Sammanfattning.

Use of ecodesign tools and expectations for Product Environmental FootprintThe report examines the implementation of ecodesign and green innovations inNordic textile and IT companies. The findings of this report are: 1) The respondents are fairly mature in terms of how they integratedenvironmental sustainability into their operations. Companies are mainlydriven by general willingness but deterred by cost increases. 2) Companies remain focused on technical innovations, whereas functionalinnovations are lagging behind. 3) Ecodesign tools and research and development activities are highly relevantfor promoting innovations. 4) The main tools used are Type I Ecolabels, Life Cycle Assessment and CarbonFootprint. 5) Few respondents are familiar with PEF, but many are interested in it. PEF is predominantly seen as a way to evaluate the accuracy of environmentalproduct claims.

Facilitating Sustainable Innovation through Collaboration, takes an unusually international perspective of sustainable innovation with contributions from Australia, Europe, and North America. Prominent policy makers, scientific researchers and practitioners in this field provide various inputs and analyses relating to the development of sustainable innovations. It is expected that policy makers, organizations, individual researchers, students and even communities can further develop and implement concepts and practices by drawing on the variety of projects and theoretical foundations presented in this volume.

Increased ecological awareness and the growing scarcity of resources have led to the introduction of new environmental standards, triggering enterprises, regions, and even countries to adopt new business models and industrial reconversion approaches. However, despite increased interest in business models and their innovation, it still lacks the integration of circularity and sustainability and to date research on these areas is still limited. This book, therefore, provides readers with a closer picture of the issues of business models and their innovation for the circular economy in Europe, where the issues of sustainability and the shift towards the circular economy have become cornerstones of European policies and documents and where significant differences have been identified between firms and countries. This book provides a unique view of different European perspectives and enables the reader to compare the situation in countries with completely different historical and economic conditions as well as with different perceptions of the need for the actions leading to the sustainable development and to the shift towards the circular economy.

The Baltic macroregion is a platform for the development of different areas of international cooperation, which are an important factor affecting the socioeconomic growth of the region’s states. The deteriorating political relations between Russia and its Baltic neighbours complicate the development of mutual connections. However, economic and sociocultural cooperation and joint environmental projects continue despite all the difficulties. Based on recent studies carried out by Russian and Polish researchers, this book examines current trends in the socioeconomic development of the region’s countries and various forms of transboundary cooperation and provides recommendations for further development. Special attention is paid to sustainable environmental management and environmental protection, transboundary ties among companies and among people, the development of international tourism, opportunities for reinforcing the contact function of the border, and spatial planning. The book addresses theoretical problems that are of crucial significance to economic development and transboundary cooperation, namely, those of path dependence, the emerge.

First Published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Available online: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:norden:org:diva-6038 By 2025 all EU member states will be obliged to separately collect used household textiles for reuse or recycling. This report maps in detail the current status and extent of used textile collection and treatment in the Baltic States as well as the treatment and fate of the large quantities of used textiles imported from other parts of Europe for processing. On this basis it makes recommendations for policy goals and actions for governments and industry stakeholders to stimulate textile ecosystems that can position the Baltic region at the forefront of European textile circularity.

Thorvald Stoltenberg President of the Norwegian Red Cross Chairman of the Editorial Advisory Board Despite the very optimistic language on the imminence of new accessions to the European Union that came out of the June 2001 European Council in Gothen burg, it will serve no good purpose to neglect the fact that EU membership for the Central and Eastern European applicants remains a difficult process. Painful experience makes it prudent to exercise caution in predicting developments with in the European Union. Negotiations may drag out, snags may appear and some thing may happen on the way to ratification. So perhaps it is wise to take a broad er view of European integration - and therefore integration within the North European, Barents and Baltic Sea region that is the focus of this Yearbook. EU membership for those countries that are able to satisfy the Copenhagen requirements - and the chapters of the acquis communautaire that have subse quently been specified - is certainly a prize worth fighting for. But all is not lost if some of the applicants end up not joining the Union as a result of the current enlargement round. Even more important than formal membership is the process of growing together that has taken place simultaneously with the membership negotiations. We are dealing here with integration in the real world of trade, investments, division of labour, politics, environment, hard and soft security, people-to-people relations etc.

Recent developments have produced fundamental and far-reaching changes in the sovereignties bordering the semi-enclosed area of the Baltic Sea. This book presents a comprehensive and balanced codification of issues and views, focusing on new developments in the Baltic Sea Area with specific reference to the UNCLOS 1982 Convention, the particular marine uses of the Baltic Sea, and national views and interests of the bordering states and third parties. It deals with matters such as the Kiel Canal, delimitation, dispute settlement and navigation, shipping, the ecosystem, fisheries, and scientific research. The Baltic Sea is the outcome of a European Workshop on the Law of the Sea co-sponsored by the Law of the Sea Institute (University of Hawaii), the William S. Richardson School of Law (University of Hawaii) and the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (Research Institute for International Affairs) in Ebenhausen (Germany). This workshop is the first in a series designed to illuminate major issues in ocean law and policy which require attention on the national, regional, and global levels. This book provides a useful basis for the consideration and further discussion of those interested in the sea and the environment, helping academics and policy-makers alike not only ascertain but also understand objectives and concerns underlying the states of the region and the reaction of other states and the international community as a whole.