Cleaner Production Letters最新文献

Energy transition refers to the movement from fossil-based energy systems like coal, oil, and natural gas to renewable-based systems like solar, wind, biofuel, and hydrogen. The recent shockwaves from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict have made nations rethink their energy transition strategies. For various governments to encourage carbon neutrality, there is a dire necessity for widespread research on the expansion of greener energy sources. This bibliometric review sheds light on the significant contributions in the field of energy transition research in the past four decades and suggests future research roadmaps. By compiling a map of scholarly publications on energy transition, this study uses the PRISMA technique and bibliometric software like VOS-viewer, cite-space, and R-Biblioshiny to map the research findings of scholarly publications listed in Scopus and Web of Science during 1981–2021. Our analysis shows that aspects like climate change, alternative energy, governance approach, and emission reduction are increasingly important. Further, areas that require future research include developing policy frameworks, energy infrastructure (storage and transfer), renewable energy ecosystem, clean energy economic analysis, and impact assessment for timely energy transition across the globe. Therefore, collaboration among nations and research institutions should be advanced with a particular focus on clean technology development and knowledge transfer for rapid energy transition across continents.

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) is continuously gaining importance. It has been studied widely in developed countries and to some extent also in developing countries. This paper contributes to the latter by studying environmentally related SSCM practices in Jordanian manufacturing firms and provides a base for policy- and decision-makers as it assesses the current situation of the Jordanian manufacturing companies in terms of voluntarily adopting sustainable development practices or doing so under external pressure. This study aims to evaluate how adopting sustainable practices can affect economic performance in developing countries within the context of Jordanian manufacturing companies. Based on existing literature, a questionnaire was developed covering aspects of sustainability in internal and external supply chain practices, SSCM drivers, and company performance. A total of 92 responses were analyzed to test the proposed hypotheses using regression analyses to test the single-variable hypotheses, and structural equation modeling to test the multivariate hypotheses. The results show that the adoption of SSCM practices is still in its initial stages for Jordanian manufacturers. Sustainability awareness is quite low, and Jordanian companies mostly do not seem to consider the environmental impacts of their manufacturing operations. The results also show a difference between manufacturing types: process industries were less likely to adopt SSCM practices voluntarily, while discrete industries were more likely to do so. Finally, for Jordanian manufacturers to compete in international markets, they should take further steps toward adopting sustainability. To enhance the investment potential of multinational companies, Jordan should take the advantages of the industrial parks/estates and adopt regulations that force manufacturers to adopt sustainability practices under external pressure.

Sustainable development is a well-known and much studied topic, the application of many different approaches to which has led to continual debate about its true meaning and feasibility. A eudaimonic well-being approach might offer a new perspective to these discussions. This research aimed to understand the current state of the relationship between eudaimonic well-being and nature to establish whether sustainability can be conceptualized based on this perspective. In order to accomplish this aim, the study carried out a systematic literature review, using the ‘Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis’ method. The available literature was screened and the 50 articles selected through this process were mapped by means of bibliometric, methodological, and content analyses. This threefold analysis identified, for each article, the region where the empirical investigation took place; the main method used; key information about the relationship between eudaimonic well-being and nature; and the theories presented with the aim of explaining the reasons for the positive or negative relationships identified. The findings indicated that contact with nature, preservation behavior and nature interdependency were the three main aspects studied in the literature, in terms of the interactive relationship between eudaimonic well-being and nature. Considering that several studies identified a positive outcome from the contact with, preservation, and interdependence of nature, the research concluded that eudaimonic well-being is an important approach in support of the promotion of sustainable development.

There is an urgent need for alternative sources of graphite, to satisfy the demands of a number of industries, including use in lithium-ion battery production. Spent potlining (SPL) represents an attractive potential source of such graphite, but requires detoxification to allow valorisation of its carbonaceous fraction. We present here a simple decontamination process for SPL, based on two-stage caustic/acidic leaching, and demonstrate how the recovered graphite may be fabricated into Li-ion electrodes. The recycled batteries are assessed against a commercial equivalent and it is found that the charge capacity increases with the thoroughness of decontamination treatment. The specific capacity of the recovered graphite is seen to compete with commercial graphite in terms of charge capacity retention. However, some residual contamination may contribute towards instability in the formed solid electrolyte interface (SEI) which requires future resolution. Overall, the potential of SPL-derived graphite to be employed in this remit is significant and has far-reaching consequences for the economics of the aluminium industry, raw material sustainability and a low-carbon economy.

There is significant under-utilization of wind energy resources, particularly in countries that have high wind potential. From the 67 highest wind potential countries, 39 have installed less than 500 ​MW of wind power capacity, while the remaining countries have an average installed capacity of 20,596 ​MW. In the lagging countries, there is significant potential for sustainable value creation, however large investment gaps need to be closed. Entering a new market for wind power Original Equipment Manufacturers is complex and requires a prediction of the future market size. Quantitative research to promote wind power internationalization is scarce. The objective of this paper is therefore to estimate the market size by predicting the probability of commercial wind development in the lagging countries. The purpose is to help the Original Equipment Manufacturers in their market entry decisions. The second purpose is to provide an example how to reduce risk required to close the Sustainable Development Goals financing gap. Using a binary logistic regression model based on technological path creation theory, the probability for the 39 lagging countries to enter the wind power commercialization stage was predicted. Results show that 12 of the lagging countries have a high probability to commercialize wind energy. A new simulation-based approach was presented to stimulate wind power market entry. The prediction of adoption probability proves useful to reduce risk required to close the financing gap to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

To benefit from reducing deforestation under the Paris Agreement, developing countries need to establish a forest reference emission level (FREL) but no FREL study exists in Afghanistan yet. This study is aim at determining the FREL for Afghanistan between 2020 and 2030 using the retrospective and prospective approaches. Data of forest area in 1993 and 2010 and a Tier-2 emission factor were used to obtain the baseline emissions in closed forest, open forest, undifferentiated open forest, and high shrubs. Carbon stocks in four carbon pools were considered. Loss of closed forest emitted approximately 7.2 TgCO₂ year⁻¹, while increase in areas of other forest categories resulted in carbon sequestration of approximately 2.6 TgCO₂ year⁻¹ between 1993 and 2010. Depending on the chosen approaches, FRELs in Afghanistan can range from 1.3 TgCO₂ year⁻¹ for retrospective approach to as high as 2.3 TgCO₂ year⁻¹ for prospective approach between 2020 and 2030. Enhancement of carbon stocks and reducing deforestation could achieve emission reductions amounting up to 36.4% of the total emissions in Afghanistan. This study was the first attempt to determine the national FREL in Afghanistan, paving the way for understanding the impacts of future development on deforestation and carbon emissions in this country.

To align business activities with the Paris Agreement goal to limit global warming to 1.5°, companies may disclose and set targets to mitigate their emissions. The global food system contributes up to 37% of total annual emissions. Major food & beverage processing companies heavily contribute to food system emissions through their supply chains. Despite this, sector-specific analysis of the status and quality of scope 3 emissions for food & beverage processing companies is lacking. Using 2018 CDP data to build a sample of 153 companies, the authors describe the state of voluntary disclosure, particularly for scope 3, for food & beverage processing companies. Further, the paper investigated the effect of emissions performance, national environmental policy, international negotiation group, and primary activity on scope 3 disclosure. It also examined the effect of primary activity, scope 3 disclosure, and national environmental policy and international negotiation group on direct- and energy-related emissions performance. The authors found scope 3 disclosure in the food & beverage processing sector was incomplete and inconsistent. The 2018 Environmental Performance Index score and the international negotiating group of a company's headquarter country were significant predictors of scope 3 disclosure by category. Firm size (by revenue) was the only significant predictor of direct and energy-related (scopes 1 and 2) emissions, but was not correlated with improved emissions performance. The authors concluded with a set of recommendations to improve the availability and transparency of scope 3 emissions data, and invited further research into sector-specific scope 3 disclosure, performance, effect of firm size and climate policy at the national and international levels.

Appropriate partner selection is a crucial concern for businesses who want to address material sustainability issues through cross-sector partnerships. However, the current research on materiality analysis and partner selection is still in the nascent stage of development. This paper contributes to understanding partner selection by corporates through an in-depth exploration of the business's selection of nonprofit organisation (NPO) partners, based on case study research of Northumbrian Water Ltd. (NWL), a UK private sector organisation providing water supply and sewerage services. Using the evidence from this study, we propose a framework for the selection of partners based on the prospective impact of cross-sector partnerships on material sustainability issues. Our paper also provides a useful toolkit for businesses to evaluate these prospective impacts. The framework demonstrates how materiality with respect to sustainability issues can be assessed both reactively and proactively, and how this assessment can better inform the partner selection process by corporates. This understanding of how materiality is assessed and partners are selected in practice is supported by a context specific exemplar and contributes to knowledge and practice of materiality analysis as well as cross-sector partnerships.