Search

Water, which is predicted to be one of the most critical resources for the near future, also plays a vital role in society's sustainable development. Wastewater treatment is a critical part of the circular water management system and offers various technological alternatives. Taking appropriate decision for the technology selection is, therefore, essential for a long-term perspective. A complex yet imperative process is the sustainable selection of the wastewater treatment process. This paper presents the use of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) in the sustainability assessment of wastewater treatment technologies that may be very relevant to the growing sector with many emerging options. A comparison of six wastewater treatment technologies based on four sustainability parameters using three MCDM techniques, namely FSWARA, FMOORA and FTOPSIS is presented in detail. FSWARA is used for weighting criteria and the other two for technology ranking. The detailed step-by-step comparison study is presented and the results were somewhat predictable for the study, and this confirms the reliability of the methodology. This paper's primary objective is to propose a well-defined increscent practice for making sustainable wastewater treatment decisions among state-of-the-art technologies. • Sustainability ranking of wastewater treatment technologies using multi-criteria decision making methods. • Combined Fuzzy SWARA-MOORA and fuzzy SWARA-TOPSIS methods. • While weighing the criteria, most significance is given to environmental factors. • Inclusion of both conventional and non-conventional technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depopulation is a major challenge for many rural inland areas, as is the case in a considerable number of rural municipalities in Galicia (north-western Spain). The pandemic had a considerable impact on internal migration in 2020, but it was far from being anywhere near high enough to reverse the ongoing trend of population decline, highlighting the need for further action. Thus, this paper has a twofold objective: firstly, to propose an index of rural sustainable development for the rural Galician municipalities, and secondly, to identify the factors related to it. In so doing, a composite index stemming from the Benefit of the Doubt methodology has been proposed in the first stage, an index built from four-dimension factors– economic, demographic, social, and environmental. The empirical evidence of this index has been compared with three additional ones (namely, common weights, super-efficiency, and geometric mean and logistic normalization models). In the second stage, the relationship between the composite index and a set of exogenous variables that affect rural development has been analyzed, the data confirming that the rates of female immigration and occupancy in the hospitality sector favors sustainable development, whereas the distance from the provincial capital hinders it. This paper paves the way for an assessment of the potentialities of each territory, and the evidence found allows actions to be supported that generate sustainable progress in rural Galician municipalities and that are useful for tackling this complex problem. • A new rural sustainable development index based on four dimensions is proposed. • Strengths and weaknesses for each Galician rural municipality are identified. • Environmental factors constitute a driver of rural development in Galicia. • Social aspects (i.e., health, education, services) stand out as main weaknesses. • Policies to boost social care and attract childbearing-age inhabitants are paramount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing pressures of global warming, population growth and epidemic occurrence are causing challenges in meeting the growing requirements for water, energy and food. In particular, the contradiction between the supply and demand for water, food, and energy is exacerbated by inefficient resource utilization and carbon emission increase. Incorporation of the interlinked aspects of water, energy, food and carbon emissions from agricultural systems into one water-food-energy-carbon nexus facilitates integrated resource management. Biochar application to farmland is a potential strategy for carbon management and agricultural productivity improvement. The integration of biochar systems and the water-food-energy-carbon nexus is an efficient and coordinated alternative method for sustainable agricultural management and a crucial strategy for addressing water, energy and food security issues. Accordingly, this paper proposes an approach for the synergistic regulation of water, land, energy, and carbon emissions in a circular agricultural system by balancing water supply and demand, land allocation, electricity consumption, and economic upgrading principles. A two-stage circular agriculture framework is constructed, with biochar and electricity generated from agricultural residues at the first stage and employed at the second stage. Economic-environmental-energy harmonization is considered in the methodology, and the agrotechnical potential of biochar is quantified via crop yield increase and greenhouse gas emission reduction functions. This approach can assist decision makers in providing the best policy options given certain agricultural resources to achieve the maximum economic performance of the system while minimizing environmental side effects. In this paper, the model framework is applied to the Sanjiang Plain in northeastern China to verify the feasibility of the approach. The results indicate that the external electricity demand is reduced by 87.8% due to the generation of biofuels. Cropland greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by 34.09%–67.06% via the application of biochar. This study proposes an optimization method with important implications for the improvement of regional cropland management techniques and development of sustainable circular agriculture. This methodology can be extended to other agriculture-centered regions with limited resources and environmental problems. • Carbon cycle is integrated in agricultural water-food-energy-carbon (AWFEC) nexus. • An AWFEC nexus based model is developed for agricultural resources recycling. • Biochar and electricity are optimized sustainably for circular agriculture. • Analysis of resources recycling on economic-environmental balance is performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapidly increasing demand for electrical energy and the depletion of fossil fuels ignited research in renewable energy generation and management. Thermoelectric generation (TEG) systems as a green energy resource are designed to recover waste heat recovery. Concentrated solar tackles the disadvantages of low power generation efficiency. This paper investigates the feasibility of using machine learning (ML) based MPPT technique, to harvest maximum power of a centralized TEG system under various operating conditions. The environment-dependent issues such as the non-constant distribution of heat, loss to the heat transfer coating between sinks and sources, and mechanical faults create non-uniform current generation and impedance mismatch causing power loss. In this article, we have proposed a feed-forward neural network (FNN) trained by a novel flow direction algorithm (FDA) with a tuned PID controller to harvest the energy under non-uniform temperature gradient conditions. The non-uniformity of physical conditions generates multiple local maxima's (LMs) in electrical characteristics of TEG systems. Common gradient-based MPPT techniques are unlikely to track true GMPP. As a solution to this non-linear problem, novel FNN-FDA is tested under non uniformly distributed temperature (NTUD) over heat source surfaces under varying load and temperature conditions. In this study, certain contributions to the field of TEG systems were made by tackling the issues such as GMPP tracking, low efficiency, and oscillations around GMPP. The results are compared to the particle swarm optimization (PSO), Barnacle mating optimization (BMO), and grey wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm. Five experiments under different weather conditions are performed. Results are validated and proved with experiments and MATLAB/SIMULINK. The experimental results demonstrated that FNN-FDA performs significantly better when compared with other control techniques. • This paper presents Flow Direction Optimization (FDO) algorithm trained using Feed Forward Neural Network (FDA-FNN) based novel intelligent techniques for Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) control of a centralized TEG systems. • FDA-FNN Results are compared against PSO, BMO and GWO based MPPT Techniques. • 99.9% power efficiency and 6% more energy under dynaic operating conditions is achieved. • Varying stochastic temperature, varying load, Nicholas-Zigler trained PID and experimental validation cases are studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive understanding of the impact of renewable/non-renewable energy consumption on ecological quality and economic growth can serve to the sustainability of energy, ecology, and economy. This paper provides a new perspective of the comprehensive system of the 3E model, and introduces indicator of social factor to examine the non-linear effects of urbanization on energy, economy, and the environment. A threshold panel regression model is developed using the data of 120 countries in the last 20 years. In the proposed model, renewable energy and non-renewable energy are explanatory variables, economic growth and ecological footprint are explained variables, and urbanization are threshold variable. Non-linear relationships are concretized and quantified in the research of global and different income groups. The results show that global renewable energy can promote economic growth while improving the environment. As the urbanization rate increases, the negative effect of renewable energy on the ecological footprint first weakens and then increases, and the positive coefficient on the economy maintains a growth trend. Non-renewable energy has a more obvious positive effect on economic growth, but it increases the ecological footprint. The development of urbanization strengthens its promotion of the economy and reduces its pressure on the environment. From the perspective of different income groups, renewable energy does not always suppress the ecological footprint. The energy transition reduces economic growth in the initial stages of urbanization in certain regions. After crossing the threshold, the coefficient changes of different income groups have similarities and differences. Based on the conclusions, some recommendations are put forward, including promoting the transformation of energy consumption structure, improving energy efficiency and accelerating the process of urbanization. The model in this paper is suitable for investigating the nonlinear impact of urbanization on the 3E system through panel data, and can provide theoretical support for studying the threshold effect of a country or economy. This study also shows the importance of renewable energy and the indirect effects of urbanization, which is helpful for formulating global sustainable and coordinated development policies. [Display omitted] • A new perspective of the energy-economy-environment (3E) model is proposed. • Threshold models enable the non-linear relationships to be concretized and quantified. • Global renewable energy improves the environment while promoting economic growth. • Urbanization reduces the pressure on the environment from energy consumption. • Urbanization strengthens the positive effect of energy on economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, countries around the world are increasingly emphasizing the green concept in their foreign investment cooperation. As an important means to guide the green development of China's economy, green credit policy may affect the overseas investment decisions of Chinese enterprises and ultimately affect the investment efficiency. Based on the overseas direct investment data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2019, this paper calculates the overseas investment efficiency at the enterprise level by expanded Richardson model, and further tests the influence of green credit policy on the overseas investment efficiency of Chinese enterprises. The results show that green credit policy can improve the efficiency of enterprises' overseas investment, especially for state-owned enterprises and enterprises in low environmental regulations areas. Therefore, China's financial institutions should strengthen the implementation of green credit policies and formulate differentiated credit schemes for enterprises with different characteristics under the supervision of relevant departments. The results of this paper verify the effectiveness of the green credit policy, which is very important for accelerating the green development of China's overseas investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the restriction of carbon neutral and carbon peak, the development of green building has become the strategic demand of most countries in the world. Despite the rapid development of green building in China, there are still some problems, such as insufficient market development force under the government's leadership, emphasizing design and neglecting operation. In order to realize high-quality synergistic development of green building market, this paper constructs a new synergistic development framework of green building market, establishes a tripartite evolutionary game model including local governments, developers and consumers, uses the analysis tool of evolutionary game theory and synergistic theory to explore the unilateral ESS and the system ESS of green building market. In order to verify the model, this paper adopts a case study method, takes a residential building project in Tianjin, China which has awarded a three-star mark in green building design evaluation as an example for numerical simulation, discusses the influence of government guidance on the system evolution trajectory, demonstrates the interactive process of stakeholders' behavior, and finds out the key factors affecting the system equilibrium strategy. The result shows that (1) the means of government guidance will affect the speed and result of system evolution; (2) the strategy of stakeholders depends on the comparison of costs and benefits; (3) the probability of ideal events is positively correlated with the economic benefits and negatively correlated with incremental cost of green building. This study can provide theoretical guidance for local governments, developers and consumers to make scientific decisions, and provide practical enlightenment for government to play a more active role in green building market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waste, Energy and Transport are three of the main sectors of the human society. The three sectors have substantially been studied in their individual right and there is a plethora of literature available on them individually and also collectively in varying combinations. For instance, Waste to Energy is a well-established field, and so is the energy usage by the transport sector. However, there is an extreme knowledge gap in connection to energy being generated by incinerating waste in order to propel the means of the transport be it in air/aviation, terrestrial/automobile and locomotives or water/marine vessels. The paper focuses on this knowledge gap, thereby, aiming to create theoretical models of this concept. Therefore, the core nature of this study is conceptual. Relevant secondary data is drawn from the existing literature in the form of numbers and graphs to quantitatively establish the state of each of the three sectors before being joined together into a new nexus called Waste to Energy for Transport and abbreviated as WET Nexus. An account of challenges as well as benefits is outlined regarding the possibility of replacing the consumption of fossil fuel by waste-to-energy i.e. a kind of 'on-board' waste incineration to propel maritime vessels and also supply energy to 'on-board' built environments. Thus, killing two birds (transport and waste) with one stone (energy). The paper also touches upon innovative insights and future research potentials in terms of how maritime transport being driven by energy-from-waste instead of fossil fuels, can improve environmental sustainability; help climate emergency agendas and; also contribute to the Climate Action, which is one of the seventeen SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) introduced by the UN (United Nations). [Display omitted] • The exponential rise in global population has correspondingly been increasing the waste generation and energy demand, while the transport sector alone is the second largest energy consumer. • The paper introduces an innovative idea in which the three sectors – Waste (W), Energy (E) and Transport (T) – are conceptually amalgamated and abbreviated as WET Nexus. • The nexus – Waste to Energy for (propelling the) Transport – has potential to contribute to decarbonise the transport sector while reducing waste to landfills and reducing reliance on fossil-fuel energy. • The connection of the innovative nexus with the atmosphere /air, hydrosphere /water, and lithosphere /soil or land, is delineated. • Climate change and sustainability are the cross-cutting themes and the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) by the United Nations are also briefly, theoretically interwoven with the WET Nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing environmental pollution, developing and utilizing low-carbon integrated energy system, making economic development maintain a good momentum of sustainable development, has become hot issues of energy research around the world. The Multi-energy Complementary Distributed Energy System (MCDES), that can not only meet the changing energy supply structure and user demand, but also promote the efficient use of resources in the energy system and low-carbon environmental protection, has become the main direction of future energy development. The energy units in MCDES often have large time scale difference and strong uncertainty, which makes the planning and operation of the system more complex than the traditional energy system. Research on the characteristics of system configuration and operation optimization is one of the key measures to ensure the sustainable development and effective utilization of MCDES. Therefore, from three aspects of low-carbon, life cycle and optimization method, the MCDES life cycle low-carbon optimization method is studied in this paper. By reviewing the low-carbon optimization, life cycle optimization and system optimization methods of MCDES, the main problems in the current research status of MCDES life cycle low carbon optimization are pointed out. On this basis, according to low carbon measures and life cycle coordination theory, a multi-objective collaborative optimization method for MCDES life cycle planning and operation is proposed. The research content of this paper provides theoretical guidance for MCDES design optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fresh food cold supply chains (CSCs) feature high fresh food quality and safety, high energy consumption, and poor economic and environmental sustainability. Sustainable management of fresh food CSCs is critical. However, limited research has addressed the implementation of systematic good practices in sustainable fresh food CSCs in developing countries. Consequently, decision-makers lack empirical evidence to help them understand how companies successfully implement systematic good practices and how those good practices affect sustainability performance. This paper formulates a hybrid analytic hierarchy process-fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (AHP-Fuzzy TOPSIS) decision framework to systematically explore the impact of good practices on the sustainability performance of fresh food CSCs in the context of a developing country such as China. The results of the integrated methodology show that China's CSC industry pays more attention to economic sustainability and that employee training is the most impactful good practice for improving the sustainability performance of fresh food CSCs. • A systematic study of good practice and sustainability performance indicators. • A fresh food CSC sustainability performance assessment framework applied in China. • Order of importance of sustainability performance assessment indicators. • Ranking of good practices to improve fresh food CSC sustainability performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions (CE) have a profound impact on the natural environment of the surface, and the ecologic environment quality (EEQ) affects the conversion and absorption of CE. CE and EEQ have an interaction and mutual influence relationship. The connection between them includes not only local interactions but also the long-range distance of external systems. It is critical to measure CE and EEQ and coordinate their association in order to increase the effectiveness of CE and EEQ collaborative governance. However, the traditional remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) model ignores the importance of air quality. Furthermore, there is limited current research on the local and telecoupling relationship between CE and the EEQ. To fill these research gaps, this paper first used night light data to dynamically monitor CE. Then we proposed an upgraded RSEI model (RSEInew) to assess EEQ. Finally, the local and telecoupling coordination degree (LTCCD) model was suggested to further investigate their relationship in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from 2000 to 2019. The results showed that: (1) Total CE in the YREB increased from 837.5738 million tons to 4757.3794 million tons between 2000 and 2019 but has not yet reached its peak. Jiangsu and Zhejiang are at the forefront in terms of CE and have huge emission reduction potential. (2) The YREB's overall EEQ has deteriorated over the last 20 years. The average RSEInew value ranged between 0.52 and 0.71, with "medium" and "good" EEQ levels dominating. (3) The LTCCD of CE and EEQ in the YREB has increased year by year. This study can deliver a reference for decision-makers to synergistically formulate carbon emission reduction plans and environmental protection schemes. • Ecologic environment quality should combine regional characteristics, our RSEInew model could evaluate it with introduces PM2.5. • Carbon emissions and the ecologic environment quality interact with each other, with near- and long-range interactions. • The LTCCD model enable to analysis the local and telecoupling relationships of CE and EEQ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing water-use efficiency across all sectors has been set as a key target for sustainable water management within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Agriculture stands out as a key sector where opportunities for sustainable transformation arise, due to its dominant position in water use. The aim of this study is to propose a risk- and robustness-based multi-objective decision support model (RARB-MODSM) tool to help explore water-efficient agricultural development schemes and to enable inclusion of their associated environmental impacts into a stringent assessment of the risks. This tool allows for integration of economic growth and water use objectives with stringent pollution control requirements to help gain insights into the trade-offs between resource efficiency and environmental impact. This paper provides a case study of the application of this decision support tool in a prefectural-level city in China as an example of demonstrating how the tool could help reduce the water usage from the agricultural sector while enabling a higher economic productivity. The results show that expanding agricultural production in two regions of the city may help promote efficiency-oriented water management and improve the entire agricultural system's economic productivity. The results also indicate that this agricultural system is more sensitive to the control over phosphorus discharge and imposing more stringent total phosphorus (TP) control requirements within local agricultural system may help achieve better results on the system-wide pollution control. Overall, this tool demonstrates the applicability of using the systems analysis approach to help navigate the agricultural transition toward a water-efficient and low-impact growth path. [Display omitted] • This study proposes a novel decision support model tool to help reshape urban agricultural systems toward water efficiency. • This tool allows for integration of economic growth and water use objectives with stringent pollution control requirements. • This tool enables decision makers to gain insights into the trade-offs between resource efficiency and environmental impact. • This tool helps to explore viable paths forward for economic restructuring in urban agricultural systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether financial agglomeration is conducive to eco-efficiency is of great importance for countries to better pursue cleaner production, low carbon emission reduction, and sustainable development paths. This paper focuses on 38 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) members. Based on the scientific accounting of green eco-efficiency by the super-efficiency slack-based measure (SBM) model, the relationship between financial agglomeration and eco-efficiency is thoroughly investigated by combining the spatial Durbin model (SDM), the mediating effects model, and the panel threshold regression (PTR) model, bridging the knowledge gap. Empirical results reveal that (1) Financial agglomeration has strong positive externalities for eco-efficiency in the home country and its neighbors, with the trickle-down effect playing a key role. (2) Financial agglomeration can indirectly promote cleaner production and eco-efficiency by strengthening technological innovation and upgrading industrial structure, with the latter being more strongly mediated. (3) The effect of financial agglomeration in enhancing eco-efficiency has clear stage differences. The low-level financial agglomeration will impede the improvement of green eco-efficiency while the high-level will support it, which is in line with the Environmental Kuznets Curve theory and the law of economic development. The research broadens the theoretical underpinnings of financial agglomeration and eco-efficiency and provides guidance and implications for OECD members and other emerging economies on how to optimize the spatial allocation of financial resources, promote eco-efficiency, and advance green sustainable development. [Display omitted] • The eco-efficiency of 38 OECD members was estimated. • The impact of financial agglomeration on eco-efficiency was examined quantitatively. • The spatial Durbin model considering potential spatial spillover effects was employed. • Technology innovation, industrial upgrading, and urbanization may affect eco-efficiency. • Financial agglomeration can greatly boost eco-efficiency, but the relation is non-linear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Military expenditures in the Asia-Pacific region have grown rapidly in tandem with economic growth over the past few decades. The military sector's impact on environmental change has not been given enough attention. Renewable energy utilization in the Asia-Pacific region also has increased significantly. This paper examines the relationship between militarization, economic growth, renewable energy utilization, and environmental change in the 15 countries participating in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation (RCEP) agreement using data that covers 1990–2018. The panel cointegration and cross section autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) models are used to examine the long- and short-term relationships among variables. The empirical results show that economic growth and rising levels of militarization have a positive impact on a country's ecological footprint. The increase in military capital intensity has aggravated the environmental harm caused by the military. Improving the utilization rate of renewable energy can alleviate detrimental environmental effects in the long term. This study also puts forward policy recommendations from the policy perspective of sustainable development to reduce the level of regional militarization and improve the utilization of renewable energy. • Militarization is the cause of environmental degradation. • The increase of military capital intensity will aggravate its damage to the environment. • Renewable energy use can ease ecological footprint expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrometallurgy-based recycling processes for spent lithium-ion batteries (LIB) can be conducted under mild operating conditions while achieving a high metal recovery rate. However, due to the excessive use of chemicals during operation, issues associated with operating costs and pollution of disposed wastewater hinder large-scale application. The disposed wastewater contains highly concentrated ions that can be reutilized via electro-electrodialysis (EED). In addition, regenerated base can be utilized as a CO 2 absorbent, which produces soda ash that can be directly utilized for metal precipitation in the recycling process. Thus, this paper proposes a novel integrated system of wastewater EED and CO 2 capture for sustainable LIB recycling. This system includes selective metal recovery of cathode material, wastewater EED, and CO 2 capture and utilization. Based on the simulation results, system performance was evaluated considering the regenerated chemical concentration and its impact on the metal recovery rate. The complete regeneration of 2.04 M sulfuric acid and 1.09 M caustic soda solutions could be accomplished from the waste liquid. In recycling capacity of 50,000 ton/year, 0.33 kg of CO 2 could be captured per 1 kg of LCO cathode material, and 99% selective metal extraction could be accomplished during battery recycling using the regenerated chemicals. To clarify economic performance, the levelized cost of recycling was analyzed in different market scenarios for chemicals. The proposed system can accomplish full regeneration of wastewater via EED with a 21.90% lower levelized cost of recycling compared with the conventional system. The results of simulation and economic analysis demonstrate the potential performance of the proposed system in terms of sustainability and economic feasibility in current LIB recycling industry. [Display omitted] • Electro-electrodialysis and CO 2 capture and utilization integrated to recycle LIB. • Full regeneration of 2.04 M sulfuric acid and 1.09 M caustic soda was accomplished. • 0.33 kg/kg LCO of CO 2 was captured and 99% battery recycling was accomplished. • A solution for waste-free recycling of large-scale cathode material is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accountability pressures on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) led by increased demand for transparency have placed considerable emphasis on sustainability reporting (SR) in NGOs as change agents. Yet, literature rarely examined its adoption by the third sector, especially from a developing country context. This research underscores the uptake of SR adoption in NGOs. It unpacks the influence of SR adoption and its challenges in a developing country. The paper draws on analysis of evidence gathered from four case studies and finds that central to the adoption of SR is the need to attract donations rather than the need to demonstrate impact through efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability in the use of donations. Stakeholder pressure, legitimacy, donor dependence, accountability, and media exposure were found to be major drivers of SR. Interestingly, this research reveals that culture, religion, lack of assurance, and unsupportive government policy are among the challenges of SR adoption. This research contributes to theory and practice by developing a framework that contextualises the mechanism of SR adoption and supports policy formulation as well as sustainable development agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) play a crucial role in modern societies due to their substantial contribution to cleaner production, sustainable development, and societal well-being across industrial sectors. However, to prompt the successful deployment of such technologies in diverse societal and market contexts, public acceptance constitutes a crucial requirement. As public knowledge of KETs is often limited, "cognitive shortcuts" – such as attitudes and personal beliefs – play a crucial role in shaping public opinion about enabling technologies. Drawing on the case of nanotechnology, the paper advances that environmental attitudes contribute to shape layman's perceptions about novel enabling technologies. Based on data collected from a survey of Italian citizens, the study investigates the influence of environmental awareness on public perceptions of benefits and risks of nanotechnology. By means of hierarchical regression equations, the study also tests the moderation of public trust in the environmental commitment of societal actors deemed responsible for nanotechnology development – i.e. high-tech companies, governmental agencies and research universities. The results show that environmental awareness positively relates with both perceived benefits and risks of nanotechnology, while the different effects of trust are contingent upon the actor in which trust is put. The contribution of the study point to the role of public trust in shaping perceptions of novel technology: the study's implications for practice thus inform the development of information strategies aimed at supporting the acceptance of KETs among the larger public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a very important role in national production, and provide more than 60% of the employment opportunities for the society. The benign development of small and medium-sized enterprises determines the sustainability of economic operation. In recent years, small and medium-sized enterprises have faced increasing operational pressure. Due to scale limitations, insufficient funds and weak bargaining power, small and medium-sized enterprises are often at a disadvantage when dealing with suppliers. One the one hand, large suppliers rely on the imbalance of bargaining power to increase the transaction costs of small and medium-sized enterprises; On the other hand, small and medium-sized suppliers with poor reputation may use legal loopholes to commit fraud, which may even threaten the survival of small and medium-sized enterprises in severe cases. However, the existing literature focuses more on the situation of large organizations facing complex and diverse suppliers. Therefore, this paper constructed a supplier selection evaluation framework for small and medium-sized enterprises, and proposed an extended PROMETHEE Ⅱ method to achieve sustainable supplier selection process. First, establish a sustainable supplier selection evaluation framework from the three dimensions of product and service capability, cooperation degree and risk factors; Second, combine the PROMETHEE Ⅱ approach with subjective preference parameters and probability language term set (PLTS) to obtain an extended PROMETHEE Ⅱ approach; Last, use the methodology of this paper to implement sustainable supplier selection for a small and medium-sized enterprise (M company) in China. The practical case and sensitivity analysis showed that the evaluation framework and method proposed in this paper were applicable and effective. Actual cases and sensitivity analysis showed that cost, credit and corporate irregularities were the three most important aspects for small and medium-sized enterprises to evaluate supplier performance. [Display omitted] • Small and medium-sized enterprises face complex and diverse suppliers. • Establish a sustainable supplier selection criteria framework. • Improve the PROMETHEE Ⅱ method by combining probabilistic language term sets. • The study provides decision support for the supplier selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) requires appropriate pedagogies that engage learners in transformative learning. These pedagogies include reflective and active learning, involving experiential, collaborative and learner-centred activities. This paper discusses student experiences and perceptions of an interdisciplinary social science ESD course at a UK university that incorporated reflective and active learning by using a 'flipped classroom' (FC) design and innovative assessments. FC creates time in class for reflective and active learning by moving content acquisition to pre-class study. Adoption of the flipped classroom in social sciences is rare and literature on use of FC for ESD is very scarce; hence this paper offers valuable insights into the design of a flipped social science ESD course, and participants' responses. Results of two surveys demonstrate very positive student perceptions of the course, and illustrate several benefits of the FC design. Over 90% of respondents agreed that in-class active learning exercises made the classes more engaging and the material more memorable than usual, offering useful opportunities to put information/learning into practice, with most students expressing strong agreement. In-class mini-lectures were nevertheless also appreciated, as were reflective practices. A large majority of the students considered the workload reasonable. Findings also reveal the importance of incentivising pre-class preparation using graded assessments such as quizzes, which additionally helped students understand/remember content, and gave confidence about contributing in class. It is clear that the active and reflective learning that FC facilitates engages students in ESD. The paper concludes by offering recommendations for successfully implementing this approach. • Discusses an interdisciplinary ESD course that uses a 'flipped classroom' design. • >90% of students said in-class active learning exercises made classes more engaging. • Reflective practices and in-class mini-lectures were also appreciated. • Incentivising pre-class preparation using graded assessments is important. • Flipped class facilitates active and reflective learning that engages students in ESD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable development of port operation management is strongly related to the energy consumption of production at automated container terminals (ACTs). This paper focuses on the production activities at a container yard, which is the primary facility of ACTs. A digital twin-based approach is proposed to optimize the operation of an automatic stacking crane (ASC) handling containers in terms of energy consumption. A virtual container yard that syncs with a physical container yard in the ACT digital twin system for observation and validation is developed. A mathematical model is established to minimize the total energy consumption of completing all tasks. Then, the Q-learning algorithm is adapted to optimize a solution based on the operating data from the ACT digital twin system. Numerical experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach by comparing it with two other solution algorithms, viz., genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). The total energy consumption of two operation strategies (i.e., centralized and decentralized) are also compared using the proposed digital twin-based approach. With digital twin, the operational environment and energy consumption are visualized to support optimization and management of ASCs. Managers and operators can choose an appropriate strategy according to the designated sustainable goal. [Display omitted] • A digital twin-based approach is proposed to study the port operations. • Digital twin and Q-learning are used to observe operation and optimize production. • The total energy consumption of handling containers is minimized. • The proposed approach is superior to 2 well established methods based on case studies. • The centralized and decentralized strategies are analyzed for the sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explain the causal relationship between accelerated depreciation policy (ADP), a worldwide used tax incentive, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. We employ China's ADP as a quasi-natural experiment and use a difference-in-differences (DID) specification to explore the policy effects on CSR performance. Based on the data of China's A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2019, we find that ADP would increase CSR performance by easing corporate financing constraints and improving firm performance. Besides, the policy effects are more pronounced on firms facing stronger market competition and firms with better corporate governance. These results suggest that ADP can be an incentive for CSR engagement and highlight the significance of improving marketization to make tax policies effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basin water ecological compensation is an effective means of coordinating environmental protection and economic development and promoting sustainable development. A reasonable compensation interval (the value range of the compensation standard) is the basis for final pricing. At present, the calculation method of the compensation interval has not been unified in the current research, and it is rarely considered comprehensively from the perspective of both parties of compensation. Based on the perspectives of upstream water resources suppliers and downstream water resources consumers, this paper proposes a water ecological compensation interval accounting method based on emergy analysis theory and water ecological footprint method. From the perspective of the supply side, the remaining ecological economic system services value supplied by the upstream area is taken as the lower limit; from the perspective of the consumer side, the value of ecological economic system services actually occupied by downstream areas is taken as the upper limit. Taking the Qingyi River Basin as an example, the results show that there is a serious ecological deficit in the lower reaches of the Qingyi River Basin, and reasonable compensation needs to be given to the supplier Xinzheng City; the accounting method based on dual perspectives is better than traditional. The method is more precise and greatly shortens the value range of the compensation standard. This study provides a novel and complete ecological compensation interval accounting method, which provides a more accurate and reasonable reference for the determination of ecological compensation standards in the basin, and helps the government to improve and implement the ecological compensation mechanism. • The study proposes a new quantification method of watershed compensation interval. • Different amounts of spillover value from different perspectives. • Lower Qingyi River has a high ecological deficit. • Compensation interval based on dual perspective is more accurate. • Compensation interval difference is mainly affected by downstream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More and more, the finance and the financial sector are used as a means of achieving social goals. Thus, the main financial market participants are required to change their ESG identity and to act no longer only as a seller of sustainable products, but also as sustainable actors themselves. For this purpose, banks and financial institutions are required to complement financial information with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) statements to provide a wider overview of the value creation process. Despite the banking sector being of utmost importance in the promotion of a transition towards sustainable economic development, the analysis of the attributes of their non-financial disclosure (NFD) has achieved little attention from scholars thus far. This paper aims at investigating the relationships between board composition and some textual attributes of NFDs by testing the incremental information vs. impression management approach in the Italian banking sector for the years 2017–2020, after the introduction of Directive (2014)/95/EU. The final sample is composed of 29 Italian banks. A two-step analysis was conducted. In the first stage, a content analysis was performed to assess the textual attributes of the disclosures, and in the second a multivariate regression model with panel data was run. Empirical findings found a significant impact of board composition and textual attributes on conciseness, completeness, positive tone, and the reading difficulty of NFDs. Results from this study contribute to the literature on disclosure strategies and theories by providing additional knowledge on the role of certain characteristics of corporate governance in explaining some textual attributes of NFDs in the financial sector. Managerial implications are related to the (re-)design of some governance features which are more suitable in providing a more transparent and comparable NFD. Policy implications are related to the development of policies and regulations at the international level that combine high-quality sustainability-related information and the governance features of financial institutions. • Board composition impacts textual attributes of the non-financial disclosures (NFDs) of banks. • The participation of women in the board of Italian banks mirrors less complete, readable, and balanced NFDs. • The increase over time of women on the board enhances bank NFD completeness. • Smaller boards of directors are associated with higher completeness of bank NFDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ramie is an important industrial fiber crop with a long history of cultivation. In recent years, there has been a serious decline in the planting and processing of ramie. The current industry stagnation is largely due to the pollution caused by degumming and the low level of competitiveness of ramie textiles. This paper outlines the research advances on green degumming and high-value usage of ramie residues. When compared to traditional chemical degumming, biological degumming technologies consume 50% fewer chemical reagents and cost 78% less to treat wastewater. The oxidative degumming technology produces wastewater with chemical oxygen demand at 17000 mg/L, about 2.6 times that of wastewater by biological methods. Solvent degumming is environmentally friendly, however, the cost of the solvent and inefficient solvent recovery is still a challenge for its industrial application. Phenolic acids and flavonoids in the roots and leaves of ramie have shown good performance in the treatment of hepatitis, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, decorticated stalks, degumming wastewater, and other ramie residues have also exhibited a good application prospect. In conclusion, biological degumming technology and the high-value utilization of ramie residues are anticipated to solve the current difficulties faced by the ramie processing industry. [Display omitted] • Bio-degumming is energy saving and low pollution. • Oxidative degumming is unlikely to be a substitute for traditional chemical degumming. • High solvent cost and the solvent loss limit the application of solvent degumming. • Phenolic acids and flavonoids in leaves have antioxidation & antiproliferation effect. • Adding ramie into diet increase the content of total amino acid in muscles by 6.2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This VSI focuses on what cross-cutting insights might be gained from research to increase the energy/materials circularity and the contribution of eco-innovation, cleaner consumption, and waste management to produce a logical body of knowledge that may lead to increased resilience and a sustainable Planet. The articles' collection shows development trends of sustainable, cleaner production under the Special Issue: A Resilient and Sustainable World. Some selected d papers have been presented and emerged from the 10th and 11th International Workshop on Advances in Cleaner Production (IWACP), held in hybrid mode in Italy (Ferrata and Florence). The contribution of the articles in this Special Issue could be divided into efforts toward sustainable and cleaner production, aiming (i) Eco-innovation for cleaner production and circular economy, (ii) Proper monitoring and identification of cleaner production, circular economy, and eco-innovation, (iii) cleaner production, circular economy and eco-innovation targeting social wellbeing and cleaner environment, (iv) cleaner production, circular economy and eco-innovation targeting emission reduction, and (v) cleaner production, circular economy and eco-innovation targeting improved and optimized production processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon footprint (CF) and inequality reductions were two of the most important sustainable development goals. However, there was a lack of understanding of the latest equality of carbon footprint across regions. Based on the multi-regional input-output table and the China Family Panel Studies survey data of 17 provinces, this paper examined the evolution of carbon footprint and inequality in China. The results showed a stark disparity between regions and a declined inequality in the last few years. Specifically, the CF per capita in northern provinces (Liaoning, Shanxi, Heilongjiang, Shandong and Shaanxi) exceeded the average level in 2017. From 2015 to 2017, the carbon inequality showed a downward trend, with a national CF-Gini coefficient decrease from 0.31 to 0.28. Meanwhile, the gap between CF per capita in urban areas and rural areas was declining, with a growth rate at 18% and 32% from 2015 to 2017, respectively. In addition, CF per capita from various consumption categories indicated that household equipment and daily necessities, residential, transportation and communication were the three most important sources, with a downward trend from 2015 to 2017. This study would provide policymakers with deep insights into policies to achieve just transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies usually use Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reports as a typical way to make their sustainability commitment transparent to stakeholders, without being concerned with making green supply chain management (GSCM) practices transparent. Given that the generic approach of the GRI framework makes it difficult to identify where and how GSCM practices are presented, this paper assumes that these GSCM practices are in the company's GRI reporting but are not transparent. Consequently, how GRI reports can reveal companies' GSCM practices remains underexplored in the literature. Guided by a qualitative approach, this study exploited data from the GRI reports of 30 Brazilian companies to verify the degree of GSCM transparency. Specifically, we use a theoretical structured framework for GSCM practices, consisting of four dimensions and 20 practices distributed among them. Our findings show that the current way of reporting actions to enhance companies' contribution to sustainable development can partially promote GSCM transparency. The findings also indicate which practices could be better documented in GRI reports to increase the visibility of GSCM actions, providing insights for managers and scholars seeking to define strategies to make GSCM more observable (e.g. total quality environmental management, environmental compliance and auditing programs, cooperation with suppliers, and scrap selling). Furthermore, the theoretical linkage between the GRI and GSCM contributes to theory by presenting a novel view of GSCM practices' transparency through the generic GRI guidelines. • GRI reports can reveal companies' GSCM practices and increase the visibility of GSCM actions. • A representative number of GSCM practices can be found within the GRI reports. • Eco-design practices are practices more established. • Practices related to investment recovery are still little explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wine is the main economic resource in the 'Area of Jerez', located in the south of Spain. It is one of the most important wine tourism destinations in the world. However, its sustainable production process, so strongly influenced by climatic conditions, can be clearly affected by the phenomenon of global warming. The ageing process of "Sherry wine" takes place in buildings known as 'Cathedral warehouses', an example of Nearly-Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs). For centuries, they have been used to provide specific ecological conditions for biological ageing without any type of mechanical heating/cooling system. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of climate change on this production model. For this, the annual thermal behavior of a representative winery was monitored during several years. The first energy simulation model of this type of buildings was developed and validated (daily R2 = 99%; hourly R2 = 97%). Finally, the model was simulated by modifying the outdoor climatic conditions (9 years training data sets) for a climate change scenario, applying the 'morphing' method for the transformation of the weather data. The results show that, by the middle of this century, the average outdoor temperature will increase by 2.3 °C (in summer up to 3.6 °C). As a consequence, the temperature in the ageing zone would exceed the comfort limit for 19% of the year, (up to 34% in hot years). For 2080, the prediction is even worse (average value of 27%). As a result, the microorganisms responsible for this unique process could not maintain their activity. This fact will force the sector to face a harsh reconversion through the adoption of new mechanisms and strategies, which endangers the economic sustainability of an entire region dedicated to this practice. Beyond the specific case, the work highlights the need to evaluate the future behavior of NZEBs through simulation. [Display omitted] • Assess the impact of climate change in a Near Zero Energy Building. • "Cathedral warehouses" will lose their usefulness by the middle of this century. • Comfort limits will be exceeded 19% of the year, interrupting biological ageing. • The economic sustainability of an entire region would be endangered. • The need to evaluate the future behavior of Near Zero Energy Building is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon manufacturing is an emerging industrial trend and an important way to achieve sustainable development. As the country with the largest manufacturing scale and carbon dioxide emissions, it is of great practical and theoretical significance to study China's low-carbon manufacturing issues. Based on the ternary analysis perspective of simmelian tie, this paper chooses to identify the influencing factors through the technology-organization-environment research framework, and derives the pathways of low-carbon manufacturing through the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method. The research results show that: (1) Under the low-carbon manufacturing goal, stable industrial chain structure and policy-sensitive are the formation reasons for the simmelian tie. (2) From the perspective of simmelian tie, low-carbon manufacturing will be influenced by the driving role of green technological advances, the supporting role of organizational strategies, and the regulatory role of the policy environment. (3) Manufacturing enterprises' low-carbon pathways are directly related to their industrial chain position. Compared with upstream enterprises, downstream enterprises have more diverse low-carbon manufacturing pathways. (4) Active governmental support can more effectively promote the realization of low-carbon manufacturing than environmental pressure. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystems play a very important role in the sustainable development of remanufacturing. Research has often focused on the sustainability of remanufacturing systems from the aspect of general technological activities, for which there is a lack of an in-depth consideration of ecological services. This may lead to an imbalanced development of ecosystems. This paper proposes a full lifecycle-based sustainability evaluation model for remanufacturing ecosystem services (ESs) from the novel perspective of technology-ecology synergy. Firstly, by analyzing the coupling effect of technical activities and ecological services, a technology-ecology synergy in a lifecycle assessment (TES-LCA) computing model is established to quantify the sustainability of remanufacturing ESs. Secondly, the supply and allocation of ESs considering multiple users are proposed and addressed. Thirdly, regional differences in ESs are investigated. The sustainability of ESs is then analyzed and calculated on a multi-spatial scale. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed model is verified by performing a case analysis of the remanufacturing of a spindle of a machine tool that is to be adopted in two regions. The case study results showed that the air quality control service in both two regions is unsustainable; however, the water supply service is sustainable. The proposed model can provide data support for governmental policy makers and businesses to formulate relevant policies to maintain a balanced development of ecosystems. [Display omitted] • Assess the remanufacturing sustainability from the technology-ecology synergy view. • The multi-user allocation accounting strategy of ecosystem services is established. • The regional difference in ecological services is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The upscaling of farming operations in China has been advancing rapidly in recent years. This trend is likely to increase the use of agricultural machinery inputs, and possibly also the use of chemical pesticides, which is already extremely high. The relationship between farm size and the intensity of chemical pesticide usage is a subject of debate, and little is known about the mechanisms that might underlie this relationship. In this paper, we apply an integrated framework of larger-scale farming, agricultural mechanization and the intensity of chemical pesticide usage to examine and quantify the mediating effect of agricultural mechanization on the relationship between larger-scale farming and the use of chemical pesticides. Results obtained by applying seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) considering two-way fixed-effects and mediation analysis to county-level data for Jiangsu Province (2002–2019) suggest that an increase of 1% in the ratio of scale of farming is related to a total decline of 0.070% in chemical pesticide usage per hectare of land. Mediation analysis subsequently identifies mechanical sowing/transplanting is the only mediating variable, through which an increase of 1% in the ratio of scale of farming reduces the unit consumption of chemical pesticides by 0.017%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green and sustainable development have become one of the core requirements of the wine industry. Due to the needs of cultivation and management, a large number of winter vine pruning (WVP) residues are discarded in the vineyard or directly burned in the open air, and this extensive treatment poses a huge threat to the environment. In this paper, the physicochemical properties, high-value utilization strategies and possible risks in the process of utilization were systematically reviewed. Based on the investigation of WVP biomass in the grape and wine industries around the world, at least 6.73–18.59 Mt (million tons) of WVP biomass is generated worldwide each year, if all WVP is removed by field combustion, many pollutants would be generated globally. In fact, WVP is a huge agricultural resource library, about 90% of WVP consists of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, in addition to them, crude protein, crude fat, minerals and other bioactive compounds. Therefore, if the vineyard waste can be effectively transformed and utilized, and the high-value utilization of WVP can be carried out to replace the traditional extensive treatment, it will not only have good economic benefits, but also contribute to the green and sustainable development of the wine industry. This is undoubtedly an effective means to solve the WVP problem. For example, WVP residues could be reused as raw materials for biofuel, activated carbon, edible fungi breeding and industrial materials. In addition, bioactive compounds can be also extracted from WVP residues. This review pointed out the possible challenges and threats of the high-value utilization of WVP as well, such as how to prune efficiently? How to collect efficiently? How is non-toxic application? How can additional threats to the environment be reduced? The aim of the review is to reduce the threat of grape and wine industry to the environment, and increase the economic benefits of orchard, so as to open new ideas for green and sustainable development of grape and wine industry. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at creating a sustainability governance framework to assess the public transport companies in developing countries. In contrast to previous research studies, governance criteria, namely transparency and accountability, are involved in the sustainability assessment. Eventually, four dimensions of key performance indicators are suggested: economic, environmental, institutional and social. Each of them describes a completely different perspective of sustainable development. A numerical illustration is provided at the end to evaluate three public transport companies from a developed country to give an overview of the framework implementation using simple additive weighting method. • A sustainability governance indicator-based framework for public transport companies is designed. • This framework may promote for a sustainable transport companies particularly in developing countries. • This framework integrates the main pillars of transport sustainability and governance in one model. • Economic, environmental, social and institutional dimensions are involved through a set of up-to-date SMART indicators. • Transparency and accountability, are namely involved in this framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers a prefabricated construction supply chain (PCSC) consisting of a project contractor who shoulders the on-site assembly task and orders prefabs from a prefabricated factory. To mitigate the heavy double handling costs associated with early and late delivery of prefabs, the project contractor requires the right quantity and exact type of prefabs are carried to construction sites according to its assembly schedule. This is known as just-in-time purchasing (JITP). However, JITP may increase the pressure on the prefabricated factory to hold excessive inventory or to compress production time. For these reasons, the prefabricated factory may be reluctant to switch to JITP. To initiate the operation of JITP and establish a win-win outcome, side-payment contracts including a delivery-time dependent subsidy and two constant transfer terms are designed as coordinate schemes. Employing Stackelberg, we explore participants' optimal decisions. The results show that the JITP yields higher profit for PCSC, and the proposed contracts are capable of achieving a win-win coordination. In particular, the constant transfer cost term is relatively equitable to participants, while the constant cost-sharing transfer term outperforms the constant transfer cost term under a high double handling cost. Moreover, the prefabricated factory earns more profit when the double handling cost for early or late delivery is high. Some managerial implications are also obtained and help to strengthen cooperation among participants and promote the sustainable development of the PCSC. • The effect of just-in-time purchasing on double handling costs is investigated by mathematical model. • Information sharing between participants under just-in-time purchasing is considered and quantified. • The different contract combinations are employed to provide participants with various coordination schemes. • Just-in-time purchasing yields higher profits for the prefabricated construction supply chain. • Side-payment contracts can resolve profit conflicts between participants arising from just-in-time purchasing. [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]

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda encourages and establishes initiatives that are important to society. In this sense, it is vital and valuable to adapt these initiatives on a sectoral basis. Therefore, this study aims to handle sustainability issues at ports within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) framework. Two targets were set. The first target is addressing the attention of European ports' sustainability disclosures to SDGs. The second target is to develop a comprehensive framework of port related sustainability initiatives to support the achievement of SDG targets. This paper is based upon a qualitative content analysis study. To consolidate the best practices, European Ports were selected as the research area. First, this study contributes to the extension of the UNSDG and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicator framework with port specific aspects. Therefore, it provides a comprehensive picture of port-related actions linked to each SDG goal. Secondly, it provides evidence of how European ports are aligned with SDGs. The results revealed that the port industry has the potential to contribute mainly to SDGs 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth; 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, 12 Responsible Consumption and Production, 13 Climate Action, and 17 Partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green and sustainable development have become one of the core requirements of the wine industry. Due to the needs of cultivation and management, a large number of winter vine pruning (WVP) residues are discarded in the vineyard or directly burned in the open air, and this extensive treatment poses a huge threat to the environment. In this paper, the physicochemical properties, high-value utilization strategies and possible risks in the process of utilization were systematically reviewed. Based on the investigation of WVP biomass in the grape and wine industries around the world, at least 6.73–18.59 Mt (million tons) of WVP biomass is generated worldwide each year, if all WVP is removed by field combustion, many pollutants would be generated globally. In fact, WVP is a huge agricultural resource library, about 90% of WVP consists of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, in addition to them, crude protein, crude fat, minerals and other bioactive compounds. Therefore, if the vineyard waste can be effectively transformed and utilized, and the high-value utilization of WVP can be carried out to replace the traditional extensive treatment, it will not only have good economic benefits, but also contribute to the green and sustainable development of the wine industry. This is undoubtedly an effective means to solve the WVP problem. For example, WVP residues could be reused as raw materials for biofuel, activated carbon, edible fungi breeding and industrial materials. In addition, bioactive compounds can be also extracted from WVP residues. This review pointed out the possible challenges and threats of the high-value utilization of WVP as well, such as how to prune efficiently? How to collect efficiently? How is non-toxic application? How can additional threats to the environment be reduced? The aim of the review is to reduce the threat of grape and wine industry to the environment, and increase the economic benefits of orchard, so as to open new ideas for green and sustainable development of grape and wine industry. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The upscaling of farming operations in China has been advancing rapidly in recent years. This trend is likely to increase the use of agricultural machinery inputs, and possibly also the use of chemical pesticides, which is already extremely high. The relationship between farm size and the intensity of chemical pesticide usage is a subject of debate, and little is known about the mechanisms that might underlie this relationship. In this paper, we apply an integrated framework of larger-scale farming, agricultural mechanization and the intensity of chemical pesticide usage to examine and quantify the mediating effect of agricultural mechanization on the relationship between larger-scale farming and the use of chemical pesticides. Results obtained by applying seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) considering two-way fixed-effects and mediation analysis to county-level data for Jiangsu Province (2002–2019) suggest that an increase of 1% in the ratio of scale of farming is related to a total decline of 0.070% in chemical pesticide usage per hectare of land. Mediation analysis subsequently identifies mechanical sowing/transplanting is the only mediating variable, through which an increase of 1% in the ratio of scale of farming reduces the unit consumption of chemical pesticides by 0.017%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the challenges in monitoring target 12.3 of United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12) under the SDG 2030 17 significant goals. SDG 12 focuses on ensuring production and consumption patterns are sustainable. Target 12.3 aims to reduce food waste by 50% at the retail and consumption stage and food loss at the production stage, including post-harvest losses, by 2030. With the help of SDG reports, an extensive literature review and expert opinions, 14 challenges were selected and hybrid multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) was applied. The first phase obtained the inter-relationship between the challenges using interpretive structural modeling (ISM). The second phase included quantification and ranking of the challenges using fuzzy AHP methodology. Probable strategies to overcome these challenges in emerging economies are discussed and ranked using the VIKOR methodology in the third phase, as no single approach can combat all the obstacles. This is the first to examine the challenges and possibilities of monitoring UN SDG target 12.3 in emerging economies like India. The results indicate that data availability, education in sustainable consumption and production (SCP) patterns, financing of SDG targets and data use are the main obstacles to monitoring and achieving target 12.3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at creating a sustainability governance framework to assess the public transport companies in developing countries. In contrast to previous research studies, governance criteria, namely transparency and accountability, are involved in the sustainability assessment. Eventually, four dimensions of key performance indicators are suggested: economic, environmental, institutional and social. Each of them describes a completely different perspective of sustainable development. A numerical illustration is provided at the end to evaluate three public transport companies from a developed country to give an overview of the framework implementation using simple additive weighting method. • A sustainability governance indicator-based framework for public transport companies is designed. • This framework may promote for a sustainable transport companies particularly in developing countries. • This framework integrates the main pillars of transport sustainability and governance in one model. • Economic, environmental, social and institutional dimensions are involved through a set of up-to-date SMART indicators. • Transparency and accountability, are namely involved in this framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cleaner production, looking beyond greenhouse gas mitigation, has been stressed as that climate change is not the only issue to worry about. However, the related processes have to be as well sustainable from the technology, economic, and social viewpoints. This editorial introduces the articles' collection and overall development trends of sustainable cleaner production under the Special Issue of Sustainable Cleaner Production through Process Integration, Modelling and Optimisation. All collected papers have been presented and emerged from the 24th conference on Process Integration, Modelling and Optimisation for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction (PRES′21), Brno, Czech Republic, in hybrid mode. The contribution of 32 articles in this Special Issue could be divided into efforts toward sustainable cleaner production by focusing on (i) Process Integration and/or Optimisation, (ii) Sustainability Analyses, and (iii) Modelling of Waste Recovery. This editorial appeals to attention on sustainable cleaner production to cope with new challenges and opportunities under the data- and intelligent-era accompanying with global crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers a prefabricated construction supply chain (PCSC) consisting of a project contractor who shoulders the on-site assembly task and orders prefabs from a prefabricated factory. To mitigate the heavy double handling costs associated with early and late delivery of prefabs, the project contractor requires the right quantity and exact type of prefabs are carried to construction sites according to its assembly schedule. This is known as just-in-time purchasing (JITP). However, JITP may increase the pressure on the prefabricated factory to hold excessive inventory or to compress production time. For these reasons, the prefabricated factory may be reluctant to switch to JITP. To initiate the operation of JITP and establish a win-win outcome, side-payment contracts including a delivery-time dependent subsidy and two constant transfer terms are designed as coordinate schemes. Employing Stackelberg, we explore participants' optimal decisions. The results show that the JITP yields higher profit for PCSC, and the proposed contracts are capable of achieving a win-win coordination. In particular, the constant transfer cost term is relatively equitable to participants, while the constant cost-sharing transfer term outperforms the constant transfer cost term under a high double handling cost. Moreover, the prefabricated factory earns more profit when the double handling cost for early or late delivery is high. Some managerial implications are also obtained and help to strengthen cooperation among participants and promote the sustainable development of the PCSC. • The effect of just-in-time purchasing on double handling costs is investigated by mathematical model. • Information sharing between participants under just-in-time purchasing is considered and quantified. • The different contract combinations are employed to provide participants with various coordination schemes. • Just-in-time purchasing yields higher profits for the prefabricated construction supply chain. • Side-payment contracts can resolve profit conflicts between participants arising from just-in-time purchasing. [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]

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda encourages and establishes initiatives that are important to society. In this sense, it is vital and valuable to adapt these initiatives on a sectoral basis. Therefore, this study aims to handle sustainability issues at ports within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) framework. Two targets were set. The first target is addressing the attention of European ports' sustainability disclosures to SDGs. The second target is to develop a comprehensive framework of port related sustainability initiatives to support the achievement of SDG targets. This paper is based upon a qualitative content analysis study. To consolidate the best practices, European Ports were selected as the research area. First, this study contributes to the extension of the UNSDG and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicator framework with port specific aspects. Therefore, it provides a comprehensive picture of port-related actions linked to each SDG goal. Secondly, it provides evidence of how European ports are aligned with SDGs. The results revealed that the port industry has the potential to contribute mainly to SDGs 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth; 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, 12 Responsible Consumption and Production, 13 Climate Action, and 17 Partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, cleaner production (CP) has attracted more attention from developing countries because of its various advantages. However, due to the lack of management constraints, CP activities often cannot keep efficient for long. To alleviate this problem, we put forward the cleaner production management (CPM) system and applied it in China. Based on our previous research, this paper constructed a comprehensive performance evaluation system to effectively supervise the implementation effect of CPM system. By analysing the flows of material, energy and information, a multi-level index system integrating the CPM requirements and sustainable development needs was established. And the quantification of performance was realized by combining the analytic hierarchy process and grey relational degree operation, which reliability was confirmed by sensitivity analysis. The case study in Chinese steel enterprise showed that after implementing CPM system for three years, the overall performance level increased by about 25%. It has confirmed that the application of CPM mode could obviously promote the sustainable green development of the steel enterprise and provide the directions for carrying out CP plans in the next step, such as strengthening innovation of management system and improving employees' awareness of CP activities. In the context of enterprises seeking sustainable development, CPM system and performance evaluation possess broad application value. [Display omitted] • Quantitative evaluation of a new management system integrating cleaner production. • Case study of the cleaner production management system applied in steel enterprise. • An index system focused on the green sustainable development benefits. • A performance evaluation method combining AHP and grey relational analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coal mine underground reservoir (CMUR) technology effectively solves the problem of "rich coal, poor water and weak ecology" in the mining areas of northwest China. This technology not only makes full use of underground space formed by coal mining, but also protects regional water resources. Water resources carrying capacity (WRCC) is an important indicator for characterizing the sustainable development of regional water resources and ecosystem. With the concept and technical core of " conductivity, storage and use" of CMUR as the entry point, this paper defines the concept of WRCC in the mining area. Based on the fuzzy comprehensive discrimination method, Focusing on stability and sustainability of the ecosystem in the mining area and fully considering geological factors, mining factors, water resource factors, this study constructs an evaluation system for the WRCC of the mining area under the influence of the coal mine underground reservoir based on fuzzy comprehensive discriminant method. Moreover, the evaluation criteria are formulated, and the membership functions and weights of 16 impact factors are derived. The transformation characteristics of WRCC with and without underground reservoir in Shendong mining area from 2009 to 2021 are evaluated CMUR, and the results show that CMUR improves the WRCC of the mining area, and supports the benign development of the regional ecosystem. The results of this study are of reference value and academic significance for the evaluation of WRCC in mining areas and the protection of water resources in ecologically fragile mining areas. [Display omitted] • The CMUR-WRCC evaluation system is constructed based on sustainable development. • The membership functions of influencing factors are established. • The CMUR promoted the benign development of the ecologically fragile mining areas. • The relation between CMUR and WRCC is studied, which remedy the blank in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the potential of crop type adjustment to improve regional food security, ecological security and net economic benefits is significant for agricultural water management, green production and sustainable development in drylands. Previous studies on the optimization of crop type were mostly concentrated within the region, without considering the impact of interregional food trade on the adjustment of regional crop type. It is difficult to give full play to the advantages of crop type optimization in improving regional food security. This paper introduces the virtual water trade theory into the optimization model of crop type. By quantifying the water footprint, carbon footprint, crop calories and net economic benefits of food crops in Northwest China and Central Asia. On the basis of fully considering farmers' planting willingness in Northwest China and food trade with Central Asian, the relative and absolute comparative advantage index is used as the optimization coefficient of the model. The food security and ecological security of the region, the blue water use efficiency, the green water ratio and the net food efficiency of the provinces (districts) in the region were used as objective functions to construct an open-ended crop type optimization model to optimize the crop type in the region. The results showed that the use of the constructed open crop type optimization model to guide regional food crop type adjustment increased the calories and grey water footprint provided by regional crops by 7.5% and −6.6%, respectively. The provinces in the region have seen varying degrees of improvement in the benefits of blue water use and net economic benefits, particularly in Gansu Province, which have increased by 51.0% and 53.5%, respectively. Due to the effect of crop type adjustment on the regional green water footprint and carbon footprint targets is less than satisfactory. On this basis, effective suggested measures to improve the efficiency of crop green water use and reduce the carbon footprint were proposed. In this study, the combination of relevant measures and grain crop type adjustment can give full play to the role of grain crop type adjustment in alleviating regional water resources and ecological pressure, improving food security, ecological security and sustainable grain production. It is expected to ensure global food security and promote green production and sustainable development of crops. [Display omitted] • Construct optimization model of open planting structure under virtual water trade. • Relative, absolute comparative advantage of 12 units and 5 crops was taken as coefficient. • Crop calories, blue water use benefits and grey water increased by 7.5%, 23.4% and −6.6%. • The study promotes regional food security, water use efficiency and marketing power. • Structural adjustment combined with green water use measures, effect is more obvious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioenergy production from agricultural biomass is considered a key opportunity for achieving the sustainable development goals set by various international institutions. This sector must combine efficiency and profitability with environmental protection and territorial integration. For this reason, plants location should consider the natural and anthropic characteristics of the areas where they are supposed to operate. In this paper, a multicriteria analysis is introduced for optimal location of biomass plants in a region of Northern Italy. The study was based on a detailed set of 8 constraints and 15 criteria, and eventually identified 93 potential sites for plant location. The distribution of biomass from the territory to the plants was carried out with the specific Location-Allocation algorithm that allowed considering both the attractiveness of the plants and the maximum acceptable power. This result was compared with the current bioenergy production system: three alternative scenarios were developed, considering existing plants and the natural gas distribution network. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted, to study the consequences of various decision-makers decisions. The results showed the possibility of installing between 90 and 199 plants in the different scenarios, resulting in a biomethane production between 246.8·106 Nm3 and 503.6·106 Nm3. • Potential of agricultural by-products to achieve sustainable development goals. • Use of a multicriteria decision model to determine the optimal location of plants. • Use of network analysis for managing the supply chain of biomass to facilities. • Development of biomethane production to achieve decarbonisation objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the drivers and peaks of CO 2 emissions at the provincial level plays a crucial role in achieving the goals of China's CO 2 emissions peak by 2030. This research combines the spatial-temporal Logarithmic Mean Division Index with scenario analysis to empirically explore the drivers and peaks of CO 2 emissions in 30 provinces in China during 1997 and 2020, considering COVID-19 effects. The results show that the energy structure has replaced the energy intensity as the main factor of emission reduction in 2020. The CO 2 emission driving mechanism at the provincial level is different from that at the country level. The population restrains the CO 2 emissions in Heilongjiang, Sichuan, and Guizhou. The energy structure increases CO 2 emissions in Hainan, Ningxia, Shanxi, and Xinjiang. The role of driving factors to CO 2 emissions varies greatly among provinces. The population effect is strong in Shandong, Guangdong, and Henan. The economic effect is significant in Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Tianjin. The energy intensity effect is remarkable in Shanxi, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia. The energy structure effect is profound in Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Henan. Based on our findings, China's CO 2 emissions peak will occur in 2030 and 2025 under baseline and green development scenarios. Many provinces have already reached their peaks, including Chongqing, Yunnan, Beijing, Tianjin, Qinghai, Shanghai, Jilin, Hubei, Heilongjiang, Hebei, Sichuan, Anhui, Guizhou, and Henan. However, Xinjiang and Shanxi will not reach their peaks by 2030. Based on the findings, this paper put forward several policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technology has been gradually integrated into global production division of labor systems as a new key production factor. In the context of promoting green development, digital global value chains (GVCs) may become a new driving force to achieve emission reduction targets. In this paper, the World Input–Output Tables and logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) are used to construct the measurement and decomposition framework of the digital GVC, and the corresponding emission reduction effect and mechanism of action are analyzed. The findings indicate that, first, the change in the proportion of the digital GVC added value in the digital economic added value of various departments is the most important factor influencing changes in digital GVC embeddedness. Second, the emission reduction effect of digital GVCs is significant. Third, the mechanism of the emission reduction effect of the digital GVC lies in the negative population size effect associated with digital GVC embedding being greater than the positive economic growth effect and rebound effect, thus inhibiting the growth of greenhouse emissions. This study provides empirical support for understanding the development and evolutionary characteristics of digital GVCs in individual countries (or regions) and promoting the establishment of corresponding greenhouse gas emission reduction mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]