O desenvolvimento sustentável e a própria sobrevivência da humanidade dependem da compatibilização da demanda por recursos energéticos com as limitações ambientais e necessidades humanas. Dessa maneira, torna-se fundamental compreender e mensurar a sustentabilidade energética. Para tanto, esse trabalho vale-se de princípios da economia ecológica e do planejamento integrado de recursos para identificar e analisar os fatores que afetam a sustentabilidade energética de um dado sistema. A partir desses fatores são definidos indicadores de sustentabilidade, os quais compõem uma metodologia concebida para avaliar o grau de sustentabilidade da produção de energia. Tal metodologia é testada em um estudo de caso da matriz elétrica paulista, a qual mostrou um nível próximo da sustentabilidade, mas com a necessidade de aprimoramentos. Por fim, são feitas reflexões sobre a robustez, a flexibilidade e as limitações da metodologia proposta, assim como recomendações para ajustes da composição da matriz estudada com o propósito de torná-la mais sustentável. / Sustainable development and the very survival of humanity depends on the compatibility of the demand for energy resources with environmental constraints and human needs. Thus, it is essential to understand and define metrics for energy sustainability. For that reason, this work draws on principles of ecological economics and integrated resource planning to identify and analyze the factors affecting energy sustainability of a given system. From these factors are defined sustainability indicators, which are the foundations for a methodology designed to assess the degree of sustainability of energy production. The methodology is tested on a case study of the electricity matrix of the State of Sao Paulo, which is close to a sustainable level even though requiring improvements in some aspects. Finally, reflections on the sturdiness, flexibility and limitations of the proposed methodology, as well as recommendations for adjustments in the composition of the case study matrix in order to make it more sustainable are made.

Level:                           Master thesis in Business administration with concentration towards Ecological economics   Title:             Combating climate change – a case study of Statoil’s climate strategy   Problem:       The world is facing an environmental situation where we no longer can ignore problems like climate change, losses of species and an overall environmental degradation. Many actors have to take their responsibility and do as much as they can for a sustainable development. One crucial actor is the business world. Often, they both have the knowledge and financial power to make a difference. Higher environmental regulations and pressure from stakeholders, such as the Swedish government or the EU, forces companies to consider the environment while doing business. This requires a strategy.   Purpose:       The purpose with the essay is to identify and study Statoil’s climate strategy.  We also want to identify the most important internal and external factors that are affecting the strategy.   Method:       The thesis is based on a qualitative method made up by two parts, interviews and literature studies. We made one informant interview and two respondent interviews with two environmental executives from Statoil AB.   Results:        Statoil has a mainly pro-active strategy and are very ambiguous in the climate question, although their strategy is highly affected by the surrounding. Developing new technologies, cooperation and profiling are the main parts of their strategy. They are affected by the dominating discourse ecological modernization, as well as by the organizational field. They are in turn affecting the field by their offensive strategy. The customers and the legal framework are the most important external factors of impact. Whereas the corporate group StatoilHydro and financial resources are the most important internal factors.   Keywords:    Climate strategy, environmental strategy, responsible company, greening, ecological modernization

Environmental positive externalities from public provision, such as the benefits yielded from the public measure of nature conservation, are often not internalized. Potential sub-optimal public service provision can be expected from such a condition, leading to inefficiency, if the benefits at a greater territorial scale are not acknowledged. This holds particularly true for intergovernmental fiscal relations in a decentralizing multi-tiered governmental system. Moreover, in developing countries the fiscal capacities to perform measures of ecological public functions are limited with their fiscal needs for these functions often appearing to outweigh their fiscal capacities. Research at the interface of the economic theory of fiscal federalism, the sustainability concept, and policies related to conservation and the environment is relatively new. Furthermore, in the literature on environmental federalism the emphasis tends to be comparatively less on the benefits of positive environmental externalities. The essential contribution of this study is an extension of this research field that is still in its infancy by applying the specific case of Indonesia as the context, on account of this tropical country‟s ecological significance as well as its recent developments during the fiscal decentralization process. The overall aim of this study is to assess the possibilities of ecological fiscal transfers as a set of instruments in the public sector to internalize environmental externalities. To this end, the study traces the development as well as the current state of intergovernmental fiscal transfers in Indonesia in terms of ecological purposes. On the basis of this knowledge, the study offers new policy perspectives by proposing a number of policy options for ecological fiscal transfers in the context of the functioning fiscal transfer system and institutions between the national and the subnational (province and local) governments as well as among jurisdictions at the same governmental level. The incorporation of an explicit ecological indicator into general-purpose transfers is the first option. The second option is derived from a revenue-sharing arrangement. In this arrangement, two sub-options are proposed: first, shared revenues from taxes are distributed on the basis of the ecological indicator and, second, shared revenues from natural resources are earmarked for environmental purposes. Finally, the third option suggests an extension of existing specific-purpose transfers for the environment. The potential and limitations of the respective options are addressed. Additionally, a short treatment is given to the discourse on the possible mobilization of fiscal resources in the context of tropical deforestation and global climate change. The research concentrates mainly on the first option, namely the incorporation of an ecological indicator into the structure of general-purpose transfer allocation. In order to substantiate an explicit ecological dimension in the transfer, it extends the present area-based approach by introducing a protected area indicator while maintaining the remaining socio-economic indicators in the fiscal need calculation. The parameter values of area-related indicators are adjusted and subject to the properties of the existing formula. The simulation at the provincial level yields the following results. First, more provinces lose rather than gain from the introduced ecological fiscal transfer when compared to the fiscal transfer that they received in the reference fiscal year. Second, on average the winning provinces obtain a higher level of transfer from the introduction of an ecological indicator in the fiscal need calculation. The extent of the average decreases for the losing provinces, however, it is lower compared to the extent of the average gain by their winning counterparts. In terms of spatial configurations of the general-purpose transfer with an ecological indicator, provinces in Papua would benefit most from the new fiscal regime whereas provinces in Java and Sulawesi, with a few exceptions, would suffer a transfer reduction. Kalimantan and Sumatera show a mixed pattern of winning and losing provinces. The analysis on the equalization effects of the general-purpose transfers makes the following important contributions. It suggests that, first, the transfers are equalizing and, second, the introduction of the protected area indicator into the structure of these transfers plays a significant role in the equalizing effect, particularly in the presence of provinces with a very high fiscal capacity and when the area variable is also controlled. All of these new insights are imperative in the design of fiscal policy which intends to integrate explicit ecological aspects into the instruments of intergovernmental fiscal transfers. Since a formula-based fiscal transfer distribution is intrinsically zero-sum, the aforementioned configuration of winning and losing jurisdictions is conceivable. Among other future perspectives, it is the task of further research to explore ecological fiscal transfer instruments and associated measures that on the one hand seek to induce the losing provinces to join their winning counterparts and, on the other hand, are still subject to the requirements of the rational fiscal transfer mechanism.

Submitted by Johnny Rodrigues (johnnyrodrigues@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-09-11T19:47:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ZILAS NOGUEIRA DE QUEIROZ - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGERR 2002..pdf: 5765193 bytes, checksum: 735773607b8b3a0da22ea2e4225cbece (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-11T19:47:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ZILAS NOGUEIRA DE QUEIROZ - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGERR 2002..pdf: 5765193 bytes, checksum: 735773607b8b3a0da22ea2e4225cbece (MD5) Previous issue date: 2002 / No presente texto desenvolvemos uma investigação aprofundada do valor da categoria. Deste No exame, levantamos algumas questões relativas à viabilidade da racionalização do consumo dos recursos naturais por meio da imputação do valor da natureza. Na nossa pesquisa analisamos concepções da chamada Economia Ambiental e da Economia Ecológica. Verificamos que ambos apontam como solução em relação a crise ambiental do presente atribuído valor para os recursos naturais. Desta forma, bastaria que tais recursos fossem comercializada para que a dinâmica do mercado regulasse o consumo da natureza e desta forma poderia ser impedido o consumo da medida. De outro lado, ao examinar o conceito de valor a partir das concepções do filósofo húngaro Georgy Lukács que, por sua vez, tem como ponto de partida suas reflexões a política econômica clássica, sobre todo o pensamento de Marx, evidenciamos que a imputação do valor da natureza apresenta como algo arbitrário, que esconde atrás de si posições ideológicas conservadoras que muitas vezes passam sem mobília para que lutem pela preservação do meio ambiente. / In the present text we develop one investigation deepened of the category value. From this examination we raise some questions concerning the one viability racionalization of the consumption of the natural resources by means of imputation of nature value. In our research we analyze conceptions of the call Ambiental Economy and of Ecology Economy. We verify that both point as solution with respect to ambiental crise of the present assigned value to the natural resources. Of this form, it would be enough that such resources were commercialized so that the dynamic of the market regulated the consumption of the nature and of this form al could be prevented the consuming of the measure. Of another side, when examining the concept of value from conceptions of Hungarian philosopher Georgy Lukács that, in turn, has as starting point of its refletions the classical economic policy, over all the thought of Marx, we evidence that imputation of nature value presents as something arbitrary, that it hides behind of itself ideologic positions conservatives who many times pass unfurnished for that they fight for preservation of the environment.

Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-04T12:42:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010 / A presente tese é composta de três artigos sob o uso dos agrotóxicos e seus impactos à saúde e ao ambiente, e um quarto, que aborda, sobre o prisma das políticas públicas, alternativas de produção ao modelo agrícola baseado no uso intensivo desses insumos. O primeiro artigo tem como objetivo discutir as externalidades negativas associadas ao uso de agrotóxicos nos municípios do cerrado brasileiro, área em franca expansão da atividade agrícola. O segundo artigo valorou as externalidades negativas em saúde associadas ao uso dos agrotóxicos no estado do Paraná. Os resultados indicam que os custos com a intoxicação aguda podem representar cerca de 64 por cento dos benefícios dos agrotóxicos e, na melhor das hipóteses, quando as características de risco dos estabelecimentos encontram-se ausentes, esses custos representam 8 por cento dos benefícios. O terceiro artigo condicionou esses resultados tanto em função das características dos próprios estabelecimentos rurais, quanto aos atributos dos seus respectivos municípios como, por exemplo, as suas características econômicas, geográficas e alguns aspectos da gestão municipal do meio ambiente. Quando assumimos um cenário onde há um maior risco nos estabelecimentos rurais, verifica-se que para cada dólar gasto com a comprados agrotóxicos no Estado, 1,28 dólares poderiam ser gerados em custos externos com a intoxicação. No entanto, essa situação poderia ser revertida, caso certas medidas fossem tomadas, como, por exemplo, a adoção de um programa de incentivo à agricultura orgânica por parte do município, uma vez que reduz as chances de intoxicação no estabelecimento rural em 47 por cento. Tendo em vista os resultados dos dois artigos anteriores, que apontaram, respectivamente: i) a maior fragilidade do pequeno agricultor aos danos à saúde causados pelo uso agrotóxicos; ii) um efeito significativo dos incentivos políticos à agricultura orgânica para a redução desses riscos; procurou-se, no último artigo dessa tese, trabalhar a inserção desse pequeno agricultor nesse processo produtivo, reconhecendo alguns elementos teóricos e empíricos que limitam a expansão do mercado dos alimentos orgânicos. Por último, na conclusão, ressalta-se um conjunto de medidas baseadas em instrumentos econômicos e pautadas em ações de regulação e de incentivo à transição agroecológica. Em síntese, são medidas de desincentivo aos processos de produção e consumo tidos como sujos, causadores de externalidades negativas e, ao mesmo tempo, de estímulos a mercados como os dos produtos orgânicos que se fundamentam em princípios ecológicos e da boa saúde. / This thesis consists of three articles about the pesticide’s use and their impacts on health and the environment, and a fourth, which suggests public policy in order to construct agricultural production models based on intensive use of these inputs. The first paper aims to discuss the negative externalities associated with the pesticides use in the Brazilian savannah, where agricultural activity has been based on monoculture. The second article is intended to value the health externalities associated with the pesticides use in Paraná state. The results point out that the social costs to the acute poisoning may represent about 64% of the pesticides benefits. At best, when some risk factors are eliminated, the cost of acute poisoning represents about 8% of the benefits. The third article has conditioned these outcomes, either because of characteristics of the farms or the attributes of their respective counties, such as their economic, geographical and environmental aspects. When we assume a scenario of greater risk to farms, we find that for each one dollar spent on pesticides purchase in the State, about $1.28 could be generated in external costs by intoxication. However, this situation could be changed, if measures were taken, for example, an incentive program to organic agriculture by the municipality, since it reduces the odds of poisoning in the farms in 47%. Considering the outcomes of the two previous articles that have been pointed out, respectively: i) for the greater fragility of the small farmer to health problems caused by using pesticides; ii) a significant effect of policy incentives for organic farming to reduce these risks; was studied, in the last article in this thesis, the insertion of small farmers in this production process, recognizing some theoretical and empirical elements that limit the expansion of the organic foods market. Finally, as a conclusion of this thesis, we have highlighted a set of measures, usually based on economic instruments, which are regulatory actions to encourage a shift to agroecology. In summary, they are actions that discourage production processes and consumption considered "dirties", which have caused negative externalities, and, at the same time, have stimulated markets, such as organic products, that are based on ecological and good health principles.

O debate sobre o decrescimento constitui uma crítica ao sistema socioeconômico baseado na lógica do crescimento ilimitado e no imperativo cultural do desenvolvimento. O decrescimento propõe a redução da escala biofísica e a reestruturação da economia global, fundamentalmente nos países do Norte cuja pegada ecológica excede os limites ecológicos. O Sul aparece com menos evidência na literatura decrescentista, porém, está inevitavelmente implicado nessa discussão. Buscando contribuir para compreender as implicações do decrescimento para o Sul, esta dissertação teve por objetivo analisar como o Sul global está representado no debate acadêmico internacional sobre o decrescimento. Para cumpri-lo, foi realizado um mapeamento e uma revisão sistemática da literatura internacional sobre o tema. Para o mapeamento, foi considerada a base de dados Scopus e foram utilizados termos de busca em inglês (degrowth e de-growth). A análise das características bibliométricas dos documentos identificados mostrou a prevalência de autores de instituições de países do Norte e baixa participação do Sul global. A revisão sistemática da literatura identificou cinco eixos temáticos na abordagem do Sul pelo decrescimento. Três deles abordam Sul de maneira explícita: (i) a perspectiva biofísica, relacionada à economia ecológica, sustenta que o decrescimento no Norte deve abrir espaço ecológico para o aumento do uso de recursos no Sul sem ultrapassar os limites ecológicos globais; (ii) os aspectos políticos dos fluxos internacionais de recursos denunciam as injustiças ambientais e socioeconômicas associadas ao comércio de commodities da perspectiva da ecologia política; e (iii) o eixo das alternativas ao desenvolvimento vê convergências entre o decrescimento e cosmovisões oriundas de contextos culturais do Sul como o bem viver andino. Por outro lado, outros dois eixos identificados abordam o Sul de maneira implícita ou indireta: (iv) no eixo que trata de aspectos demográficos, o decrescimento busca se afastar de concepções malthusianas autoritárias e se aproximar de abordagens de controle populacional voluntário, sem nomear explicitamente o Sul, mas responsabilizando indiretamente as populações mais numerosas; (v) no último eixo, se argumenta que a diminuição do consumo permitiria o decrescimento do tempo de trabalho dos trabalhadores do Norte global, sem relacionar esse tipo de decrescimento aos países do Sul, onde o efeito poderia ser o oposto se houvesse aumento do consumo. Observou-se que o decrescimento do consumo da escala biofísica da economia não é recomendado ao Sul. O decrescimento da jornada de trabalho tampouco, ao passo que o decrescimento populacional pode ser associado a esse grupo de países. Tanto no Sul quanto no Norte são desejáveis alternativas autóctones ao desenvolvimento. Porém, nos cinco eixos identificados na abordagem do Sul, pouco se explora a relocalização, um processo estratégico para o decrescimento em seu sentido amplo e também para o objetivo de estabelecer relações justas entre Sul e Norte. Recomenda-se que estudos futuros considerem a relocalização ao abordar a divisão Norte-Sul no contexto do decrescimento. Sugere-se ainda que correntes do pensamento latinoamericano, que apesar de orientadas pela ideia de desenvolvimento se debruçaram sobre as relações político-econômicas entre países, podem também contribuir para discutir o decrescimento de uma perspectiva do Sul global. / Degrowth is a critique of a society based on the logic of limitless gowth and on the cultural imperative of development. Degrowth proposes reduction of the biophysical scale and restructuring of the global economy, notably, in the global North whose ecological footprint have overshot ecological limits. The global South appears with less evidence in the degrowth literature, however, it is unavoidably implicated in this discussion. Seeking to understand the implications of degrowth for the South, this dissertation aimed to analyze how the global South is represented in the international academic debate on degrowth. To accomplish this goal, the international literature on the subject was mapped and systematically reviewed. The database Scopus was selected for the mapping procedure and search terms were defined in English (degrowth and de-growth). The mapping showed the prevalence of authors from institutions of the North and low participation of the South. The review identified five thematic axes in the approach to the South by degrowth. Three of them approach the South in an explicit way: (i) the biophysical perspective, related to ecological economics, holds that degrowth in the North may open \"ecological space\" for growth in resources use in the South without exceeding global ecological limits; (ii) the political aspects of international resource flows denounce environmental and socio-economic injustices associated with commodity trade from the perspective of political ecology; and (iii) the axis on alternatives to development sees convergences between degrowth and cosmovisions coming from cultural contexts of the South as the Andean buen vivir. On the other hand, two other identified axes approach the South in an implicit or indirect way: (iv) in the axis that deals with demographic aspects, degrowth attempts to move away from authoritarian Malthusian conceptions and get closer to voluntary population control approaches without naming the South explicitly, but indirectly charging larger populations independently of their per capita impact; and (V) in the last axis, it is argued that lower consumption would allow work-time degrowth in the North. However, this type of degrowth is not mentioned to be desired for the South, where the effect could be the opposite if there were an increase in consumption. It was observed that degrowth in consumption and of the biophysical scale of the economy is not recommended for the South. Work-time degrowth is not recommended either, while populational contraction is not associated to any of the groups of countries. Both in the South and in the North autochthonous development alternatives are desirable. It is recommended that future studies consider relocalization when addressing the North-South divide in the context of degrowth. It is also suggested that streams of Latin American thought, which although oriented by the idea of development focused on the political-economic relations between countries, may also contribute to discuss degrowth from a global South perspective.

L'analyse des transferts hydriques inter-bassins massifs a fait l'objet de très peu de travaux en économie. Pourtant ce type d'intervention hydraulique est amené à prendre une place croissante dans la gestion de l'eau au 21ème siècle, dans les pays en développement et émergents notamment. Nous proposons une analyse du point de vue de l'économie écologique d'un projet de transfert hydrique dans le Nordeste du Brésil, en nous penchant particulièrement sur les conflits socio-environnementaux qui ont lieu autour de ce mégaprojet. Dans un premier temps, nous caractérisons le style de développement économique adopté par le Brésil au tournant du siècle ainsi que la dynamique des réformes de la gestion de l'eau. Nous tirons de cette analyse une présentation stylisée du complexe eau-économie nécessaire à la compréhension du projet étudié. Nous discutons ensuite les apports et limites des approches économiques (économie du bien-être, économie de la soutenabilité) de l'évaluation des grands projets hydrauliques. Nous mettons en exergue la spécificité des transferts inter-bassins massifs et proposons une grille d'analyse économique adaptée. Dans une troisième partie, nous approfondissons les conflits socio-environnementaux qui ont eu lieu autour du projet de transfert. Nous proposons une analyse en termes de justice environnementale ainsi qu'une modélisation de type institutionnaliste du conflit et de ses répercussions. / The analysis of massive inter-basin water transfers has been scarcely developed within the discipline of economics. Though, this kind of hydraulic engineering is bound to be ever more widepsread in the 21st century, in particular in developing and emerging economies. We propose an analysis of a water transfer project in Norhteastern Brazil from an ecological economic point of view. We especially investigate the socio-environmental conflicts that take place around this megaproject. In the first place, we characterise Brazil's current style of economic development at the turn of the century, as well as the dynamics of water sector reforms. From such an analysis, we draw a stylised presentation of the water-economy nexus which we deem necessary for the understanding of the project. We then discuss the scope and limits of economic approaches (welfare economics, sustainability economics) to the assessment of large scale water projects. We put an emphasis on the specific features of massive inter-basin water transfers and we propose a suitable economic framework. In a third part, we analyse the socio-environmental conflicts that took place in relation with the transfer project. We propose an environmental justice analysis as well as an institutionalist modeling of the conflict and its impacts.

<p>  </p> <p>The rise of technology as a data source for ecological research and biodiversity conservation has led to a host of new opportunities, and new challenges, for researchers, conservationists, policymakers, and land managers. As these technologies have become more common and more capable, researchers need improved methods and improved theoretical frameworks to integrate these technologies with each other; with social science and policy; and with land-use planning. This thesis proposes several of these conceptual and theoretical frameworks—one for integration of heterogeneous data and another for the integration of ecological data with economic decision-making and policy analysis. It then suggests new methodologies for data quality assurance. Lastly, it demonstrates the applicability of acoustic monitoring in a key land-use context: agriculture in a premium crop that is grown in global biodiversity hotspots. </p>

An ontology describing the constructs and their inter-relationships for business models has recently been built and evaluated: the Business Model Ontology (BMO). This ontology has been used to conceptually power a popular practitioner visual design tool: the Business Model Canvas (BMC). However, implicitly these works assume that designers of business models all have a singular normative goal: the creation of businesses that are financially profitable. These works perpetuate beliefs and businesses that do not create outcomes aligned with current natural and social science knowledge about long term individual human, societal and ecological flourishing, i.e. outcomes are not strongly sustainable. This limits the applicability and utility of these works. This exploratory research starts to overcome these limitations: creating knowledge of what is required of businesses for strongly sustainable outcomes to emerge and helping business model designers efficiently create high quality (reliable, consistent, effective) strongly sustainable business models. Based on criticism and review, this research project extends the BMO artefact to enable the description all the constructs and their inter-relationships related to a strongly sustainable business model. This results in the Strongly Sustainable Business Model Ontology (SSBMO). To help evaluate the SSBMO a practitioner visual design tool is also developed: the Strongly Sustainable Business Model Canvas (SSBMC). Ontological engineering (from Artificial Intelligence), Design Science and Systems Thinking methodological approaches were combined in a novel manner to create the Systemic Design Science approach used to build and evaluate the SSBMO. Comparative analysis, interviews and case study techniques were used to evaluate the utility of the designed artefacts. Formal 3rd party evaluation with 7 experts and 2 case study companies resulted in validation of the overall approaches used and the utility of the SSBMO. A number of opportunities for improvement, as well as areas for future work, are identified. This thesis includes a number of supplementary graphics included in separate (electronic) files. See “List of Supplementary Materials” for details.

On the frontier of biodiversity-rich tropical forests, how land is used has an important role in buffering the primary ecosystem. Unsustainable small-scale cattle farming endangers soil quality and degrades the landscape. Silvopasture is a type of agroforestry that provides both ecological and livelihood benefits. A number of projects have been implemented across the tropics to encourage silvopasture adoption, with varying success. This dissertation questions the reasons for variable outcomes among participants within these projects: what motivates smallholders to adopt innovative land-use practices, and what form of incentives may help to overcome obstacles and catalyse adoption. This dissertation contributes to the ongoing debate on payments for ecosystem services, specifically about their suitability and effectiveness. To understand what influences decisions to adopt sustainable land-use practices, I review systematically and quantitatively the literature on adoption predictors, and I empirically analyse participation and short-term adoption in a pilot project for planting fodder trees in the border of a protected forest in Chiapas, Mexico, using primary and secondary data. I focus on subjective perspectives and livelihood strategies of actual and potential participants as explanatory variables, which have received unduly scarce attention in past studies. This lack of attention is partially caused by the difficulties of operationalising internal variables. I address this challenge by developing an analytical approach that increases the precision of the resulting perspectives in Q methodology. I cluster livelihood strategies and model adoption. This in-depth case-study suggests the type of incentives that are adequate to encourage adoption of sustainable land-use practices. Results indicate that payments may not be the best incentive for pioneer adopters, and that the adoption process is composed of separate individual steps, which are influenced distinctly by identifiable predictors, such as livelihood diversity. Uncovering this heterogeneity of motivations towards adoption provides useful knowledge for designing more effective external policy interventions.