Certification systems, that assess companies? work with social and environmental issues, have emerged in an increasing number of industries. Today, there are environmental certifications for the food industry, the forestry, the fisheries sector and several more. In apparel industry, certification for sustainable working conditions has been of major impact. The property sector is no exception from other industries.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to study various views of sponsorship in relation to public libraries as found within three cultural policy documents. The main objective is to discover which ideas are considered relevant in the partnership between the Swedish retail chain, Åhléns, and the children?s public library, ?Room for Children? (Rum för Barn). In 2005, Åhléns provided SEK3.14 million in sponsorship to ?Room for Children? at Kulturhuset in Stockholm.

Denna studie behandlar EU:s fjäderfänäring och undersöker effekterna av den nya policyn som huvudsakligen består av ett minskat exportstöd. Uppsatsen studerar effekterna på produktion och export. De förväntade effekterna vid ett avskaffande av exportstöd är att både produktion och export ska minska. Denna studie visar, genom att undersöka förändringarna i producerad och exporterad kvantitet från och med 1995 då den nya poliyn började gälla, att i detta fall påverkar andra faktorer produktion och export mer än det minskade exportstödet. Förändringar i konsumenternas preferenser är en faktor som inverkar på produktion och export..

To act responsible in relation to environmental, economic and social issues is a trend that is spreading among businesses and their investors. In order to assess business risks, ethical interested investors are calling for open, honest, clear CSR information that can be followed up in corporate sustainability reports. The ability to communicate about risks and to meet investors requests already in the business analytic process can save resources and increase the company?s profitability.The idea that companies should take responsibility for their impact on society from economic, environmental and social perspective is called Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR. In addition to CSR, there is another three-letter abbreviation in this context, PRI ? Principles for Responsible Investment ? which are principles, signed by ethically interested investors.

I och med att länderna i världen blivit allt rikare har även miljöförstöringen ökat. Detta är ett problem som uppmärksammas allt mer och det sker allt fler studier om sambandet mellan ekonomisk tillväxt och miljöförstöring. I början av 1990-talet publicerade Grossman och Krueger en undersökning som visade på ett uppochnedvänt U-förhållande mellan inkomst och miljöförstörande utsläpp, dvs att miljöförstöringen först ökar med den ekonomiska tillväxten tills den vid en viss nivå vänder och börjar minska samtidigt som ekonomin fortsätter att växa. De kallade denna kurva för ?The Environmental Kuznets Curve? (EKC).

The task of making a correct application for B- activities is the foundry time consuming task. Information and facts concerning your entire business activity shall be attached into a description of environmental consequences, which will be the basis for the decision making whether the activities shall be granted a permission to practise environmentally hazardous actions or not. When the Environmental Act were established 1999, the permission process became more extensor. With this study I want to give an insight about how these applications are made. The methods I have used to collect information are a study literature where the Environmental Act has been the focus, and qualitative interviews with two County Administrative Board. I used the Environmental Act to understand why permission is needed and the interviews to give me insight in how the work is done. My conclusion is that it is very unusual that an application is granted without complements.

Scandinavian Biogas is involved in the planning of a combined ethanol and biogas factory in Karlskoga, Sweden. Besides biogas and ethanol large amounts of digester residues will be produced, about 450 000 liquid tonnes residue (~7,3 % Dry Substance( DS)). The objective of this thesis was to investigate possible uses of the residue from the biogas production process ScandgasEthanol developed by Scandinavian Biogas, and to derive a methodological approach how to evaluate and compare handling systems. Three systems where proposed and compared in this thesis; spreading of the untreated residue as fertilizer (system 1), dewatering to a higher DS content to reduce transportation before spreading as fertilizer (system 2) and production of a solid fuel by dewatering and drying the residue (system 3). The general conditions for the proposed systems were investigated in terms of practical viability, economical aspects, environmental impact and energy inputs/outputs.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka om det går att påvisa några samband mellan jämställdhet och ekonomisk tillväxt. Med hjälp av multipel regressionsanalys undersöks paneldata från EU-15. Den beroende variabeln, ekonomisk tillväxt, förklaras av en rad oberoende variabler. Olika modeller testas för att se om tillförandet av jämställdhetsvariabler förbättrar modellen. För att avgöra om så är fallet undersöks förändringen i justerad förklaringsgrad.

Toxic metals contaminate soil worldwide and thus serve as sever environmental threat. Therefore the purposes of this study were to investigate in which soil fractions that different heavy metals (Fe, As, Cu, Zn and Pb) could be found in contaminated soils and if it is possible to use sieving as a method for decontamination. Soil samples were collected from three different locations, the Nasa silver mine, the Blaiken-mine and Svalget environmental station. The samples were oven dried and later on sieved into six different fractions 8mm, 4 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.250mm, 0.063 mm and <0.063 mm. The fractions 4 mm, 0.5 mm and <0.063 mm from each location were analyzed in an x-ray fluorescence detector.

The first aim of this thesis is to descriptively identify and chart the activities of the strategic intelligence and environmental scanning that take place at the regional collaboration network Regionförbundet Örebro. This identification is essential in reaching the comprehensive and primary aim of the thesis: to discuss, through normative discourse, what the options of improvement are and in which ways systematic operations can be integrating parts in the organization. In order to offer guidance of development from the perspectives of environmental scanning, the question at issue has emanated from activities concerning the present methods of working at Regionförbundet Örebro.During the creation of this thesis, several interviews have been made with people who are regarded to be key roles within the regional collaboration network. An analysis has been made, based on governing documents and answers from the interviews, where possible improvements of the business have been identified. The inferences become parts of a greater potential of amelioration since they are presented as active solutions and proposals that can be directly adaptable to the organization.Our proposals of improvements/ameliorations are constituted by a number of concrete/explicit points such as: a wider public information supply and an introduction of several annual routines and methods..

A growing number of companies realise that to achieve their environmental goals and satisfy stakeholder expectations, they need to look beyond their own facilities and to involve their suppliers in environmental initiatives. A life cycle approach means that the production system should be optimised as whole, across national boarders and individual organisations taking part all the way from extraction to disposal. This study is a Life Cycle Inventory of resources used when producing a piece of cotton garment and the method is based on the standardisation series of ISO 14040-43. The area of study, Tamil Nadu the most southern state of India, accounts for more than 90% of India?s knitwear exports to Western Europe.

Water is an important food and an important natural resource. In order to protect these are the Environmental Code and the EU directive given to water protection and related water protection regulations will be established for all water sources until 2010. Those who will prepare a water protection and related water protection regulations is the municipality or person responsible for water supply. The person then decides and declares the area as water protection and related water protection regulations are municipal or provincial government. The idea of creating a water protection is to protect the water supply and the body of water against pollution caused by point sources, diffuse sources and accidents combined.

Problem: Har arbetet för hållbar utveckling inletts och i vilken grad främjas den i kommunikationen mellan lärare och student på Handelshögskolan vid Umeå Universitet?Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att övergripande avbilda hur implementeringen av hållbar utveckling i undervisningen på Handelshögskolan vid Umeå Universitet. För att avbilda studieobjektets verklighet så väl som möjligt kommer vi undersöka ett antal delsyften; om vad som kommunicerats, hur det kommunicerats och hur relevant kommunikationen uppfattas i undervisningen. Detta kommer undersökas genom att titta på lärares uppfattning för att jämföras med hur studenterna uppfattar implementeringen av vår problem formulering.Teori: Teorikapitlet har sin grund från vetenskapliga arbeten och är baserad på tre teorier. En teori handlar om hur man strukturerar arbete för hållbar utveckling i en universitets kontext.

Nature?s Best is a quality-label for Swedish Eco-tourism. It is one of very few active ecotourism labels and the only one that claims quality as its main focus. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the certification scheme Nature?s Best with regards to the values the certification creates for the companies that certify their products.

Miljöcertifieringssystemet för byggnader, LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) lanserades 1998 i USA av USGBC (United States Green Building Council). USGBC är en icke vinstdrivande organisation, vars mål är att bidra till utökat hållbart byggande. Skanskas första byggnad som certifierades enligt LEED färdigställdes 2001 i den amerikanska delstaten North Carolina. I slutet av februari 2009 offentliggjordes det att Skanska skall införa systemet i sin Nordiska organisation. Undersökningen som genomförts handlar om ett av LEED New Constructions sex delområden, Materials & Resources. Materialhanteringen för ett byggprojekt som Skanska uppfört har analyserats för att avgöra huruvida det skulle kunna erhålla poäng vid en certifiering enligt LEED.