No abstract

No abstract

The UK's housing stock generates approximately 27 per cent of the country's total annual carbon emissions. In light of the legally binding targets to reduce carbon emissions, new housing is subject to a tightening of regulations governing energy demand and efficiency resulting in a gradual improvement in carbon emissions. The question is how to achieve the deep carbon emission reductions from existing domestic properties, of which 75 per cent will still be in use in 2050. Government has sought to provide incentives to homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their households, and mandate improvements in socially rented housing using a range of fiscal measures, most recently the 'Green Deal'. There has however been little consideration of the 18 per cent of UK households who privately rent their home, a tenure that is growing fast. The aim of this research is to investigate the factors that influence private sector landlords when considering energy efficiency improvements to their tenanted homes. The results indicate that Government policy has consistently failed to engage private sector landlords in the issue of energy efficiency and thus measures must be taken to understand the motivations of landlords in order to design effective incentives and interventions.

Tensions are evident in energy policy objectives between centralised top-down interconnected energy systems and localised distributed approaches. Examination of these tensions indicates that a localised approach can address a systemic problem of interconnected systems; namely vulnerability.The challenge for energy policy is to realise the interrelated goals of energy security, climate and environmental targets and social and economic issues such as fuel poverty, whilst mitigating vulnerability. The effectiveness of conventional approaches is debateable. A transition to a low carbon pathway should focus on resilience, counter to vulnerability. This article draws from on-going work which evaluates the energy aspects of a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project to refurbish and re-build a local authority"s entire stock of sheltered accommodation to high environmental standards. Initial findings suggest that whereas more conventional procurement processes tend to increase systemic vulnerability, a user focussed process driven through PFI competitive dialogue is beginning to motivate some developers to adopt innovative approaches to energy system development.

No abstract

There has long been an understanding that to achieve meaningful progress against sustainability challenges, action is required at multiple levels. With regards to education initiatives, these levels range from macro-level international agreements and activities such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education, meso-level influences such as the role of national bodies supporting sustainability in higher education, and micro-level influences such as the commitment of individual universities or departments. However, decision makers are individuals and the development and delivery of such initiatives requires action at the level of the individual. This paper explores the impact of working within and across these different levels and how jointly they help to work towards addressing carbon reductions in a partnership setting between a business school and various organisations. The paper explores the case of an educational initiative carried out in the United Kingdom where students conduct a carbon footprint of an organisation and recommend measures to reduce the company's greenhouse gas emissions. The total recommended greenhouse gas emissions savings from two years of the project were 507, 435 kg CO2e, averaging over 10 tonnes per organisation and 2 tonnes per student. If this project was extended over 5 years and taken on by an additional educator, the potential reductions increase to 2,562,418 kg CO2e. It demonstrates that action undertaken at the micro-level can result in significant impact at the macro-level when scaled up and provide significant benefits to actors across all levels from individuals though to all participating organisations.

No abstract

The integration of sustainability into business practices and organizational strategy requires a rethink as to the way in which operations are managed. As managing projects increasingly play an integral role in business and society, the question is whether current project management definitions, methods, processes, practices and knowledge areas are fitfor-purpose in delivering sustainable outcomes. This paper will examine the impact of sustainability on the methods, processes, practices and knowledge areas used to manage projects. A comparison of evidence from the literature will identify the leavers that shape the current agenda and can assist in the development of a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by the discipline to move towards 'sustainable project management'. This agenda will identify key areas of focus for academics and practitioners before evaluating whether an evolution of project management towards sustainable project management is possible, or if a more revolutionary approach is required.