The raising awareness of sustainable strategies within businesses has resulted in corporations becoming more conscious of sustainable development. As concerns about the environment and global climate change increases with carbon emissions as a cause, companies are now considering the extent of their emissions, their so-called carbon footprint. Due to the fact that organizations are starting to recognize the need to engage in sustainability initiatives; it is integral to success to communicate that they are doing so. This research therefore attempts to provide a better understanding of how international corporations communicate their carbon footprint to key stakeholders. To reach this purpose, three research questions was stated. Based on these questions, a literature review was conducted, resulting in a conceptual framework which guided the data collection. Methodologically, a cross-case analysis has been conducted on three international corporations, LKAB, DIAB Group AB and BillerudKorsnäs. The case study included qualitative semi-structured interviews with sustainability- and communication managers and a content analysis of information available through the corporations’ communication channels.  The analysis showed that neither of the three corporations have a clear strategy for their carbon footprint communication. The corporations have implemented sustainability and carbon emissions well within the organization, but they only communicate this to a small extent externally. Through this, there is a difficulty in involving stakeholders in questions regarding the corporations’carbon footprint and allowing this dialogue to be included in the communication. The findings indicate that it is important to let sustainability be a part of the overall communication and to focus on what the company see value in. Finally, we have come to the conclusion that better strategies are needed in order for corporations to communicate their carbon footprint more effectively to stakeholders, as well as methods for how companies can report their carbon footprint to a greater extent.

Le rapport entre TIC, environnement et efficacité énergétique est sujet d’un grand nombre de polémiques. Ces concepts sont rarement associés, surtout pour les petites économies émergentes. Pourtant, chacun d’entre eux a des impacts considérables sur l’autre. Les impacts négatifs des TIC sur l’environnement sont très divers, de la même façon, l’usage et la diffusion des TIC peuvent profiter pour l’environnement. Ce travail propose d’approfondir l’étude des impacts des TIC sur la consommation énergétique et les émissions de GES, à l'échelle macroéconomique pour le cas de la Tunisie. Le contexte général de cette thèse s'articule autour de la relation entre l'environnent et la théorie des innovations, alors que le contexte spécifique se concentre plus particulièrement sur la consommation énergétique des TIC. Notre approche s’est insérée dans le cadre de la théorie de l’innovation et le fondement économique de l’usage des nouvelles technologies, plus précisément à l’intersection de l’économie industrielle et de l'économie de l'environnement. Notre recherche a abordé trois principaux aspects: théorique, descriptif et empirique. Tout d’abord, elle a traité la théorie des innovations environnementales et ses relations avec les technologies à usage général et en particulier les TIC. Deuxièmement, cette thèse nous a permis d’élaborer des analyses descriptives détaillées, fondées sur les données et les statistiques issues de la Banque mondiale et autres institutions. Troisièmement, un ensemble de tests statistiques et de modèles économétriques rigoureux ont été appliqués pour déterminer le lien entre l'investissement dans les TIC et la performance énergétique de la Tunisie. / The relationship between ICT, environment and energy efficiency causes a lot of controversies. Theseconcepts are rarely associated, especially for smaller emerging economies. Yet each has a significant impacton the other. The negative effects of ICT on the environment are various, in the same way, use and diffusionof ICT can also benefit the environment. This PhD thesis put forward further study impacts of ICT on energyconsumption and emissions of greenhouse gases, at the macro level for the case of Tunisia. The generalcontext of this thesis focuses on the relationship between the environment and the innovation theory, whilethe specific context focuses specifically on the energy consumption of ICT. Our approach is inserted underthe theory of innovation and economic basis for the use of new technologies, specifically at the intersectionof industrial economics and environmental economics. Our research focused on three main aspects:theoretical, empirical and descriptive. Firstly, this study handled the theory of environmental innovationsand its relationship with general purpose technology and ICT especially. Secondly, this thesis has allowed usto develop a detailed descriptive analyses based on the data and statistics from the World Bank, and otherinstitutions. Thirdly, a set of statistical tests and rigorous econometric models were applied to determine thelink between ICT investment and energy efficiency in Tunisia.

In Tunisia, the National Agency for the Environment is encouraging the creation of a carbon footprint method specifically adapted to the Tunisian context. In cooperation with the French National Agency for the Environment, the adaptation of the French carbon footprint method is realised and has to go along with an adaptation of the emission factors. In this framework, this master thesis aims at presenting the emission factors adaptation process led to adapt the accounting tool. First, a literature review enables to present the main notions useful to understand the precise definition of emission factor. Then, a preliminary study of the main carbon footprint tools is presented so as to identify the main characteristics of a carbon footprint method. A comparison is then done to present the differences which can occur between the previous methods. Finally, for each category of emission factor, the adaptation process is presented showing three different ways to adapt emission factors: a replacing of the data in the calculations, an adaptation based on local studies and a more difficult adaptation requiring to develop a new method.

AbstractCarbon Footprints, as an indicator of climate performance, help identify major GHG emission sources and potential areas of improvement. In the context of greatly expanding sub-national climate efforts, research on Carbon Footprint accounting at municipality level is timely and necessary to facilitate the establishment of local climate strategies. This study aims at exploring the methodologies for Carbon Footprint assessment at municipality level, based on the case study of Haninge municipality in Sweden. In the study, a Greenhouse Gas inventory of Haninge is developed and it is discussed how the municipality can reduce its Carbon Footprint. The Carbon Footprint of Haninge is estimated to be more than 338,225 tonnesCO2eq, and 4.5 tonnes CO2eq per capita. These numbers are twice as large as the production-based emissions, which are estimated to be 169,024 tonnes CO2eq in total, and approximately 2.3 tonnes CO2eq per capita. Among them the most important parts are emissions caused by energy use, and indirect emissions caused by local private consumption. It is worth noting that a large proportion of emissions occur outside Haninge as a result of local consumption. Intensive use of biomass for heat production and electricity from renewable sources and nuclear power have significantly reduced the climate impact of Haninge. The major barrier for Carbon Footprint accounting at municipality level is lack of local statistics. In the case of Sweden, several databases providing emission statistics are used in the research, including KRE, RUS, NIR and Environmental Account.

Under de senaste 35 åren har en förändring skett inom branschen med service och reparationer av elektriska motorer, där nu allt färre omlindningar och reparationer genomförs. Antalet aktörer i branschen minskar successivt, och under de senaste 10–15 åren har sammanslagningar av flera mindre verkstäder inneburit att ett fåtal företag numera dominerar marknaden. Mindre verkstäder som håller kvar omlindningar som huvudsysselsättning går i graven, och det blir allt viktigare med förebyggande underhåll och statuskontroller. De reparationer och omlindningar som fortfarande görs behöver numera allt som oftast prioriteras och färdigställas så fort det går, då reservmotorer hos kund blir mer och mer sällsynta. Ett uttryck som används för att beskriva konkurrenssituationen lyder enligt följande: - ”De värsta konkurrenterna är inte andra verkstäder, det är nyförsäljning”.Flera industrier går alltmer mot ett ökat ”slit-och-släng”-tankesätt när det kommer till reparation alternativt nyköp av elmotorer, och ur ett ekonomiskt perspektiv kan detta ofta motiveras. Få studier tar hänsyn till miljöaspekten av detta tillvägagångssätt, och denna utredning belyser vilka konsekvenser dessa beslut kan få ur ett strikt miljömässigt perspektiv. Frågeställningen lyder:   Ur ett strikt miljömässigt samt cirkulärekonomiskt perspektiv, när är det motiverat att ersätta en befintlig reparerbar motor mot en nytillverkad?Genom att intervjua tillverkare av elmotorer och kombinera detta med en dokumentstudie har beräkningar av koldioxidavtrycket för ett antal scenarier genomförts. Resultaten visar att utsläppsbesparingar som erhålls vid uppgradering till en ny och mer effektiv motor inte nödvändigtvis hinner kompensera koldioxidavtrycket som uppstår vid tillverkning. Tiden för koldioxidkompensering varierar mellan 0,3–198,7 år beroende på motoreffekt, förbättring av verkningsgrad och elektricitetsmix. Utredningen visar däremot att koldioxidavtrycket som uppstår vid tillverkning av en ny elmotor utgör en liten del av de totala utsläppen som uppstår under hela dess livstid, och att det finns förbättringar av systemet i helhet att ha i åtanke innan motorns verkningsgrad bör prioriteras. Nästa steg i arbetet mot en bättre och mer användbar lösning kan vara att genomföra uppdaterade livscykelanalyser på plats hos större motortillverkare i Europa.  Sammanfattningsvis kan företag verksamma inom reparation och underhåll av elmotorer inte övervinna konkurrensfrågan enbart med den nya kunskap som denna utredning bidrar med. Däremot finns det potential i att genomföra en liknande utredning med fokus på resursförbrukning i stället för koldioxidavtryck. En sådan typ av utredning kan potentiellt användas som argument för att reparation och underhåll bör prioriteras högre än vad det gör i dagsläget. / In the past 35 years, a change can be seen within service and maintenance industry for electric motors. The number of repairs is steadily declining, and several company fusions in the past 10–15 years has led to a situation where a few larger companies now hold a majority of the market shares. Small companies that try to maintain repairs and re-wiring of electrical motors as their main activities are slowly dying, and a shift toward preventive maintenance and status checks is often necessary. Repairs and re-wirings that are still wanted by the process industry often needs to be completed on short notice, due to the declining number of spare motors available at interested companies. An expression that is often used to explain the situation goes as follows:  - “The biggest competitors are not other workshops; it is retailers of new motors”.It is now in many scenarios common to purchase a new motor when an existing one needs repair, and with an economic aspect in mind this can often be motivated. Few studies have taken the environmental aspect of this “wear and tear”-mindset into consideration. For this reason, this study showcases the consequences these decisions can have from a strict environmental perspective. By conducting interviews with manufacturers and combining this with the results of a document study, calculations for the carbon footprint in a number of scenarios has been made.  The results show that the potential carbon footprint saved with a common upgrade varies from 0,3–198,7 years, depending on the power rating, improvement in efficiency and what electricity mix is used during the usage phase. Results also show that the carbon footprint during the manufacturing phase is low in comparison to the usage phase, as well as the importance of improving the whole system before focus is directed to motor efficiency. The next step in this work could be to conduct updated life-cycle analysis for various manufacturers in Europe.  In conclusion, companies with a heavy focus on repair and maintenance of induction motors cannot use the results of this report as an important argument for why repair and maintenance should be prioritized over purchasing a new motor. However, conducting a similar investigation regarding resource depletion instead of carbon footprint could potentially result in valid arguments for repairing a motor over purchasing a new motor.

The responsibility of the building sector to diminish the harmful environmental impacts, locally and globally, has been extensively considered. Thus, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in building and construction practices has been widely implemented. Among several available EIA methods, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the only standardized method which provides a holistic overview of environmental impacts to support the decision-making process. However, there are several barriers that hinder the process of implementing the LCA-based tools in the building sector. Specifically, the demand for a simplified LCA-based tool adapted to the early stage of the building design is rather high. Recently, the Construction Sector's Environmental Calculation Tool (Byggsektorns Miljöberäkningsverktyg BM v1.0) is developed to assist non-experts without knowledge of LCA. Architects, as one of the main target groups of the BM tool, have limited knowledge about the LCA approach due to its complexities; further, the architects have their own requirements for applying an LCA-based tool towards leveraging in the early design process. Hence, it leads to scepticism whether the BM tool has been so far successful to entice the architects' attention towards employing the BM tool in that process. This master thesis aimed to investigate if the newly-developed LCA-based tool, namely the BM tool, is a desirable choice for architects to evaluate the environmental impacts of their design at the early stage of building design. To be able to perceive more deeply the BM tool, as an environmental assessment and a decision support tool for architects, two main procedures, i.e., quantitatively and qualitatively, were employed to cover different technical and functional angles of the tool: (i) an LCA-based carbon footprint assessment for two reference buildings along with comparing the achieved results with the simplified Environmental Load Profile (ELP-s) tool, plus (ii) using a framework included various criteria for LCA- based tools in the early stage of building design. The findings from the quantitative analysis were consistent so that the concrete frame building produces a greater amount of carbon footprint during the stages A1 to A4 compared to the wooden frame building. The considerable deviation was related to the carbon footprint of aluminium profile in the material production stage. This could be due to the fact that in the BM database it is not specified whether aluminium profile was recycled or not. Regarding the carbon footprint in material transport stage, the inconsistent results were mostly linked to the default values in the BM database in which values for two of the main parameters (distance and mode of transport) differed. Particularly, the absence of boat as a transport mode and an error related to an unneeded distance value for concrete transport were identified in the BM database. The framework, used to evaluate the desirability of the BM tool for architects, suggests several criteria required for an LCA-based tool implementation in the early design. The outcome indicated that the majority of criteria, not satisfied by the BM tool, were related to the geometry parameter and associated 3D model. Thus, in order to make the decision-making process, desirable for architects in the early stage of building design, the two parameters, i.e., material and geometry, should be utilized in parallel. On the one hand, the LCA methodology in the BM tool is simplified in a way that makes the process comprehensible and easy to learn for non-LCA-experts. Since the tool is under the development, minor amendments would make the carbon footprint evaluation robust for the early stage of design. On the other hand, from the requirements of the architects' point of view, the fundamental modifications are needed in the structure of the tool. If architects intend to work with such an LCA-based tool, they have to make an extra effort to translate the resulted information from the environmental assessment tool to the inputs of the modelling tool and vice versa. This leads to an undesirable and inefficient design process for architects.

<p>This study investigates the price premium for labeling of carbon-relevant practices and other potentially relevant labels on meat product, including organic, grass-feeding/-fed, gluten-free, and whether it is non-GMO, etc. Prices and labeling information about beef, pork, chicken, and other meat products in selected stores from 48 states were collected via web-scraping and investigated for product claims and labels directly or indirectly related to carbon. Market-observed price premiums for reduced carbon labels or using sustainable practices were investigated alongside impacts of geography on product prices. </p> <p>Our results showed significant price premiums for almost all of the claims investigated. For beef and chicken products the variable/label with the highest price premium associated was <em>Less greenhouse gas </em>and for the pork products, the variable/label <em>Non-GMO</em> was associated with the highest price premium of those studied.</p>

The global construction industry accounts for more than 30% of the energy consumption and 40% of the carbon dioxide emissions, and roughly 60% of raw material extraction. A cross laminated timber building system is one solution to reduce the construction industry's environmental impact, particularly carbon footprint. Evaluating the potentials to reduce the environmental impacts of such a building system is the aim of this study. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a comprehensive method to evaluate the environmental impact of buildings and is applied in the thesis. The environmental impacts analyzed in this thesis comprise global warming potential, acidification, ozone layer depletion, eutrophication, formation potential of tropospheric, and abiotic depletion potential. Firstly, the environmental impacts of the reference building are calculated based on environmental product declaration (EPD) through production and construction phases (A1-A5 module) of LCA; next, the transportation phase (A4) modified, and finally, the environmental impacts are analyzed based on the lowest available global warming potential figures. Reference building results show that global-warming potential, eutrophication, and abiotic depletion potential accounted for 182kgCO2-eqv / m2, 0.169 PO4 3-eqv / m2, and 0.003 kg Sb-eqv / m2, respectively, and figures decreased on an average of 40% for improved building. According to the outcomes, decision-makers should regulate material selection based on the lowest possible carbon footprint and energy consumption for the construction permission of the buildings that will be built in the future. / no

Current standard carbon footprint metrics attribute responsibility for a firm’s green house gas (GHG) emitting activities equally between an entity’s equity and debt. This study introduces a set of novel duration-weighted metrics which take into consideration the length of financing provided. These measure show promise for reporting footprints of debt portfolios, but further study of methodological robustness should be performed before they can be adopted widely. The measures are also attractive from a risk perspective as they are linearly dependent on duration and therefore are sensitive to yields. A factor portfolio is constructed using the new carbon intensity measure, and corporate yields are studied in a linear factor model. Other factors included derive from Nelson-Siegel parameterizations of US Treasury rates and the USD swap spread curve. Following the Fama-MacBeth procedure, the carbon factor is found not to persist over the 10-year period. / Nuvarande standardmått f ̈or koldioxidsavtryck i en portfölj tilldelar ansvaret för ett företags emitterande aktiviteter av växthusgas lika mellan aktier och skulder, där finansieringens längd inte beaktas. Ett ny durationsviktat mått introduceras i denna studie och dess lämplighet som metrik för rapportering undersöks. Studien visar att detta mått har potential för rapportering i kreditportföljer, men ytterligare studier av hur robust metoden är bör utföras innan den tillämpas brett. Måttet har attraktiva egenskaper eftersom den är linjärt beroende på durationen och därmed känslig gentemot obligationsavkastningen. En faktorportfölj konstrueras med hjälp av det nya kolintensitetsmåttet, och i en linjär faktormodell studeras företagsobligationsavkastning. Andra faktorer som inkluderas i modellen härstammar från Nelson-Siegel-faktorisering av US Treasury och USD swap- spread kurvorna. CO2-faktorn utvärderas med hjälp av Fama-MacBeths tvärsnittsmetod, och det konstateras att faktorn inte visar signifikans under den 10-åriga studieperioden.

Climate change is an existential threat to the world, causing environmental degradation and destruction of ecosystems. The EU acknowledges that several alarming tipping points are about to be reached, and the current level of action is not enough to avert global warming. Industries are a big part of the problem, and they must transition to fit in a low-carbon society. This thesis was conducted at an industrial company which have committed to reduce their carbon footprint; every new design must have a significantly lower carbon footprint than a comparable tool. The main task of this thesis was to investigate the carbon footprint of a nutrunner, and to compare it to a similar tool. In addition, the recycled material content in the nutrunner was investigated to provide an initial evaluation of circular aspects of the nutrunner. The climate impact was calculated by utilizing the life cycle assessment framework to perform a carbon footprint analysis. This provided the carbon footprint over the entire life cycle of the nutrunner. It was concluded that the raw material and use phase dominates the carbon footprint, accounting for 21 and 79 percent of the footprint, respectively. Further, it is suggested that new technology may have a reduced footprint, mainly due to reduced power consumption and the in-built controller function. However, this does not necessarily mean that new technology has less environmental impact. It was concluded that a holistic approach is needed when assessing environmental impact; carbon footprint reduction is not necessarily coherent with avoidance of resource depletion. The future might demand moving beyond product carbon footprint. / Klimatförändring är ett existentiellt hot som orsakar förstörelse av miljö och ekosystem. EU anser att flera oroväckande gränsvärden är påväg att nås, och att nuvarande åtgärder inte räcker till för att förhindra global uppvärmning. Industrier står för en stor del av samhällets utsläpp av växthusgaser och förändring behöver ske för att möjliggöra ett koldioxidsnålt samhälle. Detta examensarbete utfördes hos ett industriföretag som har har antagit utmaningen att minska sina utsläpp av växthusgaser; varje ny design måste ha ett betydligt lägre klimatavtryck än ett motsvarande verktyg. Huvuduppgiften i det här examensarbetet var att undersöka klimatavtrycket för en mutterdragare, samt att jämföra det med avtrycket från ett liknande verktyg. Vidare undersöktes även återvunnet material i produkten, för att ge en initial utvärdering av mutterdragarens cirkulära aspekter. För att beräkna klimatpåverkan användes en livscykelanalysmetod, där klimatförändring var enda miljöpåverkanskategorin. Resultatet visade att material- och användningsfasen dominerar klimatavtrycket och står för 21 respektive 79 procent av växthusgasutsläppen. Det föreslås att ny teknik kan ha mindre växthusgasutsläpp, främst på grund av minskad strömförbrukning och den inbyggda kontrollfunktionen i verktyget. Detta behöver dock inte betyda att ny teknik har mindre miljöpåverkan. Vid bedömning av en produkts miljöpåverkan krävs ett helhetsperspektiv och att man utvärderar flera aspekter, minskat klimatavtryck är inte nödvändigtvis förenligt med ansvarsfull resursförbrukning. Framtiden kan komma att kräva att man stäcker sig bortom klimatavtryck.