Environmental Policies and The Reproduction of Business as Usual: How Does It Work?

This paper aims to advance knowledge about corporate environmentalism by using new concepts and methods. We broaden the concept of the firm as “differentiated composite actor” by including not only managers but workers and unionists as actors. We descend into the “hidden abode of production” using Lefebvre’s concept of “everyday life” to explore the barriers environmental policies experience in this sphere. We base our explorations on life-history interviews to understand how the imaginaries of production are embedded in people’s self-conceptions. We identify seven barriers to the implementation of environmental practices: deficient regulations, collusion between controller and controlled, de-prioritisation, hierarchism, compartmentalisation, specialisation, and social unsustainability. A “necessity discourse,” legitimating the priority of efficiency and product quality over environmental sustainability, subjugates alternative sustainable practices. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results in the light of previous investigations, suggesting that the concept of the everyday could enrich future research.     

产业转移与污染灾难--基于“依附性”省际关系的分析

近年来中国产业转移步伐加快,中西部地区环境污染问题越来越严重,对国民健康构成巨大威胁。依附理论视角有助于理解中国省际之间的环境不平等问题。中国省际关系实际上是一种不平等的依附关系,作为边缘的中西部经济相对欠发达地区对东部省份具有高度依赖性,其地方政府招商引资动机强,环境管制相对较弱,吸纳了东部地区的大量污染产业,从而不可避免的造成环境污染。欲统筹解决中国环境污染跨省转移问题,须从结构上改变这种不平等“依附性”省际关系。     

东北地区价值损伤型上市公司的宏观环境分析

东北地区上市公司参差不齐的发展状况现已成为东北老工业基地整体经济协调发展的巨大障碍。通过采用2010年国资委推出的EVA绩效评价方法,对东北地区上市公司2007~2009年间的业绩进行重新排序,可以发现这些上市公司价值损伤情况越发严重。环境分析结果表明,产业结构不合理、民营经济先天不足以及区域经济发展失衡是导致企业价值损伤的宏观因素。     

保护农村生态环境 发展乡村生态旅游——广东莲华镇生态环境型乡村旅游发展模式调研

该文阐述了广东省汕头市莲华镇通过大力发展生态环境型乡村旅游,实现了经济建设与环境建设同步推进,物质文明与生态文明同步提升,形成环境优良、经济发展、社会稳定、人与自然和谐相处的良好局面。粤东地区人多地少,人口、资源、环境矛盾突出,农村生态环境持续恶化,生态环境压力大,走生态环境型乡村发展之路,意义十分重大。     

“碳政治”：中国的碳路历程

“碳政治”在中国无论对政府还是对民众都是一个新概念。随着全球“碳政治”的兴起,控制人类经济社会活动中会导致全人类毁灭的“碳排放”逐渐变成一个重要的课题。在科学话语与政治权力的互动中,环保问题被转化为全球气候问题,而气候问题被进一步转化为“碳排放”问题,“碳政治”将成为未来中国的“大政治”。本文对中国“碳政治”形成机制和发展轨迹进行了系统的梳理,使我们对中国的环境政治有一个清晰的认识,并在此基础上思考中国的整体环境应对战略,把“碳政治”作为中国的大政治来对待。     

浅析环境影响评价制度

环境保护必须谋求科学化、法制化的途径,而环境影响评价则是环境保护的重要手段和措施,建立科学的环境影响评价制度,是改善人类生存现状和获得良好环境质量的保障。目前,我国已颁布了完整的环境影响评价法,进一步完善了我国的环境影响评价制度。文章对我国的环境影响评价法进行了简要评析。     

论鉴湖的自然与人文价值——兼谈绍兴城市发展的新定位

鉴湖历经近两千年的延续与变迁,不仅以自然的形态鲜活地存在,更以其历史文化的价值沉淀于国人心中,堪称自然与历史留给绍兴的最佳城市名片。鉴湖的文学光彩辉映古今,对中国思想史的意义更为深远。王羲之主政会稽之际聚合而成的当时国内次文化中心,是为中国历史上儒、释、道倾心沟通的起点和第一块平台。充分认识这份自然与文化的双重遗产,保护鉴湖不再被毁坏,进而恢复鉴湖之原有风貌,是绍兴持续发展的理性选择。绍兴在推进转变经济增长方式中,需要大思路、大手笔,按照“中国山水州,东方威尼斯”的思路来构想未来发展战略和城市定位。从这个意义说,时代在呼唤“当代马臻”。     

Export processing zones and corporate environmental performance in emerging economies: The case of the oil,gas, and chemical sectors of Trinidad and Tobago

Export processing zones (EPZs) are increasingly being established to promote economic growth in developing countries. However, they remain controversial and are often criticized for being associated with a “race to the bottom” characterized by the easing of labor and environmental standards. This paper investigates whether the decision to locate facilities inside these zones is associated with higher corporate environmental performance. Findings indicate that facilities operating in Trinidad and Tobago’s EPZs are more likely to show higher corporate environmental performance than those outside. Additionally, firms in state-managed zones appear to show higher corporate environmental performance than those located in privately managed zones. Enhanced institutional pressures from regulators, local communities, and fellow tenant firms may explain these differences. These results suggest that environmental policy makers and environmentalists can take advantage of already established EPZs to promote enclave enhanced institutional pressures associated with superior corporate environmental performance.

Another Opportunity Lost? Victorian Labor's Enactment of Sustainability, 1999–2010

‘Sustainability’ provides the dominant frame for environmental policy debate, even though there is considerable debate to as to what sustainability is, why is it needed, and how can it be progressed. From 1999 through to 2010, Victoria was governed by Australian Labor Party (ALP) led governments that, at times, actively pursued the goal of sustainable development. This culminated in the stated ambition for Victoria to be ‘world leaders in environmental sustainability debate and practice’. This paper explores the way in which sustainability was enacted by Victorian Labor while in government. The evidence indicates that the potential of Victorian Labor's vision was never realized, and that it failed to significantly reform the neoliberal policy settings it inherited.     

Carbon Taxation and Policy Labeling: Experience from American States and Canadian Provinces

A vast economics literature embraces taxation of the carbon content of fossil fuels as the superior policy approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, experience around the world suggests that carbon taxes face exceedingly difficult political hurdles. Federal experience in the United States and in Canada confirms this pattern. This article reviews sub‐federal policy development among American states and Canadian provinces, a great many of which have pursued climate policy development. With one major exception, explicit carbon taxation appears to remain a political nonstarter. At the same time, states and provinces have been placing indirect carbon prices on fossil fuel use through a wide range of policies. These tend to strategically alter labeling, avoiding the terms of “tax” and “carbon” in imposing costs. The article offers a framework for considering such strategies and examines common design features, including direct linkage between cost imposition and fund usage to build political support.