Creating Shared Value Through Corporate Social Investment: Managing Water-Related Risk and Opportunity Through Coca-Cola's Replenish Africa Initiative

Nearly 300 million people throughout the African continent lack access to clean drinking water, and far more are without improved sanitation facilities. Companies such as The Coca-Cola Company, which rely on access to freshwater resources and surrounding communities for their core business operations and supply chains, face growing material risks as well as opportunities from the global water crisis (which includes sanitation challenges as well). Investments in water stewardship are becoming an increasingly common strategy for corporate or other private investors to both manage downside risk and build upside potential, particularly in emerging economies throughout the African region. Indeed, organizations that are able to forge relationships with markets and societies in Africa today are likely to be well positioned to enjoy the high rates of growth projected for the region. This report highlights 5 thematic area where business benefits from water stewardship investments can be realized, including: corporate competitiveness, operational efficiency, human capital, social capital, and risk exposure. Through the development of original spatial analyses, the report underscores selected trends and presents a series of recommendations for what type of water stewardship activities should be targeted to specific countries. Through a systemsbased mapping of over 50 distinct dimensions of both societal and business value creation and their interconnections, the report also discusses several high-level leverage points for value creation. These leverage points are capable of effecting deep systems-level change, and are presented as recommended programmatic themes. Finally, The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation’s Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN) is presented and discussed as an example of a water stewardship investment that provides numerous benefits to societies, to larger economies, and to natural ecosystems.Master of ScienceNatural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113283/1/Creating Shared Value Through Corporate Social Investment - Mitler Rostorfer Ledbetter 2015.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113283/2/Executive Summary-Water Stewardship in Africa the Next Frontier for Building Shared Value.pdfDescription of Executive Summary-Water Stewardship in Africa the Next Frontier for Building Shared Value.pdf : Executive Summar

High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing In Michigan Integrated Assessment Final Report

This report is part of the Hydraulic Fracturing in Michigan Integrated Assessment (IA) which has been underway since 2012. The guiding question of the IA is, “What are the best environmental, economic, social, and technological approaches for managing hydraulic fracturing in the State of Michigan?” The purpose of the IA is to present information that: • expands and clarifies the scope of policy options, and • allows a wide range of decision makers to make choices based on their preferences and values. As a result, the IA does not advocate for recommended courses of action. Rather, it presents information about the likely strengths, weaknesses, and outcomes of various options to support informed decision making. The project’s first phase involved the preparation of technical reports on key topics related to hydraulic fracturing in Michigan which were released by the University of Michigan’s Graham Sustainability Institute in September 2013. This document is the final report for the IA. The IA report has been informed by the technical reports, input from an Advisory Committee with representatives from corporate, governmental, and non-governmental organizations, a peer review panel, and numerous public comments received throughout this process. However, the report does not necessarily reflect the views of the Advisory Committee or any other group which has provided input. As with preparation of the technical reports, all decisions regarding content of project analyses and reports have been determined by the IA Report and Integration Teams. While the IA has attempted to provide a comprehensive review of the current status and trends of high volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF), specifically, in Michigan (the technical reports) and an analysis of policy options (this report) there are certain limitations which must be recognized: • The assessment does not and was not intended to provide a quantitative assessment (human health or environmental) of the potential risks associated with HVHF. Completing such assessments is currently a key point of national discussion related to HVHF despite the challenges of uncertainty and limited available data–particularly baseline data. • The assessment does not provide an economic analysis or a cost-benefit analysis of the presented policy options. While economic strengths and/or weaknesses were identified for many of the options, these should not be viewed as full economic analyses. Additional study would be needed to fully assess the economic impact of various policy actions, including no change of current policy.U-M Graham Sustainability InstituteU-M Energy InstituteU-M Erb Institute for Global Sustainable EnterpriseU-M Risk Science CenterPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113663/1/HF-IA-Final-Report.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113663/2/HF-IA-Final-Exec-Summary.pdf-1Description of HF-IA-Final-Report.pdf : Full ReportDescription of HF-IA-Final-Exec-Summary.pdf : Executive Summar

Using the Life Satisfaction Approach to Value Daylight Savings Time Transitions: Evidence from Britain and Germany

Daylight savings time (DST) represents a public good with costs and benefits. We provide the first comprehensive examination of the welfare effects of the spring and autumn transitions for the UK and Germany. Using individual-level data and a regression discontinuity design, we estimate the effect of the transitions on life satisfaction. Our results show that individuals in both the UK and Germany experience deteriorations in life satisfaction in the first week after the spring transition. We find no effect of the autumn transition. We attribute the negative effect of the spring transition to the reduction in the time endowment and the process of adjusting to the disruption in circadian rhythms. The effects are particularly strong for individuals with young children in the household. We conclude that the higher the shadow price of time, the more difficult is adjustment. Presumably, an increase in flexibility to reallocate time could reduce the welfare loss for individuals with binding time constraints