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We are currently experiencing a climate crisis. The planet’s temperature is rising considerably due to the emission of greenhouse gases generated by human activities. This situation poses a challenge for everyone, including companies. Private sector actors are taking actions to mitigate the consequences of climate change, such as global warming. Some of these measures are imposed by national regulations, and others are motivated by the firms' own will. The latter include Science Based Target initiative (SBTi), a voluntary initiative that supports companies in setting climate targets to reduce emissions in line with climate science and the Paris Agreement. The number of companies taking action through participation in it is growing. However, SBTis a young initiative that should be further explored, as more research is needed on its effects. This master’s thesis responds to this gap by studying the impact of joining the SBTi on the financial performance of companies measured through stock returns, volatility and financial risk. For this purpose, the Difference-in-Differences (DiD) statistical technique has been applied through a linear regression model to a sample of 4869 companies. It includes both SBTi member and non-members. At the same time, this research also addresses a second objective, to estimate the determinants to join SBTi, since this is a voluntary action, through a Probit model. It has been found that there is a negative relationship when the financial variable is stock return. While when volatility and financial risk are measured, there is no statistically significant effect. These findings show that being a member of SBTi could reduce investor returns, but does not influence the other two financial indicators. This suggests that investors are not attracted to these companies and may indicate that they see the initiative as a costly distraction. Also, as investors manage their portfolios to reduce market downturns, investing in firms that are part of the initiative will not be something they will consider in terms of their votality. Although the initiative's objectives and commitments help to mitigate climate risks by encouraging the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, they do not generate significant impacts on the level of financial risk, according to the observations. Regarding the results on the likelihood of joining SBTi, it was found that companies that produce lower returns to investors, have lower stock price fluctuations, have higher financial risk and pollute less, are more likely to be members. This suggests that the initiative should drive its efforts towards companies with these characteristics. This study is innovative in its field in that it addresses a topic of current interest but that has been little explored, the SBTi. It applies two methodologies, regression analysis through DiD and Probit model, but with global panel data, which makes it more challenging. This master’s thesis contributes to the research community in three ways. First, it fills a gap providing new insights into SBTi from a financial perspective. Second, it informs the initiative itself of the implications of its activity and makes it easier to identify potential members and attract them. Third, it can be useful for investors who want to be part of the fight against climate change and include these companies in their portfolios, but want to know the financial consequences of doing so. / Vi upplever för närvarande en klimatkris. Planetens temperatur stiger avsevärt på grund av utsläppen av växthusgaser som genereras av mänsklig verksamhet. Denna situation utgör en utmaning för alla, inklusive företag. Privata aktörer vidtar åtgärder för att mildra konsekvenserna av klimatförändringar, såsom global uppvärmning. Vissa av dessa åtgärder föreskrivs av nationella regleringar, medan andra motiveras av företagens egna vilja. Det senare inkluderar SBTi, en frivillig initiativ som stödjer företag i att fastställa klimatmål för att minska utsläppen i linje med klimatvetenskapen och Parisavtalet. Antalet företag som vidtar åtgärder genom deltagande i initiativet ökar. Dock är SBTi en ung initiativ som bör undersökas mer, eftersom merforskning behövs om dess effek. Denna avhandling fyller detta gap genom att studera effekten av att delta i SBTi på företagens finansiella prestationer, mätt genom aktieavkastning, volatilitet och finansiell risk. För detta ändamål har den statistiska tekniken DiD tillämpats genom en linjär regressionsmodell på ett urval av 4869 företag. Det omfattar både medlemmar och icke-medlemmar av SBTi. Samtidigt behandlar denna forskning även ett andra mål, att uppskatta faktorer som påverkar beslutet att delta i SBTi, eftersom detta är en frivillig åtgärd, genom en Probit-modell. Det har konstaterats att det finns ett negativt samband när den finansiella variabeln är aktieavkastning. När volatilitet och finansiell risk mäts finns det däremot ingen statistiskt signifikant effekt. Dessa resultat visar att att vara medlem i SBTi kan minska avkastningen för investerare, men påverkar inte de andra två finansiella indikatorerna. Detta tyder på att investerare inte lockas av dessa företag och kan indikera att de ser initiativet som en kostsam distraktion. Dessutom, eftersom investerare hanterar sina portföljer för att minska marknadsnedgångar, kommer investeringar i företag som är en del av initiativet inte vara något de överväger med avseende på volatilitet. Även om initiativets mål och åtaganden bidrar till att mildra klimatrisker genom att främja minskning av koldioxidutsläppen, genererar de inte signifikanta effekter på finansiell risknivå enligt observationerna. Vad gäller resultaten angående sannolikheten att delta i SBTi, visade det sig att företag som ger lägre avkastning till investerare, har lägre aktieprisfluktuationer, har högre finansiell risk och förorenar mindre, har större sannolikhet att vara medlemmar. Detta tyder på att initiativet bör rikta sina ansträngningar mot företag med dessa egenskaper. Denna studie är nyskapande inom sitt område genom att den behandlar ett ämne av aktuellt intresse men som är relativt outforskat, nämligen SBTi. Den tillämpar två metoder, regressionsanalys med DiD och en Probit-modell, men med globala paneldata, vilket gör det mer utmanande. Denna avhandling bidrar till forskarsamhället på tre sätt. För det första fyller den en lucka genom att ge nya insikter om SBTi ur ett finansiellt perspektiv. För det andra informerar den själva initiativet om konsekvenserna av dess verksamhet och underlättar identifieringen av potentiella medlemmar och att locka dem. För det tredje kan den vara användbar för investerare som vill vara en del av kampen mot klimatförändringar och inkludera dessa företag i sina portföljer, men som vill känna till de finansiella konsekvenserna av att göra det.

Research report, presented to the SBL Unisa, Midrand. / The current and future anticipated changes in the earth’s climate are a concern that has captured business’s and governments’ global attention. Climate change and its potential impacts cannot be ignored as there is ample evidence that global warming is indeed the result of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The mobile operator in Africa and the Middle East (ME) operates on continents and in parts of the world, predicted by scientists as the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The mobile operator in Africa and the Middle East is moreover an emitter of significant amounts of CO2 and this exacerbates the serious environmental climate change problem that humankind faces. This research paper addresses the Corporate Social Responsibility of African and Middle East (ME) mobile operators, and its Carbon Footprint. The main objectives of the research are to identify strategic risks and opportunities and the implications for the mobile operator and to determine its Greenhouse Gas emissions. The performance against targets and plans to reduce GHG emissions are also reviewed. The research is based on the questionnaire of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) initiative. A shortened and modified version of the CDP was designed and emailed to two major mobile telecom operators both operating in Africa and the Middle East. It is postulated that the telecommunications industry is at an inflection point where significant changes must take place in the way energy requirements are managed. This in turn could have a positive effect on reducing its carbon footprint, benefit corporate reputation and at the same time earn “green miles” in the subscriber’s minds. The research reached the main conclusion that the mobile operators’ investigated do not yet have strategies, systems and reporting in place to be counted as “good corporate citizens” concerning their environmental responsibility. The research further concluded that a proactive strategic intent is a necessity to achieve this goal. In short: The Corporate Social Responsibility of African and Middle East mobile operators indeed has a positive effect on its Carbon Footprint.

The UK is required to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent from 1990 levels, by 2050. Greenhouse gas emissions attributed to the UK higher education sector have increased by 34.5 per cent from 1990 to 2005. Higher education institutions have a unique role in the UK greenhouse gas emissions inventory, beyond management of their own estates and compliance with policy and legislation, higher education institutions have responsibilities as innovators and educators, inspiring students and employees through example and best practice. This study sought to understand acceptability of greenhouse gas emissions reduction policies among employees of a higher education institution. The value-belief-norm theory was used in a questionnaire to understand individual attitudinal factors thought to influence policy acceptability (N=405). Recognising that an employee's attitudinal factors may be influenced by their work colleagues, this study used social network analysis to understand the social context within which individual attitudinal factors sit. Support was found for higher education institutions to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Employees found policies that encouraged desired behaviours, such as assistance with train travel costs and working from home, to be more acceptable than policies that discouraged undesired behaviours, such as doubling the price of a car-parking permit. Support was found for the structure and content of the value-belief-norm theory, but logistic regression suggested that it provided a weak explanation of employee policy acceptability, indicating that other factors may have a greater role. Analysis of workplace social networks suggested that employees have small social groups (x̄=8) and do not select to be close to colleagues that reflect their own perspectives. Practitioners and policymakers should seek to address this void in environmental social norms through recruitment of more environmental champions to deliver strong and persuasive pro-environmental messages.

Reducing anthropogenic GHG emissions globally is a key driver for the development of renewable energy sources. A key route towards achieving this is to replace fossil-based fuels with renewable and low carbon energy technologies such as biofuels from energy crops. Cereals and oil-seed crops such as corn, wheat, and soybean are the main feedstocks primarily used for biofuels production and the key characteristics of these crops are high biomass and energy yield per ha. However, there are concerns about the availability and sustainability of these crops for biofuels production in the face of a changing climate since crop productivity is inherently sensitive to climate. Therefore, an understanding of the impacts of climate change on energy crops production as feedstocks for biofuels production and their potential for life cycle GHG emissions reductions is crucial for making decisions on future biofuels production. This thesis examined potential climate change impacts on the productivity of two major biofuel crops: corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max) in Gainesville, USA and one major biofuel crop: wheat (Triticum spp.) in Rothamsted, UK. The overall objective was to calculate the potential impacts of combined changes in climate variables: surface air temperature (T), precipitation (P), and atmospheric concentration of CO2 ([CO2]) on life cycle GHG emissions savings of biofuels from corn, soybean, and wheat. The methodology was underpinned by life cycle thinking. Life cycle assessment (LCA) models linked to cropping system models (CSM) were used in the analysis. In assessing the impact of climate change on corn, wheat, and soybean crops yields, two applications of the CERES (Crop-Environment Resource Synthesis) model: CERES-Wheat (for wheat) and CERES-Maize (for corn), and CROPGRO (Crop Growth) model application: CROPGRO-Soybean of the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT-CSM) v4.0.2.0 model were used using observed weather data from the baseline (1981-1990) period for each study site. These models describe, based on daily data, the basic biophysical processes taking place at the soil-plant-atmosphere interface as a response to the variability of different processes such as: photosynthesis, specific phenological phases, evapotranspiration, and water dynamics in soil. Compared with the baseline, T was projected to increase by +1.5, +2, +2.5, +3, +3.5, +4, +4.5, and +5 oC, P was projected to change by ±5, ±10, ±15, and ±20%, and [CO2] was projected to increase by +70, +140, +210, +280, and + 350 ppm for Gainesville, USA. For Rothamsted, UK, T was projected to increase by +0.5, +1.5, +2.5, +3.5, and +4.5 oC, P was projected to change by ±10, and ±20%, and [CO2] was projected to increase by +70, +210, and + 350 ppm. Simulated yields output (grain/seeds and biomass) from the CSM models were used as inputs into the LCA models. Potential life cycle GHG emissions savings were calculated for corn-based biofuels: corn bioethanol (CBE), corn integrated biomethanol (CIBM), and corn integrated bioelectricity (CIBE); soybean-based biofuels: soybean biodiesel (SBD), soybean integrated biomethanol (SIBM), and soybean integrated bioelectricity (SIBE); wheat-based biofuels: wheat bioethanol (WBE), wheat integrated biomethanol (WIBM), and wheat integrated bioelectricity (WIBE). Results indicated that under the baseline (1981-1990) scenario, production and use of CBE, CIBM, CIBE, SBD, SIBM, SIBE, WBE, WIBM, and WIBE could save -4743.32 kg CO2-equiv. ha-1, -8573.31 kg CO2-equiv. ha-1, and -10996.7 kg CO2-equiv. ha-1, -2655.41 kg CO2-equiv. ha-1, -3441.1 kg CO2-equiv. ha-1, and -1350.04 kg CO2-equiv ha-1, -2776.1 kg CO2-equiv. ha-1, -500.87 kg CO2-equiv. ha-1 and -4648.93 kg CO2-equiv. ha-1 respectively, of the total life cycle GHG emissions of CO2, CH4, and N2O for the production and utilization of an energetically equivalent amount of fossil-based fuel counterpart, which they displaced. However, model predictions of future life cycle GHG emissions savings for both crops showed that the responses of corn, soybean, and wheat to simultaneous changes in T, P, and [CO2] were different under different climate change scenarios. In the future period life cycle GHG emissions savings of corn-based biofuels was predicted to decline in all cases ranging from -4.2% to -46.1%, -2.6% to -37.7%, and -1.6% to -33.4% for CBE, CIBM, and CIBE, respectively compared with the baseline (1981-1990) period. In contrast, model predictions showed that life cycle GHG emissions savings of wheat-based biofuels would increase under all climate change scenarios ranging from +2.5% to +33.5%, +0.1% to +37.8%, and +1.0% to +34.4% for WBE, WIBM, and WIBE, respectively. On the other hand, the life cycle GHG emissions savings of soybean-based biofuels was predicted to increase by +0.22% to +27%, +0.1% to 28%, and +0.1% to +31.6% for SBD, SIBM, and SIBE, respectively under some climate change scenarios (e.g., [CO2] = 680; P = +20%; and T = +1.5 oC scenario) and also decline by -0.7% to -60.8%, -0.1% to -44.6%, and -0.1% to -82.6% for SBD, SIBM, and SIBE, respectively under some climate change scenarios (e.g., [CO2] = 400; P = -20%; and T = +5 oC scenario). These results revealed that the potential impacts of climate change on energy crops productivity and net life cycle GHG emissions savings could be very large and diverse, and that the anticipated life cycle GHG emissions reductions of biofuels would not be the same in the future.

Inland waters such as streams and lakes have recently been found to be supersaturated with both carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) – the high concentrations resulting in significant natural emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Previous studies have shown that streams emit particularly large amounts of GHGs per area covered, but the spatial variability is very high and has rarely been studied in detail. This study focuses on the variability of aquatic CO2 and CH4 concentrations with high spatial resolution in a hemi-boreal stream. The study area is a 7 km2 catchment in Skogaryd in southwest Sweden. 131 samples were collected and the stream was divided into groups depending on slope gradient and geographical placement. The results show that the concentrations had high spatial variability, especially regarding CH4, and that the concentrations are higher and more variable at lower slope gradients, which possibly indicates an increased gas exchange at higher slopes. The results also showed that concentrations can increase or decrease sharply over short distances in relation to changing slope gradient. This shows that frequent spatial sampling is needed to more accurately represent streams than what is often the case in many studies. A general distance between sampling locations could not be found due to the high variability of concentrations. Instead, the authors suggest that future studies of CO2 and CH4 concentrations in streams use a stratified random sampling strategy based on slope gradients.

The intensified greenhouse effect is the biggest cause for a negative climate change. Global warming is a result of enhanced greenhouse effect and poses a potential threat for humans and its surrounding environment that can result in disastrous consequences. The rise in temperature is driven by increased human activity whereas the leading cause for emissions of greenhouse gases is the combustion of fossil fuels. The prominent source of emissions is from the following sectors: transport, industrial and energy. The task of reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases is both globally and internationally prioritized. Progress has been made although every potential source for emissions has to be investigated in order to reduce the total climate impact. Based on scientific research, wastewater treatment plants are also a contributing factor to the greenhouse effect by emissions of gases. This bachelor’s thesis is investigating two wastewater treatment plants and identifying which processes contribute to the climate impact. The climate impact is calculated with an Excel-based analyzing tool and the results show the Carbon Footprints for the treatment plants. The purpose of this paper is to present result acquired from the treatment plants and identify the processes that have the biggest impact on our climate. Afterwards, solutions derived from the analysis of results will be suggested to improve and bring additional help to the treatment plants with their climate work. In conclusion, it is determined that the treatment plants both have net emissions of greenhouse gases. The biggest contributor is the wastewater treatment and the use of biogas. Results from analysis show that some of the assumptions on emissions made in the tool make the initial results doubtful. Therefore, further research is needed on this subject in order to produce more reliable facts.

An investigation into the commercial feasibility of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology as a competitive carbon abatement technology for New Zealand.

Corporate environmental responsibilities of organizations have become an eminent consideration among organizational managers and scholars in recent years. Environmental issues have gained much momentum that virtually every group of stakeholders is now demanding environmental efficiency from contemporary organizations. This study investigated environmental practices of two logistics companies in Sweden with the aim to shed light on the measures taken by these companies in response to the environmental impacts of their business activities. We investigated: How and why are logistics service providers in Sweden responding to the demand for environmental responsible business practice?   Based on a qualitative research design, a case study was conducted with DHL and PostNord AB. The results of the study show that the case companies perform environmental practices to reduce the carbon emissions of their business operations due to stakeholders demand. The findings identify stakeholders such as, customers, the Swedish government and shareholders/investors as those that exert the most pressure on the case companies regarding their environmental practices and initiatives.

Stormwater runoff is one of the leading causes of water quality impairment in the U.S. Bioretention systems are ecologically engineered to treat stormwater pollution and offer exciting opportunities to provide local climate change resiliency by reducing peak runoff rates, and retaining/detaining storm volumes, yet implementation is outpacing our understanding of the underlying physical, biological, and chemical mechanisms involved in pollutant removal. Further, we do not know how performance will be affected by increases in precipitation, which are projected to occur in the northeastern U.S. as a result of climate change, or if these systems could act as a source or sink for greenhouse gas emissions. This research examines the design, construction, and development of monitoring methods for bioretention research, using the University of Vermont (UVM) Bioretention Laboratory as a case study. In addition, this research evaluates mobilization patterns and pollutant loads from road surfaces during the "first flush" of runoff, or the earlier part of a storm event. Finally, this research analyzes the comparative pollutant removal performance of bioretention systems on a treatment by treatment basis. At the UVM Bioretention Laboratory, eight lined bioretention cells were constructed with monitoring infrastructure installed at the entrance and at the subterranean effluent. A conventional, sand and compost based, bioretention soil media was compared to a proprietary media engineered to remove phosphorus, called Sorbtive Media™, under simulated increases in precipitation. Two drought tolerant vegetation mixes, native to the northeast, were compared for sediment and nutrient retention. Each treatment was sampled for soil gas emissions to determine if it was a source or a sink. The monitoring infrastructure designs used in this research allowed for the effective characterization of pollutant mass loads entering and exiting bioretention. Cumulative mass loads from stormwater were found to be highest for total suspended solids, followed by total Kjeldahl nitrogen, nitrate, non-labile phosphorus and soluble reactive phosphorus, in descending order by mass. Total suspended solids, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, and non-labile phosphorus mass were well retained by all bioretention treatments. However, the compost amendment in the conventional soil media was found to release labile nitrogen and phosphorus, far surpassing the mass loads in stormwater. When compared with conventional media, Sorbtive Media™ was highly effective at removing labile phosphorus and was also found to enhance nitrate removal. Systems containing deep-rooted vegetation (Panicum virgatum) were found to be particularly effective at retaining both labile and non-labile constituents. Overall, none of the bioretention treatments were found to be a significant source of N2O and were small sinks for CH4 in most treatments.