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Integration of national climate change and energy efficiency goals into conventional local structure planning requires a shift in focus from conventional concerns about urban growth to local sustainable development in which climate change and energy efficiency are key components. Local government responses in integrating these goals show structural limitations, despite widespread awareness of the need to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt more climate-smart and energy-efficient policies. This paper assesses the integration of national climate change and energy efficiency goals in Swedish local structure plans and presents an in-depth study of one plan, that of Värmdö municipality in Sweden. The evaluation comprised plan content analysis using a few selected criteria for three concepts, namely, ‘visions’, ‘comprehensive strategies’ and ‘measures’, and use of the Dutch performance approach to examine implementation aspects of climate change and energy efficiency strategies in the plans.

The United States and China have common but differentiated climate mitigation responses. Most studies so far have sought to explain this divergence with a focus on energy resources, technology, economic, or social factors. These studies ignore the role of strategy and institutions, and thus appear incomplete. In this paper, the author investigates the climate mitigation responses of the United States and China from a strategic and institutional perspective, explores how their climate responses are shaped, and identifies possible weaknesses hidden in their climate approaches. The paper finds that the United States and China have distinct national climate positions due to their diverse strategies and institutions. However, they have chosen similar policy tools and have achieved fairly comparable emission reductions thus far. In the long run, the effectiveness and efficiency of the low-carbon transformation will possibly be hindered by weaker policy innovation capability at sub-national levels in China and the operationally volatile energy strategy in the United States.

Innovation is widely recognized as a major driver of long-term corporate growth. Successful innovators who manage to dominate new markets enjoy Schumpeterian rents for their inventions. How then can a firm dominate a new market? Two streams of literature have proposed opposite answers to this question.

The First Mover approach indicates that by setting up a strong differentiation strategy, companies are supposed to create a new area where profits abound. This approach is supported especially by Kim and Mauborgne (2004) who coined the term Blue Ocean to describe it.

The Fast Second approach, defended by Markides and Geroski (2005), contends, on the contrary, that companies should not try to become pioneers, but should target the newly created market in second position, and colonize it.

But neither Blue Ocean nor Fast Second are able to convincingly explain successful market domination. Our study of 24 innovation cases suggests that innovation which leads to market domination is instead achieved by using four kinds of breakthroughs, separately of simultaneously.

Changes in regulation trigger changes in the innovation environments. They may block specific development trajectories, but they may simultaneously inspire and stimulate completely new openings. In this study, we look into regulation that aims to address environmental problems and facilitate creation and diffusion of sustainable technologies and processes as we examine the responses of innovators to the regulation on plastic use and production—specifically, the so-called SUP-directive. A multiple-case study comprising six companies suggests that companies manage (with) the regulation-induced innovation and needs for change by adopting three distinctive strategies: (1) proactive change orientation, (2) reactive opportunity capturing, or (3) reactive survival mode. Acknowledging that sustainability-oriented regulation may push companies with environmentally friendly innovation activities and solutions towards reactive survival mode highlights the need for managerial agility in adjusting the solutions and the ability to adopt parallel innovation strategies. Observing the strategies adopted by innovators also is informative when evaluating whether the regulation meets its profound goals and intended effects.

Policy responses to the growing climate crisis are based on the belief that markets and corporate innovation will be sufficient to provide solutions in rapidly decarbonizing the global economy. This view has been evident in proposals for “carbon pricing” (Stern, 2007), as well as among leading executives. For instance, business tycoon Richard Branson has proclaimed that, “our only option to stop climate change is for industry to make money from it” (Neubacher, 2012). So while businesses continue to be key contributors to escalating greenhouse gas emissions (Heede, 2014), they are also increasingly presented as offering innovative ways to reduce carbon emissions through technological innovations and improved eco-efficiency. But how much faith can we place in business to save us from climate change?

The Gorai River off-taking from the Ganges River, is the main source of fresh water supply to the Southwest Region of Bangladesh. It is observed that, since 1989 the off-take of the Gorai fully dries up during the critical dry periods (January – May) and completely cuts off the supply of fresh water. This has caused a serious socio-ecological problem with negative environmental impact on the Southwest Region. Several past attempts of excavating the Gorai mouth have failed to produce hardly any benefit due to lack of adequate knowledge of the off-take mechanism.

For the first time a mathematical model aided three-year pilot dredging programme has been carried out for providing data and experience in devising a long-term sustainable dredging design and strategy. During the dredging, decision on the long-section, cross-section, and alignments of dredging were supported by several scenario simulations by numerical modelling of the hydraulic performance in terms of flow diversion from the Ganges, backfilling rate and erosion processes. Results with hydraulic interpretation of the corresponding simulations have been assessed to minimise the dredging effort by keeping track of the cut-off date for the dredging ensuring required flow diversion from the Ganges and to take decisions on a sustainable approach towards deciding on dredging strategy.

Our main focus in this and the next chapter is the application of Cooperative Game Theory (CGT) models to international water resource issues. In this chapter we will justify the use of CGT in water resource problems, and in particular, in international conflict-cooperation cases. The chapter reviews several important CGT concepts and demonstrates their use and calculation. After reading this chapter you will have a good grasp of basic CGT concepts and be able to apply them at both conceptual and empirical levels to simple cases.

This paper introduces the theory of social marketing to the areas of disaster management that deal with natural disasters such as earthquakes, flooding, hurricanes, etc. The theory of social marketing as a sub-theory of marketing is introduced and its implications in the area of disaster management are discussed. The paper further illustrates how social marketing can benefit various levels of government as well as organizations and communities in the disaster affected regions. A model of social marketing related to disaster preparedness will advance the use of social marketing concepts such as product, promotion, place and price to help governments, organizations, and local communities prepare for possible natural disasters with minimum negative impact.

Since the 20th century, with the development and progression of the science and technology, the ability of human transforming natural has been improving, at the same time, constantly, human are destroying the ecological environment increasingly also. The ecological environment problems have become the severe challenges of human facing. In modern times, all countries in the world began to realize deeply the significance of the protecting and improving the ecological environment, and have been exploring and putting forward sustainable development view in the constant practice. Humans began to realize that if we effectively protect the ecological environment, we must implement the sustainable development view. In the process of socialist modernization construction, there are many serious problems of the ecological environment in China, the party and the government of China is leading the Chinese people' to explore industriously the socialism path of the ecological environment instruction with Chinese characteristics, and has achieved significant results.