• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• 제7권12호
• /
• pp.317-328
• /
• 2020

The board of directors play an important role in corporate climate strategy-making and decisions but might also compromise environmental policies to minimize agency cost. This study critically investigates the relationship between the attributes of the board of directors and the degree of sustainability performance for the energy sector as discussed in the literature. Our study cumulates existing knowledge offering important characteristics for a balanced board structure to increase the board's effectiveness in adopting sustainable initiatives that could reduce the adverse impact of an energy corporation's operation on the environment. Crucial attributes of the board of directors deemed to be positively associated with the commitment to reduce carbon footprint in the environment have been identified. Based on our extensive analysis of the literature we propose a conceptual framework that measures the influence of the board of directors' attributes on corporate environmental and social sustainability performance. The proposed framework will be useful as an initial step for top management and regulators to gain a better understanding of the balanced board structure required to achieve the social and environmental sustainability performance of corporations. Further, this paper contributes to a body of knowledge about how the board of directors could play a crucial role in monitoring social and environmental threats.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
• /
• 제10권1호
• /
• pp.37-43
• /
• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between portfolio quality and financial sustainability of microfinance institutions in Kenya. Research Design, Data, and Methodology: The analysis was based on a panel dataset of 30 microfinance institutions for the period of 2010 to 2018. Data was obtained from the Microfinance information exchange (MIX) database, and it was analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of STATA. Based on the results of the Hausman test, the study adopted the fixed effect regression model to test the research hypothesis. Results: The study found that portfolio quality had a positive significant effect on financial sustainability of Microfinance institutions in Kenya (β= 0. 211; p-value < 0.05). For the control variables; firm age had a positive effect (β= 0.773; p-value <0.05), while firm size (β= -0. 749; p-value < 0.05) had a negative effect on financial sustainability. Conclusions: The study concluded that portfolio quality has an important influence on the financial sustainability of microfinance institution. The study recommends that managers of microfinance institutions should devise good collection policies to improve portfolio quality while lessening loan default rate. The portfolio quality may improve the overall profitability and enhance investor confidence in their strategic decision-making on refinancing.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• 제7권9호
• /
• pp.687-695
• /
• 2020

The study attempts to assess the level of environmental sustainability awareness in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In the process, the study tries to assess the impact of extracurricular activities in increasing awareness of environmental sustainability. A survey questionnaire was administered to the students of Prince Sattam University and other universities of Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire comprises statements on simple environmental conservation activities, which we come across on a daily basis. Hypothesis testing is used to identify significant differences across different categories of respondents. Further, the method of binary logistic regression is used to analyze the data. Though all the respondents agree that conserving the environment is important still there are significant differences across categories when it comes to believing in and practicing environmentally-responsible behavior. The results show that environmental awareness can be increased using awareness activities on sustainability issues in a University setting. The study concludes that increasing the number of extracurricular activities on environmental topics as only 38% of the respondents reported any activity related to the environment in the past year. The findings of this study suggest that increased awareness of environmental issues can boost the sustainability awareness, which will ultimately lead to a sustainable environment.

• 국토계획
• /
• 제53권6호
• /
• pp.87-99
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of municipal sustainability policy efforts on citywide $CO_2$ emissions. 25 cities in the U.S.A., which offer data on $CO_2$ emissions and are included in the top 50 largest cities in the U.S.A. according to its estimated population, were selected as study cities. This study utilizes the Sustainable Cities Seriously Index of Portney and selects data for the index at the city level. For analysis, this study employs correlation analysis, and OLS regression analysis. The results show that each city has around 30 sustainability policies and emits $12.76tCO_2$ per year on average. In addition, when the number of sustainability policies increases by one, the amount of $CO_2$ per capita decreases by $0.7tCO_2$. This means that the more cities employ sustainability policies, the less $CO_2$ those cities emit. The results of this study support the idea that active efforts on behalf of municipal governments toward the development of sustainability policies are needed to handle citywide $CO_2$ emissions.

• 한국환경교육학회지:환경교육
• /
• 제25권1호
• /
• pp.25-34
• /
• 2012

Following the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, a number of companies began to incorporate the concept of Environmental Sustainability into their business activities. Soon after this, interest in business sustainability within the academic world began to grow and a number of universities in Europe and North America decided to develop environmental management education-related materials and curricula under the support from their respective govemments and private companies. Starting in 1996, a wide-range of environmental management education programs also began to appear in several Korean universities. However, in contrast with the gradual evolution of environmental management education into a single study field internationally, environmental management education in Korea has not become fully specialized, nor has it developed in a systematic manner. In order to enhance and facilitate domestic environmental management education in Korea, universities must put more effort into differentiating environmental management education courses from regular environmental courses through the development of curricula related to business management. The business world has an immense impact on the environment and international environmental regulations are steadily becoming stronger. In this light, environmental education programs need to extend their sphere of study not only to the spread of knowledge and sensitivity towards the environment among members of the general public, but also train businessmen to have an understanding of how their actions impact the environment.

• 한국항해항만학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국항해항만학회 2014년도 추계학술대회
• /
• pp.72-74
• /
• 2014

The need to further improve food quality and reduce food waste leads to increased attention for the development of Food Supply Chain Management (FSCM) which considers intrinsic characteristics of food supply chains besides traditional supply chain management (SCM) objectives such as cost and responsiveness. Growing consciousness of society towards sustainable development brings additional objectives to the food supply chains and the fast evolution of sustainable development results in the development of a new fast-growing concept: Sustainable Food Supply Chain Management (SFSCM). In response to these developments, researchers have developed various decision support tools that can be used for handling progressively increasing complexity along the alteration process from SCM to FSCM and now to SFSCM. This study reviewed literature on sustainable food logistics management to identify logistical key issues and relevant challenges. The evaluation of the reviewed papers shows that towards obtaining sustainability together with considering intrinsic characteristics of food supply chains, there is a gap between the needs of the practice and the current available method.

• 환경영향평가
• /
• 제17권1호
• /
• pp.25-45
• /
• 2008

This review was made to discuss the issues of ecological restoration and environmental impact assessment (EIA) related to the preservation of natural environment, the central theme expressed in the National Anthem of Korea. The authors notice that the key word or the central philosophy contained in the verses of the National Anthem of Korea is the preservation of national land and eternal identity for future generations, which is thought to be pursued through the attainment of ecological sustainability. A conceptual model for the sustainable management of natural ecosystems was suggested for the efficient utilization and the preservation of them, whose activities should be promoted by those of conservation and restoration instead of destructive development and negligence, respectively. Here, the preservation of natural environment can be directly pursued through the restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes and the utilization of natural environment can be directly pursued through the conservation of natural resources and wise management of natural ecosystems and landscapes. After reviewing the major characteristics and activities of the restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes, discussion was further extended to points for the promotion of the EIA activities. To point out some of them, it is needed for the public to better understand the nature of sustainable management of natural environment, for the society to put extensive energy and resources in the restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes, and for the government to install higher levels of ministries than that of the Ministry of Environment in dealing with the issues related to the 'preservation' of national land, people, culture and the security of the sustainability for future generations, where EIA and strategic environment assessment (SEA) can directly contribute to the sustainability of the country and future generations.

• 한국환경과학회지
• /
• 제26권8호
• /
• pp.977-991
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study is to establish common indicators that constitute a "low-carbon green city" and determine their priorities from the perspective of Incheon Metropolitan City with a view to help develop its climate change strategy strategic city. Several major cities, domestic and overseas, were benchmarked to come up with preliminary indicators consisting of six areas, twenty two planning factors, and 74 indicators. In order to evaluate the validity and relevance of preliminary indicators, expert FGI (Focus Group Interview) was conducted that changed the numbers of final indicators to six areas, twenty two planning factors, and 82 indicators. Finally, AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) was conducted to assign relative importance (i.e. weights) to each indicator. Through the layering process of AHP, the upper category of "field" and lower category of "planning factors" were set up as policy prerequisites for constructing a low-carbon green city (6 fields, 22 planning factors). The AHP results for the first level (fields), green city space was ranked first, followed by energy and resource circulation, green traffic, ecological preservation, green logistics, and governance. Among all planning factors, land use, energy efficiency, traffic system improvement, location planning, securing of ecological area, efficiency of logistics, and cooperative organization showed the highest priorities.

• 농업과학연구
• /
• 제47권3호
• /
• pp.425-435
• /
• 2020

Official development assistance (ODA) projects are conducted under the auspices of donor countries and on the principle of time-limited implementation for economic development and welfare improvement in a host country. Exit strategies on how to end official assistance are therefore crucial. Sudden economic recession in a donor country could lead to the suspension of ODA projects, which would affect diplomatic relations and project outcomes. Further, exit strategies can help continue the original project and create links with other ODA projects. This study shows how to employ exit strategies in the Korea-Mongolia Greenbelt Plantation Project and has implications for sustainability of development assistance. Exist strategies were not taken into consideration initially. In the course of implementation and management transfer upon the completion of plantation, various facets were considered later on in developing exit strategies. An ideal exit strategy is to reach the extent to which a host country no longer needs official assistance or has capacity of project implementation on its own. A year-by-year transfer of planted areas can be a phase-over strategy. The Korea Forest Service fulfilled transparent cooperation with Mongolian local governments, established appropriate arrangements with stakeholders, secured institutional and financial foundation for follow-up management by a host country, and realized predictability, responsibility, and sustainability. As a local institution, the plantation technology management center has been established for follow-up activities such as the introduction of agro-forestry. When the Korea Forest Service designed an urban forest project as an exit strategy, sustainability was ensured, which has implications in implementing other ODA projects.

• 한국건설관리학회논문집
• /
• 제8권4호
• /
• pp.128-136
• /
• 2007

1997년 교토의정서 체결과 같은 국제적 차원의 환경관련 규제와 관심이 고조됨에 따라, 많은 연구들이 효과적으로 친환경성을 평가할 수 있는 도구나 기술의 필요성을 강조해왔다. 본 연구는 건설 프로젝트의 친환경성을 평가하는 도구의 일환으로 건설현장의 폐기물 관리 성과 평가 툴을 구축하고자 한다. 이 평가 툴의 목적은 폐기물 저감 및 재활용 확대 측면에서 건설현장의 폐기물 관리 성과가 어느 정도 수준인지 정량적으로 평가하는 것이다. 본 연구에서는 평가 툴을 구축하기 위한 기반으로서, 선행연구에서 파악된 폐기물 관리 성과 요인의 성과 수준을 정량적으로 산정하기 위해 전문가 면담 및 설문을 통해 각 요인별 관리 행위 수준과 이들의 중요도를 파악하였다. 또한, 선행연구에서 제시한 평가 툴 구축 개념을 기반으로 실질적으로 전산화된 평가 툴을 개발하여 개별 건설현장 차원에서의 평가가 용이하도록 했다. 특히, 평가의 결과로서 제시되는 최종지표(TI) 및 지표등급(IR)은 건설현장의 폐기물 관리 수준을 정량적으로 비교 평가할 수 있는 기준이 될 수 있다. 폐기물 관리 성과 평가 툴은 건설현장의 폐기물 관리효과를 증진시키기 원하는 시공자 측면뿐만 아니라, 발주자 측면에서도 일정정도의 폐기물 관리수준을 객관적으로 요구할 수 있으므로 그 활용범위가 넓을 것으로 판단된다. 실제 현장에서의 적용가능성과 신뢰도를 검증하는 등의 세부적인 연구가 뒤따른다면 보다 효과적인 건설폐기물 관리방안이 될 수 있을 것이다.