Browsing by Subject "Sustainability"

Previous research has shown that beef have higher environmental impacts of land use (LU) and global warming potential (GWP) than the legumes, though the production type of beef makes a difference in its environmental impacts. Beef as a protein source produced within High Nature Value (HNV) farming systems has not yet been compared to other protein sources in terms of nutritional and environmental impact. HNV farmland is defined as farmland areas in Europe “where agriculture is a major land use and where that agriculture supports or is associated with, either a high species and habitat diversity or the presence of species of European conservation concern or both” (Andersen et al. 2003). Though beef has higher environmental impacts, it can provide an important nutrient source, especially if the bioavailability (BA) of protein is taken into account. It is known that legumes have lower BA for protein than beef, which means that the beef protein and some nutrients are made more available for the human body. It remains unknown to what degree this could affect the required mass of foods consumed to meet nutrition requirements, which could in turn effect the environmental impacts of food consumption. The aim is to assess if HNV beef and plant-based protein-rich alternatives differ in environmental impacts when BA of proteins is considered. The objectives are i) to compare HNV beef in relation to its nutritional content and environmental impact to three alternative protein sources (red kidney beans, chickpeas, and fava beans) and ii) to assess the difference in environmental impacts when BA of these protein sources is and is not considered. The results showed that taking into account protein BA affects the available nutritional value of the protein and the environmental impacts of HNV beef and the other protein sources. The impacts of GWP and LU are highest for HNV and conventional beef even when the impacts were corrected for BA. This means that the inclusion of beef produced on HNV farmland in a sustainable diet is more environmentally impactful than protein intake from legumes when considering the chosen environmental categories. Future studies should include environmental impacts such as water use, carbon sequestration, biodiversity and also different socio-cultural metrics in order to justly assess HNV farming system and HNV products.

The need to develop and expand urban areas is increasing in most countries, but urbanization also increases the threat for global biodiversity. Some cities have acknowledged this challenge and formed strategies and action plans for biodiversity preservation. How can we ensure that such strategies are realized in city planning? Negotiations are a crucial part of urban planning, and therefore can be a leverage point of intervention to effectively implement strategies to pro-tect biodiversity. However, little is known about the dynamics of the actual negotiation process in city planning. I applied a game theoretic approach to study how information availability influences the suc-cess and efficiency of negotiations. A role-playing game was used to simulate a negotiation on specific measures to preserve biodiversity in a residential building project. Eleven urban devel-opment specialists played the game with different sets of information. In addition to the direct outcomes of the negotiation, I analysed the post hoc discussion and arguments used to gain in-sights into perceptions of biodiversity-related negotiations in urban planning. Results indicate that information availability can increase the efficiency of negotiations. Partici-pants favour principled and integrative negotiation, but incomplete information seems to push them to take a more positional stance. The post hoc discussion also reveals some issues rele-vant to the design of urban planning process for biodiversity. The overall results suggest that a simple game-theoretic framework, implemented in (a) game-like simulation with quasi-experimental control and (b) qualitative analysis of discussions, holds potential for both under-standing (i) how decision makers frame and resolve the negotiation with conflicting interests and (ii) how to design efficient administrative processes taking into account not only the partic-ipants’ preferences but also wider public interests, such as biodiversity preservation.

Non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and erosive, unsustainable industrial fat-production methods pose two of the biggest threats to human health in great part of our planet. CVDs and obesity have been linked to diets high in fat and low in dietary fibre, pushing food manufacturers to adapt to more sustainable ingredients. For this reason, this research developed and researched about a new and sustainable plant-based oleogel intended to act as a substitute for saturated and hydrogenated fats. Its characterization was conducted through several techniques, including optical and field emission electron scanning microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy, and synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction. The results showed that the build-up of the formation of the new oleogel was possible, while ensuring that both processing requirements and ingredients are readily available at food manufacturing plants, globally. These findings pose a great opportunity for plant-based fat-replacement formulations, through a sustainable approach. Considering previous studies, this novel system could potentially help in reducing the burden of obesity and CVDs, turning it into a functional food component. Further research on food applications and digestibility models could give more insight on the future applications of this fat-replacement system.

This thesis examines actual and potential human rights impacts of fashion industry. The main approach on subject is from the viewpoint of business and human rights, but corporate social responsibility and sustainability are utilised and discussed as well. Fashion industry in the thesis is defined in an encompassing manner, including productions, marketing and retailing of clothes, footwear, accessories, and cosmetics. Fashion industry is the second largest sector of industry in the world. Many different areas of human rights, recognised in international human rights instruments, are impacted directly and indirectly through actions and functions of fashion industry. ‘Race to the bottom’ and fast fashion phenomenon have pushed down the prices and quality of fashion merchandise during the past decades. Fashion industry is labour-intensive and low prices are often the result of poor working conditions and remunerations that are significantly below living wages. Child labour, forced labour, dangerous working conditions and lack of unionisation are common and result to widespread egregious human rights violations in the manufacturing and production of the raw materials in fashion industry. Industry’s use of natural resources is often reckless and wasteful, and overproduction has resulted to discarding and destroying large quantities of unsold merchandise. More direct human rights impacts, relating to fashion industry and environment, can occur through use and disposal of chemicals and dyes in the manufacturing processes that can have an affect on the living standards and health of the surrounding communities. Different forms of discrimination have been commonly manifested within the industry. There have been numerous lawsuits on discrimination and harassment in workplaces in fashion industry. Statistics, as well as researches based on interviews, show diversity to be realised poorly in the fashion business. Portraying harmful and offensive stereotypes in marketing practices and advertisement reflects problems of discrimination that are deep rooted in the company cultures of the industry and portrays lack of awareness on the issue. Right to property is often infringed in the fashion industry, since copying designs is a common custom. Most well-known cases are between major fashion labels, but in this work, the focus is on rights of small designers and on cultural property of distinct culturally unified groups of people. Taking intellectual property without permission from independent designer can potentially infringe their right to property as well standard of living and using cultural property of a distinct community can be an offensive on the group’s dignity, beliefs and traditions as well as infringement on their economic rights. In this thesis these issues are approached with a somewhat holistic manner. The main tool is the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and a loose template of human rights impact assessment, based on the principles, but issues are processed from multiple focus points. There are currently various voluntary models for responsible business practices as well as national laws and different initiatives on corporate social responsibility, business and human right and sustainable business conduct. This fragmentation makes it essential to approach the issue with an all-inclusive method.

This thesis aims to assess the state and development of beekeeping in Uruguay. Uruguay exports more than 90% of its honey and supplies regularly to the demanding markets in the EU and the US. As marginalized actors in the global honey chain, the beekeepers' livelihoods are largely dependent on the shifts of globalization, predominantly on the patterns of global economy. Proliferation of voluntary certification schemes such as Fairtrade International and European Union Organic Farming have become evident features of these patterns. Adoption of voluntary certification schemes has impacted particularly the development trajectories of smallholders, which is why particular attention in this thesis was laid on them. It was, however, quickly understood the development is dependent on several factors on different levels. To conceptualize these levels, value chain governance and voluntary certification schemes in them were seen shaping the livelihood outcomes of the smallholders. Combining governance and horizontal livelihood approaches, which represents the main innovation of this thesis, was used to identify action points and upgrading strategies feasible for the beekeepers as actors engaged in the global honey chain. In addition, this thesis further highlights the context of beekeeping as a livelihood, honey as a commodity with certain features and market dynamics, as well as Uruguay as the main geographical scope. Research methods were qualitative. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2014 with four different respondent groups along the global honey chain: importers of honey in the EU; representatives of local institutions and export agencies in Uruguay; and the beekeepers themselves, which of some were organized in cooperatives. From the collected data, the development trajectories were analyzed deductively to identify the viable strategies to improve sustainable livelihood outcomes. Based on results, the global honey chain was found buyer-driven since the buyers bear the most powerful role. The structure replicates features of market and captive types of governance, suggesting there is a high degree of power asymmetry and coordination. Higher coordination, however, favors successful upgrading. By identifying the activities performed by actors in the chain, the action point was found in the production node due to the recent increase in activities. High costs of inputs and low margins throughout the chain were observed, particularly in the export node. Beekeepers' baseline conditions were determined as access to livelihood assets, which were found generally weak. State of the fundamental aspect of beekeeping, access to natural assets, was found alarming. The decreased floral resources in Uruguay are due to the rapid proliferation of changes in land use, accelerated by the main vulnerability causing shocks in production and with implications on prices: the climate variability. A key finding, however, was that the proliferation of Eucalyptus grandis in Uruguay has created a dependency by compensating the losses in production based on other flowerings. Furthermore, the emergence of pests has brought risk of losing colonies and increasing costs in treatment and prevention. Natural assets set the main constraint over sustainability of beekeeping in Uruguay, but possibilities to compensate smallholders was found among social assets, which clearly were not optimized at their current levels. This notion largely represents the main conclusion in this thesis: horizontal contractualization of the beekeepers through collective action is the only strategy with a reasonable balance between revenues and risks. In all other scenarios, the risks are likely to become unbearable, unless an external agent would be willing to guarantee the risks up to some point to initiate the process. Collective action was found as a precondition of vertical contractualization, which could include affiliation in voluntary certification schemes. Fairtrade International was predominantly found as a more attractive scheme, but could in this context benefit only a large cooperative with already good resources. Affiliation in a certification scheme, however, would not remove the main constraints faced by the sector in Uruguay, which are the decreasing production per hive and the costs running relatively faster than the prices received, resulting in a decreasing profitability. Whereas more beekeepers are excluded from the chain, the ones remaining practice beekeeping largely based on love and tradition. Future research is suggested to take a more sophisticated approach to cost-benefit analyses to support further decision-making on the level of the beekeepers, as well as on the level of policy-makers. In addition, prospective approaches to develop and assess the potential of systems such as payments for ecosystem services in the context of beekeeping are highly recommended.

The global trends have been guiding hotels to move to a green direction for years, and nowadays hotels are expected to maintain sustainability programs as a regular feature of their business. As the topic is receiving much more attention in hospitality, it is important to consider guests reactions to sustainable practices in hotels. In addition, customer participation is important of the implementation of green practices in hotels. The objective of this study is to investigate consumers’ general attitudes toward green hotels. Specifically, the study seeks to demonstrate how consumers evaluate green practices in hotels and how a hotel’s green image influences consumer decision- making. According to the findings of this thesis, consumers are willing to stay in green hotels and prefer green hotels. Survey study results demonstrate that respondents have positive or very positive attitudes toward green hotel image. This points out that green attributes can bring more value to the brand, and differentiate it from other hotel brands. Based on the literature review and survey study, this thesis distinguished three common green hotel marketing benefits, which are new market opportunities, green brand benefits, and competitive advantage which is achieved by product enhancement. Thus, this thesis demonstrates that there is market for green hotels and the best way to attract customers is to create green hotel brands that emphasize good and consistent value of the green hotel.

Within the general fight to tackle Climate Change, the field of Patent Law has not received the consideration that its potential to control research and entry to the market might have, especially when contrasting it with other fields of Law. The aim of this Thesis is to analyze the current Patent Law framework and create amendments that can help pursue the objective of environmental sustainability. It departs from the constitutional presence and relations between the right to an environment, which we can consider a third generation right, and the most classical right to property, especially intellectual property. We then discuss the developments and adaptations that Patent Law has undergone, its process of internationalization, stopping to revise its primary features: the balance between public interest and incentive to invent. We also enter the topic of business patent strategies, trying to see how it should be shaped to advance on this objective. After defining the concept of ‘green patent’ through the related concept of sustainability, and with the aid of environmental science, we analyze some proposals to modify the law, derived from either Patent Law itself, other fields of Law or other fields of science. We do this following the classical scheme to analyze alternatives in the formulation of public policies, although we focus heavily on the legal implications of the change. The main conclusion we achieve is suggesting three different policies: in a first stage, we consider the creation of incentives both for green patents themselves and for the development of inclusive patents. In a later stage, we aim to use the ‘serious prejudice to the environment’ clause in art. 27.2 TRIPS to outright exclude from patentability any technologies that may have clearly negative environmental impact. The main objective is to spur discussion on the topic and include better proposals to tackle climate change in our current situation through Patent Law.

The concept of natural capital encompasses resources found in nature, both biotic and abiotic. Natural capital accounting is a method to assess these assets in monetary terms. Currently, natural capital accounting is not mandatory, but it offers a valuable tool for a holistic valuation of the asset base. Scholars have noted that the current unsustainable use of natural capital resources may ultimately lead to reduced profits due to natural degradation and natural capital accounting is a step to make the difference to reveal nature’s true value. Natural capital accounting is suggested as a beneficial tool for quantifying natural capital assets in monetary terms. Natural capital accounting is currently future-oriented method to answer possible legislation changes and offers a portfolio-like view of assets for different stakeholders. Forests holds various resources that produce a variety of benefits, not limited to trees alone In many countries worldwide, forests are primarily publicly owned. However, in Europe, especially in Finland, forest ownership is predominantly private. Many of natural capital accounting guidelines lack a private perspective. Therefore, this study aims to develop natural capital accounts for a Finnish forest property entity of 3808 hectares in the Pirkanmaa region. The framework employed for this purpose is the Corporate Natural Capital Accounting (CNCA) framework by eftec. From a corporate standpoint, the CNCA framework proves effective in providing a comprehensive overview of natural capital assets. CNCA assigns value for asset owners and for society while maintaining flexibility for further analysis and extensions. In this study, natural capital accounting for private forest owners is addressed through the accounting of forest holdings. Asset valuation was assembled using quantitative data from open sources and third-party data, employing meta-analysis. Prices were determined based on market prices and meta-analysis. This study also emphasizes the importance of discounting in valuation. It's worth noting that the discount rate is not expected to be identical for a company and for society due to the concept of intergenerational discounting. This concept prioritizes present sustainability for the sake of future generations, underscoring its greater significance.

Since early 2020, COVID-19 has indiscriminately affected societies around the globe, resulting in significant consequences on various aspects of our lives. Nonetheless, throughout the pandemic, our human and planetary systems have had to confront additional crises, such as rapid climate change. As such, there is a growing concern about environmental problems related to consumption and waste management, and research points to the need for extensive, substantial shifts in our societies and activities. In 2020, the European Commission published the European Green Deal, an unprecedented and transformative policy framework, aiming to reshape the landscape of sustainability in the European Union. At the forefront of the European Green Deal is the objective of transforming the European Union into a circular economy, shifting away from the linear economy model. Key activities to promote sustainability and a circular economy are different forms of material and product reuse, such as upcycling, furthermore, contributing to preserving the life cycle of a product. Despite its contribution to a sustainable and circular economy, upcycling may potentially constitute trademark infringement under the current framework of EU trademark law. Significantly, trademark proprietors may invoke their rights to oppose attempts by third parties to upcycle products containing the proprietor's trademark if done without the consent of the trademark proprietor. The intersection between trademark rights, sustainability, and the circular economy furthermore presents the need to reconsider the current trademark system in light of the growing environmental challenges of our society. Situated within the context of upcycling, this thesis aims to provide insight into the alignment of prevailing EU trademark law with the objectives of promoting sustainability and a circular economy in the EU. Furthermore, this thesis contributes with a discussion of how the trademark law can be better shaped to ensure integration with sustainability and circularity objectives. The thesis concludes that under the current trademark system, the extent to which trademark proprietors can control their products in relation to activities conducted by third parties is not aligned with the objectives of the European Green Deal. In the future, structural-level amendments to the current trademark law could be made to promote sustainability and circularity. However, at the present, revisiting existing provisions, namely exceptions and limitations, can be considered a viable strategy. Overall, it is argued that existing provisions should be interpreted more broadly, ensuring that the trademark system evolves with contemporary interests and does not impede the development of sustainable and circular practices.

In the last few decades, socially responsible investing has taken a significant position in the financial market. Asset managers that have a responsible investment strategy can be considered to have an advantage on the market. This is because e.g. institutional investors have gotten more pressure from society and stakeholders to invest responsibly and therefore seek asset managers who can do this for them. Megatrends like global warming, urbanization, and air and water pollution, are part of the reason why investors seek more responsible investment opportunities. Socially responsible investing is in practice analysis of environmental, social and governance factors, so called ESG analysis. Companies are given scores based on their performance in each of these sectors. There is no one right way to do this, so investors can choose to do their own ESG analysis or buy it from ESG rating agencies, e.g. Morningstar or MSCI. In Finland, socially responsible investing has made progress in the last years. Finland, together with the other Nordic countries, can be considered to be forerunners in the field of responsible investing. The United Nations has set up principles for companies and investors on how to operate responsibly, the PRI (principles for responsible investment), and 38 companies/investors in Finland are signatories to the United Nations PRI. There is a prejudice, that in order to invest responsibly, one has to give up returns. In fact, many researches show that with a responsible investment strategy and by doing ESG analysis, an investor can get better risk-return-ratios in their portfolio. One reason for this is that, companies that operate responsibly, and have considered environmental, social and good corporate governance factors in their management, are doing better and have a better possibility to prevent and deal with crises. In this research, I show, that ESG analysis bring added value to managing portfolios and doing investment decisions. I do this by covering previous researches on the subject, as well as showing trough case studies how an investor could benefit from ESG analysis to avoid big losses. The conclusion is, that the benefits from integrated ESG analysis outweighs the costs of it.