This thesis calculates and compares the values of improved environmental quality due to future possible investment alternatives in biogas production facilities at Käppalaförbundets Reningsverk (Käppala Sewage Treatment Works) in an attempt to determine which alternative yields the highest such value. Käppala faces three investment alternatives for the usage of biogas. The alternatives are production of vehicle fuel, district heating and thirdly, heat and power production. Estimates of the value of environmental change are calculated for each of the three investment alternatives, and these estimates are then compared. The environmental change in question is the change in discharge levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particle matter.

In Sweden, detailed development plans (DDPs) go through a screening process to decide whether their implementation could cause significant environmental impact or not. The criteria in the legislation were studied to see if an environmental impact assessment was needed. This study also investigated 26 DDPs from 12 out of 13 of the municipalities in Östergötland and how they meet up to the demands in relevant legislation, for example the rules for Environmental Impact Assessments. Plans that concerned suburban communities and new housing were selected. The environmental issues highlighted in the plan documents were compared to selected topics from the GIS data base 'Östgötakartan' to see if the assessments made by the municipalities were reasonable judged.

BACKGROUND & During the last century, the Swedish chemical industry has developedPROBLEM: considerably in regard to respecting the environment. Following various discharges and pollutions during the first half of the 20th century, environmental concepts such as CSR, Responsible Care and REACH have developed in order to improve the situation. Today, environmental issues play a central role in the society, but what are the reasons behind this increased environmental commitment? PURPOSE & The purpose of this thesis paper is to study the driving forces behindDELIMITATIONS: the increased environmental awareness in companies. Is this mainly due to stricter legislations, or do factors like pressure from the general public, the industry or customers play a more vital role? Furthermore, do economic incentives exist, that make it interesting for companies to invest in environmental awareness? Since the chemical industry spans over a wide spectrum in regard to environmental issues, this paper will focus on a specific area of the industry.

The Swedish building and property management sector are responsible for about 30 % of the total energy use. In order to take environmental consideration, different environmental assessment tools and standards are used. Miljo?byggnad, Svanen, FEBY12 and PHI are some of these. There has been increased interest to certify buildings and therefore it is of interest to evaluate the assessment of the energy field to see if relevant energy aspects are assessed.

This thesis examines the process of securitization of the environmental issue in the United States. By using the theories of sectoral security and securitization by Barry Buzan and Ole Waever, commonly known as the Copenhagen school we go beyond the traditional security frames and examine where the environmental issue in the United States stand today within the securitization spectrum. The securitizing spectrum includes three levels in which an issue can be place: non-politicised, politicised and securitized.The problem, which we wish to address, is if there is a movement of the environmental issue in the United States towards becoming a securitized issue. In the light of these circumstances we also wish to explore who is behind the movement and also find out where the issue stand today. We do believe that Al Gore is a securitizing actor and examine his role in the movement of the environmental issueWe have come to the conclusion that there is an ongoing process of securitization in which the environmental issue have moved from being politicised to becoming securitized..

AbstractTitle: Environmental demand solutions - a study within real-estate business.Problem statement:Today, the society stands before a permanent accelerated environmental threat. Companiesbecome increasingly over the environmental problems and more companies look over theiractivity and how it influences the environment. Historical the environmental issue has been forgotten and it is first during the end of 1990 the environmental issue intensive has been noticed. Earlier the environmental work?s high costs was the cause, but now the companies realized the weight and the importance of imposing focus on environment commitments and sees it, as an investment.

The purpose of this study was to implement an energy analysis and environmental evaluation of the property Hemsta 12:16 in Gävle. Based on two different methods, Energy Balance calculation and Environmental Building, the result of the property's energy use, energy performance and environmental impacts are presented. Except that, measures to reduce final energy consumption are presented.      The proposed measures can reduce energy usage by 100 400 kWh / year, which represents a decrease of 18% of the present energy usage. This would represent a total savings of 63 000 SEK per year. In addition, the environmental performance is improved by adopting the suggested measures..

The first of May 2005 changes were made in the Annual Accounts Act. The 2006 Annual Report of companies with more than ten employees or assets over 24 million SEK must include environmental information in the directors' report if it affects the company's development, result or position. A survey made by KPMG 2007 investigating the environmental information of companies listed on Large Cap Segment of the OMX Stockholm exchange showed that only a third of the companies, included in the survey, complied with the new law requirements. I have examined how the environmental information in the directors' report is formulated and why the information is formulated in that fashion. I have examined seven companies listed on the Large Cap Segment of the OMX Stockholm exchange. Four companies from the materials sector and three banks from the financials sector were included in the survey.

A possible explanation for the inability of the governments of the world to implement necessary environmental policies is that they are worried of being punished by voters for implementing too forceful policies. But do voters actually punish governments that implement more stringent environmental policies? Few studies have explored this question directly. Parts of the literature on environmental policy and public opinion indicate that voters would predominantly reward governments that implement more stringent environmental policies, while other parts indicate that voters would predominantly punish them. It is also possible that voters punish governments that implement more stringent environmental policies in some contexts, but reward them in others.

Stormwater from trafficked areas often contains high pollution levels. In traditional stormwater management design, stormwater is first transported away through piped networks, and then in most cases passes through oil separators before finally reaching the recipients. While this traditional method removes certain pollutants from the stormwater, it does not reduce the total flow, as in the case of ecological stormwater management. In the ecological method the stormwater is not simply transported away, but is recirculated through infiltration, percolation, and detention. The aim of this study is to investigate possible advantages of ecological management designs, in contrast to traditional management.

The forests in the unique archipelago of the Baltic Sea is housing many and high values. For the resident population, which has a central role in sustaining a living archipelago, the forest can contribute to the outcome. The forest also contributes to turn the archipelago into one of Sweden?s most attractive recreational areas. Furthermore, these forests exhibit very high environmental values, and they are an element in the traditional cultural landscape.

The purpose of this report was to investigate how the Umeå School of Business and Economics at Umeå university can work to increase the share of courses and programmes that discuss sustainable development. Furthermore the purpose was to develop an action plan that can be used to increase that share. Methods used were a questionnaire directed towards the educators at the Umeå School of Business and Economics and an assessment of the content of courses and programmes connected to the Umeå School of Business and Economics. There was no clear structured way of working with education for sustainable development, but at the same time there was a will to integrate sustainable development in the education. Curricula were according to the educators an important tool to achieve this integration, their experience were that there are not enough time, people and money to work with sustainable development in the education and they would like to see more clear directions from the management.

The aim of this report is to give a picture of how attitudes and behaviours of owners of environment cars look like and how they can be influenced. The alignment lies on environmental cars which run on biogas and ethanol which both are renewable fuels. The starting point is to sort out if it is environmental thinking that controls the choice and use of an environmental car. The feeling is that there are many other factors that can be more controlling, for example the price and the quality of the car. The result of the questionnaire survey which is the foundation of the report shows however that those who buy an environmental car do it mostly because of environmental reasons.

The Swedish building and property management sector are responsible for about 30 % of the total energy use. In order to take environmental consideration, different environmental assessment tools and standards are used. Miljo?byggnad, Svanen, FEBY12 and PHI are some of these. There has been increased interest to certify buildings and therefore it is of interest to evaluate the assessment of the energy field to see if relevant energy aspects are assessed.

The paper is a discourse analysis of the liberal environmental discourse in Sweden today. It is based on articles in two of the main liberal Swedish newspapers, Dagens Nyheter and Sydsvenska Dagbladet, and a liberal periodical, Neo.The purpose of this study is to analyze how the environmental problems that have been produced by the industrialised society, especially global warming, are seen upon in the liberal discourse in Sweden today. The theoretical point of departure is a discourse analysis that as a method seeks to analyze the material to reveal what assumptions the discussion departs from, and what assumptions the discussions reject.The thesis concludes that the main trends in the discussions are to position the environment against the financial system and state that the capitalist system is the only system that can solve the environmental issues. The existing environmental problems are not denied, but constantly belittled and only considered to be a problem if it poses a direct threat to humans. The solution for these environmental problems is believed to be the strengthening of the financial system and the development of new technologies..