Search

The paper explores the nexus between greenhouse gas, financial development, energy consumption, trade and urbanization in 34 upper middle income countries from Asia, Europe, Africa and America (South and North) by using panel data from 2001 to 2014. Vector error correction model explored different results for different regions such as the causality of greenhouse gas for Europe and America; financial development for Asia; trade openness for Asia, Europe and America; and urbanization for Africa and America. The causality of greenhouse gas emission was bi-directional with urbanization in America and trade in Europe. The bi-directional causality of trade was observed with financial development in Asia and urbanization in Africa. The generalized method of moment and fully modified ordinary least square explored a direct association of per capita greenhouse gas emission with financial development in Europe; energy consumption in all panels, and renewable energy in Africa and America. But, the relationship of per capita emission was reciprocal with financial development in Asia, Africa and America; renewable energy in Europe; trade in Europe, Africa and America; and urbanization in Asia, Europe and America. The relationship of variables changes from region to region and country to country. A country-based reciprocal effect on per capita greenhouse gas was observed for financial development, renewable energy, trade openness and urbanization for different countries. This paper provides an insight to policy makers to re-structure the financial system, energy usage pattern, trade and urbanization in accordance with the cleaning of environment at country and regional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive energy-related carbon emission intensity will lead to deterioration of environmental quality and hinder green economic growth. This paper proposes a novel self-adaptive fractional order grey generalized Verhulst model (SAFGGVM) to predict energy-related carbon emission intensity in China, America, India, Russia, and Japan with nonlinear and complex characteristics effectively. Firstly, self-adaptive fractional order and dynamic background value coefficient are introduced to capture the nonlinear evolutionary trends. Subsequently, the optimal nonlinear parameters are determined using Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm through comprehensive comparison. Furthermore, the flexibility of SAFGGVM is verified by presenting its relevance to existing models. Finally, the validity, applicability, and robustness of SAFGGVM are confirmed by comparing with two machine learning models and four grey prediction models. The empirical results exhibit that the overall precision of SAFGGVM model significantly prevails over the others in five cases, with MAPE values less than 6% in both the simulation and prediction intervals. The out-of-sample forecast results indicate that the energy-related carbon emission intensity of five countries will fall into 5.7024, 1.6030, 7.3668, 8.1633, 2.0399 tons/10,000 USD by 2025, and the decreasing rate of developing countries tends to catch up with, or even exceed, developed countries. Projection results can serve as a reference point for countries to achieve green and sustainable development. • A novel self-adaptive grey generalized Verhulst model is proposed. • Energy-related carbon emission intensity (ECEI) of five countries is predicted. • Optimal nonlinear parameters are determined by Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm. • The novel model is superior to other competing models in accuracy and roubutness. • Decline rate of ECEI in developing countries will catch up with developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition to sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is hindered by low demand for environmentally-benign industrial development strategies, and a limited supply of professionals to enact such strategies. The “Pathways to Cleaner Production in the Americas” project was a multinational effort aimed at facilitating the transition to sustainability in the region by addressing both of these concerns. The project incorporated multidisciplinary education in business, engineering, and the environment that enhanced sustainability awareness, technical competence and innovative skills of industry professionals, while exposing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to cleaner production (CP) opportunities. In an alliance of nine universities in eight countries, project partners trained 648 university students to assess CP opportunities, while directly benefiting 136 MSMEs. The project developed a unique industry-academic partnership model for experiential learning. Faculty members collaborated with CP industry experts in their respective countries to prepare their students to conduct energy, process and material audits, and develop recommendations for improving financial and environmental performance. The project's CP experts supervised student interns and provided follow-up assistance to the MSMEs to implement the prioritized recommendations. The universities also hosted workshops for industry participants to learn best practices developed through the project and strategies to implement those in their enterprises. In this paper, we share the most valuable lessons from this model, which can be more widely adopted to facilitate industry-academic engagement in the transition to sustainability in LAC and other parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plastic is an incredibly versatile and useful material, however with only a fraction of this material being collected for recycling, it thus creates a serious environmental issue. Much of the research on plastics that contributes to a circular economy emphasises end of life, whereas solutions may be present earlier in the supply chain. There is a need for an evidence-based framework that describes circular economy interventions that can occur throughout the plastics supply chain. This research is, to the best of the authors knowledge, the most comprehensive review of plastics focussed circular economy literature covering the previous 21 years and 391 articles. Using a semi-systematic approach, a coding framework was designed to assign articles to one of sixteen circular economy stages across the supply chain. Papers were also coded according to their polymer resin types, first author country and plastic use categories. The resulting coded database was interrogated for publication trends across these categories. Our results show that publications in this field are growing rapidly, with much of the published literature coming from Europe and America. We also noted that most of the articles appeared general in nature, not specifying a particular resin type or plastic use category. This may limit the translation of research into practical, implementable solutions. The data obtained was used to validate a comprehensive framework that describes and quantifies the full breadth of circular economy interventions for the plastics supply chain. This research takes the sixteen circular economy stages our research identified and divides them into six key areas: resources (n = 67, 17%), production (n = 31,8%), use (n = 37, 9%), recycling (n = 100, 26%), waste (n = 49.13%), and system analysis (n = 107, 27%). This shows that by far, there is a focus in the literature on system-based approaches and recycling interventions, constituting 53% of all articles examined. In contrast, early-stage interventions involving production and use appear as relative gaps, collectively making up only 17% of the articles examined. The most important contribution of this research is to develop and validate a conceptual framework for plastics in the circular economy. This framework can be applied to addressing and conceptualising a circular economy for plastics in research, industry and policy settings, thus serving to catalyse this transition. [Display omitted] • An evidence-based framework is presented for plastics in the circular economy. • This describes 16 circular economy stages across the plastic supply chain. • Trends across time, country, stage, resin type and use category were evaluated. • A full state of research is presented (21 years), and knowledge gaps identified. • The framework is a practical tool for the transition to a plastics circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]