Environment, Development and Sustainability最新文献

Building a sustainable, efficient, and smart logistics system supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. This study’s aim is to assess the green low-carbon logistics efficiency (GLLE) across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban Agglomeration (BTHUA) from 2008 to 2022. By developing a robust measurement index system and employing a three-stage super-efficiency SBM-DEA model along with the Global Malmquist–Luenberger index, we comprehensively evaluated GLLE, examining regional variations and key influencing factors within the BTHUA. After conducting multicollinearity tests and correlation analyses on the relevant variables, panel Tobit models and semi-parametric estimation methods were utilized to identify and analyze the Driving Factors affecting the GLLE. The study reveals that the BTHUA has high GLLE, with regional efficiency varying due to various factors. Initial efficiency measurements are often too high and need adjustment. Technological advancements positively impact GLLE, but scaling up the logistics industry could reduce efficiency. Efficient resource allocation can counteract environmental inequalities’ economic effects. The study stresses the need to balance foreign investment and innovation with environmental and resource goals, providing new insights for green logistics and industry transformation.

As China transitions its national economy towards high-quality development, green management within enterprises is becoming a key factor in driving green innovation, especially in sustainable technologies. This study investigates how green management influences green innovation, focusing on the use of carbon-rich materials. It also examines the impact of senior executives’ environmental awareness, environmental regulations, and property rights on this relationship. The study uses data from A-listed enterprises in China, specifically in Shanghai and Shenzhen, from 2010 to 2021, employing a fixed effect model to analyze the effect of green management on green innovation. The study finds that green management significantly boosts green innovation within enterprises, particularly in developing carbon-rich materials for environmental remediation, sustainable energy, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. The environmental awareness of corporate leaders positively influences this relationship, highlighting the importance of leadership in promoting green strategies. However, strict environmental regulations tend to dampen innovation, suggesting the need for balanced policies. Additionally, state-owned enterprises are more likely to engage in green innovation, partly due to easier access to green development funds. The study recommends that enterprises strengthen their green management and investment strategies and that corporate leaders increase their environmental awareness. It also suggests that the government should refine environmental regulations to balance innovation with protection and improve financial support mechanisms to encourage more enterprises to participate in sustainable technology development, particularly in advancing carbon-rich materials for eco-friendly applications.

Ghana is regarded as one of the main nations driving social enterprise development in all of Africa, despite the lack of a policy for the social enterprise sub-sector. Regardless of these trailblazing initiatives, the sub-sector is still young and vulnerable. As a result, the time is right for the government to implement policy reforms to expedite the growth of the sub-sector, which offers an alternative business model for the achievement of the social and environmental goals embodied in the global goals. All nations are urged to take immediate action in response to the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which offer a global framework for achieving global development while balancing social, economic, and environmental sustainability. The methodology adopted is qualitative in nature, whereby focus group discussions were held, bringing together key stakeholders from the social enterprise sector, industry, academia, and civil society organisations (CSOs) to provide insights into how social enterprises will contribute to SDG achievement. This paper aims to generate new insights into how social enterprises can provide a solution to the UN’s SDGs from the Ghanaian perspective. Our findings reveal a strong link between solving social problems through social businesses and achieving the SDGs, and that social enterprises represent an ideal business model for achieving the SDGs. Their mission-driven approach, innovative solutions, focus on empowerment and inclusion, utilisation of market mechanisms, collaboration and partnership, and understanding and knowledge of local contexts collectively position social enterprises as powerful catalysts for sustainable development.

Egypt tends to construct new cities to provide social housing for its citizens. However, the planning of urban residential districts (URDs) in these cities lacks provisions for natural ventilation (NV), and indoor-outdoor thermal comfort, resulting in increased energy consumption during the summer months. This research aims to create a sustainable design through biomimicry to reduce the universal thermal climate index (UTCI) values in the URD in New Aswan thereby enhancing outdoor thermal comfort and reducing energy consumption inside buildings at the level of URD. In this research, the approach of prairie dogs in building their burrows was followed to rearrange and reorient the buildings. Autodesk CFD, Rhino7, Grasshopper, Ladybug, Honeybee, and Dragonfly software was used in the simulation. The rearrangement of the buildings, specifically the oriented design in the east-west direction, caused a difference in pressure between the buildings, leading to improved NV between the buildings. The improvement of NV resulted in a 4.2 °C reduction in UTCI values during specific hours over the six different days in the six summer months, resulting in significant energy savings of 10407.28946 KWh in the URD. The occurrence of a pressure difference between buildings not only improved NV but also enhanced outdoor and indoor thermal comfort, promoting energy conservation. Therefore, careful consideration of the arrangement and orientation of buildings is essential to establish sustainable URDs. Although the difference between the results is slight, it creates substantial differences in the long term for UTCI values, thus the energy conservation in the URDs.

India’s rapid industrialisation and burgeoning population have positioned the nation as a leading global carbon dioxide emitter primarily responsible for climate change. This study delves into various critical factors driving emissions and proposes actionable strategies for a sustainable green economy. This study examines the impact of the energy mix (comprising fossil fuel usage and green energy consumption), forest cover, population, and agricultural production towards carbon emissions (CO₂) in India from 1990 to 2019. This study makes use of the autoregressive distributed lagged model and co-integration analysis. The study also uses the Toda and Yamamoto causality test to explore causal relationships among variables. While green energy shows potential for CO₂ reduction, further efforts are needed to promote its use. The present study necessitates several urgent and robust policy interventions, including transitioning to clean energy, enforcing afforestation initiatives, managing population growth sustainably, and promoting eco-friendly agricultural practices. These measures are essential for balancing economic growth with environmental sustainability, aligning with India’s commitment to meeting the sustainable development goals.

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This study is the first approach in the literature that evaluates corporate social responsibility’s (CSR) contribution to reducing firms’ energy intensity through an ex-post evaluation. The impact of CSR is obtained through the difference-in-differences (DID) and matching with difference-in-differences (MDID) techniques, using data from the Longitudinal Survey of Firms between 2015 and 2017. The results obtained with the DID technique show that the CSR policy does not significantly impact the intensity of electricity expenditure and the intensity of fuel expenditure. The MDID technique also does not find an effect of CSR on the intensity of electricity expenditure. Still, it shows that CSR reduces the intensity of fuel expenditure in the mining sector’s firms (5.9% ∼ 13.0%) and transport and storage sector’s firms (4.6% ∼ 5.3%). Thus, it can be concluded that CSR only modifies energy intensity in Chilean firms that belong to fuel-intensive sectors.

This study conducts a comprehensive systematic review of agroforestry, a practice that combines crops with perennial woody plants, emphasizing its potential contribution to food security and socioeconomic development, especially in the context of the impacts of climate change in Latin America. The research focuses on understanding why agroforestry systems represent a significant opportunity to strengthen the food security of small-scale producers in the region. The review involved a meticulous search in electronic databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, prioritizing books, scientific articles, and reports from international congresses published between 2011 and 2022. Initially, 136 sources related to agroforestry and food security were identified, but after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 49 relevant documents were selected. The attention is directed towards critical aspects, such as the impact on biodiversity, the relationship to climate change, and the importance of traditional knowledge. Ecological services, agroecological practices, and land use planning are explored. The study highlights the dynamic nature of agroforestry in the Latin American landscape and the conclusion suggests an opportunity to address pressing challenges through concrete strategies, recognizing the transformative potential of agroecological practices. A call to action is issued, emphasizing the need to translate ideas into tangible actions, with recommendations to implement specific policies harnessing agroforestry. This call is based on the evidence from the systematic review, and it seeks to drive a significant change in addressing critical issues in Latin America, aiming to promote environmental sustainability, food security, and resilience to climate change.

Biomass represents 9% of the installed electricity generation capacity in Brazil. If only sugarcane bagasse is considered, it represents 7.5% of the country’s electricity supply. Thus, seeking a broader economic vision, the main objective of this research is to analyze the behavior of electricity consumption generated through sugarcane bagasse in Brazil, from 2013 to 2021. To do this, it used a model in dynamic panel using as independent variables the price of electricity, per capita income, sugarcane production, price of ethanol (competing product), total electricity consumption in each state and the level of rainfall. The analysis sought to capture differences in bioelectricity consumption between states considered richer and poorer. After confirming the indication of the absence of a unit root in bioelectricity consumption, the model was estimated using the generalized first difference moment method (FD GMM), which was more robust to the data. The results suggest that the consumption of sugar-energy electricity has been decreasing, on average, 0.82% per year in the period analyzed. However, the research also showed that the increase in electricity prices had a positive effect on the consumption of sugar-alcohol bioelectricity, offsetting the effect of the downward trend in recent years. From a regional point of view, the research also showed a downward trend in consumption for the states considered more developed and a slight upward trend for the poorest regions. This implies that price and income, analyzed together, point to the existence of a systematic effect between income levels on the price elasticity of demand for electricity from sugarcane. The finding is important for those responsible for conducting energy policy as it indicates that different income levels between regions must be taken into account when proposing public policies to contain or encourage electricity consumption from renewable sources.

In the last few decades, spatiotemporal changes in soil erosion rate have changed dramatically with the construction of dams, resulting in increased sedimentation in dam reservoirs and significant shoreline changes in deltas in rivers downstream. This article aims to investigate the effect of dam construction on the change of soil erosion rate through the RUSLE and GIS in the Kavak River Basin in Thrace Peninsula (Türkiye). The impact of the dam built in the source part of the river on soil erosion in the basin was analyzed by the conditions for characterizing the pre-and post-dam construction periods (1990–2018). The RUSLE soil erosion model and GIS were used to organize and evaluate the study data. Model estimation outputs were compared with the shoreline changes in the delta, SOC loss and dating of sediment deposits, and volume changes in the dam reservoir. Finally, the average soil loss (ASL) in the Kavak River Basin was demonstrated to be 5.31 t haˉ¹ yrˉ¹ and 4.68 t haˉ¹ yrˉ¹ in 1990 and 2018, respectively. In the same period, it was determined that there was a -80 m shoreline regression in the delta. According to the study’s results, the erosion phenomenon may lead to a decrease in the economic life of the dam reservoir and a narrowing in productive agricultural areas in the delta.

The revolutionary impact of Blockchain Technology is undeniable, transforming industries globally with its ability to reduce costs, shorten processing times, and eliminate intermediaries. It is reshaping industries by establishing trust and transparency through its immutable and traceable nature, leading to a paradigm shift in supply chain management operations. So, driven by the need to eliminate inefficiencies, this technology is gaining strong traction in the agricultural and food industries to streamline its operation. However, a comprehensive understanding of the factors enabling Blockchain Technology is essential for its effective implementation in this industry. The prime focus of the present work is to identify and prioritize Blockchain Technology enablers that can mitigate the challenges associated with the agriculture and food industries. In this regard, this study presents a novel Intuitionistic Fuzzy Grey Relational Analysis (IF-GRA) method for assessing the enablers of Blockchain Technology. The study identified Traceability as the most vital factor with a grey relational grade value of 0.987, followed by Smart Contracts (0.9302), Transparency (0.9238), and Real-Time Connectivity (0.8037). Further, this research also provides essential insights for agricultural and food industries contemplating the integration of Blockchain Technology.