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China's pulp and paper industry (CPPI) has been always the main carbon emission source in recent years. However, the analysis on influencing factors of carbon emissions from this industry is insufficient. To address the issue, the CO 2 emissions from CPPI are estimated in the period of 2005-2019, the driving factors of CO 2 emissions are investigated by the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method, the decoupling state of economic growth and CO 2 emissions is determined by Tapio decoupling model, and finally, future CO 2 emissions are predicted under four scenarios by the STIRPAT model to explore the potential of carbon peaking. The results show that CPPI exhibits a rapid increase and a fluctuating downward trend in CO 2 emissions during the period of 2005-2013 and 2014-2019, respectively. The main promoting and inhibiting factors to the increase of CO 2 emission are per capita industrial output value and energy intensity, respectively. There are five decoupling states of CO 2 emissions and economic growth during the study period, and the CO 2 emissions exhibit a weak decoupling state with the industrial output value growth in most years of the study period. It is very difficult to realize the carbon peaking goal by 2030 under the baseline and fast development scenarios. Therefore, efficient low carbon and strong low-carbon development policies are necessary and urgent for the realization of carbon peaking goal and the sustainable development of CPPI., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In the course of 2020-2023, the Centro Studi Piemontesi renewed its commitment to the preservation and promotion of the memory of the history and culture of Piedmont and the ancient Savoy States, both through the targeted purchase of a number of documentary sources available on the antiquarian market, and through the donation of various private documentary collections, accepted with the commitment of taking care of their reorganization, inventorying and utilization. Among the purchases are two letters written by Count Gian Francesco Galeani Napione di Cocconato (1748- 1830) in 1807 and the Catalogo de’ Cavalieri dell’Ordine della Santissima Annunziata drawn up by Giovanni Toja in 1779. The donations include: the valuable series of diplomatic honours given by the heirs of Manlio Brosio (1897-1980), linked to his activities as a minister in the Bonomi, Parri and De Gasperi governments, as an Italian diplomat and as Secretary General of NATO from 1 August 1964 to 1 October 1971; the documentary fonds on journalist and academic Francesco Pastonchi (1874-1953), donated by Count Piero Gondolo della Riva; the war and captivity diary written by Alessandro Forchino during his time as a fighter in World War I, donated by his daughter Gabriella and published by Centro Studi Piemontesi; and the documentary fund on the Vitelli and Losa families, of particular interest for the industrial history of Piedmont. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the thermal treatment of two types of waste from the paper industry was investigated, paper mill sludge and sewage sludge from biological wastewater treatment plants. Hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) and torrefaction were investigated as sustainable alternatives for solid biofuel production. Untreated samples and samples chemically pre-treated with alcoholic vinegar were subjected to torrefaction at 350 °C in N2 atmosphere, and the exhaust gases were analysed. HTC was performed at 250 °C with a residence time of 4 h. The feedstocks and the biochars produced were characterised by different analytical methods, and the effects of pre-treatment on fuel properties were studied. Both processes, HTC and torrefaction, showed inspiring results in the production of biofuels from paper industry wastes under the tested experimental conditions. A positive influence of pre-treatment on fuel properties (higher heating value, carbon content) of the obtained char was observed, and changes in the gas phase during torrefaction were observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on a study that examined authorship and collaborative research among scholars in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions with a focus on prospects for Africa. The study involved intensive documentary desk review of conference book of abstracts and conference proceedings to examine authorship and collaborative research. The study reviewed a total of 10 conference books of abstracts and proceedings organized or hosted by universities including ODL institutions in Africa. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise some thematic areas of interest. It is revealed in this paper that authorship in terms of co-authorship is high in some conferences but low in others in relation to collaborative research. Furthermore, authorship between two scholars was higher compared to three or more authors in collaborative research. This implies that co-authorship is trending in relation to collaborative research thus raising collaboration prospects for Africa. It is therefore recommended that ODL scholars should be encouraged to do more co-author publications from collaborative research in order to promote teamwork and comparative studies in knowledge production for socio-economic development relevant for Africa and beyond.

Using historical data on energy from (Malanima 2020) and GDP from the Maddison Project Database, this paper investigates the energy-growth nexus in a less-studied region, mainly Australia and New Zealand, since 1870. The long annual series allow meaningful application of recently developed time-varying and quantile Granger causality analysis. Results indicate that there is a bi-directional Granger causal relationship between economic growth and energy, coal, and oil consumption at both ends of the distribution, and during various time periods over the past 150 years. Little evidence is found on the Granger causal relationship from gas consumption to economic growth, but some evidence on the direction from economic growth to gas consumption. The Granger causal relationships between electricity consumption and GDP change over time, but results suggest much closer links between the two in most recent decades, and big (positive and negative) changes in electricity consumption significantly Granger causes economic growth., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The existing scholarly discourse surrounding the energy transition has long operated on the assumption of perfect displacement of non-renewable energy. However, an evolving set of studies highlights an intricate web of inefficiencies and complexities that prevent the perfect displacement of fossil fuel energy with renewable energy production. Since this could carry serious implications for the environmental targets of several economies, it is crucial to accurately and continuously measure the actual extent of fossil fuel displacement. Within this framework, this study empirically investigates the extent of non-renewable energy displacement by renewable energy for a balanced panel of seven Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries between 1989 and 2015. The outcome function also controls for globalisation, real GDP per capita, and crude oil prices. After implementing the necessary diagnostics, the panel cointegration establishes a significant long-run relationship among the selected variables. The PMG-ARDL estimation indicates that renewable energy production and globalisation significantly reduce the fossil fuel energy production, whereas real GDP per capita and crude oil prices induce it positively. However, the coefficient of renewable energy production is only - 0.39, indicating that more than 2.5 units of renewable electricity are necessary to displace a unit of non-renewable energy. As such, this study concludes that the current energy transition in Asia-Pacific region is not perfect. These results are robust to the usage of the FGLS estimation technique. The study suggests the adoption of a new energy transition that allows greater displacement of fossil fuel energy as well as gradual reduction in overall energy use., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In the complex international society, the economic development and defense construction of BRICS countries have attracted increasing attention. This article incorporates technological innovation, militarization, and environmental change into a unified analytical framework to assess the potential impact of technological progress and defense military expenditure on the environment in BRICS countries. Based on CSD tests, unit root tests, and cointegration tests, this study constructs a CS-ARDL model to examine the long-term and short-term relationships among various variables from 1990 to 2021. The results show that technological innovation, military expenditure, and economic growth can significantly increase ecological footprint in the long run, while in the short term, technological innovation and economic growth significantly increase ecological footprint, and the impact of military expenditure is not significant. It is suggested that BRICS countries should focus on supporting low-carbon technology policies and research and development investment, while also considering the use of cutting-edge technology to improve military intelligence capabilities in order to reduce the negative impact of technological innovation and military activities on the environment., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In this essay, I argue that we should radicalize managerial climate change education given that incremental and accommodative forms of responsible management learning and education (RMLE) are at odds with the urgency, nature, and magnitude of the climate crisis. I argue for three practices to radicalize RMLE, and illustrate them through examples from a degrowth context. First, management educators should engage in anti-paradigmatic performative politics to disrupt the reality-making of climate damaging theories, and "realize" better alternative theories. Second, as management educators, we should engage ourselves, our students, and wider stakeholders in anti-paradigmatic thought that transcends and challenges problematic mainstream management paradigms. Third, we should explore what and how we and our students can learn from radical climate movements' civil disobedience, in order to disrupt climate-damaging practices. In this paper, I aim to provoke and facilitate urgently needed discussions about the radicalization of RMLE for climate change education and beyond. Therefore, I close this essay with an invitation for rejoinders and suggest salient implications for educational practitioners and researchers.