A Consumption-Based Approach to Carbon Emission Accounting – Sectoral Differences and Environmental Benefits

In recent years there has been growing concern about the emission trade balances of countries. This is due to the fact that countries with an open economy are active players in international trade. Trade is not only a major factor in forging a country’s economic structure, but contributes to the movement of embodied emissions beyond country borders. This issue is especially relevant from the carbon accounting policy and domestic production perspective, as it is known that the production-based principle is employed in the Kyoto agreement. The research described herein was designed to reveal the interdependence of countries on international trade and the corresponding embodied emissions both on national and on sectoral level and to illustrate the significance of the consumption-based emission accounting. It is presented here to what extent a consumption-based accounting would change the present system based on production-based accounting and allocation. The relationship of CO2 emission embodied in exports and embodied in imports is analysed here. International trade can blur the responsibility for the ecological effects of production and consumption and it can lengthen the link between consumption and its consequences. Input-output models are used in the methodology as they provide an appropriate framework for climate change accounting. The analysis comprises an international comparative study of four European countries (Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Hungary) with extended trading activities and carbon emissions. Moving from a production-based approach in climate policy to a consumption-based principle and allocation approach would help to increase the efficiency of emission reductions and would force countries to rethink their trading activities in order to decrease the environmental load of production activities. The results of this study show that it is important to distinguish between the two emission accounting approaches, both on the global and the local level.

A lean termelési rendszer munkásokra gyakorolt hatása (Effects of lean production on quality of working life from workers’ point of view)

A lean termelési rendszer munkásokra gyakorolt hatásaival foglalkozó irodalomban nincsen egyetértés annak megítélésében, hogy a hatásokban a negatív vagy pozitív hatások dominálnak-e. A szerző tanulmánya ehhez a vitához a pszichológiai, egészségügyi, munkahelyi jellemzőkre és a dolgozói elégedettségre vonatkozó eredmények áttekintésével kapcsolódik. A munkások elégedettségének vizsgálata arra utal, hogy a lean termelési rendszer egyszerre növeli és csökkenti is az elégedettséget, így az összességében nem változik más termelési rendszerekhez képest. A lean termelés kritikusai azt hangsúlyozzák, hogy a többi tényező negatívan hat a munkásokra. Megállapításaik megalapozottsága a nagyon kevés empirikus munka miatt megkérdőjelezhető. Ugyanakkor a tevékenységmenedzsment kutatói érdemben nem tudják cáfolni a stressz, a sérülések és betegségek kockázatának növekedését és a munka intenzívebbé válását. A negatív hatások és a várt pozitív hatások hiányának kiemelése felveti, hogy a munkavállalók bevonásán alapuló lean termelési rendszer nehezen ültethető át a gyakorlatba, illetve hogy a lean termelés intenzifikáción alapuló modellje is elterjedt. _____________ This literature review contributes to the debate related to the effects of lean production on workers. The study reviews different dimensions of the debate and focuses on issues like worker’s satisfaction, psychological effects, health and safety aspects, and workplace characteristics. Findings of researches reviewed in this paper cannot confirm that from workers’ point of view lean production is better than other production initiatives. Lean production enhances and decreases worker’s satisfaction at the same time, altogether, the satisfaction of workers does not change significantly compared to other systems. The negative impact of the other factors (psychological etc.) on workers is usually emphasized in the critique of lean production. Although, the limited number of (empirical) studies doubts these critical voices. However, Operations Management can not reject negative effects like increasing level of stress, increased risks of health and safety problems or intensification of work. The emphasis of the negative effects and the lack of positive effects can refer to the difficult employment of lean involvement system, or simply reflect that the model of lean intensification system is widely spread.

Effects of Temperature–Climate Patterns on the Production of Some Competitive Species on Grounds of Modelling

Climate change has serious effects on the setting up and the operation of natural ecosystems. Small increase in temperature could cause rise in the amount of some species or potential disappearance of others. During our researches, the dispersion of the species and biomass production of a theoretical ecosystem were examined on the effect of the temperature–climate change. The answers of the ecosystems which are given to the climate change could be described by means of global climate modelling and dynamic vegetation models. The examination of the operation of the ecosystems is only possible in huge centres on supercomputers because of the number and the complexity of the calculation. The number of the calculation could be decreased to the level of a PC by considering the temperature and the reproduction during modelling a theoretical ecosystem, and several important theoretical questions could be answered.