Power, Responsibility, and Accountability: Re-Thinking the Legitimacy of Institutions for Climate Finance

Offers lessons from current mechanisms to finance climate mitigation and adaptation and considerations for legitimacy in new ones: the capacity to determine outcomes, the exercise of power as intended, and standards and systems to ensure accountability

Supply Chain Leadership

The complexity found in supply chains draws on the combined capabilities of multiple firms. Success in this environment requires the coordinated efforts of both a supply chain leader organization, and one or more supply chain follower organizations. Supply chain leadership has traditionally been ascribed to the most powerful, dominant organization in the supply chain. The theory of supply chain leadership presented in this dissertation redefines leadership in the supply chain context as a relationship between leader and followers described by the behaviors exhibited through each organization’s actions. The theoretical model was developed from literature in the leadership, logistics, and strategic management disciplines. The nomological network is derived from five constructs: supply chain leadership, supply chain followership, information availability, communications, and rewards. Empirical testing was facilitated by data collected through an interactive simulation. Findings were evaluated across two distinct environments: transactional networks and transformational networks. The results suggest supply chain leadership and followership both have a significant effect in transactional networks. Interestingly, supply chain followership was discovered to make a greater contribution to overall supply chain structural development and performance than supply chain leadership in transformational environments. The structural model demonstrated good fit and all six hypotheses were at least partially supported

Climate finance for agricultural adaptation

Climate finance has largely focused on non-agricultural sectors, while finance for adaptation remains to be largely unexplored. This paper takes stock of existing funds for agricultural adaptation and compares different elements across these

Global Financial crisis and Islamic finance

The world economy is still suffering the crisis, considered the most severe since the Great Depression, where economic downturn at historic magnitude and many countries across the globe, irrespective of their development level, are still under strain dealing with this crisis. The severe global crisis that has spilled from the financial sector to the real economy, including international trade in manufactures, commodities and services. The onset of the present crisis can be traced back to July 2007 with the liquidity crisis due to the loss of confidence in the mortgage credit markets in the United States. At first, there was uncertainty about the possible spillovers to the rest of the economy, and there was also discussion about the risks of contagion and decoupling, that is to say, the capacity of other countries – especially developing countries – to isolate themselves from the problems originating in the United States (which is the largest market for many countries). The hope was that the crisis would be restricted to financial markets, with few repercussions on the real economy and the rest of the world. This hope was shattered in September 2008 as the crisis entered an acute phase, with strong downward fluctuations in the stock markets, substantially reduced rates of economic growth, volatile exchange rates, and squeezes in demand and consumption, leading to falls in industrial production and decreasing flows of international trade and FDI, and causing impacts on related areas such as transfer of technology. The crisis has also been accompanied by increases in unemployment, with concomitant declining incomes and demand. The severity of the current crisis has led to the evaluation of the foundations of the capitalist financial system and the search for ideas and solutions. While some have proposed that the Islamic finance serves as a vehicle for recovering from the international financial crisis and The Islamic banking industry may be able to strengthen its position in the international market as investors and companies seek alternate sources of financing. Other economists have argued that Islamic finance, is a different way of structuring financial dealings; but, it is not a totally different financial system. This paper tries to note the main causes and the impacts of the current financial and economic crisis. In addition to discuss the belief that the Islamic finance and its prospective is a viable alternative to the ailing global financial system.financial and economic crisis , Islamic finance

An investigation into the effectiveness of the design and enforcement of Nigeria's anti-gas flaring law and policy regimes, and the considerations of measures that could improve environmental regulatory compliance.

Since the discovery of the commercial hydrocarbon deposit in 1956, activity of Nigeria's petroleum industry has dramatically increased. The industry now contributes an average of two million barrels of crude oil daily to the global oil market. However, while bringing this development, the industry has become a source of misery for the oil-producing host communities, whose survival is endangered by the scourge of pollution from associated gas flaring. Associated gas (AG) flaring is widely acknowledged as a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, negatively impacting the environment and economy. Given its adverse effects, governments of oil-producing nations and industries have a responsibility to end flaring. Nevertheless, only a few such nations have significantly reduced flaring, while in most other jurisdictions like Nigeria, flaring continues to rise with increased oil production. In this regard, this study critically investigates the appropriateness and effectiveness of the design and enforcement of anti-gas flaring laws and the policy regimes currently operating in Nigeria. The study provided a general overview of the research context, and emphasised the role of effective law and policy regimes in reducing flaring in Nigeria. It critically analysed and addressed the following key issues, among others: the role of appropriately designed anti-gas flaring law and policy regimes; the effectiveness of regulatory enforcement; and the institutional characteristics of an effective flaring regulatory agency. It also addressed other relevant factors that affect flaring volumes, like penalties, incentives and the effects of contractual rights in addressing AG flaring issues. The study argues that Nigeria currently has appropriately designed law and policy regimes, but the enforcement is ineffective. The study finds several reasons that have led to the ineffectiveness and recommends measures that would help the country end gas flaring. The study suggests that oil-producing nations should design and establish clear and precise policies and legislation with independent regulatory agencies to avoid interference and conflict of interest. It also recommends adequate penalties and incentives to encourage effective enforcement of the AG flaring regulations

Seeing 'REDD'?: Forests, Climate Change Mitigation and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Examines proposals for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) and their failure to protect indigenous peoples' rights or to address forest governance problems. Calls for talks to include civil society and indigenous peoples

Sustainable investment in Turkey 2010

The main objectives of this report are as follows: 1 To understand and provide a review of the current state of the Sustainable Investment (SI) market in Turkey, 2 To identify the drivers and obstacles for sustainable investments, and assess the commercial feasibility of different approaches and initiatives that may stimulate the SI market in Turkey, 3 To analyze the institutional prerequisites and interventions that will fuel the development of investments, which would, in turn, encourage a betterallocation of local and international capital to sustainable enterprises and hence support sustainable development of the Turkish economy. This study forms part of a series of assessments of Sustainable Investment (SI) in Brazil (2009), India (2009) and China (2009), and draws upon earlier reports published by IFC jointly with the Economist Intelligence Unit: Sustainable Invest ing in Emerging Markets: Unscathed by the Financial Crises (2010) and with Mercer; Gaining Ground, Integrating Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Factors into Investment Processes in Emerging Markets (2009)

The prediction of academic performance of open admissions students at Virginia State University

The purpose of this study was to identify factors contributing to success, nonsuccess and, withdrawal of open admissions students at Virginia State University. The primary objective was to develop a means for predicting academic outcomes at the time of matriculation for each student in the open admissions program.;The students studied were entering freshmen who were underprepared to enter college. Ex post facto data used as predictors consisted of SAT scores, high school achievement, placement tests scores, and measures on student commitment, socioeconomic status, and student expectations regarding college life.;Using a total of 32 predictors and the criterion categories of successful persisters, unsuccessful persisters, and unsuccessful withdrawals, four separate discriminant analyses were performed on two freshmen groups. The objectives of these analyses were to determine the extent and manner in which the criterion categories could be differentiated by the predictors and to identify dimensions associated with the differentiated outcomes. Another purpose was to provide a means for properly classifying individual students in future freshman classes given the data required for the predictors.;The hypotheses tested emphasized the primacy of academic variables, and differences between males and females in both performance and persistence outcomes. The theoretical framework for the study consisted of Atkinson\u27s model regarding performance and Tinto\u27s theory of dropouts.;The results revealed a lack of uniformity among the groups analyzed and little evidence of discrimination. The primary predictor, anticipation of needing extra time to complete degree requirements, was nonacademic, but it was only a limited indication of the student\u27s expected degree of academic integration at college. The secondary predictor, reading ability, was only supportive in predictions. The results regarding prediction of performance did not conform to the majority of the findings in the literature nor to Atkinson\u27s model. The results on dropout, including actual outcomes, appear to be consistent with outcomes that could be expected from Tinto\u27s theory.;It was concluded that accurate predictions on open admissions outcomes for individual students could not be made at the time of matriculation. However, predictions of group outcomes could be made on the basis of actual outcomes determined in the study