challenge the status quo for the present and the future, instead of mere reaction to immediate problems. Eventually, these mental models would need to be questioned by future creative thinkers in a continuous process; hence, solving today's problems with tomorrow's ideas, and ensuring progress towards more sustainable societies. The paper takes the example of Gaia theory to illustrate how creativity can be institutionalized. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Indicators define our world. We are constantly measured and assessed. Perhaps the most important indicator in current use is Gross Domestic Product or GDP. It is the measure of a nation's success and can be key to its ability to borrow money and appear internationally credible. This paper is set against the current debate ‘Beyond GDP’ begun in November 2007 with the conference hosted by the European Commission, European Parliament, Club of Rome, OECD and WWF. The initiative, with its five actions, recognizes weaknesses in the ways in which indicators of all kinds are collected and presented, and attempts to improve the indicator world, but is the answer to effective information for policy formulation hidden in the articulation of indicators? Maybe indicator use is a function of the ways in which stakeholders are engaged in their use? Our conjecture is that indicator use is little understood and that this use dynamic can be better understood.

In this paper, the authors write from the perspective of their work undertaken in the European Union funded Framework 7 project ‘Policy Influence of Indicators’ (POINT; contract no 217207), which began in 2008. A major element of the project involved a number of group workshops designed to elicit viewpoints regarding the use of indicators (including sustainable development indicators) in sustainable development policy at EU and member-state levels.

The paper outlines some emergent hypotheses and hints at how group approaches to indicators can be foreseen and some challenges for indicator use policy for the future. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This research aims to examine some of the generic determinants of company attributes and corporate governance variables and whether there is any relationship to the reporting of climate change strategy. For that purpose, this study investigated firms in 10 industries, across 13 countries. This study is based on climate change disclosures made in the sustainability and annual reports by firms domiciled in developed and emerging countries in Asia Pacific. The study uses content analysis to construct weighted and unweighted disclosure indices. Based on the extant literature, several variables, namely, firm size, industrial membership, country of domicile, environment certification, board size, independent non-executives, the CEO duality structure and gender were selected and their influence on the level of climate change disclosure was tested empirically. As for agency theory, this study offers both confirmatory and contradictory results regarding board independence. The results reveal that in spite of the fact that the level of climate change disclosure in some emerging countries in Asia Pacific is still low, by increasing the proportion of independent non-executives on the board of directors, encouragement of firms' practice to separate the CEO-board chair role, and firm practices in obtaining and maintaining environment certification would directly increase the climate change disclosure in their sustainability reports. Furthermore, firms that demonstrate a lack of gender diversity on the board would increase the climate change reporting system practices. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Environmental education scholars have hailed the emergence of the discourse of education for sustainable development (ESD) as a progressive transition in the field. The author argues that there are some salient aspects present in sustainability discourse that present ethical paradoxes as well as empirical dilemmas. Discourse on sustainable development singles out economic development, which might have created the current ecological problems in the first place, as part of the solution. It is empirically questionable whether the industrial production necessary to expand the ‘economic pie’ to include the most dispossessed, is possible without further degrading the environment. In an educational context, ESD replaces a problem orientation associated with environmental education and shifts the focus to the inclusion of social issues and economic development. ESD masks its anthropocentric agenda and may in fact be counterproductive to the efficacy of environmental education in fostering a citizenry that is prepared to address the anthropogenic causes of environmental problems. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

There is a fragmented approach to social sustainability in the literature, and this paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the meanings and interpretations of that concept while reviewing and discussing the social dimension of sustainability from the perspectives of two fields: urban development as well as companies and products. The analysis identifies commonalities and differences in the understanding of the conceptualization of social sustainability and helps to identify core aspects that cross disciplinary boundaries. The paper shows that compiling a list of comprehensive aspects that is representative of social sustainability is not straightforward, as interpretations are context dependant and aspects are often closely interconnected. Differences often occur because of variations in scoping and context, or whether or not a life cycle perspective is used. Nonetheless, there seems to be an underlying common understanding of what social sustainability is, and a set of key themes (social capital, human capital and well-being) is suggested as an alternative to put more specific measures and indicators in perspective. However, context-specific information is still necessary in practical applications. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Conservation of historic buildings and streets through rehabilitation is growing rapidly in many countries. The extent to which this approach is conducive to the aims of social sustainability has yet to be investigated. This study examines the attributes and factors that contribute to socially sustainable development in the rehabilitation of historic districts. A historic district in Shanghai, China, is used as a case study. The study area, Tianzifang, is a community-initiated rehabilitation, which has conserved traditional residential houses and old factories and transformed them into a community for creative industry. Site observations, personal interviews and questionnaire surveys of public opinion were conducted to examine the contributing factors. Through a literature review, fieldwork and a pilot study, 21 factors were identified as contributing social sustainability to the rehabilitation of historic districts and form the basis of the analysis of the case study and the opinion survey exercise. Through factor analysis, the underlying social sustainability factors that embrace the 21 attributes were derived. In order of importance, the social sustainability factors are ‘Maintain good physical condition to fulfill educational role’, ‘Provide public involvement opportunities’, ‘Enhance sense of place and local culture’, ‘Enhance cultural identity and collective memory’ and ‘Retain significant meanings and associations to the community’. This study presents a framework to understand the underlying factors for socially sustainable rehabilitation of historic districts, which provides insights for professionals and communities to design and implement rehabilitation strategies. The framework also provides a reference to examine other complex heritage sites worldwide. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The Chinese government has announced a national mitigation target towards sustainable development of reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions per unit GDP (CO₂/GDP) by 40–45% by 2020 compared with the 2005 level. This paper analyses China's CO₂ strategic mitigation target and suggests possible ways to reduce CO₂/GDP. The mitigation target of reducing CO₂ intensity in terms of GDP is ambitious and would greatly reduce CO₂ emissions compared with business as usual (BAU) in China. However, it would not prevent an increase in absolute CO₂ emissions and therefore a more ambitious target, e.g. a larger reduction goal for CO₂/GDP, is still needed. Promoting energy structure by more ambitious economic instruments to increase the proportion of renewable energy and replace coal consumption with oil and gas, and improving energy efficiency by applied advanced technologies, are both necessary measures. Special attention should be given to improving technologies in the manufacturing sector owing to its high energy consumption and low energy use efficiency. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Most of the works that have explored the relationship between Corporate Citizenship (CC) initiatives and their contribution to sustainable community development in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria have been insightful. However, the question of reciprocal responsibility has largely been unaddressed. Similarly, disagreement persists with regard to the impact of oil multinational corporations' (MNC) CC initiative on governmental community development efforts and its implication for sustainable community development. Unfortunately, these gaps have allowed for a number of CC orthodoxies to emerge in the region with practical ramifications for community development. The findings presented here suggest that local communities accept and have a clear sense of what constitutes their reciprocal responsibility. In addition, there was limited evidence to suggest that oil MNCs efforts at community development affected governmental community development initiatives in the region. The paper concludes by considering the implications of its findings for CC theory and practice. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Indicators are considered a key tool in assessing whether societies are progressing towards sustainability. In indicator development, the main emphasis has been on the production of new indicators. Various kinds of sustainable development indicators and indicator sets have been developed to describe and assess key trends at local, national and global level. We argue that it is at least equally important to focus on how, when and by whom indicators are actually used. In addition, the focus should be on what kinds of desirable and undesirable effects are related to the use or non-use of indicators. Here, attention is paid to the negative, unintended effects of sustainability indicators in communication processes. Starting from an earlier typology focusing on health communication, various types of negative unintended effects of sustainable development indicators are identified and discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

While environmental and social research have generated a large amount of information and data on how values and environmental ethics relate to sustainable development, there are no studies that examine the missing links reflected in the terminology of the sustainable development definition that alienates it from its ecological ethos. This paper reviews the concept of sustainable development that continues to remain vague even two decades after the Brundtland Commission report. It then examines the limitations in the contemporary anthropocentric conceptualization of sustainable development with a utilitarian ethic and argues for a more ecocentric reinterpretation of its definition that is more inclusive and incorporates recognition of the socio-ecological values. The paper concludes with a call for a revised global resolution and a framework for sustainable development based on its reinterpretation that recognizes the interdependence of humans with the rest of the ecosphere. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) have been important natural resources for improving local livelihoods in Köprülü Kanyon National Park, located in Turkey. Sustainability of these resources is important to meet the needs of present and future generations. Accordingly, this study examines the MAP-based community capitals to seek better opportunities in terms of community development, poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods in the National Park. The method of the study included a series of stages such as fieldwork and interviews. Assessment of the data shows that a sustainable livelihood strategy is needed for bringing a positive synergy in terms of the sustainable use of MAPs in the national park, as MAPs as natural capital have led to the emergence of human, social and financial capitals to lift local livelihoods out of poverty. Finally, a number of recommendations for improving the sustainability of MAPs and local livelihoods in the park are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The success of climate change strategies depends on how well mitigation and adaptation measures are implemented. It is especially important to implement effective mitigation and adaptation measures in coastal territories because they will be more directly affected by some of the possible effects of climate change. This study assessed and compared how Singapore, Miami-Dade and San Francisco – three coastal territories – implement climate change strategies in their construction industries. Case study method – in which primary and secondary information was collected and analyzed – was used. It was found that these three territories have a few similarities; for example, Singapore and San Francisco mandate green building requirements, whereas Singapore and Miami-Dade do not explicitly consider adaptation measures in their building codes. It was also noted that although mitigation has entered mainstream policy-making, adaptation still lags behind. Consequently, this study has proposed a few lessons; for example, policy-makers in Singapore and Miami-Dade should complement existing measures with platforms to engage the public on disaster management. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Rapid transformations offer new challenges for rural regions to invent new pathways for development. For many, an obvious choice is to set out on the path towards economic growth and to compete with other regions for global, mobile capital and labor. There is however an increasing awareness that in the long run regions should anticipate a more sustainable development based on regional qualities. Across Europe new and fascinating forms of shared, value-driven leadership for such sustainable regional development can be observed. This leadership cannot be explained with traditional leadership models derived from management and business literature. In this paper a new leadership model is developed that is both empirically and theoretically informed. The model is shaped along two axes: an ‘individual–collective’ and an ‘inner–outer’ axis. Four leadership dimensions are discerned and described: ‘the X-factor’ (personal qualities, feelings, motives and values), ‘vital space’ (stimulating favorable behavior by flexible roles and building vital coalitions), ‘shared leadership’(working across organizational boundaries) and ‘bricolage’ (connecting networks in institutional arrangements). We have applied this model in eight cases of rural regional development in the Netherlands. The cases show that sustainable regional development benefits from shared leadership where collective values, feelings, trust, commitment and energy form the basis for mobilizing private and public actors around a joint agenda in regional networks. Leaders can in this sense contribute to new regional agendas and the exploration of new pathways to sustainability. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Sustainable development is commonly traced to the ‘Bruntland Report’. However, its origins wind their way back through earlier UN conferences, 18th and 19th century political economic thought, Rousseauian ideals, the modernism founded on Bacon and Descartes, early Christian utopianism, and classical utopias such as Republic and New Atlantis, which expressed themes of social justice, environmental stewardship and economic growth. This article follows these utopian themes back through the history of sustainable development thought, relying on contemporary histories and reviews of the field as well as certain original texts. We also identify these threads within, and their impact upon, contemporary narratives and debates. We conclude with the suggestion that awareness of these discursive streams can assist in the effective use of the tools and concepts available for sustainable development efforts. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This paper assesses the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index (HDI) positively as a starting point for determining the relative degree of development of a country in the framework of the most stringent modern concept of human development. However, it is a synthetic indicator and as such suffers from limitations in terms of reflecting how the people of a country effectively participate in the average progress achieved and in terms of the prospects for future development. Empirical evidence confirms that the HDI needs to be supplemented by other indicators associated with economic and social cohesion, sound development strategies, and sustainability in growth models. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Over 20 years ago Our Common Future presented a conceptualization and explanation of the concept of sustainable development. Since then, numerous alternative definitions of the concept have been offered, of which at least some are exclusive to each other. At the same time, the role of business in the transition to sustainable development has increasingly received attention. Bringing these two trends in sustainable development together, this paper returns to the Brundtland version of the concept to examine to what extent the original principles of sustainable development are still embedded within key business guidelines, namely the UN Global Compact, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the ICC Business Charter for Sustainable Development, the CAUX Principles, the Global Sullivan Principles and the CERES Principles. The findings suggest that these business guidelines tend to emphasize environmental rather than social aspects of sustainable development, in particular to the detriment of the original Brundtland prioritization of the needs of the poorest. Furthermore, the attention to environmental aspects stresses win–win situations and has a clear managerialist focus; whereas more conceptual environmental issues concerning systems interdependencies, critical thresholds or systemic limits to growth find little attention. The normative codes and principles targeted at the private sector therefore not only add another voice to the multiple discourses on sustainable development but also contribute to a reinterpretation of the original agenda set by Brundtland towards conceptualizations of sustainable development around the needs of industrialized rather than developing countries. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This paper analyses how the world's largest corporations communicate about sustainability and sustainable development in their non-financial reports. It investigates the concept use, definitions and attempts at operationalization, and the rationales that corporations give to engage with them. It is concluded that the corporations typically opt to treat sustainability and sustainable development as given and unproblematic instead of addressing the fundamental problems of today's practice or the dilemmas of the concepts. The most striking finding, however, is that so many of the corporations no longer argue that they are on a ‘journey’ towards sustainability, but that they have already integrated sustainability principles and that they have worked like this for years. Such arguments arguably inhibit the change in business models that many commentators call for. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This paper investigates psychological drivers and financial motives that may influence major Swedish investments institutions to adopt socially responsible investment (SRI). Based on an instrument that captures concepts in the Value-Belief-Norm theory, and potential financial beliefs that may influence the SRI intentions of investors, a survey was addressed to all major Swedish investments institutions. Fifty-eight respondents from 17 different investment institutions participated in the survey of whom 31 were conventional (non-SRI) investors and 27 were socially responsible investors. Our results show that conventional and SRI investors share similar beliefs about short-term and long-term performance on SRI investments in that SRI gives less return in the short term but slightly more than conventional investments in the longer term. However, SRI investors express significantly more interest in increasing their future SRI investments than conventional investors do. We discover that future SRI is not influenced by social and environmental concerns. Rather, financial beliefs about risk and beliefs about increased market shares drive SRI forward. The business case for SRI seems therefore to be the only reason for major investment institutions to adopt SRI. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This study provides an interdisciplinary account determining how children and adolescents understand urban and architectural aspects of sustainable development. The concept of sustainability implies complex relations between ethical, economical, social, technical and other qualities of our environment. The concept is difficult to understand for children who lack the abilities of abstract reasoning and multi-dimensional thinking. A new measure of sustainability understanding was formed based on pictorial rather than textual format and was applied to a large sample of over 2000 participants aged 6–19 years. The results indicated that girls had higher levels of appreciation toward sustainability issues than boys. The results also showed that understanding of sustainability issues increased progressively with age, particularly with adolescents from urban environments. The findings are discussed in terms of cognitive changes in adolescence and their implications for educational policy. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Attempts to categorize the different interpretations of sustainability have evolved mainly in the form of mapping the terrain or providing typologies. However, mapping approaches tend to be simplistic and therefore incapable of capturing the complexity of the debate. Typologies of sustainability typically lack epistemological consistency, or logical arguments to order the categorization process. This paper proposes a new typology that might capture the diversity of the arguments over sustainability in a form that remains sufficiently clear to make sense of the debate. A typology is offered that is ordered by the ideologies of actors in the debate over sustainability, which might be usefully applied to unpack the ideological alignment of policy actors. This typology offers an overview of the debate, separates out the ideologies of actors and offers a means to compare and reflect on the relative merits of each approach and the solutions that are offered. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Given that prioritization of programmes is a key concern in Local Agenda 21 processes, the aim of this paper is to explore how the Analytic Network Process (ANP) can provide greater consistency and legitimacy to prioritization of local action plans. Through the analysis of an experience in the municipality of Benetusser in Spain, the study shows how ANP, by modelling reality as a network of multiple and mutual interrelations, embraces complexity and translates it into a set of operational questionnaires that help participants to reflect on their preferences and think deeply on the real implications of programmes for sustainable development. In the case study, citizens, technical staff and politicians of Benetusser carried out the prioritization process by defining a set of criteria and assessing the programmes in an interrelated way. The experience shows that the ANP procedure not only allows prioritization to be dealt with in an organized and systematic way, but also enables reflective thinking on sustainable development and the role of Local Agenda 21 itself. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This research aims to test Inglehart's thesis regarding the relationship between post-materialist values, wealth of nations and environmental intentions as measured by willingness to sacrifice to protect the environment. Due to the hierarchical nature of the data, the study uses multilevel and Bayesian multilevel modeling to cross-culturally test Inglehart's thesis. The results from 25 nations contradict Inglehart's thesis, which claims that environmental intentions are post-material values—a set of attitudes that develop among wealthy people once the more basic needs have been achieved. The general pattern of the results shows that willingness to sacrifice to protect the environment is a global phenomenon and not unique to the wealthy nations. The findings of this paper highlight the importance of simultaneously assessing individual-level and contextual-level variables in determining environmental intentions across nations. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Population growth and the environment is now a major discussion issue. Most cases of excessive preference for a larger family size are involved with environmental degradation in developing countries. Moreover, rural or indigenous people living in forest areas have a regular interaction with the environment. They usually depend on environmental resources for subsistence. The main objective of this study is to analyze indigenous people's perception of the relationship between environment and fertility. Out of the seven Khasia villages, the village called Lawachora Punji, with 23 households, was included in the field survey. The research findings reveal that environmental awareness is higher among women and the overall index is relatively low in the indigenous people regarding the environmental and demographic aspects. The overall environmental awareness index (EAI) indicates that people living in Lawachora National Park do not have a strong understanding of the impact of large family size on the environment. Grassroots level participation and gradual change of perception of large family size and dependence on forest resources are important to environmental sustainability in developing countries. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

To mitigate environmental pollution from a rapidly expanding Thai food processing industry, different options and technologies can be identified. However, actually implementing these environmental improvements within small and medium-sized agro-food companies requires governing efforts of a variety of actors. This paper assesses feasible paths towards the ecological modernization of small and medium-sized agro-food processing industries in Thailand. A so-called quartet-network model is applied to analyze the greening potentials for small and medium-sized enterprises in three agro-food sectors in Northern Thailand: fruit and vegetable processing industries, meat processing companies and fruit wine enterprises. Conclusions are drawn on how actors in the networks around these companies could contribute towards a more sustainable development of these companies. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This overview article examines the various dimensions of sustainable coffee as well as the actors involved and their perceptions of how to advance the market from niche to mainstream. The issues at hand are very complex, with different types of coffee producers, manufacturing/roasting companies and consumers, and a variety of standards, all with their own peculiarities and views on what is the best approach, and characterized by a divergent potential for ‘scaling up’. Policymakers, managers and NGOs thus face difficult choices as to which path to pursue as there is no clear consensus on a concrete ‘solution’ to this ‘wicked problem’. The article analyses the market for sustainable coffee, the different types of certified coffee available and their peculiarities considering production and supply perspectives, in relation to consumers who buy the final product. Implications are discussed as well, in the context of complexity and confusion, and the need for more complementarity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Europe has positioned itself as a progressive global player in environmental and sustainable development (SD) policies, and SD strategies should play a key role in better coordinating policies horizontally across sectors and vertically across levels of government. This paper gives an overview of the objectives and indicators employed in 24 national SD strategies across Europe, covering five different welfare-state models. After highlighting some structural features of SD strategies the paper explores how coherently they address environmental and social policies, measured against the objectives and indicators of the EU SD strategy. It is shown that environmental objectives and indicators are more coherent than social ones. Regarding the five socioeconomic models it was found that the significant variance regarding social policy objectives and indicators is mainly because some SD strategies from Mediterranean countries ignore this dimension of SD. The paper concludes that SD strategies in Europe (in particular the EU SD strategy) unfold only a fraction of their potential to better coordinate policies vertically across different levels of government. As this conclusion is confirmed by more qualitative research approaches, the European governance architecture for sustainable development is questioned in fundamental ways. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This paper explores the reporting of three indices – the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Human Development Index (HDI) and Ecological Footprint (EF) – in the national press of the UK between January 1990 and December 2009. The indices were compared over both time (year and month of article publication) and space (across the component countries of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, ROI). Results suggest that there are significant differences in reporting of the three indices. The EF appeared more frequently and was employed more often in articles than the CPI and HDI, perhaps reflecting a greater flexibility of the EF in terms of methodology and its association with consumption at all social scales, including the individual. The HDI was used by journalists more often as an ‘ornament’ to provide factual support to discussion of development, aid, conflict etc. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The current study attempts to understand the relationships among Environmental Quality (EQ), Human Development (HD) and political and governance regimes in a cross-country framework through secondary data analysis. The underlying hypothesis is that in addition to income, as reflected from the literature on the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis, several other factors, including socioeconomic (e.g. human development and corruption) and sociopolitical (e.g. ability to exercise democratic rights) factors, may influence environmental policy-making, and thereby environmental sustainability, in a country. The EQ (i.e. environmental sustainability) of the countries in the current study is denoted by their Environmental Performance Index (2008). Human development is represented by Human Development Index (2007). Democracy Index (2008) and Corruption Perceptions Index (2008) are considered as proxies for political transparency in a country and its susceptibility to rent-seeking activities, respectively. The cross-country empirical findings confirm the closer association between the socioeconomic and sociopolitical factors and sustainable development. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This study proposed four original concepts – green perceived value, green satisfaction, green trust, and green loyalty – and discussed their relationships. The results showed that enhancing green perceived value, green satisfaction, and green trust of customers can increase their green loyalty. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that green perceived value can not only directly influence green loyalty positively, but also indirectly influence it positively via green satisfaction and green trust. In addition, this study undertook a comparative analysis between the original model and the four competing models. The results indicated that it is imperative to separate green perceived value, green satisfaction, green trust, and green loyalty from perceived value, satisfaction, trust, and loyalty. In the environmental era, if companies intend to raise their customers' green loyalty, they need to invest resources to raise their customers' green perceived value, green satisfaction, and green trust, rather than perceived value, satisfaction, and trust. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Post-apartheid South Africa is characterized by considerable spatial and social inequality and high levels of poverty and unemployment, particularly among historically disadvantaged groups. Since 1994, there has been much attention given to fostering local economic development (LED) to promote empowerment, job creation, economic growth and community development, with a primary focus on broad-based Black Economic Empowerment. However, LED initiatives have achieved mixed success, with many projects foundering after optimism in their early stages. Focusing on South Africa's Western Cape Province, with its species-rich Cape Floristic Region, this paper examines LED experience in relation to the concept of the ‘biodiversity economy’, which has received considerable attention recently among South African environmental bodies. The paper focuses specifically on operationalizing the biodiversity economy concept through the implementation of a ‘sustainable wild flower harvesting code of practice’ on the Agulhas Plain, where local communities, supported by transnational companies, are harvesting and marketing wild flowers to retailers in South Africa and the UK. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

State devolution has combined with social movement pressures to give communities increasing access and rights to southern forests, making development of effective local participation in sustainable resource management crucial. This paper discusses an experience of participatory research in Central America, which sought to help two grassroots forest organizations, the Association of Forest Communities of Petén, Guatemala and the Farmer to Farmer Programme of Siuna, Nicaragua, to respond to new organizational and political challenges by developing their internal capacity for research and analysis. Community-based ‘para-professional’ social researchers were trained to carry out studies of their communities' experiences with natural resource management, including strengths, problems and possible response strategies. The collaborative research initiative also encountered problems of inequality, uneven education and skills and concerns with validity. The results of this experience indicate that with appropriate support, community-based research and researchers can help engender collective reflection, strengthen local organizational capacity and contribute knowledge and analysis in support of forest community movements' efforts to promote local resource rights and more sustainable development. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This study reevaluates the origins and operations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs since the 1980s and 1990s in the USA. Such enterprises mobilize sustainable development rhetoric as part of stylized political agendas for community outreach, social impact, cultural sensitivity and environmental justice campaigns endorsed by big business. These campaigns react to political pressures exerted by local, national or global anti-corporate movements, and sustainable development has become one moderately successful negotiated settlement in this battle between the private sector and civil society. Nonetheless, a brittle quality in weak interpretations of sustainable development remains engrained in many CSR programs as standard operating procedures. These profit-driven agendas push for ‘development' over ‘sustainability’, lowering the bar for what sustainability should, or does, mean for businesses as they struggle to be more responsible ethical actors in society. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

In this paper we argue that one way of viewing the relationship between sustainable development and nature is to explore the extent to which human-made capital can be substituted for nature (‘natural capital’). It is suggested that this substitution/replacement exposes societies to different risks and uncertainties. Our point of departure is to distinguish sociologically between different ‘natures’, which reflect different levels of human/natural capital substitution and degrees of hybridity: First Nature, Second Nature, Third Nature and Fourth Nature. This approach to sustainable development – through investigating the co-existence of human-made and natural capital, and the effects of this process on risk and uncertainty – is used to explain the vicissitudes of much of the ‘sustainable development’ debate. Focusing on sustainable consumption and ecological modernization, the paper also suggests that regulation theory might help to explain how different environmental policy options are chosen, and the limitations of these options. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

For sustainable development, accepting limits is one of the two guiding principles identified by the Brundtland Commission (the other one being satisfying human needs). This can be achieved by slimming an economy, limiting the total amount of resources it consumes. While stabilizing resource consumption at the present levels seems to be a minor challenge, dematerializing the economy sufficiently to allow for equitable consumption of all the Earth's citizens, while reducing environmental pressures significantly, is a major challenge.

A means to implement this could be a cap to resource use, combined with access allocation mechanisms not specified in this paper. With a depreciation of the input volumes, the result would be a change in the economic dynamics, and in the very functioning of the respective society and economy. Distribution issues would gain prominence, social security would be a key concern, private property would need to be complemented by a more efficient method of product use such as product sharing, and corporate ownership structures might change significantly.

It has been questioned whether such a resource-limited economy could still be a market-driven one. By identifying some of the objections as based not on reality but on methodological flaws of economic theory, it can be shown that a market economy can survive such transformations, albeit with the need to complement it by other allocation mechanisms.

The resulting society might still be called a capitalist one; it would significantly differ from current capitalism, but not resemble past socialist economies. Rather than categorizing it as one or the other, or than deriving new ‘-isms’, the discussion should focus on the practical means to pursue the sustainable transformation of our societies and economies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

International tourism is portrayed by many agencies and governments as a significant contributor to sustainable development strategies. The economic impacts of international tourism are undoubtedly substantial; however, they need to be framed within a broader understanding of impacts throughout the tourism system. Emissions from tourism and their contribution to climate change therefore set a potentially major challenge for the sustainability of international tourism. Following an examination of the current and forecast growth of emissions from international tourism and the policies and strategies of lead bodies, industry and national governments, tourism is seen as grounded in a pro-growth paradigm that offers no hope within the foreseeable future of absolute reductions in emissions. Given the potential implications of this finding, it is concluded that a significant reassessment is required of the potential benefits of tourism for sustainable development. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Solutions to climate change have been academically criticized for their continued economic growth, managerialism and lack of real politics. In comparison, the IPCC's socio-economic assessments of climate change have accentuated the ethical implications of their own policy recommendations. Our analysis of ten IPCC reports (1990–2012) shows a turn from a claimed non-political position in human-induced climate change to an outspoken ethical position in climate-induced disasters. We argue that a professionalization of climate ethics is sought through ecological reason, specifically by calls for resilience to foster adaptable subjects. This neoliberal position leans on a problematization of vulnerable subjects' resistance to social adaptation, underpinned by an aim to redirect resistance towards physical disasters to stimulate climate adaptation. Conclusively, climate ethical mastery is formed by detailed elaborations of how the vulnerable subject should not only subsume to ecological reason, but also ethically embrace physical threats and dangers as if productive of life supportive qualities. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Religion's role in development has generally been viewed with suspicion, if not indifference, in scholarly and institutional concerns with development planning and policy. The last two decades, however, mark a departure, with a burgeoning interest in religion as a category of analysis in development studies. In this paper, I address the religion–sustainable development nexus specifically, and argue that religion – for both its constructive and destructive potential – must be considered in the sustainable development agenda. Specifically, I identify three ways in which religion may play an important role in enabling sustainable development – through its values, through its potential for social and ecological activism and in the realm of self-development. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.