Category: Methodology
The Uptake of Earth Observations for Environmental Services Assessments
Photographing the earth from space means more to us now than ever before. Space data feeds the increasing number of models, tools, products, and services that have mainly been created for breaching connectivity gaps and preventing natural disasters.… Read More
Video-Map of Sand Mining and Land Reclamation Sites in Indonesia and Singapore
This video-map starts in Singapore and a map of its land reclamations that increased Singapore by over 20 percent since independence. The Riau islands are shown of which a number already vanished due to sand mining often seen as related to illegal extraction that followed the export ban of sand to Singapore of a number of Southeast Asian countries.… Read More
Business and Human Rights: A Network Approach
I recently analysed Business and Human Rights data from the Universal Periodic Review using social network analysis tools. Social network analysis is a spatial and mathematical tool to understand how and why relations occur, and employs computational tools like RStudio in order to do so. … Read More
Role of Contingent Valuation in the Future of Deep Sea Mining
Overview of Deep Sea Mining:
Deep Sea Mining (DSM) is one of the “new extraction frontiers” likely to occur in the near future. DSM is the extraction of minerals from under the seabed, usually 500 meters below sea level.… Read More
Sand Mining Locations in India
In India, mining for sand is as valuable as mining for gold. This is due to large-scale urbanization and rapid construction which is the primary industry that this sand is used in.… Read More
Third-party ESG Rating Agencies on Extractive Companies
By: Qiu Quan Kua
qiu.kua@graduateinstitute.ch
Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria are widely used by investors (investment funds, pension funds, institutional investors etc.) to gauge the operations of their investee companies, and by companies to gauge their own performance.… Read More
Track and Discourage: Global Responses to Flaring
When drillers produce crude oil from onshore or offshore industrial petroleum wells, the yield is typically accompanied by raw natural gas that can create pressure in refining equipment. When gas cannot be captured or injected back into the underground reservoir, it is disposed of through a combustion method called flaring.… Read More
The Phase-Out of Coal in Canada by 2030
Canada co-founded the ‘Powering Past Coal Alliance’ along with the United Kingdom at the United Nations 23rd Session of the Conference of Parties (COP23) to work to phase-out coal globally due to its negative environmental impacts.… Read More
Lab-grown Diamonds: Sustainable Choice for Consumers?
Sustainability is one of the main arguments supported by synthetic diamonds manufacturers to promote their product as an alternative to mined diamond. Sustainability is perceived in terms of carbon footprints, ecology and social/human impact.… Read More