Pub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-11-14DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2025.11.004
C. Pérez-Hernández , P. Nachtergaele , S. Huysveld , J. Dewulf
The circular bioeconomy integrates the principles of both circular economy and bio-based economy, representing a promising pathway toward a more sustainable economic model. Current approaches to assessing circularity for bio-based product systems present notable limitations, as existing circularity assessment instruments (CAIs) often fail to adequately capture the particular properties of bio-based resource flows. To address these challenges, a comprehensive and systematic literature review was conducted to identify and evaluate CAIs applicable to the assessment of circularity in bio-based products. A total of 86 circularity indicators, indicator sets, and tools were examined based on their methodological scope and depth, including how they address resource flows, system boundaries, and material properties. Additional attention was given to their coverage of sustainability aspects, as well as their practical applicability. The analysis revealed several key gaps: a predominant emphasis on academic applications with limited industrial implementation; insufficient consideration of resource renewability and return to the biosphere; and an unclear distinction between circularity and sustainability aspects. Building on these findings, two contributions are proposed to advance circularity assessment methodologies: (i) a systems diagram conceptualising the circular bioeconomy, and (ii) a list of seven theoretical key elements essential for comprehensive circularity assessment. By synthesising these findings and advocating for the harmonisation of CAIs, this study provides guidance for developing indicators that better capture the different dimensions of the circular bioeconomy, offering a basis for policymaking and industry to deepen their understanding of circularity performance in the bio-based economy.
{"title":"Unravelling circularity assessment for the bio-based economy: A systematic, critical review of indicators and recommendations","authors":"C. Pérez-Hernández , P. Nachtergaele , S. Huysveld , J. Dewulf","doi":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.11.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.11.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The circular bioeconomy integrates the principles of both circular economy and bio-based economy, representing a promising pathway toward a more sustainable economic model. Current approaches to assessing circularity for bio-based product systems present notable limitations, as existing circularity assessment instruments (CAIs) often fail to adequately capture the particular properties of bio-based resource flows. To address these challenges, a comprehensive and systematic literature review was conducted to identify and evaluate CAIs applicable to the assessment of circularity in bio-based products. A total of 86 circularity indicators, indicator sets, and tools were examined based on their methodological scope and depth, including how they address resource flows, system boundaries, and material properties. Additional attention was given to their coverage of sustainability aspects, as well as their practical applicability. The analysis revealed several key gaps: a predominant emphasis on academic applications with limited industrial implementation; insufficient consideration of resource renewability and return to the biosphere; and an unclear distinction between circularity and sustainability aspects. Building on these findings, two contributions are proposed to advance circularity assessment methodologies: (i) a systems diagram conceptualising the circular bioeconomy, and (ii) a list of seven theoretical key elements essential for comprehensive circularity assessment. By synthesising these findings and advocating for the harmonisation of CAIs, this study provides guidance for developing indicators that better capture the different dimensions of the circular bioeconomy, offering a basis for policymaking and industry to deepen their understanding of circularity performance in the bio-based economy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48619,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Production and Consumption","volume":"61 ","pages":"Pages 277-294"},"PeriodicalIF":9.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145579616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-11-10DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2025.11.003
Jan Matuštík , Richard Wood , Jan Weinzettel
Planetary boundaries delimit the safe operating space for humanity to ensure the stability and functioning of the Earth system. Demand-side indicators can help navigate specific pathways and solutions to stay within the boundaries. In recent years, an increasing quantity of scientific work is connecting planetary boundary framing to demand-side analysis, yet there is often a lack of consistency in this research. Here we review relevant literature (including life-cycle assessments and environmental footprint analysis), focusing on the choice and suitability of indicators and methods used. We find a persistent gap between the idealist focus on impacts on earth systems functioning and the actual indicators used. We evaluate the available options, outline current research gaps, and extract lessons on how to better account for Earth system impacts from the demand-side perspective.
{"title":"Operationalizing planetary boundaries through demand-side indicators","authors":"Jan Matuštík , Richard Wood , Jan Weinzettel","doi":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.11.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.11.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Planetary boundaries delimit the safe operating space for humanity to ensure the stability and functioning of the Earth system. Demand-side indicators can help navigate specific pathways and solutions to stay within the boundaries. In recent years, an increasing quantity of scientific work is connecting planetary boundary framing to demand-side analysis, yet there is often a lack of consistency in this research. Here we review relevant literature (including life-cycle assessments and environmental footprint analysis), focusing on the choice and suitability of indicators and methods used. We find a persistent gap between the idealist focus on impacts on earth systems functioning and the actual indicators used. We evaluate the available options, outline current research gaps, and extract lessons on how to better account for Earth system impacts from the demand-side perspective.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48619,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Production and Consumption","volume":"61 ","pages":"Pages 181-193"},"PeriodicalIF":9.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145529011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-11-05DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2025.10.020
Esa-Pekka Nykänen , Juulia Räikkönen , Antti Honkanen , Sanna Ahvenharju , Fanny Lalot , Saska Tuomasjukka , Hanna Lagström
Reducing meat consumption is crucial for addressing environmental and health challenges; however, implementing effective policies requires public support. This study investigates psychological and political determinants of public acceptance of four proposed meat reduction policies in Finland—two price-based and two availability-based measures—developed from expert recommendations. Using a representative sample of Finnish adults (N = 1999), we applied structural equation modeling to examine how perceived policy fairness, effectiveness, and intrusiveness mediate the influence of environmental risk perception and political trust on policy acceptance. Acceptance rates ranged from 25 % for the prohibition of discount sales to 35 % for taxing the most environmentally harmful meat products. Of the proximal predictors, perceived fairness had the strongest association with acceptance across all policies. Perceived effectiveness and intrusiveness had smaller associations. Environmental risk perception showed a large indirect effect on acceptance. Political trust had a moderate indirect effect on acceptance, primarily through perceived fairness. These findings suggest that future communication strategies might benefit most from emphasizing policy fairness. Interventions targeting distal predictors may aim to raise environmental risk awareness, although this strategy must be pursued carefully to avoid fear-based disengagement. This cross-sectional work opens exciting avenues for future research using experimental or longitudinal designs.
{"title":"Mainstreaming sustainable consumption through regulation: Public acceptance of new meat reduction policies","authors":"Esa-Pekka Nykänen , Juulia Räikkönen , Antti Honkanen , Sanna Ahvenharju , Fanny Lalot , Saska Tuomasjukka , Hanna Lagström","doi":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.10.020","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.10.020","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Reducing meat consumption is crucial for addressing environmental and health challenges; however, implementing effective policies requires public support. This study investigates psychological and political determinants of public acceptance of four proposed meat reduction policies in Finland—two price-based and two availability-based measures—developed from expert recommendations. Using a representative sample of Finnish adults (<em>N</em> = 1999), we applied structural equation modeling to examine how perceived policy fairness, effectiveness, and intrusiveness mediate the influence of environmental risk perception and political trust on policy acceptance. Acceptance rates ranged from 25 % for the prohibition of discount sales to 35 % for taxing the most environmentally harmful meat products. Of the proximal predictors, perceived fairness had the strongest association with acceptance across all policies. Perceived effectiveness and intrusiveness had smaller associations. Environmental risk perception showed a large indirect effect on acceptance. Political trust had a moderate indirect effect on acceptance, primarily through perceived fairness. These findings suggest that future communication strategies might benefit most from emphasizing policy fairness. Interventions targeting distal predictors may aim to raise environmental risk awareness, although this strategy must be pursued carefully to avoid fear-based disengagement. This cross-sectional work opens exciting avenues for future research using experimental or longitudinal designs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48619,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Production and Consumption","volume":"61 ","pages":"Pages 247-260"},"PeriodicalIF":9.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145529015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2025.11.002
Haseeb Akbar , Shabbir H. Gheewala
Climate change is expected to decrease crop yields and increase irrigation demands, compounded by worsening hydrological changes. Because these impacts vary across regions, spatially resolved environmental impact assessments are needed to enable proactive and targeted management strategies. To address this need, this study assesses the spatial variations in the environmental sustainability of wheat production in Pakistan by combining Geographic Information Systems with Life Cycle Assessment. Under Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5, for 2030–39, which projects a potential decline in crop yields, increased irrigation demand, and reduced water table levels. The findings project global warming is expected to rise by 4–12 % relative to the baseline. Other impact categories—including particulate matter formation, acidification, freshwater and marine eutrophication, and land use—are projected to increase within a range of 4–11 %. Fossil resource use is anticipated to increase by 4–13 %, while water consumption is projected to rise by 7–17 % during the same period. For most mid- and end-point impact categories, the northern and southern regions generally fall within the upper range, whereas the central region represents the lower range within the study area. These findings underscore the importance of context-specific adaptation by integrating spatially detailed data into Geographic Information Systems and Life Cycle Assessment tools, thereby enabling targeted interventions that optimize resources, mitigate vulnerabilities, and minimize environmental impacts. Key adaptive strategies include using solar-powered tube wells, partially replacing synthetic fertilizers with organic alternatives, improving irrigation efficiency, and enhancing soil fertility to sustain crop farming in arid and semi-arid regions.
{"title":"Bridging the divide between projected hydroclimatic variability and agricultural ecosystem sustainability through Life Cycle Assessment–Geographic Information System","authors":"Haseeb Akbar , Shabbir H. Gheewala","doi":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.11.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.11.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Climate change is expected to decrease crop yields and increase irrigation demands, compounded by worsening hydrological changes. Because these impacts vary across regions, spatially resolved environmental impact assessments are needed to enable proactive and targeted management strategies. To address this need, this study assesses the spatial variations in the environmental sustainability of wheat production in Pakistan by combining Geographic Information Systems with Life Cycle Assessment. Under Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5, for 2030–39, which projects a potential decline in crop yields, increased irrigation demand, and reduced water table levels. The findings project global warming is expected to rise by 4–12 % relative to the baseline. Other impact categories—including particulate matter formation, acidification, freshwater and marine eutrophication, and land use—are projected to increase within a range of 4–11 %. Fossil resource use is anticipated to increase by 4–13 %, while water consumption is projected to rise by 7–17 % during the same period. For most mid- and end-point impact categories, the northern and southern regions generally fall within the upper range, whereas the central region represents the lower range within the study area. These findings underscore the importance of context-specific adaptation by integrating spatially detailed data into Geographic Information Systems and Life Cycle Assessment tools, thereby enabling targeted interventions that optimize resources, mitigate vulnerabilities, and minimize environmental impacts. Key adaptive strategies include using solar-powered tube wells, partially replacing synthetic fertilizers with organic alternatives, improving irrigation efficiency, and enhancing soil fertility to sustain crop farming in arid and semi-arid regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48619,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Production and Consumption","volume":"61 ","pages":"Pages 194-208"},"PeriodicalIF":9.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145529014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-10-08DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2025.09.014
Bo Wang , Jianlong Zhou , Fang Chen , Heimo Müller , Andreas Holzinger
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming technology in society and is increasingly seen as a critical tool for addressing complex global challenges, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These seventeen goals, grouped into societal, economic, and environmental domains, present both opportunities and risks when intersecting with artificial intelligence. While artificial intelligence has the capacity to accelerate sustainable development, it may also exacerbate inequalities, environmental degradation, or other unintended harms if ethical concerns are not adequately addressed. Despite a growing body of research on ethical frameworks for artificial intelligence, there remains a lack of empirical understanding of how users perceive its potential, its ethical implications, and the principles that should guide its deployment in sustainable development contexts. It is natural to raise the questions: How do Sustainable Development Goals and goal groups affect these user perceptions? To answer these questions, we conducted a comprehensive human-subject study examining variations in user perceptions across 17 Sustainable Development Goals and three overarching goal groups. Our findings reveal substantial variation in perceived potential and ethical priorities depending on the specific goal, while the perceived importance of ethical considerations remains consistent across goal groups. The novelty of this study lies in combining the AI–SDG context with empirical and perception-based evidence, and our results highlight the necessity of incorporating user perspectives into the design and governance of artificial intelligence systems to ensure ethically aligned and socially accepted progress toward sustainable development.
{"title":"Ethical AI for sustainable development: User perceptions across the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals","authors":"Bo Wang , Jianlong Zhou , Fang Chen , Heimo Müller , Andreas Holzinger","doi":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.09.014","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.09.014","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming technology in society and is increasingly seen as a critical tool for addressing complex global challenges, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These seventeen goals, grouped into societal, economic, and environmental domains, present both opportunities and risks when intersecting with artificial intelligence. While artificial intelligence has the capacity to accelerate sustainable development, it may also exacerbate inequalities, environmental degradation, or other unintended harms if ethical concerns are not adequately addressed. Despite a growing body of research on ethical frameworks for artificial intelligence, there remains a lack of empirical understanding of how users perceive its potential, its ethical implications, and the principles that should guide its deployment in sustainable development contexts. It is natural to raise the questions: <strong>How do Sustainable Development Goals and goal groups affect these user perceptions?</strong> To answer these questions, we conducted a comprehensive human-subject study examining variations in user perceptions across 17 Sustainable Development Goals and three overarching goal groups. Our findings reveal substantial variation in perceived potential and ethical priorities depending on the specific goal, while the perceived importance of ethical considerations remains consistent across goal groups. The novelty of this study lies in combining the AI–SDG context with empirical and perception-based evidence, and our results highlight the necessity of incorporating user perspectives into the design and governance of artificial intelligence systems to ensure ethically aligned and socially accepted progress toward sustainable development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48619,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Production and Consumption","volume":"60 ","pages":"Pages 176-185"},"PeriodicalIF":9.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145269704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-10-17DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2025.10.004
Sara Rashidian , SK Tahsin Hossain , Kirsty Volz , Melissa Teo
<div><div>Integrating Construction 4.0 technologies—the construction-specific application of Industry 4.0—with circular economy (CE) principles presents a transformative opportunity for the construction sector to enhance sustainability, improve resource efficiency, and build long-term resilience. Construction 4.0 refers to the digitalisation and automation of processes through technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, digital twins, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). Given the construction industry's significant environmental footprint and contribution to global waste, aligning Construction 4.0 with CE principles is essential for shifting from traditional linear practices towards regenerative, closed-loop systems. While sectors such as transport and manufacturing have already demonstrated the benefits of Industry 4.0 technologies in reducing waste and optimising resources, construction has been comparatively slow to embed these innovations across buildings and infrastructure. In addition, despite growing scholarly and industry interest, there remains no comprehensive framework that systematically integrates Construction 4.0 technologies with CE principles across all stages of the construction lifecycle.</div><div>This study addresses this gap through a systematic literature review of 58 peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2024, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The review focused on English-language publications directly examining the intersection of Construction 4.0 and CE in the construction sector, while excluding non-peer-reviewed studies from unrelated industries. Thematic and co-occurrence analyses were applied to map the alignment of CE principles with Construction 4.0 technologies across seven phases of construction: Planning, Design, Tendering, Manufacturing, Construction, Operation, and End-of-Life. The study contributes a conceptual framework that visualises these alignments and highlights key opportunities and barriers for advancing circularity through digital transformation within the construction industry.</div><div>The findings highlight that BIM and IoT play pivotal roles in lifecycle planning, operational efficiency, and resource optimisation, while AI and digital twins support predictive maintenance, material recovery, and closed-loop optimisation. In contrast, robotics and blockchain remain underutilised in manufacturing and deconstruction, representing significant untapped potential to advance circularity. Persistent challenges, including fragmented stakeholder collaboration, siloed practices, and slow technological adoption, continue to impede the sector's ability to fully realise CE ambitions.</div><div>Future research should focus on fostering early stakeholder engagement and promoting cross-phase integration of Construction 4.0 technologies to enhance circular outcomes. Furth
{"title":"Enabling circularity in construction: A technology-phase alignment of construction 4.0 and circular economy principles","authors":"Sara Rashidian , SK Tahsin Hossain , Kirsty Volz , Melissa Teo","doi":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.10.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.10.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Integrating Construction 4.0 technologies—the construction-specific application of Industry 4.0—with circular economy (CE) principles presents a transformative opportunity for the construction sector to enhance sustainability, improve resource efficiency, and build long-term resilience. Construction 4.0 refers to the digitalisation and automation of processes through technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, digital twins, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). Given the construction industry's significant environmental footprint and contribution to global waste, aligning Construction 4.0 with CE principles is essential for shifting from traditional linear practices towards regenerative, closed-loop systems. While sectors such as transport and manufacturing have already demonstrated the benefits of Industry 4.0 technologies in reducing waste and optimising resources, construction has been comparatively slow to embed these innovations across buildings and infrastructure. In addition, despite growing scholarly and industry interest, there remains no comprehensive framework that systematically integrates Construction 4.0 technologies with CE principles across all stages of the construction lifecycle.</div><div>This study addresses this gap through a systematic literature review of 58 peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2024, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The review focused on English-language publications directly examining the intersection of Construction 4.0 and CE in the construction sector, while excluding non-peer-reviewed studies from unrelated industries. Thematic and co-occurrence analyses were applied to map the alignment of CE principles with Construction 4.0 technologies across seven phases of construction: Planning, Design, Tendering, Manufacturing, Construction, Operation, and End-of-Life. The study contributes a conceptual framework that visualises these alignments and highlights key opportunities and barriers for advancing circularity through digital transformation within the construction industry.</div><div>The findings highlight that BIM and IoT play pivotal roles in lifecycle planning, operational efficiency, and resource optimisation, while AI and digital twins support predictive maintenance, material recovery, and closed-loop optimisation. In contrast, robotics and blockchain remain underutilised in manufacturing and deconstruction, representing significant untapped potential to advance circularity. Persistent challenges, including fragmented stakeholder collaboration, siloed practices, and slow technological adoption, continue to impede the sector's ability to fully realise CE ambitions.</div><div>Future research should focus on fostering early stakeholder engagement and promoting cross-phase integration of Construction 4.0 technologies to enhance circular outcomes. Furth","PeriodicalId":48619,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Production and Consumption","volume":"60 ","pages":"Pages 245-259"},"PeriodicalIF":9.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145325693","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-09-16DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2025.09.007
Ryleen Balawanth , Thayla Zomer , Paulo Gonçalves , Paulo Savaget
As companies intensify efforts to decarbonize their supply chains to mitigate climate-related risks, their responses often remain fragmented and uncoordinated, limiting overall effectiveness and missing opportunities for synergy. This study analyzes disclosures from 1095 European firms reported to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) to examine these varied responses. Using qualitative thematic coding, we identified six macro-themes, each representing a distinct causal-effect pathway that companies adopt in their decarbonization efforts: (i) diagnosing climate-related risks, (ii) collaborating within the supply chain to reduce emissions, (iii) adopting energy-efficient practices, (iv) implementing sustainable practices that minimize waste, (v) fostering enablers of sustainable behavior, and (vi) redesigning supply chain networks. These pathways highlight the strategies companies use to address climate risks within their supply chains. Adopting a systems dynamics perspective, we map the feedback processes governing these decarbonization strategies, illustrating how different pathways interact and generate either beneficial or detrimental outcomes. The findings contribute to the field of sustainable supply chain management by elucidating the dynamic interplay between various climate risk response strategies, their impact on supply networks, and their ultimate influence on climate risk performance. Specifically, we demonstrate the iterative nature of diagnostic efforts and associated responses, and how collaboration can drive a continuous cycle of innovation that integrates incremental and transformative efforts. The causal loop diagrams developed in this study provide managers and policymakers tools to anticipate the outcomes of their supply chain strategies, enabling better-informed decisions that align with sustainability objectives.
{"title":"Supply chain management in response to climate change: A system dynamics approach","authors":"Ryleen Balawanth , Thayla Zomer , Paulo Gonçalves , Paulo Savaget","doi":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.09.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.09.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As companies intensify efforts to decarbonize their supply chains to mitigate climate-related risks, their responses often remain fragmented and uncoordinated, limiting overall effectiveness and missing opportunities for synergy. This study analyzes disclosures from 1095 European firms reported to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) to examine these varied responses. Using qualitative thematic coding, we identified six macro-themes, each representing a distinct causal-effect pathway that companies adopt in their decarbonization efforts: (i) diagnosing climate-related risks, (ii) collaborating within the supply chain to reduce emissions, (iii) adopting energy-efficient practices, (iv) implementing sustainable practices that minimize waste, (v) fostering enablers of sustainable behavior, and (vi) redesigning supply chain networks. These pathways highlight the strategies companies use to address climate risks within their supply chains. Adopting a systems dynamics perspective, we map the feedback processes governing these decarbonization strategies, illustrating how different pathways interact and generate either beneficial or detrimental outcomes. The findings contribute to the field of sustainable supply chain management by elucidating the dynamic interplay between various climate risk response strategies, their impact on supply networks, and their ultimate influence on climate risk performance. Specifically, we demonstrate the iterative nature of diagnostic efforts and associated responses, and how collaboration can drive a continuous cycle of innovation that integrates incremental and transformative efforts. The causal loop diagrams developed in this study provide managers and policymakers tools to anticipate the outcomes of their supply chain strategies, enabling better-informed decisions that align with sustainability objectives.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48619,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Production and Consumption","volume":"60 ","pages":"Pages 36-51"},"PeriodicalIF":9.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145109671","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-10-09DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2025.10.002
Qingjuan Chen , Chengzhen Xu , Qunwei Wang
Unequal exchanges of energy consumption and economic benefits among provinces hinder sustainable development, underscoring the need to evaluate trade-induced disparities. Using the latest multiregional input–output tables, we examine the transfers of energy consumption and value-added embodied in China's interregional trade. We then develop a mutual EEI index and an extended EEI index to quantify bilateral and aggregate energy–economic inequality (EEI). Finally, we employ energy-related Gini coefficients to evaluate overall inequality and identify its drivers. The results reveal that: (1) in 2017, 41.12 % of energy consumption and 32.29 % of value-added were transferred across provinces, with the north, northeast, and northwest being major net exporters of energy consumption, while the southwest and northwest were net importers of value-added; (2) the highest EEI mainly occurs between developed and less developed regions, where trade benefits concentrate in more developed regions but diminish over time, whereas disadvantaged provinces are often located in the northwest; and (3) overall EEI has widened, with heavy industry and construction as the primary contributors on the production and consumption sides, respectively, and significant influences from between-group effects and coal consumption. These findings provide insights for allocating energy-saving responsibilities and distributing economic benefits more equitably, ultimately supporting sustainable trade patterns.
{"title":"Revealing energy-economic inequality in China: A quantification and decomposition analysis","authors":"Qingjuan Chen , Chengzhen Xu , Qunwei Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.10.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.10.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Unequal exchanges of energy consumption and economic benefits among provinces hinder sustainable development, underscoring the need to evaluate trade-induced disparities. Using the latest multiregional input–output tables, we examine the transfers of energy consumption and value-added embodied in China's interregional trade. We then develop a mutual EEI index and an extended EEI index to quantify bilateral and aggregate energy–economic inequality (EEI). Finally, we employ energy-related Gini coefficients to evaluate overall inequality and identify its drivers. The results reveal that: (1) in 2017, 41.12 % of energy consumption and 32.29 % of value-added were transferred across provinces, with the north, northeast, and northwest being major net exporters of energy consumption, while the southwest and northwest were net importers of value-added; (2) the highest EEI mainly occurs between developed and less developed regions, where trade benefits concentrate in more developed regions but diminish over time, whereas disadvantaged provinces are often located in the northwest; and (3) overall EEI has widened, with heavy industry and construction as the primary contributors on the production and consumption sides, respectively, and significant influences from between-group effects and coal consumption. These findings provide insights for allocating energy-saving responsibilities and distributing economic benefits more equitably, ultimately supporting sustainable trade patterns.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48619,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Production and Consumption","volume":"60 ","pages":"Pages 200-216"},"PeriodicalIF":9.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145269706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-09-17DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2025.09.008
Raül López i Losada , Cecilia Larsson , Mark V. Brady , Fredrik Wilhelmsson , Katarina Hedlund
The European Green Deal (EGD) aims for agriculture to contribute positively to climate change mitigation and nature preservation while meeting growing societal needs for food, energy, and biomaterials. Delivering comprehensive policy action efficiently requires decision-support tools to assess the outcomes of interventions across multiple, and potentially conflicting, goals. By means of agent-based (territorial) life cycle assessment, we evaluate the effect of removing coupled cattle support and pricing greenhouse gas emissions of agricultural products in two regions in Southern Sweden as representative cases for intensive and extensive agriculture in the EU. Regional production features influenced policy outcomes by affecting the profitability of possible production activities, and thereby the economic viability of alternatives to cattle. Production changes abroad were critical for the environmental lifecycle performance of the evaluated policy reforms, given the relatively low environmental impacts of Swedish production compared to global averages. Our ex-ante approach offers decision support by discerning the implications of policy interventions on the regional structure of production and subsequent effects on the environment, considering both regional and global aspects of the EGD objectives for agriculture. Ultimately, we hope our analysis can facilitate policymaking to speed the transition of agriculture towards EGD objectives.
{"title":"Advancing sustainability transformations in agriculture: An agent-based life cycle assessment for supporting policymaking","authors":"Raül López i Losada , Cecilia Larsson , Mark V. Brady , Fredrik Wilhelmsson , Katarina Hedlund","doi":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.09.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.09.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The European Green Deal (EGD) aims for agriculture to contribute positively to climate change mitigation and nature preservation while meeting growing societal needs for food, energy, and biomaterials. Delivering comprehensive policy action efficiently requires decision-support tools to assess the outcomes of interventions across multiple, and potentially conflicting, goals. By means of agent-based (territorial) life cycle assessment, we evaluate the effect of removing coupled cattle support and pricing greenhouse gas emissions of agricultural products in two regions in Southern Sweden as representative cases for intensive and extensive agriculture in the EU. Regional production features influenced policy outcomes by affecting the profitability of possible production activities, and thereby the economic viability of alternatives to cattle. Production changes abroad were critical for the environmental lifecycle performance of the evaluated policy reforms, given the relatively low environmental impacts of Swedish production compared to global averages. Our ex-ante approach offers decision support by discerning the implications of policy interventions on the regional structure of production and subsequent effects on the environment, considering both regional and global aspects of the EGD objectives for agriculture. Ultimately, we hope our analysis can facilitate policymaking to speed the transition of agriculture towards EGD objectives.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48619,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Production and Consumption","volume":"60 ","pages":"Pages 96-110"},"PeriodicalIF":9.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145160087","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-09-27DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2025.09.009
Utkarsh S. Chaudhari , David W. Watkins , Robert M. Handler , Barbara K. Reck , Anne T. Johnson , Tasmin Hossain , Damon S. Hartley , Vicki S. Thompson , David R. Shonnard
Various recycling technologies are emerging to implement circular economy in plastics supply chain systems. However, the environmental and socio-economic trade-offs of plastics in circular economy are not well understood at a systems level. Particularly, quantifying these trade-offs as a function of end-of-life (EOL) management decisions, including transition of recycling technologies, systems level metrics such as circularity, recycled content, and the need for fossil-derived plastics are not well understood. The present study addressed these research gaps by applying a systems analysis modeling approach that utilizes material flow analysis, life cycle assessment, socio-economic data, and system optimization techniques for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging supply chains in the United States. Pareto-front trade-offs between conflicting environmental and socio-economic impacts as well as those between socio-economic impacts and circularity were explored using the epsilon constraint method. The Pareto-front trade-off analysis revealed the transition of EOL management strategies for PET packaging systems, including changes in selection of recycling technologies, to aid decision making process by quantifying studied system metrics. Transitioning from environmentally optimal to socio-economically optimal systems led to increased employment (by 17 %), wages (by 26 %), and revenues (by 6 %) but also led to increased global warming potential (GWP; by 65 %), energy consumption (by 59 %), and reliance on fossil PET in the system (by 78 %). Finally, the results show that there is not a unique set of recycling technologies to achieve a sustainable circular economy of PET packaging system, instead it depends on the decision maker's objectives and targeted metrics of the system.
{"title":"Environmental and socio-economic Pareto-front trade-off analysis of U.S. PET packaging material in a circular economy","authors":"Utkarsh S. Chaudhari , David W. Watkins , Robert M. Handler , Barbara K. Reck , Anne T. Johnson , Tasmin Hossain , Damon S. Hartley , Vicki S. Thompson , David R. Shonnard","doi":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.09.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.spc.2025.09.009","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Various recycling technologies are emerging to implement circular economy in plastics supply chain systems. However, the environmental and socio-economic trade-offs of plastics in circular economy are not well understood at a systems level. Particularly, quantifying these trade-offs as a function of end-of-life (EOL) management decisions, including transition of recycling technologies, systems level metrics such as circularity, recycled content, and the need for fossil-derived plastics are not well understood. The present study addressed these research gaps by applying a systems analysis modeling approach that utilizes material flow analysis, life cycle assessment, socio-economic data, and system optimization techniques for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging supply chains in the United States. Pareto-front trade-offs between conflicting environmental and socio-economic impacts as well as those between socio-economic impacts and circularity were explored using the epsilon constraint method. The Pareto-front trade-off analysis revealed the transition of EOL management strategies for PET packaging systems, including changes in selection of recycling technologies, to aid decision making process by quantifying studied system metrics. Transitioning from environmentally optimal to socio-economically optimal systems led to increased employment (by 17 %), wages (by 26 %), and revenues (by 6 %) but also led to increased global warming potential (GWP; by 65 %), energy consumption (by 59 %), and reliance on fossil PET in the system (by 78 %). Finally, the results show that there is not a unique set of recycling technologies to achieve a sustainable circular economy of PET packaging system, instead it depends on the decision maker's objectives and targeted metrics of the system.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48619,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Production and Consumption","volume":"60 ","pages":"Pages 141-158"},"PeriodicalIF":9.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145222564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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