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This work explores the transition process towards a circular economic model in the European context. By placing the role of policies and waste as a focus of the debate, it first examines the possible effects that a stringent policy can generate and, secondly, how much waste and its management can influence the goodness of the transition process. By analyzing European data on major indicators of circularity, waste generation, and management, this paper attempts to provide a snapshot of the European situation and its different speeds along the transition path. In light of the recent development programs established by European institutions in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic that strained the world economy, the trends show how program resources should be directed towards key sustainability sectors that can stimulate European countries towards a common circular pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the relationship between waste generation and economic development for a sample of European countries. In contrast to previous studies that have considered this relation to be stable over time, we apply methods for testing the presence of structural breaks located at unknown periods. This methodology provides robust evidence against the stability of the relationship, finding ruptures in the so-called dot.com crisis, in the early 2000s, and in episodes related to the Great Recession. Once these breaks are considered, we observe that waste generation shows considerable dependence on the evolution of the economy for those countries with the lowest per capita income levels. This suggests the existence of a trade-off between convergence policies and those aimed at avoiding environmental degradation, suggesting the need to maintain and reinforce environmental policies in the EU., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

• Predicts the environmental and economic performance of policy instruments to promote plastic recycling. • Combines equilibrium model (top-down) with techno-economic and life cycle assessment (bottom-up). • Policy instruments that do not target a specific technology are more likely to increase thermochemical recycling than mechanical recycling. • Policy instruments should focus on environmental outcomes rather than increasing recycling rates. • Future research should include geographical considerations and asses other circular economy strategies. The objective of this paper is to examine the recycling rates for mechanical and thermochemical recycling of postconsumer polyethylene flexible packaging after the implementation of different policy instruments. The study uses a supply chain equilibrium model that incorporates market data and techno-economic assessments to simulate market equilibrium. It combines this with a life cycle assessment to explore the environmental implications of implementing different policy instruments. The results show that instruments that do not target a specific technology are more likely to increase thermochemical recycling than mechanical recycling. Furthermore, a higher recycling rate is not equivalent to a better environmental outcome. An increased collection target that ensures a supply of plastic waste would increase the overall recycling rates the most. A recycled content standard for mechanical recycling would lead to the highest increase in mechanical recycling, with top results for environmental indicators, but low results for economic indicators. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In search of a climate-neutral Europe, the EU Green Deal presented agroecology as an alternative guide for food system transitions through explicit policy and regulatory actions. While the term agroecology is used in Green Deal policy documents, its meaning remains elusive in both policymaking and academic legal research. To explore existing regulatory frameworks' potential to align with agroecological perspectives for food system transitions, this article analyses pesticide regulation, a core area of agricultural governance, using an agroecological framework. This article aims to contribute to the current legal debate in two ways: it presents agroecology as a framework capable of guiding and assessing law and regulation and illustrates, via a study of EU pesticide regulation, how this framework can be deployed in practice to evaluate legal frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on climate disclosures from STOXX Europe 600 banks during the 2017–2020 period, comprising 152 company years. Specifically, we analyze compliance based on general and bank‐specific recommendations of the Task Force on Climate‐related Financial Disclosures. Although our results indicate an overall increase in climate reporting quality over time, we identify major reporting gaps, such as consideration of forward‐looking information (particularly related to scenario analyses). We also stress that the bank‐specific recommendations are taken into account rather insufficiently. This study stands to benefit mostly researchers, business practices, and regulatory bodies owing to the future standardization of European and global sustainability reporting frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Factors driving microbial community composition and diversity are well established but the relationship with microbial functioning is poorly understood, especially at large scales. We analysed microbial biodiversity metrics and distribution of potential functional groups along a gradient of increasing land-use perturbation, detecting over 79,000 bacterial and 25,000 fungal OTUs in 715 sites across 24 European countries. We found the lowest bacterial and fungal diversity in less-disturbed environments (woodlands) compared to grasslands and highly-disturbed environments (croplands). Highly-disturbed environments contain significantly more bacterial chemoheterotrophs, harbour a higher proportion of fungal plant pathogens and saprotrophs, and have less beneficial fungal plant symbionts compared to woodlands and extensively-managed grasslands. Spatial patterns of microbial communities and predicted functions are best explained when interactions among the major determinants (vegetation cover, climate, soil properties) are considered. We propose guidelines for environmental policy actions and argue that taxonomical and functional diversity should be considered simultaneously for monitoring purposes. "Factors influencing soil microbiota functioning remain understudied. Here, the authors describe bacterial and fungal diversity across Europe and along a gradient of land-use perturbation, observing that the occurrence of pathogens, symbionts and saprotrophs varied among cropland, woodland and grassland." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2013, romantic Rhine cruises gained immense popularity in Europe. However, these tourism activities also involve the generation of large amounts of waste. As rivers contribute significantly to the plastic waste influx in the marine environment, it is essential that river cruise companies cope with plastics in an environmentally-safe way. In this contribution, we try to overcome knowledge gaps regarding both the plastic practices of river cruise companies and the policies on cruise tourism and environmental pollution. We adopt a multiple-case study approach and use the Social Practice Theory to analyse the companies' practices and challenges. Furthermore, we combine this with the analytical approaches of the Policy Arrangements and Synoptic Governance to explore the policies for environmental protection and tourism. The results show that, overall, river cruise companies have an eco-friendly approach to plastic waste management. However, dealing with plastics in the freshwater environment is not sufficiently rooted in the above policies: river cruise companies face important omissions in policies and facilities, resulting in plastic emissions in the river. Following the results, we formulate recommendations to support sustainable waste management routines onboard and to improve waste reception facilities onshore to protect the aquatic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the ability of exports to trigger the adoption of environmental innovation (EI) in firms, shedding light on the determinants of convergence in environmental standards for Europe's catch-up economies. To analyse this question empirically, we measure the latter as the 1) probability a firm adopts EI and the 2) breadth of EI adoption in firms. Applying Logit and Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood estimations to firm-level data for 14 European countries, we find that particularly Eastern European exporters report higher EI adoption propensities, an effect exclusively driven by process-based EI and not observable for product-based EI. Additionally, we reveal that regardless of a firm's origin, exposure to importing countries with high market-related environmental policy stringency, is linked to the adoption of EI. We conclude that learning-by-exporting, regulation-push and demand-pull mechanisms may help to explain these findings, with foreign markets being characterised by a wider diversity of stakeholder preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green infrastructure has been considered as one potential solution for improving air quality as well as enhancing environmental sustainability in the modern era. Therefore, the study aims to examine the impact of green economic infrastructure on environmental sustainability in one belt and road initiative (OBRI) economies for the period 2007 to 2019. For empirical investigations, the study adopts 2SLS and GMM approaches. The study uses three proxies to measure green economic infrastructure, namely, green logistics, use of the internet, and green technology. Our 2SLS findings demonstrate that green logistics increases CO2 in OBRI, Central Asia, MENA and reduces CO2 in Europe. However, GMM findings report that green logistics increases CO2 in OBRI, central Asia, and MENA and reduces CO2 in Europe. While our 2SLS findings show that internet use reduces CO2 in OBRI and East and Southeast Asia Europe and increases CO2 in MENA. While GMM findings reveal that the use of the internet reduces CO2 in OBRI and Europe and increases in East and Southeast Asia and MENA. While green technology also enhances environmental sustainability in OBRI. Based on the findings, environmental policies can be revised for OBRI economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of technological innovation in lowering the pollution is motivated by the rise of global emissions. Technological innovation for carbon dioxide mitigation mainly focuses on the role of patents ignoring trademarks. This study tests the role of eco-patents and trademarks for carbon dioxide alleviation using data from 2000 to 2018. This study introduces a new interaction term by combining trademarks and eco-patents and examining the role of environmental policy, energy consumption, environmental taxes, urbanization, and economic growth on the environment. The panel effect is tested using the Nonlinear ARDL and OLS methods, whereas country-specific results are estimated using the Granger causality approach. The outcomes reveal that trademarks and eco-patents decrease carbon dioxide emission; however, energy consumption, urbanization and economic growth are the main polluters in both regions. Environmental policies and taxes have a significant impact on the western region's mitigation efforts, while insignificant evidence is found for the southern region. Unidirectional and bidirectional causal relationships are observed among the variables; still, the outcomes are country-specific. The study also provides policy implications based on the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object of research is the methodology of existing models of climate change and the identification of areas that are suitable for agricultural production. The consequences of natural disasters (floods, tornadoes, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions etc.) are the destruction of local ecosystems and the local economy, the emergence of threats to food and water supply, the creation of social conflicts, internal and external migration. Damage from natural disasters is estimated at billions of dollars. The economies of countries in which natural disasters are being synchronized cannot recover on their own and need international assistance, especially the placement of climate refugees in other countries. An analysis of recent research and publications shows that its authors do not even pose such a problem. In the period from 2011 to 2020 alone, the number of natural disasters in the world increased 7 times, in particular in Europe - 41 times. The study shows that the concept of anthropogenic impact on climate change, sustainable development and possible adaptation through environmental and energy and resource conservation measures must be considered erroneous. International spending on climate change adaptation programs around the world is inefficient. The theoretical basis on which these concepts have been built so far needs to be revised, and the environmental policy of all countries of the world is subject to radical transformation. The practical significance of research is to improve the model of climate change, which is used to develop forecast scenarios for world events, based on the dependence of CO2 emissions. from anthropogenic human activity. Since the results of any mathematical model depend on the input data and the correlation of the relationships embedded in such a model, the percentage of reliability and probability of implementation of such a model is also estimated. Therefore, climate models developed at the initiative of the International Group of Experts on Climate Change cannot be used as a basis for substantiating recommendations for the transformation of agriculture in accordance with climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural land abandonment and its impacts on landscape features have been a striking characteristic of many European rural areas over the last decades. Although previous research identified drivers and environmental impacts of abandonment, few described the post-agricultural abandonment trajectories. However, examining the driving forces leading to different post-agricultural abandonment trajectories is key to understand how alternative uses of these lands can be developed to address the environmental, economic, and social challenges faced in these areas. This paper reviews the literature of the different trajectories observed after agricultural abandonment and the related drivers and processes. Based on the literature evidence, we proposed a novel categorisation of different abandonment trajectories, with their drivers and landscape outcomes. In most reported cases, lands transitioned towards semi-natural landscapes and few returned to different agricultural uses after abandonment. The most common driving force of the landscape trajectory was the absence of land management where secondary succession processes led to semi-natural landscapes. Quality and state of these landscapes were variable. Alternative trajectories were essentially driven by institutional and socio-economic drivers within biophysical constraints and opportunities for (re-)afforestation, re-farming, and multifunctional uses of the land after abandonment. While abandoned lands can bring opportunities to respond to biodiversity and other environmental policy goals, the evidence across case studies suggests that adequate resources with institutional and socio-economic incentives are required to stimulate favourable development, mitigate, potential trade-offs, and support land management. • Systematic review identified 135 cases of post-abandonment trajectories in Europe. • Spontaneous vegetation succession is a dominant post-abandonment trajectory. • Institutional and socio-economic drivers are key to support alternative uses. • Abandoned farmlands can contribute to biodiversity and environmental policy goals. • Considerations of local characteristics are key to mitigate potential trade-offs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]