Incorporating the carbon footprint to measure industry context and energy consumption effect on environmental performance of business operations

Three scopes of carbon footprint have become the most suitable methods to measure green house gas (GHG) emissions from business operating activities. Carbon footprint information can enable firms to effectively improve their environmental performance. This paper attempts to develop an approach that incorporates the three scopes of carbon footprint into a data envelopment analysis model to evaluate environmental performance. A research sample is used from top Fortune 500 companies participating in the carbon disclosure project. The results provide empirical evidence that adjustment of the current fossil fuel-based energy structure significantly affects electricity indirect GHG emissions. The results also show that there are significant differences in environmental performance between industries. Governments should focus on designing improved policies and regulations for each separate industry, especially the materials industry.

[1]  J. Galbreath.  To What Extent is Business Responding to Climate Change? Evidence from a Global Wine Producer , 2011 .

[2]  Yongrong Yang,et al.  Sustainability performance evaluation in industry by composite sustainability index , 2012, Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy.

[3]  Alfons Oude Lansink,et al.  The effect of heating technologies on CO(2) and energy efficiency of Dutch greenhouse firms. , 2003, Journal of environmental management.

[4]  Ni-Bin Chang,et al.  Optimal expansion of a drinking water infrastructure system with respect to carbon footprint, cost-effectiveness and water demand. , 2012, Journal of environmental management.

[5]  Walter Wehrmeyer,et al.  How warm is the corporate responses to climate change? Evidence from Pakistan and the UK , 2008 .

[6]  Carl A. Pasurka,et al.  Decomposing electric power plant emissions within a joint production framework , 2006 .

[7]  Li-Ting Yeh,et al.  The Effects of Economic Development, International Trade, Industrial Structure and Energy Demands on Sustainable Development , 2014 .

[8]  Ottar Michelsen,et al.  Investigation of relationships in a supply chain in order to improve environmental performance , 2007 .

[9]  Elizabeth Stanny,et al.  Corporate environmental disclosures about the effects of climate change , 2008 .

[10]  Thomas P. Lyon,et al.  When Does Institutional Investor Activism Increase Shareholder Value?: The Carbon Disclosure Project , 2011 .

[11]  Alexis Laurent,et al.  Limitations of carbon footprint as indicator of environmental sustainability. , 2012, Environmental science & technology.

[12]  Masami Ueno,et al.  Commercial‐scale utilization of greenhouse residues , 2013, Biotechnology and applied biochemistry.

[13]  Josef Maroušek,et al.  Removal of hardly fermentable ballast from the maize silage to accelerate biogas production , 2013 .

[14]  Terry Rowlands,et al.  How to better identify the true managerial performance: State of the art using DEA , 2008 .

[15]  Qinghua Zhu,et al.  Initiatives and outcomes of green supply chain management implementation by Chinese manufacturers. , 2007, Journal of environmental management.

[16]  A. Kolk,et al.  A perspective on multinational enterprises and climate change: Learning from “an inconvenient truth”? , 2008 .

[17]  Shiuh-Nan Hwang,et al.  Using data envelopment analysis to measure hotel managerial efficiency change in Taiwan , 2003 .

[18]  J. Maroušek.  Two-fraction anaerobic fermentation of grass waste. , 2013, Journal of the science of food and agriculture.

[19]  H. S. Matthews,et al.  The importance of carbon footprint estimation boundaries. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.

[20]  Osman Zaim,et al.  Measuring environmental performance of state manufacturing through changes in pollution intensities: a DEA framework , 2004 .

[21]  Chiang Kao,et al.  Efficiency measurement for parallel production systems , 2009, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[22]  Josef Maroušek,et al.  Significant breakthrough in biochar cost reduction , 2014, Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy.

[23]  H Scott Matthews,et al.  Categorization of Scope 3 emissions for streamlined enterprise carbon footprinting. , 2009, Environmental science & technology.

[24]  J. Klemeš,et al.  Environmental policy decision-making support tools and pollution reduction technologies: a summary , 2010 .

[25]  Josef Maroušek,et al.  New concept of urban green management , 2014, Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy.

[26]  Cláudia S. Sarrico,et al.  Data Envelopment Analysis: A Comprehensive Text with Models, Applications, References and DEA-Solver Software , 2001, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[27]  R. Färe,et al.  Accounting for Air Pollution Emissions in Measures of State Manufacturing Productivity Growth , 2001 .

[28]  J. S. Pandey,et al.  Carbon footprint: current methods of estimation , 2011, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[29]  Shwetmala,et al.  Decentralised carbon footprint analysis for opting climate change mitigation strategies in India , 2012 .

[30]  Volker H. Hoffmann,et al.  Mitigating climate change – how do corporate strategies differ? , 2008 .

[31]  R. S. Treptow.  Carbon Footprint Calculations: An Application of Chemical Principles , 2010 .

[32]  J. McIntosh.  A Welfare Analysis of Canadian Chartered Bank Mergers , 2002 .

[33]  K. Gibson.  Stakeholders and Sustainability: An Evolving Theory , 2012 .

[34]  Mark S. Daskin,et al.  Carbon Footprint and the Management of Supply Chains: Insights From Simple Models , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering.

[35]  Peng Zhou,et al.  A survey of data envelopment analysis in energy and environmental studies , 2008, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[36]  Shenggang Ren,et al.  Effects of decoupling of carbon dioxide emission by Chinese nonferrous metals industry , 2012 .

[37]  Diane M. Martin,et al.  Corporate Social Responsibility in the 21st Century: A View from the World's Most Successful Firms , 2003 .

[38]  Ki-Hoon Lee,et al.  Integrating carbon footprint into supply chain management: the case of Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) in the automobile industry , 2011 .

[39]  H. L. Lam,et al.  Synthesis of regional networks for the supply of energy and bioproducts , 2010 .

[40]  J. Cagiao,et al.  Calculation of the corporate carbon footprint of the cement industry by the application of MC3 methodology , 2011 .

[41]  Qingliang Tang,et al.  Corporate Incentives to Disclose Carbon Information: Evidence from the CDP Global 500 Report , 2012 .

[42]  Alexis Laurent,et al.  Carbon footprint as environmental performance indicator for the manufacturing industry , 2010 .

[43]  Almudena Hospido,et al.  Carbon footprint of canned mussels from a business-to-consumer approach. A starting point for mussel processors and policy makers , 2010 .

[44]  Dong-Shang Chang,et al.  Assessing the power generation, pollution control, and overall efficiencies of municipal solid waste incinerators in Taiwan. , 2011 .