Regional Sustainability最新文献

{"title":"Integrating neglected and underutilized crops (NUCs) in South Asian cropping systems and diets: Challenges and prospects","authors":"Saira SHAFIQ ,&nbsp;Muhammad ZIA UL HAQ ,&nbsp;Syed Abbas RAZA NAQVI ,&nbsp;Wardha SARFARAZ ,&nbsp;Hina ALI ,&nbsp;Muhammad Majid ISLAM ,&nbsp;Gul Zaib HASSAN ,&nbsp;Muhammad NAWAZ ,&nbsp;Tasawer ABBAS","doi":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100242","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100242","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The present review critically examines the role of neglected and underutilized crops (NUCs) in enhancing the resilience of South Asian cropping systems and diets in the context of climate change and nutritional challenges. This analysis reveals that integrating NUCs, such as millets, sorghums, amaranth, and indigenous legumes, into existing cropping systems can significantly improve the climate resilience, dietary diversity, and ecological sustainability of the food systems. These crops exhibit superior tolerance to abiotic stress and offer higher nutritional density compared to staple cereals, such as rice and wheat. However, their adoption faces challenges, including limited research investment, fragmented value chains, etc. We further identify that complementary cropping strategies and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices can optimize resource use while boosting smallholder farmers’ income. NUCs are pivotal for the transformation of exist cropping systems towards nutrition-sensitive and climate-resilient agricultural and food systems. Strategic integration of NUCs can simultaneously address food insecurity, biodiversity loss, and rural poverty. Yet, unlocking their potential requires coordinated efforts in genetic improvement, market development, and policy frameworks tailored to regional contexts. This synthesis provides a comprehensive roadmap for policy-makers, researchers, and farmers to leverage NUCs as “Future Smart Food”. By bridging agronomic, nutritional, and socioeconomic perspectives, this study highlights the transformative potential of NUCs in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across South Asian countries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34395,"journal":{"name":"Regional Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100242"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145098762","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":"Exploring the influence of trade openness, energy consumption, natural resource rents, and human capital in achieving carbon neutrality","authors":"Olani Bekele SAKILU ,&nbsp;Haibo CHEN","doi":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100247","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100247","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Addressing the pressing challenges of climate change and global warming requires a strong commitment to reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and achieving carbon neutrality. Efficient energy use and international trade play crucial roles in promoting sustainable development and enhancing environmental quality. This study investigated the relationships of CO₂ emissions with trade openness (export and import), energy consumption (renewable energy consumption and fossil fuel consumption), natural resource rents, and human capital across 20 developing countries (Brazil, Iran, Russia, China, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Mexico, South Africa, Costa Rica, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Pakistan, Türkiye, India, Peru, Viet Nam, Indonesia, and Philippines) from 1990 to 2022 using the augmented mean group (AMG) and common correlated effects mean group (CCEMG) methods. The findings revealed that export, renewable energy consumption, and human capital significantly reduce CO₂ emissions, while import, fossil fuel consumption, and natural resource rents increase CO₂ emissions, although the effect of natural resource rents is statistically insignificant. Causality tests indicated the bidirectional relationship of CO₂ emissions with export, import, renewable energy consumption, and fossil fuel consumption, and the unidirectional causality from human capital to CO₂ emissions. CO₂ emissions drive the greenhouse effect, thereby raising global temperature and accelerating climate change. As reducing CO₂ emissions becomes an urgent global priority, this study provides actionable insights by identifying key variables that mitigate emissions and enhance sustainability. By bridging research and policy, this study offers targeted recommendations to accelerate progress toward a low-carbon future.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34395,"journal":{"name":"Regional Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100247"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145098761","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":"Leveraging farm heterogeneity to enhance living incomes: A gender-sensitive typology of cocoa farming systems in Côte d’Ivoire","authors":"Franziska OLLENDORF ,&nbsp;Claudia CORAL ,&nbsp;Constant Yves ADOU YAO ,&nbsp;Stefan SIEBER ,&nbsp;Katharina LÖHR","doi":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100245","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100245","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>About 44% of the world’s cocoa is produced in one single country, Côte d’Ivoire. Providing this important raw material, most Ivorian cocoa farmers live in severe poverty, which, despite a multitude of sector interventions, is still widespread, affecting social and environmental sustainability in cocoa production. In this context, cocoa farmers are still often treated as a homogeneous group of small-scale producers (mainly males), resulting in interventions being conceptualized as one-size-fits-all approaches and failing to deliver support schemes that take farmers’ specific conditions appropriately into account. Applying a broader typology approach that combines farm characteristics with farmers’ characteristics, this study aims to delineate Ivorian cocoa farmers and their farms into specific types in order to improve advice for targeted sustainability interventions and living income (LI) potentials. Principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis of a household dataset collected in 2022 in five cocoa-growing regions of Côte d’Ivoire were chosen to identify types of male-headed farms. To assure gender sensitive analysis, a female-headed farm type was created artificially. The specific characteristics of the identified types were captured using descriptive analysis. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were then applied to examine the relationships between these farm types and various outcomes. Additionally, a binary logistic model was used to estimate the probability of these links in relation to variables relevant for achieving a LI. Finally, Spearman non-parametric correlation was used to identify eventual differences in the strength of relationships between key variables per farm type. Three different types of male-headed farms are identified: type 1 (the most productive and diversified farms with larger size), type 2 (middle-sized farms with strong focus on cash crops), and type 3 (small-sized farms with a good level of diversification for self-consumption). The artificially created type 4 represents female-headed farms with the smallest size. On average, none of these farm types achieves a LI. However, type 1 shows the smallest LI gap, while type 4 is by far the worst. Our analyses reveal underlying socio-economic factors systematically disadvantaging female-headed cocoa farms, most notably limited access to land and other material assets. The key contribution of this study lies in the empirical identification of the different characteristics of farms in a given farming system, thereby identifying the need for targeted support interventions. Type-specific recommendations are made, showing pathways to provide tailored programs to farmers of different types in order to reduce their LI gaps.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34395,"journal":{"name":"Regional Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100245"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145098630","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":"Greenhouse gas emission dynamics and climate change mitigation efforts toward sustainability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region","authors":"Syed Masiur RAHMAN ,&nbsp;Asif RAIHAN ,&nbsp;Md Shafiul ALAM ,&nbsp;Shakhawat CHOWDHURY","doi":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100246","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100246","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Greenhouse gas (GHG) emssions from fossil fuel consumption are driving global climate change. This study applied the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) model and pairwise panel Granger causality test to explore the relationships of GHG emissions with gross domestic product (GDP), population, urbanization, natural resource rents, foreign direct investment (FDI), and renewable energy consumption in 12 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries (Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Qatar, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, and Yemen) from 1990 to 2023. Due to the limited data on renewable energy after 2020, the coverage of renewable energy consumption is from 1990 to 2021. Findings showed that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar are the top 5 GHG emitters in the MENA region, with the GHG emissions of the energy sector rising fastest among all sectors. Results also indicated that a 1.00% increase in GDP, population, urbanization, natural resource rents, and FDI raises GHG emissions by 0.48%, 0.61%, 0.86%, 0.29%, and 0.11%, respectively. Conversely, a 1.00% increase in renewable energy consumption reduces GHG emissions by 0.13%. Effective policies promoting renewable energy investment and the adoption of renewable energy could significantly reduce electricity costs and GHG emissions, contributing to achieving climate goals, such as net-zero emissions and environmental sustainability. Additionally, the increase of renewable energy consumption and technology development would improve energy efficiency, create jobs, and stimulate economic growth in the MENA region. This study recommends tailored policy instruments to support the transition to low-emission technologies and strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34395,"journal":{"name":"Regional Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100246"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145098760","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":"Impacts of land use and cover change on carbon storage: Multi-scenario projections in the arid region of Northwest China","authors":"Xuyu FENG ,&nbsp;Xiao ZHAO ,&nbsp;Ling TONG ,&nbsp;Sufen WANG ,&nbsp;Risheng DING ,&nbsp;Shaozhong KANG","doi":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100248","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100248","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Carbon storage serves as a key indicator of ecosystem services and plays a vital role in maintaining the global carbon balance. Land use and cover change (LUCC) is one of the primary drivers influencing carbon storage variations in terrestrial ecosystems. Therefore, evaluating the impacts of LUCC on carbon storage is crucial for achieving strategic goals such as the China’s dual carbon goals (including carbon peaking and carbon neutrality). This study focuses on the Aral Irrigation Area in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, to assess the impacts of LUCC on regional carbon storage and their spatiotemporal dynamics. A comprehensive LUCC database from 2000 to 2020 was developed using Landsat satellite imagery and the random forest classification algorithm. The integrated valuation of ecosystem services and trade-offs (InVEST) model was applied to quantify carbon storage and analyze its response to LUCC. Additionally, future LUCC patterns for 2030 were projected under multiple development scenarios using the patch-generating land use simulation (PLUS) model. These future LUCC scenarios were integrated with the InVEST model to simulate carbon storage trends under different land management pathways. Between 2000 and 2020, the dominant land use types in the study area were cropland (area proportion of 35.52%), unused land (34.80%), and orchard land (12.19%). The conversion of unused land and orchard land significantly expanded the area of cropland, which increased by 115,742.55 hm². During this period, total carbon storage and carbon density increased by 7.87×10⁶ Mg C and 20.19 Mg C/hm², respectively. The primary driver of this increase was the conversion of unused land into cropland, accounting for 49.28% of the total carbon storage gain. Carbon storage was notably lower along the northeastern and southeastern edges. By 2030, the projected carbon storage is expected to increase by 0.99×10⁶, 1.55×10⁶, and 1.71×10⁶ Mg C under the natural development, cropland protection, and ecological conservation scenarios, respectively. In contrast, under the urban development scenario, carbon storage is projected to decline by 0.40×10⁶ Mg C. In line with China’s dual carbon goals, the ecological conservation scenario emerges as the most effective strategy for enhancing carbon storage. Accordingly, strict enforcement of the cropland red line is recommended. This study provides a valuable scientific foundation for regional ecosystem restoration and sustainable development in arid regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34395,"journal":{"name":"Regional Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100248"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145098631","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 climate-smart coastal farming system through agriculture extension and advisory services towards the avenues of farm sustainability","authors":"Md Maruf BILLAH ,&nbsp;Mohammad Mahmudur RAHMAN ,&nbsp;Santiago MAHIMAIRAJA ,&nbsp;Alvin LAL ,&nbsp;Asadi SRINIVASULU ,&nbsp;Ravi NAIDU","doi":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100243","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100243","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Agriculture extension and advisory services (AEAS) are integral to smart agricultural systems and play a pivotal role in supporting sustainable agricultural development. The study aimed to assess the role of AEAS in strengthening climate-smart coastal farming system to enhance coastal agricultural sustainability. A mixed-methods study was conducted in the southwestern coastal region of Bangladesh in 2023, which involved administering a structured questionnaire and conducing face-to-face interviews with 390 farmers. Perceived role index (PRI) was employed to assess the potential role of AEAS. To forecast the perceived role outcomes, the machine learning model was undertaken by utilizing suitable algorithms. Additionally, feature importance was calculated to underpin the significant factors of perceived role outcomes. The findings showed that coastal farming communities held a comprehensive understanding of the role of AEAS. Key roles included diffusion of agricultural innovations, acting as a bridge between farmers and research organizations, using demonstration techniques to educate farmers, training farmers on food storage, processing, and utilization, and promoting awareness and adoption of best practices. The machine learning model exposed a significant relationship between farmers’ socio-economic characteristics and their perception behavior. The results identified that factors like innovativeness, awareness, training exposure, access to AEAS, and access to information significantly influenced how farmers perceived the efficacy of AEAS in promoting a smart coastal farming system. However, farmers confronted multiple constraints in receiving demand-driven services and maintaining coastal farm sustainability. These insights can guide concerned authorities and policy-makers in providing AEAS for the purpose of strengthening climate-smart coastal farming system, particularly with a special focus on capacity building programs and machine learning application. Moreover, the outcomes of this study can assist the authorities of similar coastal systems throughout the world to initiate potential strategies for enhancing region-specific agricultural sustainability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34395,"journal":{"name":"Regional Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100243"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145098763","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":"Adaptive conservation of natural resources determines the sustainable livelihood strategies of farmers in the semi-arid Loess Plateau region of China","authors":"Shengli MA ,&nbsp;Mingxiang XU","doi":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100244","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100244","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Livelihood improvement and sustainable natural resource utilization are among the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; however, most farm households either randomly select or just imitate livelihood strategies being practiced in other areas. As the livelihoods of farm households are vulnerable to several challenges in ecologically fragile areas, identifying the livelihood strategies of farm households in arid and semi-arid areas will help for promoting both livelihood security and environmental conservation. Hence, in this study, we constructed a sustainable evaluation index system for the livelihood of farmers in the Loess Plateau region of China by conducting field research and interviews. We employed the composite index method to measure the livelihood capital and the livelihood strategies chosen by farmers, and then analyzed the resource endowment of farmers under different livelihood strategies using logistic regression and structural equation modeling. The results revealed that under the combined influences of livelihood capital and government policy, farm households in the Loess Plateau region selected agro-dependent, agro-pastoral, agro-industrial, non-agricultural livelihood strategies. The key factors influencing the selection of these household livelihood strategies included the household labor capacity, the farmland owned per household, the number of livestock, and the grassland forage-supply ratio. The grassland forage-supply ratio was a crucial factor influencing the choice between agricultural and non-agricultural livelihood strategies. In this context, the grassland forage-supply ratio increased with the stocking rate. However, once the stocking rate exceeded 56.5 sheep/hm², the grassland forage-supply ratio no longer increased rapidly under the agriculture-based livelihood strategy. The strategy of ecological resource conservation and moderate utilization based on the quality and quantity of natural resources ensures win-win benefits for the environment and human well-being in arid and semi-arid areas. Moderate grazing therefore has the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods without causing grassland degradation. These results contribute to the synergistic co-adaptation of livelihood improvement and ecological conservation in arid and semi-arid areas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34395,"journal":{"name":"Regional Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100244"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145098764","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":"Desertification dynamics in the Tarim Basin during 1990–2020","authors":"YU Xiang ,&nbsp;LEI Jiaqiang ,&nbsp;GAO Xin ,&nbsp;SUN Lingxiao ,&nbsp;LYU Zhentao ,&nbsp;Ireneusz MALIK ,&nbsp;Malgorzata WISTUBA","doi":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100226","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100226","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Desertification poses a significant ecological threat to global sustainability, notably within arid regions such as the Tarim Basin surrounding the extensive Taklimakan Desert in Northwest China. This study used the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and Random Forest (RF) to analyze multi-temporal Landsat images to reveal desertification dynamics in the Tarim Basin spanning from 1990 to 2020. The results showed that land use types of the Tarim Basin were classified into three types: artificial oases, natural oases, and desertified land. To robustly quantify the spatiotemporal dynamics of land use, we introduced the Desertification Change Index (DCI), a novel metric specifically designed to measure the transformation sensitivity of land use types. Our analysis demonstrated that from 1990 to 2020, artificial oases showed a continuous increasing trend, while desertified land decreased significantly. Natural oases decreased during 1990–2000, then continued to grow, and showed a decreasing trend again after 2015. Moreover, natural oases have mainly been converted into desertified land and artificial oases. Artificial oases were mainly converted into natural oases, and most of desertified land was converted into natural oases. Regions with significant oasis expansion (DCI=2) were mostly concentrated within the influence radius of artificial oases. In contrast, regions with significant oasis degradation (DCI= –2) were generally farther from artificial oases. Finally, this study found that the changes in land use types of the Tarim Basin are mainly driven by human activities, which play a dual role—mitigating desertification by controlling oasis expansion and exacerbating desertification through unsustainable resource utilization. Ultimately, this research provides essential insights for policy-makers and land managers aiming to devise adaptive and sustainable desertification control measures in the Tarim Basin and similarly arid regions globally.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34395,"journal":{"name":"Regional Sustainability","volume":"6 3","pages":"Article 100226"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144633349","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":"How climate change adaptation strategies and climate migration interact to control food insecurity?","authors":"Mohammad Reza PAKRAVAN-CHARVADEH ,&nbsp;Jeyran CHAMCHAM ,&nbsp;Rahim MALEKNIA","doi":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100229","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100229","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As the impact of climate change intensifies, climate migration (climate change-induced migration) has become a pressing global issue that requires effective adaptation strategies to lessen its effects. Therefore, this study delved into the complex relationship between climate change adaptation strategies and climate migration with food insecurity serving as a mediating factor. We collected sample data through face-to-face interviews in Khorramabad City, Iran from February to May in 2023. Using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), we explored how food insecurity influences the relationship between climate change adaptation strategies and climate migration. The findings showed that while climate change adaptation strategies can boost community resilience, their success is closely tied to levels of food insecurity. About 78.72% of the surveyed households experienced certain levels of food insecurity, increasing the risk of displacement due to climate-related disasters. Climate change adaptation strategies including economic strategies, irrigation management strategies, organic-oriented strategies, sustainable development-oriented strategies, and crop variety management strategies played a significant role in reducing climate migration. Moreover, we found that climate change adaptation strategies not only impact food security, but also shape migration decisions. This research underscores the importance of an integrated approach that links climate change adaptation strategies, climate migration, and food insecurity. This study emphasizes the importance of food security for formulating sustainable adaptation strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34395,"journal":{"name":"Regional Sustainability","volume":"6 3","pages":"Article 100229"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144633352","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":"Challenges and opportunities in the energy transition of agribusiness: A deep dive into the rebound effect in Latin America","authors":"Fábio DE OLIVEIRA NEVES ,&nbsp;Eduardo Gomes SALGADO ,&nbsp;Mateus CURY ,&nbsp;Jean Marcel Sousa LIRA ,&nbsp;Breno Régis SANTOS","doi":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100225","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.regsus.2025.100225","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Growing climate change concerns have intensified the focus on agribusiness sustainability, driving an urgent energy transition to improve production efficiency and mitigate environmental harm. The complex interplay between energy efficiency and energy consumption highlights the essential role of strategic energy policies in ensuring sustainable development. This study used the Double-Log regression model with bootstrap resampling to examine the rebound effect in the energy transition of agribusiness focusing on five Latin American countries including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, and Mexico based on the agricultural sector data during 2010–2022. The findings revealed that the rebound effect significantly influences energy transition, with varying degrees of impact across agricultural sectors. This study identified partial rebound effect across all five countries, with elasticity coefficient varying from 9.63% (Colombia’s coffee sector) to 89.12% (Brazil’s livestock sector). In Brazil’s sugarcane sector, non-renewable energy, agricultural employment, and irrigation efficiency were identified as key factors influencing energy consumption, while in livestock sector, energy consumption was affected by CH₄ emissions, income and well-being of farmers, water consumption, and water conservation practices. In Mexico’s livestock sector, CH₄ emissions, non-renewable energy, and water conservation practices were the key factors affecting energy consumption. In Argentina’s sugarcane sector, pesticides, NO₂ emissions, renewable energy, and agricultural employment were the key factors affecting energy consumption, while renewable energy, income and well-being of farmers, and water consumption were the key factors affecting energy consumption in livestock sector. In Uruguay’s livestock sector, non-renewable energy, income and well-being of farmers, and irrigation efficiency were the key factors affecting energy consumption. In Colombia’ coffee sector, NO₂ emissions and irrigation efficiency were identified as key factors influencing energy consumption. Finally, this study reinforces the importance of aligning energy transition with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ensuring that energy efficiency gains do not inadvertently increase energy consumption or environmental degradation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34395,"journal":{"name":"Regional Sustainability","volume":"6 3","pages":"Article 100225"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144633348","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}