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This thesis examines the impact of digitalisation, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and environmental taxation on attaining social and environmental-focused Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, the thesis consists of a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), bibliometric analysis, and two empirical essays. The first essay aims to determine whether the generated income from cryptocurrency trading can help attain environmental and energy SDGs, namely SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) and SDG 13 (climate action)1. The methodology used the Scopus database based on 574 papers reviewed under five clusters. Co-citation and co-occurrence analysis show a growing interest in cryptocurrencies, SDGs 7 and 13. There is also an ongoing debate about the carbon emission and energy consumption of cryptocurrency mining versus the economic policies and implications. The findings expand the sustainability and digitalisation literature. They also influence policymakers and central banks towards changes in financial markets and socioeconomic policies, leading to the attainment of SDGs in the future. Essay one conducts an SLR and bibliometric analysis based on a sample of 574 publications. It investigates the trends in the literature about environmental and energy goals: SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). Additionally, it focuses on how these goals are linked to cryptocurrency literature. Other themes about the country's economic classification, financial reporting, and theoretical background are covered. The methodology is based on reviewing 574 papers retried from Scopus. The papers have been clustered based on geographical location, authors and themes. The results show a direction in academic research to investigate the linkage between ecological, energy and cryptocurrencies as a digitalisation trend, with considerable limitations in finding adequate empirical evidence. Accordingly, the second and third essays respond to future research directions to provide empirical evidence on how cryptocurrency impacts the environmental SDGs. In essay two, the effect of Bitcoin trading volume on averting environmental catastrophes that the United Nations (UN) addresses by SDGs 6 (Water And Sanitation) and 13 (Climate Action) are examined. By enabling water management networks, smart contracts, and cryptocurrency as a payment system, the wealth created by Bitcoin trading significantly and positively impacts SDG 6, according to an examination of cross-sectional data from 32 countries (256 observations) from 2013 to 2020. However, the increased trading volume still hinders SDG 13's fulfilment by raising carbon emissions. The analysis concentrates on gold reserves and stock trading volume to provide a thorough picture. With no discrepancies in bitcoin trading volumes, it demonstrates a considerable disparity between the developed and emerging markets concerning the SDGs' state and governance levels. Based on the results, it is recommended that more empirical evidence is required to understand how digital currencies, including Bitcoin, can impact environmental sustainability and the United Nations Agenda. Essay three aims to investigate the impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and environmental tax on the progress of three socially focused Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 3 (Good Health And Well- Being) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality)2. Moreover, it aims to analyse the moderating role of Financial Technology (FinTech). Among the seven social SDGs, SDGs 1, 3 and 5 are selected based on the results of a relative importance test using a boosted regression tree (BRT) algorithm as an advanced machine learning technique. The loose coupling theory theoretically backs the research by illustrating the dynamic of the spillover effect. The sample of this international study included 70 countries over ten years from 2011 to 2020, during which FinTech emerged. Based on the Ordinary Least Square results, both FDI and environmental tax were found to significantly and positively impact the progress of the three investigated SDGs, while FinTech moderates the impact on SDGs 1 and 3. This study has implications for policymakers. Also, it helps to reduce the gap in accounting and sustainability literature by questioning the debates on FDI, green taxation policies and the future of sustainability. This thesis systematically, theoretically, and empirically contributes to the social and environmental accounting literature based on a profound theoretical framework and scholarly literature that integrate perspectives from institutions and UN officials. It also outlines consequences for investors, practitioners, policymakers, and regulators. Notably, this study shows that due to the voluntary character of the SDGs and the lack of adequate legal protection, governments are not reacting to them appropriately. Nevertheless, people are now less conservative about investing in cryptocurrencies and less hesitant about digital payments or global investors. However, they are more ecologically aware. Therefore, closer attention is essential in academic research to ensure countries' economic strategies go hand in hand with targeting SDGs by 2030.

Over the last 150 years, extensive reclamation of UK lowland peatlands for agriculture, particularly in the East Anglian Fens, has provided some of the most fertile land in the UK, but resulted in a peat depth loss of up to 4.8 m and a significant carbon (C) emission. A large portion of formerly deep peat is now classified as 'wasted' (peat depth ≤ 0.4 m). In the Fens, both deep and wasted peats are used for intensive arable agriculture. Arable cropland on peatland contributes an estimated 7,600 kt CO2e yr-1 to UK emissions (32% of peatland emissions from 7% of the peatland area). This estimate is derived from emissions data for deep peats. No data for wasted peats were available despite their significant land area. To improve the emission estimate, CO2 fluxes at an arable wasted peatland were measured over two years using Eddy Covariance. Additionally, aeolian erosion was measured from the wasted and compared to a deep peatland. The average emission from wasted peatland was 676 ± 188.5 g C m-2 yr-1 over two years (812 ± 195.6 and 540 ± 181.4 g C m-2 yr-1). This was lower than the emission factor for deep peat, suggesting the need for a separate emission factor for wasted peat. Primary drivers of Net Ecosystem Exchange were Air Temperature and crop growth, with Soil Water Content and Vapour Pressure Deficit also identified as influencing factors. Aeolian erosion of the deep peat site was 1525 (1170-1880) g m-2 yr-1. At the wasted peat site, 1401 (1324-1477) g m-2 yr-1 was transported onto and 995 (842-1233) g m-2 yr-1 off the field. Net field C losses were 0.75 (0.57-0.92) t C yr-1 from deep peat and 0.21 (0.18-0.26) t C yr-1 from wasted peat. Field cover and field boundary vegetation height limited erosion losses.

Responsible for more than one-sixth of the world's CO2 emissions and growing, the road transportation is an unavoidable component in tackling the global carbon reduction challenge. Within the subdivisions of infrastructure management and traffic management, different carbon mitigation approaches have been discussed to contribute to a greener transportation system. However, given the complex interactions that exist between the road users and the infrastructures, certain carbon mitigation proposals are best evaluated within a compre- hensive environment to ensure the correct consideration of the interactions, as well as the comparability of the results. It is the aim of this thesis to develop such a unified framework to reflect interactions and outcomes of different CO2 mitigation approaches from both the road infrastructure and the traffic mobility sides. This allows combining and comparing the effectiveness of a single or multiple carbon mitigation approaches across different perspectives. Specifically, on the traffic operation side, a mesoscopic traffic model is adopted for simulating drivers' route choices with varying percentages of travellers to choose the eco-friendly routes. From the infrastructure asset management perspective, a city-scale pavement degradation model is built and utilised in testing pavement maintenance scenarios. San Francisco is chosen as the case study area due to the availability of various traffic mobility and infrastructure condition data. In Chapter 3 of the thesis, the traffic simulation module is developed that implements the efficient macroscopic road link-level speed-flow relationship while retaining detailed origin, destination and departure hour information for each individual trip. The traffic simulation model uses a highly detailed network representation for the study area and has the hourly traffic demand informed by Traffic Network Companies (TNC) data. The model is capable of capturing the spatio-temporal variations in traffic distributions. In addition, in Chapter 4, assumptions are also tested as for the extent that the availability of real-time traffic information affects the travellers' behaviours and model results. As ageing pavements induce additional carbon emissions, in Chapter 5, a city-scale pavement degradation model is proposed based on 20 years of survey data. After comparing three model forms (non-spatial categorical, non-spatial individual road based and spatial hierarchical models) and two independent predictors (pavement age, cumulative traffic load), the spatial model with age as the predictor is found to give the best overall performance in terms of model fitting and complexity. As a result, it is used later in this thesis for degradation forecasting and maintenance planning. The traffic simulation and the pavement degradation models are joined together in Chapter 6 to test the carbon mitigation scenarios, including the eco-friendly route selection (eco- routing) and eco-friendly pavement maintenance scheduling (eco-maintenance). Interactions between the road users and the pavement management occur when: (1) pavement maintenance site selection is based on both pavement roughness and traffic volume (the eco-maintenance case). (2) The renewed pavement condition, with a smoother surface and reduced emission factor, becomes part of the route selection criteria of the drivers (the eco-routing case). It is found that the outcomes of eco-maintenance are sensitive to a variety of factors, including the budget level, the pavement degradation rate as well as the maintenance quality. The eco-routing approach tends to shift travellers to the local network but is effective in reducing the overall emissions. However, the reinforcing interactions between these two strategies are the most noticeable only when both eco-routing and eco-maintenance strategies are enforced to an extreme. Through the simulation of city-scale traffic and infrastructure dynamics, it is able to quantitatively compare carbon mitigation scenarios and understand how an action from one specific perspective ripples through the transportation system. Also, sensitivity tests suggest limiting conditions for each approach to make a difference. This research highlights the need to include combined simulations in certain cases and such results are expected to give confidence to decision makers as for the potential induced demand or other secondary effects whose influences extend beyond a single sub-system.

I compare satellite emissions data to company reports filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify firms that underreport their carbon emissions. I find that firms are more likely to underreport their emissions to the EPA when they are more publicly visible, face greater shareholder pressure for corporate greening, and are subject to cap-and-trade programs. Firms are less likely to underreport their emissions when they have greater monitoring from the board of directors and are more likely to be affected by environmental disclosure mandates. Next, I examine the relation between firms’ emission intensity and characteristics of their environmental disclosures in 10-Ks. As expected, I find that firms’ emission intensity relates positively to both the number of environmental keywords and optimistic tone used in disclosures. However, these relations weaken for firms that underreport their emissions. The results are consistent with firms attempting to hide their underreporting of emissions and avoid litigation risks. Overall, the results suggest that investors and other stakeholders should be cautious when using self-reported environmental information, and that regulators’ concern about existing climate disclosures in annual reports (10-Ks) not adequately reflecting actual operations is warranted.

As greenhouse gas emissions from human activities rise, they accumulate in the atmosphere, warm the climate, and lead to a variety of other effects around the planet. The iron and steel industry has played a crucial role in shaping the modern world as we know it today, and is indispensable material that has been instrumental in driving economic growth and development globally. However, it contributes broadly to the overall carbon footprint of the economy and its environmental impacts. Steel production requires a lot of energy and often makes up a large portion of a nation's energy consumption. This paper discusses the status of steelmaking in China, the current CO₂ intensity and emission rates, and the potential for advanced technologies and policies for reducing future emissions in the steel industry. Technologies include green hydrogen as a reducing agent, use of the direct reduced iron-electric arc furnace (DRI-EAF) process, and coupling with optimizing the EAF production process, blast furnace (BF) structure, and nuclear hydrogen transformation to reduce coal consumption. Moreover, the paper discusses where improvements in energy efficiency, steel recycling, carbon capture and storage, and alternative energy sources could help reduce carbon emissions in the long term. This research also analyzes existing policies and strategies that guide development of the iron and steel industry, and explores the CO₂ emissions from steel production. Proposed policy ideas for regulating or encouraging industry to decrease its contribution of CO₂ emissions, include financial incentives and support for enterprises adopting DRI-EAF steelmaking and hydrogen technology. China's commitment to low-carbon industrial development and green manufacturing is crucial to changing how steel is produced and the degree of emission reductions. A rapid change in the iron and steel industry is essential for sustainable development in the face of the climate crisis.

A smart grid can help utilities conserve energy, cut costs, increase reliability and accountability, and increase efficiency in processes. Nevertheless, the growing use of IT-based electrical power systems increases the vulnerabilities of cyber security causes which increases the importance of cyber security in interconnected power grids. Utilities should understand protection of the smart grid, including vulnerable areas, strategic issues, layered security. However, there is a lack of awareness over the country since the inhabitants less informed about its importance in our life to transform into a smart grid and being part of this plan. Knowing that the government started already contributing to be part of the smart grid, the whole country should be awarded of its significance and the strategies consequences of such vital change. This project aims to build a program that is compatible to all smart phones where it can provide clear information of the smart grid and ways to be part of it. The program will have an interactive interface showing the user the consumption of electricity instantaneously. Besides, for the providers, the program will show how are they contributing to the grid and ways of reducing the electricity bills. This project discusses important information about the smart grid and features that the program should have to provide a better experience to the customers but mainly the large energy users that play a relatively larger rule in consuming electricity.

Changes in forest cover especially changes within tropical forests, affect global climate change, together with ecosystems and forest carbon. Forests play a key role in both carbon emission and carbon sequestration. Efforts to reduce emissions through reduced deforestation and degradation of forests have become a common discussion among scientists and politicians under the auspices of the United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD Programme). This dissertation research assessed the impacts of land use land cover change upon ecosystem services from a protected area focusing on forest carbon distribution and vegetation mapping using remote sensing and geographical information systems (GIS). I also assessed Rwanda’s preparedness in the United Nations global program, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, Measuring, Monitoring, Reporting, and Verifying (REDD+MMRV). I carried out research in Nyungwe National Park (NNP), one of four National Parks of Rwanda. NNP is a montane tropical forest located in the Albertine Rift, one of the most biodiverse places in central and east Africa. I used remote sensing and field data collection from December 2011 and July 2012 in the western part of the Park to assess distribution and quantities of aboveground (ABG) forest carbon using generalized allometric functions. Using Landsat data together with 2009 high resolution color orthophotos and groundtruthing, I analyzed land cover changes between 1986 and 2011 for NNP. The land-use land cover change analysis showed that between 1986 and 1995 there was a minor increase in forest cover from 53% to 58% while from 1995-2003 a substantial decrease in forest cover occurred. Between 2003 and 2011 was a period of recovery with forest cover increasing by 59%. Vegetation analysis based on a 2009 Park biodiversity survey yielded 13 vegetation communities based on dominant and co-dominant species. Macaranga kilimandscharica was found to be dominant in three communities, representing 42% of the Park, and co-dominant in one community, representing 7% of the Park. While ~50% of the Park is secondary forest, the change in protection status has had a positive impact upon forest cover change within the Park. . Assessment of REDD+-MMRV readiness revealed that Rwanda has higher capacity and readiness in remote sensing and GIS than in forest inventory and carbon pools inventory. Lack of data to support development of emission models is a major problem at the national level which needs to be addressed.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a major global issue because of their effects on climate and the resulting environmental and human impacts. The primary greenhouse gases (GHGs), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), are emitted into the atmosphere from a myriad of human activities such as energy supply, manufacturing, transportation, commercial and residential buildings, and waste. Additionally, management activities on agricultural and forest lands can influence GHG emissions substantially. Even though GHGs can be released into the air via the sectors mentioned, GHGs, especially CO2, can be removed from ecosystems through certain management activities, enhancing the storage of GHGs in soils, plants, and trees. Examples of GHG emission reduction strategies include decreased land clearing for agriculture, extended rotations for forest stands, afforestation and reforestation, and conservation management strategies for agriculture and forestry. Consequently, addressing GHG emissions and sinks from land use, land-use change, and forest activities (LULUCF) are critical scientific and policy questions. This dissertation examines the issue of LULUCF and the factors affecting GHG emission levels from this sector. The study is separated into three chapters encompassing an analysis of the factors driving GHG emissions from LULUCF on a global and national scale in the first two chapters and the willingness of individuals to pay for reductions in the third chapter. The results indicate that population growth was the major cause of GHG emissions from LULUCF. Policy alternatives are provided to address the emissions and sinks from LULUCF.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions has become a controversial topic that needs to be researched thoroughly. When reducing the carbon emission of urban high density residential buildings, decreasing and carbon emission caused by residents’ behavior along with the carbon emission of construction material and building’s heating/cooling energy consumption is of the same importance, while the former has always been ignored. In the design phase, decisions regarding shared spaces will influence the building’s shape, thus anyway considerable negative effect on carbon emission both at construction stage and building heating and cooling energy consumption. Therefore, it is not welcome when it is related to low-energy buildings. However, shared space such as the opened first floor or balconies can provide amenity places for residence so that on the other hand decrease the frequency of transportation on motor vehicles. This study will analysis the extent to which changes in shared spaces affect the physical and social performance of carbon emission of urban high density residential projects, and thereby provide pre-design information for future reference for residential buildings with less carbon emission and less environmental pollution. The dissertation proves that the value of shared spaces in residential projects lies not only in the humanity aspect, but also in the contribution to carbon emission reduction. This research displays a deeper and wider understanding in shared space, which provides new concepts on shared space for designers, policy makers, as well as normal residents, with which both the sustainability and living quality of the residential building could be enhanced.