Corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSR/CER) can be understood as practices which voluntarily extend beyond mere compliance with mandatory social and environmental standards. Corporate social and environmental responsibility: Another road to China's sustainable development, by Mengxing Lu, contributes to the current debate of CSR/CER by providing a legal and economic analysis of CSR/CER and its relationship with regulation. Although the development of CSR/CER is at an early juncture in China, it is nevertheless a prominent topic for Chinese policy makers and business leaders alike. By depicting the landscape of CSR/CER in China, Corporate social and environmental responsibility: Another road to China's sustainable development successfully demonstrates the vast potential for CSR/CER's contribution to China's sustainable development.

This volume explores the meaning of the Paris Climate Agreement 2015 for business; it analyses its challenges and implications, and establishes required actions by the private sector in order to reduce global warming and mitigating climate change effects. We bring together evidence-based, conceptual and theoretical contributions from a diverse set of geographical locations, and disciplinary backgrounds on the meanings, implications, opportunities and challenges for business around the planet in relation to climate change.

This timely book provides effective methods and authentic examples of teaching about climate change through digital and multimodal media production in the English Language Arts classroom. The chapters in this edited volume demonstrate the benefits of addressing climate change in the classroom through innovative media production and cover a range of different types of media, including video/digital storytelling, social media, art, music, and writing, with rich resources for instruction in every chapter. Through the engaging ideas and strategies, the contributors equip educators with the critical tools for supporting students’ media production. In so doing, they offer new perspectives on how students can employ media and production techniques to critique the status quo, call for change, and acquire new literacy skills. As the effects of the climate crisis become increasingly visible to the youth population, this book helps foster and support youth agency and activism. Youth Media Creation on the Climate Change Crisis: Hear Our Voices is a necessary text for students, preservice teachers, and educators in literacy education, media studies, social and environmental studies, and STEM education. The eBook+ version of the text features embedded audio and video components as well as interactive links to reflect the multimodal nature of students’ work, spotlighting how youth media production supports the development of students’ critical literacy skills and shapes their voices and identities.

First published in 1984, Michael Redclift's book makes the global environmental crisis a central concern of political economy and its structural causes a central concern of environmentalism. Michael Redclift argues that a close analysis of the environmental crisis in the South reveals the importance of the share of resources obtained by different social groups. The development strategies based on the experiences and interests of Western capitalist countries fail to recognise that environmental degradation in the South is a product of inequalities in both global and local economic relations and cannot be solved simply by applying solutions borrowed from environmentalism in the North. The key to understanding the South's environmental problems lies in the recognition that structural processes -- markets, technology, state intervention -- are also a determining influence upon the way natural resources are used. Through his review of Europe's Green Movement, contemporary breakthroughs in biotechnology and information systems and recent feminist discourse, Michael Redclift has enlarged the compass of the environmental debate and produced a book which should serve as a benchmark in future discussions of development and the environment. It will be of importance to students in a range of disciplines, within development studies, geography, ecology and the social sciences.

First published in 1987, this volume was written to shed some light upon the nature and environmental consequences and wider relevance of development strategies in the Peoples? Republic of China. It covers industrialisation, food production, energy use and landscape and settlement planning.

The Chinese "autocentred" strategy is assessed from both the developmental and the environmental viewpoints. Decision-making processes and the opportunities to implement environmental policy in other parts of the developing world are analysed and the volume concludes with the view that benefits to other countries are likely to arise out of increased co-operation and exchange with China, although the Chinese model is by no means a panacea.

All students and researchers interested in either environmental or developmental issues will find this book to be a substantial and enlightening contribution to literature.

In 2050, the billions of people living on Earth have found a way to manage the planetary system effectively. Everyone has access to adequate food, shelter, and clean water. Human health is no longer considered outside of the health of the ecosystems in which people live. Ecological awareness is an integral part of education. People respond effectively to social and environmental hazards, and societies care for the most vulnerable amongst them. The economy, too, has shifted. Carbon dioxide management is under control, and energy efficiency is the norm. The remaining rainforests have been preserved. Coral reefs are recovering. Fish stocks are thriving. Is any of this really possible? How can our complex social and economic systems interact with a complex planetary system undergoing rapid change to create a future we all want? This book is a contextualised collation of ideas articulated by the 50 participants of the Planet 2050 workshop held in Lund in October 2008, as part of The Planet in 2050, an interdisciplinary Fast Track Initiative of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. Participants were selected from academia and the sustainability practice community to give a wide-ranging, multi-cultural, trans-disciplinary set of perspectives. This collection explores four broad sectoral themes: energy and technologies; development, economies and culture; environment; and land use change. By doing so, this book emphasises the importance of a social dialogue on our collective future, and our responsibility to the Earth. It makes strong statements about what needs to happen to the global economy for a sustainable future and documents a new kind of scholarly discussion, engaging people from diverse knowledge communities in a spirit of exploration and reflexivity. The book provides a focus for dialogue and further study for postgraduates and researchers interested in global change as a multi-faceted, socio-environmental phenomenon, and as the book is written in an accessible scholarly style, assuming no prior specialist knowledge, it is also suitable for those involved in sustainability initiatives and policy.

The Americas and Oceania: Assessing Sustainability provides extensive coverage of sustainability practices in two regions linked culturally and historically by their relative isolation before the Columbian exchange, by their colonization after it, and by the challenges of pollution, resource overuse, and environmental degradation. Regional experts and international scholars focus on environmental history in areas such as the South Pacific islands, now particularly threatened by rising ocean levels due to climate change, and on countries whose governments and corporations can play a major role in promoting or discouraging sustainable choices: Brazil, an emergent power on the world stage; the United States, the world's third most populous nation; and New Zealand, seemingly on its way to becoming an enviable model of sustainable development.

Interest in renewable energy has never been greater, but much uncertainty remains as to the role the various technologies will play in the transition to a low-carbon future. This book sets out the facts - how the technologies work, where and to what extent they are currently employed, and where the greatest potential lies. Covering all the major fields - solar electricity, solar thermal, solar architecture, bioenergy, wind, geothermal, hydropower, as well as new energy technologies - it also includes sections on how best to promote the uptake of renewables and answers to common questions and opposition. The authors provide a number of German-sourced yet internationally relevant examples and strategies which have become increasingly significant in the promotion of renewable energy in recent years. The convenient layout mixes detailed explanation with clear, take-away facts and messages on each double-page spread. This straight-talking, information filled guide is the perfect primer for anyone who wants to better understand and promote renewable energy, whether in industry, study, policy or campaigns.

Advances in Legume-based Agroecoystem for Sustainable Intensification explores current research and future strategies for ensuring capacity growth and socioeconomic improvement through the utilization of legume crop cultivation and production in the achievement of sustainability development goals (SDGs). Sections cover the role of legumes in addressing issues of food security, improving nitrogen in the environment, environmental sustainability, economic-environmentally optimized systems, the importance and impact of nitrogen, organic production, and biomass potential, legume production, biology, breeding improvement, cropping systems, and the use of legumes for eco-friendly weed management. This book is an important resource for scientists, researchers and advanced students interested in championing the effective utilization of legumes for agronomic and ecological benefit.

Interest in the sustainable city is growing around the world and with it come important questions about governing sustainable urban development. Why are there blockages to achieving the goal of a sustainable city? How is it possible to overcome the practical difficulties that initiatives often face? And how can an increasingly technocratic focus be rebalanced with more of a public perspective? In this wide-ranging text, Simon Joss examines mainstream policy and practice and looks at the approaches that can overcome some of their drawbacks. The author examines the core elements of sustainable planning, and how processes of innovation, governance and policy-making work together to achieve sustainable urban change. He assesses the various challenges faced at both the domestic and international level, and across a range of urban scales. These challenges include how to resolve environmentally problematic ways of city-living at the same time as providing for urban social and economic development, and how to adapt the idea and reality of the sustainable city to different geopolitical contexts. The author recognizes that there is no 'one-size-fits-all' solution and examines the range of methods available. In an era where entirely new eco-cities are being built and established ones being retro-fitted in response to environmental pressures, this text looks at the varying successes of the urban sustainability movement and its relationship to the planners, policy-makers and citizens who are inseparable from it. Providing an accessible account of the latest developments in research and policy as well as examples from around the world, this is indispensable reading for students, researchers and practitioners alike.

This book is a state of the art treatise on what has been done so far on measuring sustainability for decision making. Contributions will appeal to engineers and scientists engaged in technology development, assessment, and verification. Researchers working on engineering sustainability are likely to get ideas for further research in quantifying sustainability for industrial systems. Concepts described can be applied across all scales, from process technology to global sustainability; and challenges and limitations are also addressed. Readers will discover important insights about simulation-based approaches to process design and quantitative measurement techniques of sustainability for business and technology systems. Most of the examples and case studies are from chemical enterprises but the methodologies presented could be applicable to any system for which quantitative data for indicators are available, and the choice of the set of indicators of sustainability are comprehensive.

Renewable fuels, such as wind, solar, biomass, tides, and geothermal, are inexhaustible, indigenous, and often free. However, capturing them and transforming them into electricity, hydrogen, or clean transporation fuels often is not. Green Energy: Technology, Economics, and Policy addresses how to approach and apply technology, economics, and policy to bring down the costs involved with renewables, the most important challenge faced in the green era. Intended for students and professionals in resources, energy and environmental engineering and in economic fields focusing on green energy.
It explores the ways and means of using technology, economics, and policy to address R & D issues, market penetration, improved efficiency, investment capital, policy changes, and more. It elucidates Green New Deal models in which the twin objectives of job generation and mitigation of climate change impacts are achieved through the harnessing of the transformative power of technology. The book links energy science and technology with energy economics, markets, policy, and planning. It describes how this can be accomplished through public ? private partnership in the prosecution of Innovation Chain (Basic Research - Applied Research & Development - Demonstration - Deployment - Commercialization).

Despite being a relatively young sub-discipline, European environmental sociology has changed considerably in the last decades towards more interdisciplinary collaborations and problem solving. Current trends such as global environmental modernization and processes of economic, political and socio-cultural globalization, fuelled by developments of transport, environmental flows, scientific uncertainty, and information technologies, have fostered new conceptual approaches that move beyond classical sociological mind-sets toward broader attempts to connect to other disciplines.

The World Guide to CSR is the first book to provide comparable national profiles that describe the evolution and practice of Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility (CSR) for 58 countries and 5 global regions. Each regional and national profile includes key information about the relevant CSR history, country-specific issues, trends, research and leading organizations. The purpose of the book is to give CSR professionals (including managers, consultants, academics and NGOs focusing on the social, environmental and ethical responsibilities of business) a quick reference guide to CSR in different regional and national contexts. The need for the book is premised on the fact that CSR professionals and researchers more often than not have a multinational remit and are required to benchmark performance internationally, but find that country-specific CSR information is ad hoc, limited or non-existent. Even where national CSR research exists, it is often hidden in academic journals that practitioners cannot access or do not have the time or inclination to read. The book is an edited volume, with expert contributors from around the world, all of whom have been screened and selected on the basis of their qualifications and experience in CSR. Each regional/country profile includes the following subsections:CSR in context Priority issues Trends Legislation and codes Organizations Case studies Educational institutions References This unique resource will be an essential acquisition for all organisations who need to benchmark their CSR strategies throughout different regions and cultures and want the best possible intelligence on the key issues and concerns relating to corporate social responsibility in all of the markets in which they operate.

Governments may talk about reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 80% by 2050, but any pursuit of significant change will require drastic changes in either our energy supply or our lifestyles. Combining theory, case studies and fiction, a range of contributors create a picture of the potential perks and pitfalls of a low carbon future.

This volume explores intergenerational practices and their impact on social sustainability, with an emphasis on developing programmatic efforts to address profound social challenges such as underperforming educational and work-related systems, failing support systems for dependent or vulnerable populations, and community renewal and regeneration efforts. To this end, the core argument is to present issues related to age, aging, and generations, not only as problems, but as catalysts to facilitate improved quality of life for all generations. For societies to be sustainable, all generations must coexist at any given time and across time (non-contemporary generations). Hence, the ultimate vision presented here is one of intergenerational sustainability as both a conceptual tool and as a call for action. Intergenerational pathways are introduced as strategies for improving health and well-being across the lifespan, strengthening families, improving under-performing educational and work-related systems, and helping to build more cohesive, caring communities. Reviewing some of the historical factors and developments influencing intergenerational studies, as well as presenting regional case studies and comparative research, this book presents successful models that may be applied to everyday multigenerational practices in institutions such as education, family life, housing, healthcare, employment, and community development. The result is an accessible resource for students, academics, policymakers, community leaders, and citizens concerned with creating opportunities amidst challenging demographic and social changes.

This unique title draws together in one volume some of the best thinking to date on the pressing social and environmental challenges we face as a society. These are the Top 50 Sustainability Books as voted for by the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership's alumni network of over 3,000 senior leaders from around the world. In addition to profiles of all 50 titles, many of the authors share their most recent reflections on the state of the world and the ongoing attempts by business, government and civil society to create a more sustainable future. Many of these authors have become household names in the environmental, social and economic justice movements - from Rachel Carson, Ralph Nader and E.F. Schumacher to Vandana Shiva, Muhammad Yunus and Al Gore. Others, such as Aldo Leopold, Thomas Berry and Manfred Max-Neef, are relatively undiscovered gems, whose work should be much more widely known. By featuring these and other seminal thinkers, The Top 50 Sustainability Books distils a remarkable collective intelligence - one that provides devastating evidence of the problems we face as a global society, yet also inspiring examples of innovative solutions; it explores our deepest fears and our highest hopes for the future. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to tap into the wisdom of our age.

Gated Communities provides a historic, socio-political and contemporary cultural perspective of gated communities. In doing so it offers a different lens through which to view the historical vernacular background of this now global phenomenon. The book presents a collection of new writing on the issue by an international and interdisciplinary group of contributors. The authors review current thinking on gated communities and consider the sustainability issues that these contemporary 'lifestyle' communities raise. The authors argue that there are links that can be drawn between the historic gated homesteads and cities, found in much of the world, and today's Western-style secure complexes. Global examples of gated communities, and their historical context, are presented throughout the book. The authors also comment on how sustainability issues have impacted on these communities. The book concludes by considering how the historic measures up with the contemporary in terms of sustainability function, and aesthetic.

Genetic diversity is essential to the security of agriculture. Without the availability of a wide range of plant varieties and the genetic resources they contain, crops cannot adapt to combat the ever-changing threats of pests, diseases and climatic change. Yet, with the increasing industrialisation of modern agriculture, farming has become a business which centres on a handful of new, genetically similar 'super seeds'. Plants must evolve in order to survive, but modern agriculture has replaced diversity with uniformity, and security with vulnerability. Saving the Seed traces the decline of crop varieties in European farming and describes what is being done to safeguard genetic resources for the future. Conservation efforts by government and industry suffer from serious drawbacks, with wrangles over ownership and control of resources. The crucial work is being done by individuals and grassroots organisations, who largely go unrecognised and under-resourced. What is urgently needed are sound policies to promote the diversification of agriculture and an integrated strategy for safeguarding the genetic base of our food system. Saving the Seed contains the most up-to-date information available on genetic resources in Europe and on those working to save them. Renee Vellve is a researcher at GRAIN, a no-governmental organisation working to promote the sustainable conservation and use of genetic diversity, based on grassroots approaches to genetic resources management. Originally published in 1992

The EU-funded project "Sustainable Consumption Research Exchanges" (SCORE!) consists of around 200 experts in the field of sustainable innovation and sustainable consumption. The SCORE! philosophy is that innovation in SCP (sustainable consumption and production) policy can be achieved only if experts that understand business development, (sustainable) solution design, consumer behaviour and system innovation policy work together in shaping it. Sustainable technology design can be effective only if business can make the products profitably and consumers are attracted to them. To understand how this might effectively happen, the expertise of systems thinkers must be added to the mix. The publication in 2008 of System Innovation for Sustainability 1 was the first result of a unique positive confrontation between experts from all four communities. It examined what SCP is and what it could be, provided a state-of-the-art review on the governance of change in SCP policy and looked at the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches. System Innovation for Sustainability 2 is the first of three books of case studies covering, respectively, the three key consumption areas of: mobility; food and agriculture; and energy use and housing. These three areas are responsible for 70% of the life-cycle environmental impacts of Western societies. These case studies aim to stimulate, foster or force change to SCP theory in practice. System Innovation for Sustainability 2 focuses on change towards sustainable personal mobility based on implemented cases analysed from a system perspective. It examines what changes can be made to help us reduce our need for mobility, or start to make use of more sustainable mobility systems. This is clearly a critical and highly problematic area, as increasing living standards of a growing global population have resulted in rapid rises in both car and air travel along with the associated pollution. Uniquely, this book approaches the problems and solutions from a systems perspective, explaining the meta-trends, specific issues for the mobility sector, socioeconomic trends, political considerations, socio-cultural developments and environmental issues. As well as the mobility system itself, other societal systems that impact the need for mobility, such as labour and taxation, are addressed in order to provide sustainable solutions to our current "lock-in" problems. Three major problem areas are considered (the "three Cs"): carbon emissions (and the growing contribution of mobility to the climate change crisis), congestion, and casualties. And each strategy proposed addresses one or more of these problem areas. Among the cases discussed are: Norway's carbon compensation scheme for air travel; Madrid's high-occupancy vehicle lanes; London's congestion charge scheme; market-based instruments such as eco-labelling for cars; and taxation. The book identifies opportunities for actors such as governments, manufacturers and consumers to intervene in the complex system to promote sustainable mobility. It concludes with a reflection on problems, trends and action needed. The System Innovation for Sustainability series is the fruit of the first major international research network on SCP and will set the standard in this field for some years to come. It will be required reading for all involved in the policy debate on sustainable production and consumption from government, business, academia and NGOs for designers, scientists, businesses and system innovators.

Photovoltaics, the direct conversion of sunlight to electricity, is now the fastest growing technology for electricity generation. Present "first generation" products use the same silicon wafers as in microelectronics. "Second generation" thin-films, now entering the market, have the potential to greatly improve the economics by eliminating material costs. Martin Green, one of the worlds foremost photovoltaic researchers, argues in this book that "second generation" photovoltaics will eventually reach its own material cost constraints, engendering a "third generation" of high performance thin-films. The book explores, self-consistently, the energy conversion potential of advanced approaches for improving photovoltaic performance and outlines possible implementation paths.

Winner of the Prix Pierre Chauleur of the French Academie des Sciences d'Outre-Mer Until some way is found of dealing with Africa's catastrophic environmental crises none of the continent's other problems will find a long-term solution. Yet there is hope, and Crisis and Opportunity sets out a programme for dealing with the problems successfully. Written in a clear and engaging style, the book shows how environmental management can be achieved and institutionalized from within Africa, rather than through interference from the West, by implementing National Environmental Action Plans (NEAPS). Aware of the urgency of the problems, Francois Falloux and Lee Talbot offer practical guidelines based on direct experience and incorporate a great range of relevant case studies and examples. Their book will be of enormous importance to the governments, local communities and development agencies confronting the issues, and may mark a milestone if recovery in Africa is to take place. Francois Falloux is Senior Environmental Advisor, Africa Region at the World Bank. Dr Lee M Talbot is a former Director-General of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Originally published in 1993

Hiroshi Komiyama's "Vision 2050" is a plan for paving a road to global sustainability. It lays out a path to a sustainable future for humanity that could realistically be achieved by 2050 through the application of science and technology. A prominent Japanese academic and leader in global sustainability, Komiyama draws upon realistic assumptions and solid scientific concepts to create a vision that makes the living standards enjoyed by developed countries today possible for all people by 2050. "Vision 2050" is built upon three fundamental principles - increased energy efficiency, recycling, and development of renewable energy sources - and the book argues for the technological potential of all three. Specifically, Komiyama envisions a three-fold increase in overall energy efficiency and a doubling of renewable energy resources by 2050. "Vision 2050: Roadmap for a Sustainable Earth" is written to address the concerned citizen as well as to inspire an exchange of ideas among experts, policy makers, industrial leaders, and the general public.

Sustainable Resource Management is the result of years of exhaustive research by Germany's Wuppertal Institute. Looking at material flows, industrial and societal metabolism and their implications for the economy, this important new book provides radical perspectives on how the global economy should use natural resources in intelligent ways that maximise well-being without destroying life-supporting ecosystems. It presents a vision of the future and the fundamental elements necessary for the sustainable management of the Earth's resources. It argues that the need to manage the use of our natural resources at a sustainable level can be shaped into a great opportunity for innovation and for new institutions to govern change.Sustainable Resource Management first provides an overview of the methods it has used to analyse the physical basis of our economies, from the product and firm level through to sectors and whole countries, considering material flows and life-cycle-wide impacts on the environment. Indicators are described that reflect the volume, structure and physical growth of the socio-industrial metabolism, resource productivity and the share of domestic and foreign resource use. By accounting for the global land use of different countries and regions, the book aims to better assess the global implications of domestic activities. For example, linkages are made between the consumption of food and non-food to land use change, such as the expansion of cropland at the expense of natural ecosystems.Sustainable Resource Management presents a number of key findings. Comparing the resource use of the EU with the USA, Japan and China, it determines why there is a difference. It provides evidence about the decoupling of resource use from economic growth, at the expense of an increased reliance on foreign supply. There are two closely analysed case studies, on platinum group metals (PGM) and biofuels, which provide insights into the key drivers of resource use and related problem shifting. Another key finding is that only a limited number of sectors, both on the production and consumption side, are actually associated with major resource requirements and atmospheric emissions - so synergies between resource conservation and climate protection can be found. Evidence is also given of a possible link between a low level of resource productivity and a high risk of unemployment.Sustainable Resource Management also looks into the future and provides visions of sustainable resource use, including the necessary conditions for a sustainable metabolism in the EU. Four example-rich visions are laid out approaching the future from different angles: the resource-efficient and recycling-based industry, the steady-stocks society, the solarised technosphere, and the balanced bio-economy. Each examines key conditions for a low-risk and high-opportunity future, while accounting for likely trade-offs between dematerialisation and rematerialisation, between renewable energy sources and non-renewable materials, between construction and deconstruction of buildings and infrastructures, and between domestic production and the import of biomass products.Finally, Sustainable Resource Management provides a blueprint for how a more sustainable future may be achieved. It analyses the legitimacy of public policies for sustainable resource management, looks at market deficits and barriers, and considers the global nature of the challenge. Crucially, it lays down the key elements of a strategy roadmap: First, better information, dissemination and knowledge generation. Second, innovative market policies to encourage new business models. Third, industry-specific policies - particularly where current resource use patterns are significant and a huge demand for adaptation and system innovation exist, such as in automotive or metal production. Last but not least, an international convention on sustainable resource management is proposed.This significant new book will be essential reading for researchers, EU and national governmental officials; and business and NGOs with an interest in concepts, strategies and instruments to improve resource productivity and sustainable resource management from the regional and sectoral levels to the international level.

Tourism Development and the Environment: Beyond Sustainability? challenges the sustainable tourism development paradigm that has come to dominate both theoretical and practical approaches to tourism development over the last two decades. It extends the sustainable tourism debate beyond the arguably managerialist 'blueprint' and destination-focused approach that continues to characterise even the most recent 'sustainability' agenda within tourism development. Reviewing the evolution of the sustainable tourism development concept, its contemporary manifestations in academic literature and policy developments and processes, the author compares its limitations to prevailing political-economic, socio-cultural and environmental contexts. He then proposes alternative approaches to tourism development which, nevertheless, retain environmental sustainability as a prerequisite of tourism development. This book also acts as an introduction to the Earthscan series Tourism, Environment and Development. About the series: 'Tourism, Environment and Development' aims to explore, within a variety of contexts, the developmental role of tourism as it relates explicitly to its environmental consequences. Each book will review critically and challenge 'traditional' perspectives on (sustainable) tourism development, exploring new approaches that reflect contemporary economic, socio-cultural and political contexts.