IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v111y2017icp41-51.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainability performance for Brazilian electricity power industry: An assessment integrating social, economic and environmental issues

Author

Listed:
  • Sartori, Simone
  • Witjes, Sjors
  • Campos, Lucila M.S.

Abstract

The increased pressure on companies to address sustainability issues has resulted in the development of several voluntary corporate sustainability integration approaches. The array of existing approaches is large and overwhelming, resulting in companies not understanding what corporate sustainability really means for their businesses. Considering environmental, economic and social issues, this paper aims at assessing the performance of the Brazilian electricity power industry in terms of its sustainability performance. An analysis of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators for the energy sector lead to an assessment of its sustainability performance by applying Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) specified with a directional distance function (DDF). Five scenarios were created: (i) Flexible weights; (ii) Triple bottom line; (iii) Social issues; (iv) Economic issues; and (v) Environmental issues. With considering (i) flexibility weights, almost all companies are efficient. We also found a significant difference when we compared (i) with the other four scenarios (ii, iii, iv and v). Taking into account the triple bottom line scenario (ii), the results indicate that companies were less efficient when compared with the flexible weights scenario (i). Taking into account the last three scenarios (iii, iv and v), only four companies were considered as providing top benchmarks in sustainability performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Sartori, Simone & Witjes, Sjors & Campos, Lucila M.S., 2017. "Sustainability performance for Brazilian electricity power industry: An assessment integrating social, economic and environmental issues," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 41-51.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:111:y:2017:i:c:p:41-51
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.08.054
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030142151730558X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.08.054?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bohringer, Christoph & Jochem, Patrick E.P., 2007. "Measuring the immeasurable -- A survey of sustainability indices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 1-8, June.
    2. Fallahi, Alireza & Ebrahimi, Reza & Ghaderi, S.F., 2011. "Measuring efficiency and productivity change in power electric generation management companies by using data envelopment analysis: A case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 6398-6405.
    3. Ramos-Real, Francisco Javier & Tovar, Beatriz & Iootty, Mariana & de Almeida, Edmar Fagundes & Pinto Jr., Helder Queiroz, 2009. "The evolution and main determinants of productivity in Brazilian electricity distribution 1998-2005: An empirical analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 298-305, March.
    4. Santos, Ricardo Luis Pereira dos & Rosa, Luiz Pinguelli & Arouca, Maurício Cardoso & Ribeiro, Alan Emanuel Duailibe, 2013. "The importance of nuclear energy for the expansion of Brazil's electricity grid," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 284-289.
    5. Joe Sarkis, 2007. "Preparing Your Data for DEA," Springer Books, in: Joe Zhu & Wade D. Cook (ed.), Modeling Data Irregularities and Structural Complexities in Data Envelopment Analysis, chapter 0, pages 305-320, Springer.
    6. Zanella, Andreia & Camanho, Ana S. & Dias, Teresa G., 2015. "Undesirable outputs and weighting schemes in composite indicators based on data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 245(2), pages 517-530.
    7. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Goto, Mika, 2013. "A comparative study among fossil fuel power plants in PJM and California ISO by DEA environmental assessment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 130-145.
    8. Boulanger, Paul-Marie & Brechet, Thierry, 2005. "Models for policy-making in sustainable development: The state of the art and perspectives for research," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 337-350, November.
    9. Gómez-Calvet, Roberto & Conesa, David & Gómez-Calvet, Ana Rosa & Tortosa-Ausina, Emili, 2014. "Energy efficiency in the European Union: What can be learned from the joint application of directional distance functions and slacks-based measures?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 137-154.
    10. Lira-Barragán, Luis Fernando & Ponce-Ortega, José María & Serna-González, Medardo & El-Halwagi, Mahmoud M., 2014. "Optimal design of process energy systems integrating sustainable considerations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 139-160.
    11. Magali Delmas & Vered Doctori Blass, 2010. "Measuring corporate environmental performance: the trade‐offs of sustainability ratings," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 245-260, May.
    12. Maxim, Alexandru, 2014. "Sustainability assessment of electricity generation technologies using weighted multi-criteria decision analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 284-297.
    13. Alexey Voinov, 2008. "Understanding and communicating sustainability: global versus regional perspectives," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 487-501, August.
    14. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Goto, Mika, 2012. "Returns to scale and damages to scale on U.S. fossil fuel power plants: Radial and non-radial approaches for DEA environmental assessment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 2240-2259.
    15. Mainali, Brijesh & Silveira, Semida, 2015. "Using a sustainability index to assess energy technologies for rural electrification," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1351-1365.
    16. Liu, Lu & Hejazi, Mohamad & Patel, Pralit & Kyle, Page & Davies, Evan & Zhou, Yuyu & Clarke, Leon & Edmonds, James, 2015. "Water demands for electricity generation in the U.S.: Modeling different scenarios for the water–energy nexus," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 318-334.
    17. Sarkis, Joseph & Cordeiro, James J., 2012. "Ecological modernization in the electrical utility industry: An application of a bads–goods DEA model of ecological and technical efficiency," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 219(2), pages 386-395.
    18. Oliveira, Luciano Basto & de Araujo, Maria Silvia Muylaert & Rosa, Luiz Pinguelli & Barata, Martha & La Rovere, Emílio Lebre, 2008. "Analysis of the sustainability of using wastes in the Brazilian power industry," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 883-890, April.
    19. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    20. Todorov, Vladislav & Marinova, Dora, 2011. "Modelling sustainability," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 81(7), pages 1397-1408.
    21. Feng, Kuishuang & Hubacek, Klaus & Siu, Yim Ling & Li, Xin, 2014. "The energy and water nexus in Chinese electricity production: A hybrid life cycle analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 342-355.
    22. Wang, H. & Zhou, P. & Zhou, D.Q., 2013. "Scenario-based energy efficiency and productivity in China: A non-radial directional distance function analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 795-803.
    23. Pereira Jr., Amaro Olimpio & Pereira, André Santos & La Rovere, Emilio Lèbre & Barata, Martha Macedo de Lima & Villar, Sandra de Castro & Pires, Silvia Helena, 2011. "Strategies to promote renewable energy in Brazil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 681-688, January.
    24. Gerdessen, Johanna C. & Pascucci, Stefano, 2013. "Data Envelopment Analysis of sustainability indicators of European agricultural systems at regional level," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 78-90.
    25. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Goto, Mika, 2012. "Environmental assessment by DEA radial measurement: U.S. coal-fired power plants in ISO (Independent System Operator) and RTO (Regional Transmission Organization)," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 663-676.
    26. Lee, Ki-Hoon & Farzipoor Saen, Reza, 2012. "Measuring corporate sustainability management: A data envelopment analysis approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 219-226.
    27. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Wang, H., 2012. "Energy and CO2 emission performance in electricity generation: A non-radial directional distance function approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 221(3), pages 625-635.
    28. Azar, Christian & Holmberg, John & Lindgren, Kristian, 1996. "Socio-ecological indicators for sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 89-112, August.
    29. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    30. Krajnc, Damjan & Glavic, Peter, 2005. "How to compare companies on relevant dimensions of sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 551-563, December.
    31. Tovar, Beatriz & Javier Ramos-Real, Francisco & de Almeida, Edmar Fagundes, 2011. "Firm size and productivity. Evidence from the electricity distribution industry in Brazil," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 826-833, February.
    32. Wade D. Cook & Joe Zhu, 2007. "Data Irregularities And Structural Complexities In Dea," Springer Books, in: Joe Zhu & Wade D. Cook (ed.), Modeling Data Irregularities and Structural Complexities in Data Envelopment Analysis, chapter 0, pages 1-11, Springer.
    33. Duzgun, B. & Komurgoz, G., 2014. "Turkey's energy efficiency assessment: White Certificates Systems and their applicability in Turkey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 465-474.
    34. Chambers, Robert G. & Chung, Yangho & Fare, Rolf, 1996. "Benefit and Distance Functions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 407-419, August.
    35. Wang, Derek & Li, Shanling & Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki, 2014. "DEA environmental assessment on U.S. Industrial sectors: Investment for improvement in operational and environmental performance to attain corporate sustainability," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 254-267.
    36. Seiford, Lawrence M. & Zhu, Joe, 2005. "A response to comments on modeling undesirable factors in efficiency evaluation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(2), pages 579-581, March.
    37. Zhongsheng Hua & Yiwen Bian, 2007. "DEA with Undesirable Factors," Springer Books, in: Joe Zhu & Wade D. Cook (ed.), Modeling Data Irregularities and Structural Complexities in Data Envelopment Analysis, chapter 0, pages 103-121, Springer.
    38. Ness, Barry & Urbel-Piirsalu, Evelin & Anderberg, Stefan & Olsson, Lennart, 2007. "Categorising tools for sustainability assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 498-508, January.
    39. Andrade Silva, Fabiano Ionta & Guerra, Sinclair Mallet Guy, 2009. "Analysis of the energy intensity evolution in the Brazilian industrial sector--1995 to 2005," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(9), pages 2589-2596, December.
    40. Ng, Artie W. & Nathwani, Jatin, 2012. "Sustainability performance disclosures: The case of independent power producers," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 1940-1948.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Ning & Zhao, Yu & Wang, Na, 2022. "Is China's energy policy effective for power plants? Evidence from the 12th Five-Year Plan energy saving targets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    2. Feihua Huang & Yue Du & Debao Hu & Bin Zhang, 2021. "Sustainable Performance Analysis of Power Supply Chain System from the Perspective of Technology and Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, May.
    3. Aly, Ebrahim A. & Managi, Shunsuke, 2018. "Energy infrastructure and their impacts on societies’ capital assets: A hybrid simulation approach to inclusive wealth," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 1-12.
    4. Scalzer, Rodrigo S. & Rodrigues, Adriano & Macedo, Marcelo Álvaro da S. & Wanke, Peter, 2019. "Financial distress in electricity distributors from the perspective of Brazilian regulation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 250-259.
    5. Jintao Lu & Licheng Ren & Siqin Yao & Jiayuan Qiao & Wadim Strielkowski & Justas Streimikis, 2019. "Comparative Review of Corporate Social Responsibility of Energy Utilities and Sustainable Energy Development Trends in the Baltic States," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-21, September.
    6. Elisabete Nogueira & Sofia Gomes & João M. Lopes, 2023. "Triple Bottom Line, Sustainability, and Economic Development: What Binds Them Together? A Bibliometric Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Le Thanh Tiep & Ngo Quang Huan & Tran Thi Thuy Hong, 2021. "Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Sustainable Energy Development in Emerging Economy," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 11(2), pages 172-186.
    8. Siksnelyte, Indre & Zavadskas, Edmundas Kazimieras & Bausys, Romualdas & Streimikiene, Dalia, 2019. "Implementation of EU energy policy priorities in the Baltic Sea Region countries: Sustainability assessment based on neutrosophic MULTIMOORA method," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 90-102.
    9. Ruiyu Dong & Chaofeng Shao & Shuqi Xin & Zhirui Lu, 2023. "A Sustainable Development Evaluation Framework for Chinese Electricity Enterprises Based on SDG and ESG Coupling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-26, June.
    10. Ewa Stawicka, 2021. "Sustainable Business Strategies as an Element Influencing Diffusion on Innovative Solutions in the Field of Renewable Energy Sources," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-13, September.
    11. Wei, Wei & Han, Ying & Abedin, Mohammad Zoynul & Ma, Jingjing & Chai, Shanglei, 2023. "Empirical study on the technical efficiency and total factor productivity of power industry: Evidence from Chinese provinces," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    12. Orazalin, Nurlan & Mahmood, Monowar, 2018. "Economic, environmental, and social performance indicators of sustainability reporting: Evidence from the Russian oil and gas industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 70-79.
    13. Agnieszka Janik & Adam Ryszko & Marek Szafraniec, 2020. "Greenhouse Gases and Circular Economy Issues in Sustainability Reports from the Energy Sector in the European Union," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-36, November.
    14. Petridis, Konstantinos & Ünsal, Mehmet Güray & Dey, Prasanta Kumar & Örkcü, H. Hasan, 2019. "A novel network data envelopment analysis model for performance measurement of Turkish electric distribution companies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 985-998.
    15. Tyrone T. Lin & Hui-Tzu Yen & Shu-Yen Hsu, 2022. "A Synergy Value Analysis of Sustainable Management Projects: Illustrated by the Example of the Aesthetic Medicine Industry," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-16, August.
    16. Ana Zrnic & Dubravka Pekanov & Djula Borozan, 2024. "Assessing the Sustainability Reporting Transparency and Engagement of European Energy Companies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-20, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Yuan, Yan & Goto, Mika, 2017. "A literature study for DEA applied to energy and environment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 104-124.
    2. L sara Fabr cia Rodrigues & Matheus Alves Madeira de Souza & Thamara Paula dos Santos Dias, 2017. "Performance Assessment of Brazilian Power Transmission and Distribution Segments using Data Envelopment Analysis," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 7(3), pages 14-23.
    3. Kao, Chiang, 2020. "Measuring efficiency in a general production possibility set allowing for negative data," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 282(3), pages 980-988.
    4. Pritpal Singh & Gurdeep Singh & G. P. S. Sodhi, 2022. "Data envelopment analysis based optimization for improving net ecosystem carbon and energy budget in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivation: methods and a case study of north-western India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 2079-2119, February.
    5. Shih-Heng Yu, 2019. "Benchmarking and Performance Evaluation Towards the Sustainable Development of Regions in Taiwan: A Minimum Distance-Based Measure with Undesirable Outputs in Additive DEA," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 1323-1348, August.
    6. Chien-Ming Chen & Magali A. Delmas, 2012. "Measuring Eco-Inefficiency: A New Frontier Approach," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 60(5), pages 1064-1079, October.
    7. Lee, Boon L. & Wilson, Clevo & Simshauser, Paul & Majiwa, Eucabeth, 2021. "Deregulation, efficiency and policy determination: An analysis of Australia's electricity distribution sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    8. Yuan, Qianqian & Fang Chin Cheng, Charles & Wang, Jiayu & Zhu, Tian-Tian & Wang, Ke, 2020. "Inclusive and sustainable industrial development in China: An efficiency-based analysis for current status and improving potentials," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    9. Aghayi, Nazila & Maleki, Bentolhoda, 2016. "Efficiency measurement of DMUs with undesirable outputs under uncertainty based on the directional distance function: Application on bank industry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 376-387.
    10. Caitlin O’Loughlin & Léopold Simar & Paul W. Wilson, 2023. "Methodologies for assessing government efficiency," Chapters, in: António Afonso & João Tovar Jalles & Ana Venâncio (ed.), Handbook on Public Sector Efficiency, chapter 4, pages 72-101, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Alessandra Cepparulo & Gilles Mourre, 2020. "How and How Much? The Growth-Friendliness of Public Spending through the Lens," European Economy - Discussion Papers 132, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    12. Zebin Zheng & Wenjun Xiao & Ziye Cheng, 2023. "China’s Green Total Factor Energy Efficiency Assessment Based on Coordinated Reduction in Pollution and Carbon Emission: From the 11th to the 13th Five-Year Plan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-20, April.
    13. Tavana, Madjid & Izadikhah, Mohammad & Toloo, Mehdi & Roostaee, Razieh, 2021. "A new non-radial directional distance model for data envelopment analysis problems with negative and flexible measures," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    14. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Goto, Mika, 2015. "Environmental assessment on coal-fired power plants in U.S. north-east region by DEA non-radial measurement," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 125-139.
    15. Wai‐Peng Wong & Qiang Deng & Ming-Lang Tseng & Loo‐Hay Lee & Chee‐Wooi Hooy, 2014. "A Stochastic Setting To Bank Financial Performance For Refining Efficiency Estimates," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(4), pages 225-245, October.
    16. Ramanathan, Ramakrishnan & Ramanathan, Usha & Bentley, Yongmei, 2018. "The debate on flexibility of environmental regulations, innovation capabilities and financial performance – A novel use of DEA," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 131-138.
    17. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Wang, Derek, 2014. "Radial and non-radial approaches for environmental assessment by Data Envelopment Analysis: Corporate sustainability and effective investment for technology innovation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 537-551.
    18. Widiarto, Indra & Emrouznejad, Ali, 2015. "Social and financial efficiency of Islamic microfinance institutions: A Data Envelopment Analysis application," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-17.
    19. Pereira, Miguel Alves & Camanho, Ana Santos & Marques, Rui Cunha & Figueira, José Rui, 2021. "The convergence of the World Health Organization Member States regarding the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal ‘Good health and well-being’," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    20. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Goto, Mika, 2014. "Environmental assessment for corporate sustainability by resource utilization and technology innovation: DEA radial measurement on Japanese industrial sectors," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 295-307.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:111:y:2017:i:c:p:41-51. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.