This study deals with sustainability reporting in three governmental and three non-governmental Swedish companies in different industries. With increasing demands from the society regarding company?s CSR - Corporate social responsibility, the perspective of accounting gets broader and covers even non-financial information to meet not only the owners? demands but also others stakeholders' requirements. Sustainability has become an important tool for creating company?s business value and a positive sustainable external image.

Title:   Controlling Mälarenergi by Balanced Scorecard Seminar date:  2009-01-16 Institution:   School of Sustainable Development of Society and Technology Course:   Bachelor thesis 15hp Authors:   Camilla Nilsson, Amanda Agestav Advisor:   Ulla Pettersson The main issues:                What does Mälarenergi's Balanced Scorecard look like? Which Balanced Scorecard perspectives are important to Mälarenergi? Is Balanced Scorecard a purposeful control model in order for the group management to fulfil the aims of the owners' directives? Purpose:                            The purpose is to find out how the group management at Mälarenergi works with Balanced Scorecard. Is Balanced Scorecard a purposeful tool for the group management to fulfill the aims of the owners' directives? Method:                             This study is based on a qualitative research method in the form of interviews. We have interviewed one respondent.

This C-level thesis deals with Russian tourism in Sweden and explains what measures are being used in Sweden in order to attract Russian tourists. Since a high number of companies and organizations are actively involved in developing Russian tourism to Sweden, we have decided to focus primarily on the most active Swedish and Russian companies within the industry. Therefore several big and well-established companies, often located in the largest cities of Russia and Sweden i.e. Stockholm, Moscow and St Petersburg, have been the subject of our analysis.Chapter ?Bakgrund? presents numerous facts and information about the nature and scale of the Russian tourist market today and in the nearest future.

Public concern about the release of toxic compounds from wood-based products drives legislation towards enforcing industries to find and use more sustainable solutions for wood treatment. Plant oils are good alternatives to treat wood, minimizing or even neutralizing the impact on the environment. Wood modification with epoxidised linseed oil (ELO) and acetic acid as catalyst has proven a suitable method to impregnate and protect wood. However, the mixture presents a serious inconvenience because of the quick polymerization of the ingredients that limits its practical application. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate an alternative method using a two-step process which bypassed the problem above.

Abandoned and unused railway structures often possess great potential if they are reclaimed and reused for new purposes. The thesis focuses on the global trend of restoring and revitalizing these areas, converting them into park areas, rail trails and green corridors in the city landscape, while preserving their ecological, social, esthetic and historic values. These rail areas were often abandoned when industries moved out from the cities, either to industrial areas or abroad. The use of railways for transporting industrial goods was also replaced to a large extent my motorized road vehicles in the mid 20th century, leaving the rails under-utilized. Because of their location and intrinsic values, they can be reused for important functions, such as green areas in the city environment, providing space for recreational activities and exercise and social meetings and interactions. I have closely investigated the three park areas High Line in New York, Promenade Plantée in Paris and Schöneberger Südgelände in Berlin, which have all gone through this transformation in recent years. I have summarized my conclusions in three key concepts to consider: design for social values, preserve the architectural history, and leave room for future evolution. The final part of my work is a design program for an abandoned railways area in Stockholm: Eriksdal railway area.

För pedagoger är det viktigt att se det som skapar framgång och ger positiv perspektiv.Min undersökning kan hjälpa till att fördjupa förståelsen för vilka faktorer som främjar utbildning för hållbar utveckling. Syftet med studien är att ta reda på faktorer som är viktiga för att främja och förbättra utbildning för hållbar utveckling. Enligt styrdokumenten är hållbar utveckling en nödvändig komponent i utbildning. Materialet erhölls genom kvalitativa djupintervjuer med 6 lärare, inkluderar förskollärare, grundskollärare, gymnasielärare, representanter från Håll Sverige Rent, Naturskolan som har av erfarenhet i praktiskt arbete med hållbar utveckling inom framgångsrikt Grön Flaggs certifieringsprogram. Det analyserades och sammanställdes sedan i löpande text.

Communication during the process of Environmental Impact Assessment: Interviews concerning three infrastructure projects Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a method to describe the possible impact of a planned project. The aim of such an assessment is to aid a sustainable development, by supplying a comprehensive basis for decision-making. Today there are many people working with EIA in different forms, representing both different interests within the community, as well as having different individual points of view. The proponent is responsible for the EIA, but it is of interest to study the relationship between the different participants who are involved in this process. The aim of this report is to study how the different disciplines involved have communicated with each other and amongst themselves, what characterises good communication, and if anything should be improved.

Larvae of Lepidopteran Manduca sexta and Spodoptera littoralis are pests of economical importance in several horticultural and agricultural crops. Knowledge of insect feeding preferences and behavior is crucial in order to find economically and ecologically sustainable solutions to the problems caused by these herbivores. The aim of this thesis was to study the behavior and the induced feeding preferences in larvae of M. sexta and S. littoralis when reared on certain host plants. The hypothesis was that larvae of M. sexta would have an innate preference for plants of the Solanaceae family and therefore discriminate the previously experienced nonhost when faced with the choice between a true host and the previous food source.

Between 1965 and 1974, the Swedish Parliament decided to build one million dwellings, called Million Program. The million program buildings were erected with new, untried design solutions, in a short range of time, and at low cost. The residential buildings from that time are now greatly in need of renovation. The municipal housing company, Gavlega?rdarna, renovates and improves the energy efficiency at some of it?s apartment buildings in the district Sa?tra, Ga?vle.

It is essential to reuse- and recycles residues to decrease the amount of deposit materials and reach sustainable energy use. Two ways to work towards this is to recycle wood ashes to the forest as nutrient compensation and extract biogas from combustion of biomass.The aim with this study was to decide whether wood ashes that been used for biogas upgrading with accelerated carbonation also can be used as a nutrient compensation in the woods according to recommendations from the Swedish Forest Agency (Skogsstyrelsen).The ashes that were used in this study came from Johan Andersson who works at JTI in Uppsala, who also treated the ashes with biogas. The ashes have, in both untreated and treated condition, been analyzed in this study according to contents of elements, leaching properties, hardening properties and contents of crystalline phases, to evaluate what impact carbonation with biogas has on the ashes.The accelerated carbonation led to hardening of the ash, and decreased amount of CaO- and increased amount of CaCO3. The CO2-uptake also entails a dilution of the elements, and the content of nutrients and trace elements decreases. However the results show an indication of an uptake of S from the biogas to the ash, since the dilution had a smaller impact on S than the rest of the elements.

Outdoor recreation habits in metropolis and rural areasThis study aims to examine the perception of nature and outdoor recreation habits from an urban-rural prospective. The urbanization process continues in Sweden and the populations of the cities are growing continuously. Trends to build more compact and ?climate smart? reigns and with this a risk that green areas and areas where outdoor recreation can be practiced are situated further and further away from the urban population. Analyzing the responses from a survey made by the research program Friluftsliv i förändring 2007 we have examined if and which differences exists between urban and rural areas regarding their perception of nature, outdoor recreation habits and factors influencing the practice of outdoor recreation.

Sustainability issues have become increasingly high-profile and important in recent decades. In addition, quality issues have come to play a central role in corporate marketing, strategy and management. The word quality can be defined differently in different contexts. This paper focuses on the concept of quality, based on the Total Quality Management perspective, which in Swedish has come to be known as Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling has been described as a theoretical framework in which an organization continually strives to meet and preferably exceed customer needs and expectations at the lowest cost through continuous improvement, and in which all members of the organization are committed and focused on the organisation's processes. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, to clarify the applicability of the theoretical model Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling as a theoretical explanatory model. Second, to explore how Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB performs according to the values in Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. A multiple case study was conducted in order to explore these topics. The results showed that Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB is working in a dedicated and value-driven manner, aligned with the values ??that form the basis for Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. The results also showed that the model for Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling could serve well as a theoretical explanatory model, but that the model would benefit from being developed, enriched or integrated with other models.

Introduction: The concept of CSR was first coined in the 1950?s and refers to corporate vol-untary work to contribute to a sustainable society. In Sweden, companies within the finance sector are among the worst when it comes to implementing CSR in their daily work. The debate on whether companies should engage in CSR activities or not, is extremely relevant nowadays. Right now we are facing a time where the demand on companies to take their social responsi-bility becomes more intensified.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine the ideological currents that have influenced the swedish school system since the 1990's. The background of my interest is the lively debate in schools and media about the new School reform 2011. My hypothesis is that education in 2011 largely will be influenced by neoliberal and neoconservative values. The method I`ve used is discourse and ideology critique, which examines the relationship between rhetoric and power. These concepts are useful to explain the ideological change in different policy documents and in curricula, for example Lpf 94 and School 2001. The theoretical framework is based primarily on the neoliberal and the neoconservative agenda, which are two distinct political rationalities in the contemporary postmodern world.

Hållbar turism är ett högaktuellt ämne som berör alla involverade aktörer inom turism. Konceptet kan tillämpas på alla geografiska nivåer och det grundläggande syftet är att minimera turismens negativa effekter samt att maximera dess positiva effekter. Sedan ?Brundtlandrapporten? har begreppen hållbar utveckling och hållbar turism behandlats i en stor mängd litteratur samt varit föremål för många diskussioner och debatter. Trots detta är båda begreppen och många av dess definitioner komplexa, otydliga och svåra att operationalisera.