Browsing by Author "Gallagher, Deborah Rigling"
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Item Open Access A National Strategy for the Co-location of Solar and Agriculture(2018-04-20) Eskew, OliviaPollinators are crucial to the United States’ food supply and agricultural productivity, playing a key role in the size, health, and quality of a wide variety of harvests. Unfortunately, many pollinator species are in decline due to disease, ecosystem destruction, environmental factors, and other issues, hurting thousands of farms across the nation. At the same time, solar energy projects are expanding and agricultural-adjacent land is often a desirable location for solar arrays. Planting native vegetation and managing it in a way that is hospitable to pollinators can expand pollinator populations and improve the aesthetics of solar arrays. Recommendations to authorize the creation of a pollinator standard are provided within this best practice guide to provide a more robust set of site-specific guidelines for pollinator-friendly habitat installation and management. Future research and collaboration is needed within the utility-scale solar industry to expand the current scope of this pilot assessment.Item Open Access A PRACTICAL STUDY REGARDING THE THERAPEUTIC ROLE OF NATURE IN THE REHABILITION OF COMBAT-INJURED SERVICEMEMBERS(2009-04-22T17:39:30Z) Bernitt, ThomasThe healing powers of nature have been documented in the past two decades, primarily in the collaboration of health care professionals and architectural/design firms who build hospitals. The relationship between accelerated healing and the patient’s surroundings when nature is consciously made a part of the overall environment of the treatment facility has been impressive. Nowhere is this need more pressing than in the treatment of traumatic combat casualties of returning service members from Afghanistan and Iraq. The irony of the modern age is that the exponential improvement in medical assistance on the battlefield has resulted in a much larger than anticipated population of service members who have survived with amputated limbs and Traumatic Brain Injuries or Post Traumatic Stress Disorders. Thus the military hospitals have been overwhelmed with the need to provide care for these “Wounded Warriors.” Additionally, the revelations at Walter Reed in 2007 underscore the inadequacy of the system to provide a modicum of care to many of these brave young men and women. This Masters Project then attempts to bring the two ideas together to synergistically meld the two concepts of nature as a curative, “eco-therapy,” with the pressing needs of the military hospitals in the treatment of their seriously wounded. Working in collaboration with Naval Medical Center, San Diego, CA and the San Diego National Wildlife Complex of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a pilot program was initiated in 2008 to determine if using eco-therapy would prove beneficial.Item Open Access A Social and Ecological Evaluation of Marine Mammal Take Reduction Teams(2014) McDonald, Sara L.There have been few efforts to evaluate the actual and perceived effectiveness of environmental management programs created by consensus-based, multi-stakeholder negotiation or negotiated rulemaking. Previous evaluations have used perceived success among participants as a proxy for actual effectiveness, but seldom have investigated the ecological outcomes of these negotiations. Fewer still, if any, have compared the actual and perceived outcomes. Here I evaluate and compare the social and ecological outcomes of the negotiated rulemaking process of marine mammal take reduction planning. Take reduction planning is mandated by the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to reduce the fisheries-related serious injuries and mortalities of marine mammals (bycatch) in U.S. waters to below statutory thresholds. Teams of fishermen, environmentalists, researchers, state and federal managers, and members of Regional Fisheries Management Councils and Commissions create consensus-based rules to mitigate bycatch, called Take Reduction Plans. There are six active Take Reduction Plans, one Take Reduction Strategy consisting of voluntary measures, and one plan that was never implemented. It has been 20 years since marine mammal take reduction planning was incorporated into the MMPA. Early evaluations were promising, but identified several challenges. In the past decade or more, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has implemented measures to set up the teams for success.
I used data from formal Stock Assessment Reports to assess and rank the actual ecological success of five Take Reduction Plans (Harbor Porpoise, Bottlenose Dolphin, Atlantic Large Whale, Pelagic Longline, and Pacific Offshore Cetacean) in mitigating the bycatch of 17 marine mammal stocks. In addition, I employed social science data collection and analytical methods to evaluate Take Reduction Team participants' opinions of the take reduction negotiation process, outputs, and outcomes with respect to the ingredients required for successful multi-stakeholder, consensus-based negotiation (team membership, shared learning, repeated interactions, facilitated meetings, and consensus-based outputs). These methods included surveying and interviewing current and former Take Reduction Team participants; using Structural Equation Models (SEMs) and qualitative methods to characterize participant perceptions across teams and stakeholder groups; and identifying and exploring the reasons for similarities and differences among respondents, teams, and stakeholder groups. I also employed SEMs to quantitatively examine the relationship between actual and perceived ecological success, and contrasted actual and perceived outcomes by comparing their qualitative rankings.
Structural Equation Models provided a valid framework in which to quantitatively examine social and ecological data, in which the actual ecological outcomes were used as independent predictors of the perceived outcomes. Actual improvements in marine mammal bycatch enhanced stakeholder opinions about the effectiveness of marine mammal Take Reduction Plans. The marine mammal take reduction planning process has all of the ingredients necessary for effective consensus-based, multi-stakeholder negotiations (Chapter 2). It is likely that the emphasis that the National Marine Fisheries Service places on empirical information and keeping stakeholders informed about bycatch, marine mammal stocks, and fisheries facilitated this relationship. Informed stakeholders also had relatively accurate perceptions of the actual ecological effectiveness of the Take Reduction Plans (Chapter 3). The long timeframes over which the teams have been meeting generally have increased cooperation. The professionally trained, neutral facilitators have produced fair negotiations, in which most individuals felt they had an opportunity to contribute. Participant views of fairness significantly influenced their satisfaction with Take Reduction Plans, which significantly affected their perceptions about the effectiveness of those plans (Chapter 2). The mandate to create a consensus-based output has, for the most part, minimized defections from the negotiations and facilitated stakeholder buy-in.
In general, marine mammal take reduction planning is a good negotiated rulemaking process, but has produced mixed results (Chapters 1 and 2). Successful plans were characterized by straightforward regulations and high rates of compliance. Unsuccessful plans had low compliance with complex regulations and sometimes focused on very small stocks. Large teams and those in the northeastern U.S. (Maine to North Carolina) were least successful at reducing bycatch, which was reflected in stakeholder views of the effectiveness of these teams. Take Reduction Team negotiations have not always produced practical or enforceable regulations. Implementation of take reduction regulations is critical in determining plan success and identifying effective mitigation measures, but because of a lack of monitoring, has not been characterized consistently across most teams. Additionally, elements like the "Other Special Measures Provision" in the Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Plan have undermined the negotiation process by allowing the National Marine Fisheries Service to alter consensus-based elements without consensus from the team, which has led to hostility, mistrust, and frustration among stakeholders.
The final chapter of this dissertation provides recommendations to improve the outcomes and make them more consistent across teams. I based these recommendations on the information gathered and analyzed in the first three chapters. They are grouped into four broad categories - team membership, social capital, fairness, and plan implementation. If the National Marine Fisheries Service implements these suggestions, both perceived and actual ecological effectiveness of marine mammal Take Reduction Teams should improve, allowing these teams to fulfill their maximum potential.
Item Open Access Abstract(2014-04-22) Hedman, EmmaEnvironmental justice is understood as the disproportionate distribution of environmental harms, primarily in low-income communities of color. This may also be understood as a concentration of environmental disamenities—challenges the community faces and resources they lack. However, every community also has their own unique environmental assets and strengths. Identifying these amenities may help in developing strategies to address challenges. There is reason to believe that Highland Hills, in the southern sector of Dallas, Texas, lies in an environmental justice community of concern. There is also reason to believe that Paul Quinn College, a historically black college or university (HBCU), may be an important asset in the community. This single case study of the Highland Hills community uses data collected through a series of five focus groups involving community leaders and Paul Quinn College students, faculty, and staff, in order to identify the unique environmental amenities and disamenities this community contains. I also explore ways to visualize the physical and abstract data we obtained in the focus groups through community asset mapping. These results are intended to inform and empower the community.Item Open Access An Advocacy Coalition Framework Approach: Revealing PCB Policy Actors and Core Beliefs(2015-04-23) Nichols, JoshuaPolychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were first commercially produced in the 1920’s, became popular for their valuable heat transferring properties and were mostly utilized as an additive in oil filled electrical equipment to reduce fire risk. After peak production was reached in the 1950’s and PCBs became a valuable additive in paints, adhesives, plastics, caulking and more, health and environmental concerns arose when PCBs were found widespread in the environment. The first PCB regulations emerged from the Food and Drug Administration after food sources were found to contain PCBs. Congress then moved to ban PCBs in 1976, and charged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop regulations implementing the ban on the already widely distributed chemical. The U.S. PCB policy debate now spans 31 years starting with EPA’s first promulgation of PCB regulations in 1979. Since then 31 rulemakings have altered the regulatory framework with 679 commenters participating in the policy debate via written comments submitted to EPA. As recently as 2010 EPA announced plans to again revise significant portions of PCB regulations found in 40 CFR 761. In 2015, both EPA and Congress announced separate plans to take action impacting PCB policy. EPA announced, the June 2015 Integrated Risk Information System public science meeting will focus on the noncancer effects of PCBs, and Senators Vitter (R-LA) and Udall (D-NM) introduced the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Modernization Act of 2015 designed to implement a more precautionary approach to chemicals, including PCBs, in the U.S. This complex policy subsystem presents a problem. How can 31 years of policy debate be simplified into a framework that allows for a clear understanding of influential participants and what is driving their policy interests? Paul Sabatier and Neil Pelkey presented the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) as a lens to simplify complex policy debates spanning a decade or more. The ACF proposed that a policy arena, or subsystem, can be characterized by participants with shared beliefs, and that deep core and policy core beliefs can assimilate policy actors into advocacy coalitions. Understanding these advocacy coalitions and their deep core beliefs, those that don’t change and policy core beliefs, those that can change to support the deep core, will identify potential collaborators or areas of potential conflict. This gateway project is the first ACF application to the PCB policy subsystem in the U.S. and uses 31 years of original data from 679 public commenters, in the form of letters and e-mails, submitted to EPA from 1979 -2014 to determine regular policy actors. Comments submitted by regular policy actors were coded for trends in statements that reveal beliefs. Longitudinal and cross sectional analysis was then employed to determine deep core beliefs, and policy core beliefs. Finally, recommendations were presented to enable more effective and efficient PCB policy. Project results revealed a salient PCB policy subsystem with only 91 regular participants dominated by an energy industry coalition with shared deep core and supporting policy core beliefs, as predicted by the ACF. Furthermore, the project revealed increasing salience and convergence of energy coalition and general industry coalition deep core and policy core beliefs. Recommendations for improved PCB policy were driven by a need to, improve access to public comments for policy analysis, identify latent subsystem actors that may not know how to submit comments, understand the impacts of exogenous environmental events, and increased awareness of ACF value. First, expand the project to include more forms of subsystem participation. This will determine if other subsystem participants are utilizing avenues of policy influence other than the formal written comment submittal avenue analyzed here. Second, Improve transparency in regulatory development process. This project was limited by the availability of public comments that were originally indicated as available via docket indices, but ultimately not provided. Third, Acknowledge dynamic events external to the subsystem. Exogenous events can engage latent policy actors with beliefs that should be considered even if they are not regular policy actors. Fourth, understand that these events change policy core beliefs, but not deep core beliefs. Here a general understanding of the ACF and belief hierarchies will enable a more transparent policy debate. Last, expand the project to include policy learning and impacts of significant environmental events. Over the 31 year policy debate new environmental and human health risk research has emerged, and advocacy coalitions have collected more data to support policy core beliefs. This learning aspect of the subsystem should be explored via the ACF to further clarify the subsystem.Item Open Access An Analysis of Environmental Management System Development and Implementation in the United States Federal Government(2009-04-22T18:46:13Z) Sahm, SaraEnvironmental Management Systems (EMSs) are one tool that corporations around the world have been using to work toward sustainability. Agencies in the federal government are also using EMSs to reduce their ecologic footprint, improve efficiencies, and “go green”. Executive Order 13423, “Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management,” directs all federal agencies to implement EMSs at all appropriate levels of the organization, ensuring that an EMS will become the agency standard for managing environmental aspects of agency policy and directions. While many federal agencies have implemented EMSs, other agencies that are seeking to develop their own systems are left with few resources for use in the process. A small, independent agency, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has not yet implemented an EMS and has few resources dedicated to the EMS development effort. The focus of this masters project is to understand the challenges and opportunities related to EMS development and implementation for federal agencies, with an emphasis on providing recommendations to the NRC. Research consisted of case studies of agencies selected from the 2008 White House Closing the Circle Awards civilian EMS category nominees. Open-ended interview questions were used to gather information regarding the nature of the EMS development and implementation processes at the selected agencies – the United States Postal Service and Sandia National Laboratories. While many agencies have seen success, there are hundreds of others that have yet to develop and implement management programs that will lead to significant change or to “triple-bottom-line” sustainability. In the cases studied, four issues emerged as primary difficulties for EMS development and implementation: lack of guidance; lack of resources, both financial and personnel; lack of management “buy-in” and support; and resistance to change from an established agency culture. Agency best practices worth emulating include integrating the EMS into the existing organizational structure and creating employee interest, particularly through communications initiatives and awards programs. By utilizing the experiences of other agencies and private sector organizations, the NRC and similar organizations can be more successful at EMS development and implementation.Item Open Access An assessment of climate transition risk and opportunities for Indonesia’s State-Owned and largest Electricity Company(2021-04-27) Kumari, AmireetaThe electricity sector is one of the top emitting sectors of GHG emissions in Indonesia. Hence, it is of strategic focus for Indonesia’s low carbon economy transition. This study assesses climate transition risks and opportunities for Indonesia’s state-owned and largest electricity company. The assessment indicates climate change to be a material risk to the company, leading to potential financial impact of multi-billions of dollars. Key risks identified include reputational risk, stakeholder pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increasing costs of operating coal and early retirement of fossil fuel based plants. Besides climate risks, our analysis also identified potential climate transition opportunities resulting in new revenue streams, such as battery-based electric vehicles and electric cooking stoves. Adopting an integrated approach for achieving a low carbon energy transition, which would mitigate the potential risks while capitalizing on transition opportunities, is recommended.Item Open Access An Evaluation of Participation in Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Tracking and Reduction Programs(2008-08-27T23:51:57Z) Albertson, Katharine M.The debate on climate change has moved from a question of whether humans are responsible to how best to address man-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are the cause. The United States has yet to pass any legislation that aggressively and appropriately addresses this issue. In the absence of legislation mandating emission reductions, many voluntary GHG tracking and reduction programs have surfaced. The main objective of this project is to profile the participants of three differing GHG tracking and reduction programs in order to determine specific criteria used when deciding to join a particular program. The results conclude that the sector of the participant company could be a major determining factor when joining a voluntary program. Those companies in the highest emitting sectors tend to join the least stringent voluntary program that does not include reduction goals. Additionally, companies that are publically traded and produce end products for consumer use are more likely to join a more rigorous program that contains reduction goals. Finally, the creation of regulations for voluntary programs could serve as a basis for future mandatory legislation.Item Open Access AN EVALUATION OF SUCCESSFUL ENVIRONMENTAL SITE RESTORATION PROGRAMS(2007-05) Sweeney, KevinCompanies are often faced with making difficult decisions to address environmental contamination at their properties. There are multiple reasons why companies choose, or are forced, to address environmental contamination. These reasons range from a government mandated enforcement order, discovery of contamination during an acquisition or divestiture, or the redevelopment of a closed facility. Within each of these scenarios, there are multiple definitions of success. Success can be defined from minimizing cost, redeveloping properties for residential purposes, or avoiding litigation from third parties or the government. Companies often design their remediation programs after they have determined their definition of success. As part of its expansion in the United States, Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. (SEA) has grown mainly by buying existing manufacturing companies. The majority of these acquisitions were conducted in the late 1970's and 1980's before the establishment of formal environmental due diligence procedures. Thus, the environmental condition of these properties were unknown until different sets of circumstances brought them to light and forced SEA to deal with them appropriate!y. This project will evaluate three case studies from SEA locations in Alabama, Ohio, and Illinois. The remediation of each of these locations was designed to achieve different goals. Remediation goals for each location were defined by SEA management with the assistance oflegal counsel and environmental consultants. The case studies will present the background of each location, what the objectives were for each location, review the technologies used to address the environmental problem and evaluate if the solutions implemented were successful in achieving the stated objective. A tool called the Remediation Program Evaluation (RPE) matrix will be used to assess each of the cases. The matrix has been designed to evaluate several elements that ultimately dictate the success of site remediation programs. This project offers the opportunity to respectively evaluate site remediation programs and determine the utility of the RPE for future use in site remediation planning. By utilizing the RPE in future cases, it will increase the likelihood that remediation projects will be successful in achieving their objectives.Item Open Access An Evaluation of the Oregon State Cleanup Program(2012-04-25) King, JenniferThis paper discusses the factors that impact contaminated site cleanup duration at the state level, focusing on the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality cleanup program. The factors of interest are regional divisions, organizational administration, and prior operations on-site. The duration to achieve cleanup, defined by a “No Further Action” determination, was quantified from the publicly available Oregon Environmental Cleanup Site Information database. A “No Further Action” determination is a regulatory agency action, typically following investigative or cleanup activities, to determine that all or part of a site poses no unacceptable risks to human health or the environment. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical method was used to determine whether there was any statistically significant difference between populations, grouped by regional division, organization administration, and prior operations. Follow-up analyses were conducted on the three regional division populations via a simple comparison of the mean durations and organizational administration populations via a one-way t-test to specifically compare 1) the independent cleanup program to the voluntary cleanup program, and 2) the voluntary cleanup program to the site response program. The results indicated that regional divisions, organizational administration and prior operations have an impact on the length of time required to complete a site cleanup. Research on the staffing, budget resources, and workload allocated to each region may shed further light on the duration variation between the Eastern (average duration 3.5 years), Northwestern (4.5 years), and Western (5.5 years) regions. This analysis shows that site response program has a longer duration to cleanup than the voluntary cleanup program, whereas no statistically significant difference was noted between the independent cleanup program and the voluntary cleanup program. As a caveat, the site response program may be employed to address sites with higher risk and complexity than the voluntary cleanup program, which would potentially result in longer timeframes to achieve cleanup completion. However, the voluntary cleanup program has a reputation of taking a more cooperative approach between regulatory agency and responsible party; this may explain the shorter duration to complete site cleanup. To address the types of operations that may cause a lag in the cleanup process, state agencies may consider forming technical groups for similar sites and standardized methods for investigation, risk assessment or remediation for certain types of sites.Item Open Access An Evaluation of the Solar Award in Taiwan(2008-04-24T20:30:04Z) Cheng, MuhanThe Solar Award in Taiwan is an annual contest that encourages professionals and students to submit innovative design projects that utilize solar photovoltaic material. Entries range from architectural and construction projects to the design of products such as toys and racing cars. In this study, we collected the direct feedback from the contestants as part of a program evaluation project. A questionnaire was designed to capture the perceived benefits of the contestants' experience in the Solar Award. Further, Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was used to estimate the economic value of those benefits. The web-based survey was completed by 135 previous contestants. Out analysis indicated that they expressed a mean willingness to pay of NTD 2511 (USD 85) as a registration fee. An aggregated value of NTD 3.3 million (US110, 000) was estimated to represent the use value of this event. We concluded that the Solar Award brought significant knowledge improvement and commercial opportunities to the contestants as well as positive effects on their perception of renewable energy. In addition, we found that there was an increase in the number of contestants that became practical users of solar PV following the contest. We also noticed that different occupational groups perceived and valued the contest experiences differently.Item Open Access An Evaluation Perspective on Environmental Management Information Systems Software Selection using a Principle Agency Framework(2012-04-27) Mann, TejinderAs organizations thrive to become more sustainable there has been a significant increase in the use of Environmental Management Systems (EMS), specifically adhering to International Organization for Standardization (ISO), 14001 certification. In response to the increase in attention to EMS there has been a plethora of software vendors environmental information system solutions. Due to the contemporary nature of EMS and the voluntary nature of adherence to ISO 14001, corporations do not have the internal bench-strength to evaluate Environmental Management Information Systems (EMISs) and rely heavily on technology consultants for domain expertise and guidance. This presents a typical ‘Principle Agency’ relationship; in addition, to further complicate issues, there is not a set of industry standard evaluation criteria for EMS. In general, given the historical failure rate of systems implementation it is important to assess EMIS based on the right evaluation criteria and understand the influence and bias of EMS consultants. Successful selection, implementation and maintenance of EMIS are of paramount importance to help organizations reduce their green house gas emissions.Item Open Access An Opportunity for Scenario Planning in Corporate Sustainability Strategy(2018-04-23) Atwood, RoianCorporate sustainability practitioners utilize a variety of different tools to engage a company's senior leadership and deliver value back to a business organization through reduced risk or cost, improved operational efficiency, or increased revenue generation. Strategy and planning professionals have used scenario planning to predict global oil crises, rebuild post-apartheid South Africa, and advance military maneuvers. This project evaluated the intersection of corporate sustainability and scenario planning through a literature review of core themes, personal interviews with scenario planners and sustainability professionals, and case study research on how companies were able to utilize scenario planning in corporate sustainability. The two case studies pertained to PepsiCo's use of scenarios to build their Performance with Purpose program, and a multi-company collaboration focused on the future of commerce called Retail Horizons. The results demonstrated that there is an opportunity to use scenario planning to better integrate corporate sustainability into business process, set meaningful goals and engage stakeholders by facilitating a trend-based exercise whereby participants are able to explore the uncertainty of future worlds in which their companies must operate. When the conditions are right for scenario planning, corporate sustainability practitioners potentially have an opportunity to use this strategy tool to embed good corporate citizenship while exploring futures where business thrive in tandem with a well-nourished population and sustain global resources.Item Open Access Analysis of Climate Adaptation Strategies for Southeast U.S. Coastal Cities(2008-04-25T01:45:18Z) Reeves, UllaBrittThe realities of climate change are no longer future predictions to address in years to come. Impacts to Southeast coastal communities from rising sea levels, strange weather, and stronger storms caused by a warming planet are occurring today. Trends in scientific measurements clearly indicate that temperatures are rising, sea ice is melting, and storm intensity is increasing. The Southeast coastline is particularly vulnerable to these changes and local communities are the first to feel the impacts and address the needs. Yet many conversations about adaptation to climate change impacts are only occurring at high levels of government concerning international issues. Local decision-makers in the Southeast U.S. need tools to identify strategies that will provide adequate protection to their citizens as well as to manage environmental quality and prepare for any uncertainties. This Master’s project identifies primary and secondary climate change impacts to coastal areas of the Southeast U.S. A preliminary analysis was conducted to identify the societal implications incurred from impacts and the specific sector of society to which those impacts correspond. A resiliency criterion analysis was then created to qualitatively examine climate adaptation response strategies through three core evaluation mechanisms: adequate adaptive capacity, environmental sustainability, and the win-win nature of measures. To test the usefulness of the resiliency criteria, sea level rise response strategies were analyzed. Methods for this project included an extensive literature review of scientific findings as well as in-depth interviews with nine professional experts in the fields of government, academia, and coastal environmental non-profit organizations. The results of the criteria analysis indicate that measures receiving a “very high” ranking thoroughly meet the resiliency goals of maximizing human safety, community protection, environmental sustainability, and flexibility. Measures ranking “low” or “very low” fail the resiliency criteria in two or more categories and likely contribute to environmental degradation. Reviewing adaptation strategies for resiliency is an effective determination of strategic response initiatives. Creating communities resilient to climate change will require local officials to utilize tools such as this to choose optimal adaptation strategies.Item Open Access Analysis of Major Environmental Impacts and Strategies within the U.S. Cigarette Manufacturing Industry(2013-04-26) Belitz, TimothyThe current period of increasing regulation and change in the United States cigarette industry offers new opportunities for those organizations to further develop their environmental sustainability programs. New FDA oversight and continuous decline in smoking rates is transforming the market place for cigarette manufacturers. The largest US cigarette manufacturers, Reynolds American, Altria, and Lorillard, make up over 90 percent of the market. These companies need to develop strategies to deal with ongoing changes. Cigarette makers have been under pressure to maintain their shareholder value in a declining market. The decline is not sustainable without reducing operating costs consistent with the decline. This provides an opportunity for environmental sustainability activities to bring value to the corporation while achieving environmental goals. This masters project offers a look into the environmental impact, strategies, and tactics used by the US cigarette manufacturing industry. Through the use of publically available information - for example, corporate reports, carbon disclosure data, and EPA reporting information - a comprehensive review of the industry is made. The objective in studying the US cigarette industry was to determine differences, identify effective practices, and then provide some insights into what improvements could be made to the industry’s environmental strategies and practices. An environmental strategy that minimizes environmental impacts and increases transparency will not only benefit the companies, but also the environment. Through market decline and facility consolidation, embracing environmental sustainability concepts such as renewable energy or sustainable packaging can provide value back to the cigarette manufacturers while continuing protection of the environment.Item Open Access Analysis of Materiality Assessment Methods(2016-04-14) Phelps, Danyelle LynneCompanies must determine what environmental sustainability information should be (and should not be) reported in their Corporate Sustainability Reports. One way to do this is to perform a materiality assessment of the sustainability information. Materiality assessments identify and prioritize information that matters to stakeholders and to the company. A company may be mandated to perform a materiality assessment by a regulation or directive. Some voluntary sustainability reporting frameworks require a materiality assessment. Companies may also choose to perform a materiality assessment to efficiently allocate resources. The problem is that there is no universal definition of materiality for sustainability information, and there are multiple ways to perform an assessment. Companies are challenged with selecting an appropriate method. This Masters Project reviews five methods for identifying and prioritizing material sustainability information. Sustainability materiality assessments performed by large manufacturing firms were examined. Recommendations were made for a specific client as to how they should perform a materiality assessment of their own sustainability information.Item Open Access Analysis of Upstream Sustainability Trends Within the Food Production Industry(2013-04-23) Lam, Jessica; Dallas, Sarah; Stabert, NoraSarah Dallas, Jessica Lam, and Nora Stabert analyzed sustainability trends among U.S. pasta manufacturers with Philadelphia Macaroni Company (PMC) as a case study. PMC, founded in 1914, is a private, pasta manufacturer with an annual capacity of over 170 million pounds of pasta. It sells to customers including but not limited to the Campbell Soup Company, Annie’s Homegrown Pasta, and General Mills. Recently, PMC has been contacted by top customers regarding sustainability and recognizes the growing trend within the industry. This master's project advises the company on the definition of sustainability as it applies to PMC and recommends an approach for sustainability in the future. This project provides a comprehensive overview of the penetration of sustainability for pasta manufacturers, evaluation of PMC's current operations, the expectations of its customers, and the prioritization of sustainability by its top competitors. The final deliverables are (1) market analysis of key competitors, (2) current sustainability initiatives amongst PMC's customers, (3) customized greenhouse gas calculation tool, and (4) analysis of supply chain actors and interactions.Item Open Access Applications of Environmental Modeling in the Financial Services Sector(2021-04-29) Parker, ShannonCurrently, personal carbon footprints and environmental impact are not well understood in the United States. Existing solutions aimed at educating people about these topics are stagnant and lack personalized details to help enable meaningful action. Yet, there is a willingness among the public to live a more sustainable lifestyle. In 2020, there was a 4550% increase in Google keyword search terms for “how to live a sustainable lifestyle 5. Moreover, 80% of people have indicated they would be willing to change their lifestyle as much for climate change as they have for the COVID-19 pandemic21. This project aimed to explore the value and viability of addressing the gap between current levels of concern and action to address climate change, known as the value-action gap, by first exploring current perceptions of carbon footprinting and offsets here in the US and subsequently conducting a market sizing analysis to determine the environmental impact and market opportunity. Specifically, this project explores the application of a well-established carbon accounting method, EIO-LCA, within the financial services sector as a means of addressing the value-action gap. Findings included the potential for a 640 million MTCO2E annual reduction within the United States and a recommended go-to-market strategy.Item Open Access ASSESSING & ENCOURAGING ELECTRIC SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY AS BUSINESS STRATEGY: INVESTOR & ANALYST PERSPECTIVES(2015-04-24) Harris, CherieThe electric power sector represents the largest contributing source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. and faces significant risk associated with climate change, extreme weather and other environmental factors (EPA, 2014). As such, this study seeks to identify the ways in which investors are seeking to minimize the risk associated with power sector investments and in doing so provide an illustrative business case for power companies to improve their sustainability performance. Sustainable investors, in particular, view investment decisions through a solid understanding of not only financial metrics but environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors that capture sustainability risks associated with GHG emissions, energy, water, supply chains, and human rights among other factors.Item Open Access B Corp Certification at R. Riveter(2018-04-19) Ross, CherylThis two-part research study provides a case study of the B Corp certification process and examines the overall value of the B Corp certification for small businesses within North Carolina. The researcher assisted an early-stage manufacturing company, R. Riveter, with the initial steps of the B Corp certification process. The researcher also studied the benefits and challenges of achieving B Corp certification by interviewing twelve previously certified North Carolina B Corps. B Corp Certification at R. Riveter R. Riveter is a canvas and leather goods manufacturer located in the town of West End, within Moore County, North Carolina. The company was formed with the unique social mission of providing military spouses with portable employment, creating handbags from leather and recycled military materials. Their social and environmental mission made them a strong candidate to become a certified B Corp. Based on their initial assessment, R. Riveter’s score was only 40 compared to the 80 points required to achieve B Corp certification. In order to improve their performance, R. Riveter participated in the Fall 2017 North Carolina State University (NCSU) B Corp Clinic. This allowed them to receive technical assistance from a team of student consultants representing NCSU and Duke University. After analyzing the five sections of R. Riveter’s initial B Impact Assessment report (Governance, Workers, Environment, Community, Customer), the student team implemented short-term actions that helped R. Riveter achieve 70 points on their Impact Assessment. Future improvements were categorized as short-term and long-term actions that would bring R. Riveter to the required 80 points within a few months. B Corp Certification in North Carolina Forty-two North Carolina businesses are currently B Corp certified. Twelve of these companies were interviewed by the researcher in an effort to assess the value of the B Corp certification for small to medium-size businesses. Interviews were confidential to protect the identity of the respondents. For these interviewees, the value of the B Corp certification was best demonstrated by the positive impact on employee recruitment, engagement, and retention. Other benefits included the framework or guidelines for improvement provided by B Corp model and the network or community of like-minded companies. While all twelve participants had positive things to say about the new initiatives that the certification process has brought to their company, some experienced challenges with the B Corp certification. These challenges included the time and effort to complete the assessment, the cost of certification, and disappointment over a lack of recognition of the B Corp brand by their customers