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Food systems are dominated by multiple risks inflicted by their surrounding environments that pose pressures on the continuous and efficient supply of food products. Market dynamics represented by competitive and cooperative behaviors of the system's main players is one of the uncertainties that influence the availability and affordability of food products. Efficient modeling of these risks can assist decision-makers in simulating and predicting future actions that mitigate the impact that market dynamics have on the provision of food products. This paper suggests an Agent-based model-based framework that simulates the behavior and tracks the economic and environmental performances of the tomato supply system in the State of Qatar. It considers three different scenarios representing the current situation of the market in addition to a competitive and a cooperative trade network. Interactions between trade partners are modeled using two game theoretic approaches counting Cournot competition and Cartel collusion. Based on the research findings, a competitive global market can bring economic benefits to Qatar as an importing nation, but this approach also entails substantial water consumption and results in significant environmental emissions. Conversely, collaboration among exporting countries demonstrates a potential 20% reduction in water usage and a 15% decrease in environmental emissions compared to the competitive scenario, offering enhanced environmental performance albeit at higher economic costs. This study provides a prescriptive analysis that enables policymakers to quantify the trade-offs between economic efficiency and environmental sustainability. These insights are crucial for guiding strategic planning for food supply security and environmental conservation. By understanding the implications of market structure changes, policymakers can navigate potential challenges more effectively and develop targeted policy interventions that enhance the resilience of the food supply system against market volatility and environmental impacts. This analysis supports proactive policy-shaping that aligns with their desired outcomes, ensuring a balanced approach to managing economic benefits and environmental considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon certification provides third-party credibility in firms' green claims, thus representing a potential way to differentiate their products and gain access to the green market segment. To analyze the impact of the type of information provided by low-carbon certification, we develop a multi-stage sequential game model and analyze the subgame perfect Nash equilibrium concerning environmental quality investment and price competition within a duopolistic market structure. By comparing pass-fail certification with precision certification, we find significant differences in certification standards depending on whether the third-party certifier is environmental NGOs, industries, or governments. In most cases, pass-fail certification leads to greater social benefits, but when the environmental coefficient is low and the variable cost of improving green technologies is high, precision certification leads to higher social welfare than pass-fail certification. The comparison of industry profits, consumer surplus, and environmental benefits between the two types of certification mainly relies on marginal costs and environmental coefficients. This study offers valuable insights for firms to choose the most suitable certification method and assists third-party certifiers in selecting the optimal certification standards to achieve their objectives. • Develop multi-stage sequential game model to examine the impact of information types provided by low-carbon certification. • Uncover why more information is not better in low carbon certification from an economic perspective. • In most cases, pass-fail certification leads to greater social benefits. • Obtain the optimal certification strategy from different perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental issues drive the manufacturer to strive for green technology innovation. The manufacturer cannot strictly control all the activities in the production process, which may cause yield uncertainty. However, the existing studies that consider uncertainty factors usually assume that yield is deterministic. This paper constructs a green supply chain considering yield uncertainty and corporate social responsibility by a manufacturer and a retailer under different market power structures. We examine that yield uncertainty negatively affects the optimal decision-making strategies under four different power structures, especially in the centralized model. The retailer who adopts corporate social responsibility can alleviate the negative effects of yield uncertainty to a certain extent. Meanwhile, it is interesting that the manufacturer is not maximizing profits in the market dominated by himself and is subject to interference from yield uncertainty and corporate social responsibility. When the yield uncertainty is relatively small, the manufacturer's profit is the largest in the retailer-dominated market structure. However, when the yield uncertainty is significant, the revenue for the manufacturer is the largest in the manufacturer-dominated market. Regardless of how the yield uncertainty changes, the retailer's profit is always the largest in the retailer-led model. To alleviate the manufacturer's green costs, the retailer will share part of their revenue with the manufacturer under the Nash model. The Nash-revenue-sharing contract always benefits the manufacturer but hurts the profits of the retailer with a higher sharing coefficient. Finally, this paper provides prominent implications for managers and governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies how the green transition towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly economy affects the market structure and the competition between firms. In this context, we propose a two-stage game-theoretical model of competition between firms in prices and green investments. The model delivers several scenarios but two are particularly concerning. One such scenario is called the "dirty" equilibrium, in which firms delay the green transition investments. The other scenario is called the "partial green" equilibrium scenario, in which one firm makes the green transition investments obtaining a leading position, while the other remains producing the "dirty" product. In addition to the associated environmental damages, both scenarios are also problematic because they reduce market competition and the number of firms. In this respect, the "partial green" equilibrium may be even more problematic in the long-run because the green leader may perpetuate its advantage towards some kind of monopoly or market power. Inflation and less competition are particular robust implications of the green transition process that are found in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Environment life cycle cost (E-LCC) is rapidly becoming an important strategy for firms that deal with environmental issues. In this paper, the researchers use evolutionary game model to investigate how E-LCC control affects manufacturers' decision-making behavior. Under different LCC control choices, three competition market structures are formulated. Individual benefits are also calculated. Using an equilibrium solution, the researchers analyzed the effects of consumer environmental awareness (CEA), market capacity, and conventional-LCC (C-LCC) efficiency on equilibrium decisions. Results suggest that CEA can promote E-LCC strategy. However, it is negatively associated with C-LCC efficient level and market capacity. These findings help firms and governments choose strategies and environmental policies, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the fast-moving and competitive market conditions, port operators need to improve their competitiveness to attract more customers. With the rise of stakeholders' (e.g., shippers and port operators) environmental concerns, intermodal transport offers an opportunity to reduce environmental impacts and improves port competitiveness, due to the benefit on environmental protection. However, it is a challenge to understand how port operators make their plans for intermodal network design with consideration for port competition, shippers' route choice behaviors and environmental concerns of stakeholders. In this paper, we develop a game-theoretical model of port competition with environmental concerns. A logit model is used to formulate shippers' discrete choice behaviors. With respect to the probability of nonexistence of pure Nash equilibrium, we propose an approximate equilibrium and a corresponding solution algorithm. A case study on the competition between Dalian port and Yingkou port in the northeast of China is used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm. Results show that, in competitive settings, the rise of stakeholders' environmental concerns will make the market less competitive and always be beneficial to the port closer to the market (here Yingkou port). Moreover, when shippers pay more attention to the environment, the total CO 2 e emissions will decrease. As the number of dry ports increases, the CO 2 e emissions will decrease. There are also some interesting findings of effects of environmental concerns on the intermodal network, profits, and CO 2 e emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing global competition, multinational corporations (MNCs) have considered offshoring as a viable alternative to domestic production. By offshoring production, MNCs have generally enjoyed lower labor costs and higher production efficiencies, in addition to other benefits. Unfortunately, target countries chosen for such activities tend to be pollution friendly countries. To make matter worse, strong environmental pollution regulations in host countries (for example, through carbon taxes, focus on the triple bottom line, incentives to select green technology investment options) have incentivized MNCs to offshore more activities. In this study, an optimization model is presented where a domestic firms' propensity to offshore is shown to be function of the market structure in the industry. The findings suggest that a domestic firms' propensity to offshore pollution via production in pollution friendly host countries is directly related to the degree of competition in the industry. In this context, the paper presents specific scenarios where governments could effectively force firms operating in less competitive industry environments to pay an “offshoring penalty”. These proceeds could then be used to subsidize firms in competitive industries who could then be incentivized to adopt green technology instead of offshoring production and pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The food chain is intrinsically linked to agriculture and enables a transition towards a Circular Economy (CE) system and a resource efficient future. Accordingly, the development of analytical models appears particularly useful to address these challenges and to assess CE strategies. In this study, we develop a theoretical model to investigate the relationship between market structure and food waste. We consider an oligopolistic market with N differentiated firms (retailers), where each firm sells a final perishable good (food) in a context of strategic interaction. We use this model to analyse and compare two policy instruments aimed to reduce food waste, namely taxation and circular economy approach. The social welfare index, given by the sum of firms' profits and consumers' utility (surplus), is used to make this comparison. Food waste is an endogenous consequence of the interaction between competing retailers and consumers; interestingly, theoretical results suggest that the individual retailer's food waste is positively correlated with market concentration and the quality of goods. In general, circular economy shows a higher welfare than taxation especially when customers are particularly sensitive to the amount of goods available on the shelves. The study is completed by numerical simulations. [Display omitted] • Oligopoly model developed to analyse two policy instruments aimed to reduce FW. • Social welfare index is used to make this comparison. • FW is positively correlated with market concentration and the quality of goods. • CE shows a higher welfare than taxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses a gap in the research on supply channel management by integrating environmental values and value creation in the context of buyer-supplier relationships. This study has two objectives: (i) to explore the environmental values structure of industrial customers, and (ii) to test the effect of environmental values on overall value perceptions. The effect of customer's environmental values on the supplier's environmental image and customer-perceived value is tested with structural equation modeling using the PLS method. The empirical analysis is based on a global sample of industrial companies that have a high impact on the environment (n = 121). Key findings of this study are that (i) customer environmental values consist of three domains: corporate stance, operational awareness and environmental competence; (ii) environmental values of the customer have an effect on supplier assessment in a competitive market; and (iii) industrial suppliers should contribute to customers' overall value expectations by building an image that is based on environmental competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Externality is always hard to evaluate and definition, but the sustainable development of resource-based industries is restrained by it; particular, externalities of unrenewable resources can be divided into intergenerational and environmental negative externalities. In this paper, double externalities are respectively estimated by the users' cost method and contingent valuation method with Chinese data separately. Then, SCP (structure-conduct-performance) model were built by added double externalities into the structure-conduct-performance econometric models based on panel data. The results showed that the administrative mergers and reorganization which were prompted by the government only increased the scale but not getting efficiency; large state-owned enterprises produced more externalities as well as less profits; development of China's economy had still mainly based on resource depletion rapidly and been paying a big price of environmental externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to provide a critical review of the literature on the econometric analyses of firm-level determinants to eco-innovation. The review reveals some gaps in knowledge. First, an integrated theoretical framework which merges the insights from different approaches is missing. Second, the influence of some variables is still unsettled (demand-pull and cost-savings), whereas others have hardly been included in previous analyses (internal and international factors). Third, studies on the drivers to eco-innovation versus general innovation are relatively scarce with respect to those on the drivers to eco-innovation in general. Fourth, analyses of the relevance of different determinants to eco-innovation for distinct eco-innovator and eco-innovation types have largely been missing. Fifth, studies on middle-income and developing countries are still scarce. Sixth, the econometric analyses have relied on microeconometric methods based on cross-section data (mostly logit and probit models), whereas the use of panel data is virtually absent. Seventh, detailed econometric analyses on the distinct drivers and barriers to eco-innovation in different sectors and regions have not been performed so far. Finally, whether the position of the firm in the value chain and the market structure influence the propensity to eco-innovate are largely unexplored topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many strategies have been proposed to support the transition to a Circular Economy (CE). In most cases, circular design and product life-extension practices specify repair as an essential element. In both the EU and the U.S., policymakers are attempting to increase the amount of repairs made, through the introduction of recent EU Ecodesign regulation changes and proposed US Right to Repair legislation. This review explores the current policy landscape for repair services by first outlining legal and market barriers to stakeholder participation in repair activities, and which stakeholders are affected. The review reveals a wide range of fundamental obstacles to both supply and demand of repair, including Intellectual Property, Consumer, Contract, Tax and Chemical laws, along with issues of design, consumer perceptions and markets. Subsequently, the current and proposed policy solutions to address barriers and increase repair activities are reviewed. A comparative assessment of the EU and the U.S. is followed by a discussion on the current repair market governance structure, which is found to be primarily centralized (i.e. repair services concentrated with manufacturers), with possible implications for upscaling repair. New policy proposals challenge this governance. Introducing the concept of a Repair Society Framework as a market transformation tool, we comprehensively discuss the current state of repair and provide an outlook for research and policy in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Level(s) is a common European Union framework of core sustainability indicators for measuring the performance of buildings along their life cycle, enabling emissions reductions and circular resource flows. A fundamental tool for the development of European policies to boost the market for sustainable, resilient and climate change adapted buildings. The objective of this study is to contribute to the existing body of knowledge in the field of sustainable building research, through the definition of strategies to adopt Level(s) for bringing buildings into the Circular Economy. For this reason, a triple SWOT-Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)-TOWS analysis was applied. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of the Level(s) have been identified in relation to the availability of resources, product quality, internal and market structure, consumer perception, among others. The results obtained are conclusive in terms of the experts' positive assessment of the tool; highlighting factors such as its response to the need to adapt buildings to climate change, its a standard reference language, and its use in multiple situations. However, several barriers have also been identified, which may affect its development, including its complexity of use, its lack of self-sufficiency, and its dependence the criteria used in each evaluation. Finally, the key strategies to be carried out for the implementation of the Levels have been established. • Level(s) is a common European Union framework of core sustainability indicators. • The triple SWOT-AHP-TOWS analysis is used in defining strategies to adopt Level(s). • The strengths and opportunities of Level(s) outweigh their weaknesses and threats. • The economic and fiscal incentives is determined as the most offensive strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy is particularly important for achieving energy security and emission reduction targets. However, China's renewable energy technologies are still diffusing slowly. Based on the two-part model and the fixed-effect Tobit model, this paper investigates the factors affecting the diffusion of renewable energy technologies in 28 provinces in China between 2006 and 2017 from the perspective of an innovation system. It is found that increasing the renewable energy tariff surcharge subsidy, the share of relevant employees, and grid density will drive the diffusion of renewable energy technologies. Reducing the share of coal consumption will increase the probability of adoption of renewable energy technologies. Furthermore, a certain province's or other provinces' renewable energy technology patent stocks both provide the knowledge infrastructure for the increase in the share of renewable energy generation. In contrast, the crowding-out effect of foreign direct investment will hinder the expansion of renewable energy generation share. Therefore, the failures in the six aspects of institutional design, market structure, personnel factor, external interaction, knowledge infrastructure, and physical infrastructure, will lead to the slow diffusion of renewable energy technologies. • China's renewable energy technologies are still diffusing slowly. • The factors affecting the DRET from the perspective of innovation system. • This paper selects multiple indicators to measure DRET. • Failures in innovation system will lead to the slow DRET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of spill-over effect and mechanism is of great significance for eliminating the unbalanced development of regional energy efficiency. Our research considers the impact of external environmental factors on energy efficiency, and the spatial Durbin model is used to discover the spatial spill-over effect and mechanism. The main conclusions are as follows. (1) Eastern China is the most efficient region, central China ranks second, and west China ranks third, with a gradually descending trend in the temporal dimension. Compared to the traditional DEA model, the results removed the environmental factors to be more in line with economic intuition. (2) The spatial distribution of China's energy efficiency has a significant positive correlation from the global perspective, implying that provinces with high energy efficiency are surrounded by neighbouring provinces with high energy efficiency, and provinces with low energy efficiency are surrounded by neighbouring provinces with low energy efficiency. Provinces in each quadrant change slightly from a local perspective, indicating that energy efficiency has stable spatial correlation characteristics. (3) Neighbourhood mimicry generates a complementary effect, which promotes the spatial spill-over of energy efficiency. It is important to encourage yardstick competition and restrain lower-tier competition. (4) Industrial structure, market factors, opening-up, energy price, energy structure, and environmental regulation exert certain influences on energy efficiency. • Spatial spill-over effect can promote energy efficiency in China. • Opening-up has a negative impact on energy efficiency for local and adjacent areas. • Industrial structure and market factors have positive impact on energy efficiency. • External environmental factors are taken into account in DEA model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]