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Since the early 2010s, the production of industrial wood pellet for overseas exports has grown considerably in the Southern United States (U.S.). In order to meet the increasing demand for woody biomass feedstock, the wood pellet mills in the U.S. South consume roundwood pulpwood along with low-valued logging residues and sawmill wood wastes. By estimating empirical roundwood pulpwood market models based on the bi-monthly time-series data, this study estimates the impacts of wood pellet production, precipitation, and the COVID-19 Pandemic on the hardwood and softwood pulpwood stumpage prices in 12 southeastern Atlantic coastal micro-markets. Results suggest that the wood pellet industry has led to an increase in pine pulpwood prices, but no statistically significant impact is found on the hardwood pulpwood prices. Rainfall is found to be a positive determinant of the roundwood pulpwood prices. Furthermore, since March 2020, the COVID-19 Pandemic is estimated to lead about 6% decline in both pine and hardwood pulpwood prices. This study provides empirical evidence and additional insights on the timber market dynamics and how small roundwood markets have reacted to the additional wood demand from a growing bioenergy industry in the U.S. South. • The wood pellet industry competes with pulp and paper mills for woody biomass. • The wood pellet industry has led to an increase in pine pulpwood prices. • No significant impact of wood pellets is found on the hardwood pulpwood prices. • The COVID-19 Pandemic has led to decline pulpwood stumpage prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper reviews the green hydrogen uptake policies in the United States and the European Union. While the EU has a rather broad public support strategy that envisages the entire hydrogen value chain, the U.S. policies are more focused on hydrogen research hubs and subsidies having electric vehicle applications. From the experience of the solar and wind power rollout of the past three decades, we know that the subsidization schemes of the end product play an important role in the transition to renewables. These kinds of subsidization schemes are still lacking for clean hydrogen both in the EU and the U.S. This paper provides a brief overview of selected subsidization schemes from other renewables markets, which are then applied to define an exemplary subsidization path to empower large-scale growth in a market for green hydrogen. Here is proposed a long-term subsidization scheme – deemed as an adequate strategy for the expansion of clean hydrogen in an electricity mix. The suggested exemplary subsidization path recommends shifting from feed-in tariffs to direct marketing with market premiums once a certain threshold is reached, while both can be flanked by the issuance of a Guarantee of Origin for green hydrogen so that there is one market for hydrogen and another market for the certificates. • -A long-term subsidization scheme for the rollout of green hydrogen in the electricity mixes is proposed. • -An exemplary subsidization path to empower large-scale growth in a market for green hydrogen is drafted. • -U.S. and EU are used as case studies to capture lessons for subsidization of green hydrogen economy uptake. • -The U.S. has more centralized green hydrogen rollout policies, whereas the EU has a wider policy toolkit. • -Shifting from FIT to direct marketing with market premiums is key once a certain pre-defined threshold is reached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many speculations, and some empirical indications in recent literature, that manufacturing firms are particularly prone to greenwashing, a practice by which such firms make misleading claims regarding their environmental performance or that of their products. Simultaneously, very recent evidence suggests that the representative investor has developed a preference for ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investments, a so-called "warm-glow" preference. The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical explanation why the preference for warm-glow investing may disappear if investors perceive firms in a sector to be greenwashing. We hypothesize that given the ubiquitous contemporary focus on greenwashing, rational investors will factor this greenwashing into their investment decisions. To test this, we investigate patterns of association of ESG scores, and both operating and stock performance for 3,245 listed firms, over a period of two decades, comparing the manufacturing and services sectors in the United States, Europe, and major Asian markets. We find that warm-glow investment is present within the services sector across all regions, but in the manufacturing sector we find noticeable regional differences. In particular, we find ESG-performance patterns for manufacturing firms in the United States that we consider consistent with perceptions of greenwashing. The contribution of this paper is to provide a nuanced perspective on how investors preferences change in relation to industry perceptions. The novelty in our study is two-fold: on the one hand, bringing the problem of greenwashing to the emergent literature on warm-glow investing; on the other, introducing warm-glow investing to the emergent literature on greenwashing. [Display omitted] • We theorize industry differences in ESG impact on firm performance. • The absence of warm-glow investing is attributed to perceived greenwashing. • We discuss implications of perceived greenwashing for manufacturing firms. • Investors exhibit a warm-glow preference within the services sector only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past decade has seen an acceleration, globally, in the development of alternative protein products that resemble animal meat products. These products include cultivated and plant-based meat, as well as those derived through fermentation processes. Proponents of alternative proteins claim that they offer opportunities to tackle multiple socio-environmental challenges. However, their development also presents many challenges, which require careful analysis. To this end, this paper addresses the research question: To what extent can the socio-technical transitions literature explain the current state and future potential of plant-based meat and cultivated meat products, including the impacts and challenges associated with these emerging technologies? This paper reviews the literature on alternative proteins from a socio-technical transitions perspective applying the Multi Level Perspective and the Strategic Niche Management approaches, and identifies a research agenda of knowledge gaps and research questions. The review is focused on the United States due to its central role in the development of these technologies. The agenda identifies key questions that can be asked of alternative proteins using a socio-technical transitions framework, and maps them to the niche level, the niche-regime interactions level, and to the heuristic dynamics of the Multi Level Perspective. The findings suggest that meeting the full potential of these technologies requires public investment and long term planning, open access research, more strategic funding, efforts to advance regulation and social legitimacy, innovation in business models, and learning from social movements, other industries, and the visions of fringe stakeholders. This paper demonstrates that examining the scaling and trajectory of alternative proteins from a socio-technical sustainability transitions perspective could offer useful and important lessons and insights into the current and future role of these technologies. • A review of the alt-protein literature from a socio-technical transitions perspective. • The multi-level perspective and the strategic niche management approach are used. • A research agenda for cultivated meat and plant-based meat is identified. • Alt-protein niches are interacting with and challenging the animal meat regime. • Actors, institutions, and processes interact to influence alt-protein trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the global outbreak of infectious diseases over the years, airborne pathogen removal from the indoor environment has become a critical issue. Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) has been adopted as a strategic solution, and its implementation shows the enormous potential of inactivating airborne infectious pathogens. Despite extensive research, some critical research areas or gaps remain unidentified, while at the same time, few studies highlight the knowledge trend for UVGI air disinfection research necessary to guide investigators and practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough and objective analysis of UVGI research areas using bibliometric analysis. The available international standard known as the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) was followed for conducting this review. A comprehensive search covering the publication year up to December 2021 using Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and PubMed databases was conducted. Also, the selection of studies, extraction of data, and assessments of risk of bias were also carried out. The characteristics and results of selected studies in evidence graphs, pie charts, network maps, and tables were presented and discussed. A total of 210 UVGI air disinfection-related publications were identified and reviewed. Based on the keyword co-occurrence analysis, document and direct citation analysis, 112 research keywords (see Table A1), and 6 core research journals were identified. Further, the results show that 3 countries and 7 organizational collaborators are at the centre of UVGI research. Based on the clustering analysis and comprehensive analysis of the findings, the research domain was developed, which grouped UVGI research into four themes. These findings are highly important for the advancement of UVGI. This paper provides a significant contribution by showing the knowledge pattern needed to facilitate further research and applications for both academia and industry stakeholders to improve indoor air quality. [Display omitted] • State-of-the-art knowledge of UVGI air disinfection. • The United States tops the list of countries at the center of UVGI research. • The majority (40.5%) of UVGI studies are laboratory-based experiments. • Prominent airborne pathogens and four knowledge domains in UVGI research. • Directions/recommendations for UVGI air disinfection research in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different organizations and countries have proposed a variety of policies and strategies to reduce emissions from the shipping industry. These include the Emission Control Area (ECA) policy, carbon tax policy, Vessel Speed Reduction Incentive Program (VSRIP), and Virtual Arrival (VA) strategy. These policies and strategies create additional costs for ships, forcing the ships to change their speeds or routes. This highlights the need to study approaches that optimize the sailing speeds of ships, by coordinating the implementation of the multiple governing policies and strategies. This paper develops a cost model that considers different emission reduction policies and strategies; this is followed by an analysis of their effect on emissions reduction. In addition, the paper proposes an improved quantum genetic algorithm based on a "fork gene" and elite strategy, which is specifically designed for specific shipping-related policies and strategy. The model is applied to a shipping route on the United States (US) West Coast, with three key findings. First, the improved algorithm significantly reduces the total cost, compared with the original alternative, in the context of emission reduction policies and strategies. Second, a single policy can produce positive results in reducing emissions, and the coordinated implementation of three separate policies (ECA, carbon tax, and VSRIP) may not lead to better results than a single policy. Finally, adding the VA strategy above and beyond the three other emission reduction policies may create more benefits in reducing emissions and operating costs. • Impacts from multiple maritime emission reduction regulations are valuated. • Impacts on the ship sailing speed are considered. • Effects of multiple emission regulations on the U.S. Coast are assessed. • There may be mutual exclusivity between emission reduction regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings are one of the major sectors responsible for high energy demand and GHG emissions worldwide, which is driving expectations for implementing net-zero emission buildings (NZEBs) in many countries. Specifically, most developed countries have a carbon-neutral target set up for 2050, mandating all new buildings from then to be constructed as net-zero emission. Therefore, this paper investigated the economic feasibility of implementing NZEBs in the United States residential sector by combining a heat pump system with two renewable energy sources that are heavily supported by the federal government: solar and geothermal technologies. First, this study clearly demonstrates that "net-zero emission" is the most challenging task among neutralizing the energetic, economic, and environmental by-products from building operations. Moreover, this study analyzed the payback periods of multiple NZEB scenarios by considering the potential future changes in technology and policy necessarily required to meet the net-zero emission target by 2050. For reference, the technological and institutional factors were represented by "PV energy conversion rate" and "CO 2 equivalent price of emission trading scheme (ETS)", respectively. The results show that improving the PV energy conversion rate is much more effective in reducing the payback period of NZEBs compared to raising the CO 2 equivalent price of ETS. However, the growing public awareness for this CO 2 regulation policy will soon bring synergistic effect with the advancement of PV technology. In conclusion, this research framework clarifies the rather vague technological and institutional challenges that should be addressed to allow NZEBs to become economically feasible in the United States residential sector. Therefore, many building engineers, PV technicians, and policymakers should actively contribute to improving the techno-economic drivers for implementing NZEBs by 2050. • Most developed countries are mandating all new buildings from 2050 to be constructed as net-zero emission. • Net-zero emission target is hardly achievable without the simultaneous energy supply from solar and geothermal. • PV energy conversion rate should reach 43.50% to meet the net-zero critical point. • Improving the PV energy conversion rate is highly essential for reducing the payback period of NZEBs. • The growing public awareness of ETS will bring synergistic effect with the advancement of PV technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines and compares the role of male financial experts (MFEs) and female financial experts (FFEs) of the Audit Committee (AC), on sustainability performance using a sample of listed firms in the United States from 2010 to 2021. The results show that although both MFEs and FFEs influence sustainability performance, FFEs have statistically greater influence than MFEs. The results also show that FFEs have greater influence across all three pillars of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance. Further analyses suggest that if an AC has single-gender financial expertise (only MFEs or only FFEs), this is detrimental to the firm's sustainability performance. The results also show that although having a gender-diverse AC is beneficial, the benefit is greater if the females on the AC are financial experts. These results may partly explain the inconclusive findings of earlier studies on the influence of financial expertise on sustainability performance. The results remain consistent under a battery of robustness tests. Overall, the study highlights the need for ACs to have diverse financial experts from the perspective of non-financial reporting and adds to justifications for increasing calls for diversity on boards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies embracing circular economy concepts have taken hold in national legislation around the world. As the number of governments and organizations adopting circular economy policies increases, so does the need for accurate and timely measurement of material resource flows. Since many countries do not have access to centrally reported municipal solid waste (MSW) data, estimation and modeling are critical in evaluating circular economy policy effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to examine three modeling approaches estimating national MSW data in the United States, including industry-based material flow analysis, waste-extended input-output modeling, and aggregated regional waste reporting. We establish five criteria to guide the analysis through the context of policy monitoring (data quality, flow totality, update frequency, sensitivity to disruption, and product granularity) and use these criteria to analyze and score each model. We then use a literature search to identify five, internationally-implemented options for circular economy policy and determine the data and modeling components that are most helpful in evaluating policy effectiveness. Finally, we provide a crosswalk of the model scores and policy needs to inform the suitability of model selection by policy type. We found that data quality and update frequency are identified as critical components for evaluating circular economy policies within the models evaluated, and can both be fulfilled by aggregated regional waste reporting. Flow totality, sensitivity to disruption, and product granularity requirements vary by both model and policy types. While none of the evaluated models satisfy the combination of requirements for any of the five policies, industry-based material flow analysis offers flow totality for extended producer responsibility, landfill bans, and recycling rate target policies that typically require it. The waste-extended input-output model can provide disruption sensitivity and product granularity as needed for policies like minimum recycled content and market restrictions. Policy developers in areas where strong centralized data collection is not an option should design policy action(s) with modeling tradeoffs in mind, including the potential hybridization of modeling approaches that may provide the most accurate national MSW estimates. • Nations lacking central waste reporting need suitable models to support circular economy actions. • Three approaches to waste modeling analyzed here present trade-offs for policy support. • Data quality is a key consideration when deciding which modeling approach to use. • A trade-off between material granularity and update frequency will depend on the type of policy action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's world, environmental concerns are at the forefront of countries' considerations, along with economic priorities. In this context, countries face the challenge of developing and directing their investments in clean energy technologies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly affordable and clean energy. Does the development and diffusion of clean energy technologies contribute to improving environmental quality? This study addresses this question by examining the effects of clean energy technologies on sustainable environmental quality as expressed by the load capacity factor (LCF). In this context, the study explores the United States (US), as the largest economy and one of the leading countries investing in clean energy, considering the role of human capital, urbanization, and economic growth. To this end, this paper applies the novel augmented autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to annual data from 1974 to 2018. The long-term empirical results show that (i) Clean energy technologies have no effect on the LCF; (iii) human capital supports environmental quality; (iv) urbanization has an adverse effect on environmental quality; (v) increasing economic growth worsens environmental quality. Overall, the empirical results suggest that while clean energy technologies should support sustainable environmental quality, this is unfortunately not the case in the US. Therefore, the US policymakers need to take improvement actions to ensure that clean energy technologies contribute to sustainable environmental quality and that the community reaps the environmental benefits of human capital. [Display omitted] • Applies the Augmented ARDL approach with smooth structural shifts. • Tests the impact of clean energy technologies on environmental quality. • Clean energy technologies do not affect the environmental quality. • Income and urbanization reduce the load capacity factor. • Human capital improves environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there have been international frameworks for limiting global warming, however, sustainable actions are not on the same track in terms of speed and scale due to the lack of an explicit pathway. A large strand of the literature has examined the emissions-mitigating effect of R&D expenditure and biofuel energy consumption but in a linear framework and disregarded the factors that cause non-linearity. In that respect, this study aims to offer a new perspective on the asymmetric response of greenhouse gas emissions to government energy R&D expenditure and biofuel use in the United States over the 1981–2020 period using a nonlinear time series approach. The results confirm the asymmetrical relationships between government energy R&D, biofuel use, and greenhouse gas emissions. In the long run, a positive shock in energy R&D expenditure reduces greenhouse gas emissions, while a negative shock increases them. More importantly, the reducing effect of positive shock is more dominant than the enhancing effect of negative shock in energy R&D. Similarly, it is shown that the reducing effect of a positive shock on ethanol consumption on greenhouse gas emissions is stronger than the increasing effect of a negative shock. After the estimations, this paper presents two critical implications, political and practical. (i) The government's energy R&D expenditures and biofuels have an important role in the fight against climate change and the clean energy transformation process. (ii) Researchers should also consider asymmetric effects when examining energy technologies, renewable energy, and environmental issues. • Examines the greenhouse gas emissions response to government energy R&D expenditures and bioethanol consumption in the US. • Follows an asymmetric and non-linear method. • Confirms the asymmetrical relationships between energy R&D, bioethanol, and greenhouse gas emissions. • Provides implications for environmental quality and the clean energy transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wood pallets play a critical role in the movement and storage of goods worldwide. They are an important component in the complex global supply chain and used by almost every industry. It is therefore important to assess the environmental implications of the wood pallet supply chain and identify optimization strategies that can be implemented. In this paper, primary 2018 annual production data collected from U.S. pallet manufacturers were used to develop the first industry-average life-cycle inventory (LCI). A new functional unit was proposed to perform a more refined and accurate environmental life-cycle assessment of the wood pallet supply chain. Using the LCI data developed, a cradle-to-grave industry-average life-cycle impact assessment was performed. This novel approach quantifies environmental impacts of a generic multi-use pallet, including repair and remanufacturing. The total global warming impact was 10.4 kg CO 2 e per 45.4 t of pallet loads of product delivered using wood pallets. The manufacturing stage contributed the most, about 35%, followed by the raw material supply stage. About 41% of total primary energy consumption was from renewable sources, with most sourced from biomass. Fossil fuels comprised about 52% of the total (225 MJ per functional unit) primary energy consumption. Total environmental impact was significantly affected by two main parameters: reference service life and load-bearing capacity. Pallet repair was also found to be an important component of the wood pallet supply chain, which has a low environmental footprint compared with the overall impact of a pallet and enables mitigation of overall impact by extending the reference service life. At end-of-life, common industry practices demonstrated substantial potential environmental benefits that can minimize overall environmental impact. The first industry-average wooden pallet life-cycle assessment based on a novel primary dataset. A unique functional unit developed based on pallet characteristics and load-carrying capacity. Global warming impact was 10.4 kg CO 2 e per functional unit. Raw material supply and manufacturing stages dominated the environmental impacts. Scenarios analyses showed the importance of repair and end-of-life pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystem service (ES) supply and human needs are often spatially conflicting. Although the synergy between them is crucial for global sustainability, little is known about the real human needs for ES (RHN) and their integration with actual ES supply. This study established a novel hierarchy of human needs for ES. Taking China and the United States as case studies, multiple types of actual ES supplies and multi-dimensional human needs were integrated to calculate the value of effective ecosystem service supply (EFS). The results suggested that the overall EFS in the United States is higher than that in China. There was a significant gap between the United States and China in areas with the first grade of EFS (F-EFS); the United States accounted for 68% of the total in such areas in the two countries combined. Whereas China accounted for 32%, mainly concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta urban group. China exhibited a gradually decreasing trend from the east coast to the northwest. Moreover, the F-EFS in China displayed more spatial concentration than in the United States. It was also discovered that the reason for the gap was a sharp spatial mismatch between actual ES supply and RHN in China. Nevertheless, China was specifically found to have the potential to enhance its EFS. This paper proposes some solutions to mitigate the gap and also offers guidance on the realization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). [Display omitted] • A novel hierarchy of human needs for ecosystem services was proposed. • A large-scale analysis integrated actual ES supply and real human needs. • Actual ES supply embodying goods-based and non-goods-based ES flows were assessed. • The overall effective ecosystem service supply in the US was higher than in China. • A sharp spatial mismatch between ES supply and human needs was discovered in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]