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Since the early 2010s, the production of industrial wood pellet for overseas exports has grown considerably in the Southern United States (U.S.). In order to meet the increasing demand for woody biomass feedstock, the wood pellet mills in the U.S. South consume roundwood pulpwood along with low-valued logging residues and sawmill wood wastes. By estimating empirical roundwood pulpwood market models based on the bi-monthly time-series data, this study estimates the impacts of wood pellet production, precipitation, and the COVID-19 Pandemic on the hardwood and softwood pulpwood stumpage prices in 12 southeastern Atlantic coastal micro-markets. Results suggest that the wood pellet industry has led to an increase in pine pulpwood prices, but no statistically significant impact is found on the hardwood pulpwood prices. Rainfall is found to be a positive determinant of the roundwood pulpwood prices. Furthermore, since March 2020, the COVID-19 Pandemic is estimated to lead about 6% decline in both pine and hardwood pulpwood prices. This study provides empirical evidence and additional insights on the timber market dynamics and how small roundwood markets have reacted to the additional wood demand from a growing bioenergy industry in the U.S. South. • The wood pellet industry competes with pulp and paper mills for woody biomass. • The wood pellet industry has led to an increase in pine pulpwood prices. • No significant impact of wood pellets is found on the hardwood pulpwood prices. • The COVID-19 Pandemic has led to decline pulpwood stumpage prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 has become a global pandemic that dramatically impacted human lives and economic activities. Due to the high risk of getting affected in high-density population areas and the implementation of national emergency measures under the COVID-19 pandemic, both travel and transportation among cities become difficult for engineers and equipment. Consequently, the costly physical commissioning of a new manufacturing system is greatly hindered. As an emerging technology, digital twins can achieve semi-physical simulation to avoid the vast cost of physical commissioning of the manufacturing system. Therefore, this paper proposes a digital twins-based remote semi-physical commissioning (DT-RSPC) approach for open architecture flow-type smart manufacturing systems. A digital twin system is developed to enable the remote semi-physical commissioning. The proposed approach is validated through a case study of digital twins-based remote semi-physical commissioning of a smartphone assembly line. The results showed that combining the open architecture design paradigm with the proposed digital twins-based approach makes the commissioning of a new flow-type smart manufacturing system more sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains the evolving role of the local supply chain across different disruption scenarios. A systematic literature review of 91 papers from 33 journals supports definition of the local supply chain and explication of benefits before, during and after COVID-19 disruption. Resilience emerges as the prevalent benefit at each stage, but to varying scales. In the pre-COVID-19 era, where the local supply chain serves as a back-up approach to the more dominant global supply chain, localisation's capacity to absorb change promotes resilience to mitigate low-magnitude disruption. At initial outbreak of COVID-19 disruption the local supply chain was necessitated as an emergency response to the untenability of global operations, demonstrating transformational resilience to survive. As disruption continued, the local supply chain upscaled and adapted to recover. In the post-COVID-19 era, resilience is expected to remain a strategic priority, promoting continued investment in local operations to thrive with embedded resilience. As a result, the COVID-19 pandemic welcomed a point of transition for the local supply chain as capacities and benefits are revaluated and localisation recognised as critical in developing resilient supply networks for the future. This study consolidates this evolution to offer a propositional framework showcasing the local supply chain across different disruption scenarios. This offers long overdue definition and explanation of the local supply chain and its relationship with resilience, addressing an existing lack of academic attention and encouraging alignment of local-versus-global decisions with changing strategic priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed not only attitudes and habits related to health care but also encompassed all other spheres even those related to environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behaviour. All the people spending the majority of their time at home had additional opportunities to change their habits, particularly those related to environmental aspects. Thus, the aim of this paper was to examine the Covid-19 contribution to the changes in the environmental, climate change and pandemic concerns during the period of the second wave and the slowdown of the Covid-19 pandemic before the other crises such as the energy crisis and inflation began. Furthermore, in this paper, the changes in resource-saving and waste-sorting behaviour and its determinants were analysed. The results revealed that during the pandemic the environmental and climate change concern increased significantly, and people also declared that the pandemic has encouraged them to sort waste and save natural resources more. Meanwhile, the concern about the Covid-19 pandemic decreased due to successful vaccination, other management tools for this illness and the emerging of another crisis. After analysing the main factors of changes in resource-saving and waste-sorting behaviour, we found that the changes in environmental concern influenced these behaviours the most. Changes in the Covid-19 pandemic concern also statistically significantly encouraged people to change resource-saving and waste-sorting behaviour. The environmental risk during the Covid-19 pandemic, significantly impacted the changes in resource-saving behaviour only. Meanwhile, the changes in climate change concern insignificantly influenced both pro-environmental behaviours. Therefore, this study reveals that the Covid-19 pandemic has taught people not only to care about the environment more but to carry out pro-environmental behaviour as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive system for assessing contaminant emissions, including the dominant contaminant reduction effects, recessive contaminant reduction effects, and contaminant reduction efficiency indexes. The system is used to evaluate the linkage changes in contaminant emissions reduction across different sectors, the ease of regulation, and the returns on emissions reduction efforts. The study's results demonstrate that firstly, COVID-19 initially reduced contaminant emissions across almost all sectors, although this effect waned over time. Secondly, applying conventional regulatory measures to sectors with high reductions in contaminant emissions may not yield the expected results. Thirdly, while some sectors may be more difficult to regulate, they may offer a higher return on investment in terms of emissions reduction. Based on the above results, the paper advocates for timely measures to consolidate environmental gains, prevent rebounding of contaminant emissions, prioritize supervision and management of easily regulated sectors, prioritize upgrading of cleaner production in sectors with high reduction efficiency indices, and increase investment in environmental technology. • Created a new comprehensive system for assessing contaminant emission changes. • Quantified the unique linkage changes of contaminant emissions during COVID-19. • Developed new models to reveal contaminants' regulatory difficulty and return. • The innovative reduction effects of four key contaminant indicators were measured. • Applied WHEM firstly in research across multiple areas of contaminant emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, vacation tourism presents a new trend of short-term and short-range, and the traditional multi-day light luxury entertainment vacation has gradually transformed into micro-vacation. Micro-vacation tourism is a new tourism type. This paper complements the "cognition-emotion-overall" three-dimensional model of tourist destination image perception, and considers tourists' feelings in the early, middle and late stages of tourism into the overall framework of micro-vacation tourism destination perception, aiming to clarify the relationship between the image perception of micro-vacation destination and tourists' experience intention, and find out the decisive factors that affect tourists' travel intention through the perception of tourism destination image. Taking the tourism market of Lihuayu eco-tourism resort as the research object, this paper analyzes the micro-tourism market and construct a research model with the cognitive image, emotional image and overall image of the micro-vacation destination as intermediary variables. The findings: the influence of image perception and experience intention of micro-tourism destination is complex and multidimensional. The five dimensions of micro-vacation tourism motivation, micro-vacation tourism preference, cognitive image of micro-vacation tourism destination, emotional image of micro-vacation tourism destination and overall image of micro-vacation tourism destination all have direct or indirect influence on consumers' intention to experience micro-vacation. The micro-vacation market is dominated by weekend short-distance self-help travel. The micro-vacation tourists attach importance to the quality of leisure experience and tend to obtain tourism information from new media platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID–19 has disrupted human life considerably since the beginning of 2020. The transport sector is one of the most affected sector due to restrictions imposed to curb COVID–19 pandemic. This paper evaluates the environmental impacts of COVID–19 response scenarios using life cycle assessment approach. Six regions selected for the study are Australia, China, European Union (EU), India, United Kingdom (UK), and United States of America (USA). Data for vehicle population, vehicle kilometers travelled, fleet type, and fuel efficiency were used for 2015–2020. The environmental impacts were calculated for five scenarios; Baseline–2019, Business As Usual (BAU) and COVID–19 Response Scenario (CRS) for 2020 and 2030 namely, 2020–BAU, 2020–CRS, 2030–BAU, and 2030–CRS. The results indicate that COVID–19 occurrence and related response measures did not contribute to significant environment benefits in terms of Global Warming Potential (GWP) and other pollutants in short term and long term. This implies that although immediate reductions in emissions were observed in many studies, the long term effects were minimal due to irregular policies and unmanaged demand. Further, to achieve environment benefits sustained measures should be implemented in long term with proper planning and supporting infrastructure. Although electric vehicle strategies will provide benefits; emphasis on vehicle production and fuel production technologies is also needed to achieve the emission reduction targets. The findings are relevant for policy makers while devising policies to achieve the targets. • Vehicle stock will grow significantly in 2030 for developing countries • China's 2030 transport sector GWP will be highest, 1772 MT CO 2 eq, surpassing USA • Only USA showed reductions for all pollutants in 2030 COVID-19 response scenario • All countries had similar trends for most pollutants at different life cycle stages • COVID–19 occurrence didn't contribute to significant benefits in short & long term [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite several research evaluating the connection between sustainability and the bottom line of firms, the existing research is inconclusive. In addition, most studies focus on multinational firms based in the United States or Europe, while research in the context of emerging economies is scant. This paper endeavours to investigate the strength of the association between Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure scores and the financial performance of 272 Indian firms listed on National Stock Exchange for the period 2015 to 2021 by employing panel data regression techniques. The results indicate that organisations having better ESG performance outperform their industry peers financially and are valued more by the market. Moreover, the data indicates that financial markets for lenders consider ESG disclosure when determining creditworthiness. In accordance with this, businesses can examine their operations and become more aligned with eco-friendly methods. Even though ESG disclosure appears to be associated with improved financial success, this is not the case across all industries and during COVID-19 pandemic. This study is relevant due to the growing significance of sustainability and the role of emerging nations in international commerce. It helps managers prioritize resource allocations to ESG-related activities that may affect financial performance differently across industry sectors, thus adding to the literature on the financial effects of ESG disclosures, particularly industry-specific aspects. This research represents a pioneering effort by assessing the impact of ESG disclosure on the profitability, market value, and cost of financing of Indian firms using both aggregation and disaggregation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A safe and effective medical waste transport network is beneficial to control the COVID-19 pandemic and at least decelerate the spread of novel coronavirus. Seldom studies concentrated on a two-phase COVID-19 medical waste transport in the presence of multi-type vehicle selection, sustainability, and infection probability, which is the focus of this paper. This paper aims to identify the priority of sustainable objectives and observe the impacts of multi-phase and infection probability on the results. Thus, such a problem is formulated as a mixed-integer programming model to minimise total potential infection risks, minimise total environmental risks, and maximise total economic benefits. Then, a hybrid solution strategy is designed, incorporating a lexicographic optimisation approach and a linear weighted sum method. A real-world case study from Chongqing is used to illustrate this methodology. Results indicate that the solution strategy guides a good COVID-19 medical waste transport scheme within 1 min. The priority of sustainable objectives is society, economy, and environment in the first and second phases because the total Gap of case No.35 is 3.20%. A decentralised decision mode is preferred to design a COVID-19 medical waste transport network at the province level. Whatever the infection probability is, infection risk is the most critical concern in the COVID-19 medical waste clean-up activities. Environmental and economic sustainability performance also should be considered when infection probability is more than a certain threshold. • Two-phase COVID-19 medical waste transport with infection probability is studied. • A mixed-integer programming model to optimise sustainability is formulated. • A hybrid solution strategy is designed to solve the proposed multi-objective model. • The priority of sustainable objectives is society, economy, and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper refers to the current energy situation in the European Union (EU) countries with a particular focus on energy produced from renewable energy sources and coal – sources that provide opportunities for balancing the energy of the region. The strengths and weaknesses of coal mining in Poland were also identified, along with its opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis). Innovative and sustainable development based on the Triple Helix Model (THM), as well as the Open innovation (OI) concept and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles were identified as opportunities for its sustainable development. The combination of these solutions should enable sustainable development of the industry, preserving its economic and social importance and reducing its negative impact on the environment. The use of new clean technologies in the operation and combustion of coal should reduce emissions of harmful substances into the environment. Intensive and government-supported cooperation between the scientific and research community and industry should significantly facilitate these processes. Another aspect important for the changes to be introduced is the social factor, for which the current situation represents an opportunity to preserve jobs in the mining industry, but also a challenge for its sustainable development. These seemingly mutually exclusive elements should form the basis of a new opening for Polish and European mining as an innovative industry based on knowledge and preserving the basic principles of ESG. The paper also outlines the most significant challenges facing the Polish mining industry on its way to innovative development. The article provides a new and relevant to the current reality perspective on the Polish mining industry in the context of the entire EU, for which the current geopolitical situation forces the necessity of setting a new direction of development. The geopolitical changes that have recently taken place in the global economy such as the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic and the armed conflict within Ukraine have caused very great turbulence in the energy market. Enthusiasm and uncritical adoption of green concepts in the EU has caused, along with the reduction of gas and coal imports from Russia, turbulence in the energy market. This situation has created a great opportunity for the development of the mining industry in Poland, which has not yet managed, following the example of other EU countries, to extinguish the industry. In order to take advantage of this opportunity and obtain a permanent place in the energy mix in the EU, it is necessary to rapidly develop the mining industry in a sustainable manner based on innovative solutions. [Display omitted] • The role and importance of Polish mining in the new geopolitical situation in the EU have been presented. • Challenges, opportunities and threats to mining on the path to its innovative and sustainable development have been identified. • A model of IO cooperation for sustainable and innovative development of the Polish coal mining industry has been developed. • Relationships between mining industry stakeholders have been identified, taking into account the IO and THM models and ESG principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The covid-19 pandemic has shown how an unpredictable event may affect the sustainability of the entire food supply chain highlighting the need for a sustainable approach to food logistics. While existing literature has focused on production and consumption, little attention has been paid to measuring social sustainability in food transportation. This is a critical gap, as transportation plays a vital role in ensuring the timely and safe delivery of food. This paper proposes a novel approach to measure social sustainability in the context of food logistics within a South European food processing company. The focus is on assessing social procurement practices at the level of logistics suppliers. The methodology developed is based on two levels, seven dimensions, and twenty-one food logistics social sustainability indicators. To validate this, the methodology is adopted to assess the social procurement of five food logistics suppliers (FLS) of a European food company and found significant variations in performance across different dimensions. The results suggest that the dimension in which suppliers perform well are: "characteristics and work welfare", "health of employees", and "human rights implementation and integration". On the other hand, the dimensions that score lowest for all suppliers are "diversity and equal opportunities", "external stakeholder community capital", and "innovation practices". The strength of this methodology lies in its ability to quantify social sustainability in food logistics and its practical implementation within the food logistics company, as well as among its logistics suppliers, in terms of social procurement. The results offer valuable insights and suggestions for the case study food company to improve their consideration of social sustainability aspects in a more comprehensive and effective manner throughout their business operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient distribution and timely vaccine delivery to the masses during any pandemic situation require reliable and efficient vaccine cold chain management (VCCM). Therefore, the present study is an effort to explore the factors of VCCM to develop a sustainable and resilient healthcare delivery system in any health outbreak. The factors of VCCM are scrutinized using Fuzzy-Delphi method and then prioritized adopting Fuzzy-Analytical Hierarchy Process (F-AHP) approach while considering the stakeholders' inputs. Finally, factors are categorized into clusters by implementing a machine learning tool ' k -means clustering' algorithm. The results of the study are further validated by conducting extended robustness tests. The findings of the study highlight the factors, namely, cold chain infrastructure, vaccine storage guidelines and availability of skilled professionals as the most important for VCCM. The ′ k -means clustering' algorithm analysis classifies all the 16 factors into three clusters: continuous process improvement (including eight factors), stakeholders' coordination (five factors) and maximum resource utility (three factors). The study can be significantly useful to VCCM decision-makers to implement the prioritized factors by ensuring the advanced cold chain infrastructure and issuing special storage and distribution guidelines to fight against health outbreaks like COVID-19. This is one of the few papers to discuss the factors of VCCM for developing a sustainable and resilient healthcare delivery system in the context of pandemics and stakeholders can address the factors in different clusters at a time. [Display omitted] • Vaccine cold chain management (VCCM) to develop a resilient healthcare delivery system during health outbreaks. • Prioritization of factors of VCCM using Fuzzy-Analytic Hierarchy Process approach. • Categorization of factors of VCCM by implementing a machine learning tool of K − m e a n s clustering algorithm. • Storage and distribution guidelines to fight against the COVID-19 outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sharing economy platforms hold a promise of more sustainable uses of resources. However, their legitimacy remains "debated" as various ecosystem stakeholders hold different opinions, challenging platform's values and activities. One key contested aspect is their capacity to contribute to sustainability beyond a search for economic performance. Despite these criticisms, sharing economy platforms have managed to grow and spread worldwide. Nevertheless, little is known about how a sudden market crisis affects an online platform characterized by a debated legitimacy. Studying the relationships between Airbnb and its main stakeholders during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, our paper identifies three relational strategies - identity, professionalization, and selection - implemented by the platform to reinforce its legitimacy within its local ecosystem. Based on secondary and primary data analyses, we identify and describe the arbitrations and opportunistic choices made by Airbnb to manage various stakeholder groups, to maintain its legitimacy during the COVID-19 crisis, and their impact on sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a rapidly expanding type of shared mobility, bike sharing is facing severe challenges of bike over-supply and demand fluctuation in many Chinese cities. In this paper, a large-scale method is developed to determine the minimum fleet size under future demand uncertainty, which is applied in a case study with millions of bike sharing trips in Nanjing. The findings show that if future uncertainty is not considered, more than 12% of trip demands may not be satisfied. Nevertheless, the proposed algorithm for minimizing fleet size based on historical trip data is effective in handling future uncertainty. For a bike sharing system, supplying 14.5% of the original fleet could be sufficient to meet 96.8% of trip demands. Meanwhile, the results suggest a unified platform that integrates multiple companies can significantly reduce the total fleet size by 44.6%. Moreover, in view of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, this paper proposes a contact delay policy that maintains a suitable usage interval, which results in increased bike amount requirements. These findings provide useful insights for improving resource efficiency and operational services in shared mobility applications. [Display omitted] • Our method can minimize the fleet size for millions of trips in large size networks. • Our improved algorithm can handle the uncertainty of future trip demands. • Supplying 14.5% of the original fleet can meet 96.8% of dockless bike sharing trips. • A contact delay policy is proposed and tested for the COVID-19 pandemic response. • Integrating multiple companies into a unified platform can reduce fleet size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on marginalised communities and its effects on the provision of public services. Focusing on two coal mining regions in Colombia during the pandemic crisis, and examining Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, we analyze the provision of public services at a local level, identifying both shortcomings and resilience. Findings show that the lack of resilient public services amplified the effects of COVID-19 and its containment measures, exacerbating existing structural inequalities within local marginalised communities. It also reinforced the control exercised by coal mining companies within local economies. However, the substantial lack of public service provision also provided space for the development and strengthening of several resilience strategies among local communities, such as solidarity networks and schemes and the revitalization of local environmental knowledge. The study identifies multiple shortcomings in how the national and local administrations handled the COVID-19 outbreak and highlights the potential of enhancing resilience in public services to support marginalised communities in times of crisis. • COVID-19 affected the delivery of public services at a national and local level in Colombia. • COVID-19 further aggravated living conditions of mining communities in the country. • Multinational companies replaced the government in delivering services to mining communities. • But the crisis gave an incentive to these communities to adopt resilient strategies themselves. • More resilient public services in Colombia are needed to help marginalised communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO 2 emissions are one of the major contributors to global warming. The variety of emission sources and the nature of CO 2 hinders estimating its concentration in real time and therefore to adopt flexible policies that contribute to its control and, ultimately, to reduce its effects. Spain is not exempted from this challenge and CO 2 emissions are published only at the end of the year and as an aggregated value for the whole country, without recognising the existing differences between the regions (the so-called, Autonomous Communities). The recent COVID-19 pandemic is a clear example of the need of accurate and fast estimation methods so that policies can be tailored to the current status and not to a past one. This paper provides a method to estimate monthly emissions of CO 2 for each AACC in Spain based on data that are published monthly by the relevant administrations. The paper discusses the approximations needed in the development of the method, predicts the drop in emissions due to the reduced industrial activity during the pandemic in Spain and provides the estimation of future emissions under three recovery scenarios after the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resource-saving behavior in the recent period is escalating particularly due to the energy and prices crises in all of the European Union (EU). The COVID-19 pandemic not only caused changes in health concerns but also in environmental awareness and behavior. Thus, this paper aims to reveal whether the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the resource-saving behavior, and how this pandemic changed the climate change perception and personal responsibility in the EU countries. Referring to two surveys conducted in all EU countries in 2019 and 2021, the results revealed that the level of climate change perception during this period significantly decreased in all EU. Meanwhile, the level of responsibility placed on the government to solve the climate change problem increased the most. A level of the personal responsibility increased negligibly. Considering resource-saving behaviors, only the lesser usage of disposable items from 2019 to 2021 increased statistically significantly. The results of an analysis of the main determinants of resource-saving behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic period revealed that personal responsibility and the climate change solution's benefit for health positively and significantly determined all the analyzed actions. The climate change perception and climate change solution's benefit for the economy statistically significantly influenced waste reduction, the purchase of efficient appliances, and the usage of pro-environmental transportation mode instead of personal cars. Health benefits instead of the economic benefits statistically significantly contributed to the resource-saving behaviors, except for actions that require more monetary investments. The satisfaction with the COVID-19 pandemic management had an insignificant negative impact on all resource-saving actions. Thus, the tools assigned to manage this pandemic did not motivate people to save natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, when fighting climate change and other global environmental issues is of utmost urgency, the understanding of what drives pro-environmental behaviour has become a hot topic in both academic and practical circles. Some earlier studies unravelled the complexity of the underlying factors of pro-environmental conduct, yet more studies are needed to understand the socio-cultural premises of such behaviour in different countries. The main aim of this paper is to offer a comprehensive analysis of the importance of pro-environmental behaviour drivers across five countries in Europe, namely Greece, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The survey using computer-assisted web interviews (N = 2502) was implemented in July 2020, the first summer of the Covid-19 pandemic. Hierarchical linear models were employed to analyse individuals' behaviour, defined as self-perceived declaration of the willingness to contribute to environmental conservation. The results showed that attitudinal and value-related factors are more significant than demographics. Biospheric values and relationship to nature generally affect pro-environmental behaviour positively. Similarly, the experience of Covid-19 exerted a positive influence. In terms of country-level predictors, greenhouse gas emissions were found to have affected pro-environmental behaviour negatively, while the share of renewable energy sources influenced it positively. The cumulative country Covid-19-related mortality at the time of investigation did not have discernible impact. Based on the results it is suggested that, in order to foster PEB, a stronger emphasis on environmental education and attitudes towards nature should be employed. • The individual and country level factors that explain PEB were analysed using HLM. • Biospheric values and relation to nature have the strongest impact on PEB. • Women are more likely to express higher level of PEB than men. • Covid-19 affected gardening and nature appreciation needs, which benefited PEB. • Country's GDP and cumulative Covid-19 mortality rate have no effect on PEB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution starts from the broad perspective of the global material cycles, analysing the main resource and pollution issues world-wide from the viewpoint of the disturbances to these cycles caused by human activities. The issues are analysed in the light of the currently developing COVID-19 pandemic with the resulting behavioural and business pattern changes. It has been revealed in the analysis of previous reviews that there is a need for a more comprehensive analysis of the resource and environmental impact contributions by industrial and urban processes, as well as product supply chains. The review discusses the recent key developments in the areas of Process Integration and Optimisation, the assessment and reduction of process environmental impacts, waste management and integration, green technologies. That is accompanied by a review of the papers in the current Virtual Special Issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production which is dedicated to the extended articles developed on the basis of the papers presented at the 22nd Conference on Process Integration for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction. The follow-up analysis reveals significant advances in the efficiency and emission cleaning effects of key processes, as well as water/wastewater management and energy storage. The further analysis of the developments identifies several key areas for further research and development – including increases of the safety and robustness of supply networks for products and services, increase of the resources use efficiency of core production and resource conversion processes, as well as the emphasis on improved product and process design for minimising product wastage. • Overview of advances in waste reuse and cleaning, energy storage, renewables. • COVID-19 facilitated increasing the safety and robustness of supply networks. • Resource efficiency increase of core production and resource conversion processes. • Assessment of GHG footprints and suggestions for emissions reduction. • VSI PRES′19 overview considering the impact of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 is the pandemic caused by one of the coronaviruses. This virus was not known before the outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. By January of 2020 it was declared to be a global human health crisis. The deaths and illnesses caused by the virus caused extensive fear and anxiety among people in all societies. The pandemic slowed economic activities nearly to a halt. The challenges of how companies should respond to the disruptions in their supply chains and how they can build more resilient systems, must be systematically addressed. The authors of this paper highlighted essential factors which can help companies to overcome this crisis and other types of crises, by learning from the approaches taken in India, which has a unique and diverse economic system. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique was used to identify the essential factors which can help companies to improve their resilience so they can recover during and after the COVID-19 pandemic era and potentially in other similar complex crises. The results of the AHP evaluation were prioritized by performing a sensitivity analysis to prioritise the essential factors. The "Role of governance" was found to be the most important factor that can be used to help in rebuilding industries and societies and in helping them to become more resilient to future severe shocks. The results of this research were used to develop recommendations for company managers, practitioners and policy-makers. The authors hope that this advice will help India to become a stronger nation with more resilient companies, which are better prepared to anticipate and to respond to future crises. We hope people in other nations will also benefit from the finding presented in this paper. Image 1 • Factors influencing rebuilding resilient industries and societies are proposed. • Focus is on measures to avoid disruption in supply chain in Indian context. • The ranking framework is developed using AHP followed by sensitivity analysis. • Role of governance reported highest rank indicating its importance in post COVID era. • Policy implications are derived to build resilient nation, which can face shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the risk transmissions across the green economy indices of three major regions which include US, Europe and Asia. The econometric analyses are conducted using DCC-GARCH and TVP-VAR connectedness approach to evaluate potential spillover effects within the context of oil and gold. Results indicate that green economy indices of US-Europe exhibit the greatest time-varying correlations among the three pairs during much of 2010–2022 consistent with that of the general equity market. However, co-movements during the COVID-19 pandemic period seem to display a change in pattern for green economy indices. The strength of the co-movements between the US and Europe displayed a declining trend, while that between US and Asia was strengthened, suggesting greater interdependence between these two markets. TVP-VAR connectedness analysis revealed that US and Europe dominate the transmission of the shocks across the years in the green economy, similar to that of the equity markets. However, during the pandemic a pronounced shift occurred in green economies when considering the risk transmissions within the context of commodities: oil and gold. While Asian green economy index was persistently a receiver of risk transmission from oil unlike the other two regions, since pandemic, oil displayed an asymmetric effect and has become the net transmitter of risk in negative returns of the green economies of US and Europe. This may reflect the diversion in environmental policies of the two regions in the recent past, and point to the dominance of energy sector in the green economy. These findings have substantial implications for the development of green economy policies and from an investment perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature reports that COVID-19 outbreak may affect people's risk perceptions, with disturbances ranging from mild negative emotional reactions to overall mental health. At the same time, the pneumonia pandemic reveals all the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of our ecosystem and makes people reflect on traditional ecologically harmful production practices. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to review the existing scientific literature on these variables, through a survey and empirical analysis, in order to present and comment on the effects and mechanisms of influence between them. The results showed that: (1) Increasing farmers'cognition of COVID-19 outbreak could significantly enhance the green production willingness. Specifically, the probability of "Very willing"to participate in green production increased by 29.9% for each unit of increase in cognition. (2) Farmers'cognition of COVID-19 outbreak can significantly enhance the level of risk perception and thus enhance their green production willingness, that is, risk perception is an important transmission medium of this effect. (3)The analysis of inter-generational difference showed that the impact of cognition of COVID-19 outbreak on green production willingness was significant for both the new generation and the old generation. On the basis of this, some policy suggestions are put forward, such as strengthening the propaganda and education of natural ecological environment protection, establishing the propaganda mechanism of green agricultural products market in the later period of epidemic situation, raising farmers'risk perception level through multi-channels and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the risk transmissions across the green economy indices of three major regions which include US, Europe and Asia. The econometric analyses are conducted using DCC-GARCH and TVP-VAR connectedness approach to evaluate potential spillover effects within the context of oil and gold. Results indicate that green economy indices of US-Europe exhibit the greatest time-varying correlations among the three pairs during much of 2010–2022 consistent with that of the general equity market. However, co-movements during the COVID-19 pandemic period seem to display a change in pattern for green economy indices. The strength of the co-movements between the US and Europe displayed a declining trend, while that between US and Asia was strengthened, suggesting greater interdependence between these two markets. TVP-VAR connectedness analysis revealed that US and Europe dominate the transmission of the shocks across the years in the green economy, similar to that of the equity markets. However, during the pandemic a pronounced shift occurred in green economies when considering the risk transmissions within the context of commodities: oil and gold. While Asian green economy index was persistently a receiver of risk transmission from oil unlike the other two regions, since pandemic, oil displayed an asymmetric effect and has become the net transmitter of risk in negative returns of the green economies of US and Europe. This may reflect the diversion in environmental policies of the two regions in the recent past, and point to the dominance of energy sector in the green economy. These findings have substantial implications for the development of green economy policies and from an investment perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chains (SCs) have been exposed to their greatest disruption in recent memory. This unprecedented situation has given rise to the concept of SC survivability, which is based on the need to find a new temporary equilibrium allowing SCs to survive during extreme events. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the conceptualization of SC survivability by providing some basic foundations for this new concept. Our analysis shows that dealing with SC survivability requires a larger scale than those adopted for the analysis of SC resilience. To solve this issue, we propose a new framework called "Human Needs Supply chains". This framework shows the interdependencies between SCs, society, and the environment and enables a shift from the classical SC's product-profit view to a holistic view centred on the satisfaction of basic human needs. Another contribution of this research is to highlight the links between SC survivability, SC resilience, and SC sustainability. We show that the classical resilience capacities (i.e., absorptive, adaptive, and restorative) are not enough to deal with extraordinary and long-term disruptions such as COVID-19, and we propose an adaptation of the SC resilience concept to integrate a survivability capacity. Building resilience with a survivability capacity will allow SCs to stay alive in a temporary non-viable equilibrium of sustainability during a large disruption and to recover to a viable equilibrium at the end of the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of China's ban on plastic waste, the Basel Convention (Amendment) and the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic have brought new possibilities and challenges to the development of global plastics trading patterns. The spatial and temporal evolution of the Global Plastic Waste Trade Network (GPWTN), the prediction of the trade "sources" and "sinks" of the dominated countries in the future have not been well studied. In this paper, GPWTN is established based on the global import and export data of waste plastic from 2000 to 2020, using complex networks, regression analysis, and link prediction methods, further to be predicted the trends of trade structure and the global pattern by 2030. The results show that GWPTN is a heterogeneous network. The GPWTN trade pattern has gone through several stages: from regional agglomeration to global dispersion, then to form the largest trade community among Southeast Asia-Europe-USA, and finally to trade differentiation. There is a change in the structure and center of GPWTN: flows have shifted from a "single one-way" to a "coexistence" of one-way trade and two-way intra-European trade. The structure has evolved a new relatively stable pattern dominated by Europe (Netherlands, Turkey, etc.) and Asia. In 2030, Germany will become an important hub for the European plastic waste trade, and its position in Europe is equivalent to China's once in global trade. The Bahamas, Nicaragua, Colombia, Honduras, Nigeria, Zambia, South Africa, Uganda, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, etc., might become the primary sinks for plastic waste by 2025, steadily playing an important role in global trade. [Display omitted] • The spatial and temporal evolution of GPWTN from 2000 to 2020 are analyzed. • Dominant countries in heterogeneous networks are predicted for 2000–2030. • Bahamas, Nicaragua, Colombia, etc. might become the primary trade sinks in 2025. • Germany will become an important hub for Europe's plastic waste trade in 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of collecting and transporting hazardous medical waste poses a potential threat to the environment and public safety. Furthermore, the waste management system faces higher transportation costs due to the increasing human activities related to rapid population growth. The absence of an efficient and safe logistics network for the timely collection and transportation of hazardous wastes may have negative effects on the environment and public health. Therefore, more sustainable transportation of hazardous waste services is a necessity This paper attempts to design a sustainable network for hazardous medical waste collection services during the COVID-19 pandemic. An electric medical waste collection vehicle routing problem is introduced to construct optimal routes and rosters for a fleet of electric vehicles as well as cover their choice of charging technologies, times and locations. This problem allows us to minimize the health risk of hazardous medical waste while providing cost-effective, zero-emission waste management logistics. Therefore, this problem covers environmental and economic objectives to achieve sustainable development. An effective heuristic that covers adaptive large neighbourhood search and a local search is designed to deal with the complex problem. A series of extensive computational experiments is carried out using real-life benchmark instances to assess the performance of the algorithm. A sensitivity analysis is also conducted to investigate the effect of multiple charger types on the cost and risk objectives. The experiment results indicate that mixed-use of different charger types can reduce the total energy cost and transport risk compared to the case of using only a single charger. [Display omitted] • Proposing a new model for the hazardous waste collection problem. • Minimizing total energy cost and transfer risk of hazardous waste in Covid-19. • An adaptive large neighbourhood search is developed as a solution procedure. • Extensive analysis on real-life data are conducted to provide several insights. • Investigating the impact of mixing charger types on the objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns led to a sharp drop in socio-economic activities in China in 2020, including reductions in fossil fuel use, industry productions, and traffic volumes. China's economy suffered a serious negative effect from COVID-19. However, there is a "positive effect" on CO 2 emissions reduction. Here, for the first time, this paper constructs a new model named "Weighted Multi-regional Hypothetical Extraction Method (WMHEM)" based on a multiregional input-output model. It not only solves the problems of traditional HEM methods such as improper use of assumptions, excessive reliance on industry intermediate input, but also accurately reflects the impact of external shocks on the inter-industry linkages. By using the monthly economic data of each provinces in China during COVID-19 (except Hong Kong，Macao and Taiwan) an the latest Multi-regional input-output tables, the "economic negative effect" and "CO 2 emission positive effect" under COVID-19 in China are measured. Results show that COVID-19 lockdown was estimated to have reduced China's CO 2 emissions substantially between January and March in 2020, with the largest reductions in February. With the spread of coronavirus controlled, China's CO 2 emissions rebounded in April. In addition, key emission reduction sectors and key development encouraged sectors are selected by combining "economic negative effect" and "CO 2 emission positive effect" during COVID-19. Therefore, policies recommendations are put forward based on forward and backward linkages respectively which are from two ends of the supply chain to turn pandemic-related CO 2 emissions declines into firm climate action. • COVID-19 has negative effects on economy, but positive effects on CO 2 emissions. • A new model is used to measure economic and CO 2 emission effects during COVID-19. • Hubei had the biggest economic and CO 2 emission effects on China due to COVID-19. • Economic and CO 2 emission effects of COVID-19 are combined to select key sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether or not Italian Certified B Corps® in the fashion industry achieved levels of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance that are comparable to listed companies in the same industry during the Covid-19 pandemic. After a review of the literature concerning B Corps, CSR and the circular economy, as well as some coverage of pandemic impacts, a quantitative approach is used to analyze the data empirically. Based on the data available, the study incorporated the entire population of Italian listed companies and B Corps in the fashion industry. Moreover, this study confirms the relationship between CSR and financial performance. The availability of sustainability documents other than the required social responsibility report does not directly affect a company's profitability, but they are necessary for the long term. The results also confirm the positive relationship between sustainability certification and higher financial performance, as the most sustainable companies were also the most profitable. Certified B Corps® declare their willingness to adopt circular economic principles to the same extent as non-certified listed companies. Moreover, the results show that consumers mainly remember the information disclosed on a company's homepage; therefore, managers should publish more there. However, they should not underestimate the importance of their sustainability report because it is an effective social communication tool, especially in the long term. Finally, obtaining the B Corp certification will allow companies to inform stakeholders of their social responsibility and achieve higher financial results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving the peak of carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions requires a large amount of green and low-carbon investment. Whether the green finance system can efficiently support the capital need for achieving the CO 2 emissions target in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic is a matter of concern. This paper constructs a system dynamics model (SD model) to illustrate the quantitative relationship between the green finance system and CO 2 emissions and introduce the COVID-19 epidemic as a variable to analyze ten simulation scenarios regarding the carbon emissions commitment realization under different green finance and economic growth status. It is shown that: (1) Regardless of the impact of COVID-19, China can meet its commitment by reaching its CO 2 emissions peak in 2030 and realizing a 20% non-fossil energy proportion in 2025; (2) Under the impact of the epidemic, the goal can not be obtained in all energy consumption scenarios when the government expenditure on the environment is low. The target year of reaching CO 2 emissions peak becomes 2033, 2037, and 2040. The results indicate that reducing government expenditure on environment protection makes the CO 2 emissions peak target less likely to be achieved within a given time frame. We also concluded with important policy implications according to the result of the simulations. Overall, this study makes a reference for other economies and researchers to quantitatively predict the interaction relationship between the green finance system and CO 2 emissions in the context of COVID-19, which provides policymakers with insights into a joint power of energy consumption upgrading and green capital guidance. • Providing empirical studies regarding the mechanism of the inhibitory effect of green finance on CO 2 emissions. • Using systems dynamics model to address the missing data problem. • Making solid suggestions under COVID-19 Epidemic. • Building the relationship between the green finance system and CO 2 emissions and making forecasts for "3060" mission result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 pandemic has shown that sustainable development of energy, water and environment systems is essential for the basic life needs of humankind. Logistics problems, shortage of resources and goods, a crisis of traditional energy systems, all these COVID-19 caused problems show that available resources should be used with caution. This paper is an introduction article to the Virtual Special Issue that discusses some of the latest developments in three research topic areas, namely Energy, Water and Environment. These research topics emerged from the four Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems Conferences held in 2020. The purpose of the introduction article is to provide a brief introduction to the field and the articles included in this Journal of Cleaner Production Virtual Special Issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only caused a global health crisis, but it has also had significant environmental and human consequences. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this study focused on emerging challenges in managing healthy personal protective materials (HPPM) in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, using silty sand (SM) soil as an example since it covers large areas in KSA and in the whole world. The main objective of this paper is to find a novel way to minimize pandemic-related waste by using HPPM as waste materials in road construction. For the first time, a series of experiments was conducted on a mixture of different percentages of shredded HPPM (0, 0.5, 1 and 2%) added to the silty sand (SM) soil for road applications, including soil classification according to the USCS, modified compaction, UCS, UPV, and CBR. In addition, a numerical simulation was performed using geotechnical-based software Plaxis 3D to study the performance of the soil-HPPM mix as a subbase layer in the paving structure under heavy traffic loading. The modified compaction test results show that there is an increase in the optimum moisture content with increasing the HPPM contents from 0.5% to 1% and 2%. However, a reduction in the maximum dry density is observed. The values of dry density and water content at 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 2% pf HPPM are 2.045, 1.98, 1.86 and 1.8 g/cm3 and 7.65% 8%, 8.5% and 9.5%, respectively. The soaked CBR values at 0, 0.5, 1 and 2% HPPM are 23, 30, 8, 2% with the maximum value attained with the addition of 0.5% HPPM. The results of UCS were with the same percentages of HPPM 430, 450, 430 and 415 kPa, respectively, with the maximum value attained with 0.5% HPPM addition as well. In contrast, the values of UVP at 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 2% are 978.5, 680.3, 489.4 and 323.6 m/s, respectively, confirming the trends obtained by modified compaction test results. The simulation results confirm this conclusion that the soil-HPPM mix show a superior performance when used as a subbase layer and reduced vertical displacement by a percentage of 11% compared to the normal subbase material. By eliminating HPPM especially facemasks from the landfill lifecycle, incorporating them into high quality construction material production has the potential to deliver significant environmental benefits. [Display omitted] 1 Influence of polypropylene (HPPM) fibres on the performance of sandy soil is clearly studied. 2 The optimum fibres content is obtained as 0.5% volume fraction. 3 Positive improvement is also noticed in unconfined compressive strength and compaction after adding HPPM fibres. 4 Fibres play a major role in crack bridging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, manufacturers are under pressure to manage their activities and resources more efficiently while maximizing profitability. At the same time, they are required to minimize the adverse effects on the environment. Manufacturers are applying lean and green practices as a solution to achieve improved environmental performance. However, with the outbreak of coronavirus, this equation is highly disturbed. This has forced many manufacturers worldwide to consider the resilience of their existing manufacturing practices and realize the importance of including new paradigms based on smart green and lean principles. Nevertheless, there is a lack of literature on the integration of these paradigms and their interrelationships. This paper aims to provide an enlightening compendium on recent evolutions in this field, using a literature review to combine the four paradigms of smart, green, resilient, and lean in the manufacturing domain. The study underlines the emerging gaps and the unexplored areas in this field. Finally, we proposed two research frameworks to guide the practitioners and research scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 virus in a short time has caused a terrible crisis that has been spread around the world. This crisis has affected human life in several dimensions, one of which is a sharp increase in urban waste. This increase in waste volume during the pandemic, in addition to the intense increase in costs associated with the risks of virus contagion through infectious waste. In this study, a hybrid mathematical modelling approach including a Bi-level programming model for infectious waste management has been proposed. At the higher level of the model, government decisions regarding the total costs related to infectious waste must be minimized. At this level, the collected infectious waste is converted into energy, the revenue of which is returned to the system. The lower level relates to the risks of virus contagion through infectious waste, which can be catastrophic if ignored. This study has considered the low, medium, high and very high prevalence scenarios as key parameters for the production of waste. In addition, the uncertainty in citizens' demand for waste collection was also included in the proposed model. The results showed that by energy production from waste during the COVID-19 pandemic, 34% of the total cost of collecting and transporting waste can be compensated. Finally, this paper obtained useful managerial insights using the data of Kermanshah city as a real case. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of 2020, the weak domestic power demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the large-scale advancement of coal power construction projects may have further aggravated the coal power overcapacity in China. Given the new situation, this study collected the data on China's installed electricity capacity and electricity demand during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. Moreover, a reasonable capacity evaluation model of coal power was established based on the energy and electric power balance to analyze China's coal power overcapacity in 2019 and determine the reasonable capacity for 2025. The internal reasons of unreasonable energy structure and regional difference of energy structure are systematically discussed. Results show that the overcapacity in 2019 was approximately 170 GW, and the overcapacity situation in North, Northwest, and South China was particularly serious. The reasonable coal power capacity for 2025 under the basic situation is 950 GW, indicating that if all the coal power units under construction and planning are operated, the overcapacity in 2025 will be 300 GW. Sensitivity and comprehensive scenario analyses show that under different scenarios, the upper and lower limits of the reasonable coal power capacity in 2025 are 1083 and 794 GW, respectively. Finally, this paper proposes relevant policy recommendations to cope with China's serious coal power overcapacity problem. [Display omitted] • Capacity evaluation model of coal power is established. • Quantitative analysis is provided for each regional power grid of China. • The coal power overcapacity of China exceeds 170 GW in 2019. • The overcapacity situation may further deteriorate during the 14th FYP period. • A reasonable scale of coal power is 950–1000 GW at 2025. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic is producing significant economic and social cost globally. As a cure or a treatment is yet unavailable, social distancing is considered the key way to prevent it. Mobility restrictions and confinement measures implemented across the world are considered to help reduce air pollution. However, empirical examination of the link between public mobility changes and air pollution during the COVID-19 period remains unavailable. This paper examines the short and long run impacts of mobility changes on carbon monoxide (CO) emissions by employing three dynamic estimators on a panel of 35 countries covering daily data from 15 February to April 17, 2020 - a period when most countries went into strict lockdowns. Findings show a consistent evidence at the all-countries level and across regions that long-run indoor mobility increases reduce CO emissions, while outdoor mobility increases across places such as transit stations, workplaces, grocery & pharmacies, retail & recreation, and parks drive up emissions. Among the regions studied, Europe excluding the EU and the UK (−8.4%), followed by East Asia and the Pacific (−4.3%), sees a larger emissions reduction from increased indoor mobility. While short-run effects are limited in general, emissions in US-Canada respond to indoor and outdoor mobility changes in both the short (1.1%) and long run (−1.4%). Findings overall indicate that reducing unnecessary outdoor mobility could help in maintaining air quality in the post-pandemic world. [Display omitted] • Longer term lockdowns and mobility restrictions slow down CO emissions globally. • Europe experiences the largest declines in air pollution due to mobility restrictions in the long run. • Emissions decline due to mobility restrictions in the US and Canada in both short and long run. • Curbing people movement through more work-from-home could save the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased clean energy production from household solar panels is a potentially vital component of a sustainable energy transition and decarbonisation that can reduce carbon dioxide emissions from many countries. This paper investigates multiple channels of wealth effects on household solar-panel uptake. There is evidence of impacts of both financial and non-financial assets on solar-panel uptake, but the evidence for financial assets is much more robust. Compared to the highest-asset quartile, proportional solar-panel uptake is three percentage points lower for the second-highest quartile of households based on financial assets, all else equal. This gap grows to six percentage points for households in the lowest quartile for financial assets. The results are robust across many models using probit, logit and linear probability formats. Knowledge of the relative magnitudes of impacts of wealth channels is important for policymakers who are considering supporting solar-panel uptake, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, when efficiency of public spending will be crucial. Our results reveal that means testing for solar policy support should be based on financial-asset thresholds, rather than non-financial assets or income. These are globally important policy lessons in creating a viable climate change adaptation strategy through solar electrification. [Display omitted] • Financial assets are more important than non-financial assets for residential solar uptake. • Two components of financial assets, private pensions and other assets, have similar impacts. • Liabilities also have a positive association with household solar-panel uptake. • In contrast, income is not a significant contributor to residential solar uptake. • Means testing for policy support should be based on financial-asset thresholds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to analyse the way young people perceive the food waste process, as well as the determinants and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the responsible behaviour of young people towards food waste. The research design involves a study on a sample of 375 students from Romanian universities and the development and validation of a model using SEM-PLS. Our findings show that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to more people exhibiting food waste reduction behaviour, an increased awareness for the ethics of food waste among young people, and increased awareness of the environmental consequences of food waste. The limits of the paper refer to non-probability sampling technique and sampling structure that is limited to a single country. The practical implications of the study highlight that this pandemic is a good moment to raise awareness among young people about food waste and we discuss possible strategies on this matter. Our research offers a new perspective on food waste in the conditions of current health crisis, and possible anticipated economic recession, in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 crisis has had a major impact on electricity markets, affecting power plant input and output prices. In this paper Spanish electricity and natural gas prices and international carbon prices are used to calculate the variable margin of natural gas combined cycles (NGCC), i.e. the Clean Spark Spread (CSS). The stochastic behavior of the CSS is modeled using an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) process because of its properties. The expected first semester 2020 CSS results based on the fitted model with daily 2016-2019 data, taking the end of 2019 as a starting point, are compared with the actual figures for the same period. In the first half of 2020 electricity and natural gas prices are significantly lower than expected at the end of 2019, but carbon allowance prices have decreased less in percentage terms. The monthly CSS values in the first half of 2020 are significantly lower than expected for March-May 2020, with the April value being -€4.15/WWh lower figure than the €7.16/MWh expected. This work calculates distributions of daily and monthly CSS values. • The Covid-19 crisis is having a strong effect on energy wholesale markets. • The Clean Spark Spread (CSS) is modelled as an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) process. • Daily and monthly price distributions of expected CSS values are calculated. • The CSS values are lower than expected for March–May 2020. • In April 2020 the mean of actual CSS prices was -€4.15 €/MWh compared to an expected value of €7.16/MWh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, municipal authorities especially in the developing nations are battling to select the best health care waste (HCW) disposal technique for the effective treatment of the medical wastes during and post COVID-19 era. As evaluation of various disposal alternatives of HCW and selection of the best technique requires considering various tangible and intangible criteria, this can be framed as multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. In this paper, we propose an assessment framework for the selection of the best HCW disposal technique based on socio-technical and triple bottom line perspectives. We have identified 10 criteria on which the best HCW disposal techniques to be selected based on extant literature review. Next, we use Fuzzy VIKOR method to evaluate 9 HCW disposal alternatives. The effectiveness of the proposed framework has been demonstrated with a real-life case study in Indian context. To check the robustness of the proposed methodology, we have compared the results obtained with Fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique of Order Preference Similarity to the Ideal Solution). The results help the municipal authorities to establish a methodical approach to choose the best HCW disposal techniques. Our findings indicate that incineration is the best waste disposal technique among the available alternatives. Even if the dataset indicates 'incineration' is the best method, we must not forget about the environmental concerns arising from this method. In COVID time, incineration may be the best method as indicated by the data analysis, but "COVID" should not be an excuse for causing "Environmental Pollution". • Health care waste disposal technique selection is a serious concern during COVID-19. • We propose Fuzzy VIKOR based method for selecting the best disposal technique. • This work has been grounded on Triple Bottom Line and Socio-Technical perspectives. • The proposed framework has been validated with a real-life case study. • The effectiveness of the proposed method has been compared with Fuzzy TOPSIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]