Did you know that in 2008 the largest publicly listed companies in the world caused environmental damage for a total estimated cost of $2.15 trillion, accounting for 35% of total global environmental costs caused by human activity? Or did you know that three million people die every year because of outdoor pollution made by vehicles and factories? Most companies have some sort of environmental policy that aims to reduce waste and pollution, but there are few that aim to become a climate neutral business. Our study has the intention to find out why some companies are willing to do something extra for the environment by voluntary compensate for their emissions through carbon offsets. Previous research has shown that there is a lack of understanding regarding the motivations to reduce emissions and that there is a need for studies to find out motivations for why companies buy voluntary carbon offsets, which leads us to our problem definition: What motivates companies to buy voluntary emission offsets? We developed four sub-purposes that helped us in our journey towards an answer to our research question. These were: identify incentives for emission offsetting, important aspects when evaluating which projects to support, if and how companies are communicating their offsetting activities and whether the possibility of buying emission offsets reduce incentives for companies to decrease their own emissions. Our degree project is written on commission for Respect Climate, a sustainability consultancy that operates in the area of Scandinavia. They help their customers to reduce their emissions, make climate calculations and offset emissions. Our aim with our conclusions of our degree project is to help Respect Climate to market their services to potential customers. As our degree project focuses on underlying motivations behind their customers’ behavior, we have chosen to do a qualitative study. First we implemented two interviews with employees at Respect Climate, which acted as a foundation to our interviews with four of their business customers. Further, we chose to collect communication data from their customers’ annual reports and websites in order to get a third dimension to our study. Our conclusions have shown that the primary motivation for engaging in emission offsetting is doing something good for the environment, but other incentives within the social and economic aspects of the Triple Bottom Line are expressed as well.

This thesis is a research about how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be integrated within Small to medium sized enterprises (SME) inside the fashion industry. It examines the drivers for fashion companies to take social and environmental responsibility and what difficulties and opportunities that they might face in their work towards a more sustainable supply chain. There is no doubt about that the fashion industry needs to re-think their strategies in order to be ethical and environmentally friendly, however focus usually lies on the large chains and their impact. In this report, focus lies on fashion companies that belongs to the category “SME”. SME plays a significant role to the economy and have a great impact on the society yet there is little research and empirical findings on how SME can contribute in a profitable way to a sustainable future. A literature review was made to find the current status of how small companies work with CSR together with relevant theories on how to apply it in reality. Three companies chose to participate in an interview in order to get empirical findings and to connect the literature review with reality. The main barrier for SMEs within the fashion industry to involve in CSR is the financial aspect however there is many advantages such as improved stakeholder relationships as well as improved brand reputation that will generate profit in the long run. This study tries to motivate fashion companies to engage in CSR in order to build a stable business.

Large amounts of dredged sediment are removed from ports and river channels annually to maintain necessary depths in the maritime industry. The most common management approach for dredged soils throughout the southeast US is disposal in confined facilities. This may be the most feasible approach for ports with modest amounts of dredged soil and ample capacity for disposal. However, there is likely a more feasible option for some ports desiring to increase dredged soil containment capacity. This thesis evaluates the beneficial reuse of dredged soils after lightly cementing with 5.0% or less cement by slurry mass. A previously conducted survey was interpreted prior to performing a literature review, testing, and performing sustainability calculations for reuse of dredged soil when lightly cemented. There were 239 experiments performed as part of this thesis to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing dredged soils after lightly cementing for beneficial reuse projects near ports.

Road freight transportation is important for the development of the global economy and, at the same time, one of the most destructive businesses when it comes to the environment and human health. As societies evolve, the need for freight transportation increases and the transport demand cannot in a sustainable way be fulfilled with the use of diesel trucks as it is done today. For the sake of our environment, the electrification transition needs to ramp up. However, when it comes to covering long distances with an electric truck, problems arise due to the lack of sufficient driving strategies, technology, and infrastructure adapted to the needs for long-distance electrified transportation. Therefore, different battery-electric truck solutions need to be evaluated to identify an economically, socially, and environmentally friendly way of operating. Consequently, the purpose of this master's thesis is the following:  From a carrier operation perspective, identify different solutions for electrified long-haul transportation and evaluate how cost competitive they are based on triple bottom line. To fulfill this purpose the study was divided into two steps, where the first one was to, through literature and interviews, identify different solutions for electric long-haul transportation and external parameters affecting these solutions. The parameters and solutions were then combined with different distances into focus cases. The second step consisted of identifying both internal and external cost drivers, which were used to create a cost model that considered environmental, economic, and social sustainability. The cost model was then used to evaluate the different focus cases to determine their competitiveness. The solutions were based on wire charging, a 300-, 450-, or 624 kWh battery, and were operated either through trailer swap or point-to-point. The external parameters that were the most important ones were battery degradation, the electricity market, and prerequisites for effective logistics. These were all combined into focus cases which were evaluated on the distances 300-, 400-, 500-, and 600 km. The cost model that was used included both internal and external costs to cover the economic, environmental, and social perspectives in the evaluation. To evaluate the focus cases and be able to compare it to a diesel solution the model considered the costs that differ between a battery electric truck and a diesel truck, which at an overall level was electricity cost, charging infrastructure, batteries, salary when charging, environmental, and social costs. For the distance of 300 km, the most competitive combination was wire charging, 300 kWh battery, and trailer swap. For the distances 400- and 500 km the best combination was wire charge, 450 kWh battery, and trailer swap. The best solution for 500 km was wire charge, 624 kWh battery, and trailer swap. The conclusion is, from a carrier operation perspective, that the most competitive solution to use is based on trailer swap, including a battery with a capacity that is adapted to the distance where the batteries can be charged through wire charging at a charger with a high utilization factor. Finally, for shorter distances, a battery electric truck is cost-competitive against a diesel truck. However, at longer distances a battery electric truck's competitiveness in comparison to a diesel truck gets worse, but at all distances the battery electric truck solution is both socially and environmentally beneficial in comparison to a diesel alternative.

Utvecklingen av Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) har under de senaste decennierna utvecklats till att bli en allt mer viktig del i företags strategier, med ett fokus som läggs mer och mer på miljömässigt och socialt ansvarstagande. Tidigare har detta främst implementerats inom stora företag, däremot har utvecklingen av CSR nu lett till att detta även är aktuellt inom Små och medelstora företag (SMEs). Däremot har SMEs kännetecknats av att lägga mindre fokus på implementeringen av CSR, detta på grund av att SMEs inte har samma förutsättningar när det kommer till att kunna använda resurser och lägga tid på att engagera sig inom CSR.    Tidigare forskning har visat att ett aktivt CSR-arbete kan medföra flertalet fördelar, exempelvis ett förbättrat företagsrykte, både ökad motivation och arbetsnöjdhet hos anställda, samt ökad kundlojalitet. Forskning visar även på att det är av stor vikt att företag värnar om sina intressenter och skapar goda relationer med dessa för att kunna bibehålla en konkurrenskraftig och långsiktig position på marknaden. Det tidigare forskning däremot inte visar är hur SMEs arbete med CSR spelar roll i utvecklingen av ett företags intressentrelationer.    Det har gjort att följande forskningsfråga har tagits fram och besvarats:  “Hur arbetar Små och medelstora företag i Norrland med CSR och vilken roll spelar det i utvecklingen av intressentrelationer?”   För att besvara studiens syfte och problemformulering har en kvalitativ flerfallstudie av sex svenska SMEs verksamma i Norrland genomförts. Detta genom att data har samlats in med hjälp av 6 semistrukturerade intervjuer, i kombination material från företagens hemsidor. Intervjuerna hade som syfte att skapa en förståelse för hur dessa företag arbetar med CSR, samt vilken roll detta har spelat i utvecklingen av deras intressentrelationer. Utifrån insamlad har en tematisk analys utförts, vilket har format studiens fem teman, dessa är: miljöledning och strategier, policys och företagskultur, framtidsorientering, intressenters påverkan och kommunikationskanaler.    Studiens resultat visar på att SMEs CSR arbete ligger som en grund för relationerna med deras intressenter. Däremot skiljer sig detta åt beroende på vilken typ av relation som företaget och intressenten har. Utifrån studiens resultat rekommenderar vi SMEs att aktivt engagera sig inom CSR, både vad gäller internt och externt, miljömässigt och hållbarhetsmässigt.

The Master's thesis deals with corporate social responsibility. The first part is dedicated to the definition of the term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and to historical development of the whole strategy. It also includes explanation of the main theoretical concepts related to the topic (Tripple Bottom Line, Carroll's Pyramid, Stakeholder Theory, etc.) Following part deals with the implementation of CSR into practice and with advantages and disadvantages of the whole concept. Next chapter is focused on national and international organizations, initiatives and certificates that help companies to put the strategy of CSR in place. The practical part of the thesis deals with corporate social responsibility of Pilsner Urquell, one of the world's best known Czech breweries. Emphasis is put on the matter of CSR seen as philantrophic activity in comparison with CSR seen as a part of marketing and PR strategy.

Fokus i denna uppsats ligger i att jämföra fyra organisationers hållbarhetsredovisningar och se i vilken utsträckning de uppfyller GRI:s riktlinjer för ekonomisk påverkan. De fyra organisationer som granskas är Sveriges storbanker, Handelsbanken, Nordea, SEB och Swedbank. Eftersom att de agerar inom den finansiella sektorn har en avgränsning gjorts till det ekonomiska ansvaret eftersom det är det mest relevanta och intressanta att titta närmare på.  Problemformuleringen i denna uppsats lyder: På vilket sätt, i sina hållbarhetsredovisningar, tillämpar Sveriges fyra storbanker GRI:s riktlinjer för ekonomisk påverkan?  Syftet är att se hur bankerna har presenterat sin ekonomiska påverkan enligt GRI:s riktlinjer och jämföra dessa med varandra. För att få fram information om detta har respektive banks hållbarhetsredovisning för år 2010 granskats och tolkats. Den teoretiska referensramen som uppsatsen har utgått ifrån är CSR , ett begrepp som beskriver de tre ansvarsområdena ekonomi, socialt och miljö. Dessa tre områden är i grunden TBL (tripple bottom line). En stor del av teoridelen består av GRI:s riktlinjer och ramverk som även de bygger på TBL:s tre byggstenar.

The work is dedicated to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its application in the hotel. Part of this work are interviews with representatives of hotels representing the CSR best practices and interviews with other selected subjects. Comparison of the information reflects the current status of implementation of CSR in hotel management in the Czech Republic. The output of work is created CSR matrix. According the principles of 3 BL management matrix visualizes the organization current level of Corporate Social Responsibility and the impact of its activities on a particular area of CSR.

The construction industry is generally characterised by limited implementation of green logistics. With that in mind, this study aimed to examine the nature and extent of green logistics practices in large construction companies in Botswana. Although empirical studies have analysed green supply chain in the construction industry, most of them have not addressed the challenges and prospects of adopting green logistics by construction companies in a developing country like Botswana. Project Managers were interviewed after which a thematic analysis was used to interpret the qualitative results. Thereafter, a comparative analysis was done between the results obtained from the interviews and from extant literature. The findings showed that the adoption of the green logistics strategies was aligned more to economic reasons than environmental ones. The findings further showed that until and unless the construction, technical and administration issues are addressed, the adoption of green logistics will continue to be a challenge for the construction industry in Botswana / Centre for Transport Economics, Logistics and Tourism / M. Com. (Logistics)

Studien syftar till att undersöka energi-, vatten- och kemikaliåtgång inom processerna blekning och färgning för nyproduktionsimiterande remake respektive nyproduktion. Genom att undersöka det kan en diskussion föras om huruvida nyproduktionsimiterande remake är ett möjligt alternativ för textilindustrin att hantera dess miljöproblem och textilavfall. Genom att testa att bleka, färga och mäta utvalda parametrar har vi i en labbmiljö skapat en testbild av hur en möjlig process skulle kunna se ut. Genom användning av Higg-Index har vi sedan kunnat få fram en indikation på hur hög resursåtgången skulle kunna vara på industriell nivå med konventionella och resurssparande metoder. Resultatet visar att om målet är att färga om till en så mörk färg som möjligt så skall remakeprodukten inte blekas i förväg. Resultaten gav även en indikation på hur många blekningar som skulle behöva göras i labbmiljö för att få ett helt vitt prov. Detta gav en indikation på hur hög energi-, vatten- och kemikaliåtgång skulle varit beroende på önskat resultat. Detta examensarbete har som mål att uppmuntra kritisk diskussion av remake samt ligga till grund för vidare forskning inom området. Detta för att på sikt bidra med lösningar som kan få textilindustrin att bli mer cirkulär. / The study aims to investigate the consumption of energy, water, and chemicals in the bleaching and dyeing processes for new-production imitating remakes versus new production. By examining this, a discussion can be initiated on whether new-production imitating remakes are a viable alternative for the textile industry to address its environmental issues and textile waste. By testing bleaching, dyeing, and measuring selected parameters in a lab environment, we have created a test representation of how a potential process could work. Using the Higg-Index, we have then been able to get an indication of how high the resource consumption would be at an industrial level with conventional and resource-saving methods. The results show that if the goal is to re-dye to the darkest color possible, the remake product should not be pre-bleached. The results also provided an indication of how many bleaching cycles would need to be done in a lab environment to achieve a completely white sample. This gave an indication of what the energy, water, and chemical consumption would be depending on the desired outcome. This thesis aims to encourage discussion of remakes and serve as a foundation for further research in the area, ultimately contributing to solutions that can make the textile industry more circular.