Search

Sustainability reporting has been established as a dominant but problematic communication practice in global sustainability management. In this paper, we challenge the commonplace view of reporting as the simple and textual transmission of information, by interpreting corporate sustainability reports as visual artefacts that encourage particular views of environmental issues. We discuss visualization as a key practice in communication and rhetoric, asking what visual managerialism looks like in corporate reports, focusing on a corpus drawn from the Swedish United Nations Global Compact. We engage in a three-stage rhetorical critique to identify three kinds of visualizations: numerical, diagrammatic, and pictorial, establishing how they emphasize communicative characteristics such as logic, simplicity, and clarity. We consolidate these characteristics with the term 'Powerpoint Imagination,' arguing that they construct environmental problems in terms of a technocratic solutionism, i.e., efficiency, standardization and control. We discuss some issues with the Powerpoint Imagination by contrasting it with other images from sustainability reports, concluding with implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although communication is considered crucial for collaboration in natural resource management (NRM), its role has so far been superficially studied. In this paper, we present a way to investigate this communication by focusing on its implicit aspects. We observed and examined communication in three processes that aimed to find solutions to predator-reindeer problems through collaboration between reindeer herders and wildlife authorities in northern Sweden. Despite the three processes sharing the same external and internal conditions, they developed in completely different directions. We explain this by considering each process as a social practice and identifying the character of the normative structures guiding its members' sense-making and action. We show how the structures emerged, were reproduced and affected the course of events and outcomes of each process. We conclude that recognising the significance of the implicit aspects of communication offers novel opportunities to better understand collaboration in NRM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In both policy-making and academia, the realisation is growing that transitions striving for sustainability have to be just to be socially accepted. This insight has given rise to institutionalised approaches to a "just transition" – but also beyond these, justice is a key challenge in the governance of sustainability transitions. In this paper, we examine how justice arguments are being used in national-level discourses of transition governance in Sweden. Analysing 121 policy-related documents from 2019 to 2021, we found that justice was discursively treated in a way that essentially stifled change. Political actors attempted to trump each other's justice claims rather than to genuinely engage with them. Justice concerns that would not serve re-election, such as solidarity across social boundaries, were almost absent from the material. Based on these findings, we critically explore how justice arguments contribute to politicizing transition governance in particular ways, rendering some policy options impossible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has become a new trend for the future development of Chinese agriculture to accelerate the transformation from increasing production to improving quality and realizing green growth. This paper uses the sequential DEA to measure the agricultural green total factor productivity (GTFP) of 306 Chinese cities from 1996 to 2017, then tests its convergence. The results show that the average growth rate of Chinese agricultural GTFP is 0.58%; the main driving force coming from technical progress. The convergence of agricultural GTFP has dual characteristics of stages and regions, and the significant σ convergence only exists in the central region during 1996–2003. There is significant β convergence at the national level, in the eastern and central regions, and neither convergence nor divergence in the western region. However, during 2004–2017, only the eastern region had β convergence. Finally, the conditional convergence speed is higher than the absolute convergence, and the eastern region is higher than the central. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the environmental ambition of 2023-2027 Common Agricultural Policy in France. Since conditionality and agri-environment-climate measures are only marginally improved relative to the previous period, attention is focused on the new environmental instrument of the eco-scheme that in France targets the whole farm. Results suggest low environmental progress since almost all French farms would reach the standard level of the eco-scheme by one of the three access paths with unchanged farming practices, and 85% of them would reach the superior level. The percentage of farms at the superior level would be lower for farms specialized in annual crops than for cattle farms. We then show that the payment difference of €20 per hectare between the standard and superior level is probably insufficient for farms specialized in cereals, oilseeds and protein crops to offset the additional cost of the change in farm practices required to move from the standard to the superior level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of COVID-19 made researchers notice some new points and change their focus, such as the economies of scale for residential energy use, energy dependency of societies, etc. This paper provides a bibliometric analysis of 497 articles by VOSviewer, finding that existing studies on building energy use during COVID-19 could be summarized into four keywords, i.e., building occupants, coronavirus, sustainability and monitoring and management. Significant increases in residential energy consumption are found with the increased duration of in-home-activity, while the growth rate varies between different neighborhoods, different times of day and different usage of energy. Attitudes vary toward the changing trend in the post-pandemic period, and the impacts of lockdown, new confirmed cases, social distancing, etc. on residential energy consumption have been given special attention in recent studies. Policy implications are concluded for maintaining normal operation of residential energy systems under the shock of public health emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an empirically grounded understanding of the historical processes by which economic and institutional actors, particularly industry networks operating over time, influenced regional-scale land use policies at critical junctures involving land conflicts. The research addresses understudied discourses, practices and relationships associated with changes in land use policy. The paper draws on theories of land conflicts and industry networks to examine multi-actor contestations over land use and growth. It highlights the role of industry networks of the property development and aggregate industries in influencing provincial land use policies. Using a multi-method approach, we examine a case of Ontario provincial government brokerage of conflicting proposals for the development of regional-scale lands on Toronto's urban periphery. A key finding is that fundamental differences in the organization and bargaining power of the two industries translate into differential effectiveness in multi-stakeholder negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is implemented in most countries as an administrative procedure. In this context, it is subject to the principles of administrative justice. However, to date, no empirical research has been conducted to determine the extent to which EIA decisions comply with the principles of administrative justice. In this paper, empirical data from 42 EIA cases in South Africa are used to establish EIA compliance with the administrative justice principles of lawfulness, procedural fairness and reasonableness. This is achieved by measuring EIA decisions against specially developed key performance indicators (KPIs). Overall, decisions were found to mostly comply with the principles of administrative justice. However, questions arise with regards to the quality and substance of the information feeding into the decision-making process and on which decisions are ultimately based. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the energy consumption of elderly and non-elderly households, recognizing the ever-increasing importance of the aging population for energy policy. Decisions of the domestic (in-home) and transport (out-of-home) sectors at the household level are jointly incorporated by building a multivariate Hierarchical Archimedean Copula model with intra-sector and inter-sector dependencies. Data from a life-oriented behavioral survey in Japan are used, which includes 532 elderly households and 340 non-elderly households. A variety of life-related factors, together with built environment factors, are introduced into the above model. Modeling analysis results show that inter- and intra-sector dependencies are heterogeneous across households in terms of these factors. It is found that almost equal numbers of influential factors are sensitive and insensitive to age-based sample segmentation. Various similarities and dissimilarities across energy types between elderly and non-elderly households are revealed. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue contributes to scholarly debates about the role of cities in global climate governance, reflecting on the promise, limits, and politics of cities as agents of change. It takes an empirically-informed approach drawing on multiple diverse geographical and political contexts. Overall, the special issue aims to stimulate reflection and debate about where understanding and practice needs improvement to advance the role of cities in global climate governance. Key questions that are addressed in the special issue include: To what extent do real world experiences confirm or disconfirm the high expectations of cities as agents and sites of change in addressing global climate change as expressed in urban climate governance literature? In what ways do internal political dynamics of cities enable or constrain urban climate governance? How is climate governance in cities enabled and constrained by interactions with broader governance levels? In what ways can climate governance in cities be advanced through critical attention to the previous issues? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Special Issue, we interrogate and evaluate the concept of institutional work in the domain of environmental governance, by bringing together diverse papers spanning a range of substantive and theoretical approaches. The papers apply the concept of institutional work across fields of regional development, water governance, climate change adaptation, and urban planning, and disciplines of planning, sociology, political science, geography, and anthropology. As a whole, the Special Issue contributes to a growing body of literature exploring the role of agency in processes of institutional change. This has implications for environmental governance scholarship, which emphasises the role of institutions across all scales from local to global and to understanding transformations in governance systems within which institutional change plays a central role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major challenge in post-mining land use planning is identifying areas of consensus among engaged stakeholders about major concerns and suitable post-mining land use and land management. This paper takes as an example, the Bowen Basin, a major coal-mining region in Australia where several mines are approaching closure stages but consensus on post-mining land use in this region is yet to be established. This paper examines the use of workshop processes to generate consensus among different stakeholder interests about priority issues and acceptable post-mining land use(s) in this region. Four decision-making workshops about post-mining land use were used in this study. Results show that facilitated group workshop processes involving diverse stakeholders could lead to a broad consensus about key options for future land uses at an individual site level; and also lead to the identification of the factors relevant to land-use decisions to be considered for each case study. These findings guide mining companies and government regulators about why and how to involve local and regional stakeholders in post-mining land-use decisions, and the extent to which group processes can lead to convergence of diverse interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities have tended to be seen as net consumers of ecological goods and exporters of ecological bads. However, over recent years urban metabolism, circular economy and bioeconomy concepts have sought to rebalance this seemingly parasitical relationship by seeing the urban as an ecological resource to be exploited for profit. In this review paper, we investigate the ways in which the assets and metabolic flows of the city are being recharacterised as a source of value to be maintained, extracted, enhanced and exploited. Our approach is twofold. First, we examine areas of latent potential for urban bioeconomic exploitation and issues raised in terms of fair and just cities. Second, we examine issues, tensions and challenges in reimagining the city as a site of bioeconomic value. The paper makes a distinctive contribution to the literature by defining and critically analysing the new urban bioeconomy as a form of environmental value creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informed by literature on collaboration, policy adoption, and utility governance, this paper develops and empirically tests hypotheses addressing the implications of collaboration, utility ownership and city-level commitment to sustainability on city-level clean energy policy decisions. This paper offers an answer to the question, "to what extent does collaboration between utilities and local governments influence policy adoption." We utilize cross-sectional data from the United States focused Integrated City Sustainability Database (ICSD) to perform an ordinary least squares regression analysis that investigates the degree that specific city attributes and state policy influence the creation of city-scale policy. This analysis shows that cities with a Publicly Owned Utility (POU) adopt close to two energy policies more than similar cities served by an IOU. Higher levels of collaboration among cities and with an Investor Owned Utility (IOU) can offset a portion of the adoption gap for community-oriented energy policy, but has little to no impact on governmental or renewable policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulations and financial support for agriculture have been respectively proved as important means to break through the dilemma of agricultural green development in China. While their interactive influences on agricultural green development are rarely focused, as well as the mediation mechanism. This paper provides an interactive perspective by exploring the direct and indirect mechanisms affecting the relationship between environmental regulations, financial support for agriculture, and agricultural green development, among which the mediating effects of agricultural infrastructure, are further discussed. Based on the provincial panel data for China from the year 2000 to 2021, this paper constructs a fixed effect model, mediating effects model, and threshold panel model to empirically test the direct and indirect effects of environmental regulations and financial support for agriculture on agricultural green development. The results show that: (1) The full sample of agricultural green development in China shows an M-shaped trend, environmental regulations and financial support for agriculture show spatial and temporal heterogeneity among regions. (2) Environmental regulations, financial support for agriculture, and their interaction all have positive effects on agricultural green development, while their interactive effect is greater. (3) Agricultural power facilities not only significantly mediate the relationship between financial support for agriculture and agricultural green development, but also play a mediating role in the positive effect of the interaction between environmental regulations and financial support on agricultural green development. While rural transportation facilities only significantly mediate the positive effect of the interaction between environmental regulations and financial support for agriculture on agricultural green development. (4) Heterogeneity analysis results show that the effect of the interaction between environmental regulations and financial support for agriculture on agricultural green development is greatest in agricultural optimized developing areas; however moderate developing areas are insignificant. This research contributes to understanding how environmental regulations and financial support for agriculture affect agricultural green development and extends the mediating role of agricultural infrastructure in their relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically analyses the relationship between urban form and Urban Heat Island (UHI) in a dataset of 523 European cities that matches remotely sensed land-use and surface temperature data. A UHI anomaly is defined as an uninterrupted streak of days where the temperature differential measured at 12.00 AM between the city core and its surroundings is higher than a given threshold. From this definition, three UHI indicators are obtained: mean intensity, mean duration of the event and occurrence rate. We study the influence of urban morphology on the UHI indictors with a Heckman model. A sample selection bias is detected for mean intensity and mean duration. The estimation results also show that some urban morphological features have a mitigating effect, while some others play a role at the adaptation level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protection and mitigation of biodiversity are essential within land-use planning; highlighted by the increased importance of nature during the global pandemic and the fight against climate change. Currently, the character of both the land and decision-makers can influence the weight biodiversity is ascribed within planning processes. Through analysis of semi-structured interviews, with various actors within the Northamptonshire planning system, this research explored the opportunities and challenges around promoting biodiversity across brownfield sites; the motivations for conservation by different planning actors; and what this means for the future of urban habitats on previously developed land. This research found that brownfield sites continue to be undervalued for their biodiversity potential, predominantly due to the downplaying of ecological expertise in decision-making. With England's proposed planning reforms, this paper argues that tensions between brownfield redevelopment and biodiversity conservation stand to be further exacerbated as the government intends to "scythe through red tape" (Johnson 2020b). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality while stabilizing economic development, enterprises need to achieve technological and management changes, and digital transformation is an important channel for change. This paper uses the 2010–2020 data on the A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from China’s power industry and takes these companies as research objects. The results show that enterprise digital transformation can significantly improve carbon total factor productivity (CTFP). Heterogeneity analysis shows that in state-owned enterprises and in those enterprises integrating coal and electricity, a high proportion of clean energy installed capacity and a high level of profitability result in greater improvements. The mechanism test shows that enterprise digital transformation changes factor preference and marginal output, significantly promotes factor-biased technological progress, and saves costs on expensive factors such as energy, thus improving CTFP. This paper provides new ideas for globally promoting digital transformation and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the non-linear effect of education level on ecological footprint considering changes in population structure and per capita income. The results show an inhibitory effect for the level of education on increases in ecological footprint. In high-income countries, this inhibitory effect is non-linear. The inhibitory effect of education level on ecological footprint increases with increases in education level. In addition, population structure also has an inhibitory effect on the increase in ecological footprint. In both high-income and low-income countries, the inhibitory effect of population structure on the ecological footprint decreases when the population structure exceeds the threshold. However, there is a promotional effect of GDP per capita on the increase in ecological footprint. And the threshold regression results show that this promotional effect is linear in all income groups. Finally, this study suggests that countries should develop environmental sustainability policies according to the threshold range in which their education level, population structure, and per capita income are located. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public participation in public infrastructure megaprojects (PIMs) is ineffective, and research on the issues of informal institutions' influence on stakeholders is limited. The present study answered how informal institutions influence the practices of public participation while conflicts occur among stakeholders. Two PIMs in China were used as case studies to investigate the effects of informal institutions. The paper suggests that the adversarial relationships among stakeholders can be reconciled by recognizing that informal institutions encompass the social responsibility of PIMs (SR-PIMs) and culture. Results also showed that effective public participation entails the fulfillment of SR-PIMs by responsible behaviors of stakeholders and the positive effect of cultural tension, enabling participatory awareness of stakeholders. This study improves understanding of how to mobilize stakeholders in practice with responsible behaviors to reach a consensus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports results from three studies concerning outdoor recreation participation and trends during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden. The studies, undertaken at national, regional and local levels, used surveys, interviews and PPGIS approaches, to build a solid knowledge base. Results are analyzed with particular attention given to management and policy implications based on the following observations: increased outdoor recreation participation, changes in lifestyle and routines, new visitor profiles and activity trends, spatial changes, visitor displacement, spatial redistribution, and indications of post-pandemic outdoor recreation behavior. The Swedish case is of special interest because of high accessibility to nature areas and few restrictions to recreate in nature due to the pandemic. Hence, this study could serve as a reference for other countries with more COVID-19 related restrictions and less accessible nature for recreation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the potential effect of industrial transfer on carbon lock-in in China, this paper constructed the measurement formula of industrial transfer based on output and demand, and calculated carbon lock-in according to carbon sink and carbon emissions. By means of a spatial autoregressive model and a panel threshold model, we discussed the spatial spillover of carbon lock-in and the effect of industrial transfer. The findings are as follows: (1) The level of carbon lock-in does have a positive spatial spillover effect between economic neighboring provinces. (2) The effect of industrial transfer on carbon lock-in depends on industry characteristics. (3) Technological progress has direct and indirect carbon unlocking effects, energy structure, trade openness and increased fiscal expenditure exacerbate the carbon lock-in dilemma, while economic growth and carbon lock-in show an inverted "U" relationship. (4) There is a non-linear relationship between industrial transfer and carbon lock-in. Finally, we propose some recommendations to reduce dependence on high-carbon fossil energy and speed up the process of carbon unlocking in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In gearing up environmental impact assessment (EIA) as a tool for achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 – ensuring sustainable consumption and production – the concept of industrial ecology (IE) can offer valuable innovations. IE urges the derivation of sustainable and innovative designs from nature. This contribution sought to explore how to operationalize IE within EIA, and to anticipate some foreseeable challenges. A narrative literature review was employed to synthesize prior research. The study suggests that the proposed approach may improve EIA' potential to steer decisions toward SDG12 by strengthening the process's theoretical, analytical, and participatory components. IE's implications for EIA practice are discussed against five key challenges; human resource deficits, informational gaps, institutional barriers, financial resources gaps, and EIA systems' malfunctions. The paper is expected to raise awareness, urge governments to mobilize their EIA systems to meet SDG targets and stimulate further research on the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bushfires are a global climate change challenge and a critical disaster issue for Australia. Adaptive governance has emerged as a model to address socio-ecological issues such as disasters. This paper discusses four principles of adaptive governance: polycentric institutions, collaboration, social learning, and reflexivity and examines how these are reflected in the policy and practice of bushfire management in the South West of Australia. Findings demonstrate that current disaster policy discourse, which influences bushfire management, increasingly advocates for principles associated with adaptive governance. However, a case study on the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River found that the extent to which these principles translate into bushfire management practice is largely influenced by interpretive worldview policy frames. The paper suggests that governance for bushfire management could become more adaptive in its approach by incorporating more collaborative management activities, deliberative policy processes and reflexive practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydro-hazards are increasing in frequency due to climate change which has inspired a cultural change in Flood Risk Management (FRM). Uncertainty associated with climate change has resulted in a shift towards flood resilience as it helps deal with unexpected climatic perturbations that impact extreme flows. The concept of resilience has increased in popularity, leading to a multitude of definitions, measurements and applications. This paper systematically reviews the FRM literature to provide clarity on the differing perspectives of resilience and how they influence successful implementation of the concept. Our analysis assesses where FRM is positioned within three pre-defined interdisciplinary understandings of resilience. The polysemic nature of resilience has produced a multitude of different perspectives that prevent successful operationalisation. Resilience is interdisciplinary; therefore it requires integration between top-down and bottom-up FRM approaches, as well as a more holistic approach to the interdependence between temporal and spatial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper complements the few regional studies on the sustainability–competitiveness nexus by providing a novel composite index of sustainable competitiveness for 272 European regions in 28 European countries. Principal component factor analysis is combined with a variance-based structural equation model to create a statistically reliable index, which overcomes the methodological issues of previous studies. Especially, the use of the latter also allows estimation of the cause–effect relationships between the different pillars of sustainable competitiveness, where empirical evidence is scarce. The paper shows that favorable ecological, social, and economic environments can jointly contribute to facilitating long-term sustainable competitiveness outcomes. Thereby, the progress in one dimension is not necessarily at the expense of another dimension of sustainable competitiveness. The proposed index reveals important insights for policymakers into the sustainable competitiveness trajectory of European regions. Region-specific plans for action can be derived and new policy conclusions can be drawn from the index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste minimization is an important strategy for addressing waste management challenges. Generally, C&D waste minimization is a complex and open system involving various interrelated processes, elements and stakeholders. Previous studies have investigated internal factors of the system, but neglected effects of external factors and interactions between internal and external factors. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate China's C&D waste minimization system from the perspectives of integrity and dynamics. Based on the dissipative structure theory, the paper examines whether China's C&D waste minimization system is a dissipative structure, given that a dissipative structure system can transform itself from disordered state to ordered state spontaneously through interactions among the inherent subsystems and elements involved. Firstly, 28 factors influencing waste minimization are identified. Secondly, the Brusselator model and entropy methods are adopted for empirical analysis with the data collected by questionnaire survey. The findings reveal that China's current C&D waste minimization system is not a dissipative structure; consequently, the development of the system cannot form a macroscopic stable and orderly structure through self-organization. Accordingly, suggestions are proposed to effectively promote the C&D waste minimization system toward a dissipative structure. The findings are expected to enhance the C&D waste minimization system through forming a dissipative structure and consequently achieving orderly and coordinated system development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments all over the world experience institutional conflicts in transforming their fossil-based energy system into a more renewable one. Between national, regional, and local tiers of government tensions rise on meeting renewable energy objectives. Under the institutional arrangement of subsidiarity, decisions on renewable energy policy objectives are taken on the international level, while the implementation of policy increasingly becomes a local responsibility. In this paper, we use an institutional framework to analyze the tensions in interactions between tiers of governments on four cases of Dutch wind energy policy implementation. The analysis offers insights into how tensions emerge in top-down wind energy policy implementation in the Netherlands. Within the four cases, tensions between government tiers are found, serving to constrain local tiers of government to implement local policy and object to top-down development. The results indicate that local issues aren't sufficiently addressed in higher-tier government policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementation outcomes of the Ambient Air Quality Directive (AAQD) (2008/50/EC)) are weak across European Union (EU) member states. In the UK, Local Authorities (LAs) must work toward reducing air pollution, however, means of assessing the extent and effectiveness of their contribution are limited. This paper develops a framework to evaluate policies implemented by UK LAs to address air pollution and applies it to Air Quality Action Plans (AQAP) of five cities. It looks at how, and the extent to which, LA air quality policies align with AAQD requirements, thus advancing empirical and academic knowledge on implementation literature surrounding multi-level governance, specifically the policy disconnect between the AAQD and UK Local Air Quality Management (LAQM). The application of the framework shows how LAs can better integrate AQAPs into their LAQM plans to assess, develop, improve and implement their air quality policies on the ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an assessment framework tool to analyze the performance of nature-based solutions (NBS) for hydro-meteorological risk management. The tool is based on multi-criteria decision analysis within the context of NBSs, an umbrella concept currently in focus that promotes nature and provides ecological and socio-economic benefits. The proposed tool includes the selection and application of key performance indicators (KPIs) for the co-benefits and costs associated with the implementation of NBSs. To ensure high societal impact, the tool relies on a participatory approach. Stakeholder preferences are taken into account within the assessment process. As such, the assessment framework can be used as a design and selection tool for NBSs and other alternative measures, including grey and hybrid solutions. The proposed procedure can be adapted to the specific socio-environmental context and hydro-meteorological risk by tailoring the set of relevant KPIs. The assessment framework is useful for monitoring the implemented measures and to document their effectiveness. The methodology provides quantitative and transparent documentation of hydro-meteorological risk management processes, useful for decision- and policy-makers, and stakeholders dealing with NBS measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new pattern of urbanization, smart cities offer a set of initiatives to achieve a win-win situation for both environmental protection and economic development. This paper aims to explore the influence of smart city policy (SCP) on green technology innovation (GTI) by Chinese listed enterprises. Employing the difference-in-differences (DID) approach, the results show that SCP promotes enterprises' GTI. This finding remains valid after various robustness tests, which include the parallel trend test, PSM-DID, placebo test, the substitution of estimation model, replacement of dependent variable, and the exclusion of the impacts of other policies. Additional tests reveal that SCP improves GTI through government environmental subsidy, corporate environmental awareness, and research and development investments. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis suggests that our findings are more prominent in subsamples during the growth stage, in high-tech industries, and in eastern regions. Our research is vital to the urban ecological environment and high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, British Columbia (BC) adopted Bill 41: The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). DRIPA committed BC to developing a new planning process, modernized land use planning, that involves ethical collaboration with Indigenous Peoples. Although ethical decision-making in planning theory has emerged in academic discourse, planning practitioners are missing clear frameworks to implement theory in practice. Ethical Space, a conceptual approach used to balance power between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, may prove to be a promising implementation framework. This paper offers an exploratory application of Ethical Space for land use planning in Upper Columbia, a region in expressed need of modernized land use planning efforts. Research methods include semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Findings present recommendations for Upper Columbia governments to begin Ethical Space in land use planning. Key insights are transferable to planners with an interest in ethical collaborations between multiple governance structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze the effect of natural hazards on migration in the United States (US) and the importance of spatial dependence in such assessments. We use two measures of migration: migration rates and flows. The model for migration flows is estimated using the gravity model, whereas out- and in-migration rates are analyzed using the spatial Durbin model. Our results indicate there is a major and significant impact of economic damage caused by natural hazards on out-migration rates and outward migration flows. In the spatial Durbin model and in the gravity model, a $1,000 dollar damage per capita is associated with an increase in out-migration of 16.0% and 9.1%, respectively. However, when spatial dependence is not accounted for, the effect of natural hazards on migration is substantially overestimated: the coefficients are 1.5–2 times larger when spatial dependence is not considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the various proposed models for practically developing a circular economy system, industrial symbiosis (IS) is one of the most promising. This paper aims at better understanding the extent to which regional industrial symbiosis practices have been internalized in companies and, second, at identifying the most important barriers that impede a company from the adoption of such practices at regional level. The research is grounded on original data collected using a questionnaire. The results allowed the division of firms into four clusters corresponding to different levels of adoption: (i) the perfectly symbiont companies that undertake all the proposed industrial symbiosis practices; (ii) the non-adopters that are low in terms of IS activities; (iii) the resource savers that focus on the use of by-products or waste from other companies; and the (iv) outbound activity optimizers that concentrate on the sale of their by-products and waste to other companies. Moreover, the results contributed to the identification of regulatory constraints and high investment costs and difficulties in finding financing as significant causes that hinder companies in the adoption of regional industrial symbiosis practices, while networking and logistic barriers appear not to be relevant. To overcome these barriers and to promote the adoption of IS at regional level, supporting the transition towards the circular paradigm, several political and managerial suggestions are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of trust in mosaic governance (MG) and is based on in-depth case studies in three municipalities with green volunteers and municipal planners in three municipalities in Denmark. MG refers to a normative governance design focused at stimulating the reflexive co-creation and management of natural areas. Results show that trust is crucial for successful collaboration between municipalities and green volunteers, and hence the unfolding of MG. Municipalities with higher levels of volunteer engagement report greater trust between volunteers and public officials. We show how different kinds of trust (institutional, procedural, rational, and affinitive) influence how collaborations are organized, and how the institutional context influences the possibilities for green volunteer engagement. Trust comes into play in different places and phases of MG and can be said to be the lubricant of MG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates changes in decision-makers' attitudes toward environmentally sustainable urban development in selected Norwegian urban settlements between 1991 and 2020. Changes in general environmental attitudes, problem perceptions and policy preferences concerning urban development are analyzed based on a survey conducted three decades apart in the same case areas among similar samples of decision-makers. The results show a general picture of some mainstreaming of environmental concern, environmentally friendly attitudes and positive attitudes toward measures supporting nature and climate friendly urban development. At the same time, there has been an increased divide between the political left and the political right in their attitudes toward environmental issues in general, as well as toward environmentally sustainable urban development. The results point to a widening gap between environmental attitudes and problem perceptions on the one hand, and the physical reality of escalating crises in the natural world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how cities develop climate plans is crucial to capture their potential to achieve ambitious climate goals. Previous literature has highlighted the role of external pressures or heroic actors in driving local changes. By highlighting the everyday practices of actors in urban climate planning, we reveal new sets of contradictions in climate governance. Drawing from social practice theory, this paper examines how contradictions were managed in the process of developing a new climate plan in Bergen, Norway. Through a variety of empirical sources, we explore the strategic value these offer, and the organisational work accomplished by the navigation of contradictions. We highlight three strategic benefits of negotiating contradictions: the legitimisation, expansion and signalling of climate work. In conclusion, the paper argues that considering practices of climate planning reveals novel forms of agency, namely the potential of mundane organisational processes and the pivotal role of civil servants in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of environmental governance has received considerable attention. While extensive research focuses on the relationship between economic growth and environmental protection, this paper provides a different perspective by exploring the mechanisms affecting the relationship between land-based revenue and environmental performance. Based on the regression analyses of province-level data during 2000-2018 in China, the results show that: (1) land-based finance has a significantly positive impact on air pollution; (2) both central government policies and local residents' concerns incentivize local governments to improve environmental quality through land revenue; (3) regional differences exist regarding the impact of these two factors, probably due to various development stages and financial conditions; (4) local governments tend to increase expenditure on environmental protection by taking residents' concerns into consideration. This research contributes to understanding the driving forces behind the relationship between land finance and environmental performance, and it extends our knowledge of local governments' decision-making processes to accomplish multiple tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous wildfire management agencies and institutions rely primarily on simple risk approaches to wildfire that focus on technical risk assessments that do not reflect the complexity of contemporary wildfire risk. This review paper argues that such insufficiently complex conceptualizations of risk, which do not account for the social and ecological diversity of fire-prone areas, are key contributors to the continued wildfire dilemma. We discuss distinctions between approaching wildfire as a simple and a complex risk and illuminate the need for expanded and complimentary ways to further fire adaptation. We then share five principles to guide approaching wildfire as a complex risk to increase adaptation to and coexistence with wildfire. Such efforts are more likely to yield socially relevant and legitimate strategies for building wildfire adapted communities by recognizing and accounting for the complexities of wildfire governance amongst a variety of stakeholders who may operate at various scales using different knowledge systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resource conservation, sustainability, quality, and cost control have been considered significant issues for the construction sector worldwide. Green Lean Six Sigma not only improves quality, process flow, resource conservation, and environmental performance but also minimizes cost, waste, and lead time. The construction sector in Pakistan is struggling to adopt sustainable and quality-oriented practices. In this context, this paper aims to identify Green Lean Six Sigma enablers from the perspective of Pakistan's construction industry. Interpretive Structural Modelling consolidated with the Fuzzy Matrice d'Impacts Croises – Multipication Applique a classement technique, was employed to establish an ISM model and measure fuzzy indirect interactions, strengths, effectiveness and categorization of enablers. The findings signify that the most significant driving enablers are government support and incentives, availability of financial resources, top-management determination to enhance sustainability, and organizational capability and quality maturity level for GLS operations. These results could facilitate practitioners, policymakers, and government by providing insights to promote GLS methods for the sustainable growth of the construction sector. This study will assist practitioners and policymakers in developing appropriate strategies considering the intricate relationships and intensity of influence among Green, Lean and Six Sigma enablers during GLS adoption. Researchers can identify and analyze the elements related to their industries and country. Society will benefit in terms of health and the environmentally friendly built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Travel cost (TC) data are often collected on-site, raising the question of on-site sampling bias. In addition, the motivations behind visiting a recreational area are diverse and differ across individuals, with the potential implications that preferences for trips are heterogenous. This is particularly true for recreational fishing areas that include multiple sites and within which multiple fishing activities are pursued. Comparing four single-site negative binomial models, this paper shows the importance of accounting for on-site sampling and heterogenous preferences simultaneously. The magnitude of the bias resulting from addressing these two issues separately is examined in terms of variation in consumer surplus, predicted mean trip and price elasticity. The paper further proposes an empirical strategy that addresses the issue of missing income bias. This bias occurs when respondents who do not report their income are significantly different in terms of their trip behavior from those with an average income level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sand and dust storms (SDS) are a natural phenomenon dominantly originating in arid and semi-arid regions. The vastness and changing distribution of the SDS hotspots, their inaccessibility, and financial limitations are the greatest challenges to projects combating SDS. To boost project success, a prioritized site-selection method which incorporates the physical and human variables interacting with SDS is applied in this paper. This ensures that potential economic and health impacts of SDS on human populations are also included. Six variables were selected for analysis: within-region sand and dust hotspots, changing distribution of the hotspots, residential areas, vegetation cover, soil texture, and the maximum drought-inundation of the Hamoun wetland. SDS hotspot sites for possible stabilization were identified and prioritized using the multi criteria evaluation (MCE) method. Such prioritization assists the practical management of hotspots under conditions of resource and budgetary constraints which are especially common in developing countries. This paper thus provides a template for site selection and prioritization of SDS hotspots for remediation. It also highlights the importance of variables other than SDS source areas for selection of rehabilitation sites. The proposed method, using the Sistan region as an example, is applicable to other regions of the world as a means of reducing the negative effects of known dust storm hotspots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how the political economy of waste utility services is changing in response to circular economy programs. It focuses on the financial composition, economic position and geography of three sectors: waste recycling, incineration, and urban waste reuse. Building on an empirical analysis of these sectors in the Netherlands, specifically the Amsterdam city-region, it puts forward three key arguments. First, waste recovery corporations are becoming increasingly global and dependent on steady flows of waste. Second, incineration facilities play a central yet uncertain role in planning for the circular economy. Third, the circular economy is driving an emerging material reuse market in cities. The paper concludes by arguing that ongoing changes in waste markets run the risk of making (circular) economies even more dependent on wasteful consumption and production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests are vital ecosystems on a global, regional and local scale, but are under threat from a variety of competing land uses. Integrated landscape approaches have been proposed as a way to create sustainable land use for forests and forest communities through a more integrated, holistic approach to governing resources. A variety of principles for managing landscapes have been proposed as a framework for implementation, but these landscape approaches suffer from a limited theoretical and conceptual basis. This paper seeks to address such shortcomings by identifying and integrating the theoretical components of landscape approaches into a common framework. The paper analyses landscape disciplines, practices and activities and the implementation of common landscapelevel principles in the context of forest landscapes to identify the underlying key components. The paper argues that management across a forest landscape must be underpinned by three pillars: ecosystem integrity, strong governance systems and effective planning processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores what happens when the ideal of sustainable development meets the real and pressing problems in coastal zone planning. Insights into how coastal zone planners understand environmental problems and navigate political visions, knowledge requirements, stakeholder involvement and local conditions, are key to understanding how to develop a holistic approach in line with sustainable development. The paper applies Q-methodology to identify the dominant discourses and explore planners' perceptions and practices for sustainable coastal zone management. The Q sorts were realized in 2018-2019 in Northern Norway with planners in 10 small municipalities and 8 county level representatives. It is argued that it provides new insights into the challenges that planners face in striking a balance between the overarching values and the practical tasks that planners face in everyday planning; and that the interpretation of factors using Q-methodology should focus on all statements to ensure holism and avoid overlooking important information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we reflect on the evolution of place-based governance from a long-term (15 year) study of rural development initiatives undertaken in a region of Poland as part of its accession to the European Union. We decompose the recursive process of institutional learning arising from initiatives for heritage preservation and rural economic development. In our analysis, we elaborate a typology of unavoidable development dilemmas that must be explicitly managed in order to allow place-based governance to effectively harness the cultural value, social context, and developmental needs of certain locales or landscapes. Although creating and sustaining local value remain contingent on broader realities of governance, proactive management of these dilemmas can help prevent many of the usual contestations around goals and identity from becoming intractable in later periods. Our proposed approach to enabling place-based governance emphasizes conflict recognition and engagement as important complements to more common prescriptive models of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, meta-analysis was carried out to explore the influence of socio-economics, research design, theoretical construction, and measurement factors on the five paths among the elements of Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The findings suggested that (i) subjective norm shows relatively poor explanatory efficacy due to narrow measurement range; (ii) perceived behavioral control shows the lowest explanatory efficacy because of missing the measurement of perceived control; (iii) there are too few items to measure the recycling intention, making the measurement inaccurate in reflecting participants' psychological performance; (iv) the application accuracy of TPB increases with the sample size, which should be no less than 600; (v) introducing additional variables degrades the application accuracy of TPB in most cases due to their high correlation with standard elements; and (vi) research time, local economic level, participant's characteristics, and waste type also affect the application accuracy. Finally, improvement suggestions were also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite sustained interest in spatial planning approaches for steering renewable energy development, the effect of these practices remains poorly understood. This paper addresses this knowledge deficit through comparative analysis of the effects of spatial planning approaches on wind energy deployment in Italy and the UK. Our approach elucidates the different roles that spatial planning approaches can perform using a "modes of governing" framework that, innovatively, recognizes the unavoidable compromises involved in their construction. Several distinctive findings emerge. First, governments deploy spatial planning approaches with different governance purposes, thus explaining why the effects on RE outcomes can be ambiguous. Second, many of the challenges that beset spatial planning approaches arise not from technical-methodological issues but from difficult-to-resolve governance challenges of cross-scalar coordination. Third, we show that the efficacy of spatial planning approaches in shaping RE deployment is contextual in nature, reflecting how far their inherent compromises are accepted by key actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a relational two-stage network data envelopment analysis (DEA) model considering undesirable outputs, this paper evaluates both the process and system performances of industrial environmental governance in China's 30 provincial-level regions during 1998–2015. Furthermore, this is the first study to apply the spatial econometric models with a geographical distance matrix to investigate the local and spatial spillover effects of environmental regulations on heterogeneous environmental governance performance (i.e. clean production and end-of-pipe treatment performances). The results show that clean production performance is generally higher than end-of-pipe treatment performance, but both performances present a declining trend during the sample period. The estimation results of the spatial econometric models confirm the Porter hypothesis market-based environmental regulations improve local clean production performance. By contrast, we also find that command-and-control environmental regulations improve end-of-pipe treatment performance but curb clean production performance, and exert a "race-to-the-top" effect on local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of stricter environmental regulations and more intense market competition, how to improve the efficiency of airlines has become a hot topic. In this paper, we construct a Network Slack-Based Measures (NSBM) model with double frontiers to evaluate airlines from an optimistic perspective, a pessimistic view, and the integration of optimistic and pessimistic viewpoints. The empirical study is based on data for 24 global airlines in 2018 and considers two situations when there is only crisp data and when there exists interval data. A three-stage network model (including operation stage, service stage, and sales stage) is constructed to explore the driving factors of airline efficiency. The results show that optimistic efficiency targets efficient stages, while pessimistic efficiency is more capable of finding the inefficient stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]