The financial and environmental performance of firms exposed to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme

This thesis is an empirical-based study of the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and its implications in terms of corporate environmental and financial performance. The novelty of this study includes the extended scope of the data coverage, as most previous studies have examined only the power sector. The use of verified emissions data of ETS-regulated firms as the environmental compliance measure and as the potential differentiating criteria that concern the valuation of EU ETS-exposed firms in the stock market is also an original aspect of this study. The study begins in Chapter 2 by introducing the background information on the emission trading system (ETS), which focuses on (i) the adoption of ETS as an environmental management instrument and (ii) the adoption of ETS by the European Union as one of its central climate policies. Chapter 3 surveys four databases that provide carbon emissions data in order to determine the most suitable source of the data to be used in the later empirical chapters. The first empirical chapter, which is also Chapter 4 of this thesis, investigates the determinants of the emissions compliance performance of the EU ETS-exposed firms through constructing the best possible performance ratio from verified emissions data and self-configuring models for a panel regression analysis. Chapter 5 examines the impacts on the EU ETS-exposed firms in terms of their equity valuation with customised portfolios and multi-factor market models. The research design takes into account the emissions allowance (EUA) price as an additional factor, as it has the most direct association with the EU ETS to control for the exposure. The final empirical Chapter 6 takes the investigation one step further, by specifically testing the degree of ETS exposure facing different sectors with sector-based portfolios and an extended multi-factor market model. The findings from the emissions performance ratio analysis show that the business model of firms significantly influences emissions compliance, as the capital intensity has a positive association with the increasing emissions-to-emissions cap ratio. Furthermore, different sectors show different degrees of sensitivity towards the determining factors. The production factor influences the performance ratio of the Utilities sector, but not the Energy or Materials sectors. The results show that the capital intensity has a more profound influence on the utilities sector than on the materials sector. With regard to the financial performance impact, ETS-exposed firms as aggregate portfolios experienced a substantial underperformance during the 2001–2004 period, but not in the operating period of 2005–2011. The results of the sector-based portfolios show again the differentiating effect of the EU ETS on sectors, as one sector is priced indifferently against its benchmark, three sectors see a constant underperformance, and three sectors have altered outcomes.

Gestão democrática nas escolas: a atuação dos diretores escolares e os desafios para sua consolidação na rede municipal de Natal/RN

The democratic management is a challenge for education, on the one hand for its actualization needs a link between the government and the educational institution. From that, research aims to understand the main challenges faced by the school administration to consolidate the management of public schools in Natal/RN. Against this context the methodology used was multiple cases, qualitative approach in which respondent were manager (director, deputy director and coordinator) of the four municipal schools and two representatives of the Democratic Management Commission of a Government departament of Education, Natal/RN. The analysis was made by peers, between schools that had grade superior IDEB that average stipulated by the federal government and two that had grade lower and between managers and representatives of the Secretary. Were used techniques of categorization and content analysis of the speeches of respondents. Was note that managers understand the importance of the participation about whole community in the democratic management, however only one school highlighted means of attracting the parents against to the difficulty of representing these. The lack of knowledge about the democratic management is evident mainly in the pair of schools with lower IDEB. That schools with a lower IDEB adhere to this management as a way to meet rules. So unanimous, the broad role of director hampers knowledge about the legislation. About relationship of the Government department with managers, there are some contradictions between the understanding of the role of the coordinator by managers and representatives of the Government department. It was perceptible the no uniformity about a good relationship between managers and Government department. It was notable features of democratic management in all school units, well as the efforts of the Government department in this scope. However there are also undemocratic features that deserve further study

Aquaculture Research and Development as an Entry-Point and Contributor to Natural Resources and Coastal Management

Recent, fervent international dialogue concerning the existence and magnitude of impacts associated with aquaculture has had both positive and negative outcomes. Aquaculture stakeholders have become sensitized to requirements for improved environmental management of aquaculture. on the other hand, in some cases aquaculture development has been negatively affected by some of the unwarranted and unproved allegations to the detriment of the stakeholders most in need of aquaculture development (i.e., resource users, particularly the poor, who are dependent on natural resources). These resource users are targeted by, and directly influence biodiversity and conservation agendas; hence the need to understand how to gain their active participation. This discussion focuses on examples of how aquaculture research and development can be a useful tool or strategy for resource management initiatives and provide tangible positive including increased stakeholder participation and cooperation, offering alternatives to resource extraction and use in otherwise difficult or intransigent resource management conflicts.

O licenciamento ambiental pelos municípios: uma análise sobre o federalismo cooperativo adotado pela Constituição Federal

In complex federal systems as that found in Brazil, which provides simultaneous attributions to of the Union, States and Cities in many aspects, the definition of performance limits of each of these entities, in procedural or material aspect, generates many (positive and/or negative) competence conflicts, bringing insecurity to general administered. Environmental licensing is one of the most important instruments of environmental management, seeking the realization of the fundamental right to an ecologically balanced and sustainable development. Despite its importance, the environmental licensing has not been more effective due the conflict related to the authority to regulate regardind environmental law. This essay will analyze the structure of competence distribution for conducting the environmental licensing processes, the conflict between laws, the performance of the municipal environmental agencies, the cooperation between the licensing agencies and the future about the additional regulatory law of article 23 of Federal Constitution

Impacto urbano ocasionado por empreendimentos da construção civil no entorno da zona de proteção ambiental (zpa-6), Vila de Ponta Negra, Natal/RN

The process of urbanization in recent decades has generated considerable seriousness of problems relating to the use and occupation physical environment of cities. The concentration of population, economic activities and technological standards have reinforced an existing urban environment highly degraded as a consequence of the development style that leads to the predatory use of natural resources. In this context, cities as centers of production and consumption, have the most serious problems of environmental degradation. This study investigated the impacts of the municipal building projects to large-scale vertical in the town of Vila de Ponta Negra, Natal-RN, given the proximity to the Environmental Protection Area (ZPA-6) and considering its environmental importance , scenic, landscape and tourism for the city of Natal-RN. The fragility of the licensing process and the failure of the assumptions in the analysis, objective and subjective, for the granting of environmental permits for the building construction projects, specifically those set out in the surroundings of the Environmental Protection Area (ZPA-6) and fundamental importance of landscape and tourism for the city of Natal, has aroused the concern of local people in and of itself the Government, faced with the probable impacts that will affect greatly the Vila de Ponta Negra. The methodology used to achieve the intended objectives will be the literature review, questionnaire to the surrounding population and the Government, as well as findings on the spot, through the photographic record. The beneficiaries of the license, if the entrepreneurs, have been affected because of the granting of licensing act of investing large amount of capital in the works. Additionally, with distrust of the population, since they are to discredit the public system of environmental management have guessed by the probability of imbalance to the environment and structural damage to the Vila de Ponta Negra, where such failure to support energy, lack of regular supply of water , lack of sanitation and access roads sufficient for the flow of motor vehicles in these areas, among other factors. Thus, this work will contribute to the diagnosis and solutions to the problem in question, so that the Government will effectively fulfill its social management of ecologically balanced environment of continuing urban development in Natal, Brazil

Análise comparativa dos métodos de fatores ponderados na seleção de áreas para aterros sanitários

This study presents a comparative analysis of methodologies about weighted factors considered in the selection of areas for deployment of Sanitary Landfills, applying the methodologies of classification criteria with scoring bands Gomes, Coelho, Erba & Veronez (2000); Waquil et al, 2000. That means, we have the Scoring System used by Union of Municipalities of Bahia and the Quality Index Landfill Waste (IQR) which are applyed for this study in Massaranduba Sanitary Landfill located in the municipality of Ceará Mirim /RN, northeastern of Brazil. The study was conducted in order to classify the methodologies and to give support for future studies on environmental management segment, with main goal to propose suited methodologies which allow safety and rigor during the selection, deployment and management of sanitary landfill, in the Brazilian municipalities, in order to help them in the process to extinction of their dumps, in according of Brazilian Nacional Plan of Solid Waste. During this investigation we have studied the characteristics of the site as morphological, hydrogeological, environmental and socio-economic to permit the installation. We consider important to mention the need of deployment from Rio Grande do Norte State Secretary of Environment and Water (SEMARH), Institute of Sustainable Development and Environment of RN (IDEMA), as well, from Federal and Municipal Governments a public policies for the integrated management of urban solid waste that address environmental preservation and improvement of health conditions of the population of the Rio Grande do Norte

Passivo ambiental e o setor de exploração de petróleo em terra: abordagem teórica e percepção institucional dos impactos ambientais gerados na atividade

The search for a sustainable development is result of the exhaustion of the natural resources of the planet that demands globalizated politics with practical of compatible economic development with the protection of the quality of life for the future generations. This work presents a study on the thematic on the environmental liabilities in the organizations with focus in the industry of the oil and the production of oil in land in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. Some types of environmental liabilities are presented, as well as, some estimates techniques. Moreover, this work presents surveys of some variable that stimulate the organizations to implant technologies of reduction of the impacts in the environment as: the environmental legislation, costs, the main impacts of the production of oil in land. On the basis of the bibliographical research and in the identified variable, it was carried a case study with state and municipal technician that act in the sectors of fiscalization (IBAMA-RN and IDEMA-RN) with the objective to deepen the discussion regarding the impacts of the industry of the oil, the effectiveness of the current law, the performance of the institutions the federal level and how to prevent impacts in the environment. It was observed that the environmental liabilities are a little spread subject in the organizations, perhaps to be unknown and of few theoretical referencees at the national level, regarding to the evaluation techniques. At the same time, absentee in the national politics that conducts the oil exploration

In the eye of the storm: exploring the introduction of environmental issues in the production function in Brazilian companies

This article aims to analyse the introduction of environmental issues in the context of the production function, which has been referred to as the organisational area to lead corporate environmental management. With that purpose, the theoretical references for corporate environmental management and the necessary alterations in production function have been organised to include environmental aspects, especially in terms of product and process development, quality management, and logistics. Considering that this research field still lacks empirical evidence for Brazilian companies, four case studies were conducted using companies located in the country. The environmental management maturity level of those companies tends to follow the rate with which the environmental issue is introduced in production sub-areas, especially in the product development process. However, in most cases we found that the companies had difficulties in structuring the insertion of the environmental dimension in logistics. The final notes point out the distance observed between what is recommended by international literature and the reality of Brazilian companies in the challenge of making the production function environmentally friendly.

Best practices for the implantation of ISO 14001 norms: a study of change management in two industrial companies in the Midwest region of the state of São Paulo - Brazil

Among the difficulties found in the implementation of ISO 14001 systems, resistance to change can always be found. It is mainly a consequence of the hurry to change, loss of focus, concentration of decision making at the level of top management, arbitrary imposition of objectives and results, faulty communication, and the absence of motivational and financial incentive for change.Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to present best practices with respect to the management of organizational change due to the implementation of ISO 14001 norms in two industrial companies in the Midwest region of the State of São Paulo - Brazil. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Atores sociais e política ambiental urbana do Município de Mossoró/RN pelo prisma das cartografias sociais analíticas

It starts with the understanding that the relationship between society / nature is largely problematic in a context of socio-environmental crisis. In this context, we use the principle of hope to plan and work out new ways of understanding social reality, the relationship between science and alternative knowledge. The research is to investigate how the actors influence the social construction of urban environmental policy of the city of Mossoró / RN with reference to the processes of implementing the Master Plan and Agenda 21 of the municipality. The hypothesis of this research is that the Environmental Policy in Mossley has a normative character that is expressed primarily in the creation of an institutional political framework to manage environmental issues involving so incidental and or functional society participation mossoroense. Thus questioned who are the actors that build environmental policy Mossoró / RN. The specific objectives of this research are: Identify the environmental dimension of the Master Plan Agenda 21 articulated Mossoró / RN mapping information from the managers, engineers and members of the Municipal Environment and Municipal Council of Cities on the operation of urban environmental policy mossoroense and how it is performed by the Manager of Environmental Management in conjunction with the Department of Environment and Territorial Development (SEDETMA) and Executive Management of Urban Development. As a methodology, we used the method of the sociology of absences and emergencies in conjunction with the ecology of knowledge and productivity. It is a qualitative research and documentary, which was used as the Master Plan documents Mossoró / RN, minutes of meetings of boards and complementarity were carried out 12 semi-structured interviews with managers and directors of the Urban Environmental Policy of the Municipality of Mossoró / RN. They used also the social analytical or thematic maps for the translation of the dialogue among social partners, managers and directors who make the Environmental Policy Council. We conclude that these dialogues and experiences point to the construction of an environmental policy more participatory and effective, committed to individual and collective transformation of society mossoroense

Mapeamento de stakeholders nas áreas conexas de turismo e meio ambiente: um estudo em João Pessoa/PB

The present study aims to understand the perception in a manager perspective of the relationship between the stakeholders of tourism and environmental management in João Pessoa (PB). It is a qualitative, transversal, descriptive and exploratory research, held with keys stakeholders of tourism and environment in the capital of Paraíba. The data were collected through structured interviews and the analysis of the minutes of the municipal council of tourism, called COMTUR/ JP. The data research allowed us to affirm that the environmental stakeholders have a higher academic background than those of tourism, on the other hand the tourism stakeholders‟ have longer experience time than the environmental stakeholders‟. In general, the use of environmental resources for tourism is noticed as positively by the tourism stakeholders‟ and as intermediate for the environmental stakeholders‟, the tourism development is consider to be a non predatory active in João Pessoa, but it is very concentrate in the coastal area, the remnants of Atlantic Forest or protected areas are not used for tourism. The main environmental impacts cause by tourism according to the stakeholders interviewed (tourism and environment) were the environmental degradation of reef, beach pollution and the construction of tourism facilities in areas that should be protected, however, there was a stakeholder who believes that the tourism development in Paraíba is so nascent that it is unable to impact the environment. The performance of SETDE, PBTUR and SUDEMA was consider inconsistent by some of the interviewed stakeholders‟. The NGO representatives believe that the most important thing is a paradigm shift from the entrepreneurs and the local population. Despite the apparently close relationship between tourism and environment management in João Pessoa (PB), some actions of tourism agencies and the state government has left some unhappy important environmental stakeholders indicating that the relationship between tourism and environment in the city is becoming tenser each year

O uso de geotecnologias no planejamento ambiental: o plano diretor municipal de Tambaú - SP

A Lei Federal 10.257, de 10 de julho de 2001, regulamentou os artigos 182 e 183 da Constituição Federal de 1988 no que trata da política urbana, especialmente da propriedade, sendo obrigatório para municípios com mais de 20.000 habitantes. Até então, os planos diretores municipais vinham sendo feitos levando em conta apenas as respectivas áreas urbanas, A partir desta lei, tais planos tiveram de levar em conta também as áreas rurais, integrando-as no processo do planejamento municipal sustentado. Analisando-se os planos diretores municipais recentes, elaborados a partir dessas novas diretrizes, nota-se que a maioria ainda enfatiza a área urbana, em detrimento da área rural. O objetivo deste trabalho foi, a partir de um estudo de caso, avaliar e validar metodologias e tecnologias rotineiramente empregadas em Geociências e Ciências Agrárias.

The reliability of experts' opinions in constructing a composite environmental index: The case of ESI 2005

The complexity of the environment demands a well-constructed composite environmental index (CEI) to provide a useful tool to draw attention to environmental conditions and trends for policy purposes. Among the common difficulties in constructing a proper CEI are uncertainties due to the selection of the most representative underlying variables or indicators. A degree of uncertainty accompanies experts' judgments, and to deal with vague, subjective or inconsistent information, logic other than classic is required. This study analyzes a procedure that uses different experts' opinions in constructing a CEI. with the use of paraconsistent annotated logic. For this, a sensitivity analysis of the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI 2005) was used as an example to assess the reliability of experts' opinions. The uncertainty due to the disagreement in experts' opinions clearly indicates that the forms we presently use to measure and monitor the actual environment are insufficient, that is, there is a lack of a "science of sustainability". (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.