Sustainable management in natural resources and carbon neutrality: Revisiting the nexus in Ukraine-Russia war context

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Sustainable Management Practices (SMPs) in achieving Carbon Neutrality (CN) within the natural resource extraction sector, specifically in the context of the Ukraine-Russia war. The study also aims to investigate the moderating role of Policy Robustness (PR) in enhancing the impact of SMPs on CN. Data were collected from 702 employees across 234 firms in the steel, iron-ore, and aluminum sectors, from China and India. We employed SEM based methodology, combining confirmatory factor analysis and regression methodologies within Ordinary Least Squares framework to analyze the framework of the study. Key findings reveal that SMPs have a significant positive impact on CN in both India and China. Moreover, the robustness of policies plays a crucial role in reinforcing the effectiveness of SMPs in achieving CN. Interestingly, while the interaction between SMPs and PR significantly impacts CN in China, it is not as prominent in India. Additionally, the study finds that factors such as firm age and employee experience do not significantly influence CN, contrary to conventional expectations. One major contribution of this study is the identification of the synergetic effect of combining SMPs with robust policies (PR) to enhance CN, particularly in the face of geopolitical challenges like the Ukraine-Russia war.