Contribution to developing a new environmental risk management methodology for industrial sites

Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Part 1. Environmental Security.- Environmental Security, Critical Infrastructure and Risk Assessment: Defmitions and Current Trends D.A. Belluck, R. Hull, S.L. Benjamin, I Alcorn, I. Linkov.- Security and the Environment in the Middle-East Water Issues B. Morel.- Potential of Solar Thermal Desalination to Defuse Water as a Conflict Issue in the Middle East - Proposal for Functional Cooperation in the Gulf of Aqaba H. G. Brauch.- Water Resources Management and Environmental Security in MediterraneanTransboundary River Basins I. Ganoulis .- The Role of Comparative Risk Assessment in Decision Analysis. Marshlands of Mesopotamia and Affected Riparian Countries C. Maxwell .- A Future for the Dead Sea Basin: Options for a More Sustainable Water Management C. Lipchin .- Are Standard Risk Acceptability Criteria Applicable to Critical Infrastructure Based on Environmental Security Needs? D.A. Belluck et al.- From global warming to water scarcity: what are the most urgent environmental problems of the region. Report of the discussion Group on Environmental Security A. Morel, B. Morel .- Part 2. Environmental Management.- The Interconnection Between the Built Environment, Ecology and Health H. S. Koren, C. D. Butler.- Statistical Models for Distributions of Ambient Fine Particulate Matter S. Yeh, M J. Small.- QnD: A Scenario-Based Gaming System for Modeling Environmental Processes and Management Decisions G. A. Kiker et al.- Mapping of Relative Risk U. Schlink et al. Understanding Risk Culture and Developing a 'Soft' Approach to Risk Assessment Methodologies S. Rao .- Different Preventive Strategies Require Diversified Risk Assessment Models S. Menoni.- Coupling Public Participation and Expert Judgment for Assessment of Innovative Contaminated Sediment Technologies T. P. Seager et al. Environmental Risk Assessment and Management: Promoting Security in the Middle East and in the Mediterranean Region.Report o fthe Working Group on Environmental Risk Assessment and Management J. Ganoulis, L. Simpson .- Part 3. Case Studies in Environmental Security and Environmental Management.- Reuse of Wastewater in Agriculture- Economic Assessment of Treatment and Supply Alternatives as Affecting Aquifer Pollution N. Haruvy.- Minimizing the Risks Associated with Water Scarcity S. Arlosoroff.- Integrated Risk-Based Management of Water Resources in the Jordan River Basin E. Levner.- Outcome of Nato Workshop on Radiological Risk in Central Asia M.K.. Zaidi et al.- Public Transport Policy & Measures That Could Improve the Air Quality in Major Cities in Syria, A Case Study: Damascus J. Chahoud .- The Modeling of Combine Impact of Waste Heat Discharge into Offshore Strip from Cooling Systems and Power Plants A. Andrijievskij et al.- Role of Synergy in Biological Risk Assessment N. Goncharova.- Cooperative Networks for Environmental Risk Analysis Studies: The Case of the Middle East Region M.K. Zaidi, I. Ganoulis.- List of Participants.- Author Index .-

The aim of the considerations in the chapter is a synthetic overview of environmental regulations, voluntary initiatives of banks in the field of ESG issues, and EU regulations in the field of environmental risk, in the context of the standardization of the environmental risk management process in a bank. Environmental regulations affect the activities of economic entities, and the actions taken by these entities affect customers, counterparties, and consumers or the banks financing their activities. In the case of banks, within the framework of various international or regional institutions and structures, numerous activities are undertaken to set standards for measuring and managing environmental risk. Recently, research and analysis in this area have been intensified, initiatives have been taken to develop guidelines, and standards and prudential regulations have begun to be introduced to protect banks from environmental and social risks. They are conducive to the development and improvement of the ESG risk measurement and management methodology.

Chemical industry parks in China are considered high-risk areas because they present numerous risks that can damage the environment, such as pollution incidents. In order to identify the environmental risks and the principal risk factors in these areas, we have developed a simple physical model of a regional environmental risk field (ERF) using existing dispersal patterns and migration models. The regional ERF zoning was also conducted and a reference value for diagnostic methods was developed to determine risk-acceptable, risk-warning, and risk-mitigation zones, which can provide a risk source layout for chemical industry parks. In accordance with the environmental risk control requirements, this study focused on the three stages of control and management of environmental risk and established an environmental risk management system including risk source identification and assessment, environmental safety planning, early risk warning, emergency management, assessment of environmental effects, and environmental remediation of pollution accidents. By using this model, the environmental risks in Tianjin Binhai New Area, the largest chemical industry park in China, were assessed and the environmental risk zoning map was drawn, which suggested the existence of many unacceptable environmental risks in this area. Thus, relevant suggestions have been proposed from the perspective of the adjustment of risk source layout, intensified management of environmental risk control and so on.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the design of a process of environmental risks management including a managerial plan of prevention, risk management and intervention methods in accidents specifically in aboard merchant ships. For this, a new systemic model could be suggested in its practical aspect called environmental risk management spiral (ERMAS). This approach is based on analysing and assessment of different scenarios that affect the environment with taking into account the context of the case study. The outcome of this study consists on having a new systemic contextualising approach that can manage the environmental risks. In this paper, an application can be centralised on two important points: the definition of accident scenarios that can touch the maritime environment, and the adaptability of the ERMAS approach in this field in order to be generalised to other industrial fields. This new approach could be used in Algerian terminals as a tool of environmental risk management to facilitate the classification of all danger source events DSE.

Recognizing and assessing environmental risk are key components of every industry management strategy. Projects need to make sure that a detailed environmental risk management strategy is applied by methodically recognizing and addressing threats from internal and external influences to comply with regulatory standards for environmental preservation and safeguarding. This study's goal is to use a novel technique to assess the impact of environmental risks related to the use of evaporation ponds as final basins for industrial effluents. It employs qualitative and statistical methodologies to identify areas where engineering and managerial safeguards' structure, functioning, and lines of defense have flaws that might result in an ecologically hazardous occurrence. Additionally, it will offer a risk evaluation based on the gravity of the impact and the likelihood that the environmental occurrence would happen by using evaporation ponds to store industrial effluents. While the environmental threat would be entirely removed, it must be capable of reducing it to ALARP. The environmental risk assessment matrix will serve as a key factor in determining whether the environmental risk level linked with an evaporation pond is acceptable, as determined by the likelihood and impacts. The result of this research allows industrial units to recognize and control potential environmental risks associated with effluents by practically implementing a new environmental risk matrix based on several environmental and ecological effects with probability factors.•This study aims to assist industrial operators, especially power plants, manage environmental risk by combining ALARP concepts with other factors to evaluate risk acceptance and tolerance levels.•The Physico-chemical characteristics of effluent collected in the evaporation pond reveal that evaporation has a deleterious impact on such industrial effluent, as evidenced by a large increase in various effluent properties, some of which exceed the limit values.•A risk evaluation found that effluent collected in the evaporation pond has a detrimental negative impact on industrial effluents. This was evidenced by a significant rise in associated activities. This could increase the expense of operating and managing evaporation ponds, which could harm the ecosystem.

The increasing complexity and dynamism of cloud environments have introduced significant cybersecurity challenges, necessitating advanced risk assessment methodologies capable of handling uncertainty and evolving threats. Traditional risk management frameworks often rely on static and rule-based mechanisms, which lack adaptability in dynamic cloud ecosystems. To address these limitations, this chapter explores the integration of fuzzy logic and evolutionary computation for adaptive cyber risk management in cloud environments. Fuzzy logic provides a powerful framework for modeling imprecise security parameters and uncertainty in threat landscapes, enabling more flexible and context-aware risk assessment. Meanwhile, evolutionary computation offers an adaptive mechanism to optimize cybersecurity strategies through heuristic learning and intelligent decision-making. The chapter presents a hybrid risk assessment framework that leverages fuzzy inference systems to quantify risk levels and evolutionary algorithms to dynamically optimize security controls, it examines the scalability of fuzzy-evolutionary approaches in large-scale cloud infrastructures and their effectiveness in mitigating real-time cyber threats, such as zero-day attacks, insider threats, and advanced persistent threats. The potential integration of explainable AI (XAI), deep learning, and quantum computing in enhancing fuzzy-based risk assessment models is also discussed. This research contributes to the advancement of self-learning, adaptive cyber defense mechanisms capable of proactively mitigating risks in multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud environments. The proposed framework ensures improved threat intelligence, automated risk prioritization, and enhanced decision transparency, offering a robust solution for next-generation cloud security.

Environmental risk prevention has been included in China's national environmental protection plan of the Twelve Five-year (2011-2015). The establishment of environmental risk management system is an important issue for accident prevention and risk control. With reference to the general guidance on risk management programs for chemical accident prevention of the US EPA, the main procedures of environmental risk management and risk level classification for chemical facilities in urban area were proposed. The proposed method was applied to the identification of risks of chemical facilities in Luoyang city, Henan Province, and the facilities were classified into three risk levels. The results showed that five facilities were of low risk, two of middle risk and seven of high risk among 60 facilities in the main urban area, accounting for 8.3%, 3.3% and 11.7% of the total. Different management measures were taken into account for the facilities with different risk levels. It is suggested that for the facilities with high risks, besides the daily risk management, the environmental risk receptor investigation, the public participation and the preparation of emergency response plans should be strengthened, which were helpful for the prevention of environmental pollution accidents and the reduction of environmental hazards.

The metallurgical industry is crucial for the global economy; at the same time, it is a source of environmental risks. Environmental safety in metallurgy plays a critical role in terms of balancing industrial development and environmental protection. The article considers the concept of environmental safety in metallurgy, the importance of environmental risk assessment, and methods applied to environmental risk assessment. Various methods of environmental risk assessment in the metallurgical industry, including environmental audit, risk assessment, use of environmental indices, comparison with environmental standards, and simulation have been reviewed. Special attention has been paid to the need to consider economic, social, and environmental criteria for the environmental safety assessment. The proposed method of environmental safety assessment in the metallurgical industry includes environmental, economic, and social criteria to ensure a comprehensive evaluation. The method classifies the importance of various criteria and calculates the integral index to determine the environmental safety level for an enterprise. Such a comprehensive approach allows for a more precise assessment of environmental risks and helps to prioritize measures of environmental protection. The criticality of the adoption of a comprehensive approach to the environmental safety assessment in the metallurgical industry has been highlighted. Considering various environmental, economic, and social factors, companies can improve their environmental risk management and achievement of sustainable development goals. The proposed method of environmental safety assessment can be used as a valuable tool to monitor the environmental impact and make reasonable decisions regarding environmental protection.

Many decisions of critical importance to project success are taken at an early project stage. These decisions are increasingly expensive to reverse as the project matures. Identifying critical environmental management issues and incorporating them into the strategic decision making process at this stage can greatly benefit projects executed in a particularly sensitive natural, social, regulatory and political environment. Early Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) may be undertaken to provide input into this process. However, ESIA requires substantial input data that may not be available at this stage. Alternatively, a simple identification of key environmental and social issues may be conducted using available information. Although beneficial, these traditional methodologies cannot address the full range of critical environmental management issues. The Environmental Roadmap methodology and tool has been developed to overcome these limitations. The Environmental Roadmap combines critical issue identification, decision support analysis, and integrated project planning into a single decision support package for the project management team. The criticality of an environmental management issue is determined by its potential to drive project development decisions. Decision support analysis includes, inter alia, evaluation of main project options in terms of environmental and social sensitivities, effects on schedule and cost, and impact on stakeholder relationships. Integrated project planning is conducted to map key environmental management activities and deliverables as a single interrelated process flow that includes management of regulatory approvals, lender interface, public consultation and stakeholder engagement, engineering and project execution interface, environmental risk management, and review and assurance processes. The Environmental Roadmap methodology and tool has been successfully applied during an early stage of an oil development project offshore Sakhalin Island, Russia.

Environmental Risk Assessment familiarizes readers with risk assessment for the main environmental systems that are surveyed: soil, water, and air. The text aims to enable learners to develop knowledge and awareness about environmental risk management and take action to transform society into a sustainable one. The eight edited chapters start with an introduction to the subject and an outline of good practices in risk assessment. The latter half presents a risk-based approach to the environment and provides a deep dive into risk management implementation for contaminated sites, monitoring air quality, evaluating drinking water for safety, and risk analysis in waste management. Concepts are explained in a simple manner with references included for further reading. This book is an essential guideline for students who require knowledge in the environmental engineering programs or related course modules.

A Hybrid Expert System, GIS, and Simulation Modeling for Environmental and Technological Risk Management

Background and Aims: In a global low-carbon and low-pollution economy, environmental compliance is a key concern and development goal for enterprises all over the world. This research aims to explore how Chinese enterprises can participate in and integrate into environmental compliance on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) rules, and investigate the specific mechanisms through which environmental compliance management influences enterprise performance within the RCEP framework. We provide a comprehensive analysis of Chinese enterprises’ environmental compliance, risk management, technological innovation, green culture, and enterprise performance under the framework of RCEP. Methodology: We conduct this study on 50 major enterprises in China that are prone to causing pollution. We employ stratified random sampling to select 450 managers and staff from 50 enterprises. Then, the study employs the quantitative analysis using structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyze the effect of environmental compliance management in RCEP through risk management, technological innovation, and green culture that impact enterprise performance across the enterprises in China. Results: Research results indicate that environmental compliance significantly enhances enterprise performance when integrated with risk management, technological innovation, and green culture. Environmental compliance model shows the relationship among the variables: Environmental compliance-> enterprise performance (β is 0.298 and p < 0.000); Environmental compliance-> risk management (β is 0.327 and p < 0.000); Environmental compliance-> technological innovation (β is 0.467 and p < 0.000); Environmental compliance-> green culture (β is 0.389 and p < 0.000). The findings highlight the pivotal role of environmental compliance as a strategic tool for competitiveness in international markets, offering crucial insights for both the Chinese government and enterprises. Conclusion: The contribution of this paper is that the synergy between environmental compliance, risk management, technological innovation, and green culture creates the pathway to superior corporate performance and offers a competitive advantage for Chinese enterprises to improve the relationship between compliance with RCEP regulations and their business performance. Meanwhile, it also offers actionable insights for policymakers and business leaders. Keywords: Environmental compliance; Enterprise performance; Sustainable development; Technological innovation; RCEP; Social responsibility.

Enhancement effect of biochar on the immobilization of heavy metals and anions in MSWI fly ash/bottom ash-coal fly ash-based cementitious materials: Risk assessment model and mechanisms.

In the contemporary age, museums are dealing with unexpected challenges, related to the transformation of social structures, educative methods and cultural diffusion. The conversion of heritage buildings into exhibition halls and the renovation of existent exhibits involve a series of environmental risks and preservation issues. The study aims to demonstrate that conservation and human comfort are mutually compatible, when based on rational planning, interdisciplinary cooperation, and extensive knowledge of the features of buildings and collections. This study carries out an operative strategy for assessing and managing the environmental risks in museum buildings. To validate its suitability, it is applied to the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan (Italy), an old palace completely reshaped in the 20th century following the typical design concepts of the “Modern Movement of Architecture” (e.g., rational planning, use of innovative technologies and materials, profusion of natural light integrated with artificial lighting, etc.). Several solutions adopted in these years caused both heritage decay and human discomfort. In addition, the insertion of new functions required a complete modification of the original design project. For this reason, the proposed tool supports the environmental risk management connected with these transformations, also defining clear maintenance guidelines, and planning low-engineering and low-impact solutions to satisfy, in a practical way, the daily needs of conservators, heritage authorities and designers. Furthermore, technical skills and the awareness of museum staff has been improved.

Towards adaptive management: Future environmental risk assessment of tailing ponds in China under SSP scenarios.