Globalization persists the tendency to alter numerous aspects of today's world including religion, transport, language, living styles, and international relations; however, its potential to influence quality of environment is the prime concern for trade and environmental policies guidelines (Audi and Ali 2018). In response to the growing interest for identifying the dynamic relationship between globalization and environmental performance, the present study seeks to investigate the critical link between globalization and ecological footprints in top 15 globalized countries between 1970 and 2016. Applying the novel methods of quantile-on-quantile regression (QQ) and Granger causality in quantiles, the findings examine the manners in which quantiles of globalization affect the quantiles of ecological footprints and vice versa. The empirical results suggest that globalization has a long-term positive effect on ecological footprint and vice versa in case of Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Canada, and Portugal. On the other hand, the estimated results indicate a negative effect between globalization and ecological footprint in the case of France, Germany, the UK, and Hungary. These results extend the recent findings on the globalization-environment nexus implying that the magnitude of relationship among both variables varies with countries demanding individual focus and cautions for postulating environmental and trade policies.
Much of the environmental policy literature tends to focus on democratic contexts where environmental innovation is a product of pluralistic interactions among state and non-state actors. By bringing the (authoritarian) politics into the analysis, this article seeks to discover the processes leading to environmental innovation under nondemocratic conditions. We utilise case studies in China and then-nondemocratic Malaysia, both grappling with the twin imperatives of rapid development and social control, where the governments initiated environmental innovations to expand space for public participation and monitoring against noxious plants. We adapt the conceptual framework of "environmental innovation strategies" to illustrate the mechanisms underpinning innovative practices that address environmental issues by going beyond pre-existing public regulatory provisions. We highlight aspects distinguishing the interactive processes under authoritarianism. First, the drivers of environmental innovation are contingent on the government's role and concerns over social control and state legitimacy. Second, due to limits over political space, environmental nongovernmental organisations (ENGOs) act as issue entrepreneurs-instead of policy entrepreneurs-who turn conditions into problems deserving government attention and solution, as they engage in conflictual interactions with state authorities. Third, such innovations can strengthen nondemocratic governance while not fully plugging the gaps in existing environmental regulations. This contributes to illuminating the behaviours of state-based environmental innovators under illiberal political regimes, potentially offering lessons to activists on how to stimulate further innovations in such contexts.
Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the most attractive tools employed nowadays by environmental policy-makers as well as business decision-makers to ensure environmentally sustainable production/consumption of various goods/services. LCA is a systematic, rigorous, and standardized approach aimed at quantifying resources consumed/depleted, pollutants released, and the related environmental and health impacts through the course of consumption and production of goods/service. Algal fuels are no exception and their environmental sustainability could be well scrutinized using the LCA methodology. In line with that, this chapter is devoted to present guidelines on the technical aspects of LCA application in algal fuels while elaborating on major standards used, i.e., ISO 14040 and 14044 standards. Overall, LCA practitioners as well as technical experts dealing with algal fuels in both the public and private sectors could be the main target audience for these guidelines.
The sustainable management of natural resources requires the consideration of multiple stakeholders' perspectives and knowledge claims, in order to inform complex and possibly contentious decision-making dilemmas. Hence, a better understanding of why people in particular contexts do manage natural resources in a particular way is needed. Focusing on mangroves, highly productive tropical intertidal forests, this study's first aim is to map the diversity of subjective viewpoints among a range of stakeholders on the management of Matang Mangrove Forest in peninsular Malaysia. Secondly, this study aims to feed the reflection on the possible consequences of the diversity of perspectives for the future management of mangroves in Malaysia and beyond. The use of the semi-quantitative Q methodology allowed us to identify three main discourses on mangrove management: i. the optimization discourse, stressing the need to improve the current overall satisfactory management regime; ii. the 'change for the better' discourse, which focuses on increasingly participatory management and on ecotourism; and iii. the conservative 'business as usual' discourse. The existence of common points of connection between the discourses and their respective supporters provides opportunities for modifications of mangrove management regimes. Acknowledging this diversity of viewpoints, reflecting how different stakeholders see and talk about mangrove management, highlights the need to develop pro-active and resilient natural resource management approaches.
Technological advances, coupled with increasing demands by consumers, have led to a drastic increase in plastic production. After serving their purposes, these plastics reach our water bodies as their destination and become ingested by aquatic organisms. This ubiquitous phenomenon has exposed humans to microplastics mostly through the consumption of sea food. This has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to make an urgent call for the assessment of environmental pollution due to microplastics and its effect on human health. This review summarizes studies between 1999 and 2020 in relation to microplastics in aquatic ecosystems and human food products, their potential toxic effects as elicited in animal studies, and policies on their use and disposal. There is a paucity of information on the toxicity mechanisms of microplastics in animal studies, and despite their documented presence in food products, no policy has been in place so far, to monitor and regulates microplastics in commercial foods meant for human consumption. Although there are policies and regulations with respect to plastics, these are only in a few countries and in most instances are not fully implemented due to socioeconomic reasons, so they do not address the problem across the entire life cycle of plastics from production to disposal. More animal research to elucidate pathways and early biomarkers of microplastic toxicity that can easily be detected in humans is needed. This is to create awareness and influence policies that will address this neglected threat to food safety and security.
Increasing heavy metal (HM) concentrations in the soil have become a significant problem in the modern industrialized world due to several anthropogenic activities. Heavy metals (HMs) are non-biodegradable and have long biological half lives; thus, once entered in food chain, their concentrations keep on increasing through biomagnification. The increased concentrations of heavy metals ultimately pose threat on human life also. The one captivating solution for this problem is to use green plants for HM removal from soil and render it harmless and reusable. Although this green technology called phytoremediation has many advantages over conventional methods of HM removal from soils, there are also many challenges that need to be addressed before making this technique practically feasible and useful on a large scale. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms of HM uptake, transport, and plant tolerance mechanisms to cope with increased HM concentrations. This review article also comprehensively discusses the advantages, major challenges, and future perspectives of phytoremediation of heavy metals from the soil.
Many drivers of mangrove forest loss operate over large scales and are most effectively addressed by policy interventions. However, conflicting or unclear policy objectives exist at multiple tiers of government, resulting in contradictory management decisions. To address this, we considered four approaches that are being used increasingly or could be deployed in Southeast Asia to ensure sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity conservation. First, a stronger incorporation of mangroves into marine protected areas (that currently focus largely on reefs and fisheries) could resolve some policy conflicts and ensure that mangroves do not fall through a policy gap. Second, examples of community and government comanagement exist, but achieving comanagement at scale will be important in reconciling stakeholders and addressing conflicting policy objectives. Third, private-sector initiatives could protect mangroves through existing and novel mechanisms in degraded areas and areas under future threat. Finally, payments for ecosystem services (PES) hold great promise for mangrove conservation, with carbon PES schemes (known as blue carbon) attracting attention. Although barriers remain to the implementation of PES, the potential to implement them at multiple scales exists. Closing the gap between mangrove conservation policies and action is crucial to the improved protection and management of this imperiled coastal ecosystem and to the livelihoods that depend on them.
This paper seeks to examine the provisions for extended producer responsibility (EPR) within the Malaysian environmental and waste management policies and to determine its existing practice and future prospects in Malaysia. Malaysian waste generation has been increasing drastically where solid waste generation was estimated to increase from about 9.0 million tonnes in 2000 to about 10.9 million tonnes in 2010, to about 12.8 million tonnes in 2015 and finally to about 15.6 million tonnes in 2020. Malaysian e-waste was estimated to be about 652 909 tonnes in 2006 and was estimated to increase to about 706 000 tonnes in 2010 and finally to about 1.2 million tonnes in 2020. The projected increasing generation of both solid waste and scheduled wastes is expected to burden the country's resources and environment in managing these wastes in a sustainable manner. The concept of EPR is provided for in the Malaysia waste management system via the Environmental Quality Act 1974 and the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007. However, these provisions in the policy are generic in nature without relevant regulations to enable its enforcement and as such the concept of EPR still remains on paper whereas the existing practice of EPR in Malaysia is limited through voluntary participation. In conclusion, policy trends of EPR in Malaysia seem to indicate that Malaysia may be embarking on the path towards EPR through the enactment of an EPR regulation.
As in many nations, air pollution linked to rapid industrialization is a public health and environmental concern in Malaysia, especially in cities. Understanding awareness of air pollution and support for environmental protection from the general public is essential for informing governmental approaches to dealing with this problem. This study presents a cross-sectional survey conducted in the Klang Valley and Iskandar conurbations to examine urban Malaysians' perception, awareness and opinions of air pollution. The survey was conducted in two languages, English and Malay, and administered through the online survey research software, Qualtrics. The survey consisted of three sections, where we collected sociodemographic information, information on the public perception of air quality and the causes of air pollution, information on public awareness of air pollution and its related impacts, and information on attitudes towards environmental protection. Of 214 respondents, over 60% were positive towards the air quality at both study sites despite the presence of harmful levels of air pollution. The air in the Klang Valley was perceived to be slightly more polluted and causing greater health issues. Overall, the majority of respondents were aware that motor vehicles represent the primary pollution source, yet private transport was still the preferred choice of transportation mode. A generally positive approach towards environmental protection emerged from the data. However, participants showed stronger agreement with protection actions that do not involve individual effort. Nonetheless, we found that certain segments of the sample (people owning more than three vehicles per household and those with relatives who suffered from respiratory diseases) were significantly more willing to personally pay for environmental protection compared to others. Implications point to the need for actions for spreading awareness of air pollution to the overall population, especially with regards to its health risks, as well as strategies for increasing the perception of behavioural control, especially with regards to motor vehicles' usage.
This paper examines the common themes delivered in studies on corporate reporting in relation to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Articles of the aforesaid studies were mostly acquired from Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) archives from year 2015 to 2022 in which the contents were carefully reviewed for selection. To systematise the literature, PRISMA 2020 statement is used. Descriptive analysis reveals an increase in publications on corporate SDG reporting, although most are focused on developed nations. The analysis also shows a scarcity of studies on the consumer goods, agricultural, fishery, and forestry sectors. Furthermore, current studies have yet to adopt a qualitative or mixed-method approach. There are fundamentally six themes that emerged from the review of literature-the degree of SDG engagement, the quality of SDG reporting, the determining factor in SDG reporting mechanism, the consequences of SDG reporting, the legitimisation approaches, as well as the institutional/stakeholder pressure. For determinants of SDG reporting, it is observed that environmental governance is not explored. This paper identifies the least addressed SDGs that businesses can focus on to accelerate their SDG contribution rate. This paper guides future research and informs decision-making by organisations and stakeholders interested in promoting sustainable development through SDG reporting.
Climate change repercussions such as temperature shifts and more severe weather occurrences are felt globally. It contributes to larger-scale challenges, such as climate change and biodiversity loss in food production. As a result, the purpose of this research is to develop strategies to grow the economy without harming the environment. Therefore, we revisit the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, considering the impact of climate policy uncertainty along with other control variables. We investigated yearly panel data from 47 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) nations from 1998 to 2021. Pooled regression, fixed effect, and the generalized method of moment (GMM) findings all confirmed the presence of inverted U-shaped EKC in BRI counties. Findings from this paper provide policymakers with actionable ideas, outlining a framework for bringing trade and climate agendas into harmony in BRI countries. The best way to promote economic growth and reduce carbon dioxide emissions is to push for trade and climate policies to be coordinated. Moreover, improving institutional quality is essential for strong environmental governance, as it facilitates the adoption of environmentally friendly industrialization techniques and the efficient administration of climate policy uncertainties.
Sewage treatment is an important issue in a country for public health and environmental protection. The treatment
process not only consumes energy but also emits CO2
. In this research, the idea of streamlined life cycle assessment was
applied. The CO2
emission from sewage treatment was assessed from direct energy consumption of four major sewage
treatment plants in Taiwan. The results showed that the CO2
emission at in-plant sewage treatment stage takes more
than 95% of total CO2
emission for most plants. The results suggested that CO2
emission of sewage treatment can be
calculated from energy consumption at in-plant sewage treatment stage to simplify the calculation. The CO2
emission
of sewage treatment was then assessed from sewage plants in Taiwan using in-plant electricity consumption. The unit
CO2
emission of sewage treatment in Taiwan is 0.216 kg-CO2
/m3
. This database will be an important reference for water
resource research and future government environmental policies.
Four formal rounds of Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations took place in 2010. They involved over 200 officials from Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Chile, Singapore, Brunei, Peru, Vietnam and Malaysia. Future negotiations officially are set to include three issues with public health and medicines policy implications for Australia and our region: ways to approach regulatory coherence and transparency; how to benefit multinational and small-medium enterprises; and multilateral investor-state dispute settlement. US-based multinational pharmaceutical companies are lobbying for TPPA provisions like those in the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, which reduce government cost-effectiveness regulatory control of pharmaceuticals, threatening equitable access to medicines. They also advocate increased TPPA intellectual monopoly privilege protection, which will further limit the development of Australian generic medicine enterprises and restrict patient access to cheap, bioequivalent prescription drugs. Of particular concern is that proposed TPPA multilateral investor-state dispute settlement procedures would allow US corporations (as well as those of other TPPA nations) to obtain damages against Australian governments through international arbitral proceedings if their investments are impeded by Australian public health and environment protection legislation.
The study proposes to examine how environmental, social and governance disclosure (ESG) affect the financial performance (FP) of Indian firms. Furthermore, it aims to evaluate the moderation impact of CEO power (CEOP) on the association between ESG on the FP. The study's target population is all firms indexed in NIFTY 100, representing the top one hundred firms by market capitalisation from 2017 to 2021. Data relating to ESG were collected and built based on the available data on Refinitiv Eikon Database. Results reveal that EDI positively and significantly impacts the ROE and TQ of Indian firms. Furthermore, SDI and GDI negatively and significantly affect the ROE and TQ of Indian firms. Moreover, ESG and CEOP have a significant impact on ROE. Nevertheless, ESG has a negative but highly significant impact on ROE, whilst it has a negative and low considerable impact on the TQ of Indian firms. Nonetheless, CEOP does not moderate the association between ESG and FP measured by ROE and TQ. This research contributes to the existing literature by introducing a moderator variable that has not been used in the Indian context; CEO power, which provides stakeholders and regulators with useful findings that would encourage firms to create an ESG committee to enhance ESG disclosure to compete on the world market and reach the United Nations (UN) Sustainable goal 2030. Furthermore, this paper provides insightful recommendations for creating an ESG legal framework for decision-makers.
The strategic location of Malaysia along the world's busiest trade waterways underscores the need to cope ballast water issues for both domestic and international shipping. The adoption of Ballast Water Management Convention 2004 (BWMC) by the International Maritime Organization is suitable for management plans intended to prevent the introduction of invasive species through ballast water discharge. Malaysia has ratified the BWMC in September 2010 and the Convention has come into force in September 2017. However up to now, the BWMC has not been fully implemented by Malaysia for ships operating in its waters. This paper analyse the headway in implementing the provisions of the BWMC in Malaysia as well as the issues and challenges encountered for the implementation. The paper concludes that Malaysian government should promulgate laws and policies to clearly communicate on ballast water issues to the shipping industry communities.