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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.

Introduction The European Union aims at raising the share of energy consumption produced from renewable resources to 20% in 2020 as compared to 1990. Moreover, the European Commission adopted a strategy called "Innovating for Sustainable Growth: a Bioeconomy for Europe" to shift the European economy towards greater and more sustainable use of renewable resources. The S2Biom project (www.s2biom.eu) - Delivery of sustainable supply of non-food biomass to support a "resource-efficient" Bioeconomy in Europe - supports the sustainable delivery of non-food biomass feedstock at local, regional and pan-European levels through developing strategies and roadmaps that will be render available to the user by a "computerized and easy to use" toolset (and respective databases) with updated harmonized datasets at local, regional, national and pan-European level for EU-28, Western Balkans, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine. Methodology Taking in consideration the results and experiences of current and past EU projects, the S2Biom project activities are implemented in three individual but strongly interrelated Themes: 1) To focus on methodological approaches, data collection and estimation of sustainable biomass potentials resources, efficient pathways and optimal logistical supply routes as well as the development of a computerised toolset. 2) To make use of the findings of Theme 1 and develop a Vision, strategies and a R&D roadmap for sustainable delivery of non-food biomass feedstock at local, regional and pan- European levels. 3) To validate the results from themes 1 and 2 and ensure the project outreach; this will be performed through selected case studies which will efficiently capture the different scales of applications for biomass supply chains in a sufficient number of regions across Europe. Conclusion The first draft version of this toolset have been developed, allowing to analyse different levels of bioenergy production, its costs and feedstock biomass crops available across EU at a resolution level of Nuts3.

Treball Final de Grau en Finances i Comptabilitat. Codi: FC1049. Curs: 2018/2019 In recent years, banks have suffered a crisis of confidence, exacerbated by the Spanish economic crisis. This has meant that it is in a context in which the bank has not yet been able to recover the confidence of the citizens, experiencing a remarkable transformation with social, economic, institutional and technological changes that have modified the business model until arriving at the present time. In this sense, the banking sector has become a clear example of evolution and transformation towards a socially responsible behavior, through Corporate Social Responsibility. In this paper, the main objective is to analyze the current situation of the CSR in the Spanish banking sector, deepening its evolution, development, and main characteristics. In addition, a descriptive individual analysis is carried out, based on the study of the GRI indicators of the three main Spanish banks (Santander, CaixaBank and BBVA) with the purpose of examining the responsible practices of each bank. And, to end with this practical part, a joint comparison between the aforementioned entities banking companies will be carried out.

With industrial revolution the transport of people and goods generalized. Industries started to be located near raw materials extraction, more for economic than environmental reasons, as this centralization of production increased the average distance of building products from the extraction to the work sites – with consequences on transport energy costs and pollutant emissions. Many building materials result from high energy demanding industrial processes. The North of Portugal is characterized by a sprawled territory occupancy, what is problematic due to infra-structures and transport increased costs. This reality has diverse causes: accented topography, division of soil due to multiple transmission of property, small delocalised industry, among others. The generalized access to individual transport in the last decades accentuated this phenomena. More recently, the Portuguese economic context is changing drastically. Energy cost increasing, small industries closing and unemployment are impelling the return to individual means of subsistence, such as poultry. But the urban sprawled occupancy frequently limits access to productive soils and sun exposure. Apart from being very efficient on passive cooling by shading and evapotranspiration, living green facades present very low embodied energy in comparison with other building cooling systems. They allow rainwater retention decreasing the risk of flooding and contamination of rivers and streams. Green facades are still able to create dynamic changes on buildings’ envelope, according to seasonal variations and plant ageing. It is desirable to make use of native plants and agricultural techniques in accordance with its capability to be used in such structures. This ensures the preservation of the cultural and economic values of a region, contributing to the local identity. However, the use and appreciation of native flora has not been sufficiently valued or studied with a view to integrating these vegetable systems. This study comments on some technical aspects of living green façade systems, integrating the constraints that impose vertical live plant. This strategy is especially relevant for South oriented facades, more adequate for plant growing, contributing to reduce heat island effect, lower emissions and even a positive balance by absorbing CO2 due to photosynthesis. Green facades can also contribute to reduce visual impact from buildings on landscape. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Keynote Presentation FEDER

Negative carbon emissions are proved necessary to limit global temperature increase below 1.5C compared to pre-industrial levels. (a) Reducing carbon sources and (b) increasing negative emissions are two effective ways to achieve this goal. (a) involves the introduction of renewable energy sources, improved efficiency of energy technologies, and changes in human lifestyles. For (b), the reinforcement of carbon sinks can be realized either in the industrial domain, i.e. by Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS), or in nature, i.e. by afforestation and reforestation. However, these measures will entail fundamental changes in the structure of the energy system, involving the conversion, transmission, distribution, and storage of energy, as well as changes on the demand side, such as the transformation from a pure consumer to a prosumer (producer and consumer). The question of how to "achieve the goal of negative carbon emissions rapidly and stably whilst guaranteeing the security of energy supply" has become a hot topic in international academic, political, and economic activities in recent years. With the aim of optimizing energy systems, this study develops a theory for modelling the increasingly complex carbon cycle from a linear to a circular economy. On this basis, a theoretical and methodological approach to parameterize the energy transition is proposed, quantifying and discussing the impact of the carbon emission rate, the timing of the transition on the cumulative carbon emissions, and the cumulative system costs. The results show that (1) Switzerland can achieve negative emissions by 2050, where the energy system can generate -6 million tonnes of annual carbon emissions; at the same time, (2) Switzerland can achieve energy independence, with a 92% penetration share of renewable energies; (3) the difference in cumulative carbon emissions between the different transition pathways over the next 30 years can reach up to 7 times the 2020's emissions subject to the same negative-emission target, while (4) the difference in cumulative costs is only 10%. These results highlight the necessity to shift from target dominance to process orientation for energy planning. For the European Union (EU), Switzerland and UK, the model results estimate the carbon emission could achieve lowest to -900 MtCO2-eq/year, but it necessitates the joint effort of the whole society to realize a radical revolution in lifestyle (diet, clothing, living, and travel), technology development (in particular energy and manufacturing sectors), and smart management in land utilization including agriculture and forestry. The results indicate that different pathways of the EU can lead to a global temperature fluctuation of approximately 0.025°C in 2050. Furthermore, the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) results show that the decarbonization process can significantly diminish the damages caused by human activities to the health and ecosystem (e.g. biodiversity). Nevertheless, low-carbon emissions are demonstrated as merely one necessary but not sufficient condition for the sustainability of the society. For the EU, decarbonization might exacerbate the food shortage, water stress, and depletion of mineral resources. Following the COP26, these side-effects are likely to be amplified, thus calling for joint efforts of the whole society to meet the sustainable demands of human beings.

The knowledge economy has featured the last few decades and the innovation is the strategic factor to improve the competitiveness of a country or a region. Within this context, the knowledge production and the technology transfer to companies have been becoming increasingly important components to be competitive in the global economy. In very different countries, public policies have been implementing in order to foster the collaborations between research centers and business, increase the number of patents, support for new business creation as a spin-off of public sector research. Intermediate structures intended to promote the convergence of businesses and public sector research (universities and research institutions) have been multiplied. This phenomenon regards, more or less, all technological fields. In this paper we examine the technology transfer mechanism in the energy sector and in particular we focus our research in spin off firms which operate in the energy sector. The energy sector is facing two big issues: the growing electricity demand and the environmental challenges. In such field, the energy sector plays a main role in the mitigation of climate change, to increasing efficiency and to guaranteeing energy security. For this reason the innovation in energy technology has become over the years a crucial strategic factor both for governments and companies. If it is refered to renewable energy, we can find out that the amount of investment (government and corporate) in research and development increased during the period 2004-2014 up to 129%: from $5.1 billion in 2004 to $ 11,7 billion in 2014. (Global Trends In Renewable Energy Investment 2015 - Frankfurt School-UNEP Centre ). Also the number of patent applications has increased from 2003 to 2013, about 65% more.(WIPO data elaborated by Istituto per la competitività ). According to some studies the innovation process not only affects big companies but also SMEs. The smaller companies make a greater effort in R&D, measured in relative terms with respect to sales, in particular the younger firms are more likely to perform R&D. What we want to examine in this paper is the incidence of R & D investment on the creation of start-ups, in particular as research results and patents produced within universities and research institutes have enabled the creation of spin off firms in the energy sector. Our research has focused on Italian spin off firms by analyzing the characteristics of these companies making a comparison with those of other sectors.

The construction industry has often been criticized for imposing heavy environmental damage to the planet by intensive resource consumption and waste generation. The concept of Circular Economy (CE) has recently gained momentum among scholars to stress the need to transition towards healthier practices for the environment without compromising the economic progress. The present book chapter will tackle a research gap that was often highlighted by academia and policymakers, which is the lack of practical strategies to implement the concept in structures that are predominantly meant to be demolished when they reach their end-of-life. Globally, the paradigm aims at erasing the waste concept, relying on regenerative sources, and keeping the materials, components, and systems in use at their highest value as long as possible. Even though the CE seems straightforward, translating this thinking to the building level might be a hardship. This study sheds the light on how to integrate the concept of CE in buildings throughout their life stages which, on a bigger scale, will ultimately lead to healthier, efficient and more sustainable cities.

Lean-Green is a concept that associates value aggregation and efficiency in operational and environmental terms (eco-efficiency). This concept arises as a corollary effect of companies’ challenges for rethinking their goals and strategies in order to add more value while contributing to social equity and prevent environmental burdens. The eco-efficiency concept translates the idea of “creating more with less”, in order to reduce ecological impacts and resource intensity, throughout the life cycle. Lean is a strategy that encompasses a wide variety of management practices, in an integrated system, to streamline business processes, minimize waste and improve financial performance. When Lean and Green are associated, in the so called Lean-Green link, many of those savings also result in environmental benefits. This paper reports the ongoing effort to provide models/frameworks for the Lean-Green integration, as found on the literature. A comparative analysis of the few models identified is provided, and the most frequently used KPI acknowledged. Findings, accrued from the study, show the existence of a limited number of Lean-Green models, published from 2012 onwards only, denoting a narrow breadth of dissemination and limited acceptance levels. The fundamental goal of Lean-Green models was mostly found to be related to improving the systems productivity while reducing the environmental impacts, rendering the greatly accepted idea that integrated Lean and Green initiatives can constitute a valuable approach to sustain and endure a greener industrial activity. This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The companies' performance effectiveness and sustainability, two imperative indicators of present-day business competitiveness, were partly and separately measured during many years. On one hand, the performance effectiveness has been measured through productivity, quality, cost, and other key performance indicators or a combination of them. On the other hand, many companies recognized the need to disclosure, and begun to measure, key environmental performance indicators. Nevertheless, few studies point out a global indicator that could simultaneously tackle both strands, which in turn would enable for a clearer assessment and endorsement of trade-offs among environmental and operational performances. This paper aims to present one such indicator, which measures the companies' lean-green compliance, by interweaving sustainability issues with those of the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). The authors termed it Business Overall Performance and Sustainability Effectiveness (BOPSE) indicator. Its purpose relies on assessing the business effectiveness, based on both operational performance and sustainability compliance. While the performance effectiveness is appraised based on a well-established indicator, the authors felt the need to develop, adapt and simplify the particular indicators aiming the assessment of sustainability compliance. The later are mostly sourced, adapted and simplified from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). This development was contextualized in a Lean-Green environment; where continuous efforts to uncover and reduce all the Lean waste sources, plus the waste prevention perspective of cleaner production, environmental compliance and social responsiveness, play a major role in the development of the factories of the future. This paper provides a discussion on the development of the BOPSE model and a comparative analysis on the ones found on the literature, while providing insights into its relevance and wider application. This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020.

Imranul Hoque is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing at Jagannath University in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He holds a master’s degree in Innovation & Entrepreneurship from Aalborg University, Denmark. Prior to that, he completed his MBA and BBA with a major in marketing from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has been teaching marketing for more than twelve years at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. His main research focus is international business, the global value chain, operations management, and sustainability. His research has appeared in the Management Review Quarterly, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, South Asian Journal of Management, and more. He has experience working on various national and international projects. In his leisure time, Imranul enjoys playing cricket, listening to music, and travelling.