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Uncertainty in economic policies and regulations incentivizes firms to delay investments in environmental research and developments (R&D) or postpone environmental projects that are costly to undo. A consequence of those decisions is that firms innovate less for the environment. Using 1026 U.S. firm data (equivalent to 13,241 firm-year observations) this study shows that a negative effect of policy uncertainty – a drop in environmental innovation – does not surface in the short term but in the longer term, i.e., in 5–6 years' time. The negative effect, nevertheless, dissipates after six years. These findings are of relevance to other developed countries as well as emerging countries that have a relatively higher uncertainty in their economic policies and regulations. In sum, the results call for attention from governments and regulators around the world: uncertainty in policies and regulations are detrimental to combating climate change and promoting environmental sustainability . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the conceptual and practical linkages between climate change governance, diversity of authority and regenerative sustainability. It empirically explains such linkages in the context of adaptive flood risk management in the delta cities of Rotterdam and Hong Kong which are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. It addresses three questions: 1) if what is being witnessed is a transition to more inclusive, engaging, empowering, place-sensitive modes of urban climate governance gaining authority to deliver climate policy, how should these transitions be conceptualized and analysed ? 2) how do transitions towards collaborative governance and regenerative sustainability and the deployment of authority in these transitions serve manage the risk of flooding in places with different cultural and climatic settings? 3) what do different cases demonstrate in terms of the practical pathways and examples of implementation of regenerative sustainability ? Conceptual and empirical understandings are needed to assess whether these new, flexible forms of governance might ultimately challenge state-centred authority in the policy responses to climate change. This paper reveals that new governance systems are diluting, not supplanting, state authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production focuses on “Energy for Sustainable Future”. It is designed to mirror the increasing relevance of renewable energy sources and improved efficiency as crucial topics for practitioners in industry, for governmental policy makers, as well as for civic service providers, researchers, and educators. The purpose of this special issue is to serve as a catalyst for dialogue. The global warming related to CO2 emissions, coupled with steeply rising energy prices and the recent global financial institutional melt-down are causing massive societal concerns and give rise to increasing demand for ways to improve societal and individual energy efficiency and for ways to shift increasingly to alternative, low or non-carbon based energy systems. Until recently, industrial energy efficiency improvements have focused on improvements on efficiency rather than on the integration of renewable sources. The aim of this special issue is the identification of policies to support the development and implementation of technologies and management approaches we can employ to make the transition to more sustainable societies. The collection of papers in this special issue provide a foundation for students, researchers, scholars, practitioners and policy makers interested in making sustainable development more than a metaphor. The papers include focus upon ways for: [(a)] Improving industrial process to achieve improvements in energy efficiency. [(b)] Minimising waste disposals and reducing their impact through better management. [(c)] Reducing CO2 emissions by making progress toward lower carbon, renewable energy based systems, [(d)] Improving production of biofuels and hydrogen production systems, facilitated by employing cleaner production and novel LCA tools. [(e)] Improving integration of advanced materials and energy efficient equipment in different industrial sectors. Current and future developments in national and world economies are closely connected to sustainable, efficient and safe usage of raw materials and upon energy based on cleaner production concepts and approaches that are ecologically and economically appropriate for the short and for the long-term future of society. These challenges have received considerable attention in the media and scientific journals over the last several years. The idea of developing a specialised conference focussed upon them was put forward on various occasions. Focus upon them became reality on the 5th and 6th May 2008 in the historic Castle of Veszprém, Hungary, the current premises of the Hungarian Academy of Science which hosted the Workshop. The Workshop was a stimulating event and an overwhelming success, with nearly 100 contributors from Africa, North America, Asia and Europe, representing 28 countries. After a comprehensive selection and thorough reviewing procedure 11 papers were selected for this special issue. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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]

Ensuring policy coherence across environmental, social and economic goals is a key challenge to sustainable development. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their constituent targets and indicators provide a framework to track progress of the multiple dimensions that characterise sustainability. Though the SDGs are all expressly equally important, they vary in complexity, the level of agreement on key concepts and definitions, representativeness of indicators, and availability of data. Here, by analysing quantitatively the implementation of the SDGs in the European Union, we show that the environmental goals are by some distance the most complex and least coherent of the SDGs. We highlight the need to improve data availability and prioritise both monitoring and strengthening of coherence within and among biodiversity and climate SDGs in particular. Our findings inform critical areas for financing sustainable development and provide solutions for designing post-2030 Agendas with improved potential for achieving policy coherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Threats posed by global climate change have heightened the urgency for economies to transition to sustainability. However, quantitative metrics that measure sustainability status remain under development, hampered in part by the difficulty of identifying clear relationships between economic growth and sustainability. The Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis provides a framework for describing sustainability status relative to socioeconomic development. In this study, the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis was adopted to investigate statistical relationships between the carbon intensity of human well-being (as an indicator of sustainability) and economic development in eight economic zones of China during 1997–2015. The results provide new evidence that seven of eight Chinese economic zones began advances to sustainability (defined here as downward turning points marked by inverted "N" shapes in the Environmental Kuznets Curve) between 2012 and 2015. The lone exception was the Northwestern economic zone, in which an approach to sustainability had not yet occurred by 2015. This study thus supports the contention that environmental policies and technologies have contributed to improving sustainability in terms of carbon intensity. The results suggest two strategic options for further increasing sustainability in China: 1) "first help the weakest"; and 2) "first help the latest to sustainability". • Advance to sustainability defined in terms of carbon intensity of human well-being. • Almost all economic zones in China began advances to sustainability around 2013. • Only the Northwestern economic zone had yet to reach a turning point by 2015. • Assessment shows progress toward international obligations and national objectives. • Both environmental policies and technological advances have contributed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]