{"title":"Sustainability assessment of the agriculture sector using best worst method: Case study of Baltic states","authors":"J. Streimikis, Ahmad Bathaei, Dalia Štreimikienė","doi":"10.1002/sd.2993","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2993","url":null,"abstract":"Sustainable agriculture development holds significant global and regional importance, particularly within the Baltic countries. On a global scale, it is a critical strategy for meeting the escalating demand for food while simultaneously mitigating the adverse environmental and social consequences associated with agricultural practices. In the context of the Baltic nations, where agriculture constitutes a substantial portion of the economy, the adoption of sustainable farming practices is imperative for ensuring the sector's long‐term viability, safeguarding the integrity of the region's distinct ecosystems, and guaranteeing food security for their populations. A comprehensive understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing Baltic agriculture is impeded by a notable research deficiency concerning the intricate and distinct problems facing these nations. The use of indicators to assess economic sustainable agriculture indicators plays a pivotal role in guiding agricultural practices. By taking social and environmental variables into account, these metrics quantify the economic viability of farming. Consequently, these indicators empower policymakers and farmers alike to make well‐informed decisions, striking a balance between profitability and resource conservation, thereby contributing to the enduring sustainability of agriculture in the Baltic countries and beyond. Notably, a comprehensive assessment of economic sustainability in agriculture identified 31 indicators, which were refined to 9 through expert consensus using the Delphi method. Subsequently, the best worst method was applied to rank these indicators. The results indicate that investment intensity, diversification of income, agricultural labor productivity, and market access emerge as the most crucial indicators for ensuring economic sustainability in agriculture.","PeriodicalId":48174,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140749860","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}
{"title":"Policies and legislation enabling sustainable technologies in the public transport infrastructure in NEOM","authors":"Mhmoud Abdelgawwad Abdelhady","doi":"10.1002/sd.2976","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2976","url":null,"abstract":"In the context of rapidly urbanizing cities, integrating sustainable technologies into public transportation systems is important. This study examines the policies and legislative frameworks of NEOM and articulates their impact on the adoption and expansion of sustainable technologies within the public transport domain. The objective is to determine whether these regulatory mechanisms facilitate or impede NEOM's sustainability ambitions. The main finding is that NEOM's current legislative and policy framework presents notable challenges. The commitment to advancing sustainable technologies is clear, tension exists between the rigidity of traditional legislative approaches and the rapidly evolving nature of technological innovation. Our analysis suggests NEOM has considerable potential to reform its policies and measures. Recalibration would ensure compatibility with sustainable practices and drive the city's vision for a sustainable and technologically advanced public transportation system. The study recommendations highlight the need for flexible, innovation‐centric legal frameworks. A more adaptable legislative approach could inform NEOM to leverage sustainable technologies more effectively, ensuring an environmentally responsible public transportation system that serves its expanding user community. Furthermore, this research offers broader implications for other emerging smart cities, underscoring the essential relationship between policy, technology, and sustainability in shaping future‐ready urban transport systems.","PeriodicalId":48174,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140750039","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}
D. Gallardo-Vázquez, T. Herrador-Alcaide, A. Matin
{"title":"Circular economy orientation from corporate social responsibility: A view based on structural equation modeling and a fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis","authors":"D. Gallardo-Vázquez, T. Herrador-Alcaide, A. Matin","doi":"10.1002/sd.2957","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2957","url":null,"abstract":"Seeking sustainable development, companies voluntarily implement Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach, considering economic, social and environmental aspects of interest to global society. Searching for sustainable development, the Circular Economy (CE) emerged as a new philosophy of life to meet the new challenges in society. This research links CSR and CE but considering jointly the Institutional and Stakeholder Theories to delimit the sustainable development framework from the EC approach driven by CSR. According to this framework, it was tested whether the CSR practices of companies positively and significantly impacts on a business orientation towards CE, through two models (Model A and Model B) each of them analyzed with two independent samples of companies in Spain. Both samples are composed of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at two different stages of CSR adoption. The hypotheses were analyzed through a structural equation modeling‐fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (SEM‐fsQCA). The result of the SEM supports the hypothesis in both models. So, CSR practices are driving companies towards CE, incorporating propositions on stakeholders' value creation. Moreover, an fsQCA revealed combinations of relationships that ensure the consistency of obtained results, generating five configurations based on two models defined. Main contribution of this work is CSR practices of companies and their orientation towards CE can be linked. This encourages to deep in analysis about the relations between CE and CSR, and of the specific CSR practices that should be enhanced for their beneficial effect on the implementation of CE.","PeriodicalId":48174,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140752414","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}
Tham Mun Hou, Pramila Tamunaidu, Rory William Padfield, Nurhamieza Md Huzir
{"title":"“Smile even if your burdens are heavy”: Smallholder challenges and the Sabah sustainable palm oil initiative","authors":"Tham Mun Hou, Pramila Tamunaidu, Rory William Padfield, Nurhamieza Md Huzir","doi":"10.1002/sd.2973","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2973","url":null,"abstract":"Sabah, Malaysia's biggest palm oil‐producing state, has made Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification mandatory under Sabah's Jurisdictional Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (JCSPO) initiative. Few studies have examined the independent native smallholders' challenges in adopting the JCSPO initiative. To address this knowledge gap, we engaged with oil palm smallholders via various qualitative methodological approaches over a 14 month period. We identified a range of challenges currently faced by the smallholder; these include RSPO compliance, land tenure issue, low financial and knowledge capacities, increasing food insecurity, and unstable market price of certified crude palm oil. In our article, we argue that the statewide certification policy is consolidating the inequalities in resource access and capacity for growth amongst smallholder groups in different districts. Fair resource allocation to different geographical areas is needed to provide new empowerment mechanisms and remedies for marginalized groups.","PeriodicalId":48174,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140779117","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}
{"title":"Importance of women empowerment for eco‐efficiency of small farms in the context of other social factors: Building sustainable agriculture in Central and Eastern European countries","authors":"B. Czyżewski, Artur Prędki, A. Brelik","doi":"10.1002/sd.2989","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2989","url":null,"abstract":"It is widely assumed that women's empowerment plays a key role in achieving sustainability in agriculture. However, there is a lack of empirical analysis to support this claim and operationalise the concept of women's empowerment. Furthermore, it has not been formally demonstrated through which farming practices women's empowerment can contribute to the development of sustainable agriculture, or whether gender empowerment is indeed meaningful compared with other well‐documented social drivers. We calculated frontier eco‐efficiency, taking into account specific environmental pressures (i.e., soil biodiversity loss) and public goods (i.e., plant diversity) as desirable outputs in small crop farms, which dominate in Central and Eastern European countries (Poland, Romania, Serbia and Moldova), based on a survey conducted in a sample of 1630 units. We estimated the impact of different levels of women's and men's empowerment on eco‐efficiency in the context of other time‐invariant socio‐economic factors (i.e., succession, age, education and specialisation) in a two‐stage double‐bootstrapped Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. A set of four levels of gender empowerment was defined, taking into account social participation and decision‐making power. We then assessed the degree of input and output inefficiency associated with each level of gender empowerment. The general conclusion is that lower levels of women's empowerment have a negative impact on eco‐efficiency. Therefore, the issue of gender empowerment, not only in terms of equality, decision‐making and access to resources, but also in terms of social participation, should be emphasised in sustainable agriculture policies, on a par with the issue of ageing farmers and farm succession.","PeriodicalId":48174,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140781664","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}
{"title":"Promoting entrepreneurship for sustainable development: Are education capital and ICT diffusion important?","authors":"Ahmad Altwaijri, Anis Omri, Faisal Alfehaid","doi":"10.1002/sd.2971","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2971","url":null,"abstract":"This article makes a valuable contribution to the existing literature on sustainable entrepreneurship by investigating the impact of entrepreneurship (both opportunity‐driven and necessity‐driven) on the achievement of sustainable development (SD) across its three dimensions. Additionally, it explores the underlying mechanisms through which this relationship is influenced. Specifically, the study examines the role of education capital (including education levels and government spending on education) and information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion (access, usage, and skills) in facilitating this relationship. The analysis focuses on data from Saudi Arabia and utilizes the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) estimator. The findings indicate that only opportunity entrepreneurship exhibits a positive influence on SD. Furthermore, the study reveals that the positive impact of opportunity entrepreneurship is amplified through its interaction with government spending on education and tertiary education, leading to favorable indirect net effects on SD at both aggregated and disaggregated levels. Similarly, the interaction between opportunity entrepreneurship and ICT usage, as well as access, generates positive indirect net effects on SD across aggregated and disaggregated levels. Therefore, education capital and ICT diffusion are indeed key mechanisms that foster opportunity‐driven entrepreneurship for achieving SD. Education equips individuals with the necessary skills and mindset, whereas ICTs provide access to information, markets, and tools for business efficiency and innovation. By investing in education and promoting the widespread adoption and accessibility of ICTs, governments can empower individuals to become successful entrepreneurs while driving sustainable economic, environmental, and social progress.","PeriodicalId":48174,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140788855","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}
{"title":"Does the closure of polluting enterprises improve rural livelihoods? Evidence from rural China","authors":"Xiaoshang Deng, Kunyu Niu, Xiang-bo Xu, Chang Li, Linxiu Zhang","doi":"10.1002/sd.2984","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2984","url":null,"abstract":"In response to an increasingly dire pollution scenario, the Chinese government initiated the largest and most extensive environmental inspection campaign in history starting in 2016. Numerous polluting enterprises were closed due to environmental concerns in the rural areas. Drawing on two‐period panel data from the China Rural Development Survey, this study revealed the inherent mechanism of the polluting enterprises closure on local rural livelihoods using the difference‐in‐differences method and structural equation model, with reference to the sustainable livelihood framework. Results showed that shuttering polluting enterprises enhanced rural households' livelihood capital, notably in human, natural, and physical aspects, and promoted labor migration. Additional heterogeneous analysis revealed that the enhancements were notably more pronounced in Southern China and among affluent demographics. Based on the findings, we suggested the local government should support the development of sustainable agriculture and green industries and pay more attention to vulnerable populations when making policy decisions. The use of mandatory directives, such as shutting down polluting enterprises, is a common strategy in developing countries. This study presents an analytical framework for understanding the impact of environmental governance on the livelihoods of rural households in developing countries, contributing to a better balance between rural environmental management and livelihood improvement in these regions.","PeriodicalId":48174,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140785660","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}
Idiano D’Adamo, Cristina Di Carlo, Massimo Gastaldi, A. Uricchio
{"title":"Equitable and sustainable well‐being indicators: A study of Italian regional disparities towards sustainable development","authors":"Idiano D’Adamo, Cristina Di Carlo, Massimo Gastaldi, A. Uricchio","doi":"10.1002/sd.2985","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2985","url":null,"abstract":"Sustainable development serves as a guiding principle for societies aiming to progress beyond purely economic measures of well‐being. This paper constructs a composite indicator based on the framework of equitable and sustainable Well‐being (BES), integrating 105 indicators for Italian regions over the period 2018–2022. The results show that the provinces of Bolzano and Trento led the ranking. Regionally, those in the north scored highest in 2022 (0.603), followed by those in the central region (0.556) and south (0.404). Disaggregated data on the 12 BES dimensions highlighted specific areas for policy intervention. The results advocate for a pragmatic, non‐ideological approach to sustainability, asserting that Italy's competitive advantage (i.e., the “Made in Italy” program) is not contingent on territorial differences, but on provinces' relative ability to leverage and integrate their unique attributes on a global scale.","PeriodicalId":48174,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140789232","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}
{"title":"Impacts of emission trading scheme in Vietnam: A perspective of revenue redistributions","authors":"Phuong Thao Nguyen","doi":"10.1002/sd.2987","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2987","url":null,"abstract":"With ambitious emission reduction targets presented in the international commitments, Vietnam has a pathway to implement an emission trading scheme (ETS) to curb its carbon emissions. However, research on the impacts of ETS in Vietnam is still unclear, especially since there is no study on ETS revenue redistribution policies. By developing a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, this paper simulates the potential impacts of the ETS with different revenue redistribution options. The results indicate that to achieve Vietnam's target of 15.8% carbon emission reduction, the carbon price would significantly affect the economy with a GDP drop of 3.7% and a welfare loss of 2.89% of GDP. The revenue redistribution policies would lighten these negative impacts. While transferring to government activities reduces GDP loss, reducing income tax policy results in welfare improvement. At the sectoral level, the electricity sector is most negatively affected and also plays a key role in reducing carbon emissions in Vietnam. The revenue redistribution for government activities could improve outputs for the construction and some heavy industries while the revenue redistribution policy for households creates improvements for light industries and the electricity industry.","PeriodicalId":48174,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140363261","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}
Naiping Zhu, Ishmael Wiredu, A. Agyemang, Abednego Osei
{"title":"Addressing corporate governance and carbon accounting disclosure gaps: A path toward firms commitment to sustainable development goal 13","authors":"Naiping Zhu, Ishmael Wiredu, A. Agyemang, Abednego Osei","doi":"10.1002/sd.2955","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2955","url":null,"abstract":"The study examined the relationship between corporate governance and carbon accounting disclosure (CAD) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to address how firms can achieve sustainable development goal (SDG) 13. We employed purposive sampling to select 277 companies from 20 MENA countries from the period 2012–2022. A favorable relationship was found between board independence and CAD. Gender diversity was also found to have a beneficial effect on CAD. The sustainability committee and CAD also had a positive and significant connection. A positive association was also found between foreign nationals and CAD. We found positive and significant connection between board meetings and CAD. In contrast, we found a negative relationship between board size and CAD, as well as between boards with CEOs duality and CAD. We also found that shareholding proportion has inverse but insignificant impact on CAD. The results concur that corporate boards have a role to reduce carbon emission in MENA to accomplish SDG 13.","PeriodicalId":48174,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140363388","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}