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The aim of this paper is to describe and discuss the weak and strong sustainability approach of assessing climate change and to show reasonable applications, weaknesses, possible improvements and linkages of both approaches. Main features of “weak” and “strong” sustainability approaches are characterised. Damage cost studies of global warming representing weak sustainability indicators are discussed. Further, the examples of the “inverse scenario” approach of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) and the environmental space concept of the Dutch Advisory Council for Research on Nature and Environment (RMNO) are described and discussed for illustrating advantages and weaknesses of strong sustainability indicators. Finally, the integration of damage cost modules into a broader methodological framework of strong sustainability is recommended.

Current industrial production is driven by increasing globalization, which has led to a steady increase in production volumes and complexity of products aimed at the pursuit of meeting the needs of customers. In this context, one of the main tools in the management of customer value is Lean Manufacturing or Production, though it is considered primarily as a set of tools to reduce the total cost of the resources needed to achieve such needs. This philosophy has recently been enriched in the literature with case studies that link Lean Management (LM) with the improvement of environmental sustainability. The consequence is an expansion of the Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM); indeed, CIM, currently, combining and integrating the key business functions (e.g., business, engineering, manufacturing, and information management) with a view of the life cycle, does not highlight the strategic role of the environmental aspects. In order to deal with the increasingly rapid environmental degradation that is reflected in society, in terms of both economy and quality of life, Industrial Ecology (IE) introduced a new paradigm of principles and instruments of analysis and decision support (e.g., Life Cycle Assessment—LCA, Social Life Cycle Assessment -SLCA, Material Flow Account—MFA, etc.) that can be considered as the main basis for integrating the environmental aspects in each strategy, design, production, final product, and end of life management, through the re-engineering of processes and activities towards the development of an eco-industrial system. This paper presents the preliminary observations based on a analysis of both theories (LM-IE) and provides a possible assessment of the key factors relevant to their integration in a “lean environmental management”, highlighting both positives (lights) and possible barriers (shadows).

The zinc acetato and triflato complexes of 2,2’-bipyridine and 1,10-phenanthroline were prepared and completely characterised. The whole series (including the already described dichlorido complexes and the ligands themselves) were screened for their catalytic activity in the solvent free ring-opening polymerisation of D,L-lactide. The acetato and triflato complexes were found to be active initiators and polylactides could be obtained in almost quantitative yields or with high molecular weights, up to 145,000 g/mol.

We propose an ethical analysis as a method to reflect on how companies’ decisions promote sustainable development. The method proceeds by first identifying the choice according to financial business interests, and by then scrutinizing this choice according to consequentialist and deontological ethics. The paper applies the method to the choice of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that a consortium of Brazilian companies (EGASUR) delivered as part of their project proposal for the realization of the Inambari hydropower dam in the Peruvian Amazon. We show that if an EIA is chosen based on the attempt to maximize the financial bottom line, it raises ethical issues both from a consequentialist perspective by involving negative consequences for various stakeholder groups, and from a deontological perspective by not complying with relevant rules, guidelines, and principles. The two ethical perspectives hence reveal where the consortium faces impediments to a genuine commitment to sustainability. Building on stakeholder interviews, observations of the project developments, and the executive summary of the actual EIA, we provide indications that EGASUR has indeed made a choice that resembles a decision based on financial interests.

Between 2008 and 2012, the delivered price of natural gas to the U.S. power sector fell 60 percent. This paper addresses, in theory and in practice, the effects of this negative price shock on electricity consumers and the environment. We demonstrate with a simple model that the larger the effects of gas prices on consumer welfare, the smaller the effects on pollution emissions and the smaller the increase in profits of existing natural gas-fired generators. Using detailed data on electricity prices, fuel consumption, and fuel prices from 2001 to 2012, we confirm this hypothesis. Regions that experience greater reductions in pollution emissions experience smaller reductions in electricity prices and consumer welfare.

The transformation of the present energy system into a sustainable one is discussed worldwide. This is also mirrored in a vivid debate in the scientific literature [1–3]. Self-sufficiency attained with the help of electricity, heat, and fuel from renewable energy (RE) in combination with energy saving is seen as one way to establish a sustainable energy system, e.g., [4,5]. Many communities and regions in different countries are facing the challenge of such a transformation of their energy system, and have taken up the objective of achieving energy self-sufficiency through the use of renewables [4,6–8]. [...]

Despite the high CO2 emission intensity of fossil and especially coal fired energy production, these energy carriers will play an important role during the coming decades. The case study identifies the main technological trajectories concerning more efficient fossil fuel combustion and explores the potentials for lead markets for these technologies in China, Germany, Japan and the USA taking into account the different regulation schemes in these countries. We concentrate on technologies that have already left the demonstration phase. This is the case for supercritical (SC) and ultra-supercritical (USC) pulverized coal technologies that are already established. The analysis shows that the typical pattern of a stable lead market only applies to a limited extent. In the 1960s and 1970s, the USA has established a lead market for SC und USC technologies. In the meanwhile, Japan has surpassed the United States, although it started as a typical lag market. Japan has caught up in terms of supply factors, China in terms of price, demand and regulation advantage. This supports the hypothesis that - apart from the demand-oriented lead market model - push factors such as R&D activity play a strong role as well. The advantage of Japan mainly stems from its intensive R&D activities. It can also be observed that some other advantages – such as price and demand advantage – are shifting to China. China is practicing a leapfrogging strategy, and has already become a leader in the market segment of low and middle quality boilers, whereas Japan and Germany still dominate the world turbine market. The conclusion is that lead markets may switch over time to markets with high growth rates, although first mover advantages exist for some market segments such as turbines. First movers have a strong technological expertise which is important in the catching up process of late followers, and they may even profit from the growth in lag countries by exporting and cooperation activities. Thus international technology cooperation is a beneficial process for all involved parties.