The purpose of this study is to examine the interactions and impact of six key corporate governance factors on greenhouse gas emissions in Swedish listed firms. Namely, board size, board gender diversity, CEO compensation, blockholder ownership, audit and non-audit fees. The study employs a quantitative research design and uses regression analysis to test the research hypotheses. The data for the study is obtained from a sample of 199 Swedish firms from 2014 to 2021 and data retrieved from the Nordic Compass Database, Swedish House of Finance Research Data Center. The findings reveal significant associations between corporate governance factors after controlling for firm size and industry with carbon emissions disclosure by firms. Concluding, these factors play a crucial role in tackling environmental sustainability performance in corporate practices.

Transportsektorn stod för närmare en tredjedel av växthusgasutsläpp år 2017. Sverige har stort bilinnehav, stora bilar och långa avstånd, dessa är några faktorer som bidrar till en försämrad miljö. Personkilometer har under de senaste 50 åren ökat med 150 procent, enligt en underlagsrapport från trafikverket.   Syftet med arbetet är att utveckla en modell som underlättar valet av transportmedel, med hänsyn till en hållbar utveckling. I samband med arbetet utförs en fallstudie på Högskolan Väst där vi lägger grunden för ett arbete mot att minska högskolans koldioxidutsläpp vid resor i tjänsten. Rapporten är avgränsad till endast resor i tjänsten samt koldioxidutsläppens påverkan på klimatet. Arbetet kunde möjliggöras genom empirisk data som blev insamlat, samtidigt som intervjuerna gav oss en insyn från personalens perspektiv om vad som är viktigt vid en mötesbokning.    Olika transportmedel påverkar miljön på olika sätt. Därför bidrar alla val av transport varje dag till hur vårt framtida klimat kommer att se ut. I rapporten lyfts det fram att personbilens utsläpp per personkilometer är 30 000 gånger så stor som tågtransporten. Hur man väljer att resa påverkas oftast av personliga preferenser. För att kunna göra ett rätt val krävs grundförutsättningar till att tänka på vissa aspekter. Det är ytterst viktigt för en organisation.  För att bli ett transporteffektivt samhälle, krävs det ständiga förbättringar i samhällsplaneringen. / The transport sector accounted for nearly a third of greenhouse gas emissions by 2017. Sweden has large car ownership, large cars and long distances, these are some factors that contribute to a deteriorating environment. Personnel kilometers have increased by 150 per cent over the past 50 years, according to a report from the traffic agency.  The purpose of this thesis is to develop a model that facilitates the choice of transport, considering sustainable development. In connection with the thesis, a case study is being carried out at the University of West Sweden, where we lay the foundation for work to reduce the university's carbon dioxide emissions during travel in the service. The report is limited to only travel in the service and the impact of carbon dioxide on the climate. The work could be achieved through empirical data collected, while the interviews gave us an overview of the staff's perspective on what is important in a meeting booking.   Different modes of transport affect the environment in different ways. Therefore, every choice of transport every day contributes to the way our future climate will look. The report states that passenger car emissions per passenger kilometer are 30,000 times as high as rail transport. How to choose to travel is usually affected by personal preferences. In order to make the right choice, basic prerequisites are required to consider certain aspects. It is extremely important for an organization. To become a transport-efficient society, continuous improvements in community planning are required.

The Environmental Kuznets Curve is an inverted U-shaped relationship which demonstrates how environmental degradation increases as countries begin to develop and lowers as they become wealthier. The classical EKC measures the effects of GDP per capita (a country’s wealth) on pollu-tion. This paper is a study of the connection of a number of factors- GDP per capita, fossil fuels, al-ternative and nuclear energy, rural population and life expectancy at birth to the Environmental Kuznets Curve. Two econometric approaches are applied in order to test whether the variables have a more pronounced linear or quadratic form. Four income groups of countries are investigated in order to check if the state of development plays a crucial role in environmental deterioration. The results of the study point out that EKC does not apply for the chosen variables. From the regression for GDP, however, it can be concluded that EKC forms in 1990s.

Since the 19th century the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere hasincreased by 40 percent as an effect of the use of fossil energy sources.Increased concentration of CO2 will likely lead to increased temperature,changes in precipitation, rising sea level and increased frequency of extremeweather like storm events. A step to reduce emissions of CO2 and mitigateclimate change, for the property of Tagel, can be to adopt new silviculturalstrategies and analyse which is the most effective. As a result of that, threescenarios was produced, business-as-usual (BAU), increased set aside landand energy. An introduction of windpower at Tagels estate (property) andeffects on carbon balance was also examined. By using the Heureka systemand LCA-analysis in this study, it showed that the scenario of increased setaside land was the most efficient way to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2)emissions for the analysed period of 100 years. The effect of substitution(replacing for example fossil fuel or energy consuming building materials,with renewable raw material such as biomass) didn’t give the result that waspredicted. It appears that the use of pulpwood is very important, if it goes tothe pulp industry no substitution effect occurs, but if all pulp will be used forbioenergy purposes, the energy scenario will be the best in terms of overallcarbon balance. The stored carbon in tree biomass over and in roots wasaffected by all scenarios. The soil carbon was almost the same for allscenarios. In the future the property of Tagel can still use the alternativeBAU as an effective way to mitigate climate change but then explore thepossibilities to use the pulp for bioenergy purposes instead and to set asidemore land at the property. This study considered to have high credibilitybecause the Heureka-analyses, LCA and the substitution model were carriedout by experts in area of research.

Les enjeux environnementaux impactent de plus en plus le comportement des clients ainsi que les stratégies des entreprises. Dans ce contexte, l’optimisation de la chaine logistique en tenant compte des questions environnementales devient un enjeu critique. Dans cette thèse nous nous intéressons à cette problématique. Une originalité de ce travail est de montrer que les décisions prises lors de la conception d’une chaine (localisation des sites, choix des processus de production, de transport,…) ont une influence sur la qualité environnementale d’un produit perçue par les clients, et influent donc sur le niveau de la demande et/ou prix de ces produits. La demande et le prix ne sont plus des variables exogènes comme pratiquement toujours considéré dans les travaux existants, mais bien des variables endogènes. Dans cette thèse nous proposons alors des modèles d’optimisation des activités logistiques en tenant compte de la qualité environnementale des produits élaborés et des préférences clients. Nous montrons grâce à des expérimentations sur un cas d’étude du secteur de textile, la pertinence de la considération de la qualité environnementale des produits dans les modèles d’optimisation des activités logistiques. / Environmental concerns are increasingly impacting customers’ behavior as well as companies’ strategies. In this context, optimizing the supply chain with environmental considerations is becoming a critical issue. In this thesis we focus on this issue. An originality of our work is to show that supply chain design decisions (facility location, choice of production processes, transportation modes, etc.) impact the environmental quality of a product and therefore affect the level of its demand and / or its selling price. Demand and price are no longer considered as exogenous variables as often done in supply chain optimization existing works, but rather as endogenous variables. In this work we propose a set of supply chain optimization models that take into account the product environmental quality and customers’ preferences towards product environmental quality. Based on a case study from the textile sector, we show the relevance of considering the products’ environmental quality in supply chain optimization models.

Climate change has become an increasingly important strategic issue for businesses to deal with. The stake is high particularly for those in energy-intensive industries as governments are implementing legislations that limit the carbon emission coming from these industries. Not only are such companies’ carbon emission confronted by regulatory bodies, but also various stakeholders such as customers and investors. Such pressures increased the business relevance of the issue and have provided various strategic contexts and drives. Businesses have responded in different ways to the changes that are coming with climate change. The purpose of this study was to provide insight into the dynamics and characteristics of carbon strategies. The case study companies were three pulp and paper companies located in Sweden, all subjected to the EU ETS regulation. In order to fulfill the purpose we have developed an analytical framework which we applied to the empirical findings. Based on our analysis we concluded that there are several factors that determine and drive the development of carbon strategies: sustainability, energy efficiency, market competition, and owners. The findings also revealed that the most prevalent response type was an optimization strategy, which is enhancing the carbon productivity from operational activities. The findings also confirmed the usefulness and comprehensiveness of the analytical framework employed to the understanding of carbon strategies and development factors.

Submitted by (edna.saturno@ufrpe.br) on 2016-12-14T16:34:39Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Cassia Bezerra Machado.pdf: 2752807 bytes, checksum: 3c460d2f22ef6a6b581888068caeaf58 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-14T16:34:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cassia Bezerra Machado.pdf: 2752807 bytes, checksum: 3c460d2f22ef6a6b581888068caeaf58 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-26 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / The increasing emissions of greenhouse gases (among them carbon dioxide, CO2) causes global warming and change the global climate. The main expected changes in the semiarid regions due to global warming are reduction of water resources, rainfall and excessive flow rate, salinization and desertification. In this way, studies that investigate the relationship between the fluxes of CO2, water and energy are essential to predict how agricultural ecosystems will respond to those climate changes. The transfer of water and energy and their relationship to CO2 fluxes in grasslands, and how these will be affected by climate change, is not well studied in northeastern Brazil, and no research has been conducted in this region, investigating these fluxes in a pasture intercropped with corn. Therefore, the aim of this work was to determinate the fluxes of water and energy (evapotranspiration, ET) and CO2 in brachiaria pasture intercropped with maize, and relate these fluxes with the biomass production of these crops. The research was conducted at the Riacho do Papagaio Farm in São João-PE, in the Agreste Meridional region. In the center of the area was installed a metallic tower with a eddy covariance system, composed of an open path analyzer of CO2 and H2O and a three-dimensional sonic anemometer, as well as sensors for measuring speed and wind direction, humidity and air temperature, rainfall, global radiation and net radiation. Next to the tower was measured soil’s heat flux, as well as temperature and soil moisture profiles. Biomass and leaf area index of brachiaria and corn were determined in samples collected from June to December 2013. Furthermore, were determined the reference evapotranspiration (ETo), canopy conductance (gc) and the decoupling factor (Ω). It was found that during the most part of the experiment, the latent heat flux (LE) was the major consumer of the available energy, and sensible heat flux (H) was higher in the latter part of the study, due to the length of shortage of rainfall and warming of the region. The daily and seasonal variation of ET in the consortium corn-grass was controlled mainly by soil moisture and leaf area index (LAI). During periods of low soil moisture, deficit vapor pressure exerted major role in ET controlling. The Ω and gc were strongly influenced by soil moisture, being substantially reduced when the water storage in the soil layer (0-20 cm) was below 20 mm. The CO2 fluxes were affected by LAI and soil moisture, but the corn-grass consortium served as a source of carbon to the atmosphere during drier periods and lower LAI. In wetter periods and higher IAF, served as drain of atmospheric carbon. Throughout the experimental period, the consortium abducted 3.59 t of C ha-1, equivalent to 14.66 kg of C ha-1 d-1. / O aumento crescente das emissões de gases de efeito estufa (dentre eles o dióxido de carbono, CO2) ocasiona aquecimento global e causa mudanças climáticas globais. As principais mudanças esperadas em regiões semiáridas decorrentes do aquecimento global são redução dos recursos hídricos, das chuvas e vazões, além de salinização e desertificação. Desse modo, pesquisas que investiguem as relações entre os fluxos de CO2, água e energia são de fundamental importância para se prever como os ecossistemas agrícolas responderão a essas mudanças climáticas. As transferências de água e energia e sua relação com os fluxos de CO2 em pastagens, e como estas serão afetadas pelas mudanças climáticas, ainda não é muito estudada no nordeste do Brasil e nenhuma pesquisa foi realizada, nessa região, investigando esses fluxos em pastagem consorciada com milho. Assim sendo, o objetivo do presente trabalho foi determinar os fluxos de água e energia (evapotranspiração, ET) e de CO2 em pastagem de braquiária consorciada com milho, além de relacionar esses fluxos com a produção de biomassa dessas culturas. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida na fazenda Riacho do Papagaio em São João-PE, na região do Agreste Meridional. No centro da área foi instalada uma torre metálica equipada com o sistema de covariância dos vórtices turbulentos, composto por um analisador de CO2 e H2O de caminho aberto e um anemômetro sônico tridimensional, além de sensores para medidas da velocidade e direção do vento, umidade e temperatura do ar, precipitação pluviométrica, radiação global e saldo de radiação. Próximo à torre foram medidos o fluxo de calor no solo, bem como perfis de temperatura e de umidade do solo. A biomassa e o índice de área foliar da braquiária e do milho foram determinadas em amostras coletadas de Junho a Dezembro de 2013. Além disso, foram determinados a evapotranspiração de referência (ETo), a condutância do dossel (gc) e o fator de desacoplamento (Ω). Verificou-se que, durante a maior parte do período experimental, o fluxo de calor latente (LE) foi o principal consumidor da energia disponível, sendo que fluxo de calor sensível (H) foi maior na parte final da pesquisa, devido ao período de escassez de chuvas e aquecimento da região. A variação diária e sazonal da ET no consórcio milho-braquiária foi controlada principalmente pela umidade do solo e índice de área foliar (IAF). Nos períodos de baixa umidade do solo, o déficit de pressão de vapor exerceu papel preponderante no controle da ET. O Ω e a gc foram fortemente influenciados pela umidade do solo, sendo substancialmente reduzidos quando o armazenamento de água no solo (camada de 0-20 cm) ficou abaixo de 20 mm. Os fluxos de CO2 foram afetados pelo IAF e umidade do solo, sendo que o consórcio milho-braquiária atuou com fonte de carbono para a atmosfera nos períodos mais secos e de menor IAF. Nos períodos mais úmidos e de maior IAF atuou como sumidouro de carbono atmosférico. Em todo período experimental, o consórcio sequestrou 3,59 t de C ha-1, o equivalente a 14,66 kg de C ha-1 d-1.

This paper explores the conflicts of interest present in science policy and how claims being made for evidence based science can be used to suppress critical social science research. The specific case presented concerns the attempts to ban and censor my work criticising the economics of carbon emissions trading while I was working for the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia. The role of management and the Science Minister are documented through their own public statements. The case raises general issues about the role of epistemic communities in the production of knowledge, the potential for manipulation of information under the guise of quality control and the problems created by claiming a fact-value dichotomy in the science-policy interface. The implications go well beyond just climate change research and challenge how public policy is being formulated in modern industrial societies where scientific knowledge and corporate interests are closely intertwined. (author's abstract) / Series: SRE - Discussion Papers

Bakgrund: Skogsindustrin är betydande för den svenska välfärden och inom industrin är Vida en viktig aktör. Vidare är transporter en stor del av industrin där majoriteten av de producerade produkterna exporteras. All transport som krävs ger också en stor miljöpåverkan, inte minst i form av koldioxidutsläppen. Syfte: Studien kartlägger och beräknar koldioxidutsläpp för ingående och utgående transporter för Vidas sågverk i Vislandas under år 2021. Fortsättningsvis, undersöker studien vilka åtgärder ett företag i sågverksbranschen kan implementera för att minska sitt koldioxidutsläpp. Metod: För den första frågeställning har grunddata samlats in från fallföretagets affärssystem, representanter samt transportörer. Baserat på resultatet från den första frågeställningen, har teoretiskt och empiriskt material samlats in för att besvara den andra frågeställningen som fokuserar på åtgärder för att minska koldioxidutsläpp i transporter. Det empiriska materialet samlades in genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer med representanter från fallföretaget. Slutsats: Studien resulterade i en beräknad mängd koldioxidutsläpp på 6 358 336 KgCO2 från fallföretagets ingående och utgående transporter under 2021. Mängden koldioxidutsläpp presenteras både för det totala studieobjektet samt för de fyra olika flödena vilket var inflödet från skog till sågverk samt utflödet till energitillverkare, massa- och pappersbruk samt transport av sågade och hyvlade trävaror. Diskussionen för den första frågeställningen resulterade i vilka faktorer som driver koldioxidutsläppen och de etablerade faktorerna var; avstånd, drivmedel, transportslag, fordonstyp, fyllnadsgrad och bränsleförbrukning. Den andra frågeställningen diskuterade och kom fram till vilka åtgärder ett företag inom sågverksbranschen kan ta sig an eller kräva att sina anställda transportörer tar hänsyn till. Åtgärderna som kräver kontinuerligt arbete, vilket visas i tabell 29, kategoriseras som långsiktiga eller kortsiktiga beroende på när de rimligtvis kan uppnås. / Background: The forest industry is essential for Swedish welfare and Vida is an important actor within the industry. Further, transportation is a big part of the business where the majority of the produced products are exported. With all transportation necessary comes also a big impact on the environment, including carbon emissions. Purpose: This study has mapped and calculated the carbon emission from inbound and outbound transportation from Vida Vislanda sawmill during the year 2021. Further, the study discovered what actions a company in the sawmill industry can take on in order to decrease their carbon emission. Method: For the first research question the authors collected data from the case company’s ERP system, representatives and employed transport companies. Based on the results from the first research question, theoretical and empirical data for the second research question was collected with focus on measures for decreasing carbon emission in transportation. The empirical data was collected through semi structured interviews with representatives from the case company. Conclusion: The study resulted in a calculated amount of carbon emission of 6 358 336 KgCO2 from the case company’s inbound and outbound transportation in 2021. The amount shows both a total amount for the whole study object and the amount for the four different flows which were inbound transportation from the forest to the sawmill as well as outbound transportation towards energy production, pulp and paper mills and sawn and transportation of planed wood products. The discussion of the first research question resulted in factors which are driving the amount of carbon emission and the factors established was; distance, fuels, mode of transportation, vehicle type, load and fuel consumption. The second research question discussed and concluded which actions a company within the sawmill industry can act on or demand that their hired transport companies should act on. The actions which require continuous attention, shown in table 29, were categorized as long term and short term, depending on when they are reasonable to be accomplished.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de présenter de nouveaux algorithmes de répartition des ressources sous la forme de machines virtuelles (VMs) et fonction de réseau virtuel (VNFs) dans les Clouds et réseaux de diffusion de contenu (CDNs). La thèse comprend deux principales parties: la première se concentre sur la rentabilité des Clouds distribués, et développe ensuite les raisons d’optimiser les coûts ainsi que les émissions de carbone. Cette partie comprend quatre contributions. La première contribution est une étude de l’état de l’art sur la répartition des coûts et des émissions de carbone dans les environnements de clouds distribués. La deuxième contribution propose une méthode d’allocation des ressources, appelée NACER, pour les clouds distribués. La troisième contribution présente une méthode de placement VM efficace en termes de coûts et de carbone (appelée CACEV) pour les clouds distribués verts. Pour obtenir une meilleure performance, la quatrième contribution propose une méthode dynamique de placement VM (D-CACEV) pour les clouds distribués. La deuxième partie propose des algorithmes de placement de VNFs dans les Clouds et réseaux de CDNs pour optimiser les coûts. Cette partie comprend cinq contributions. Une étude de l’état de l’art sur les solutions proposées est le but de la première contribition. La deuxième contribution propose une méthode d’allocation des ressources, appelée CCVP, pour le provisionnement de service réseau dans les clouds et réseaux de ISP. La troisième contribution implémente le résultat de l’algorithme CCVP dans une plateforme réelle. La quatrième contribution considère l’effet de la permutation de VNFs dans les chaîne de services et la cinquième contribution explique le placement de VNFs pour les services à valeur ajoutée dans les CDNs / High energy costs and carbon emissions are two significant problems in distributed computing domain, such as distributed clouds and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs). Resource allocation methods (e.g., in form of Virtual Machine (VM) or Virtual Network Function (VNF) placement algorithms) have a direct effect on cost, carbon emission and Quality of Service (QoS). This thesis includes three related parts. First, it targets the problem of resource allocation (i.e., in the form of network aware VM placement algorithms) for distributed clouds and proposes cost and carbon emission efficient resource allocation algorithms for green distributed clouds. Due to the similarity of the network-aware VM placement problem in distributed clouds with a VNF placement problem, the second part of the thesis, getting experience from the first part, proposes a new cost efficient resource allocation algorithm (i.e., VNF placement) for network service provision in data centers and Internet Service Provider (ISP) network. Finally, the last part of the thesis presents new cost efficient resource allocation algorithms (i.e., VNF placement) for value-added service provisioning in NFV-based CDNs