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Despite efforts to evaluate sustainability within the Brazilian automotive textile sector, there is still a lack of specific measures quantifying the social, environmental, and economic aspects. Consequently, the shift from a traditional profit-centric post-industrial culture to a modern, sustainable-focused culture presents ongoing challenges. Addressing this, a question arises: how can a decision-support framework be developed to ensure a balanced approach to sustainability management, highlighting system limitations without compromising the sector's performance? Decision support models aim to equip decision-makers with tools for making informed choices aligned with organizational objectives and goals. The proposed procedure comprises four key stages: sustainability diagnosis, creation of an illustrative panel, simulation, and normal distribution. The initial phase, sustainability diagnosis, uses the 5 SEnSU model, integrating indicators selection alongside their objectives and targets. Utilizing Goal Programming at its core, the Synthetic Indicator System Sustainability outlines the sector's performance relative to its objectives. Results are then presented in a dashboard format, offering a comprehensive view of sustainability performance trends. Subsequently, a simulation phase implements more stringent targets to identify the sector's limitations without jeopardizing its performance. These results are modeled through normal distribution curves, drawing parallels between sustainability within the system and Statistical Process Control Assessment, ensuring adherence to legal and corporate standards. Illustrating the procedure with the Brazilian textile automotive sector revealed that while the sector maintains economic sustainability, its progress has negatively impacted the environment and society. This process helped pinpoint critical areas in sustainability management and proposed strategies for optimizing resources to meet organizational sustainable objectives. Moreover, this model elevates informed decision-making and advocates for a more conscientious and efficient approach to business management across this sector and others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Efficient implementation of recycling networks requires appropriate logistical structures for managing the reverse flow of materials from users to producers. The steel sheet distributor studied had established a protocol for scrap recovery with the steel plant and its customers. The company invested in producing containers, hiring a specialized labor force and in purchasing trucks for container transportation to implement the logistics network for recycling. That network interconnected the company with two kinds of customers: the ones returning scrap and the ones who preferred to continue business-as-usual. The logistical network was analyzed using emergy synthesis, and the data obtained were used to evaluate and compare the system's environmental costs and benefits from the perspective of the distributor and the steel plant operator. The use of emergy ternary diagrams provided a way to assess recycle strategies to compare the relative economic and environmental benefits of the logistical network implemented. The minimum quantity of scrap that the distributor must recover to improve environmental benefits was determined allowing decision on whether it is worth keeping the system running. The new assessment method proposed also may help policy-makers to create strategies to reward or incentive users of reverse logistics, and help to establish regulations, by decreasing taxes or stimulating innovation, for effectively implement the National Policy on Solid Waste. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Bamboo presents physical and mechanical characteristics, which turn it an alternative option for product development, replacing native or reforested wood. The sustainability assessment of a Dendrocalamus Giganteus species plantation in Brazil through the emergy methodology evidences a great weight of renewable (30%sej/sej) and human labour contributions (33%sej/sej). These contributions account for the great interface with environment and to the intensive work, respectively. The transformity value of bamboo production is 2.42E+04sej/J. The influence human labour has on the total emergy flow and on indicators is evaluated by taking into account different country locations (Brazil, Australia and China). Thus, a different transformity value for labour is assumed for each country. A ranking based on emergy sustainability index (ESI) values shows that bamboo production in China was the first placed, followed by Brazil and Australia (values of 1.18, 0.50 and 0.09, respectively). The insertion of indirect renewability embedded in labour results in the ranking modification, leading to plantation in Brazil in the first place, followed by the Australian and Chinese ones. The relative position of the bamboo systems is visualized in the ternary diagram expressed in terms of emergy. In an attempt to explore the relationship between sustainability and time, a graphic of ESI vs. global productivity is discussed in terms of a prospective evaluation. Indirect support areas of the bamboo production are calculated as a way to evaluate the sustainability-space relationship. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose: Students play an unequivocal role in sustainable universities as they are theorized to embody the mission of a sustainable university through a sustainable lifestyle and spread sustainability practices during their professional careers. Despite this, it is not well known how or why students come to embody a sustainable lifestyle. This study aims to better understand the relationship between happiness, academic achievement and sustainability behaviors among the student population in a Mexican higher education institution. Design/methodology/approach: In a questionnaire study, engineering and psychology university students at a large public university in northwestern Mexico answered questions regarding their environmental sustainability behaviors, happiness and academic performance. A stratified random sampling technique was used to obtain the sample population that best represents the entire population. After chi-square tests, it was confirmed that the three variables were independent of one another. Therefore, a series of correspondence analyses were conducted to examine clusters or patterns that could indicate relationships among the three variables. Findings: The main finding from this work was that the happiest and most academically astute participants were only slightly environmentally sustainable or not sustainable at all. The lack of environmental sustainability in students from one of the most top-rank sustainable universities in Mexico does not align with previous sustainability reports. External factors to the university, such as cultural values and extreme weather conditions, may have influenced students' sustainability behaviors. Research limitations/implications: As with any other questionnaire study, the provided data is subject to interpretation, judgment and bias. In addition, the environmental and happiness index used in this study are not free of criticizing, and some author had disputed its efficacy. Finally, this study's findings did not determine any causality or directionality between any of the latent variables. However, causality and directionally between environmental sustainability-happiness and happiness-academic performance have to be found in both directions. Practical implications: Despite the unsustainability of students in this study, this study has several contributions. First, it provides an evaluation of a sustainable university from the perspectives and behaviors of students. The views of students as they relate to the complexities and visions of a sustainable university have remained relatively underexamined. Second, these analyses point to specific sustainability-oriented challenges and inadvertent barriers (e.g. extreme weather patterns) toward the embodiment of a sustainable lifestyle. These challenges and barriers suggest that sustainable universities need to address the dynamic changes inherent in sustainable development. Finally, this study indicates that the link between happiness, academic performance and sustainability may be more complicated and driven by cultural and structural barriers. The issue of barriers, as they relate to sustainability behaviors, is highly relevant and presents important opportunities and questions for future research. Originality/value: This study provides an evaluation of a sustainable university from the perspectives and behaviors of students. Students' views as they relate to the complexities and visions of a sustainable university have remained relatively underexamined. Second, these analyses point to specific sustainability-oriented challenges and barriers as they relate to the embodiment of a sustainable lifestyle. These challenges and barriers suggest that sustainable universities need to address the dynamic changes inherent in sustainable development. Finally, this study indicates that the link between happiness, academic performance and sustainability may be more complicated and driven by cultural and structural barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate about the negative impacts that production and consumption cause on the environment is in vogue. Strategies that point to a sustainable, healthy, and resilient path are being sought. One of these paths is the Circular Economy, which emerges as an alternative to reduce the socio-environmental impacts caused by the linear model of production-use-disposal, presenting opportunities to generate revenue, income, and wealth with circular processes. However, despite the circular economy being considered an essential strategy to improve overall performance toward sustainability in its three dimensions, recent research has shown that the predominant focus of circular approaches is on the economic and environmental dimensions. At the same time, the social aspects still need to be explored. This article addresses this problem, aiming to explore circular economy environmental, economic, and social elements in three economic blocs from 2000 to 2020 using the Five Sector Sustainability Model, establishing a baseline to co-create an equitable and regenerative future. The results showed that ASEAN in 2000 occupied the first position in the general ranking. The European Union had the best classification in the economic sector, and Mercosur was the best regarding social benefits. In 2020, while the European bloc was better positioned in the general ranking, the South American bloc occupied the last post in almost all sectors. Comparatively, the highest-ranked bloc in 2020 in overall sustainability is more in line with the UN SDG due to circular actions oriented towards the three fundamental pillars of sustainability. • CE advocates reducing dependence on finite resources. • The 5SEnSU model is used to monitor sustainability performance. • The sustainability of ASEAN, EU and Mercosur was analyzed. • Economic development influenced the environmental issues of the studied blocks. • EU is the highest-ranked bloc for overall sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Smart manufacturing has received increased attention from academia and industry in recent years, as it provides competitive advantage for manufacturing companies making industry more efficient and sustainable. As one of the most important technologies for smart manufacturing, big data analytics can uncover hidden knowledge and other useful information like relations between lifecycle decisions and process parameters helping industrial leaders to make more-informed business decisions in complex management environments. However, according to the literature, big data analytics and smart manufacturing were individually researched in academia and industry. To provide theoretical foundations for the research community to further develop scientific insights in applying big data analytics to smart manufacturing, it is necessary to summarize the existing research progress and weakness. In this paper, through combining the key technologies of smart manufacturing and the idea of ubiquitous servitization in the whole lifecycle, the term of sustainable smart manufacturing was coined. A comprehensive overview of big data in smart manufacturing was conducted, and a conceptual framework was proposed from the perspective of product lifecycle. The proposed framework allows analyzing potential applications and key advantages, and the discussion of current challenges and future research directions provides valuable insights for academia and industry. Highlights • The implications and purposes of sustainable smart manufacturing were defined. • A comprehensive review of big data in smart manufacturing was conducted. • A framework of big data analytics in sustainable smart manufacturing was proposed. • The potential applications and advantages of the proposed framework were evaluated. • The challenges and directions for further research were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This VSI focuses on what cross-cutting insights might be gained from research to increase the energy/materials circularity and the contribution of eco-innovation, cleaner consumption, and waste management to produce a logical body of knowledge that may lead to increased resilience and a sustainable Planet. The articles' collection shows development trends of sustainable, cleaner production under the Special Issue: A Resilient and Sustainable World. Some selected d papers have been presented and emerged from the 10th and 11th International Workshop on Advances in Cleaner Production (IWACP), held in hybrid mode in Italy (Ferrata and Florence). The contribution of the articles in this Special Issue could be divided into efforts toward sustainable and cleaner production, aiming (i) Eco-innovation for cleaner production and circular economy, (ii) Proper monitoring and identification of cleaner production, circular economy, and eco-innovation, (iii) cleaner production, circular economy and eco-innovation targeting social wellbeing and cleaner environment, (iv) cleaner production, circular economy and eco-innovation targeting emission reduction, and (v) cleaner production, circular economy and eco-innovation targeting improved and optimized production processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known that the current linear socioeconomic system, characterized by "production-use-destination," is unsustainable and the leading cause of the depletion of natural resources. In the search for sustainable development, several actions to preserve resources in use for as long as possible have been proposed in recent decades, such as cleaner production, ecoefficiency, industrial ecology, industrial ecosystems, industrial symbiosis, and the circular economy. Although circularity and sustainability are increasingly present on the agenda of academics, entrepreneurs, and government sectors, the relationship between the two concepts is still under construction. In this sense, this work aims to verify, using the Five Sectors Model of Sustainability, the relationship between circularity and sustainable development in ASEAN, Mercosur, and the EU, considering economic, social, and environmental indicators in the periods between 2000 and 2020. The selected indicators with their respective goals were applied and weighted through Goal Programming. From the primary and secondary data analysis, it was not possible to conclude that circularity alone guarantees sustainability, despite contributing significantly to sustainable development. However, the results obtained in the 5SEnSU model made it possible to verify that the EU has a superior performance for sustainable development of the other two blocks and that the impacts generated in the economic system (sector 3) of the analyzed blocks benefited social sectors (4 and 5) to the detriment of environmental integrity (sectors 1 and 2). Some challenges still need to be mitigated, such as those related to excessive consumption and waste discharge, so that a circular economy can effectively contribute to global sustainability. • The sustainability of three economic blocs – ASEAN, Mercosur and EU – is evaluated. • Circularity indicators are combined with socioeconomic indicators to evaluate sustainability. • Circularity indicators are organized using the Five Sectors Sustainability Model. • ASEAN and Mercosur still pursue progress in detriment of the environment. • Deficiencies that limit the blocs' ability to adopt a sustainable approach are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academics, politicians, professionals and the general public are aware that without stewarding our planet's natural resources, man is on the pathway towards a global collapse. Over the next three decades mankind is expected to consume an estimated 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year – three times current consumption. Social welfare and human wellbeing are threatened with the scarcity of natural resources; consequently, nations and their societies are also at risk of collapse. The readers of this special volume will find a compilation of scholarly research papers with real-life applications that take the challenge of proposing decision-making models and tools to address sustainability challenges in integrative ways. The main focus of this special volume is integration of sustainability dimensions (economic, social, environmental, ethical and time) into decision-support models and to identify pathways to achieve more sustainable societies. The majority of the research in this special volume, 74 percent, focuses on environmental and economic dimensions. Only 26 percent integrated social dimensions with them. Methodologically, a range of mathematical models and tools are presented to support prescriptive decision-making, with some descriptive models integrated, to support decision-makers in solving practical problems across a variety of industries and scenarios. The breadth and complexity of issues facing organizations and society requires innovative applications of these methodologies. The concerns cover a spectrum ranging from energy to solid waste management. A multitude of levels from broad-based policy concerns to strategic inter-organizational sustainable supply chain management and significantly, shop floor operational issues are also covered. The variety of problems and solutions exemplifies the potential for modelling and operations research for addressing some of our world's most pressing concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A. The distribution of different terms in PES literature; B. The tendency of using different terms in China and other countries (first-author country). • PES studies started to grow from 2005 and kept an increasing trend since then. • The most influential journal, country and, institutions were Ecological Economics , USA, and CAS. • Ecological compensation and eco-compensation were primarily used by Chinese researches. • The most concerned region and types of PES were China and "forest and carbon" PES. • Most studies paid attentions to the social aspects of PES initiatives. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) is an effective policy in conserving ecosystem services and is increasingly applied globally. The concept of PES was firstly defined in 2005, researches with various terminologies, concepts, and practices emerged since then. This paper analyzed the research patterns of PES studies through bibliometric methods, with a special focus on the trends of terminology, location (geographical research hotspot), types of PES, and PES effectiveness evaluation based on author keywords analysis. The results showed that PES started to receive considerable academic attentions from 2005, and the number of PES publications have relatively kept an increasing trend since then. The most influential journal, country, research organization, and author were Ecological Economics , USA, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS, China), and Dr. Wunder. Further analysis revealed that there were various terminologies in PES studies, notably "ecological compensation" and "eco-compensation" (EC) were primarily adapted by Chinese research community. China was the geographical research hotspot and developing countries (Vietnam, Mexico, and Brazil) have received growing academic interests in last decade. "Forest and Carbon" PES was the most concerned types of PES in last five years. There were 125 articles evaluated the effectiveness of empirical PES initiatives, and the majority focused on the social aspect. We proposed two suggestions for future research: (1) adapting EC as an alternative term for PES studies because of its inclusiveness and representation of empirical practices; (2) enhancing integrated evaluation of PES programs to achieve multiple benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Biosphere´s energy quality hierarchy is shown with the use of empirical data. • The results confirm linear, log-log, inverse relation between energy quality and energy quantity. • The hypothesis of Howard T. Odum in 1988 was supported by additional empirical data. The Biosphere is self-organized into a hierarchy of energy transformations. More dilute forms of energy (e.g. solar energy) are concentrated in biological structures and through socioeconomic transformation processes forming energy outputs that are able to perform higher quality work. To assess the hierarchy level of different forms of energy in the Biosphere, over 30 years Howard T. Odum introduced the concept of " transformity ", i.e., the amount of available energy of the same kind (usually solar energy) needed to obtain a specific output of available energy of another kind. Transformities represent energy quality and have been calculated for a broad set of energy forms and products, both natural and anthropic. In this paper, we report on this broad literature illustrating how the energy quality hierarchy of the biosphere works. This study leads to the definition of lower and higher energy quality thresholds supporting H.T. Odum's initial hypothesis of an inverse linear logarithmic relationship between energy quality and quantity. A model is proposed to obtain transformities from data on energy flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]