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Addressing the complexities of transitioning to a sustainable bioeconomy, this paper presents a novel approach for developing regional transformation pathways (RTPs) based on narratives derived from the shared socioeconomic pathways. The methodology emphasizes a comprehensive understanding of underlying perspectives and perceptions, incorporating socio‐economic, environmental, and political dimensions. The developed indicator framework captures a balanced representation of diverse interests by integrating insights from stakeholder analyses. The case study in the Rheinisches Revier region, Germany, exemplifies the approach's applicability, providing valuable insights for decision‐making processes in the context of regional transitions toward a low‐carbon economy. The results consist of five developed RTPs, offering a multitude of potential future trajectories of possible directions for regional transformations. Understanding potential pathways and related consequences is crucial for informed decision‐making concerning resource use optimization since transformations of that scale influence the composition of supply chains and resource networks. This informed approach contributes to strategic planning and helps ensure resources are utilized efficiently and sustainably. By emphasizing the crucial role of transparency and reflection of assumptions in addressing the complexities of societal transformation processes, our approach seeks to support the implementation of a sustainable and inclusive bioeconomy at the regional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a sustainability assessment framework for managing the water resources of the Vietnamese portion of the Srepok River Basin (VSRB). A sustainability hierarchy was developed using five, ten, seven and five sustainability indicators to characterize economic, environmental, social and management dimensions of the basin's water resources. Reliable weights for each of these sustainability components were assigned using fuzzy analytical hierarchy process evaluations of judgements obtained from five highly experienced experts. The sustainability levels were ranked in increasing order of Management > Economic > Environment > Social, allowing a composite sustainability index to be assessed. By taking into account economic, environmental, social and management perspectives, the assessment provides a comprehensive understanding of the sustainability of water resources in the VSRB. Highlights: We assessed a multi‐faceted sustainability framework for river basin water resources.Reliable weights of components were derived by acceptably consistent expert judgments.Enhancing irrigation system capacity is essential for better economic performance.Irrigation saving technique should be highly encouraged for environmental sustainability.Reducing the number of people affected by floods and droughts strengthens social sustainability.Management performance is essential to strengthen th\e integrated water sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims highlighting the importance of maintaining long-term sustainability of public finances through the continuation of measures for economic recovery, accelerating economic growth, and maintaining and supporting a new framework for sustainable development that leads to the elimination of vulnerabilities in the economy and ensures a decent standard of living. The main objectives for creating and consolidating public finances aim at improving the quality of public spending by improving budget planning, implementing reforms in the labor, pension, and SME support sectors, prioritizing sectoral policies, ensuring real competition between proposed projects for funding, and supporting performance by using the best practices at the European level and avoiding wastage of public funds. The paper analyzes the degree of fiscal consolidation achieved, contributing to reducing inflation, interest rates, the trade deficit, and the current account deficit of the balance of payments, as well as the stability of the leu exchange rate, taking into account the fragility of the domestic and external environment, the budgetary effort required for the new pension system law, and the implementation of reforms from the PNRR, which must be completed by 2026. Considering the issues mentioned above, Romania has set several objectives to ensure the sustainability of the gross financing needs, such as reducing the budget deficit by supporting and adapting the business environment to the challenges posed by economic crises, simplifying taxation, and improving legislation to address tax evasion, to create the conditions for healthy and sustainable economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to evaluate the sustainability of aquaculture production systems in the western region of the state of Paraná through a set of indicators, making it possible to verify whether the activity is being managed within the concept of sustainable development for aquaculture. The study was conducted in the municipalities of Palotina and Maripá, in 50 aquaculture farms. A methodology of a set of sustainability indicators was used through the application of a questionnaire and interviews on the selected farms, which allowed them to be classified according to the three dimensions of sustainability (economic, social, and environmental), as well as to determine which indicators had more influence in each dimension. A group of farms that have an economic advantage over the others was observed; this gives them a relatively lower risk when it comes to the activity. Furthermore, environmental indicators have less influence on the formation of the gradient, indicating that environmental characteristics are similar between farms, regardless of the patterns observed for economic and social aspects.

This research conducts an analysis of the sustainability of urban agriculture in Shanghai over the period 2010 to 2020, employing the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) concept as a framework to evaluate sustainability across economic, environmental, and social dimensions through the formulation and application of a comprehensive indicator system. Utilizing the Delphi method alongside the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for determining indicators and their respective weights, this study adopts a methodologically rigorous approach to analysis. The findings reveal an overall enhancement in agricultural sustainability, albeit accompanied by a decline in economic sustainability. Notably, environmental sustainability emerged as a paramount concern, underscoring the essentiality of incorporating environmental indicators within urban agricultural initiatives. The paper addresses significant challenges such as elevated land prices, demographic shifts, and the imperative for more stringent environmental regulations. It advocates for a multidimensional strategy integrating advanced agricultural technologies and cross-sectoral partnerships to bolster sustainability. Furthermore, the study accentuates the necessity of achieving equilibrium among economic feasibility, environmental stewardship, and social equity to pursue sustainable urban agriculture in Shanghai. Additionally, it highlights the critical role of strategic agricultural policy formulation in fostering sectoral resilience and ensuring enduring sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable benefits from water resource development involve many factors that need to be holistically considered for implementing management policies. The study aimed to develop a set of key sustainability indicators following the social context surrounding a reservoir. The results show the quality-of-life is the highest significance, followed by natural resource conservation, risk management, participation, and equality, respectively. The indicator of the highest significance in the quality of life was confidence in livelihoods against flood and drought. The findings can apply to the assessment of sustainable development from reservoir projects and support a broader analysis of key sustainability criteria in various areas.

Sustainable development has become a prominent reference point in strategic planning and territorial improvement. Economic growth necessitates intensified efforts to utilize resources, often resulting in increased pressure on the environment and heightened social inequality. The application of sustainable development principles holds particular importance for urbanized territories. Assessing the regional sustainability integral indicator can help alleviate unequal socio-economic development among municipalities. This indicator comprises indexes of the sustainability of individual territories. The authors propose the integral indicator as the arithmetic mean of indexes reflecting the sustainable development level of each component (economic, social, environmental). The authors applied this tool to municipalities in the Leningrad Region. Additionally, they conducted a ranking of municipal districts in the region based on the integral indicator. The leaders in sustainable development were the districts included in the St. Petersburg agglomeration. The authors suggest that a significant factor in the sustainable development of a territory is the presence of small enterprises, which possess the necessary flexibility for innovation in the social and environmental spheres. The authors propose distributing the elements of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) potential according to the sustainable development factors of the region. The obtained data will enable the making of administrative decisions at the municipal and regional levels, including those related to the intensity and support for SMEs operating in relevant industries. This methodological approach to assessing the sustainability of the region and its internal municipalities, particularly concerning SMEs, can be utilized to make optimal administrative decisions related to government support for specific business areas.

Sustainable development has become a prominent reference point in strategic planning and territorial improvement. Economic growth necessitates intensified efforts to utilize resources, often resulting in increased pressure on the environment and heightened social inequality. The application of sustainable development principles holds particular importance for urbanized territories. Assessing the regional sustainability integral indicator can help alleviate unequal socioeconomic development among municipalities. This indicator comprises indexes of the sustainability of individual territories. The authors propose the integral indicator as the arithmetic mean of indexes reflecting the sustainable development level of each component (economic, social, environmental). The authors applied this tool to municipalities in the Leningrad Region. Additionally, they conducted a ranking of municipal districts in the region based on the integral indicator. The leaders in sustainable development were the districts included in the St. Petersburg agglomeration. The authors suggest that a significant factor in the sustainable development of a territory is the presence of small enterprises, which possess the necessary flexibility for innovation in the social and environmental spheres. The authors propose distributing the elements of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) potential according to the sustainable development factors of the region. The obtained data will enable the making of administrative decisions at the municipal and regional levels, including those related to the intensity and support for SMEs operating in relevant industries. This methodological approach to assessing the sustainability of the region and its internal municipalities, particularly concerning SMEs, can be utilized to make optimal administrative decisions related to government support for specific business areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an analysis of the most important sustainability indicators for SSCM in construction and gives a detailed overview of what has been scientifically accomplished in the field to date, and identifies areas for further research. The most important sustainability indicators were also grouped and presented in the literature review into the main seven assessment groups of the SSCM construction industry and ranked by experts from Northern Italy and Lithuania in several different ways. Based on the data from the Table 3, it can be inferred that a harmonious work environment among ecological sustainability indicators appeared as the most crucial indicator for respondents. Environmental education was among the most important social indicators. In the legal group, work efficiency emerged as the most significant indicator, while in the physical group, sustainable resource use was crucial. In the political realm, economic and political stability was the most important, and among technological indicators, innovation stood out. Among economic indicators, profit was the most significant sustainability indicator for respondents. A general indicator importance method combined results obtained from expert surveys using various methods. The ranking of sustainability indicators in each group was not included in the calculation of the overall indicator importance, but the results were similar in both cases. The determined importance of indicator values could be adapted for further analysis, specifically for multicriteria evaluation, as per the conceptual model shown in Figure 1. This article provides members of the construction industry with detailed calculations and results of the evaluation of key sustainability indicators related to supply chain groups. This study explores several possible ways to measure the importance of sustainability indicators, which could provide further theoretical insights into SSCM in the construction industry and help develop an accurate sustainability index model. Article in Lithuanian. Tiekimo grandinės valdymo statybos įmonėse tvarumo matavimas Santrauka Šiais laikais mokslininkai vis dažniau atsižvelgia į tvarumo aspektą statybų sektoriuje. Siekdami pabrėžti augančią tvarumo sampratos svarbą bendrojoje darbo kultūroje, statybų įmonių vadovai turėtų atlikti tvariojo tiekimo grandinės valdymo vertinimą ir diegti tvarumui matuoti skirtą indeksą. Tvarumo vertinimas statybos tiekimo grandinės valdymo procese (TGV) dažniausiai atliekamas atsižvelgiant į ekonominius, fizinius, socialinius ir geografinius rodiklius, Brundtlando konvencijos nutarimu geriau žinomus kaip TBL (angl. Triple Bottom Line). Atlikus išplėstinę akademinės literatūros analizę, pasikonsultavus su darniosios statybos pramonės ekspertais buvo apžvelgta esama tiekimo grandinės (TG) tvarumo vertinimo situacija statybų sektoriuje. Straipsnyje pateikti tyrimai, skirti nagrinėti tvariosios tiekimo grandinės valdymą (TTGV) statybų sektoriuje iš holistinės perspektyvos, daugiausia dėmesio skiriant tvarumo matavimo svarbai statybos srityje. Antroje straipsnio dalyje buvo pristatyti apklausos metu gauti respondentų rezultatai vertinant tvarumo rodiklius statybų sektoriuje skirtingais metodais. Šiame darbe pateikiamas autorės sudarytas tvarumo rodiklių sąrašas, skirtas statybos bendrovių tiekimo grandinėms nagrinėti. Šie tvarumo rodikliai buvo suskirstyti į kategorijas, priskirti vienai ar porai tvarumo grupių, peržiūrint jų naudojimą ankstesnėje literatūroje. Atlikus išplėstinę 30 respondentų iš Lietuvos ir Šiaurės Italijos statybos sektoriaus profesionalų apklausą buvo sudaryti tvarumo rodiklių vertinimo sąrašai, kuriuose tvarumo rodikliai statybų sektoriuje pagal svarbą buvo įvertinti keliais skirtingais būdais. Šie rodikliai apima TTGV statybos įmonėse taikymo principus. Galiausiai, siekiant kiekybiškai įvertinti tvarumo rodiklius, įvertinti jų efektyvumą ir klasifikaciją, buvo pristatytas svarbiausių tvarumo rodiklių sąrašas. Rodiklių svarbos nustatymas gali padėti akademikams tvarumo rodiklių matavimo indekso kūrimo procese, prisidėti prie tvariosios politikos formavimo ir pagerinti statybos sektoriaus bendrovių strategijas. Šio straipsnio autorės pasiūlyta statybos įmonių TGV tvarumo vertinimo ir matavimo sistema gali būti plėtojama svarbiausių TTGV rodiklių statybai vertinti ir geriausiam statybos įmonių tiekėjui parinkti, taip pat naudojama sprendžiant daugiakriterio vertinimo problemas. Šio tyrimo tikslas – įvertinti TTGV rodiklių reikšmę statybos pramonėje ir nustatyti, kuri tvarumo vertinimo sistema yra optimali tvariajai statybai patikimumo, sąnaudų mažinimo ir ilgaamžiškumo principų požiūriu. Šie komponentai yra vieni sudėtingiausių statybos inžinerijos ir valdymo uždavinių. Reikšminiai žodžiai: statybos pramonė, tvarumo rodiklis, statybos tiekimo grandinė, tvarumo matavimas, tvariosios tiekimo grandinės valdymas.

Generally, urban traffic management evaluates micro-scale projects based on traffic indices, such as travel time, that ignore the sustainability criteria and impacts of changes on adjacent areas. Therefore, the aim is to assess the sustainability of micro-scale traffic congestion removal projects on highways with a wider vision. Five proposed scenarios were evaluated using ten sustainable transportation indicators (STIs) that represent various aspects of sustainability. Scenarios were simulated in Aimsun, and STIs were derived directly and indirectly from the outputs. The results showed that even small changes could improve the operation of the network. Finally, a decision-making method was implemented to prioritize the scenarios. The combination of STIs based on the criteria for the Tehran 2025 horizon as a composite sustainability index (CSI) helped to determine impacts of each scenario. Although all scenarios improved traffic indices of the network, some failed sustainability criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's scenario, ensuring sustainability of energy system particularly in the field of power generation is a major concern, and in this regard, exergy analysis is widely accepted tool. For this purpose, first, a comprehensive performance is carried out between two gas turbine plants, i.e., GT2 (case I) and GT1 (case II) using various exergy performance parameters. Further, a comprehensive performance evaluation is carried out between three cases; GT2 (case I), GT1 (case II) and CCPP (case III) using different sustainability indicators such as exergy efficiency, waste exergy ratio, exergy destruction factor and recoverable exergy ratio. Results demonstrate that exergetic sustainability index of combined cycle power plant (CCPP) is 0.45 when compared with GT2 (0.29) and GT1 (0.28). The increased sustainability index is because of the incorporation of a bottoming cycle, which ultimately decreases waste exergy ratio and leads to an increase in exergy efficiency and sustainability index of CCPP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Nordic Early Childhood Educational Research / Nordisk Barnehageforskning is the property of Cappelen Damm Akademisk 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.)

This research conducts an analysis of the sustainability of urban agriculture in Shanghai over the period 2010 to 2020, employing the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) concept as a framework to evaluate sustainability across economic, environmental, and social dimensions through the formulation and application of a comprehensive indicator system. Utilizing the Delphi method alongside the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for determining indicators and their respective weights, this study adopts a methodologically rigorous approach to analysis. The findings reveal an overall enhancement in agricultural sustainability, albeit accompanied by a decline in economic sustainability. Notably, environmental sustainability emerged as a paramount concern, underscoring the essentiality of incorporating environmental indicators within urban agricultural initiatives. The paper addresses significant challenges such as elevated land prices, demographic shifts, and the imperative for more stringent environmental regulations. It advocates for a multidimensional strategy integrating advanced agricultural technologies and cross-sectoral partnerships to bolster sustainability. Furthermore, the study accentuates the necessity of achieving equilibrium among economic feasibility, environmental stewardship, and social equity to pursue sustainable urban agriculture in Shanghai. Additionally, it highlights the critical role of strategic agricultural policy formulation in fostering sectoral resilience and ensuring enduring sustainability.

Several proposals have been put forward for measuring sustainability performance at the country-level, in addition to the considerable debate surrounding which pillars (or dimensions) should form part of this sustainability and which variables should make up these pillars. To date, no clear consensus has been reached regarding which sustainability measures are the most appropriate when seeking to reflect not only a country's economic development but also its environmental, social, and governance aspects. To provide an alternative to the existing indicators developed by private agencies, this study proposes an index to measure sustainability at the country-level, considering the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) pillars. In addition, this indicator will serve as a counterpoint to the majority of current sustainability indicators, some of which involve a strong component in per capita income, or which are over-represented in economic terms. In a second stage –and in order to apply the indicator– this study analyses how sustainability at the country-level, and its ESG pillars, influence trade openness through a study of panel data from 47 countries. The results indicate that applying a disaggregated index in its dimensions (pillars) shows both the positive and negative effects that sustainability can have on the variable studied. A non-disaggregated index only reflects the joint effect, which might be insignificant in certain cases. This study contributes to the existing literature as well as to current understanding of how to measure national sustainability and its implications for macroeconomic variables, and it also provides a clear method for future research.

Copyright of Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente is the property of Universidade Federal do Parana 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 research was aimed at determining the dependences of sustainability indicators on the parameters of the sunflower oil transesterification with ethyl, propyl, and butyl alcohol catalyzed by anion exchange resin AV-17-8 with OH- ions or cation exchange resin KU- 2-8 with H+ or immobilized Zn2+, Sn2+, Ni2+, Co2+, and Cu2+ ions. Such sustainability indicators as the E-factor, atomic efficiency, mass intensity and mass productivity, reaction mass efficiency, stoichiometric factor, etc., have been determined. We established that sustainability indicators of transesterification catalyzed by ion exchange resins depend on the yield of higher fatty acid esters that can be achieved by immobilized metal ions. The unreacted alcohol regeneration significantly reduces the E-factor value and increases the reaction mass efficiency. During the sunflower oil ethanolysis, the minimum E-factor value is achieved at the ethyl alcohol:triglyceride molar ratio corresponding to the maximum yield of higher fatty acid esters. The reaction mass efficiency calculated without considering the unreacted alcohol regeneration is one of the criteria for determining its regeneration expediency. The sustainability indicators are the additional criteria for selecting optimal conditions of the sunflower oil transesterification with aliphatic alcohols catalyzed by ion exchange resins. The calculated sustainability indicators indicate that the investigated ion exchange resins as heterogeneous transesterification catalysts provide a high yield of higher fatty acid esters. Using the researched catalysts ensures a low E-factor, making the process environmentally friendly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hillside planning, design, and development require an intensive understanding of human habitats, man–environment interaction, hill environment sensitivities, spatial planning, and design issues to ensure contextually appropriate development. Although numerous tools, techniques, and frameworks have been developed and implemented to assess urban sustainability, these have not been applied to environmentally sensitive hilly areas, nor have their appropriateness been determined. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a new urban sustainability assessment tool (USAT) named the "Sustainable Urban Development of Environmentally Sensitive Hilly Areas Suitability IndeX (SUDESHA-SIX)" to evaluate the sustainability of hillside settlements using an analytical hierarchy process. The methodology combines descriptive and deductive analytical techniques and geographic information systems-based statistical methods. SUDESHA-SIX was first developed some years back and was applied to the New Tehri Township as it received the National Award for Excellence in planning and design in hills in the year 2000 by the then Prime Minister of India. The results showed that out of the six broad factors, "site suitability" was ranked as the most critical factor of environmentally sensitive hilly areas, followed by "built environment," "environment and ecology," "climate and energy," "transportation and connectivity," and "visual resources." When applied to existing projects, the developed tool provided a more objective and detailed information on the urban sustainability of hilly areas, which could help architects, planners, designers, and decision-makers develop strategies to improve the overall urban sustainability of hilly regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increase in energy demand in Sri Lanka caused by rapid economic growth needs to be tackled in a sustainable way. Thus, this research intends to retrace the path of energy development during the last two decades from a multidimensional sustainability perspective which in return will help predicting its future behaviour. Integrated approach consists of a system dynamic model developed based on economic and socio-demographic factors, an indictor-based framework with stakeholder participation and a scenario analysis. Results show post-conflict economic development has taken a toll on the overall sustainability of the energy system which has become stagnant since 2010. Alternative scenarios suggest supply-side energy reforms have the highest impact on lessening the environmental burden of the energy system. Findings can provide insights and a structure guidance for the decision-makers to set the energy sector of Sri Lanka on a sustainable development path that is imperative in the long run.

The article provides the assessment of the sustainability of an industrial enterprise based on the concept of the global economic trend of ESG development. The authors propose classification of subspecies of enterprise sustainability and evaluate the indicator of the level of interaction with the institutions of state power. The article considers the influence of GR activity on the sustainable development of an industrial enterprise in contemporary reality. The authors conclude about the main characteristics of the activity of the GR structure in the management of an industrial enterprise and the place of GR management in the system of organizational and managerial activity of the enterprise.

Small hydropower has attracted extensive interest as a clean technology. This study first identified possible sites of small hydropower plants with estimated capacity, and then utilized resources time footprint as a novel way to evaluate the impact of small hydropower plants on the aspects of materials, CO 2 , labor, and land. Resources time footprint is a sustainability indicator that uses a uniform time unit (years). It assesses whether the usage of resources exceeds the amount allocated to different people and generations. The smaller the value of resources time footprint, the more environmentally friendly is the process. Preferential locations for small hydropower in Dan River were specified, with a potential capacity ranging from 273 to 1175 kW. Resources time footprint of copper is 8.9–47.3 times as large as that of steel. Resources time footprint of CO 2 emissions is much smaller than that of other aspects, revealing that small hydropower has a great potential to mitigate the greenhouse effect. The overall resources time footprint decreases with an increase in the installed capacity. The methodology proposed in this study can be used to identify the ideal locations for setting up small hydropower plants in other regions as well. • We used resources time footprint to assess the impact of renewable energy. • We analyzed occupancy of materials, CO 2 emissions, land, and labor of SHP. • We made an initial attempt to apply resources time footprint to site selection. • Overall resources time footprint decreases with an increase in the capacity of SHP. • We identified preferential locations of SHP in Dan River Basin, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I Norge går ca. tusen barn i samiske barnehager (Statistisk sentralbyrå, 2016). I denne artikkelen utforsker vi hvordan samiske barnehagers verdiforankring kan settes i sammenheng med begrepet kulturell bærekraft. Vi bygger på et kvalitativt datamateriale fra intervju med ansatte og observasjoner i seks samiske barnehager i Norge. Kulturell bærekraft handler om retten til selvbestemmelse over egen kultur, jf. FNs urfolkserklæring artikkel 3. Målene om økonomisk, økologisk og kulturell bærekraft henger sammen: Økologisk bærekraft gir grunnlag for økonomisk bærekraft, og sammen gir økologisk og økonomisk bærekraft mulighet for å ivareta og utvikle kulturell bærekraft (Landbruks- og matdepartementet, 2018). Vår studie belyser hvordan praksisen i samiske barnehager kan forstås som kulturell kapital (Bourdieu, 2006) og som bærekraftsindikatorer. Dette innbefatter en forståelse av at kultur er en nødvendig forankring for å skape et bærekraftig samfunn som utvikler øko-kulturell sivilisasjon (Soini & Birkeland, 2014). Vår studie synliggjør hvordan samiske barnehagers vektlegging av samisk kultur gjennom praktiske handlinger og mytiske fortellinger bygger et fundament for bærekraft i praksis. Vi avslutter med å skissere hvordan barnehagepedagogikken generelt kan trekke veksler på dette. ENGLISH ABSTRACT Cultural sustainability – daily practices in Sámi ECEC The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals reflect the three dimensions of sustainable development: climate and environment, economic conditions, and social conditions. On a general basis, kindergartens play an important role in preparing the coming generations for building a sustainable society (Kunnskapsdepartementet [Ministry of Education], 2017; Wals & Benavot, 2017). In Norway, the approximately 1,000 children attending Sámi kindergartens are spread across the country (Statistisk sentralbyrå [Statistics Norway], 2016). This article explores how the underlying values in Sámi kindergartens can be linked to the concept of cultural sustainability by examining qualitative data material from interviews with kindergarten staff and observations in six Sámi kindergartens in Norway. The study points out how the practices in Sámi kindergartens can be understood as cultural capital (Bourdieu, 2006) and as sustainability indicators. This is based on an understanding that culture is a necessary anchor for creating a sustainable society that develops an eco-cultural civilization (Soini & Birkeland, 2014). Our study also points out how Sámi kindergartens’ emphasis on Sámi culture through practical actions and mythical narratives provides a foundation for sustainability in practice. We conclude by outlining how kindergarten pedagogy in general can draw on this.

Along with the growing demand and improving diet, the agricultural sector faces challenges in balancing resource consumption, environmental impacts and yields. This study presents an extended exergy accounting to capture the changing characteristics of the usefulness of resources in the agricultural sector of Hebei Province during 2000–2018 from thermodynamics perspective. The accounting includes exergy fluxes of energy, materials, environmental remediation, labor, capital and yields quantified by joules. The agricultural sector of Hebei Province comprising the cropping, forestry, stockbreeding and fishery sub industries, has experienced transformation into a modern pattern. The results showed that (1) the extended exergy in the agricultural sector of Hebei Province exhibited a declining trend; the natural resource exergy, particularly energy exergy, dominated the investments in the sector. (2) The capital exergy, labor exergy and environmental remediation exergy all decreased; the capital exergy and labor exergy decreased more than the environmental remediation exergy. The shares of the labor exergy from the services of agriculture declined, while those of the labor exergy from forestry and stockbreeding notably increased. (3) Since the cropping accounts for a large part of the yields, the large quantity of crop residues should be considered seriously. The potential of the other three sub industries was very high. The comparison between the agricultural sector in Hebei Province and that in China as a whole involving exergy indicators showed that Hebei Province was more modernized and had achieved great progresses. Extended exergy accounting captures the agro ecological economic system to help identify resource depletion and environmental costs in other areas or industries from a sustainable development perspective.

Soil degradation creates diverse problems across varying dimensions, including food and water insecurity as well as greater vulnerability to climate change especially in Brazil. This uncover the complexity of land use as well as the challenges to asses it. In this article, a multiple case study is presented. Results obtained from three surveys using the IQRM method are discussed to assess the extent to which agricultural land is capable of supporting the uses and management adopted by farmers. When inferring about the degree of adequacy of land use and management, IQRM makes it possible to indicate situations that deserve greater attention because they demonstrate a need for improvements or because they represent references of good environmental performance in a given context. The method IQRM integrated different kinds of knowledge in land use assessment. It is a crucial factor to foster social learning processes and sustainability in the Brazilian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACTSoil degradation creates diverse problems across varying dimensions, including food and water insecurity as well as greater vulnerability to climate change especially in Brazil. This uncover the complexity of land use as well as the challenges to asses it. In this article, a multiple case study is presented. Results obtained from three surveys using the IQRM method are discussed to assess the extent to which agricultural land is capable of supporting the uses and management adopted by farmers. When inferring about the degree of adequacy of land use and management, IQRM makes it possible to indicate situations that deserve greater attention because they demonstrate a need for improvements or because they represent references of good environmental performance in a given context. The method IQRM integrated different kinds of knowledge in land use assessment. It is a crucial factor to foster social learning processes and sustainability in the Brazilian context.

In recent years, it became clear that the human unsustainable behaviours’ impact on the environment. Environment protected behavior is especially relevant in the context of the current epidemiological situation ushered by the COVID-19. Environmental awareness is becoming a part of everyday life. The time has come when it is necessary to sacrifice the comfort for the future of the planet. This study primarily focuses on the attitudes of residents of a typical Russian industrial city towards environmental issues and the use of the Energy-Saving Behavior Index (ESBI) as an environmental indicator of sustainable behavior. Our work investigates ESBI and the factors which are associated with domestic energy-saving behavior. We surveyed 599 people in Chelyabinsk, Russia. We studied (1) the socio-demographic factors of residents and their households, (2) mental health and subjective well-being (SWB), and (3) physical health. The study showed that the overwhelming majority of residents of a typical Russian city are extremely dissatisfied with the state of the environment (more than 80% of respondents) and 70% of them believe that they can contribute to improving the situation. However, Russians are still wasteful in household energy consumption. It has been shown that unstable behavior is due to psychological factors and has a compensatory mechanism that is connected with the “feelings-emotions-behavior” sequence.

Environmental data and research illustrate that global warming, normally assessed through carbon dioxide (CO2) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is a critical element in environmental sustainability and that a shift to decarbonized energy sources is necessary to preserve the environment for future generations. The challenge is that overall global sustainability is more complex than solely focusing on global warming or the environment.As a potential alternative, NOx emissions are explored as a potential surrogate for CO2 and GHG emissions and as an indicator for decarbonization. An added benefit of using NOx is that it has strong correlations with each pillar of sustainability, and therefore can offer a more encompassing view. Global and country specific NOx emissions, between 1990 and 2015, are analyzed in a format paralleling the three pillars. Trends show that, while NOx emissions are increasing, there are improvements in both societal and economic emission intensities. It is also demonstrated that there is no net movement towards decarbonization, and that a paradigm shift will be necessary to achieve the emissions reductions required. As well, human development index appears to be tied to the change in per capita emissions of NOx over the study period. Overall, NOx is demonstrated to be a robust and potentially more effective surrogate for CO2 and GHG emissions in estimating fossil fuel emissions and gauging movement towards decarbonization. The added interconnectedness of NOx with all three pillars makes it an excellent indicator for tracking progress towards overall sustainability.

A concrete structure should be sufficiently planned, designed, executed and maintained to ensure its requirements during the life cycle. However, structures suffering from serious deterioration in structural members and sometimes subsequent loss in sustainability have been often found due to various reasons. One of the reasons is lack of total management for the structure. To meet these facts, it is extremely important to pursue coordination of engineering work in the design, execution and maintenance stages. The life cycle management is an organized system to support engineers decision to realize sufficient sustainability of the structure in the design, execution, maintenance, and all related work during its life cycle. The life cycle management is implemented based according to the life cycle management scenario in which balance of several sustainability indicators should be considered with ensuring overall sustainability. The sustainability indicators will be determined from the social, environmental and economic points of view. The scenario should be regularly reviewed based on the PDCA cycle and be updated if necessary. This paper deals with the concept and framework of the life cycle management of concrete structures to ensure sustainability during the structural life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring sustainability in electrical power generation is a major concern in the modern world. Reducing energy depletion from power generation can reduce emissions and contribute to sustainability. Exergy analysis can be used to assess and optimize energy systems and thus can help achieve sustainability. In this analysis, energy and exergy utilization of Bangladesh’s utility sector is investigated based on data from 2007 to 2016. The overall energy efficiencies vary from 34.9% to 36.3% while the exergy efficiencies vary from 35.0% to 39.2% within this period. Thermal power plants are seen to have greater exergetic improvement potential than hydro power plants. To correlate between exergy and environmental sustainability, this study applies several exergetic parameters as sustainability indicators. It is found that the depletion number varies between 0.61 and 0.65 while the exergy sustainability index varies between 1.54 and 1.64. The relative irreversibility and lack of productivity are greater for gas operated power plants than other thermal power plants. The largest relative irreversibility is 0.90 while the largest lack of productivity is 1.72. The waste exergy ratio varies from 0.48 to 0.59 while the environmental effect factor varies from 1.35 to 1.68. Renewable power generation is found to have a higher sustainability than fossil fuel power generation. It is believed that current analysis can serve as a benchmark to help attain power generation sustainability.

The article is devoted to assessing the long-term sustainability of Ukraine’s pension system in order to determine the efficiency of its main function — protection against poverty in old age and income replacement in retirement. The method of calculating the Global Pension Index was applied, which was modified by the authors taking into account the peculiarities of the national labor market (labor migration, shadow employment, etc.). The long-term sustainability indicator is determined on the basis of 9 sub-indicators,which reflect the impact of demographic (life expectancy at state pension age, total fertility rate and old-age dependency ratio, labor force participation rate aged 55—64 or over etc.), structural (contribution of each level of pension system to ensuring the welfare of beneficiaries), economic (the level of private pension assets, expressed as a percentage of GDP, the level of the adjusted government debt and public cost of pensions, real economic growth) factors.The results showed that the sustainability indexof the pension system gradually increased during 2016—2020, reaching its maximum value at 45.29 out of 100 possible. This means that functioning of the pension system is not effective enough in terms of providing adequate income in old age. The disproportionate structure of the pension system, in which almost all the financial strain of paying benefits is concentrated in PAYG system, does not contribute to its sustainability, especially in the long term. Prospects for the development of Ukraine’s pension system are mainly related to the strengthening of private pensions: expanding the participation of the working age population in private pension plans, increasing the share of private pension assets in GDP, increasing protection of investors’ rights, stimulating labor force participation rate retirees. It was shown that GDP per-capita is weakly correlated with pension’s system sustainability. Therefore, economic factors do not have a decisive influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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There is a high possibility that pursuit of water policies goals which could have impacts on water security. Decision makers are interested in developing the water management systems to establish sustainable demand for secured water. The aim of the paper is to analyze the sustainability indicators (SIs) related to designing of the household water treatment system (HWTS). Thirteen criteria like solid waste, liquid waste, air pollution, initial cost, operation and maintenance costs, transport cost, satisfaction, purchasing power, social acceptance, health, reliability, after sales service, and technological capacity in four categories including environmental, economic, social and technical aspects have been considered. These criteria affect HWTS. These criteria are evaluated by taking into account the customer requirements (CRs) and design requirements (DRs) of HWTS. The objective of this study is to design sustainable HWTSs. This is achieved by an analytical approach integrating quality function deployment (QFD) and a linear programming technique for multidimensional analysis of preference (LINMAP) under fuzzy environment for guiding HWTSs manufactures. Fuzzy QFD-LINMAP approach is used to investigate the roles of the study criteria and the interrelationships between them. The HWTSs development in the city of Behbahan, Iran, is considered. The findings indicate that operation and maintenance costs (with value of 0.0522) is the most important sustainability indicator in the CRs and the least important is technical capacity (with value of 0.1096). The most important sustainability indicator in DRs is purchasing power (with value of 0.0207), and the least important is liquid waste (with value of 0.1469). The results show that sustainability strategies are selected for water treatment systems constraints and the model provides compromise solutions to help decision makers evaluate suitable water policy mix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantification of Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) pools and carbon farming potential of any land use and cropping systems are important indicators of productivity, profitability, and sustainability of that system. The objective of our present study was to evaluate the spatial and depth-wise distribution of SOC pools (active-C and passive-C) and carbon farming potential of major cropping and land use systems in Alfisols under southern agro climatic zone of Andhra Pradesh, India. We quantified active-C, passive-C pools, and SOC status in 19 different land use and cropping systems. The results indicated that SOC status and carbon farming potential were highest (P≤0.001) under forest land use (13.96 g kg-1 and 62.19 Mg ha-1) followed by mango orchards (≥15 years age) relatively less than 23.6%, and on par with sugarcane-vegetables 25.2%, and paddy-tomato 23.1 %. The lowest (P≤0.001) was recorded under rainfed groundnut 77.5%, followed by sugarcane-sugarcane 73.3%. The active-C pool was significantly (P≤ 0.001) higher in forest land use (8.79 g kg--1) followed by sugarcane-vegetables (8.3 g kg-1). The passive-C pool was higher (P≤0.001) under forest land use (7.98 g kg-1), on par with mango orchards (≥15 years age (7.49 g kg-1) and followed by paddy-tomato (5.69 g kg-1) and sugarcane-paddy (5.12 g kg-1). The lowest (P≤0.001) active and passive-C pools belonged to rainfed groundnut, current fallow lands, and sugarcane-sugarcane cropping systems. Of all the studied land use and cropping systems, carbon farming potential was higher under forest land use followed by mango orchards ≥ years age, sugarcane-vegetables and paddy-tomato cropping systems. The potential was medium under paddy-groundnut, groundnut-tomato/vegetables, tomato-vegetables, perennial fodder plantations, casuarina and eucalyptus plantations and sugarcane-paddy cropping systems, while it was low under paddy-paddy, groundnut-groundnut, flower crops and cultivable wastes and very low under rainfed groundnut, current fallow lands, and sugarcane-sugarcane cropping systems. Thus, the present study emphasizes on the carbon farming potential, which could act as an indicator for sustainability [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The volume of urban transportation sustainability assessments in academic literature has steadily increased over the last two decades. This paper targets these studies through the first systematic literature review to construct a synthesised and critical overview of how urban transportation sustainability is in fact assessed. The sample consists of 99 peer-reviewed articles retrieved via three scientific search engines. The results reveal a Europe-centric and single-case focus, a strong interest to introduce new indicator systems with limited references to previous work, and a lack of qualitative approaches and stakeholder diversity regarding the assessment methods. Nearly 2400 indicators are identified in the articles with significant variation in their use. Furthermore, the comprehensive accounting for sustainability is often overlooked, and the inconclusive assessment results are often noted by the authors of the sample articles themselves. Our findings signal that the research field is highly fragmented and to some extent fails to accumulate knowledge generated by past studies and to comprehensively operationalise the concept of sustainability. The identified shortcomings of the assessments and their implications for transportation policy-making and planning are highlighted, and based on our results recommendations to develop more reliable, comparable, and inclusive sustainability assessments for the urban transportation sector are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing number of water withdrawals in Alpine regions represents a significant threat to aquatic ecosystems and river landscape (riverscape). To assess their sustainability, the impacts on river ecological status and landscape features need to be quantified with appropriate indicators. However, assessment of landscape attributes is a complex challenge, due to the lack of standardized methods. Moreover, few metrics quantifying the impacts of water withdrawal on downstream riverscape perception are available in the scientific literature.In this paper, a new indicator, named Landscape Protection Level (LPL), aimed at assessing the effects of water withdrawals on the river landscape, is presented. The indicator has been developed in Aosta Valley (NW Italian Alps), where the river network is heavily exploited by hundreds of withdrawals for hydropower production and irrigation, and it has been included in a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) procedure to assess the sustainability of water withdrawal licenses in relation to different flow release scenarios.The LPL indicator is based on three parameters, Constraint Factor, Release Factor, and Visual Elements Factor, quantifying the presence of landscape protection constraints, the ratio of flow released downstream of the dam to the available river discharge, and the impact on the visual perception of the bypassed stretch, respectively.Its application in four real case studies of existing hydropower plants is presented and discussed in the paper, demonstrating the indicator applicability to assess both specific release values and flow release scenarios varying over the year. Results are analyzed by highlighting the main strengths and weaknesses of the indicator and proposing some suggestions for future improvements. In particular, the reactiveness of the indicator, the representativeness of the stakeholders’ interests, the transparency of the indicator calculation procedure, and the time required for data collection and processing are discussed. Finally, future activities aimed at further improving the indicator applicability and transferability to different river contexts are proposed.

A sustainable roadway rating system (SR2S) consists of a set of indicators to comprehensively measure the sustainability performance of roadway projects. The sustainability level of the systems can be improved by implementing appropriate strategies pertaining to materials and energy. In the peer-reviewed literature, some studies have conducted shallow comparisons of different SR2Ss and no studies have compared the significance of material and energy indicators in existing SR2Ss. To bridge this research gap, five existing SR2Ss were considered. These five SR2Ss described overlapping categories of indicators. Material and energy-related indicators (MEIs) were identified from the representative SR2Ss by conducting content analysis. Similar indicators were regrouped into six different material and energy-related features (MEFs), corresponding to six categories of indicators: local materials; long-life designs; materials obtained using the reduce, reuse, and recycle (3Rs) concept; energy efficiency; earthwork; and hazardous materials. Based on the relative significance index (RSI), the weightings of the selected SR2Ss and the significance of MEIs according to six MEFs were explored. In terms of the aforementioned criteria, the Illinois Livable and Sustainable Transportation gives the greatest weight to material and energy (34.7% of the total points), whereas GreenLITES gives the least weight to material and energy (i.e., 26.8% of total points). Regarding MEFs, SR2Ss focus more on materials obtained by using the 3Rs concept and energy efficiency. This means that indicators pertaining to these two features were considered to contribute significantly to evaluations of roadway sustainability. Aside from 3Rs and energy efficiency, hazardous materials were deemed to be not highly relevant to SR2Ss. Discussion on the indicator requirements related to material and energy are further provided based on different MEFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper develops and analyzes a taxonomy that divides the Federative Units of Brazil into groups with similar characteristics, distributed over the indicators of the four dimensions of sustainable development described by the Dashboard of Sustainability method. The research methodology adopted was multivariate analysis by interdependence technique through cluster analysis. The results suggest that on average, the federal units contribute differently to the different dimensions of sustainable development of the country and form distinct groups. Brazil’s sustainable development index has an environmental dimension with a strong contribution from the grouping of states in the North and Northeast regions. The social dimension is positively influenced by the grouping composed of the federative units of the South and Midwest regions. In contrast, the economic dimension is positively influenced by all federal units, however, in a different way. The institutional dimension was mainly influenced by Ceará and Bahia (Northeast region), all South and Southeast states and the Federal District, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul (Center-West region), all components of a single grouping.

Milk production is an important economic and social activity in Brazil. Failure to meet institutional and market demands for quality and sustainability has led farmers, particularly small-scale farmers, to leave agriculture. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the sustainability of dairy farms in Paraná, Brazil. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 75 dairy farm operators. Sustainability indicators were generated on the basis of economic, environmental and social data using exploratory factor analysis. Factor scores were subjected to hierarchical clustering, which resulted in the formation of three groups of dairy farms. Groups 1, 2 and 3 had high, intermediate and low levels of sustainability, respectively. Group 1 comprised large-scale dairy farms with high productivity. Dairy farms with intermediate sustainability (group 2) had medium production capacity, and farms with low sustainability (group 1) had the smallest production scale and capacity. Large-scale dairy farms have greater economic, environmental and social sustainability and are, therefore, more likely to survive in the medium and long term.

Milk production is an important economic and social activity in Brazil. Failure to meet institutional and market demands for quality and sustainability has led farmers, particularly small-scale farmers, to leave agriculture. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the sustainability of dairy farms in Paraná, Brazil. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 75 dairy farm operators. Sustainability indicators were generated on the basis of economic, environmental and social data using exploratory factor analysis. Factor scores were subjected to hierarchical clustering, which resulted in the formation of three groups of dairy farms. Groups 1, 2 and 3 had high, intermediate and low levels of sustainability, respectively. Group 1 comprised large-scale dairy farms with high productivity. Dairy farms with intermediate sustainability (group 2) had medium production capacity, and farms with low sustainability (group 1) had the smallest production scale and capacity. Large-scale dairy farms have greater economic, environmental and social sustainability and are, therefore, more likely to survive in the medium and long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of researchers tried to work on assuring sustainability in the design and manufacturing of products. But to date, there are subjective understandings on sustainability itself and limitations on balanced consideration of sustainability dimensions for product life cycle in decision-making. Moreover, following an emerging shift toward the design for additive manufacturing from design for manufacturing, less effort has been put to identify opportunities of sustainability performance of additive manufacturing. Therefore, a comprehensive list and interpretation of sustainable performance indicators targeting additive manufacturing needs further study. This study aims to propose sustainability performance indicators for additive manufacturing based on product life cycle studies. It incorporates detailed interpretation on how to use each indicator depending on type of product, application, and goal of decision makers to assure sustainable performance of a product during pre-manufacturing, manufacturing, use, post-use, and associated logistics stages of its life cycle. Authors performed extensive review and assessment of existing literature on sustainability, sustainable design, and manufacturing and additive manufacturing and its opportunity for realizing a more sustainable product. A sustainability performance indicators' list for 68 sub-subcategory of sustainability among which 29 for environment, 9 for economic, and 30 for social dimension is carefully identified and interpreted. Finally, an application section is supplemented to justify robustness of the results by considering life cycle aspect of a product to illustrate selection strategy of indicators from the proposed list and validation for exhaustiveness through comparison with ten of the widely accepted indicator sets and guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to apply Ecological Footprint methodology as a tool to analyze the Portuguese textile industry. This analysis is related to energy and resources consumption in dyeing, printing and finishing processes. It also includes identification of mitigation measures to increase energy efficiency, promoting at the same time the reduction of CO2 emissions and consequently the decrease in industry's Ecological Footprint. Moreover, the analysis presents the Ecological Footprint reduction potential for each mitigation option proposed for an important textile facility located in the North Region of Portugal, used as a case study in this work. The results for the case study showed that the total Ecological Footprint accounted, for the year 2016, summed up to 4890 gha. Furthermore, the energy category corresponds to more than 50% of the total Ecological Footprint estimation, and natural gas was the most required fuel for the processes. The calculation of the Ecological Footprint in the textile facilities can be used as a tool to analyze the processes' energy efficiency and to quantify the global impact of the implementation of mitigation measures in the energy field. The result is an indicator shown in a common unit, gha (global hectare) and it can be easily used to compare energy-intensive processes and industrial sectors. In addition, it can be used to analyze how each sector can impact the country's total demand for resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road traffic poses negative externalities on society and represents a key challenge in sustainable transportation. However, the existing literature about the assessment of traffic externalities drawn on a common measure is scarce. This paper develops a sustainability indicator that integrates traffic-related externalities as means of traffic congestion, noise, greenhouse gases (GHG) and nitrogen oxides emissions, health impacts and road crash related costs, and adjusted to local contexts of vulnerability. Traffic, road crashes, acoustic and vehicle dynamic data were collected from one real-world intercity corridor pair comprising three alternative routes. The site-specific operations were characterized using a modeling platform of traffic, emissions, noise and air quality. A specific methodology is applied for each road traffic externality and translated in a single factor – external cost. The results indicated that road crashes presented the largest share in the partly rural/urban route while GHG emissions had the highest contribution in external costs for the highway routes. Also, the distribution of external cost component varied according to the type of road, mostly due to different levels of exposed inhabitants. This paper offers a line of research that produced a method for decision-makers with a reliable and flexible cost analysis aimed at reducing the negative impacts of road traffic. It also encourages the design of eco-traffic management policies considering the perspective of drivers, commuters and population. Sustainability Indicator (congestion, noise, GHG, NO X , health impacts and road crash) in €/veh. Unlabelled Image • Sustainability indicator for integrating road traffic externalities was developed. • External costs focused on congestion, noise, GHG, NO X , health impacts and crashes. • The methodology was tested in real-world corridor pair with three alternative routes. • Crashes and GHG represented the largest share in external costs. • Share of externalities varied according the road type and population exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]