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The use of indicators is not only technical and science-led, but also a value-laden social process, and thus concerns public participation, political judgment and decision-making. This article approaches the Chinese SEA indicator system from a science-policy interface and aims at: 1) contributing to the general recognition of indicators functioning at science-policy interfaces in SEA, and 2) analysing, through a Chinese case-study, to what extent national guidelines mediate the science-policy interaction. The overall finding is a strong emphasis on technical/science aspects found in the Chinese SEA guidance, and a weak explicit recognition that policy plays a role in choosing and using indicators. Recent development, however, indicates a growing recognition of the politics involved and thus also leads to more involvement of stakeholders.

Abstract: Indicators are widely used in SEA to measure, communicate and monitor impacts from a proposed policy, plan or programme, and can improve the effectiveness for the SEA by simplifying the complexity of both assessment and presentation. Indicators can be seen as part of the implementation process helping to understand, communicate and, integrate important environmental issues in planning and decision-making. On the other hand, use of indicators can also limit SEA effectiveness, if the ones chosen are biased or limited, if the aggregation gives incorrect interpretation and if the information requirement for different target groups is not addressed. Indicators are widely used in SEA to measure, communicate and monitor impacts from a proposed policy, plan or programme, and can improve the effectiveness for the SEA by simplifying the complexity of both assessment and presentation. Indicators can be seen as part of the implementation process helping to understand, communicate and, integrate important environmental issues in planning and decision-making. On the other hand, use of indicators can also limit SEA effectiveness, if the ones chosen are biased or limited, if the aggregation gives incorrect interpretation and if the information requirement for different target groups is not addressed. The paper firstly considers Chinese experience with use of indicators in SEA and secondly presents a comparative study of national systems and guidelines. The study takes a point of departure in the Chinese system, and compares this to Great Britain and Denmark. Great Britain represents a centrally guided SEA indicator system, while Denmark represent a SEA tradition with no formal indicator system in place. The paper explores and identifies the challenges and opportunities in using indicators in Chinese SEA: insufficient in indentifying the social and economical issues; difficulties in practice due to the low availability of data and availability of information. There is space for improving the Chinese SEA system especially when it comes to treating and using indictors in a process as well as in communicative perspective. Developing indicators is both a political and professional process, and the paper finally discuss the need of selection criteria mentioned in the guidelines, and also gives some ideas on how to tackle the development of indicators being explicit about it both as a political and a professional process.

AbstractResponsible leadership is not just about creating value for shareholders. This viewpoint has created significant challenges to the field of leadership and strategic management but has also generated opportunities for businesses to distinguish themselves positively in the eyes of stakeholders. The Danfoss Group, Denmark, is one such business, now at an advanced stage of CSR development focusing both on Products & Processes and Employee Relations. This development has been a gradual progression influenced by environmental and labor market issues, climate change, its commitment to the UN Global Compact, and a profound learning capacity. The current financial crisis has not impeded implementation of CSR initiatives, but rather has provided an opportunity to 'walk‐the‐talk'. This underlines that the CSR policies are in place because Danfoss, its owners, and its managers feel it is the right thing to do and that responsible leadership indeed does entail more than just creating short‐term value for owners. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

PurposeThis article aims to discuss the contradiction between signing an agreement to work for sustainable universities and the lack of practical commitment in one case, namely at Aalborg University (AAU). Focus is placed both on the University's core processes such as education, research and outreach; on the necessary inputs and outputs related to transport, food and operation, and maintenance of buildings, and on the university's products counting published results of research and educated students and researchers.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on a desk study of official university documents from the period 1990 to 2007, and a number of student reports that have focused on the sustainability or environmental merits of the University.FindingsAlthough adopting an environmental policy and signing the Copernicus Charter back in the early 1990s, AAU soon lost momentum. This was due to reasons defined as: the lack of commitment from top management, the missing acceptance from technical staff, and a narrow understanding of the university's environmental impacts. Obviously, a model of the environmental impacts should not only take into account the environmental impacts related to the impacts occurring in the present, e.g. related to the running and maintenance of buildings and laboratories, but also integrate considerations about the impacts in the processes (education, research and outreach). Thereby, the model shall provide the basis for more sustainable products, such as students considering aspects of sustainability in the solutions and approaches they apply in their future careers.Research limitations/implicationsThis article forms the basis for future research identifying how universities can contribute to sustainable development in a more coherent way by implementing new policies and plans. The article takes its starting point in a general model of a university's environmental impacts involving key processes at the university, the related inputs and outputs (emissions), and the transformation of intermediate products such as high school students and existing research results into products such as graduate students, PhDs, and new research results.Practical implicationsThe processes and the related inputs, outputs, intermediate products, and end‐products are analysed and discussed in order to illustrate the relevant environmental issues that need to be addressed by universities.Originality/valueThe paper identifies a number of key issues of sustainability that universities need to address and offers inspiration to staff and students on how to push these agendas at their home universities.

European countries are developing or implementing policies that promote or require the use of information modelling in the architecture, engineering, construction and manufacture sectors. The integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) to these sectors includes social, economic, political, legal and other aspects. This is why the implementation of BIM requires an integrated and broad approach that includes not only the BIM implementation and development strategy in designing companies but also in the field of education and professional training. The article discusses the potential of integrating BIM in different study programs and the possibilities of international cooperation in interdisciplinary BIM projects. The different levels of BIM will be explored in connection to different curricula. Particular attention is paid to the compatibility and applicability of design and innovative technology solutions using BIM methodology and the development of co-operation between higher education institutions in the Nordic region [1]. The aim of this paper is to carry out a comparative analysis and present the integration model of Building Information Modeling (BIM) into the Architecture programmes in different study cycles based on the example of Nordic countries. Objectives: To provide BIM use opportunities in 3 years Bachelor level based on Engineeering architecture study programme of VIA University College; To provide BIM use opportunities in 5 years Integrated studies based on Architecture studies pro­gramme of Kaunas University of Technology; To provide BIM use opportunities in the 2 years Master of Science program in Sustainable Architecture at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology; To perform comparative analysis between different countries and different study cycles; To provide a possible model for integration of the international BIM project in different study cycles.