In a time of rapid climate change and environmental degradation, planning and building an ecologically sustainable environment have become imperative. In particular, urban settlements, as a densely populated built environment, are the center of attention. This study aims to build a clear and concise synthesis of sustainable urban development not only to serve as an essential reference for decision and policy makers, but also encourage more strategically organized sustainability efforts. The extensive similarities between environmental planning and a policy-making/decision-making/problem-solving process will be carefully examined to confirm the fundamental need to build a synthesis. Major global urban sustainability rankings/standards will be presented, discussed, and integrated to produce a holistic synthesis with ten themes and three dimensions. The study will assemble disparate information across time, space, and disciplines to guide and to facilitate sustainable urban development in which both environmental concerns and human wellbeing are addressed.
This paper reviews offshore wind power project finance and provides an integrated assessment that employs Equator Principles, life cycle assessment, risk assessment, materiality analysis, credit assessment, and ISAE 3000 assurance. We have not seen any comprehensive review papers or book chapters that covers the entire offshore wind power project finance process. We also conducted an SWancor Formosa Phase 1 case study to illustrate the application of integrated assessment to better assist policymakers, wind farm developers, practitioners, potential investors and observers, and stakeholders in their decisions. We believe that this paper can form part of the effort to reduce information asymmetry and the transaction costs of wind power project finance, as well as mobilize green finance investments from the financial sector to renewable energy projects to achieve a national renewable energy policy.
This study is intended to conduct an extended evaluation of sustainability based on the material flow analysis of resource productivity. We first present updated information on the material flow analysis (MFA) database in Taiwan. Essential indicators are selected to quantify resource productivity associated with the economy-wide MFA of Taiwan. The study also applies the IPAT (impact-population-affluence-technology) master equation to measure trends of material use efficiency in Taiwan and to compare them with those of other Asia-Pacific countries. An extended evaluation of efficiency, in comparison with selected economies by applying data envelopment analysis (DEA), is conducted accordingly. The Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) is thereby adopted to quantify the patterns and the associated changes of efficiency. Observations and summaries can be described as follows. Based on the MFA of the Taiwanese economy, the average growth rates of domestic material input (DMI; 2.83%) and domestic material consumption (DMC; 2.13%) in the past two decades were both less than that of gross domestic product (GDP; 4.95%). The decoupling of environmental pressures from economic growth can be observed. In terms of the decomposition analysis of the IPAT equation and in comparison with 38 other economies, the material use efficiency of Taiwan did not perform as well as its economic growth. The DEA comparisons of resource productivity show that Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Japan performed the best in 2008. Since the MPI consists of technological change (frontier-shift or innovation) and efficiency change (catch-up), the change in efficiency (catch-up) of Taiwan has not been accomplished as expected in spite of the increase in its technological efficiency.
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