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In this study, we compared the impacts of energy transition, efficiency, and electrification on carbon emissions using regulation indicators and empirical data. We constructed an empirical model to examine the relationship between energy variables and carbon emissions for 109 countries using Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE) score data from 2010 to 2017. The fixed-effect estimation model and quantile regression with fixed effects showed consistent results. Regulations on energy efficiency contributed to carbon mitigation with 0.003% elasticity. Moreover, a 1% increase in the energy intensity increased carbon emissions by 0.74% owing to inefficient energy usage, implying that energy efficiency is the most effective energy policy tool for climate mitigation. While regulations on energy transition generally did not have a significant impact, the harshness of regulations on energy transition had a meaningful impact on carbon mitigation. Electrification consistently increased carbon emissions by increasing accessibility to energy for 0.23% elasticity, which was 0.11% in the case of regulation. Accordingly, the electrification policy should be implemented after the energy transition policy in the generation sector. Finally, countries should decrease the energy intensity by implementing regulations and policies for improving energy efficiency.

In the present study, the modified evacuated tube solar collector (METSC) with a bypass pipe utilizing copper oxide/distilled water (Cu2O/DW) nanofluid is experimented. Then, the performance of METSC was predicted through Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) techniques. The input variables were different volumes of the storage tank from 5 to 8 l, various diameters of the bypass pipe from 6 to 10 mm, and various volumetric concentration of the nanofluid from 0 to 0.04. Also, the output variables were the temperature difference of fluid in 1-h period and the energetic efficiency of METSC. The results demonstrated that the METSC performance was mostly impacted by the tank volume alteration. Moreover, the optimum bypass tube diameter value was obtained, and it was denoted that using the Cu2O/DW nanofluid enhances the daily energy efficiency of METSC up to 4%. Furthermore, it was shown that both MLP and RBF techniques are two reliable algorithms to predict the thermal characteristics of an METSC. The maximum amounts of mean relative percentage error for MLP and RBF algorithms were reported as 0.576 and 0.907, respectively. Hence, two mathematical models were reported for formulating the output variables in terms of the input variables using the MLP technique.

Given the need to actively address the challenges of climate change, university leaders have a growing interest in reducing their campuses’ environmental impact. This article carries out a comprehensive literature review on the implemented actions and initiatives in university campuses reported in scientific publications. In addition, case studies carried out in universities are also reviewed, giving particular attention to the methods and tools used, targeting the current trends in sustainable campus scientific research. Key actions and initiatives were identified and categorized according to Energy, Buildings, Water, Waste, Transportation, Grounds, Air and Climate, and Food. Results show that the increase in energy generation on campus and the decrease of energy consumption in buildings are by far the leading policies adopted, however with limited dissemination of their impact. Moreover, there seems to be a tendency for countries with higher income economies to engage in initiatives that involve greater investment, such as the adoption of renewable energy systems or efficient buildings systems. The need to establish an integrated framework to disseminate and monitor the impact of key actions and their feasibility is suggested, in order to leverage strategic programs and actions, helping to optimize investments, and leading advances towards a sustainable university campus.

The sharing economy is a new form of resource distribution that is affecting traditional markets, cities and individuals, and challenging the prevalent regulatory frameworks, social norms and belief systems. While studies have examined some of its disruptive effects on institutional actors, there has been less focus on the ways in which sharing economy organisations work to create new or disrupt prevalent institutions. This study aims to fill this gap by 1) applying a framework for institutional work by Lawrence and Suddaby (2006) to help understand, map out and classify a variety of mechanisms for urban sharing organisations to engage in institutional creation and disruption, and by 2) testing and adjusting the framework to the context of the sharing economy. The analysis builds on empirical data from case studies, field observations and almost 70 interviews with representatives of urban sharing organisations and actors in their organisational field.

CO2 emissions caused by private motorized traffic for the city of Graz, a typical European inland city with about 320 000 citizens, are investigated. The main methodology is a newly developed agent-based model that incorporates empirical data about the mobility behavior of the citizens in order to calculate the traveled routes, the resulting traffic and subsequent emissions. To assess the impact of different policies on CO2 emissions, different scenarios are simulated and their results are compared to a base line scenario. The model features a local and temporal resolution, effects like congestion and stop-and-go traffic as well as commuters to and from other regions. In addition to the evaluation of certain policies (like a focus on electric cars, telecommuting or an improvement of the road infrastructure), a method is provided, that makes it possible to compare many diverse scenarios, featuring technological changes, societal changes or changes in the road network, all within the same framework. The findings suggest that one of the most promising strategies to decrease urban CO2 emissions is to focus on the use of electric cars, especially if it is combined with offering alternatives to private car traffic and incentives for telecommuting. Banning the use of old cars only yields a significant result if a large amount of cars is affected, which would make such a policy difficult to implement. Expanding the road network has no significant positive effect and may even encourage using cars, therefore leading to even more CO2 emissions. Due to its flexible structure the presented model can be used to evaluate policies beyond what is presented in this study. It can easily be adapted to other conditions and geographical regions.

This study intends to clarify the understanding of the role of the contingency factors (i.e. long-term orientation, competitiveness and uncertainty) in the relation between sustainability practices (sustainability exploitation and sustainability exploration) and organizational performance. Using empirical data based on a large-scale survey among European organizations, this paper utilizes the regression analysis to gain insight into the relationship between sustainability practices and organizational performance. In general, the results support the contingency view of the relationship between sustainability practices and performance rather than relying upon “universal” view of sustainability practices. Particularly, the results show that in moderate environmental contexts (moderate competitiveness and uncertainty) sustainability exploitation practices seem to be a predominant predictor of organizational performance. Further, it appears that sustainability exploration practices are the most important predictor of innovation performance, especially when organizations are faced with high levels of competitiveness, uncertainty and long-term orientation. In contrast, sustainability exploitation practices seem to dominate in explaining the effects on quality performance. In this regard, we can argue that organizations with similar characteristics (capabilities, performance, and activity) may develop different and customised approaches for managing the interface between business and natural environment.

This study describes an integrative approach to product flow analysis of (waste) electrical and electronic equipment using trade statistics and consumer survey data. We demonstrate this approach with a case study of mobile phones. Using statistical and empirical data for Australia over 1997–2014, we have shown how different sources of information can be collated and cross-checked to estimate the product in-use stocks and flows, product lifespan and lifespan structure, as well as to detail the product age structure in stock and at the end of life. From our results, the total number of mobile phones in in-use stocks in Australia has been estimated at 46 million at the end of 2014, or about 2 phones per capita. The proportion of phones kept in storage (not being in use) has been constantly rising, reaching 50% in 2012–2014. The average expected lifespan for a mobile phone sold in Australia decreased from about six years in the late 1990s to about five years in the early 2000s, and then stabilised at around four years (±0.5 years). The average time of active use for mobile phones was estimated in the range of 2.0–2.6 years (which includes first use and reuse). The estimated lifespan profile for mobile phones in Australia has been confirmed to be relatively similar to that reported in Japan. While this methodology presented here provided meaningful results, the accuracy and relevance would be improved by better quality of original data. Therefore, in conclusion, we also highlight potential improvements in consumer surveys that would help to enhance the analysis.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the attitude of builders towards construction and demolition waste recycling in India. A conceptual framework was proposed using theory of planned behavior (perceived benefits, perceived costs, attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control), institutional pressures (regulatory, normative and mimetic) and environmental consciousness on behavioral intention of builders towards construction and demolition waste recycling. Empirical data with 260 responses from different builders of construction sector in two large Indian cities were analyzed through partial least squares based structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that behavioral intention towards construction and demolition waste recycling is mainly driven by personal motivations (perceived benefits, perceived costs, attitude and perceived behavioral control), regulatory pressures and environmental consciousness. The study is relevant for policy makers, regulatory institutions, industry, and academia who study or manage construction and demolition waste and recycling.

Industrial firms are central to the effort to grapple with emission of greenhouse gases due to large material flows they process. Thus, employing system dynamics approach, the present study explored influencing factors of industrial firms' carbon footprint. Using empirical data from selected firms in China, simulation results revealed that price of raw material; governmental subsidy and pressure from international rules, as well as firm's awareness of social responsibility have slightly affected firms' carbon emissions. On the contrary, some factors have obvious effects on firms' carbon footprint including governmental regulation, awareness of consumer, company size, the ratio of low carbon package and recycling.

Employing an adaptive agent-based modeling approach, the present study explored the evolvement of firms’ environmental behavior and influencing factors. Using empirical data from 167 firms in China, the simulation results revealed that firms’ environmental behavior followed this evolvement path: defensive behavior, preventive behavior, and enthusiastic behavior. Computational experiments indicated that with increased financial ability and level of environmental preparedness, the number of firms in all three categories of environmental behavior increased and so did their profits. With increased public pressure, the number of firms with defensive environmental behavior and their profits decreased, but the number of firms with preventive and enthusiastic environmental behavior and their profits increased. On the other hand, when managers’ education level increased, the number of firms with defensive behavior deceased, but their profits increased slightly, though the number of firms with preventive and enthusiastic behavior and their profits increased sharply. In addition, with the increased regulation level, the number of firms with a different category of environmental behavior and their profits decreased. Finally, with increased financial subsidy and market share, the number of firms with different behavior and their profits were modified slightly.

There is an increasing growth of customers and regulators requesting enterprises to adopt the ISO 14001 environmental management standard over the last 15 years. Yet, any evidence for consistent environmental, market, and social benefits has been widely debated, which in turn, might be partly linked to the underlying organizational motives for environmental management system adoption. Based on the Institutional Theory and the Natural Resource-based view , this study examines the relationship of two different organizational adoption motives (i.e., internal and external) with triple bottom line perceived benefits (i.e., environmental, social, and market) on the adoption of ISO 14001. Using empirical data collected from a large-scale survey of Australian firms, we found that the motivation for environmental management system adoption was aligned closely with the types of benefits that accrued. The results indicate that external motives enhance social and market positioning, whereas internal motives better serve environmental benefits. Thus, managers may be seeking only a narrowly bounded set of outcomes from ISO 14001, rather than broader strategic improvement. The results also show the environmental benefits of adopting ISO 14001 to improve both the social and market benefits of the adopter enterprises. Practically, environmental benefits should be realized before firms can expect to reap social and market benefits from the environmental management system adoption . Our investigation on multiple motivations for organizational adoption of a voluntary standard provides important theoretical and practical insights on which organizational environmental management system adoption motives are conducive to fostering a broader set of strategic benefits.

This article presents a comprehensive managerial model for a sustainable university created by D.Sc. L. Velazquez with empirical data collected from about 80 higher education institutions around the world. The sustainable university model offers a clear perspective about how people responsible for sustainability initiatives achieve their initial momentum to progress to advanced steps in the process to become a sustainable university. This model depicts a structured framework that is comprised of four phases in a strategic management process. In these phases, four diverging strategies, and many practices undertaken by key players of sustainability initiatives in higher education institutions are analyzed.

Research is lacking on the process of identification and assessment of environmental aspects in an environmental management system (EMS) context. The aim of this paper is to contribute knowledge by identifying factors of importance for the process that can be used as a basis when developing existing methods for identification and assessment of environmental aspects. The empirical base is quantitative and qualitative data from 46 ISO 14001-certified or EMAS-registered organizations from three counties in Sweden. Problem areas are also identified through a review of the concept literature in the EMS area. Six important areas where the identification and assessment process can be improved are identified: the definition of environmental aspects, the procedures for update of aspects, the aggregation of aspects, the exclusion of business considerations in the assessment, employee and stakeholder participation, and the competence levels of people involved in the process. Since the empirical data is taken from Swedish organizations, the results of this study are valid for Swedish conditions and may not be valid for other countries.

The importance of moving towards sustainable energy systems is critical to achieving societal sustainability. Transitions theory is a useful approach to look at the potential and limitations of systemic transitions, and has been applied in a number of alternative contexts. In the current study, we examine transitions theory and its implications for the progress of decentralized energy systems in Japan in the period after the Fukushima accident of 2011. Empirical data from a targeted nation-wide survey is used to examine the progress and change in consumer preference and behavior since the disaster, as possible evidence for the potential transition paths likely to be occurring. Importantly, this study utilizes data that examines a spectrum of urban–rural and disaster–non-disaster areas in order to explore whether any differences in response patterns were present. Results indicate that although the desire of stakeholders has been to change the energy system, there are barriers to transformation. Variation between rural and urban sites and between disaster-affected and unaffected areas was examined, indicating that (at least under the chosen classification) there was surprisingly little difference. The results have implications for understanding transitions at a much broader level, and imply that, if the empirical data is a useful indicator, Japan is within a locked-in or reorganization transition. In order to move to a more radical conversion type change a new approach is likely to be required to nurture niche innovations effectively.

According to the Kyoto Protocol, by 2012 Norwegian emissions of greenhouse gases must be reduced by about six per cent lower than the 1996 level. In order to achieve this target, the Norwegian Government intends to give greater priority to energy efficiency measures, renewable energy sources and the use of heat pumps. Even though Energy Management should be integrated in EMS, empirical data indicates that it is not. Energy Management is separated from EMS in Norwegian industry. Focusing on the quality of the energy consumed, facilitates the utilization of wasted, low temperature energy sources. However, empirical data indicate that energy intensive food companies do not emphasize the portion of renewable energy sources they consume, or the quality of their energy consumption. This paper discusses integration of Energy Management into EMS. Better integration of existing energy and environmental schemes represents a CO2 reduction potential that may be realised at short-term, net cost savings. This paper argues for the joint management of energy with the environment.

Agricultural cooperatives competitive context is being defined by sustainable development paradigm, which are forcing them to assess their performance considering sustainability requirements. There are few empirical studies that provide data to assess sustainable performance of agricultural cooperatives' operations. This study contributes to the theory of sustainable operations by providing a model for sustainability performance assessment that is applied to agricultural cooperatives. The objective of the research is to assess the adherence of a set sustainability performance indicators to form an assessment model to agricultural cooperatives' operations, which is named ‘Sustainability Assessment for Agriculture Cooperatives – SAAC’. Empirical data is collected from five case studies, whose analysis reveals the level of adherence of the studied organizations to SAAC criteria. The assessment process proved to be feasible, useful, and easy to comprehend and use. SAAC model could be extended to create the foundation of a sustainability management system for agricultural cooperatives, helping them to effectively contribute to a sustainable development.

Warehouses are major contributors to the rise of greenhouse gas emissions in supply chains. Thus, it is not surprising that the attention of academic research to green and sustainable warehousing has been growing in recent years. This attention has led to an increasing number of publications in this field, which is why a systematic literature review on the topic of green warehousing is proposed in the paper at hand. This work provides a comprehensive overview and classification of the existing research on green warehousing, summarizes and synthesizes the available knowledge on this topic, and identifies key trends. Based on the evaluation of the literature, promising ideas for future research are proposed. Citation and network analyses are carried out to evaluate the relationships among the topics covered. The results show an increasing interest in sustainability topics within the warehousing literature, where energy saving has been the most frequently studied objective, followed by environmental impact of warehouse buildings, and green warehouse management in general. The green warehousing literature, however, lacks case studies and empirical data. The main contribution of this paper is an exhaustive summary of the state of knowledge on green warehousing in terms of the macro-themes addressed, the specific topics investigated and the methodological approaches, including a comprehensive and systematic classification of the relevant literature. An outline of managerial guidelines about green warehouse management and the propositions of future research ideas contribute to the further development of this emerging research field.

It has been proven that prefabricated construction plays a significant role in cleaner production in the construction industry due to its capacity for energy conservation, emissions reduction, low-carbon development and environmental protection. Although prefabricated construction was introduced in China decades ago, it still faces some problems during the application stage. In order to improve the application of prefabricated construction in China, this research explores its influencing factors from the perspectives of technology promotion and cleaner production. Twenty-one types of factors are identified through a literature review, and a questionnaire survey is conducted for the purpose of collecting empirical data. Factor analysis establishes an influencing factor model composed of industry factors, company factors, technology factors, government factors and market factors. The relative importance of each cluster and factor is revealed by its index of relative importance (IRI): the dominant player is the government, and the top five factors in the promotion of prefabricated construction in China are technology lock-in (76.42%), incentive policies (75.91%), standardization (73.70%), cost (73.70%) and entrepreneurial cognition (73.13%). Additionally, the process of conducting semi-structured interviews with experts provides suggestions. The findings will benefit researchers, practitioners and policymakers who want to promote the application of prefabricated construction, and provide references for other cleaner production technologies in China.

The purpose of this study is to apply a well-accepted framework from sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) to empirical data collected from base-of-the-pyramid (BoP) projects. This enables testing whether such SSCM constructs are also meaningful in a BoP context. A total of 45 interviews are conducted in the local dairy supply chain in Kenya (11) and the export-oriented pineapple supply chain in Uganda (34). Content analysis of the interview material and contingency analysis of the codes are applied to make sense of the data. The findings of the study show that customer pressures and demands drive related developments when third parties (non-governmental organizations [NGOs], certification agents, or middlemen) are involved in auditing and monitoring suppliers. This builds on communication and should drive related cost savings. The contingency analysis allows for interpreting the data in more detail and reframing the findings. Starting from environmental risk management, third-party involvement ensures that the minimum standards for environmental and social issues are being met. Communication and coordination with suppliers help creating win–win situations, while the aim of auditing and monitoring suppliers is to avoid trade-offs. The study tests established SSCM constructs in a BoP environment and contribute to understanding the relevance of particular supplier management-related processes and their outcomes.

This study aims to identify and implement appropriate techniques for a sustainability assessment, which corresponds to the optimal balance between efficiency and resilience. Strategies are discussed to fill two important gaps: (1) applicable methods for identifying and analyzing multiple variables for a “metabolic” assessment of urban systems over time; and (2) empirical data that can characterize multiple sub-components (e.g., environmental, financial, and institutional) of an urban system, especially at a refined geographic scale where data challenges are significant. With a specific focus on data integration, two methods, Fisher Information (FI) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), were chosen for this study. Data analyses were implemented in an urban university, which provides valuable opportunities for enhancing our understanding of this type of urban system and enabling data-driven studies of neighborhood sustainability. Based on the strengths and weakness of FI and DEA identified in the empirical study, it is concluded that these two methods can be valuable yet complementary for an integrated system analysis.

As urbanization increases traffic congestion, major transformative changes must be explored to ensure that cities like Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) transition into equitable, sustainable, and livable cities. This study aims to investigate anywhere working, the practice of performing work tasks remotely instead of from a traditional “fixed” office location, as a possible mechanism for reducing traffic congestion and pollution. The research adopts a descriptive survey method to collect primary empirical data on the current working arrangements and commuting habits of HCMC workers, to identify organizational policies relating to anywhere working, commuter transport modes/usage/timings, attitudes toward anywhere working, and the benefits, constraints/concerns, and perceived productivity for working in locations outside of a traditional office space. The results indicated that, while 74% of HCMC commuters would like to engage in anywhere working practices, only 41% were permitted to do so. This low adoption rate was not necessarily due to the nature of the work tasks themselves, but due to managerial decisions of their employers, and the desire to engage in anywhere working was found to be strongest among those who have already had the first-hand experience of working remotely. HCMC is predicted to be the second fast-growing economy in Asia by 2021 (Tu, 2017) and the findings from this research provide timely and valuable new insights into this phenomenon, as a potential mechanism for assisting the cities of the future develop more equitable, sustainable, and livable conditions through the use of modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

The renewable energies of China have been through a fast-developing process for about ten years. But they suffer from curtailment in recent years, especially for wind and photovoltaic. China started a new power market reform in 2015, featured by the establishment of electricity wholesale market. Whether the deregulated power market will help renewable energy penetration has become a hot topic. This paper aims to review the cost and marketability of renewable energy before and after power market reform in China so as to provide suggestions and inspirations for the field. A review approach based on literature classification and analysis of selected studies is utilized for argumentative review. The main work of this paper is as follows. 1) Generation and integration costs of renewable energy are analyzed through empirical data and comparison. 2) Current cost allocation of power generation in China is analyzed. 3) The marketability of renewable energy is discussed. 4) This paper comes with a conclusion that the major obstacles for renewable energy marketability lie in the non-independence of the system operator, the faultiness of the market mechanism (thus the distortion of cost allocation) and the history problem of the power structure. 5) A market-premium-like regime is suggested for relieving these obstacles. The conclusions and suggestions can be helpful for further research and policy making.

As corporate social responsibility (CSR) is attracting increased social attention, understanding and improving the patterns of CSR communication can improve corporate social performance, mitigate cultural conflicts, and facilitate the development of overseas markets for international contractors. Although researchers attempted to investigate the gaps in CSR communication from various perspectives, they tended to ignore how these communication patterns differ between various geographical regions from a collective perspective, i.e. they lacked the capacity to cover the entire population in an integrated geographical region, and thus could not identify the differences and directions for improvement accurately. Based on the agenda-building theory, this study analyzes international contractors' CSR communication patterns with their stakeholders in three regions, i.e. the US, the EU, and China. Through this comparative analysis, this study identifies similarities and differences in the communication patterns between Chinese international contractors and those of developed countries in a collective manner. To perform these analyses, empirical data from international contractors' CSR reports are firstly used to construct CSR semantic networks. The defining concepts of CSR in the US, the EU, and China are then identified, thereby allowing us to compare CSR communication patterns in China with those in developed countries. The results show that the stage of a country's CSR development is reflected by the areas on which its international contractors focus. For example, community involvement and development indicates that China is still in the initial stage of developing a CSR norm. Labor practices are important across all regions, but the reasons for their importance are different. These findings provide Chinese contractors with practical guidance for expanding their overseas markets and engaging in sound CSR practices while executing international projects. This study can also inform other international contractors about CSR communication patterns in China, thereby facilitating international cooperation.

The increasing global demand for diverse biomass-based products such as food, feed and fuel can transform African agriculture from a food-supplying to a biomass-supplying and processing sector in the growing international bioeconomy. This study addresses the requisite policy and institutional environment needed to foster the development of a competitive and sustainable bioeconomy in Africa. The paper uses the case of cassava in Ghana for an empirical case study. The novel concept of biomass-based value webs, that is, interlinked agricultural value chains, is combined with Porter’s Diamond model to analyse the extent to which Ghana is positioned to develop a competitive cassava value web. Empirical data collection involved mapping the physical biomass flows, applying the ‘Net-Map’ tool to identify all the actors in the emerging value web and their linkages, as well as in-depth interviews with the identified actors. The study finds that despite the huge opportunities for cassava biomass in Ghana, there are coordination problems between farmers, processors and industrial end-users. This has hindered the potential for increased cassava production, processing and utilisation. There is also generally a lack of private sector initiatives in the development of new cassava based products. Accordingly, industrial end-users tend to depend on imported alternatives. Unsuccessful government initiatives and the absence of legislation such as a composite flour policy or a biofuel blend policy have also been major contributing factors to the unrealised industrial potential of cassava in Ghana. The findings therefore suggest that competitive cassava utilisation in the emerging bioeconomy hinges on stronger institutional linkages between value web actors and government support mainly in the form of local content policies that encourage the use of cassava based products.

Socio-technical innovations for the recovery of phosphorus (P) from sewage sludge (ashes) and the recycling of the secondary material in the agri-food system have been gaining prominent roles in current debates on circular economy. While research has been primarily focusing on questions on technical feasibility, the impact of the innovations on the social and material structures of the underlying socio-technical wastewater and agri-food systems has been receiving less attention. Drawing on theoretical insights from transition theory and empirical data from expert interviews, our analysis of two approaches to P recycling – phosphoric acid and struvite – shows how innovations create different spatial structures of actors, institutions, infrastructure, and material flows and in doing so promote or hamper fundamental changes in the socio-technical systems. In the wastewater system, both approaches foster the incumbent socio-technical regime of centralized wastewater treatment. In the agri-food system, on the one hand, the phosphoric acid approach supports large-scale industrial structures comprising the fertilizer industry and global P flows fostering the incumbent globalized agri-food regime. On the other hand, struvite facilitates the local distribution of fertilizers between wastewater treatment plants and farmers and supports small-scale P cycling providing opportunities for a structural reconfiguration of the agri-food system.

Although the public debate on the environmental orientation of firms has intensified, there is a lack of understanding about the consequences of that orientation, especially in terms of its impact on firms' networking behavior. In order to fill this gap, this paper analyzes the impact of external and internal environmental orientation on start-ups’ network characteristics, because networks are both vital for the success of start-ups and resource demanding. More specifically, the effects of environmental orientation on networking frequency and network size among start-ups are analyzed. Empirical data from 248 technology-based start-ups shows that those firms with a strong external environmental orientation have significantly higher networking frequencies and build larger networks. Conversely, a strong internal environmental orientation is linked to smaller networks. Thus, the results highlight the relevance of differentiating between the external and internal environmental orientation of start-ups because both concepts can have very different effects. From a practitioner perspective, the results have important implications with regard to the resources required for networking and the opportunities and barriers that tend to accompany internal and external environmental orientations.

This paper proposes new perspectives and systemic changes to the linear fashion scheme, which is currently driven by fast, cheap and low quality production that fosters easy disposal or replacement, due to the low product value for the customer/user. The authors seek to open a discussion on new value creation through social manufacturing, specifically facilitated by do-it-yourself (DIY), do-it-together (DIT) and participatory design strategies. Social manufacturing can be seen as a more open and democratic approach to manufacturing, prompting different levels of user participation in the production process. The authors will illustrate how these alternative design strategies, build within the context of social manufacturing, can offer system-level changes by activating and empowering the end user to become value creators, while forming new, more sustainable innovations in design and manufacturing of fashion. The specific questions asked in this paper are: What types of value are created in social manufacturing through opening the design and manufacturing processes with alternative design strategies? Further, can social manufacturing enable sustainable solutions by transitioning the users to manufacturers of their own garments, prompting a new value system and range of business models in the fashion industry? An alternative value framework, developed within this paper, will enable the analysis of empirical data collected in Finland and the U.S. In the discussion, the authors demonstrate strategies to create wider change in the fashion system through social manufacturing, starting at a local level through empowered consumers.

Information and communication technologies have the potential to increase productivity, improving efficiency and eventually raising the quality of water services. Although this potential is recognized, great variation exists in the way water utilities adopt information and communication technologies. Based on literature review and empirical data drawn from the three case studies (a municipality in Greece, an airport in Italy and a water utility in the Netherlands) developed under the EU-funded Waternomics project the paper highlights how environmental, organizational and individual factors explain technology adoption. The paper pays particular attention to the idiosyncrasies of the water services sector, which influence this process. These include include the social and conomic importance of water supply, the monopolistic nature of the sector and increased commercialization of public water utilities. Our cases suggest that drivers of technology adoption appear to be somewhat ambiguous in the water services sector, in that they impact adoption in diverse locations differently. Our cases also suggest is that the prioritization of the factors that determine adoption are dynamic and change over time.

The shift from a fossil-based to a bio-based economy (bioeconomy) requires more efficient utilization of the biomass generated from agricultural production. This can be achieved through the cascading use of biomass, which also offers the potential of creating additional value from biomass by developing novel products. Taking sugarcane as a case study example, this paper aims to analyze how well Brazil, the world’s leader in sugarcane production, is positioned to reach these goals. The paper combines two conceptual tools: one is the ‘biomass-based value web’, which was developed as an extension of the value chain concept with the aim to capture the links within and between value chains that arise from the cascading and joined use of biomass. The other concept is that of the ‘national innovation system’ (NIS), which serves to identify the different types of actors involved in the biomass value web and the linkages between them. For empirical data collection, the study combined three methods: a mapping of the physical biomass flows in the value web, in-depth interviews with the actors involved, and the application of the ‘Net-Map’ tool to identify the actors in the NIS and their linkages. The findings show that the development of Brazil’s international competitiveness in sugar and ethanol was based on political incentives that resulted in a strong network of institutions that focused on these two products. However, to become a front-runner in the future bioeconomy, the existing innovation network needs to be expanded. In particular, it is important to integrate national and international private sector organizations. The findings also suggest that industries need stronger incentives to collaborate with knowledge institutions. Long-term consistent policies and funding opportunities for risky investments are also required to further strengthen Brazil’s innovation network to meet future opportunities and challenges of the bioeconomy.

The energy transition requires policy makers to adopt a holistic view that also considers non-economic factors when developing cleaner technology deployment schemes. In particular, a broad knowledge base is required to ensure an efficient energetic use of the limited biomass potential. Energy system optimization models are widely used to inform decision makers about energy transition strategies. The heterogeneity of consumers, especially in the heat sector, is rarely considered in these models and therefore these models lack of completion to contribute to this holistic approach. In this study, a literature review was conducted to find empirical data on consumer behavior regarding the adoption of residential heating systems. This data was integrated into an optimization model for the German heat sector, combining established methods for integrating consumer heterogeneity with a novel approach for calculating indirect costs representing behavioral factors. The incorporation of consumer choice leads to a broader distribution of market shares of different technologies in both a “business-as-usual” scenario and an “ambitious measures” scenario. In particular, the future role of log wood technologies in the private household sector may have been underestimated in previous studies and should be discussed, when designing policies. With this study, the knowledge base for decision makers was extended to discuss the future efficient use of biomass within the German heat sector.

In the past few years, policymakers, funders and academics have shown an increasing interest in discussing the potentials of Repair Cafes to contribute towards sustainability transformations. With the growing number of repair cafes in the global north, the ways of telling about their potential for individuals and society has grown. Some of the narratives readily connect to policy agendas for neighborhood regeneration and inclusive innovation. Other narratives derive from civic activism, expressing that repairing objects is one way to develop a countermovement against the increasing throwaway society. The proposed paper draws on feminist theories of care and care-economy, science and technology studies and sociological theories of sustainable consumption in order to provide insights as to whether and to what extent caring can be ascribed importance in the collective processes of repair. Based on empirical data from citizen science research, the dimensions of care are analyzed and their role in repairing among the participants in repair cafes is exemplified. The proposed paper will elaborate the empirical findings and relate them to a broader debate on social transformation towards sustainable consumption.

As green growth is considered an effective method to save energy and reduce emissions, the questions of how to achieve it and which factors drive green growth have become hot topic. Although there are some studies on the factors impacting the achievement of green growth, they are limited in quantity. Moreover, most of them are primarily focused on specific influencing factors, such as political factors, environmental regulation (ER), technological innovation (TI), and so on; while there is little discussion of the interaction effects in an integrated methodological framework. Accordingly, this paper develops an integrated model to investigate the relationships among ER, TI and regional green growth performance (RGGP). The model is tested using empirical data on 30 provincial administrative regions in China during 2011–2012 by employing structural equation modeling (SEM) approach that can effectively investigate the relationships between observed and latent variables and the relationships among latent variables simultaneously. The hypothesis H 1 of this paper is not confirmed, and the results show that ER has a significant negative effect on RGGP. Both the hypotheses H 2 and H 3 are confirmed, namely, ER significantly positively influences TI, and TI has a positive impact on RGGP. This finding provides empirical evidence to support the Porter Hypothesis that properly designed ER may positively affect RGGP through motivating TI. According to the results of hypotheses H 1 , H 2 and H 3 , we find that ER couldn’t directly promote RGGP, but RGGP will be positively impacted by TI driven ER. The finding supports the view of ecological modernization theory that green growth practices may be promoted by TI driven ER, but whether ER can bring green growth practices is uncertain. Furthermore, the finding indicates that TI is a bridge for linking ER and RGGP. Based on our findings, we present some important implications that can be useful for policy-makers and enterprise managers to promote green growth practices in China.

Recently several agro-industrial parks have been developed as applications of industrial ecology to agriculture, aiming at improved sustainability performance. Grounded in industrial ecology and the literature on inter-organizational networks, this study explores the social structure of sustainability oriented collaborations in agro-industrial parks. Empirical data from sixty four organizations in three Dutch agro-industrial parks are analyzed at network and at organizational level. At network level, the results show that network decentralization comes along with a high density of formal ties. At organizational level, the results show that the organizations in agro-industrial parks are more efficiently positioned (i.e. more positively perceive sustainability performance) in the network of formal ties if they can build ties with other organizations via a small number of intermediary partners (i.e. high closeness centrality) instead of having a large number of direct ties. A decentralized structure of formal ties in combination with sparse interdependency has a relatively positive influence on sustainability improvement perceptions. In conclusion, network decentralization is important for the organizations that avoid dependency on one (or a small number of) central and/or powerful actor(s). The preferable decentralized formal ties and sparse interdependencies were (quantitatively and qualitatively) most evident in the self-organized parks, confirming that, for the sake of sustainability improvements, a self-organized agro-industrial park is preferable to a planned park. With regard to the theoretical contribution, this study opened up a new area of research for waste streams exchanges among co-located heterogeneous companies by examining them as inter-organizational networks in agro-industrial parks. With regard to the practical implications, the study suggests that organizations seeking advanced environmental performance should build ties by optimizing the number of intermediary partners.

Cleaner production concepts and tools have been introduced in some Middle Eastern and North African countries during the gradual evolution of environmental management at the national level. In spite of numerous government and donor-funded initiatives to promote wider adoption of cleaner production, the industrial sector in several Middle Eastern and North African countries has shown slower implementation rates than expected. This paper contributes to wider research that examines means to improve the uptake of cleaner production and eco-industrial parks in the Middle Eastern and North Africaregion, focusing on Egypt as a case study. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted through in-person and phone interviews from February 2012 to June 2015 with people at 160 companies. The adoption of cleaner production was evaluated based on a four-activity descriptive framework: i) awareness, ii) acquisition or association, iii) assimilation, and iv) application and continual improvement. The industrial companies surveyed are at an early phase of the cleaner production evolutionary process. They were generally at a reactive stage to the external stimuli that have largely been driven by government and by international donor-sponsored programs during the last twenty years. Furthermore, the findings highlight the importance of differentiation between the implementation and adoption rates of cleaner technologies and practices. This research avails empirical data from Egypt that provides insights from industry that could be used to design future programs at this critical time, as Egypt suffers from an energy crisis and is therefore more open to non-traditional approaches for sustainable economic growth.

Life cycle assessments (LCA) of an early research state reaction process only have laboratory experiments data available. While this is helpful in understanding the laboratory process from an environmental perspective, it gives only limited indication on the possible environmental impact of that same material or process at industrial production. Therefore, a comparative LCA study with materials that are already produced at industrial scales is not very meaningful. The scale-up of chemical processes is not such a trivial process and requires a certain understanding of the involved steps. In this paper, we elaborated a framework that helps to scale up chemical production processes for LCA studies when only data from laboratory experiments are available. Focusing on heated liquid phase batch reactions, we identified and simplified the most important calculations for the reaction step's energy use as well as for certain purification and isolation steps. For other LCA in- and output values, we provide estimations and important qualitative considerations to be able to perform such a scale-up study. Being an engineering-based approach mainly, it does not include systematically collected empirical data which would give a better picture about the uncertainty. However, it is a first approach to predict the environmental impact for certain chemical processes at an industrial production already during early laboratory research stage. It is designed to be used by LCA practitioners with limited knowledge in the field of chemistry or chemical engineering and help to perform such a scale-up based on a logical and systematic procedure.

Residential resource use efficiency and management is a subject of interest to a number of fields spanning the physical and social sciences. Energy use for residential water heating in Australia is some five to eleven times more than the energy required to deliver urban water services. However, little is known about which activities within households contribute most significantly to water-related energy use (WRE). This work quantifies WRE use in individual households, and identifies household characteristics which contribute significantly to variation. Empirical data were collected through in-home audits, interviews and high-resolution end-use water flow meters for five households in Melbourne, and two in Brisbane, Australia. This was used to characterise 139 parameters describing household occupancy characteristics, behaviours, technologies, and structural and environmental aspects of influence. Mathematical material flow analysis (MMFA) modelling was conducted for individual water and energy use subsystems within each household. WRE use ranged from 7 to 21 kWh hh −1 d −1 (13–24% of total household energy use in Melbourne and 76–79% in Brisbane). Detailed end use analysis of the five Melbourne households showed that shower use (11–61% WRE), hot water system efficiency losses (8–31% WRE) and clothes washer usage (4–17% WRE) contributed most to differences in WRE between households. Findings highlighted shower use as a consistent influence on WRE across households, and suggest further investigation of shower programs as a potentially effective demand management measure for both water and energy in households. The work highlights the importance of consistent messaging for both water and energy efficiency, and suggests that a focus on both human and technical characteristics of households is needed for effective management of combined water and energy use.

To tackle serious environmental problems and overcome the negative impact of an almost exclusively Gross Domestic Product (GDP) oriented performance management, a number of local governments in China have started to establish and promote Environmental Protection Performance Evaluation (EPPE) systems for their cadres since the early 2000s. How these systems work in practice within their wider administrative context has not been examined so far. This paper makes a first attempt to assess the efficacy of this EPPE system by looking at its indicator system, the policy process around it, its political implications, and its actual environmental consequences. It does so for the case of Shenzhen, one of China's most forward-looking cities in terms of socio-economic development and political reform. We find that the system can be flexibly used and does push environmental interests higher up the agenda of the local government, but is negatively affected by high levels of uncertainty in its actual use and the strict hierarchy of its application. The main impact of EPPE is on the impression municipal leaders have of the evaluated cadres and on their reputation among their peers, both indirect factors for their political career and thus incentives for the local environmental management. Empirical data show that Shenzhen's environmental quality has not changed significantly in the past five years, although an overall improvement should have been visible if the EPPE systems worked as intended. From this perspective, the efficacy of the EPPE system remains low. At the end a number of policy recommendations are given to enhance the system's effectiveness and fairness.

Since the early 2010s, Nordic companies have been at the top of business rankings as the most sustainable in the world. Some are energy companies with business frameworks with a long-term approach to become carbon neutral. However, limited literature exists on what drives Nordic energy companies to implement responsible business frameworks even when they are recognized as frontrunners in sustainability and in incorporating renewable sources of energy into their portfolio. This article contributes to the literature by presenting a framework that identifies and categorizes the drivers for Nordic energy companies to implement responsible business frameworks and also by determining the characteristics of a responsible energy company. The findings are based on empirical data obtained from interviews involving high-level managers from relevant Nordic energy companies. A framework is developed and categorizes eight internal, nine connecting, and nine external drivers. The findings suggest that a responsible energy company needs to incorporate nineteen key elements to its business frameworks which served as a basis to propose a definition of the energy company of the future. The findings, and the proposed framework and definition intend to: 1) provide a better understanding of what drives energy companies towards responsible business frameworks, 2) emphasize the importance of defining the characteristics of a responsible energy company, and 3) propose a definition of the energy company of the future. This article contributes to the literature by proposing a framework that provides a broader perspective on the topic and by providing a new definition of the energy company of the future. The practical contributions come from providing a deeper understanding of the diversity of drivers for energy companies which can translate into positive effects for the energy sector with regards to public policies, legislations and regulations, and innovative business frameworks. Understanding what drives energy companies towards responsible corporate behavior is particularly relevant considering that the energy sector is crucial for achieving most of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Manufacturing plays a major role in the economic and social development of society, yet this often comes at a high environmental cost. Despite great advances in our understanding of sustainability issues and solutions developed to tackle this challenge, current production and consumption models are still largely unsustainable. Strong industrial actions are required to move towards safer and cleaner practices respectful of the planetary boundaries. This paper puts forward a novel approach for top and middle management in manufacturing companies to build capabilities for sustainable manufacturing by assessing their organisational sustainability readiness. The proposed model and tool for organisational sustainability readiness were developed based on themes emerging from empirical data collected via interviews and focus groups in six companies. The resulting themes were consolidated and validated with relevant literature to create four levels of readiness, displaying a crescendo of operations management practices on the shop floor that positively affect sustainability performance. Finally, an industrial application was used to further validate the tool and demonstrate how it can help companies develop a roadmap for a more sustainable manufacturing industry.

In this research, the proper models are developed to simultaneously predict the energy efficiency, exergy efficiency, and water productivity of a single-slope solar still via an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and a neural network optimized by Imperialist Competition Algorithm (ICA). The outputs are modeled as a function of the time, ambient temperature, solar radiation, glass temperature, basin temperature, and water temperature. The empirical data are utilized to train both the ANN and ICA-enhanced ANN. The neural network with five hidden neurons demonstrates the best performance. The results reveal that implementing the ICA significantly improves the performance of the ANN in predicting all the three outputs. Thereby, as a result of employing the ICA in the ANN, Mean Absolute Error (MAE) experiences 54.30%, 40.11%, and 53.35% reductions in prediction of the water productivity, energy efficiency, and exergy efficiency, respectively, based on the testing date set. Moreover, based on the test data, the ANN-ICA predicts the water productivity, energy efficiency, and exergy efficiency with root mean square error (RMSE) values of about 15.77, 1.37, and 0.29, respectively. In addition, the developed mathematical correlations are finally presented as a function of the inputs.

The issue of “conflict minerals” has received global attention and various attempts have been made to resolve this issue. This qualitative study explored the multi-stakeholder collaboration approach for addressing complex corporate social responsibility issues in global supply chains, using the case of the electronics industry. Perceived corporate motives and challenges to engaging in multi-stakeholder collaboration and dialogue were explored based on empirical data obtained through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with management representatives for three case companies. The main motives expressed for participating in multi-stakeholder collaboration by representatives of the case companies were primarily linked to the complex nature of the conflict minerals problem and the fact that a diverse set of stakeholders is needed to achieve solutions. However, this diversity of stakeholders and perspectives also poses challenges for the case companies. Overall, the findings emphasise the importance of a collective approach when addressing complex social responsibility issues that reach beyond traditional company boundaries.