Around the Bloc: Mongolia Faces Hardship as Commodities Prices Slump
Economy is overly dependent on Chinese demand for copper, coal and other resources, critics of government policy argue.
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Economy is overly dependent on Chinese demand for copper, coal and other resources, critics of government policy argue.
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Victims’ families and unions claim mine’s owners skimped on safety, ignored evidence of high methane levels.
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Elon Musk, eat your heart out – carmaker Rimac’s ‘Concept_One’ is ready to roll.
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The article is concerned with determination of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) indicators of performance. The objective of carried-out empirical research is to determine ESG indicators as a key framework of the measurement of sustainable performance of a company in its Sustainable Reporting. On the basis of conducted empirical research, applying factor analysis, the environmental, social and corporate governance indicators for companies active in the processing industries CZ-NACE have been specified. The indicators were selected in a series of successive phases by a multi-factor analysis. The results of factor analysis indicated that the factors fall into three measurement categories: environmental (Investments, Emissions, Source Consumption, Waste), social (Society, Human Rights, Labour Practices and Decent Work, Product Responsibility), and corporate governance (Monitoring and Reporting, Corporate Governance Effectiveness, Corporate Governance Structure, Compliance). This article contributes to the effort to solve measurement of performance of the corporate sustainability and proposal to conceptual framework of ESG indicators of performance for the Sustainability Reporting of Czech companies operating in the processing industry.
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U.S. sanctions against Russia are forcing NASA to find new rocket engine suppliers by 2019.
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The research describes the Bulgarian electricity market and the specificity of electricity pricing in Bulgaria. The factors influencing the wholesale and retail energy markets have been analysed. The research explains the transmission network infrastructure availability, the maintenance of transfer capacity, the capacity of the border interconnecting points of Bulgaria with Romania, Serbia, Greece, Macedonia and Turkey and the open tenders of the Bulgarian Electricity system operator (ESO) and the respective Independent Transmission Operators (ITOs) of neighboring countries. The basic ides, lying in the Transmission agreements have been explained. The process of liberalization of the electricity market has been presented as well as the measures, undertaken by the Energy and Water regulatory commission (EWRC) for the participation of industrial electricity consumers at the freely negotiated prices electricity market. The stages of electricity pricing at both the regulated electricity market and the freely negotiated electricity market are explained. The dynamics of the final consumer and the wholesale industry electricity prices for the period 2003-2014 has been analysed. The mechanism of formation of the average electricity price (the so called “price of the electricity mix”) has been explained. The elements of the final electricity selling price: the base price; the supplements (the “green energy” supplement, the supplement for highly efficient electricity production, the supplement for non-recoverable costs); the price addition for transfer through the transmission network and the price addition charge for access to the transmission network. The obligations of the National Electricity Company (NEK EAD) concerning its’ obligation to purchase electricity at the regulated market by electricity generating companies in Bulgaria as well as the problems for NEK EAD after the new electricity price was introduced in Bulgaria after 01.07.2015 have been discussed as well.
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The article deals with the problem of the state regulatory functions as regards environmental security. It focuses on the necessity of the implementation of regulatory measures due to the globalizing nature of the ecological problems. Several basic concepts are presented, which are related to environmental security, as well as to their importance for the state policy. The main goal of state regulation in the field of environmental security is the transition to sustainable development of the socio-economic system.
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An aim of the paper is to present the scope of work performed under the National Program of Municipal Wastewater Treatment regarding the possibility of fulfilment of directive 91/271/EWG by Poland and thus the provisions of the Treaty of the Accession within the scope of improving water qulity. This article uses the source materials of the Ministry of the Environment and National Water Management. This article has a review character. This work uses the method of data and comparisions analysis.
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Europe’s dependency on Russian energy is sometimes presented as a largely unalterable fact of life when in reality there is much that Europeans can do to reduce this dependency and indeed have already begun to do so. Commentators are also apt to overlook the extent to which market conditions are making Gazprom, the major government-owned and government-regulated gas producer in Russia, more like a conventional commercial entity, one which is less likely to be influenced by political considerations in contract negotiations today than in the past.
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Sector regulatory authorities are a relatively new type of government institution. The real rise in regulation of energy and public services is from the 1980s with the rise of liberal ideas in the USA and the United Kingdom. Researchers point out, that independence of regulatory agencies is a source of institutional power. Two major types of regulatory independence have been defined in previous academic works: de jure (formal) and de facto (informal) independence. There are also three main aspects of independence, defined by authors in this field: independence from elected officials; relations with regulated companies; the decision process. In the current report, a review of the formal independence of the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission in Bulgaria is prepared, based on an index, defined by previous researchers. According to this index, formulated by Gillardi, the independence of the Bulgarian regulatory authority is 0.70 (out of maximum 1.00), which is relatively close to average evaluations for other EU countries.
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Objective: The objective of this paper is to estimate the impact of urban green areas on dwelling prices in Poznań.Research Design & Methods: In order to identify the influence of the green spaces on dwelling prices, the hedonic method was used. In the analysis, transaction prices of residential units in Poznań were used.Findings: The application of the log-linear model allows to identify the percentage difference in the price of the same dwelling located with different distances to green areas. In case of this research, the results indicates that increase the distance from green area by one kilometer lowered the price of a dwelling by 3% in Poznań in years 2013-2015.Implications & Recommendations: It is necessary to conduct research on impact of green areas on other types of properties. Different types of urban green areas may affect in different way.Contribution & Value Added: The originality of this work lies in studying some aspects of influence of green areas on dwelling prices in Poland.
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The importance of keeping the buildings properly maintained is not something new, – but israther an integral part of a building's life. Facility management however is a relatively new businessfield, which was first recognized as a need in the late 70’s of last century, primarily in the USA, withEurope soon foilowing.One common definition of facility management was formulated by the European FMAssociation:Integration of processes within an organization to maintain and develop the agreed serviceswhich support and improve the effectiveness of its primary activities.1The main scopes of facility management are the people that work in the organization at thebuilding, places – all the maintenance that has to be done at any given building, processes – allthe business processes that run the company's core business and last, but not least – technology –making all office equipment work properly.The current report is focused on the theories on „Improving the effectiveness of businessentities through professional facility management services“ – facility management and corporatereal estate management. This article, part of a larger research paper, explores the need of a business entities to adoptvarying and customised facility management and corporate real estate strategies in order to increasethe added value for their shareholders.Large corporations should be using different facility management strategies.
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The aim of this paper is to examine the role of CO2 offsetting enterprises in pursuing the concept of sustainable development. The authors analyze business model, innovative potential and the impact of these companies on the consumers. Research methods used in the paper are the literature analysis and case study. Within the past years the concept of sustainable development has been gradually applied in the companies in numerous sectors. Simultaneously, consumers become increasingly more aware of their impact on the natural environment. As a result, first companies were established which enable to off-set amount of CO2 produced at various stages of manufacturing and delivering services. Thanks to them, a responsible consumer may contribute to the projects which help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by donating chosen amount of money. The authors consider companies’ attitudes related to the operations of these companies.
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State aid is one of the instruments through which a state can interfere in the economy. Therefore, state aid is a particular instrument of implementing policy. One of the objectives of environmental policy of the European Union is to hold up a climate change. This can be achieved, among others, by an increase in the production of biofuels and an increase in their share in the use of fuel. Therefore, state aid to support the production of biofuels is an instrument through which has come to increase the production of this type of fuel. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the importance of state aid for an increase in the production and use of biofuels in Poland. Indicated the legal basis for granting state aid in the area of biofuels. After were analysed the aid programmes which were implemented in Poland. The article introduces what effect was achieved by the implementation of these programmes.
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The problem area discussed in this article relates to evaluation of realization of Integrated Territorial Investments [ITI] within functional areas, in the context of shaping the sustainable development of territorial units. The ITI provide a new tool of the regional policy oriented towards forming the partnership-based model of cooperation of local government units and complex solving of developmental problems of cities and their functional areas. As a new instrument of realization of the development policy it must go in line with policies in force, concepts of socioeconomic and spatial development of the country. In the article, relations between the idea of territorial development – thus implementation of the ITI – and the conception of sustainable development of the country are considered. An attempt is also made at determining the influence of the ITI on the process of balancing the regional development. The analysis of the research problem is based on source documents which program the regional development of Poland. It was established that the policy of development oriented territorially goes in line with realization of the sustainable development, while the ITI may exert an influence on the process of sustaining the regional development.
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There is a direct correlation between the state of environment and environmental quality perception of individuals residing in the geographical entity. This study, working on the assumption that the more the awareness of quality environment the more the tendency to improve it examined the perception of entrepreneurs of industries and residents on the state of environmental management among 200 industries in Ondo state and 172 residents living within 100 meter radius to the sampled industries who were interviewed with different sets of questionnaire. Data collected were analysed using tables and charts. The mean weighted value (MWV) of each category of responses was compared with the group mean weighted value (GMWV) to isolate the most important responses. The study discovered that majority of proprietors, being lowly educated disposed wastes using crude means like burning (57%), burying (23%), disposing in the bush. (12%) and in drainages (11%). Out of the 200 residents sampled majority 87.2% (191) believed they were injuriously affected by the operation of adjoining factories. Moreover there existed a discrepancy of opinion among proprietors and people living nearby on the assessment of environmental management technique adopted in managing wastes. The paper posited that poor judgment by proprietors, inertia by government supervisory agencies, dirty attitudes of people and poor education among proprietors were the most important responses of people on reasons for poor state of waste management. The paper concluded that right perception of the problem through improved environmental education is essential for sustainable solution to wastes management in industries.
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Like many other countries where the standard of living is rising, the Sultanate of Oman is facing a potentially serious increase in what are now termed ‘lifestyle’ diseases. These include diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and various forms of cancer. The lifestyle factors that contribute to these diseases are poor diet and limited exercise. A school gardening project being implemented in Oman is intended to improve educational outcomes across the curriculum in the short term but also dietary outcomes in the longer term. If successful the project will be expanded to a much larger number of schools in Oman. In a country that imports much of its fruit and vegetables there are also potential, long-term economic benefits in encouraging the local production of these food items. This article reports on the rationale behind this project and its overall conceptualization and design. The project is funded through the Oman Research Council.
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The concept of sustainable development has been the most widely accepted concept of development in recent years. Its popularity has made it difficult to imagine a strategy paper not containing a reference to it. Because the concept of sustainable development is difficult to define, different understandings of the concept can be found in strategy papers. Some strategies refer directly to a definition of sustainable development, which can be found in these strategies, while others refer to concepts deriving from sustainable development. This article aims to present the way sustainable development is understood in Polish country strategy papers. Individual documents have been analysed in order to verify the way in which they refer to the concept of sustainable development.
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The aim of the analysis is to estimate the impact of Cohesion Policy in the programming period 2014-2020 on the EU climate and energy targets in 9 chosen European countries and on transition into low-carbon economies. The paper discusses benefits expected at the beginning of the 2014-2020 programming period. The benefits include reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of at least 9 million tonnes CO2 equivalent per year, increase in the capacity of renewable energy sources and improvement in the primary energy consumption. The analysis of operational programs allowed also for a rough estimate of the amount of the support for different types of energy investments in EU Member States. The paper finds that the largest financial support for low carbon transformations will be provided under operational programmes in Poland.
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The development of the renewable energy sector is one of the top priorities for the Polish government. In accordance with Directive 2009/28/EC, EU member states should increase their energy from renewable sources as a share of total energy consumption. The specific objective for Polish energy policy is to grow energy from renewable sources to comprise 15.5% of total energy production in 2020 (19.3% for the electricity sector, 17% for the heating and cooling sector, and 10.2% for the transport fuels sector).The main objective of this research is to assess the dynamics of the share of energy from renewable sources in particular sectors, including the electricity, heating, cooling and transport fuels sectors. The article ranks countries according to their share of energy from renewable sources in production and to the gross domestic product. It then compared the linear orderings. The purpose of this analysis is to test the hypothesis that the rank of EU countries in terms of their share of renewable energy in overall energy consumption did not change significantly in the years 2005–2013. Finally, it presents the results of the analysis of the relationship between the share of renewable energy in individual sectors. The countries are grouped according to their share of renewable energy in individual sectors.
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