Cleaner Environmental Systems最新文献

{"title":"Unlocking sustainable production pathways: Digital transformation driving green dual innovation in Chinese enterprises","authors":"Tian Xia ,&nbsp;Xudong Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100301","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100301","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the context of accelerating digital transformation and increasing environmental pressures, this study investigates how enterprise digitalization influences green dual innovation—comprising green exploratory innovation (EI) and green developmental innovation (DI)—within Chinese A-share listed firms from 2016 to 2023. Drawing upon fixed-effects and triple difference models, we empirically examine the mechanisms through which digital transformation (DCG) enhances green innovation and assess the mediating role of R&amp;D investment and the moderating effect of government subsidies (GS). Results reveal that digital transformation significantly promotes both EI and DI, with a stronger effect on EI. R&amp;D investment fully mediates this relationship, indicating that digital capabilities boost green innovation primarily through enhanced research capacity. Government subsidies exhibit a dual effect: they positively moderate the impact of digital transformation on EI, while dampening its influence on DI, possibly due to over-reliance on external funding. Heterogeneity analysis through triple difference methods uncovers substantial regional and industry-level variation—particularly among high-tech and heavily polluting firms in Eastern China—where digital transformation's green effects are constrained by strategic short-termism or technological limitations. These findings offer theoretical insights and practical implications for firms and policymakers aiming to align digital strategy with green transformation objectives under sustainability mandates.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100301"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145107621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quantifying global warming potential, land use and financial cost of constructed wetland as a post-treatment technology for removing micropollutants from municipal wastewater","authors":"Yu Lei ,&nbsp;Jorn de Vos,&nbsp;Huub Rijnaarts,&nbsp;Wei-Shan Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100297","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100297","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The occurrence of micropollutants in the aquatic environment shows potential adverse effects towards ecosystems, such as estrogenic effects on the sexual development of fish and the resistance of microorganisms to antibiotics. Constructed wetlands (CWs) can be used as a post-treatment technology to remove micropollutants from the effluent of conventional wastewater treatment plants. Life Cycle Assessment was performed to assess the environmental and economic impacts of two constructed wetlands (i.e. sand-based CW and bark and biochar-based CW), and compared these impacts with other selected wastewater treatment technologies (i.e. ozone and activated carbon-based technologies). Regarding the removal efficiency of MPs, the bark and biochar-based CW showed a higher removal range than other technologies, though a fluctuation of removals exists due to the effect of seasonality. The CW scenarios require larger land to obtain the desired MP removal efficiencies than other technologies. Despite this, using bark and biochar as support matrices can reduce the land use of the CW system (0.51 m²/m³) compared with sand (0.58 m²/m³). The Global Warming Potential and overall treatment costs of the CW scenarios (i.e. the bark and biochar-based CW with 148 g CO₂ equivalent/m³ and 0.14 €/m³; the sand-based CW with 108 g CO₂ equivalent/m³ and 0.12 €/m³) rank in the middle among the studied technologies. The findings of this research provide valuable support for the decision-making process in selecting a nature-based technology working as a post-treatment of WWTPs for MP removal.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100297"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144671015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Trade-offs in technical and environmental performance of water utilities: Insights focused on water-energy-carbon nexus","authors":"Alexandros Maziotis ,&nbsp;Ramón Sala-Garrido ,&nbsp;Manuel Mocholi-Arce ,&nbsp;Maria Molinos-Senante","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100300","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100300","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Within the water-energy-carbon nexus, understanding the trade-offs among resource use, drinking water delivery, and greenhouse gas emissions is essential for ensuring the sustainable provision of drinking water. Addressing this challenge, this study estimates four performance indices—technical efficiency, ecological efficiency, process environmental quality efficiency, and overall efficiency —using a unified framework based on Data Envelopment Analysis. The analysis was conducted under two scenarios, reflecting water companies’ prioritization of production and environmental dimensions. The empirical application, performed on a sample of English and Welsh water companies, revealed that water companies focused on technical efficiency, achieving average scores of 0.648 and 0.798 under environmental and production prioritization scenarios, respectively. In contrast, process environmental quality and ecological efficiency metrics were considerably lower, with average values of 0.179 and 0.129 for the environmental scenario and 0.153 and 0.131 for the production scenario. The temporal evolution of these performance indices highlights a trade-off between technical efficiency and performance indices integrating carbon emissions under the environmental prioritization scenario.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100300"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144623357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evolution of financial sustainability of Canadian waste management industries in government and private sectors","authors":"Sharmin Jahan Mim,&nbsp;Anica Tasnim,&nbsp;Rumpa Chowdhury,&nbsp;Kelvin Tsun Wai Ng,&nbsp;Amy Richter","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100298","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100298","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There is a lack of government and private sector-specific analysis on the economic sustainability of waste management services in Canada. This study addresses that gap by conducting a comprehensive 23-year analysis of waste management industry data across four Western Canadian provinces, examining both sectors separately. This distinction enhances understanding of how economic and employment factors uniquely influence waste disposal, diversion, and revenue growth. The study reveals a predominantly private sector led management system, with the highest national revenue in 2018 ($221.9/cap). The private sector's substantial investment in waste diversion significantly impacts its robust revenue growth and consistently higher profit margins. In contrast, the government sector exhibits fluctuating operating revenue, primarily supported by income and property taxes, reflecting an inconsistent financial structure. Lower waste diversion rates in some provinces may be linked to higher proportion of part-time employees in the government sector, impacting financial sustainability. However, recent upward trends in government capital investment suggest a shift toward long-term development goals rather than short-term revenue gains. Findings highlights distinct differences in business and employment characteristics between sectors. The study provides an analytical framework for optimized financial and resource planning within Canada's waste management landscape.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100298"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144656623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Can market-oriented environmental regulation achieve synergistic reduction of atmospheric pollution and carbon emissions? Evidence from China's carbon emissions trading policy","authors":"Yuechao Zhao ,&nbsp;Yin Feng ,&nbsp;Jun Shen ,&nbsp;Yijie He","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100299","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100299","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Promoting the synergistic reduction of atmospheric pollution and carbon emissions is of great significance for China to achieve its emission reduction commitments. Based on the emission factor method (EFM), the difference-in-difference (DID) model, and the index decomposition, this paper calculates the integrated emission equivalent of atmospheric pollution and carbon emissions, and explores the impact of carbon emissions trading (CET) on the synergistic reduction effects. The results show that CET can significantly promote the synergistic reduction enhancement. After parallel trend test, endogeneity test, and PSM-DID, the conclusion still holds. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the synergistic effects are more significant in the eastern and western regions of China. Market mechanism tests show that moderately increasing the penalty for default can promote the synergistic effects, while excessive government intervention has an inhibitory effect. Further analysis shows that the synergistic effects mainly come from energy efficiency and economic development effects, while the synergistic effects of pollution control are gradually strengthening. Examining the synergistic reduction through CET aligns with the concept of green development in China and provides evidence for the coordinated governance of multiple pollutants.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100299"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144656624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing and monitoring the environmental performance of complex industrial projects: a communication-based approach","authors":"Joseph Mansour Salamé ,&nbsp;Isabelle Nicolaï ,&nbsp;Michael Saidani ,&nbsp;Yann Leroy","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100295","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100295","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Monitoring the environmental performance of projects depends on effective information sharing and indicators that enable stakeholders to track and drive environmental decisions throughout project phases. Several environmental frameworks, assessment tools, methodologies, and standards can guide the definition of these performance indicators. However, it is not always easy for industrial actors to understand, use, or adapt the existing assessment tools to match their business and projects. Additionally, selecting indicators for complex industrial projects is more challenging due to the multiplicity of stakeholders involved, each with different roles, and often lacking effective structured communication.</div><div>This article proposes a communication-based approach for selecting environmental performance indicators appropriate to complex industrial projects. This method utilizes Lasswell's communication model to assign stakeholders the roles of indicators' providers, receivers, and experts based on defined objectives. Lasswell's model bolsters existing assessment frameworks by incorporating the sharing aspect among stakeholders that they lack.</div><div>The proposed method is used to select environmental performance indicators for monitoring rail infrastructure projects. These projects are inherently complex, involving multiple stakeholders with significant technical expertise across several long project phases.</div><div>By using this method, the resulting indicators not only reflect scientific soundness but also incorporate the knowledge and interests of all stakeholders involved. A key feature of this approach is the recognition that selecting environmental indicators is a ‘collaborative challenge’. This challenge can only be addressed through structured information exchange, allowing for a transition from environmental diagnosis to environmental monitoring of complex projects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100295"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144588818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dynamic vs real time life cycle assessment","authors":"Antonia Vyrkou ,&nbsp;Maria Aryblia ,&nbsp;Nikolaos Savvakis ,&nbsp;Ingrid Nicacio ,&nbsp;Owais Siddique ,&nbsp;George Arampatzis ,&nbsp;Athanasios Angelis-Dimakis","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100296","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100296","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The term “conventional” or “static” Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used to describe the traditional application of LCA for the environmental impact assessment of a given instance of a system, to differentiate it from the recently developed Dynamic Life Cycle Assessment (DLCA). The latter is defined as monitoring and assessing the environmental performance of a continuously changing system. However, the term “dynamic” has been interpreted differently in various studies, with the temporal aspect of the analysis being satisfied either with the use of timeseries of (historical/predicted) data or with a real-time data collection for the system in question. The focus of this review paper is: (a) to examine the implementation of DLCA by findings common themes, differences and challenges in its application to different sectors, and (b) identify and highlight the differences between dynamic assessment and real-time assessment.</div><div>The review has shown that in the last five years the published literature has grown, with the annual number of articles increasing from less than 30 (between 2015 and 2019) to 62 in 2023. In terms of the traditional LCA steps, the Dynamic Process Inventory is usually populated eiterh (a) with historical data for certain elementary flows and/or (b) using alternative scenarios for selected elementary flows. Dynamic Characterisation is only needed when the time horizon is longer than a decade, while Dynamic Systems had been mostly implemented in correlation with the Building Information Model (BIM). The sectors where DLCA has been predominantly used are: (a) buildings; (b) waste treatment and management; (c) agriculture; and (d) utilities (i.e. energy production and water supply).</div><div>On the contrary, the term “real-time LCA” is rarely used, with only a handful of published papers referring to it, but none of these implemented in a real-life industrial system. Although several studies agree that real-time assessment leads to improved accuracy, better insight to the process and time savings in the analysis, the effort required to implement it and the added value to the industrial plant, does not currently justify its wider implementation. However, in the era of Industry 4.0 and the digitization of industrial plants, there is an opportunity to incorporate the environmental impact assessment in the continuous monitoring of process industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100296"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144569736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Methodological review of life cycle assessments of carbon capture and utilisation – Does modelling reflect purposes?","authors":"Evelina Nyqvist,&nbsp;Henrikke Baumann,&nbsp;Gulnara Shavalieva,&nbsp;Matty Janssen","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100291","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100291","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Carbon dioxide capture and utilisation (CCU) is considered a climate change mitigation strategy and life cycle assessment (LCA) is often used to assess its decarbonisation potential. The current study investigates the understandability of the LCA studies of CCU systems in this context by reviewing 106 LCA studies of CCU systems on their methodologies. The results show a diversity in LCA studies performed. They studied a range of CCU products created from varying sources of carbon dioxide and had different industrial scopes. The majority of studies compare the climate change impact of the investigated CCU process to the conventional production systems or products. Of the 106 articles, 47 report a reduced and 27 claim a negative impact regardless of the source of captured carbon or the storage time of the CO<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msub></math></span> in the product. Half of the reviewed studies did not report the goal with the LCA, and those who stated a goal seldom explained the purpose of the assessment. This made the methodological choices and results of the studies difficult to understand. For more understandable LCA studies of CCU systems, the modelling needs to reflect the purposes of the assessments. This includes considering the time aspects of when and for how long carbon is retained by the studied CCU systems and products. Furthermore, there is a need for improvement in both the reporting of LCA studies and the guidelines, especially regarding the reporting of the goal and how the goal definition phase is connected to the methodological decisions in the LCA study.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100291"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144535116","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Beyond carbon footprint: practices and tools to implement Circular Economy in Swedish companies","authors":"Mariana Cardoso Chrispim ,&nbsp;Marie Mattsson ,&nbsp;Pia Ulvenblad","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100294","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100294","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Globally, the commitment of companies to Circular Economy (CE) is still limited. Mapping the circular practices performed by companies is a challenging and complex task and few empirical papers have explored CE implementation in companies. Based on interviews and analysis of company reports, we addressed in-depth the implementation of practices, targets, and assessment tools related to CE in ten Swedish companies. Only 10 circular practices out of 21 are implemented in at least 50% of the companies, indicating that the companies have just begun their transition to CE. The most common practices relate to waste reduction and resource efficiency (mainly energy). Barriers to collaboration are competition, keep confidentiality, small company size, lack of interest of other stakeholders, among others. So, there is a potential for increasing collaboration, especially with the municipality. The priority has been emissions reduction targets and the use of climate-focused tools (i.e., carbon footprint) while social aspects and circularity are less explored. We conclude that the monitoring of environmental performance is limited mainly to the use of resources and emissions. The low use of circularity tools is caused mainly by internal barriers such as lack of knowledge and shortage of resources. So, the companies should get more knowledge on CE assessment tools, include social indicators related to circular practices, and set targets for societal impact.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100294"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144548370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sustainability assessment of blood orange production in sicily through the application of the SAFA framework","authors":"Alessandro Scuderi,&nbsp;Gaetano Chinnici,&nbsp;Carla Zarbà,&nbsp;Mariarita Cammarata,&nbsp;Roberta Maria Gravagno","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100293","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100293","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Sicilian blood orange, a Protected Geographical Indication product, represents a significant production sector for the Sicilian territory. In this context, the objective of this paper was to conduct a sustainability assessment comparing the organic and the conventional production systems with the aim to identify their respective strengths and weaknesses. In order to achieve this objective, the <em>Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture systems</em> (SAFA), a framework developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2012 for the evaluation of sustainability across the agri-food value chain, was employed. No notable differences were identified between the organic and conventional production systems, although the organic farms demonstrated a better performance in the environmental dimension. This initial approach to the sustainability assessment of the Sicilian blood orange PGI (<em>Protected Geographical Indication</em>) represents a valuable foundation for promoting Sicilian blood oranges as a high-quality product, associated with the commitment to sustainable production. In evaluating the potential of the SAFA for sustainability assessment, this framework, with its holistic approach, offers a valuable tool for understanding the multifaceted aspects of sustainability. Indeed, this assessment enabled the formulation of recommendations for the enhancement of the overall sustainability performance of the citrus farms. However, the SAFA framework appears too complex to measure the sustainability performances of small and medium-sized farms, particularly with regard to the collection of quantitative data. Accordingly, certain adaptations were always required to more accurately assess this particular context.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100293"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144330305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}