Search results

The chapter studies the functioning of the so-called “voluntary” carbon offset market, a market in which moral controversies take place. The analysis dwells on the theoretical framework that enables us to study the functioning of a contested market through particular devices. The chapter seeks to contribute to the literature on moral struggles within markets by focusing the attention on one specific device: relational work, including several dimensions like meeting between seller and buyer, establishing contracts and maintaining the relationship with clients in the long run. By studying relational work, the authors highlight how this basic market activity is a crucial device that makes it possible for a contested market to continue to exist.

Following the hierarchical model of human behavior of Fulton, Manfredo, and Lipscomb (1996), this chapter develops and tests a model incorporating both general and behavior-specific components of motivation. The research aimed to investigate how general and behavior-specific attitudes work together in explaining air travelers’ carbon offsetting behavior. The study is an experimental study that applied confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation models to better understand the motivational factors that influence aviation carbon offsetting behavior. The sample includes 349 staff and students of the University of Queensland. Based on an established hierarchical model of human behavior, the new ecological paradigm (NEP) scale and the theory of planned behavior work together to explicate general and specific attitudes, respectively. The effect from NEP to offsetting intention was partially mediated by three intermediate motivations: awareness of climate impacts of air traveling, perceived effectiveness of carbon offsets in mitigating carbon emissions, and support for a carbon tax. In particular, general support for the carbon price policy showed a complementary relationship with voluntary action.

Since 1995, award-winning New Zealand campervan and motorhome manufacturing, rentals, and sales company KEA Campers have “done the right thing” as much as possible. In 2007, the film An Inconvenient Truth made headlines, sustainability became the word on everyone's lips, and KEA together with their peers in the New Zealand tourism industry suddenly realized that the country might not be as clean and green as they had been led to believe. This case study covers the achievements and challenges faced by KEA in trying to minimize their impact on the natural environment.

Integrated management is the process of including environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance in close coordination between business processes, functions, groups, organizations, and systems. In this context, decision-makers can better understand the dynamic systems in which they operate; define success based on sustainability-based performance frontier; guide decision making with strategic valuation of environmental and social guidelines; adhere to a timeline of actions that moves the enterprise toward a sustainable society; operationalize dynamic goals, for example, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and support processes for planning with decision analysis tools to monitor and guide change management. Information within this chapter will explore how sustainability in businesses, that is, integrated management, is already underway in leading multinational companies, and can be found within any business function, and in supply chains. The value that sustainability brings to an organization is important to understand as each day there is a growing amount of data to draw from. While 80% of the value of an enterprise is within intangibles, hundreds of ESG performance metrics are now available to researchers and practitioners to make the intangible tangible. With a look on how these ESG performance metrics and the social cost of carbon are used by practitioners and researchers, a number of research propositions call for improved financial decision analysis and a new performance frontier.

In 2018, the World Health Organization released its latest report on air pollution identifying that seven million people die annually as a result of poor air quality. Moreover, it is estimated that 90% of the world's population is exposed to ‘dangerous levels’ of air pollution (WHO, 2018a). This is an alarming news, given the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number three seeks to ‘substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemical and air, water and soil pollution and contamination’ (WHO, 2016). In addition, the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has publicly stated that ‘…air pollution threatens us all, but the poorest and most marginalised people bear the brunt of the burden… If we don't take urgent action on air pollution, we will never come close to achieving sustainable development’ (WHO, 2018b). This chapter explores the political economy of global air pollution including an analysis of international trade that perpetuates and exacerbates emissions and the environmental injustices associated with global warming and air quality ill health. It also draws on discourses of power, harm and violence to analyse air pollution and climate change within frameworks of green criminology and atmospheric justice.

Increasing awareness around the world of the environmental impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from human activities such as air travel warrants consideration of the effects of research and activities within the field of Comparative and International Education (CIE). The authors hypothesize that consideration of CIE research’s environmental impact is seldom, if ever, discussed in the literature. To test this hypothesis, the authors conduct a content analysis of articles published in selected major CIE journals to analyze how researchers account for their environmental impact. In addition to presenting the findings of this analysis, the authors provide a selection of queries for examining one’s own practices as a CIE researcher in relation to environmental sustainability. The authors provide preliminary suggestions for ways to reduce GHG production and the environmental impact of continued CIE research and call for acknowledgement of these impacts in publications. Ultimately, the authors suggest that more needs be done to examine CIE scholars’ ecological impact in conducting research and use this chapter as a starting point for conversations in this vein.

Hospitality, constituting an essential component of the tourism industry, is a sector characterized by many feasible opportunities to cut carbon dioxide emissions and to reduce the use of resources. Hence this chapter, drawing on the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), focuses on the way the hospitality sector copes with climate change. Its principal aim is to show what international hospitality companies, which are regarded as pioneers of CSR-inspired environmentalism, have done to mitigate the effects of global warming. In doing so, the chapter critically examines innovative measures and instruments introduced by top hotel chains within their CSR programs with an aim of reducing their carbon footprint. It lays emphasis on the practical dimension, highlighting the nature and effectiveness of concrete initiatives, and the issues that arise during the implementation process. The chapter concludes by providing specific managerial-policy guidelines, thereby contributing to the dissemination of best practice, and suggestions for further research.