Search

Copyright of Chemkon - Chemie Konkret is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Governments and policymakers worldwide have been setting targets to achieve an ambitious net‐zero emission target by 2050 to tackle the pressing issue of climate change. However, achieving the net‐zero emission target by 2050 depends on the factors determining the transition from traditional fossil fuel energy sources to renewables. In connection with this, policymakers have emphasised the need to transition from a linear to a circular economy. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of the progress towards a circular economy in reducing CO2 emissions and promoting environmental sustainability. To do so, we use annual historical data for a panel of 29 European countries from 2000 to 2020. Using an identification strategy that adopts heteroscedastic‐based instrumental variables and addresses endogeneity issues, we find that progress towards a circular economy significantly improves environmental quality via reducing CO2 emissions. Our findings suggest that business strategies promoting recycling and circular economy practices play an important role in environmental sustainability by reducing emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the relationship between Blockchain technology and new sustainable business models (SBMs). The literature notes a lack of empirical classifications and successful case studies. Using a multiple case studies methodology, our research article aims to answer the research question (RQ): How can Blockchain enable new SBMs and support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? We present 20 business stories extracted from a combined analysis of the databases coinmarketcap.com and icobench.com, demonstrating how Blockchain can be used for environmental management. Notably, our analysis finds out four broad research clusters related to (i) smart energy management, (ii) climate change, (iii) waste management, and (iv) sustainable production. Mainly, an actual application of Blockchain toward SBMs is related to supply chain cost reduction. Finally, the research includes investments and their social scalability with Blockchain. Then, the final research cluster discovers social and proof sustainability. This study adds to the empirical literature evidence of SBMs offering a connection with the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two sides to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which appear at risk of contradiction. One calls for humanity to achieve "harmony with nature" and to protect the planet from degradation, with specific targets laid out in Goals 6, 12, 13, 14, and 15. The other calls for continued global economic growth equivalent to 3% per year, as outlined in Goal 8, as a method for achieving human development objectives. The SDGs assume that efficiency improvements will suffice to reconcile the tension between growth and ecological sustainability. This paper draws on empirical data to test whether this assumption is valid, paying particular attention to two key ecological indicators: resource use and CO2 emissions. The results show that global growth of 3% per year renders it empirically infeasible to achieve (a) any reductions in aggregate global resource use and (b) reductions in CO2 emissions rapid enough to stay within the carbon budget for 2°C. In other words, Goal 8 violates the sustainability objectives of the SDGs. The paper proposes specific changes to SDG targets in order to resolve this issue, such as removing the requirement of aggregate global growth and introducing quantified objectives for resource use per capita with substantial reductions in high‐income nations. Scaling down resource use is also the most feasible way to achieve the climate target, as it reduces energy demand. The paper presents alternative pathways for realizing human development objectives that rely on reducing inequality—both within nations and between them—rather than aggregate growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of soils to society has gained increasing recognition over the past decade, with the potential to contribute to most of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With unprecedented and growing demands for food, water and energy, there is an urgent need for a global effort to address the challenges of climate change and land degradation, whilst protecting soil as a natural resource. In this paper, we identify the contribution of soil science over the past decade to addressing gaps in our knowledge regarding major environmental challenges: climate change, food security, water security, urban development, and ecosystem functioning and biodiversity. Continuing to address knowledge gaps in soil science is essential for the achievement of the SDGs. However, with limited time and budget, it is also pertinent to identify effective methods of working that ensure the research carried out leads to real‐world impact. Here, we suggest three strategies for the next decade of soil science, comprising a greater implementation of research into policy, interdisciplinary partnerships to evaluate function trade‐offs and synergies between soils and other environmental domains, and integrating monitoring and modelling methods to ensure soil‐based policies can withstand the uncertainties of the future. Highlights: We highlight the contributions of soil science to five major environmental challenges since 2010.Researchers have contributed to recommendation reports, but work is rarely translated into policy.Interdisciplinary work should assess trade‐offs and synergies between soils and other domains.Integrating monitoring and modelling is key for robust and sustainable soils‐based policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study addresses how the sustainability crisis may be overcome by using alternatives to the conventional economic growth paradigm. Based on a literature review, the paper identifies and discusses three alternatives, namely negative, zero and positive economic growth. These alternatives are compared from a feasibility and policy perspective in relation to the transition toward sustainable development. The three alternatives are associated with very far‐reaching sets of policies that have different focal points with regard to how the paradigm shift from the conventional growth paradigm can be realized. All these alternatives, however, challenge the effectiveness of market forces. The shortcomings of the alternatives (resistance to voluntary transition with negative or zero growth, no proper consideration of the rebound effect for positive growth) hinder the transition and must be further addressed by policy‐makers in public and private sectors, as well as by civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health of the world's oceans is intrinsically linked to the biodiversity of the ecosystems they sustain. The importance of protecting and maintaining ocean biodiversity has been affirmed through the setting of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 to conserve and sustainably use the ocean for society's continuing needs. The decade beginning 2021–2030 has additionally been declared as the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. This program aims to maximize the benefits of ocean science to the management, conservation, and sustainable development of the marine environment by facilitating communication and cooperation at the science–policy interface. A central principle of the program is the conservation of species and ecosystem components of biodiversity. However, a significant omission from the draft version of the Decade of Ocean Science Implementation Plan is the acknowledgment of the importance of monitoring and maintaining genetic biodiversity within species. In this paper, we emphasize the importance of genetic diversity to adaptive capacity, evolutionary potential, community function, and resilience within populations, as well as highlighting some of the major threats to genetic diversity in the marine environment from direct human impacts and the effects of global climate change. We then highlight the significance of ocean genetic diversity to a diverse range of socioeconomic factors in the marine environment, including marine industries, welfare and leisure pursuits, coastal communities, and wider society. Genetic biodiversity in the ocean, and its monitoring and maintenance, is then discussed with respect to its integral role in the successful realization of the 2030 vision for the Decade of Ocean Science. Finally, we suggest how ocean genetic diversity might be better integrated into biodiversity management practices through the continued interaction between environmental managers and scientists, as well as through key leverage points in industry requirements for Blue Capital financing and social responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clean‐tech innovations are an important driver in solving global issues such as climate change and for the sustainable development of economies around the world. Whereas a large part of the literature focuses on clean‐tech ventures, less is known on corporate entrepreneurship, that is, entrepreneurial behavior in established firms and its relation to sustainability. This paper extends the sustainable entrepreneurship debate to corporate entrepreneurship, which represents a fruitful avenue to further developing clean technologies. We focus particularly on clean‐tech firms' organizational preparedness for corporate entrepreneurship (OPCE), that is, how well a firm's structures and processes are set for entrepreneurial activities. On the basis of contingency theory, this study investigates how the level of OPCE influences the environmental and financial performance of clean‐tech firms and whether their environmental orientation affects these relationships. Building on data from 103 firms, we find support for a positive effect of OPCE on both environmental and financial performance. Both effects are stronger the higher the external environmental orientation. In contrast, the leverage of internal environmental orientation is not equally positive. Our study reveals that the effect of OPCE on financial performance diminishes for firms that are more strongly driven by an internal than an external environmental orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Corporations are facing increasing risks associated with ecosystems from both natural drivers, such as climate change, as well as institutional drivers resulting from retailers and brands, increasingly making supplier decisions based on life cycle reporting and indexing. These efforts reflect a transition from traditional firm sustainability to a more quantitative product focus, within which the importance and weight of earth resources and ecosystems is dramatically increasing. This paper provides an overview of the limitations traditional life cycle assessment (LCA) methods and presents emerging developments to improve on LCA for resources and ecosystems. This includes LCA efforts to account for spatial relevance, indices of stress, stocks and flows and integrated valuation of services and trade-offs. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes productivity and efficiency by using inclusive wealth as a sustainability measurement. The study extends current measures of sustainability by capturing the efficient utilization of natural capital and other conventional inputs as input and carbon damage as undesirable output in a productivity measure for 140 countries from 1995 to 2010. To determine the contribution of each input/output to productivity and technical efficiency, we applied a weighted Russell directional distance and a Luenberger productivity measure. We found that GDP, natural capital and carbon damage are the main contributors to productivity change. Natural capital and carbon damage remain significant burdens for many countries' performance, especially for countries with resource-driven economies and extreme vulnerability to climatic shifts. This finding enhances our understanding of how particular countries can measure and manage their sustainability. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper represents an effort to explore the use of Stafford Beer's Viable System Model (VSM) to design human communities that foster adaptation to criteria of sustainability in our natural and social environments. With the projected rise in sea level and other changes that accompany warming temperatures, it seems probable that many communities, even some large cities, will have to be abandoned and their populations relocated. This difficult circumstance could create tens of millions of climate change refugees. It could be met with the failure and incompetence that characterized and still characterizes the response to Hurricane Katrina or it could provide an opportunity to rebuild in a manner that combines a low impact on the environment without sacrificing quality of life. Using the framework of the VSM, three levels of recursion will be explored: the household, the neighbourhood and the city. It will be possible to draw upon lessons learned about building and maintaining cities in different climates and under different conditions over the centuries and from the construction of ‘new towns’ in the past 50 years. It has been characteristic of communities that regularly endured environmental challenges to have fostered means of collaboration and co-operation to address them and to constrain competition within bounds that did not threaten their common survival. There is no shortage of ideas and designs that could be applied but there is not yet either the political or social infrastructure to integrate and implement them. Steps taken in this direction might help to coalesce the necessary political will. The following are proposed as guidelines for design using the VSM. The community and the city's external relationships with the surrounding natural, social and economic environments should be such that they can support themselves while avoiding endangering their own survival and well being or that of their surrounding environments. Their internal operations should be such that an adequate quality of life is available to everyone from the most dependent members of its society to the most productive. They should pursue these ends with a view to maintaining a balance between collaboration/symbiosis and competition and with the fewest restrictions on the autonomy of members consistent with the other guidelines. The VSM can be both a template for design and a framework for discussion of what sustainable communities in a time of climate change might look like. Such discussions would be facilitated by Beer's Team Syntegrity process that he invented as a companion to the VSM. The process provides a whole system, high variety structure that gives equivalent status to each participant and viewpoint. This high level of communication will help to provide the cohesiveness that is needed when choices must be made and hardship shared in order to achieve a new equilibrium with the environment. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving sustainable development and meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals requires that there be an effective process of negotiating and implementing sustainable development policies and practices. This paper characterizes an evolving approach that we define as sustainable development diplomacy. Based on an analysis of the history of climate governance as a case study of sustainable development diplomacy and drawing on a diverse range of literatures including international negotiations, global environmental governance, and socio-ecological systems, it identifies seven diagnostics that can be used to evaluate the negotiation and implementation of sustainable development goals. We argue for a needs-based approach that brings together diverse stakeholders to devise flexible solutions that fit the complexity and scale of sustainable development challenges. We illustrate the diagnostic elements with examples from our case study of climate change, as one of the major global sustainable development challenges, but the diagnostics have wider applicability to sustainable development diplomacy and practice more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Irrigation & Drainage is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Irrigation & Drainage is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aims of this review are to describe the role of 'blue‐food production' (animals, plants and algae harvested from freshwater and marine environments) within a circular bioeconomy, discuss how such a framework can help the sustainability and resilience of aquaculture and to summarise key examples of novel nutrient sources that are emerging in the field of fed‐aquaculture species. Aquaculture now provides >50% of the global seafood supply, a share that is expected to increase to at least 60% within the next decade. Aquaculture is an important tool for reducing resource consumption in global protein production and increasing resilience to climate change and other global disruptions (i.e. pandemics, geo‐political instability). Importantly, blue foods also provide essential nutrition for a growing human population. Blue foods are helping to help the global goal of 'zero hunger' (United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal 2) while reducing the dependency on finite natural resources but further refinement and new solutions are needed to make the industry more 'circular' and sustainable, particularly with respect to sourcing raw materials for aquafeeds. This review describes the feed resources that are available or may be created within a circular bioeconomy framework, their role within the framework and in aquaculture and ultimately, how these resources contribute to de‐risking and establishing a resilient aquaculture production chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past three decades, sustainability science has taken on new importance as interest groups investigate better ways to tackle global challenges—environmental degradation, climate change, and human well‐being—that pose risks to communities, particularly in rural areas. Designs for sustainability require empirical evidence of what works and under what human and environmental conditions. Despite the amount of research that exists, the broad variety of research approaches and contexts makes generalizing knowledge about sustainability in rural areas challenging. This work addresses calls to consolidate the field's knowledge about rural sustainability by examining how rural sustainability has been evaluated, identifying drivers of rural sustainability and associated outcome indicators used to operationalize rural sustainability, and determining common trends in how drivers and outcomes are related. We synthesize this diverse literature to identify common themes in evaluation of rural sustainability across disciplines, global regions, and methodological approaches. Our findings indicate many methods have been used to evaluate rural sustainability, that factors derived from the Triple Bottom Line (social, economic, and environmental) are frequently used to operationalize rural sustainability, and that both direct human interventions and underlying socioeconomic drivers of sustainability are routinely examined in the literature. Overall, we find the majority of studies report positive impacts to rural sustainability, suggesting there are many avenues for creating positive change in sustainability in rural areas. However, we also find greater attention to study conceptualization, design and reporting is needed to provide greater confidence in results that inform policy and decision‐making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a robust stream of research studying the external and internal drivers of cleaner production practices, yet little of this research has combined an examination of the natural environment and the demography of human agents. Building on natural resource dependence theory (NRDT), this study establishes that wine firms are highly dependent on nature (temperature, rainfall) and face uncertainties surrounding access to eco‐system services, which act as a driver of cleaner production practices. Further, because women leaders are more likely than their male counterparts to demonstrate sensitivity towards and respect for the natural environment and sustainable development, a hypothesis is put forth that gender‐diverse leadership shapes (moderates) the main effects relationships. By studying a sample of 1886 wine firms operating in Australia over the years 2004–2018, these relationships are tested and the hypotheses confirmed. The results are discussed, with implications for theory, empirical research, practice and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the scientific community presents a relatively uniform conclusion on the ongoing global warming and the policies that are essential for sustainable development and the mitigation of the negative effects of climate change, the public opinion on the topic is far from uniform. This article studies the factors related to public awareness of climate change and environmental policy, public ideas on the supposed effects of climate change, the belief on whether climate change is caused by human activities, and the perceived possibilities to alleviate climate change by humans. We employ a set of ordinal multinomial regression analyses with spline corrections for ordinal predictors on a representative sample of 1021 respondents (aged 15–86 years, M ± SD: 47.15 ± 17.46; 19.4% with higher education, 50.60% women) from the Czech Republic. Our results suggest that life satisfaction, belief in God, interest in climate‐related issues, and the attitude to the European Union were the most relevant factors. Older people were less interested in climate, less aware of sustainable development and climate change, and less willing to take action. Women were more concerned with climate change compared to men. The effect of traditional mass media, Internet‐based social networks, and discussion forums, and personal discussions outside of the internet were less significant than expected. The article provides policy suggestions for enhanced stakeholder engagement as well as suggestions for further research on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sustainability issues are widely addressed in scientific literature and various reports by international organizations. However, there is lack of harmonized approach in addressing agricultural sustainability issues as different policies are targeting different sustainability issues in agriculture. This article analyses sustainable agriculture development and agriculture sustainability concepts and sustainability assessment approaches and tools developed for agriculture sector. Based on systematic critical literature review, this article develops the new indicators framework for sustainability assessment in agriculture which allows us to achieve harmonization of sustainable development, climate and agricultural policies in European Union (EU). The proposed indicators framework allows us to address the main sustainability issues of agriculture by linking them with sustainable development goals, environmental, climate and rural development policy priorities in EU. The main contribution of this article is linking rural policy goals with sustainable development, climate change mitigation and environmental policy goals by providing agricultural sustainability assessment framework allowing us to track these linkages through indicators system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change will adversely affect the health of populations and the ability of healthcare systems to deliver appropriate and timely care. Furthermore, resource scarcity requires nurses to practice in more sustainable ways. This study investigated the extent to which student nurses reported that they were able to apply their knowledge of sustainability in clinical practice following educational sessions on relevant topics. Students were exposed to scenario‐based sustainability education in years 1, 2, and 3 of their 3‐year program. Data were collected using a questionnaire that asked participants if they were able to implement sustainable practice. In year 2,121 students, and in year 3, 68 stated they made a change or challenged practice as a consequence of learning about sustainability. Barriers preventing them from challenging unsustainable practice were lack of confidence and resistance to change. Year‐3 students were more able to influence unsustainable practice than were those in year 2. This study indicates that sustainability sessions, focused on aspects of clinical relevance, can support nurses to implement change; barriers remain that require confidence building for the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the factors influencing the attitudes of Bachelor of Science in Nursing students toward climate change and environmental sustainability and the inclusion of these concepts in the nursing curricula of four Arab countries. Method: A convenience sample of 1,059 students from four Arab countries was surveyed using the Environmental Sustainability Attitudes in Nursing Survey‐2 (SANS‐2) questionnaire in this descriptive‐comparative study. Results: The majority of the respondents exhibited positive attitudes toward the five items of SANS‐2, with "Environmental sustainability is an important issue for nursing" receiving the lowest mean score and "Issues about climate change should be included in the nursing curriculum" receiving the highest mean score. Saudi students had more positive attitudes toward environmental sustainability in health care compared with students from Iraq, Egypt, and the Palestinian Territories. Country of residence, type of community, and knowledge about environmental issues and their impact on health in any nursing course were significant factors that influenced attitudes toward environmental sustainability. Conclusion: The inclusion of climate change and environmental sustainability in nursing curricula in the Arab region was emphasized by the findings. Including environmental sustainability practices in nursing education will help student nurses develop critical thinking and skills in the adaptive delivery of health care, especially when resources are scarce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Global food systems will face unprecedented challenges in the coming years. They will need to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population and feed an expanding demand for proteins. This is against a backdrop of increasing environmental challenges (water resources, climate change, soil health) and the need to improve farming livelihoods. Collaborative efforts by a variety of stakeholders are needed to ensure that future generations have access to healthy and sustainable diets. Food will play an increasingly important role in the global discourse on health. These topics were explored during Nestlé's second international conference on ‘Planting Seeds for the Future of Food: The Agriculture, Nutrition and Sustainability Nexus’, which took place in July 2017. This article discusses some of the key issues from the perspective of three major stakeholder groups, namely farming/agriculture, the food industry and consumers. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Costa Rica is a nation with a vast wealth of water resources; however, recently the country has faced water conflicts (WC) due to social, economic, legal, and political impediments in response to limited water availability during El Niño events and inefficient use of its water resources. This study presents a spatial distribution and temporal analysis of WC in Costa Rica from 2005 to 2015. In total, 719 WC were analyzed of which 54% were among private individuals and government. The largest urban areas and the Grande de Tárcoles Basin were identified as the main “hot spot” for the conflicts. WC were mainly caused by spills of wastewater, water pollution, water shortage, infrastructure damage, and flooding, and can be predicted using a multiple linear model including the population size and the number of hydro‐meteorological events (HME) (R2 = 0.77). The identified HME also coevolved significantly with the changes in precipitation regimes (r = 0.67, p = 0.021). Our results suggest that there is a need to recognize that water infrastructure longevity across the country concatenates and amplifies WC, mainly in the most populated area located in the Central Valley. Implications of our findings include the need for truly integrated water resources management plans that include, for example, WC as indicators of hydro‐climatic changing conditions and water supply and sanitation infrastructure status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The status of food and nutrition security and its underlying factors in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan (HKH) region is investigated. In this region, one third to a half of children (<5 years of age) suffer from stunting, with the incidence of wasting and under-weight also being very high. The prevalence of stunting, wasting and under-weight in children is particularly high in some mountain areas such as Meghalaya state in India, the western mountains and far-western hills of Nepal, Balochistan province in Pakistan, eastern Afghanistan, and Chin state in Myanmar. Food habits in the HKH region are changing. This has led to a deterioration in traditional mountain food systems with a decline in agrobiodiversity. Factors such as high poverty and low dietary energy intakes, a lack of hygienic environments, inadequate nutritional knowledge, and climate change and environmental degradation are also influencing food and nutrition security in the HKH region. To achieve sustainable food and nutrition security in the mountains, this study suggests a multi-sectoral integrated approach with consideration of nutritional aspects in all development processes dealing with economic, social, agricultural and public health issues. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement stand as milestone diplomatic achievements. However, immense discrepancies between political commitments and governmental action remain. Combined national climate commitments fall far short of the Paris Agreement's 1.5/2°C targets. Similar political ambition gaps persist across various areas of sustainable development. Many therefore argue that actions by nonstate actors, such as businesses and investors, cities and regions, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), are crucial. These voices have resonated across the United Nations (UN) system, leading to growing recognition, promotion, and mobilization of such actions in ever greater numbers. This article investigates optimistic arguments about nonstate engagement, namely: (a) "the more the better"; (b) "everybody wins"; (c) "everyone does their part"; and (d) "more brings more." However, these optimistic arguments may not be matched in practice due to governance risks. The current emphasis on quantifiable impacts may lead to the under‐appreciation of variegated social, economic, and environmental impacts. Claims that everybody stands to benefit may easily be contradicted by outcomes that are not in line with priorities and needs in developing countries. Despite the seeming depoliticization of the role of nonstate actors in implementation, actions may still lead to politically contentious outcomes. Finally, nonstate climate and sustainability actions may not be self‐reinforcing but may heavily depend on supporting mechanisms. The article concludes with governance risk‐reduction strategies that can be combined to maximize nonstate potential in sustainable and climate‐resilient transformations. This article is categorized under:Policy and Governance > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governance Arguments overview. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]