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Treball Final de Grau en Finances i Comptabilitat. Codi: FC1049. Curs acadèmic: 2019/2020 In recent years there has been a rise in businesses investing in social and ethical issues. The sustainable development goals published in 2015 by the UN provide a globally agreed framework to make the world more sustainable. Companies have been given the opportunity to help the environment and society through their actions whilst increasing their value and return and improving their reputation. A method for doing so is by following the principles of responsible investment and incorporating environmental, social and governance criteria into long-term businesses strategies. Spanish banks are actively working to achieve the sustainable development goals by investing in sustainable finance, social projects, housing programmes, etc. to meet societal needs whilst extending their market scope and achieving corporate growth and financial success. The main focus of their actions lays with two specific goals: ending poverty and providing decent work and economic growth for all.

Artículos en revistas Este estudio analiza cómo las estrategias de responsabilidad social corporativa ambiental (ECSR) contribuyen a mejorar la innovación entre las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYMES) mediante el desarrollo de recursos tecnológicos. Probamos nuestras hipótesis durante un período de ocho años utilizando un panel de 2.405 pymes industriales en España. Encontramos empíricamente que ECSR impulsa la construcción de los recursos tecnológicos de las empresas, lo que resulta en una mejora de su esfuerzo tecnológico o I + D y resultados en términos de innovación de productos y procesos. ECSR intensifica la innovación para empresas innovadoras y cataliza el inicio de la innovación para empresas que antes no innovaban, y los efectos resultantes se mantienen en el tiempo. Contribuimos a la literatura analizando los efectos de ECSR en la promoción de la innovación de las empresas más allá de la conocida influencia en la innovación verde. Además, examinamos el área de investigación descuidada de las estrategias ambientales de las PYME. Nuestros hallazgos fortalecen el valor innovador instrumental de ECSR, específicamente para las PYMES. This study analyzes how environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) strategies contribute to enhancing innovativeness among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by developing technological resources. We test our hypotheses over an eight-year period using a panel of 2,405 industrial SMEs in Spain. We empirically find that ECSR drives the building of firms’ technological resources, which results in an enhancement of their technological effort or R&D and outcomes in terms of product and process innovation. ECSR intensifies innovation for innovative firms and catalyzes the inception of innovation for previously non-innovating firms, and the resultant effects are sustained over time. We contribute to the literature by analyzing the effects of ECSR in promoting the innovation of firms beyond the well-known influence on green innovation. Further, we examine the neglected research area of the environmental strategies of SMEs. Our findings strengthen the instrumental innovative value of ECSR, specifically for SMEs. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Capítulos en libros The development of smart grid solution concepts, such as islanding, make it possible to improve the security of supply in networks. The results experimented in real-life test systems must be extrapolated to wider areas and in other locations, which is not straightforward. The scalability and replicability analysis (SRA) aims to identify the relevant factors that affect smart grid implementations and understand the effects of their variation on the results achieved by smart grid solutions. This paper presents the SRA of an islanding use case in a medium voltage network using cogeneration. Furthermore, the results obtained have been used to obtain a set of scalability and replicability rules for islanding use cases that can be applied in other cases. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Abstract Sustainable infrastructures need technologies that do not cause climate or environmental degradation. The only long-term sustainable solution to global warming in terms of both environmental and economic mitigation is renewable energy generation for stationary and transportation infrastructures. The papers in this special issue review some of the major technology and economic approaches to sustainable infrastructures. They specifically address the issue of sustainable energy and transportation systems, i.e. energy generation for vehicles and the relation to the stationary supply of electricity and heating. In order for communities, regions, nations and international communities to become sustainable, they must make energy into integrated infrastructures that use hybrid technologies. This chapter reviews and summarizes many of the points made in the volume to that end: sustainable infrastructures for power generation and transportation. The key is to consider the true costs for energy in terms of well to wheels and how the developing technologies for renewable energy power generation can be leveraged or made into hybrid systems that are cost-effective and sustainable. The series of articles begin to get into such as an approach for sustainable energy systems.

Abstract This article gives an overview of the literature on clean technology diffusion, followed by suggestions for future analysis. Findings from diffusion analysis are presented in the form of 10 stylised facts, helping the reader to see the forest for the trees. The overall conclusion is that the diffusion of clean technology (same as the diffusion of normal innovations) is governed by endogenous mechanism (epidemic learning and learning economies) and by exogenous mechanisms. Policy is important for clean technology diffusion but other factors are important too: the characteristics of the clean technology, absorptive capacities of potential adopters and the age structure of capital. It is often overlooked that companies have a choice: they can choose between an end-of-pipe solution, a process change (adaptation) and a change of process (substitution). This means that the diffusion and evolution of one clean technology will be at the expense of the diffusion of another clean technology, something overlooked in studies on clean technology diffusion. Further research is needed on the influence of public policy on clean technology choice, expectations (about learning economies and prices), adjustment costs, network externalities and complementary innovations on clean technology adoption choices.

This thesis is motivated from the fundamental decision problem in today's manufacturing industry which could be summarized as one simple question: how is it possible to achieve economic growth by taking advantage of the latest technologies while protecting the environment? The machine tool has undergone a remarkable change in recent years and the classical concept of an independent, manually operated machine tool, specially dedicated to a particular machining process no longer belongs to the production environment. The increasing usage of computer control and measuring equipment as well as workpiece and tool handling devices has transformed the machine tool into a sophisticated hybrid production system having a lower demand for human supervision of the process. All these efforts are gathered together in order to achieve a high productivity system able to machine different parts respecting quality requirements at the lowest cost. In addition, increasing attention to the environmental and health impacts by governmental regulations and by growing awareness in society is forcing manufacturers to find environmentally friendly designs and machining strategies. The objective of this research is to propose a multicriteria decision aid methodology (MCDA) for evaluation of the use phase of a machine tool system by jointly considering economical, technical and environmental criteria which allows the decision maker to be in a better position to make sustainable decisions. The evaluation is carried out at two levels by addressing the process level with its local cutting area effects and the main activities of the machine tool system by giving full consideration to reduction/elimination of the cutting fluid and reduction of the overall energy consumption. After carefully reviewing previous research, a consistent hierarchical evaluation criteria structure and an entity relationship diagram characterizing the organizational scheme of a database, which stores the data to be used in the evaluation process, is proposed for each level. As a second step, this thesis proposes a model for estimation of the mechanical energy requirements of the cutting subsystem of a machine tool based on the cutter location data, the cutting parameters and the technical specifications of the spindle and feed axes. The MCDA methodology and the energy consumption model were implemented in a software tool using the VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) language and was validated through various tests consisting in the machining of different milling and drilling features of a prismatic part by employing different cutting parameters and cooling/lubrication alternatives. In addition to the cutting tests, an extensive monitoring of the power share amongst the main subsystems of a modern machining center was carried out and a power data collection framework was proposed. The acquisition, interpretation and storage of the experimental data were supported by a measurement platform developed in the LabVIEW environment.

Transport is one of the most challenge sectors when addressing energy security and climate change due to its high reliance on oil products and lack of the alternative fuels. This paper explores the ability of three transport strategies to contribute to the development of a sustainable transport in China. With this purpose in mind, a Chinese transport model has been created and three current transport strategies which are high speed railway (HSR), urban rail transit (URT) and electric vehicle (EV) were evaluated together with a reference transport system in 2020. As conservative results, 13% of the energy saving and 12% of the CO2 emission reduction can be attained by accomplishing three strategies compared with the reference transport system. However, the energy demand of transport in 2020 with the implementation of three strategies will be about 1.7 times as much as today. The three strategies show the potential of drawing the transport demand to the more energy efficient vehicles; however, more initiatives are needed if the sustainable transport is the long term objective, such as the solutions to stabilise the private vehicle demands, to continuously improve the vehicle efficiency and to boost the alternative fuels produced from the renewable energy sources.

Abstract Assessing and selecting the optimal technological alternatives in industrial sector is a fundamental tool to improve and adapt the industrial processes to the European legislation, which encourages the incorporation of new technologies for minimising the environmental impacts of companies such as Best Available Techniques. The aim of this study is to perform a holistic analysis of this process from a sustainability perspective. That is to say, its purpose is to analyse the studies that have been published in the literature over the last decade concerning the way the different improvements incorporated into different industrial sectors (Best Available Techniques, green technologies, remediation technologies, emission abatement technologies, etc.) are assessed and selected from a range of perspectives (environmental, technical, economic, social, etc.). Thus, an extensive review of the literature was performed to determine which criteria are the most widely used, the methodologies applied to choose those criteria, the sources of information the data is obtained from, the methodologies for calculating the indicators that allow each criterion to be measured, the different normalising and weighting methods that are applied, the techniques that are most commonly used to compare and choose the best technological alternatives and, finally, the sensitivity analyses that are most often applied to such processes. As a result, the process for assessing and selecting technologies is characterised and the guidelines to direct the selection of the set of methodologies that are the most appropriate to make a decision related to technology selection in future applications are established.

The development and commercialization of novel sophisticated products, exerts a significant burden on the environment, throughout its life-cycle. Moreover, the environmental impact also generates a significant impact onto the socio-economic dimensions. Therefore, it is imperative to include criteria for addressing socio-economic and environmental sustainability. Previously developed approaches for sustainability evaluation, were comprehensive, resource intensive and lacked simplicity. The proposed framework for Sustainable New Product Development, utilizes a Systems Engineering Approach based on multi-criteria analysis. The investigation also proposes 2 capital budgeting based methods for evaluation, namely NPV@ Sustainability and Profitability Index @ Sustainability using Life Cycle Assessment. These evaluation methods express the financial cash flows in accordance with the impact associated with the sustainability criteria and the core project milestones of the product development endeavor. The evaluation methods, together with the product development framework, are applicable during key decision points of Stage 2 and 3, in the Stage-Gate Process of New Product Development. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)