Socially responsible investment (SRI) , an investment strategy which is intended to pursue both financial returns and social good, is gaining increasing attention worldwide. In this study, US and EU funds are empirically analyzed using non-parametric methodology. SRI funds and non-SRI funds (benchmarks) are compared. Our application is based on Luenberger (1995)’s shortage function. This is further developed by Briec, Kerstens and Lesourd (2004). We contribute to the literature on two different perspectives. First, our analysis considers performance in the risk-adjusted sense. Second, we measure efficiency using an extensive data set and discover that SRI funds are efficient.

The purpose of this study is two-fold. The first is to design a “business-as-usual” scenario for the international regime after the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to cooperate against climate change. This is because knowing “what is likely to be agreed without any additional inputs” is useful for investigating the additional inputs necessary for a negotiation process to reach a stage of “what should be agreed.” The second purpose is to clarify linkages among various elements that are to be components of such a regime, because negotiation is a process of “give-and-take” among key countries, and final agreement is reached as a package deal. Japanese experts and stakeholders who have good knowledge of this issue were surveyed by questionnaire. The survey used the “Delphi method” to converge the views of respondents. Cluster analysis was then conducted on responses to the questionnaire to see how elements of the international climate regime come into “packages.”

The survey was implemented between July to September 2007. The first questionnaire was sent to 30 experts and stakeholders in Japan. The second questionnaire was sent to the 25 people who responded to the first. All of the 25 respondents also answered the second survey. The questionnaire asked (i) the most likely outcome of various elements of the international framework, (ii) the most likely positions of key countries, and (iii) the most likely negotiating process in and out of the UNFCCC forum. Three scenarios were extracted by this analysis. The first scenario assumes a world in which regional and local actions mainly to deal with sectoral emissions make better progress than multilateral negotiation at the UN level. The second scenario assumes a world in which negotiation under the UNFCCC leads to setting emission caps on major countries. The third scenario assumes a world in which no agreement would be reached under the UNFCCC within the next five years. The clusters revealed that regional sectoral agreements and financial mechanisms are considered as a package deal in the first scenario, while emission caps and technology transfer are considered as a package in the second scenario.

To study solutions for international burden sharing of greenhouse gas emission reduction costs, we investigated the two allocations of emission targets for GHGs among member countries of the European Union: from 2008 to 2012 and beyond 2012. It seems that there is a reversal of the principle for burden sharing. By introducing emissions trading and cooperation mechanisms for energy from renewable sources, it became possible to set targets that only took into consideration ability to pay. In addition, for the purpose of ensuring a level playing field for the internal market, the initial allocation of emissions trading allowances is separated from the concern of burden.

The Containers and Packaging Recycling Law, which was enacted in 1997, was the first law under Japan’s recyciing policy to realize the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility. The cost-sharing system was incorporated in the framework of the law. Under the system, producers pay recyclers for the cost of recycling. The law was revised in 2006, and the new cost-sharing system was introduced in 2008. Under the new system, producers have to pay municipalities a sum of money proportional to their contribution to the improvement of the quality of the collected containers and packaging. However, the simultaneous use of the existing and new systems makes the whole cost-sharing system complicated and the prospect of the policy effectiveness uncertain. In our paper, we consider the framework and problems of the new system. We first give an overview of the framework of the existing system. Subsequently, we examine the framework of the new system and ciarify its problems from two viewpoints: the payment from producers and the distribution to municipalities. With regard to payment from producers, the new system is structured in such a way that it has disincentives for producers making their own products easier to recycle. With regard to distribution of payments, the new system potentially raises fresh problems of inequity between municipalities. In consequence, the new system cannot solve most of the problems of the existing system, and, what is even worse, it can weaken the achievements

of the existing system.

This paper estimates economic values of mortality risk reductions using a contingent valuation method and considers tests of scope sensitivity for the estimated values. Theoretical analysis shows that greater risk reduction results in alarger willingness-to-pay (WTP), while it implies a smaller value of statistical life (VSL). An empirical study adopts a scope test that compares two scenarios: 17 percent and 50 percent reductions of mortality risk. Empirical results are consistent with theoretical expectations for scope sensitivity.

The environment conservation functions of the Iriai (traditional Japanese commons) institution have recently gained increasing attention in Japan. However, there has not yet been sufficient discussion to clarify the details of these functions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate minutely the functions of Iriai institution for environmental conservation on the basis of field research in Hedo ward, Kunigami Village, Okinawa and Aminoko Ward, Setouchi Town, Kagoshima in Japan. In these sites with rich nature and wildlife including rare species, both Setouchi Town and Kunigami Village planned to build landfill sites for waste that could have caused harm to the living environments of residents. In response, the people asserted their Iriai rights to protect their land.

As a result of the analysis of these cases, it is concluded that the Iriai institution has three functions for environmental conservation: (1) development control, (2) ecosystem maintenance, and (3) resource management, These functions of the Iriai institution seem to provide a significant potential solution in regard to the governance of sustainable resource management.