Numbers influence how companies are managed, and how we make investment decisions. Numbers are used to evaluate companies’ non-financial performance as well: air emissions; waste disposed of; materials recycled; energy consumption. What numbers are associated with DFCM? Do they [only] mark the path to this point, or do they offer insights into what lies ahead…

In response to a court order, the U.S. EPA finalized on December 14, 2012 an update to its national air quality standards for harmful fine particle pollution (PM2.5), setting the annual health standard at 12 micrograms per cubic meter. This announcement has no effect on the existing daily standard for fine particles or the existing daily standard for coarse particles (PM10)…

Our knowledge of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and experience dealing with it have greatly increased over the past decade, but CCS is still far from living up to its potential in stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and mitigating climate change impacts. To deploy CCS on a larger scale, the following economic, social, and legal barriers
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There has been a lot of talk over the past few years about environmental sustainability. Conferences are held on environmental sustainability, and everyone is talking about it. There are hundreds of definitions of sustainability and yet no one seems to understand what it really means. So-called experts are coming up with “metrics” and “indices” as
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The USEPA finalized four related air emissions rules in February that will impose new air emission limitations and work practice standards on industrial boilers, process heaters, and incinerators fueled with fossil fuels, biomass, natural gas, producer gas, and solid waste fuels. The new air rules will affect refineries, chemical and manufacturing plants, steel and paper mills, commercial and institutional facilities that provide steam to heat buildings, for example at colleges and universities, and incinerators that burn commercial or industrial solid waste […]

A pending Information Collection Request (ICR) from the USEPA will require all 152 operating petroleum refineries in the United States to update their air emissions inventories in accordance with the newest protocols and may require them to conduct air emissions testing on an accelerated schedule. NPRA and API estimate that up to 2,000 man-hours per refinery will be required to respond to the ICR. […]

Despite the absence of a concise environmental regulatory framework with respect to soil and groundwater contamination in India, progress in protecting the environment has been made through application and expansion of existing environmental laws, use of proactive concepts including the polluter pays principle and the precautionary principle, and aggressive use of public interest litigation (PIL).
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According to a new report, Climate Change Scenarios – Implications for Strategic Asset Allocation, uncertainty about global climate change policies and their associated adjustment costs could cost investors trillions of dollars over the next 20 years and be responsible for as much as 10 percent of investment portfolio risk. The report analyzes the impact of
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Egypt continues to witness social, economic and political turmoil as thousands of protestors have vowed to increase the momentum of demonstrations across the country. The majority demand the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt for three decades. Having taken power in 1981 following the assassination of former President Anwar al-Sadat by Islamist
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For years Environmental, Health, and Safety and Sustainability (EHSS) leaders have periodically reviewed their strategies to make sure they are aligned with “the business” of their company. That’s no longer good enough. Increasingly, the business itself is evolving quickly. It’s changing its organization, structure, and focus. It’s a moving target. That’s pretty tough to align
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