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Global-level warming largely influences drought dynamics. Therefore, a robust drought projection is critical to support sustainable development under a future warming climate, especially at the regional level (i.e., South Asia). Encouraged by the Paris Agreement, this study investigates the changes in the intensity, area, and duration of future droughts under 1.5 °C, 2.0 °C, 3.0 °C, and 4.0 °C global warming levels over South Asia. In this regard, seven global climate model outputs under seven newly designed climate change scenarios (SSP1-1.9, SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, SSP4-3.4, SSP4-6.0, and SSP5-8.5) from the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) are used. The standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), self-calibrating Palmer drought severity index (scPDSI), and intensity-area-duration (IAD) method are adopted to characterize drought. Drought events are identified considering an area coverage greater than 50,000 km2 for predefined drought durations of 3- (short-term), 6- (medium-term), and 12-month (long-term). A significant drying trend is seen and tested against the two-sample t -test. Notably, to represent the more concrete picture of changes in drought characteristics, the results based on two indices (SPEI and scPDSI) are combined (average) in this paper. The results reveal that droughts with higher-intensity, and long-term duration will increase with continued warming. As drought features, the number of long-term droughts will increase by 21.5% (highest), and the leading area coverage is also estimated (>7%) for long-term drought at higher warming (i.e.4.0 °C) than the reference period (1995–2014). Furthermore, drought events with large-area (>3 × 105 km2) coverage are projected to become more frequent. For drought severity, extreme drought events and associated area coverage are more likely to unfold over the region. However, overall drought conditions are inclined to worsen under higher warming, especially 4.0 °C warming. Importantly, for global warming targets set by the Paris Agreement (1.5 °C and 2.0 °C), drought conditions will be more acute at 2.0 °C than at 1.5 °C. Spatially, a significant drying trend is mainly observed in the western part of South Asia (Southwest-Northwest) according to both drought metrics (SPEI and scPDSI). Notably, NW will experience acute droughts under all warming levels. Droughts in this region will be mainly influenced by the combined effect of decreasing precipitation and escalated evapotranspiration. As global warming increases, a significant increase in PET and temperature is found over South Asia. In addition, the model evaluation shows that the CMIP6-Global climate models (GCMs) are capable of satisfactorily reproducing climate variables and drought events in South Asia. However, our study's findings strongly support the execution of the Paris Agreement target and provide a scientific basis for articulating drought adaptation measures at the regional scale, especially in South Asia. • Intensity-Area-Duration approach is used to analyze future drought over South Asia for 1.5oC - 4.0oC warming. • The modified Penman-Monteith method (considering CO 2) are adopted to estimate PET. • Overall drought conditions will worsen under 4.0oC warming. • The Northwest of South Asia is inclined to be affected by intense drought in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the dual policy targets of carbon emission peaking (CEP) and industrial green transformation (IGT) in China, where a top-down policy implementation is usually adopted, a more integrative planning mode needs to be constructed for greening industrial development. This paper proposes a technical framework to tackle the weakness faced when integrating IGT-associated issues with CEP factors during the development of IGT options, with an application in the Hohhot–Baotou–Ordos–Yulin (HBOY) city cluster. A CEP-IGT model was built to portray the effects of seven selected indicators on industrial carbon emissions, and help develop six options by defining the transformation strengths of HBOY's energy-intensive industrial system. Particularly, the CEP times and volumes were employed as the criteria for evaluating the IGT options. We found that the regional CEP goal will not be accomplished by even 2035 under the business-as-usual scenario. To halt the emission growth trend will rely much on the structural factors of energy mix and industrial output, which were also determinants of the IGT performance. Option 3, representing a moderate level transformation, was the preferred IGT plan, reaching a peak volume of 255.27 MtCO 2 eq·a−1 in 2026. The preferred plan will result in the replacement of at least 14% of the coal used in thermal power by renewable energy, and an increase in industrial coal-use efficiency by 32.02%. Policy measures need to be implemented to cap the total industrial coal consumption to no more than 2494 Mt and sustain an industrial growth by developing lower-energy or carbon-intensive industries. By 2030, the intensity and volume of industrial carbon emissions will reach 1.89 tCO 2 eq·10,000 CNY−1 and 224.85 MtCO 2 eq·a−1, respectively. This CEP-IGT progress will benefit the goal of being carbon neutral. As such, we concluded that this new framework will aid the IGT planning process, not only improving our understanding of the relationships between carbon emission control and industrial updating levels, but also presenting an integrative path for China's city clusters to promote green, low-carbon industrial development. • A technical framework is raised to tackle the weakness of integrating the CEP factors into IGT planning. • The peaking time and volumes of carbon emissions are used as the criteria for determining the preferred plan. • Both industrial updating and carbon emission control rely on the structural factors. • The preferred Option 3 can achieve the peaking goal in 2026 with a moderate transformation strength. • The new framework presents an integrative path to promote the transformation to green, low-carbon industrial growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has incorporated green technology innovation into its national development strategy based on its national conditions and development needs. The emission permit system is a typical environmental regulation, and one of the driving forces of green technology innovation. Research into the pollution discharge permits system is a key for improving environmental regulations. This study seeks to investigate the impact of pollution permits system on green innovation in China. Using econometric methods, we constructed and tested the model of green technology innovation incentives based on the emission permits system, and applied it to several Chinese counties and districts. The results revealed shortcomings in implementation of the emission permits system in various counties and districts. From a governmental perspective, this was due to poor standardization of management processes and insufficiently innovative supervisory methods. On the corporate side, problems included poor auditing of law enforcement plans, poor implementation of the ledger system, and a lack of disclosure of pollution data. We propose comprehensive strategies to address these issues. This paper explores the emission reduction potential of the pollution discharge permits system at the county level, in accordance with the Porter hypothesis, and provides reference data for the formulation and optimization of energy conservation and emission reduction policies. This will promote green development of the chemical and other industries, and green technology innovation in China. • We explore the pollution discharge permits system at the county level. • We construct a model of the impact of pollution discharge permits system. • We put forward some strategies for promoting green technology innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the substantial effort on almost all levels during the last decades, the buildings' renovation rate needs to be at least doubled from the current 1% to meet ambitious energy efficiency goals. In the same way, the energy-intensive material replacement did not reach yet the desired grade in terms of sustainability measures and outlined goals heading to a low-carbon economy. This paper summarizes principles of sustainable development together with the current methodological framework relevant to the civil engineering and construction industry. The main part is devoted to the identification and understanding of principal factors preventing faster adoption of energy efficiency measures. High initial financial costs, investment risk over a long-term period, poor acceptance of sustainable measures, lack of information, and limited methodological framework for a reliable evaluation of environmental projects with the intergeneration context or understanding of externalities of human activities are identified as the main barriers to the sustainable building retrofits. These barriers are closely related each other and can be merged into several groups according to the stakeholders or scientific disciplines to amplify their primary impact. Notwithstanding, solution strategies based on narrow boundary conditions and limited multidisciplinary approach prevent substantial advances towards the sustainable building sector. In this regard, the major obstacles preventing the achievement of energy efficiency goals can be remedied by interdisciplinary cooperation. • Lacking multidisciplinary approach hinders sustainable measures adoption. • Limited public acceptance prevents a stronger political commitment. • Methods of social measures need to be studied for decision support. • Sustainable building industry transition is not a technical issue only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions by emerging multinational enterprises have significant failure rates due to difficulties in gaining legitimacy from local stakeholders. By incorporating the concept of strategic green marketing into marketing innovation via defensive green marketing and assertive green marketing, this study focuses on the green part of marketing innovation in the context of cross-border merger and acquisitions (M&As) by emerging multinational enterprises. This study examines the effects of defensive and assertive green marketing approaches on cross-border M&A completion as well as the boundary conditions of marketing channels of financial advisors. An analysis of 358 cross-border M&As conducted by Chinese firms over 9 years (2007 to 2015) reveals that conducting corporate social responsibility activities as a defensive green marketing approach, developing green patents as an assertive green marketing approach, and hiring financial advisors as a marketing channel can increase cross-border M&A completion rates. The main relationship between assertive green marketing approach and M&A completion is weakened by financial advisors due to the substitute effect between financial advisors and assertive green marketing innovation. This paper provides insights for international business studies by adopting the strategic green marketing perspective and linking the marketing innovation literature to the emerging multinational enterprises internationalization literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As education providers, universities play a pivotal role in developing and delivering quality education that contributes to the achievement of the "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" and the related "Sustainable Development Goals". Given the large impact of the built environment industry on global emissions and climate change, integrating environmental sustainability principles and architectural education is of paramount importance for the achievement of such targets. Through a systematic and comprehensive literature review, this article explores how and to what extent environmental sustainability considerations have been integrated within architecture curricula in tertiary education providers across North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, highlighting common approaches, future directions and areas that still need further development. Over 500 published refereed research outputs were analysed and 111 selected for inclusion and discussion in this article, with attention given to understanding course structures, pedagogy, relationship with design studios, types of assessment, teaching and learning technologies, and engagement of the wider architecture profession across undergraduate and graduate architecture programmes. 68% of the documents use case study methodologies to evaluate the impact of sustainability education, while theory only papers represent 15% of the total. Studies using a combination of theoretical discussions and applicative evidence are the 17% of the total. Among the case studies category, it is to be noted that the work done at course level (26%) almost equals that done at curriculum level (29%), signalling that attention has been paid to both the macro and micro scale. The research shows that more attention in the past was given to the 'what' (content and structure of courses and programmes), while more recent studies focus on the 'how' (pedagogies and implementation processes for teaching and curriculum development purposes). The latest works, on the other hand, start to be more focussed on assessing students' learning and increase active engagement, in an attempt to shape the profile of future graduates and make them ready to produce the substantial market transformation still needed to achieve environmental sustainability goals worldwide. [Display omitted] • The integration of environmental sustainability within architecture curricula. • A systematic and comprehensive literature review is conducted across continents. • Common approaches, areas to develop and future directions are highlighted. • In the past, attention in architecture curricula was given to the what and the how. • Nowadays, more attention is given to assessing students' learning and engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the express industry's environmental efficiency is of practical significance to green and sustainable economic development. The development of internet may help achieve this goal. However, previous studies have not provided a consistent result about the relationship between internet development and the express industry's environmental efficiency. This paper provides a deeper understanding of this relationship by analyzing the threshold effects from the perspectives of road network density, openness to international trade and competition, and e-commerce level. Based on Chinese provincial data from 2012 to 2017, we first use a range directional data envelopment analysis model to evaluate the express industry environmental efficiency. Then, a threshold model is constructed to analyze the threshold effects in the relationship between internet development and environmental efficiency. The results show that: (1) The impact of internet development on the express industry's environmental efficiency shows a single threshold effect as road network density increases, which indicates that internet development significantly improves that environmental efficiency when the road network density is above a threshold value. (2) The impact of internet development on express industry environmental performance shows a dual-threshold effect as the degree of openness increases. (3) There is also a dual-threshold effect in this relationship as the proportion of e-commerce business transactions increases, but this effect is not significant. Based on these results, suggestions are given for the express industry to improve its environmental efficiency in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development goals (SDG) represent one of the pillars of the UN's 2030 agenda aiming to secure a more sustainable future for all nations. The 17 goals comprising the SDG framework form a transformative action plan that is designed to help nations achieve a more sustainable future focusing on their environmental, social, and economic systems. Achieving the goals within the designated timeframe, however, entails overcoming multiple challenges related to policy design, resources management, and harnessing the synergies and trade-offs among the goals themselves. Recognizing the vital role modeling and simulation can play in facilitating the achievement of the SDG, this paper provides a review of the academic literature published between 2015 and 2021 relating to the models developed to tackle SDG related issues. The main purpose of this review is to explore the modeling practices related to SDG and to determine how aligned those modeling practices are with the priorities of sustainability science. We developed a multi-dimension classification scheme to categorize the models retrieved from the literature based on their main characteristics focusing on characteristics such as the modeling approach used, model uncertainty treatment, model temporal and spatial scales, and which science priority the model focuses on. The results of this research show that most of the models focused on studying policy changes needed to achieve the SDG and monitoring the progress of the SDG. The results also highlight missing important characteristics in SDG models such as cross-scale treatment and advanced uncertainty treatment. While this research can be valuable in informing modelers about the gaps need to be filled in SDG modeling and facilitates the communication between modelers and policy makers, it can be further extended by including an evaluation for the modeling approaches used in SDG contexts as well as adding more characteristics to the model categorization scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The societal impact of industrial pollution produced by economic activities is a global concern. This paper presents a causal analytic framework to evaluate the effectiveness of government policy on the reduction of industrial pollutants in 284 Chinese cities between 2005 and 2016. This study reports on the interaction between industrial pollution reduction and the level of regional economic development from four dimensions by using analysis of variance (ANOVA),multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and a bootstrap autoregressive-distributed lag (ARDL) test. The results indicate that city government policies, economic power, the influence of megacities, and the geographical region of the cities have significant effects on industrial pollution, in particular, sulfur dioxide (SO 2) emission reduction and dust reduction. After taking account of the interaction effect of city government policies and the other three factors, it was found that economic power is the only factor to have a significant interaction with city government policies on industrial pollution reduction. The ARDL test found long-term causality among industrial pollution reduction, fixed assets investment, and GDP per-capita in city, urban agglomeration, and regional levels. This study sheds new light on the relationship between regional economic development and the development of sustainable societies. • Causal analytics model to evaluate the effectiveness of city government policy. • Economic power has a significant interaction with city government policy. • Analysis on the effects and interactions of path model. • Cointegration analysis on economic development and pollution reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The future limitation of certain types of minerals due to reduced availability and monopolization of their production requires international legal principles to forecast and respond to international environmental policy. The efficiency and complexity of mineral extraction in terms of environmental, social, governance (ESG) principles is largely determined by the level of professional competence of an extractive company. The level of professional competence of a resource extraction engineer is the equivalent of trust in the company's activities and its ability to comply with ESG principles. The paper proposes for consideration a system for determining the levels of professional competencies of the "Professional Resource Extraction Engineer" based on the "International Standards for Resource Extraction Engineers (ISREE)". Threshold requirements for additional knowledge are expected to be introduced in areas such as ethics, safety, environment and preservation of financial viability. The developed methodology and digital indicators for evaluating the activities of public extractive companies, with consideration to ESG principles and sustainable development goals (SDG), allows increasing transparency and trust in its activities of the local population. • ESG principles should set standards for limiting the use of technology and for the sustainability of the biosphere. • Environmental diplomacy, trust and indigenous participation play a dominant role in resource production. • The expertise of an engineer is determined by a balance between the interests of the investor and the results for society. • Public policy largely determines the cost and benefits of the technologies used in the extractive industry. • Digital targets or the level of state regulation are not used in assessing a company's activities against ESG principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presently, economic sciences share a conviction that creative capital is one of the main factors in economic growth. Both theorists and practitioners agree on the role of creativity as a source of competitive advantage on the micro- and macroeconomic scale. The claim that the greatest socio-economic achievements emerge in those territorial areas where creative capital develops seems justified. Consequently, the study would allow for a demonstration of the fact that contemporary development depends on the proper generation of that capital as well as the regional background supporting its absorption from the perspective of sustainable development. The paper reviews research into the influence of cognitive, theoretical and methodological, as well as empirical issues related to the development of creative capital as well as the determination of relationships regarding which of its subindices determine sustainable development to the greatest extent on the national and regional levels. The theoretical publications analysed provided strong evidence to support claims pertaining to interrelations between creative capital components and sustainable development. Thus, in order to be able to identify the areas of such relationships, the research part of the study involves several stages of analysis, namely: overall creative capital analysis and analysis concerning particular creative capital components, i.e. technology, tolerance, talent and culture, and their relationship with sustainable development at the national as well as regional level. Empirical analysis was performed using analyses of frequency, basic descriptive analyses including the Shapiro-Wilk test, Pearson's r coefficient correlation, regression, Spearman's ρ rank correlation and comparative analysis. Our research results demonstrated that for all regions altogether (the whole of Poland) sustainable development had a strong relationship with three dimensions of creative capital: talent, technology and culture, whereas no such relationship existed with the tolerance subindex. The research results obtained are particularly important to countries such as Poland which are not among the top ten of the world's regions showing significant growth of creative capital or sustainable development. The identification of guidelines which may change this state of affairs and developed studies allowed for the determination of the areas whose functional improvement might allow for more efficient development and meeting global competitive requirements. • Creative capital indexes are critically discussed. • Linkages between creative capital and sustainable development analysed • Intra-dependencies of the creative capital at regional/national level [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compatibility of renewable energy consumption and economic growth is the key to both the development of renewable energy, and to sustainable economic development. This paper explores the influence mechanism of renewable energy and economic growth from the two dimensions of natural resources and institutional environment. Resource dependence and anticorruption regulations are mainly selected as the intermediary variables. The hypothesis is tested by using the panel data (from 2002 to 2018) of 104 selected countries and regions, and by conducting regression estimation. On the whole, this study finds that a positive relationship exists between renewable energy and economic growth. The group discussion results show that, for high-income countries, the relationship between renewable energy and the economy is inconsistent under different thresholds. Where, the role of renewable energy in promoting the economy is significant. For the middle-income group, the relationship between renewable energy and economic growth is not the same in the resource dependence and anticorruption regulation models. However, for the low-income groups, no matter which model is used, a U-shaped relationship emerges between renewable energy and economic growth. [Display omitted] • Examine the relationships between economic and renewable energy for 114 countries. • Resource dependence and corruption regulations are important intermediary factors. • The impact of renewable energy on economic varies across income groups. • The U-shaped relationship is supported in the high income group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep-sea polymetallic nodule mining is expected to start within the next decade. There is currently a pressing need to develop best practices to minimise the potential environmental impacts of this new industry. Project-specific environmental management processes, such as environmental impact assessment (EIA), and the associated environmental management and monitoring plan (EMMP), must be effective to sufficiently mitigate environmental impacts of deep-sea mining (DSM) projects. This paper identifies the key drivers, barriers, and enablers to polymetallic nodule mining from a review of recent literature and develops an environmental management framework prior to any exploitation licenses being approved. We explore how the drivers to polymetallic nodule mining are framed in a global context, including claims that it will facilitate clean energy transitions, increase mineral supply diversity, and improve life cycle sustainability. We highlight the key barriers to effective environmental management, including epistemic uncertainty about deep-sea ecosystems, assessment of harmful effects from mining activities, and stakeholder support for a social license. We identify three enablers, including the precautionary approach, the ecosystem approach, and adaptive management, all of which are highly interdependent and must be operationalised to address the identified barriers. The results of this analysis indicate a complex social-ecological narrative infused throughout recent literature, emphasising the need for systems-level thinking and broader stakeholder participation. We present an environmental management framework designed to support good industry practice and guide future research. [Display omitted] • Polymetallic nodule mining could increase metal supply for sustainable development. • Managers face uncertainty in environmental impact assessment and management. • A precautionary approach is needed to proactively treat environmental risks. • Adaptive management will be central to environmental management and monitoring plans. • A framework is proposed to facilitate effective environmental management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of China's urban agglomerations has been accompanied by enormous ecological costs. Based on the perspective of ecological constraints, this paper constructed a "quantity-efficiency-structure" evaluation framework for sustainable urban development. Taking the π-shaped Curve Area in the Yellow River Basin as the study area, the improved ecological footprint model and the information entropy method were adopted to evaluate the sustainable development potential (SDP) of the 17 cities in the Area from three aspects: ecological supply and demand (quantity comparison), ecological well-being performance (efficiency assessment), and ecological carrying structure (structure evaluation). From 2005 to 2019, ecological constraints of the three aspects exhibited obvious east-west and north-south spatial heterogeneity and even formed spatial clusters. Through multivariate systematic correlation analysis, openness degree, economic level, population, urbanization rate, industrial structure, scientific innovation, energy consumption, and the role of government were found to have different effects on the SDP and its three aspects. Given the results of the "quantity-efficiency-structure" evaluation and the influencing mechanism of SDP, cities in Area were grouped into weak sustainable, weak unsustainable, strong sustainable, and strong unsustainable types using systematic clustering method, and development suggestions were proposed accordingly. This study was expected to provide new ideas for studying sustainable development and policy proposals for urban development in the Curve Area. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linkages between air pollution and individual subjective well-being (SWB) are theorized as a key component of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Using the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) covering 12,668 residents who were interviewed for five consecutive times during 2010–2018, we find significant negative effects of air pollution on individual SWB via the change of the respondent's physical health level, physical exercise behavior and obesity risk. Specifically, a one standard deviation increase in county's annual average PM 2.5 concentrations, instrumented by thermal inversion, is associated with a 2.45 standard deviations decrease in individual SWB level. In particular, people who are male, young people, less educated group, urban resident and live in eastern or western China are more sensitive to air pollution. This paper provides new insights into the health costs of air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a market-based financial instrument, green credit is one of the key drivers for constructing green financial system. Green credit policy (GCP) can guide capital flow from high-energy consumption and high-pollution industries to technologically advanced emerging industrial sectors, so as to support the development of green industries and curb the emissions of polluting industries. In order to explore the extent to which the goal of green credit policy in China has been achieved, based on the micro data of China's listed enterprises from 2009 to 2017, this paper explores the impact of "Green Credit Guidelines" (2012 Guidelines) policy on the green transformation of heavy polluting industries (HPIs) by using a Difference in Differences (DID) and Propensity Score Matched-Difference in Differences (PSM-DID) models. We then analyze the mechanism between GCP and green transformation of HPIs and identify the heterogeneous effects of GCP on the green transformation of HPIs. The results show that the 2012 Guidelines significantly promote the green transformation of HPIs, through debt financing constraints and equity financing constraints. The effect of 2012 Guidelines on green transformation of small-scale and private enterprises is more pronounced. However, the positive effect of 2012 Guidelines on the green transformation of HPIs has not been sustained in the long term. Our study provides an insight for decision makers to manage green transformation of HPIs from the GCP perspective, by informing the economic consequences of GCP and pushing the industrial transformation towards green development. • Difference in differences is used to explore the impact of green credit policy on green transformation. • Debt financing constraint and equity financing constraint are main impact mechanisms. • The results are robust to a battery of robustness checks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world second largest economy, China aims at achieving high-quality and innovation-driven development. This paper investigates the effects of different technological innovations on green productivity in 261 Chinese cities from 2004 to 2017. We employ the super-efficiency Epsilon-based measure (EBM) model with undesirable outputs under meta frontier and a global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index. We decompose the GML index into efficiency change (GEC) index and technology change (GTC) index to measure the dynamic changes of China's urban green development. Results showed that the average GML index is 0.924 thereby, indicating China's urban green development is at a decreasing trend. The eastern region had the highest GML index among three regions followed by the western region. Moreover, we explored the determinants of urban green productivity through panel quantile regression and found the heterogeneous impacts of different technological innovations on green productivity. Invention patents and design patents positively affected the urban green productivity while utility patents exerted a significantly negative influence. Invention patents promoted the GTC and GEC index while utility patents impeded at some quantiles. FDI yielded both "Pollution Halo Hypothesis" and "Pollution Heaven Hypothesis" effects. Invention, utility and design patents all have threshold effects on China's green productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water, energy, and food (WEF) are pivotal resources for the sustainable development of human society. Integrated assessment of the sustainable WEF nexus is essential to enhance resource efficiency and security, but there is a crucial gap to be filled in assessing the coupling relationship among sustainable WEF subsystems and improving multi-sectoral synergy. In this paper, a comprehensive indicator system for sustainable WEF nexus assessment was constructed based on theme-based frameworks and nexus thinking, and the combination weighting method based on game theory (GT-CW), the improved TOPSIS method based on gray relation degree (GRD-ITOPSIS), and the coupling coordination model were proposed for integrated assessment. The sustainability of WEF nexus in 30 regions of China from 2010 to 2019 was assessed and the spatiotemporal differences of the coupling coordination degree of sustainable WEF nexus were analyzed. The results revealed that the sustainability of WEF subsystems evidently affected the overall sustainability of regional WEF nexus. The change range of sustainable WEF nexus in different years was slightly lower than that of a single subsystem. The sustainability of WEF subsystems were highly coupled, and the WEF nexus in each region was within the coordinated development range. However, most eastern regions were at the intermediate coordinated development stage, and some western regions maintained at primary coordinated development stage for a long time. According to the results analysis, specific policy recommendations were proposed. The findings of this study can provide a useful reference for developing countries to improve resource management and promote sustainable development. [Display omitted] (1) Sustainable water-energy-food nexus in 30 regions of China was assessed. (2) Combination weighting method was optimized by game theory. (3) TOPSIS method was optimized by gray relation degree. (4) The synergy among WEF nexus were analyzed by coupling coordination degree. (5) The WEF nexus in each region was within the coordinated development range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dramatic increase in the demand for vehicle tyres and consequently the rapid rise in associated waste rubber has been a concern for several decades. Rubber disposal has adverse effects on the environment, human health and a detrimental effect on sustainable development across the world. This paper investigates the effectiveness of a sodium hydroxide treatment method for waste rubber in addition to the utilisation of silica fume to improve the interfacial transition zone between the rubber and cement matrix. This has been shown to have important implication for the long-term development of physical and mechanical properties of concrete aged for 2 years. This study emphasises that while satisfactory improvements are attained through the rubber treatment alone, the actual performance of rubberized concrete containing silica fume could only be investigated over the long term owing to the slow pozzolanic reaction and its dependency on the formation of calcium hydroxide. The pre-treatment of rubber and more specifically the utilisation of silica fume improved the durability of concrete over rubber replacement levels from ∼20% to 40%. Long-term thermal conductivity and sound permeability of concrete containing tyre rubber were shown to have important consequences in energy conservation and social sustainability in construction practice. Results reported on the cost efficiency and consequently the CO 2 emissions of concrete containing rubber do not only enhance awareness of the development of sustainable construction materials but also lead a cleaner alternative waste management route for tyre rubber. • The rapid rise of waste tyre rubbers necessitate an immediate mitigation for the sustainable development of the earth. • Surface treatment of rubbers improves the physical and mechanical properties of concrete. • Incorporation of silica fume further enhances the durability of concrete comprising tyre rubbers particularly at long-term. • Incorporation of tyre rubbers remarkably decreased the long-term thermal conductivity and sound permeability of concrete. • The study enables the development of sustainable construction materials and a cleaner waste management route for rubbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textile dye is one of the significant pollutants of water worldwide. However, dumping the textile effluent to the environment is a common in most of the developing countries. Contaminated water in the textile industry may contain various toxic ingredients and people were easily infected with various diseases. The contamination may affect the marine environment and consequently extends around the world. The recycling of waste water is the significant option to reduce the environmental pollution. In particular, adsorption approach is one of the significant strategies to treat dye-contaminated water due to their advantageous of physico-chemical properties. In this review paper, variety of potential adsorbents for dye removal were critically reviewed, focusing on the efficient adsorbent to remediate dye-contaminated water. Specifically, the recent development of adsorbents containing carbon, metal supported adsorbents, surface functionalized gel adsorbents and photo-adsorbents were reviewed focusing on cutting-edge processes. Comparison of degradation efficiency for different adsorbents, synthesis approaches and their physico-chemical properties were assessed in systematic way. The perspective of the adsorbent materials associated with the dye degradation was discussed thoroughly. The evaluation of different advanced materials would contribute to the development of the sustainable dye removal process in near future. [Display omitted] • The application of advanced novel materials for dye removal was critically evaluated. • The promising dye removal technologies with their adsorption efficiency were measured. • The specific mechanism of different nano-materials were assessed in systematic way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world encounters insufficient fossil energy and worsening environmental pollution, the significant potential of water surface photovoltaic (WSPV) systems and the remarkable benefits are crucial to promoting cleaner production and sustainable development. This paper proposes installing overhead WSPVs along the open channels of long-distance water diversion projects (WDPs), creating new opportunities for the adaptive traceability and utilization of energy–water resources. A multi-objective decision model for the feasibility evaluation of WSPVs is presented and applied to typical WDPs in China to demonstrate the effects of this modeling framework and explore the co-benefits of WSPV systems. The results indicate that: (1) it is economically and technically feasible to install WSPVs over MLSNWDP with a suggested tilt angle range of 10°–12°; (2) the proposed WSPVs in the eight typical projects evaluated using the decision model with a capacity of 29,486 MW can convert 37,263 GWh of electricity at a 12° tilt angle while saving 3.19 × 108 m3 of water annually; (3) the adaptive utilization of the saved water and electricity can increase the ecological water level guarantee rate of Baiyang Lake by 12.64%, alleviating potential eco-environmental problems. Moreover, a recommended coverage rate of 50% is proposed to inhibit algae outbreaks. Overall, this research demonstrates the technical and economic feasibility of the construction of WSPVs along WDPs and the co-benefits to address challenging research questions on the sustainable development of energy–water resources. • The installation of water surface photovoltaic along water channel is proposed. • The decision model is established to evaluate the technical & economic feasibility. • The recommended solutions are proposed by evaluating the direct benefits. • The indirect benefits of utilizing saved-water & electricity in situ are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development stipulates 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The implementation of this agenda will mobilize countries worldwide to incorporate the SDGs into their national development strategies. The agenda does not specify how these goals are interconnected, thus limiting their implementation. In addition, air quality affects human life and plays a vital role in achieving these SDGs. Clarifying the interconnections between SDGs related to air pollution and other SDGs will accelerate the implementation of air protection and SDGs while simultaneously promoting policy coherence. In this paper, we use the latest calculation of the SDGs in China to construct national and provincial panel data to investigate the trade-offs and synergies among Chinese air pollution-related SDGs. The findings are as follows. First, most air pollution-related SDGs have synergetic relationships, except for SDG12, which has a trade-off relationship with other air pollution-related SDGs. Second, the synergies between air pollution-related SDGs and other SDGs far outweigh the trade-offs. Third, rapidly developing areas are more likely to experience a trade-off between economic development and air pollution problems. Fourth, geographic advantages in reducing air pollution, such as being adjacent to the sea, may weaken the synergies among air pollution-related SDGs and their synergies with other SDGs. These findings indicate that most air-pollution-related SDGs and interactions between air-pollution-related SDGs and other SDGs have substantial synergy; that is, measures aimed at one goal are conducive to the advancement of other goals. However, SDG12 reflects a trade-off relationship between economic development, environmental protection, and resource utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green development is a common goal pursued globally for carbon neutrality, and whether environmental regulatory system drives it in pollution-intensive industries (PIIs) is puzzled. Using provincial panel data of Chinese PIIs during 2005–2017, this paper applied entropy method to integrate existing environmental regulatory system into three types of environmental regulations, and then explored non-linear effects of them on green total factor productivity (GTFP). Several conclusions are generated. The annual growth rate of GTFP is 10.61% and it presents industrial differences. Technical change is the driving factor, while technical efficiency shows inhibiting effect. The effect of command-and-control environmental regulation on GTFP is a significant inverted U-shape curve, which is currently the primary driving role in green development, but it is too strict and increasingly less effective. Both market incentive and voluntary environmental regulations appear as positive U-shape curves, and their proper enhancement is breakthrough for future green development. Besides, market incentive environmental regulation is more effective in PIIs with relatively low pollution, while voluntary environmental regulation is sensitive to PIIs with relatively serious pollution. The Chinese government should allow environmental regulatory system more marketability and voluntariness, and production characteristics and pollution density of targeted industries should be considered. • The green development grows rapidly but shows technical inefficiency. • Command-and-control environmental regulation drives green development effectively. • Market incentive and voluntary environmental regulations can be enhanced properly. • Market incentive environmental regulation is sensitive to slight-polluted industries. • Voluntary environmental regulation works in heavy-polluted industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mismanaged plastic waste is a major environmental concern, especially in countries of the Global South. Municipal solid waste management can not only alleviate environmental problems but also create jobs and promote local economic growth. However, providing appropriate waste management services is costly. The question is to what extent waste management policies that have proven to be successful in other geographies can help solve the challenge in developing countries. Specifically, the economics and financial flows along the value chain need to be known. In this paper, we shed light on these questions by presenting a novel, model-based method to elicit and assess the cost structure of the recycling sector in developing countries. We exemplify our method with plastics waste management in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana—an area particularly challenged by plastic waste. For this purpose, we surveyed over 80 participants of the waste management value chain and combined the data with insights from expert interviews and workshops. Based on this data, we built a bottom-up model with 67 parameters, reflecting all cost positions in the waste management value chain. We found that street waste pickers are the poorest and most vulnerable, earning only a fraction of the already low minimum wage. Middlemen and aggregators, while often being criticized for their earnings, also provide social-security-like services to waste pickers. In addition, formal and informal recyclers differ not only in earnings and size but also in recyclate quality where the informal sector provides higher quality. [Display omitted] • Analysis of formal & informal plastic waste management value chain in Accra, Ghana. • New bottom-up method for estimating & modelling true cost of waste management. • Waste pickers abstain from necessary safety equipment to achieve positive returns. • Formal recycling structures allow for scaling but reduce recyclate quality. • Substantial investments are needed to scale up recycling capacity and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to win in the market competition, enterprises have considered sustainable high-quality development (SHQD) as an important goal. However, prior studies on SHQD mainly emphasized theoretical discussions, and few scholars have conducted quantitative data analysis, especially in the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) area. Given this research gap, this paper proposes a novel framework to evaluate and select state-owned enterprise with sustainable high-quality development capacity (SHQDC) in China under linguistic distribution assessment (LDA) environment. This study has been done in four stages. In the first stage we present a detailed evaluation index system for SHQDC. In the second stage, to determine the comprehensive weights of evaluation criteria and sub-criteria, we extend the traditional fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) method to determine the subjective weights of criteria and sub-criteria, and propose a novel method to compute the objective weights of criteria and sub-criteria under linguistic distribution assessment environment. In the third stage, we extend the traditional bidirectional projection method to the linguistic distribution environment and further put forward a ranking method to select SOEs with SHQDC, in which the ratings of sub-criteria are assessed in linguistic distribution assessments to reflect the qualitative evaluation of experts' subjective opinions. Finally, we demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach by means of comparing the sustainable high-quality development capacity of three state-owned enterprises in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater from the printing and dyeing industries has become one of the critical concerns for remediation by water treatment due to its refractory and toxic characteristics. In this paper, CuO/γ-Al 2 O 3 catalyst with excellent reuse properties was synthesized, which could be used for catalytic wet peroxide oxidation method (CWPO) to degrade reactive brilliant red X–3B. The preparation and reaction conditions of the catalyst were optimized with the decolorization efficiency and stability of the catalyst as measuring indexes. The results showed that the optimal conditions for CuO/γ-Al 2 O 3 synthesis were: roasting temperature of 450 °C, roasting time of 4 h, and Cu loading of 5 wt%. Single-factor experiments and orthogonal experiments indicated that 0.39 mol/L H 2 O 2 , 5.50 g/L catalyst, initial pH of 8, and 2.50 h of reaction time were the best reaction conditions to degrade 0.30 g/L reactive brilliant red X–3B with CuO/γ-Al 2 O 3. Under the optimal reaction conditions, the CuO/γ-Al 2 O 3 showed effective reusability. After degradation of the dye wastewater repeatedly 11 times, the dye decolorization efficiency was 90.72%, and the amount of Cu2+ leached was below 0.90 mg/L. This study is an important reference, significant for the treatment of dye wastewater, and could be informative for the sustainable development of future catalysts. [Display omitted] • CuO/γ-Al 2 O 3 was applied to the degradation of reactive brilliant red X–3B. • Conditions for preparation of CuO/γ-Al 2 O 3 were optimized. • CuO/γ-Al 2 O 3 showed excellent performance under optimized reaction conditions. • The decolorizing efficiency was greater than 90% after 11 times of catalyst reuse. • The amount of Cu2+ leached was below 0.90 mg/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

The green development of Chinese iron and steel industry with high pollution and energy consumption has become an urgent issue. Under the economic transition of China, this paper first establishes a theoretical mechanism for the differential effects of governance transformation models on the green process innovation (GPI) of Chinese iron and steel enterprises (CISEs). Based on the environmental protection data of 86 key CISEs from 2005 to 2018, the global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index is used to measure the total factor environmental governance efficiency (TFEGE) which represents the green development. Then the compound effects of environmental regulation (ER) and governance transformation on the TFEGE of 86 key CISEs are empirically studied. The results show that: (1) there is a U-shaped relationship between ER and the TFEGE. (2) Governance transformation and GPI can significantly improve TFEGE, and governance transformation will advance the inflection point of the U-shaped curve and accelerate the realization of the Porter hypothesis (PH), producing a preliminary compound effect. (3) The interaction of governance transformation and GPI has a positive and significant effect on improving TFEGE, but the heterogeneity analysis of regional economic and manufacturing process shows that it only promotes the inflection point of ER and accelerates the realization of the PH in middle- and short-process CISEs, producing a profound lagging compound effect. • There is a U-shaped relationship between environmental regulations and the total factor environmental governance efficiency of Chinese iron and steel enterprises (CISEs). • Governance transformation brings the inflection point of the U-shaped curve earlier, and promotes the realization of the Porter hypothesis (PH) in the CISEs. • Green process innovation has a positive impact on the total factor environmental governance efficiency of CISEs, proved the "strong" PH is valid in CISEs. • The intersection of governance transformation and green process innovation further brings the inflection point of the U-shaped curve earlier and accelerates the realization of the PH in the central China and short-process CISEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructure development and the green transition of manufacturing are two crucial issues concerning the national economy and people's livelihood. However, not many literatures discuss the influencing mechanism connecting the two. This paper starts from a new research perspective of infrastructure development and explores the potential ways to improve manufacturing's ETFP. The empirical results indicate that the infrastructure development has indeed improved the green development level (GDL) of manufacturing. This impact is heterogeneous in terms of different infrastructure types and planning periods. Besides, the completed infrastructure helps the formation of an environmentally friendly development model, while the new infrastructure investment could generate negative environmental externalities. Through mechanism analysis, we found that infrastructure mainly promotes the GDL through the two tracks: scale effect and energy structure adjustment. The technological progress and industrial structure adjustment did not play the expected mediating impact. The dynamic panel threshold model results proved that with the expansion of the scale effect and the optimization of energy consumption structure, the role of infrastructure in promoting the manufacturing's GDL could be stronger. Some policy recommendations are proposed to provide a reference for the infrastructure programming and the green transformation in the manufacturing industry. [Display omitted] • Infrastructure development improved the manufacturing's green development level. • The impact is heterogeneous in different infrastructure types and time dimensions. • Scale and agglomeration effect and energy structure effect are the main tracks. • Industrial marginal effect of infrastructure presents a non-linear feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterprises are essential to the realization of sustainable development in human society. However, there is still a lack of simulation models that can dynamically explain, predict and evaluate the complexity of enterprise sustainable development. Therefore, this paper adopts the method of system dynamics to construct a low-carbon sustainable development level model of enterprise. The four indicators of low-carbon economic benefits, low-carbon technology stock, low-carbon human resources, and CO 2 emissions reflect the level of low-carbon sustainable development of enterprises. The results show that the level of low-carbon sustainable development of enterprises is not high (<0.6); low-carbon human resources have two stages of decline and rise; government supervision and low-carbon technology can significantly reduce CO 2 emissions. However, multi-scenario simulation results show that in the early stage of low-carbon sustainable development of enterprise, excessive government supervision will reduce the low-carbon economic benefits of enterprise. Within 10 years, policy supervision can reduce CO 2 emissions by up to 67% and increase low-carbon benefits by 17%; low-carbon technology can reduce CO 2 emissions by up to 60% and increase low-carbon benefits 33%. The government and enterprises should formulate appropriate policies and strategies based on the level of low-carbon sustainable development of enterprises. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) or Education for Sustainability (EfS), is a concept developed to systematically understand and change education systems promoting and galvanizing sustainability within the minds, hearts and actions of future generations. Qatar, being a small rentier country dependent on oil and gas revenues for its recent economic and social development, aims to achieve sustainable development as part of its national vision. Believing in the power of education to reverse-engineer the recurring environmental, social and economic challenges, this state has forged a partnership with the UNESCO office in Doha to adopt all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to promote for ESD across the K-12 levels and curricula. This is enshrined in the belief that such promotion would help evolve students' higher thinking skills and mindfulness towards their surroundings. Yet, a holistic and strategic approach to integrating ESD and SDGs in the public K-12 institutions and curricula is still lacking and mostly underreported. Given this concern, the goal of this review paper is threefold. First, using a systematic quantitative literature review approach, it draws on previous studies to examine the notion of globalization in education and to investigate different curricula models from multiple countries such as Oman, UK, US, and China amongst others, focusing on two case studies: Singapore and New Zealand, from the basis of embedding sustainability values in their respective curricula. In a second step, the review provides an account on the contemporary Qatar Education System (QES) and its recent reforms as well as its attempts to integrate SDGs and ESD in K-12 curricula. Finally, after exhibiting socioeconomic similarities and the several bilateral education agreements that exist between the two aforementioned cases and the State of Qatar, a handful of potential suggestions to embed SDGs and ESD values in the existing curriculum of Qatar is provided. • There is a need to promote for sustainability in curricula. Thus, Education for Sustainable Development has become more and more ubiquitous. • Different countries strive to implement ESD, however, such application faces numerous challenges on the policy and execution levels. • In Qatar, integrating ESD is still in its developing stages. The state can benefit from other case studies for a more efficient integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has introduced a new sustainability paradigm that challenges private firms. According to this, in pursuing sustainable development, companies must face a complex system of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are divided into 17 primary goals, 169 targets, and 244 indicators. This paper outlines an assessment framework to investigate how companies are dealing with this Agenda and reporting their commitment in achieving SDGs, as well as monitoring their progress. Content analysis has been applied to reduce the number of SDG indicators including only the companies' internally actionable ones and to associate them to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators. A positioning matrix allows companies to compare their strategies with those of other companies regarding their efforts in achieving SDGs. The relative position of firms in the matrix provides valuable feedback for managers giving insight into how other companies adapt their sustainability practices to the requirements of the SDGs. As a means of exemplification, the framework has been applied to a group of GRI-reporting major electricity companies. The proposed framework presents opportunities for both practice and research allowing to investigate the companies' level of engagement in reporting and monitoring their contributions to SDGs. • The method aids companies in dealing with SDG reporting at an indicator level. • Companies can use the proposed method to compare the quality of their SDG reporting. • A positioning matrix allows companies to compare their strategies regarding SDGs. • The relative position of firms in the matrix provides valuable feedback for managers. • The positioning matrix is helpful in monitoring progress toward SDG contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural sector is the basic industry supporting the construction and development of national economy. With the continuous deterioration of agricultural pollution, measuring and understanding agricultural total factor productivity (AGTFP) is the important premise to achieve agricultural green development and clean production. Regarding carbon emissions and agricultural non-point source pollution (ANSP) as undesired outputs, this paper applies a three-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method combined with the Slack-Based Measure (SBM) model to eliminate the influences of environmental factors and random errors and explore the real AGTFP of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2017.On this basis, the spatial distribution and dynamic changes of AGTFP before and after adjustment are further discussed to seek the underlying reasons. The empirical results demonstrate that AGTFP is lower when carbon emissions and ANSP are both considered, and it decreases from east to west in StageⅠbut the Northeast region surpasses the East to achieve the highest productivity after removing the interferences. Moreover, China's AGTFP has been restricted by the external environment, and superior external environment disguises the poor management efficiency of Beijing and Shanghai. Therefore, some policy implications to balance agricultural environment and economic development are proposed. [Display omitted] • Non-point source pollution and CO 2 are integrated to measure agricultural green efficiency. • A three-stage SBM-DEA approach is employed to calculate the real agricultural green total factor productivity. • Different environmental factors have different effects on the slack of agricultural inputs. • China's agricultural green total factor productivity is restricted by the external environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate evaluation of emission governance efficiency can build fundament to develop haze control strategy towards sustainable development. By features of the haze, we view the haze formation stage as the first sub-process and the haze control stage as the second sub-process. This paper proposes an additive aggregation network data envelopment analysis (DEA) model with undesirable intermediate measures and undesirable outputs, which have not been thoroughly studied in previous literature. We found the newly developed network DEA model was nonlinear and cannot be converted into a linear program, and then developed an improved second-order cone programming approach to solve this problem. After analyzing the data of haze control in China, we drew the following conclusions: Firstly, different weights of preference for two sub-process can lead to the variation in the overall efficiency. Under different weights of preference, although the efficiency of the haze formation has a very small change in some provinces, the efficiency of the haze control has a large change. Secondly, decision makers can achieve the adjust goal of reducing haze by adjusting their preferences on the information of the haze formation and haze control stages, which are helpful for policy making in haze control strategy and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability transitions of food systems are at the core of several of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In many regions, grassroots initiatives (i.e., community-led bottom-up initiatives) have emerged to experiment with alternative food networks and change the dominant food regimes. While grassroots initiatives can play a crucial role in sustainability transitions, it is known that actors usually face challenges related to (1) building and maintaining an initiative, and (2) diffusing it to the mainstream. However, the systemic mechanisms underlying these two types of challenges in food systems are still underspecified. Building on previous empirical research, the paper uses systems thinking (qualitative causal loop diagrams) to detail (1) the systemic mechanisms underlying the emergence and maintenance of an alternative food network; and (2) the feedback loops related to organizational and logistics issues that pose limits to scaling. It explains the paradox of diffusion in alternative food networks and concludes that diffusion of alternative food networks to mainstream may be achieved through replication and translation strategies, rather than scaling-up. • The article studies the maintenance and diffusion of alternative food networks. • Systems thinking is employed to identify key dynamics and challenges. • Causal loop diagrams are used to visualize systemic relationships amongst variables. • Results suggest the existence of an 'optimal size' for food cooperatives. • Diffusion to mainstream may be realised by replication, rather than by scaling-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of the integrated energy Internet, energy structure optimization and emission reduction have led to higher requirements for developing various energy sources to enable coordinated and sustainable development. However, data-mining methods are rarely used to study the coordination of multi-energy generation in published research results. In this study, from the perspective of power industry emissions, coordinated generation of various energy sources, and balance of power generation and consumption, a data-mining algorithm was used to analyze the development of thermal power, hydropower, wind power, waste heat, gas, and other power sources. The chi-square automatic interaction detection tree (CHAID), logistic regression, and two-step clustering methods were applied. The results show that: a) CO 2 and SO 2 emissions were mainly affected by thermal power generation, whereas NO x emissions were jointly affected by thermal power, garbage power, and gas-fired power, and the emissions of various pollutants increased with an increase in power consumption. The optimal power-generation scheme under minimum emission can be obtained. b) There was a strong correlation between thermal power generation and residential electricity consumption, and renewable energy (wind energy, photovoltaic, hydropower) exhibited the highest correlation with the electricity consumption of the tertiary industry, which indicates that renewable energy generation can be promoted by managing electricity consumption in the tertiary industry. c) When the electricity demand of all users was small, the proportion of renewable energy power generation increased; in contrast, the thermal power generation was larger. This indicates the importance of improving the sustainable and stable power supply of renewable energy. This study provides a data analysis model for the coordinated development of multiple energies, which will contribute to the decision-making basis for controlling power emissions, improving the utilization rate of renewable energy, and optimizing the energy structure. [Display omitted] • Rich data (8760 h): multi-energy power generation, consumption and emission. • Introduces a complete big data analysis framework to study multi-energy generation. • Three data mining methods are used to analyze power supply, demand and emission. • The conclusions of this paper have a positive effect on energy structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability, in terms of ecological, economic, and social sustainable development, and the advancing digitalization represent some of the most substantial societal challenges today. However, little is known about how different actors and decision-makers perceive the relationship of those two challenges. In our paper, by building upon framing theory and social representations theory, we address that gap by investigating how different actors perceive the interrelationship between digitalization and ecological, economic, and social sustainability. Such research is particularly important because understandings of digitalization and sustainability determine how different actors, including managers and policymakers, act in response to those imperatives. Following a multi-method approach, we combined media analysis with two experimental studies examining how various actors frame the relationship between digitalization and sustainability in media discourses and which dimension of sustainability—ecological, economic, or social—dominates. Building upon these results, the studies assess whether the extent of digitalization affects the perception of those three dimensions. Among our findings, perceptions of ecological and economic sustainability but not social sustainability seem to be affected by the extent of digitalization. For future research, those findings indicate the need for a more nuanced view on sustainability that accounts for its different dimensions, especially the social dimension and its relationship with digitalization. Beyond that, because the perceived link between digitalization and ecological, economic, and social sustainability guides how various actors, including managers and policymakers, respond to those imperatives, our work also has substantial practical implications as well. [Display omitted] • Four digitalization-sustainability frames identified by media analysis. • Frames identified: Stand-alone challenges, digital impact, digital ruin, positive catalyst. • The extent of digitalization impacts ecological and economic sustainability perceptions. • The extent of digitalization does not impact social sustainability perception. • A multi-method study is applied, combining media analysis with experimental testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at distinguishing the effects of different types of environmental regulations on different ways of green technology innovation behaviors and whether industrial agglomeration has a moderating effect. In this study, the theoretical framework of "Environmental regulation stimulates green innovation intention, while green innovation intention promotes green innovation behavior" is constructed, the mediating effect of green technology innovation intention is studied, and moderating effect based on industrial agglomeration is also analyzed. The empirical results show that controlling environmental regulation has a more significant influence on the green innovation intention compared to incentive regulation. The green innovation intention plays a mediating role in the logic chain of environmental regulation and green innovation behavior, which verifies the hypothesis of "incomplete environmental regulation" to some extent. Industrial agglomeration plays a positive moderating role in the logic chain of "environmental regulation—green innovation intention—green innovation behavior". It is proven that in the face of strict environmental regulations, the geographical proximity accelerates the diffusion of green knowledge and technology and stimulates intention and enthusiasm of enterprises towards green innovation. Our research lays a solid foundation for enterprises to realize cleaner production and government to formulate policies to realize circular economy and sustainable development. [Display omitted] • Innovation intention plays a mediating role between regulation and behavior. • Controlling regulation has a more significant influence on innovation intention. • Industrial agglomeration plays a positive moderating effect in logical chain. • Agglomeration has a greater moderating effect on green product innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adequately understanding the role of context factors in the successful development of corporate sustainability-oriented initiatives is an important step towards an integrative vision of sustainability at the organizational level. In the present research, an extensive and structured literature review enabled the identification of 19 context factors relevant for sustainability integration processes. The importance of these context factors was confirmed through a quantitative exploratory research with 156 experienced sustainability professionals from 42 different countries. The results obtained reveal that Commitment, Engagement, Information, Communication and Trust have the highest levels of perceived importance. The results also indicate that the relative importance of these context factors is higher for small and medium sized companies and for companies located in countries with lower Gross Domestic Product. The role of the context factors was analyzed on the scope of the operational stages of a strategic management framework focusing corporate sustainability integration – the Integrative Sustainability Intelligence model. The main contributions of this paper are: the identification of context factors relevant for corporate sustainability integration processes, combining the perspectives of scholars and sustainability professionals; the analysis of the role of the most relevant context factors in the strategic management of corporate sustainability integration processes, enabling the identification of pathways to promote their successful operationalization. [Display omitted] • Organizational context factors condition corporate sustainability integration. • Commitment, engagement, information, communication and trust have relevant roles. • Large and international-scale organizations give less importance to context factors. • Context factors are less important in countries with higher Gross Domestic Product. • Integrative Sustainability Intelligence enhances strategic analysis of context factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is now evidence of a growing demand for green product innovation (GPI), leading to reduced negative environmental effects. This context is an opportunity for the organizational reconfiguration of companies in the manufacturing sector to accommodate these new product attributes and characteristics. Although the identification of the determinants of GPI has improved, its characterization is still fragmented and there is limited coherence in terms of the administrative approach leading to GPI development. The main purpose of this paper is the selection and configuration of the determinants of GPI and their organization into an innovation management model. This is achieved by identifying and categorizing the determinants of GPI in association with green innovation capabilities (GIC) and organizational dimensions (OD). The results provide a set of determinants of GPI, paving the way for organizational challenges, the adaptation and definition of new GIC, and the selection of green-oriented OD. All the above is represented in a framework showing the structural relationships and operationalized in a matrix product of the taxonomy referring to how the determinants of GPI affect GIC and OD, thus facilitating the definition of the variables that assess the progress of the company in pursuit of GPI. This research contributes in the field of management and organizational theories for the managerial transition to sustainable development from the dynamics typical of innovation. It also widens the scope of study for researchers, manufacturing company managers, and governmental bodies responsible for environmental management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While shouldering the burden of economic development, China's industrial sector has significant water consumption and wastewater discharge, which has intensified the country's water shortage. To improve the efficiency of industrial water resource utilization system, data envelopment analysis (DEA) has been widely used to assess the performance of the system. The current network DEA approaches adopted to investigate the system all belong to the self-evaluation mode, and existing network DEA cross-efficiency evaluation approaches have shortcomings. Therefore, a two-stage DEA approach with game cross efficiency is proposed to evaluate the system. First, according to the operation process of the system, this paper decomposes the system into a general two-stage network structure: water use stage and wastewater treatment stage. Second, the DEA game cross-efficiency model is improved to the general two-stage DEA game cross-efficiency model to evaluate the overall efficiency of the system. Third, given the overall efficiency, an efficiency decomposition model is proposed to determine a set of weights for each decision-making unit to evaluate water use efficiency and wastewater treatment efficiency. Finally, the rationality of the proposed approach is illustrated by model comparison, and the efficiencies of industrial water resource utilization systems in 31 regions of China from 2010 to 2015 are evaluated based on the proposed approach. The results indicate that, from the overall efficiency perspective, no region in China is always evaluated as being overall efficient and the overall efficiencies of 17 regions show an increase before a decreasing trend or decreasing trend during the study period. In 11 regions, wastewater treatment efficiency is far lower than water use efficiency, and in 11 other regions, both sub-stages are inefficient. In terms of the three areas, the eastern area has the highest water use efficiency, the central area has the lowest efficiency of both sub-stages, and the western area has the highest wastewater treatment efficiency. Some recommendations are presented to ensure China's sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sewage outfalls are the ideal locations for water pollution monitoring as they are the final gate that pollutants must pass before entering rivers and oceans. Strengthening the supervision and control of industrial sewage outfalls has become the most important task in water pollution control. Most rivers in China are highly polluted, especially those flowing through cities. It is difficult to investigate, monitor, trace, and remediate sewage outfalls because information regarding the distribution of sewage outfalls into rivers is incomplete and the existing methods of monitoring sewage outfalls into rivers are outdated. This paper proposes an innovative method for feasible and efficient acquisition of sewage outfall data through a combination of web crawler and remote sensing interpretation technologies, employing data from the Luan River Basin as a testing site. We crawled industrial information and spatial location data on the Internet and obtained the locations of industrial sewage outfalls by interpreting remote sensing images. We modeled the distribution of sewage inflow from major industries into the tributaries of the Luan River Basin. We verified the accuracy and reliability of the developed method by comparing its results with actual data collected during our field investigation. Sample field tests confirmed the high accuracy (89%) of the proposed method, indicating its successful application in the Luan River Basin. We believe that the proposed method can be used to verify and supervise sewage outfalls in other locations in the future, especially owing to its improved acquisition system, which ensures feasible and efficient measurements without the need for manual investigation. This study provides a scientific basis for decision-making with regard to sustainable development. ∙Strengthen supervision of industry sewage outfalls help river pollution control ∙Web crawler combined with remote sensing interpretation were innovatively employed ∙Web crawler successfully designed to collect industry sewage outfalls for water pollution monitoring ∙Verified new method's accuracy (89%) and reliability by field investigation ∙Measurement driven by new method is applicable to other rivers and countries [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stamping industry is critical in the automotive and aerospace industries, and the environmental impacts and sustainability of stamping systems have attracted considerable attention. To analyze the environmental impact and sustainability of stamping systems quantitatively, this paper presents an emergy-based evaluation method considering all the associated environmental impact factors of a pressing workshop including material and energy consumption, waste flows, time and mass losses, and processing costs. On the basis of analyzing the stamping processes and sustainability, this method comprises data collection, emergy based sustainability evaluation model and the development of sustainable evaluation indexes and systems. Based on the proposed method, the environmental impact of an industrial vehicle stamping workshop was evaluated. The results show that the net emergy yield ratio of the stamping system was greater than 2, and the waste emergy output ratio was very low, indicating that the system had high productivity levels, high yields, and low pollution discharge rates. However, its sustainability index was less than one owing to its high energy and material consumption during the production processes. To reduce the environmental impact of this stamping system and improve its sustainability, we investigated the potential improvements that could be achieved in energy consumption, productivity, and environmental impact by implementing energy-saving scheduling in the stamping workshop. The results show that the corresponding net emergy yield ratio and sustainability index of the system were both improved. The proposed emergy-based method could be used to quantitatively evaluate the environmental impacts and sustainability of stamping systems and facilitate efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of pressing workshops while improving their productivity and economic profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For developing countries, cleaner production plays a significant role in transitioning corporates, governments, and societies' alignment with sustainable development goals. However, studies of cleaner production in developing countries provide a narrow view on scope, content, sectors and actors without describing the dynamic trajectory of their evolutionary process. A broader understanding of cleaner production diffusion is vital in not only contributing to the policy-level developments but also facilitating wider and strategic adoption by firms. Therefore, this study was conducted to provide an in-depth analysis of how and why cleaner production, as a managerial technology, is diffused in developing countries by focusing on the context of Sri Lanka. Using a case study approach, data was collected from multiple sources in the Sri Lankan cleaner production industry. The data were analyzed by considering the demand-pull and supply-push factors through the diffusion theory of innovation lenses. The findings indicate that Sri Lanka is witnessing hierarchical diffusion; cleaner production is being trickled down from highly polluting industries and export-oriented sectors to other peripheral sectors due to various factors, including efficient choices, forced selection, and fashion. The supply-side propagators have played a crucial role in popularizing and advocating for cleaner production to accelerate the diffusion process. While the proactive firms have elevated their practices to organization-wide sustainable development strategies, the reactive users practice cleaner production only as an isolated and ad-hoc exercise. This paper contributes as a general reference for policy-level developments and interventions for various stakeholder groups to promote cleaner production in developing countries. [Display omitted] • Study explores cleaner production (CP) diffusion in Sri Lanka. • Uses demand-pull and supply-push factors of diffusion in analyzing data. • Sri Lanka witnesses a hierarchical form of diffusion with a trickled down effect. • Efficient choice, forced selection, and fashion motives drive the CP diffusion. • For proactive users, CP is a business strategy for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interregional trade not only contributes to economic growth but also causes a large amount of virtual water transfer. The virtual water transfer brings about two-way impact of environmental stress between regions. It is essential to examine the two-way impact mechanism to achieve water sustainability. Interregional virtual water transfer includes three aspects of effects: multiplier, spillover and feedback effects. Among them, multiplier effect is the interaction in a single region. Spillover effect generally refers to the one-way impact of former region's economic development on latter region, while the feedback effect refers to the economic change of latter region in turn has an impact on the former region on the basis of the spillover effect. However, most studies have been focusing only on the one-way impact of virtual water transfer, which are the multiplier and spillover effects. This paper introduces a new spillover-feedback effects model to measure the two-way impact of virtual water transfer in urban agglomerations, and takes the Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei capital agglomerations in China as a specific case. The results illustrate that the spillover-feedback effects had significant contributions to virtual water transfer. From the perspective of regional scale, Beijing was a net importer of virtual water, with a net import volume of 1.019 × 108 m3. Tianjin and Hebei were net exporters of virtual water, with net exports of 0.069 × 108 m3 and 0.950 × 108 m3 respectively. The values of the feedback effect were large and should not be ignored, which accounted for up to 40% of the spillover effect. Furthermore, at the sectoral scale, the sectors with large ratios of spillover-feedback effects to total effects in regions included mining, agriculture, manufacturing and transportation. In Beijing, this ratio of mining exceeded 50%. Additionally, the effect intensity patterns were different from the effect patterns, which prove that the regional ability to stimulate water consumption was not consistent with the actual impacts. Finally, regions should pay more attention to managing the industries and enterprises with high virtual water export, adjust the trade structure, strengthen inter-regional cooperation and clarify regional responsibilities for water-saving. In a word, understanding interregional two-way impact mechanism is essential for the sustainable and collaborative development of the economy and environment in urban agglomerations. • Application of spillover-feedback effects in environmental field was expanded. • Spillover-feedback effects of virtual water transfer were measured in urban agglomeration. • The feedback effects were significant and could not be ignored. • More attention should be paid on the two-way impacts of environmental stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of ports is essential to the competitiveness of cities. Harbor cities in China have put much effort into expanding the business of their ports, ignoring the overlapping of hinterland markets with other ports. Excess resources expended by ports may intensify regional environmental issues, such as carbon emissions. Motivated by the emissions reduction targets proposed by the International Maritime Organization and the urgent need for the development of green and sustainable ports, the Chinese government is trying to draft a carbon constraint policy to prevent the disorderly development of ports. It is thus necessary to study competition strategies under the context of carbon emission constraints. In this paper, the improved Hotelling model is used to describe the competitive relationship between ports. Then, three competition scenarios of the seaports under no carbon emissions policy, a carbon emission cap policy, and a carbon cap-and-trade policy are examined to analyze the effects of carbon emissions policy on port service prices, demand for goods, maximum profits, and social welfare. The results show that (1) from the perspective of port managers, only when government-defined carbon emission limits are lower than the critical value, the carbon cap policy is binding on port competition; when it comes to the cap-and-trade policy, government-defined carbon emission limits only affect profits. (2) From the government's perspective, the cap-and-trade policy maximizes social welfare more than the other policies regardless of the value of government-defined carbon emission limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of a sustainable newsvendor problem has been considered by some researchers recently; nonetheless, an inclusive multi-objective model including all sustainability pillars with a multi-product supply chain has not been designed yet. In this paper, the newsvendor model is developed considering all sustainability criteria to study a two-stage procurement system. The classic newsvendor model of optimizing supplier-retailer payoff is considered in this research to illustrate the economic perspective of sustainability. Moreover, other objectives are formulated to model the social and environmental pillars of sustainability. These objectives minimize the environmental effects of the standard newsvendor problem regarding the malicious environmental effects of unrecyclable unsold products. To solve the formulated model a compromise programming approach is hybridized with Lagrange relaxation and sub-gradient optimization for the proposed model. For more clarification, a real-world case study from the Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry with real data has been employed alongside sensitivity analysis. Moreover, to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed solving approach, the Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm were also designed and their parameters were tuned using the Taguchi method. Comparing the obtained results with the classical newsvendor model, the single economic objective loses at least 0.76% and at most 14.1% of its achievements by a trade-off with sustainable criteria. Furthermore, results indicated that both in terms of optimality and solution time, the proposed method has an extraordinary performance compared to GA and SA. [Display omitted] • An inclusive multi-objective newsvendor model including all sustainability pillars with a multi-product supply chain. • A compromise programming approach is hybridized with Lagrange relaxation and sub-gradient optimization. • A real-world case study from the Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry with real data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental policies are a significant driver of change towards the achievement of sustainability. Policies impact on the environment through direct and indirect effects. Indirect effects pertain to the effect of innovation and invention mechanisms. The paper analyses those direct and indirect effects by focusing on different measures of environmental productivity. Econometric analysis on a long macroeconomic panel dataset is used to convey original insights, and as a platform for policy assessments. Results show that environmental policies adopted by countries may boost environmental productivity performances both directly and indirectly, through innovation, across various environmental dimensions. The increasing stringency of environmental policy, which has been observed over the last decades, is a crucial driver of change for climate actions, waste and resource efficiency, touching upon various SDGs related to responsible consumption and production, economic growth, industry and innovation infrastructures and climate action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the social context of enhancing environmental quality and mitigating climate change, the improvement of carbon emission efficiency has emerged as a hot topic recently due to its promise as an approach to reduce emissions and improve environmental quality. A large volume of studies has identified technological progress as a critical factor affecting energy efficiency and pollution emission levels. From the perspective of national differences, the contributions of our study lied in constructing a system to measure technological progress based on the outputs and transformations of a country's technical progress level. Secondly, this paper examined the direct effect of technological progress on carbon emission efficiency, and the interaction effect between technological progress and energy intensity on carbon emission efficiency. Thirdly, we taking into account differences in the effect that technological progress can have on carbon emission efficiency in different national contexts. For this purpose, we evaluated the carbon emission efficiency of 59 countries in the period 1998–2016 using a super-SBM model, subsequently employing a national panel quantile regression method to explore the multiple effects of technological progress on the carbon emission efficiency of countries with different levels of efficiency. Our main findings indicate that the national carbon emission efficiency steadily increased across the study period, albeit with slight fluctuations, and that generally countries' carbon emission efficiency still exists great potential of enhancement. Technological progress will drive carbon emission efficiency to improve significantly, while this effect varies between countries with different levels of efficiency. Further, the interaction effects of technological progress and energy intensity are shown to exert complex effects on carbon emission efficiency, providing evidence that scientific and technological achievements need to be converted into productivity in time to offset the negative environmental effects of pollution and emissions. Governmental departments should, as a result, strengthen environmental supervision and urge enterprises to eliminate backward production capacity, introduce new technologies, and improve energy efficiency. Countries may realize the development of low-carbon sustainable societies by transforming their economic growth mode and adopting energy-saving production techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve sustainable economic development, many developing countries have continuously tightened their environmental regulations; for example, the Chinese government revised some policies to protect the environment, such as the Environmental Protection Law, and levied environmental taxes. Will these regulatory tools affect the growth of the industrial economy? What are the differences in the influence of various types of environmental regulations? Based on city-level panel data from China, this paper applied a difference-in-difference (DID) model and a bootstrap panel Granger causality test to investigate the relationship between two types of environmental regulations (command-and-control environmental regulation and market-Based incentive environmental regulation) and industrial growth. The results show that (1) Command-and-control environmental regulation (CAC) has a significant inhibitory effect on industrial growth. (2) In most regions, there is no significant Granger causality between market-based incentive environmental regulation (MBI) and industrial growth. (3) Compared with command-and-control environmental regulation, market-based incentive environmental regulation allows more flexibility for enterprises, which is more beneficial for technological innovation. Meanwhile, market-based incentive environmental regulation does little to suppress industrial growth. • Environmental regulation are subdivided into the MBI(Market-Based Incentive) and the CAC(Command and Control). • We reflect the influence of the CAC environmental regulation on overall industrial performance to the industrial growth. • It investigates the relationship between the two types of environmental regulations and industrial growth respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]