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Advancing the construction and application of new quality productive forces is an essential prerequisite for achieving high-quality agricultural development and expediting the establishment of agricultural powerhouses. This study aims to elucidate the internal mechanisms through which new quality productivity contributes to high-quality agricultural development and to explore practical pathways for enhancing agricultural quality through its promotion. Utilizing panel data spanning 2012 to 2021 from 30 provinces and municipalities in mainland China, the entropy method is employed to gauge levels of new quality productivity and high-quality agricultural development. Additionally, employing research methodologies including SYS-GMM and threshold effect models, this study empirically investigates how the advancement of new quality productivity influences high-quality agricultural development. Our research reveals the following key findings: (1) The development of new quality productive forces significantly enhances high-quality agricultural development, exhibiting a heterogeneous distribution pattern favoring the "eastern region > western region > central region" and "northern region > southern region". (2) New quality productive forces can bolster the level of high-quality agricultural development by fostering innovation, coordination, openness, and shared development within its subsystems. However, they may impede progress by inhibiting improvements in green development within the subsystems. (3) The results of the threshold effect test demonstrate that the promotion effect of the development of new quality productive forces on high-quality agricultural development escalates with the level of high-quality agricultural development. Specifically, as the level of high-quality agricultural development exceeds the first threshold value of 0.1502, the promotion effect becomes significant; crossing the second threshold value of 0.2010 further amplifies this effect. This paper's primary marginal contribution involves empirically analyzing the potential nonlinear effects of advancing new quality productivity in enhancing the level of high-quality agricultural development. This enriches empirical research on how new quality productivity fosters the development of high-quality agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable rural development forms a robust foundation for economic and social sustainability. Moreover, the digital economy acts as a catalyst for advancing rural sustainable development by altering the distribution of production factors. Thus, this study concentrates on 30 provinces in China, constructing an evaluation index system for both the digital economy and rural sustainable development. The study employs various methods and models to analyze the spatiotemporal changes and driving factors affecting the coupling and coordination between these two aspects. The research findings are as follows: the coupling and coordination levels among provinces in China have been on the rise year by year. By 2022, the coupling and coordination levels of most provinces range between 0.5 and 0.6. Regional disparities are the primary determinant of the poor overall coupling and coordination level in China. In 2022, the coupling and coordination level in the eastern region is 0.6663, compared to 0.5420 in the central region and 0.5087 in the western region. Factors such as urbanization, industrial structure transformation, technological innovation, higher education, economic development, and government support significantly influence the coupling and coordination level. Nevertheless, their effects vary across regions, with a more pronounced impact in the eastern region than in the central and western regions. Therefore, this paper proposes policy recommendations, including infrastructure optimization, rural digitization promotion, regional resource allocation enhancement, cross-regional development mechanism exploration, and differentiated development strategy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of dynamic capabilities as resources for achieving environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and corporate social responsibility within the pillars of the Sustainable Development Goals. Economic growth and technological progress, while driving societal advancements, have also contributed to challenges such as inefficient resource utilization, social inequality, climate change, and unsustainable production. Through an integrative review, the paper identifies sixteen dynamic capabilities incorporated into a business framework. These capabilities aim to support environmental and economic sustainability, along with corporate social responsibility in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. The paper emphasizes opportunities for companies and academia to adopt sustainable practices. This contribution aims to advance the broader objective of sustainable development by promoting a balance between societal progress and responsible resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growth of global population and economic development, people are facing the problem of increasing scarcity of renewable energy and unsustainable energy use. To achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations, research on energy consumption efficiency has become particularly important. This research evaluates the energy consumption efficiency of 270 cities in China through an improved EBM model and finds a common phenomenon of low energy consumption efficiency in the cities, with the highest efficiency in northeast China and the lowest efficiency in eastern China. In addition, the efficiency of industrial exhaust emissions most significantly positively correlates with the efficiency of employed population and total energy consumption efficiency, while the efficiency of regional GDP does not significantly correlate with the efficiency of the two input variables. Using the LMDI method to decompose the driving factors of energy consumption efficiency in the cities, we find that the most important factor affecting energy consumption efficiency is their own energy endowment. Therefore, to improve the energy consumption efficiency of its cities, the China government should comprehensively consider factors such as regional economic development level, industrial structure, and technological level differences, formulate relevant energy-saving and emission-reduction policies, focus on optimizing the energy consumption structure, encourage technological progress and innovation, and help increase investment in science and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient and sustainable management of forestry resources is crucial in ensuring economic and societal sustainability. The Chinese government has invested significantly in regulations, afforestation, and technology to enhance the forest resource efficiency, reduce technological disparities, and boost productivity growth. However, the success level of this undertaking is unclear and worth exploring. To this end, this study applied DEA-SBM, meta-frontier analysis, and the Malmquist productivity index to gauge the forest resource efficiency (FRE), regional technology heterogeneity (TGR), and total factor productivity growth (MI) in 31 Chinese provinces for a study period of 2001–2020. Results revealed that the average FRE was 0.5430, with potential growth of 45.70%, to enhance the efficiency level in forestry resource utilization. Anhui, Tibet, Fujian, Shanghai, and Hainan were found to be the top performers in forestry utilization during the study period. The southern forest region was ranked highest, with the highest TGR of 0.915, indicating advanced production technologies. The average MI score was 0.9644, signifying a 3.56% decline in forestry resource productivity. This deterioration is primarily attributed to technological change (TC), which decreased by 5.2%, while efficiency change (EC) witnessed 1.74% growth over the study period. The Southern Chinese forest region, indicating an average 3.06% increase in total factor productivity, ranked highest in all four regions. Guangxi, Tianjin, Shandong, Chongqing, and Jiangxi were the top performers, with prominent growth in MI. Finally, the Kruskal–Wallis test found a significant statistical difference among all four regions for FRE and TGR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to a growing number of environmental issues, including global warming, water scarcity, and fossil fuel depletion, the topic of modern materials in energy is becoming crucial for our civilization. The technological advancements that have been observed bring many innovations that significantly impact how energy can be generated, stored, and distributed. Moreover, new opportunities have emerged in energy and materials engineering due to the increasing computational capability of current data processing systems. Methods that are highly demanding, time-consuming, and difficult to apply may now be considered when developing complete and sophisticated models in many areas of science and technology. Combining computational methods and AI algorithms allows for multi-threaded analyses solving advanced and interdisciplinary problems. Therefore, knowledge and experience in this subject, as well as the investigation of new, more efficient, and environmentally friendly solutions, currently represent one of the main directions of scientific research. The Special Issue "Advances in Materials: Modelling Challenges and Technological Progress for Green Engineering and Sustainable Development" aims to bring together research on material advances, focusing on modelling challenges and technological progress (mainly for green engineering and sustainable development). Original research studies, review articles, and short communications are welcome, especially those focusing on (but not limited to) artificial intelligence, other computational methods, and state-of-the-art technological concepts related to the listed keywords within energy and materials engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study undertakes a comprehensive analysis of vegetable production efficiency in China using input–output data from 30 provinces spanning 2011 to 2017. By incorporating environmental pollution costs as undesirable outputs alongside vegetable output value, we employ Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with the Banker, Charnes, and Cooper (BCC) model and the Malmquist index model. Our assessment reveals both annual and inter-period efficiency changes. The findings highlight a modest overall efficiency in China's vegetable production and significant regional disparities. Technical progress emerges as a pivotal determinant of total factor productivity (TFP). Recognizing these dynamics, we propose policy recommendations that prioritize technical innovation, sustainable practices, rural infrastructure enhancement, and specialized cultivation methods. Implementing these recommendations could bolster China's position in international trade negotiations due to increased exports and potentially drive broader environmental policy reforms. As vegetable production becomes more efficient and sustainable, there might be a shift in labor needs, potentially leading to migration patterns or changes in employment structures. These insights contribute to the sustainable development of China's vegetable industry, offering a broader understanding of the dynamics of agricultural efficiency in the context of environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) era also known as digital age is central to the advancement of the construction industry as the industry is currently facing a myriad of challenges, including poor productivity and project failure. Therefore, there is an urgent need for industry to adopt 4IR innovations to increase the building business's performance. The study explored the relationship between the critical barriers to 4IR innovations to foster sustainable development. The study embraced a numerical exploration approach which employed a questionnaire to obtain information from building industry experts. The questionnaire data were used to classify the 4IR barriers into policy and structure, readiness, and acquisition, using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). Likewise, a predictive model was developed using Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS). It explained the relationship between the barrier categories and the barriers to 4IR innovation adoption for sustainable development. The results showed that policy and structure were critical components of 4IR adoption that the stakeholders of the construction industry must pay close attention to. The study also provided valuable areas for future research to enhance 4IR innovation adoption for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-efficiency is a key indicator to measure the level of regional sustainable development. The county is the basic spatial unit of socio-economic activities and sustainable policy implementation in China. Hence, this paper conducts eco-efficiency analysis at the county scale in order to provide reference for the central and local governments to formulate differentiated eco-efficiency enhancement policies, further promote Chinese ecological sustainable development, and advance the construction of ecological civilization with high quality. Based on the Super-Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) model and the Malmquist index, the paper constructed an eco-efficiency measurement method and analyzed the variation characteristics, influencing factors, spatial pattern of eco-efficiency in Chinese counties from 2000 to 2020. The results showed that: (1) The eco-efficiency of the county unit was generally low in China and was roughly distributed in a pyramid. The county-level eco-efficiency had a spatial distribution pattern of being high in the west and low in the east, and high in the south and low in the north, with significant non-equilibrium. There was a positive correlation between eco-efficiency of neighboring counties in China. (2) The per-capita GDP has a significant positive correlation with eco-efficiency, while energy consumption, arable land area and eco-efficiency have a negative correlation. The redundancy rate of input indicators was high in Chinese counties. (3) During the study period, the eco-efficiency of most counties displayed a fluctuating growth trend. The growth was mainly driven by technological progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on theoretical analysis of the connotations of and influencing factors on rural green development, this paper systematically explains its promotion mechanisms, its heterogeneity, and transmission effects of the integration of agriculture and tourism (hereinafter referred to as IAT) on rural green development; constructs and measures development indicators of IAT based on the three dimensions factors, performance, and structure; constructs comprehensive indicators of rural green development based on the three dimensions production, life, and ecology; and takes the panel data of 152 prefecture-level cities with agricultural leisure demonstration counties from 2010 to 2019 as samples for empirical testing. Results show that (1) IAT has a significant positive effect on rural green development, and endogenous tests based on instrumental variables and robustness tests show that the above conclusion is valid; (2) heterogeneity analysis shows that IAT plays a more significant role in promoting rural green development in high-human-capital areas, central and western regions, and non-major grain-producing areas; and (3) labor structure, capital input, and technological progress can play a transmitting role in promoting rural green development through IAT. At the end, this paper puts forward some countermeasures to promote rural green development by implementation of the quality projects strategy of IAT, the "tailor-made" support policy of IAT, based on the advantages of resource endowment and improvement of transmission mechanisms based on labor structure, capital input, and technological progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's economic development is characterized by openness, and trade and investment are important engines for promoting economic development. China's economy is now in a transitional period, during which excessive carbon emission reduction would inevitably hinder economic development. In this context, improving carbon emission efficiency is an effective way to achieve sustainable development. This paper deals with the relationships among foreign direct investment, technological innovation and carbon emission efficiency. Our research findings include the following. First, carbon efficiency shows regional differences. East China has the highest mean value of carbon emission efficiency, followed by central China and west China over the sample period. Second, FDI exerts both direct and indirect impacts on carbon emission efficiency through technological innovation, which confirms the intermediate effect of technological innovation. Finally, sub-sample analysis indicates that the impact of FDI and technological innovation on carbon emission efficiency show regional heterogeneity. According to these findings, we offer policy recommendations as follows. The government should stimulate independent innovation, promote technological progress in renewable energy and green energy, and attract environmentally friendly foreign investment to improve carbon emission efficiency and boost green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benin is one of Africa's leading authorities in cotton production. Today, Benin's textile firms face challenges that affect their textile production efficiency level. The study employs exploratory and descriptive methods. Applying the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) methods to make proper analysis after a wide range of surveys to provide guidance about the resilience of the textile industry in Benin. The SWOT-AHP approach was employed with secondary data sources. The analytical results highlight the need for private capital to resolve technical challenges and boost the industry's competitiveness by examining the manufactory's significant weaknesses, such as dated technological installations and the implementation of source energy. Overall, the results suggest that Benin state plays a regulatory role rather than a decision-making role. For the country's textile firms to benefit economically and enhance their efficiency level, we recommend that Benin's government switch the industrial structure from cotton processing to textile manufacturing. Moreover, the results obtained also testify that, on the one hand, there is a need to rebuild the foundations of industrial development in order to link industrial sectors with the potential of the primary and tertiary sectors, and on the other hand, it is important to set up an adequate environment that is capable of allowing industrial activity to be carried out effectively, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, hence enhancing the sustainability of Benin textile companies' performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This study evaluated the impacts of incentive and disincentive mechanisms in ensuring environmentally friendly livestock waste management, drawing on a survey of 499 pig farmers from China. An assessment framework was developed and empirically tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The findings suggest incentives and disincentives can be effective in ensuring adoption of environmentally friendly livestock waste management practices. However, the disincentive mechanism demonstrated relatively lower interaction values than the incentive mechanism. The survey results indicated that discounts, subsidies, and training provision were the most impactful factors. In summary, the balance and interactions between incentives and disincentives need to be well-planned and managed to strengthen farmers' adoption of environmentally friendly livestock waste management practices. Environmentally friendly waste management (EFWM) is a safer way of waste disposal that can foster a cleaner environment for both farms and their surroundings. It may lessen land, air, and water pollution, as well as moderate ecological footprints, and aid in sustainable agricultural development, which has become one of the major concerns of the modern era. To achieve these outcomes, incentives and control mechanisms initiated by the government may alter farmers' behavior. The study involved a review of relevant literature and the conduct of interviews with 499 pig breeders to evaluate the impacts of government incentives and control mechanisms on fostering the adoption of environmentally friendly waste management practices by farmers. A theoretical framework based on existing studies is proposed, utilizing a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to analyze the data and illustrate the relationships among incentives and control mechanisms. The results show that: (i) overall the impacts of incentive mechanisms were stronger and more effective than those of control mechanisms. Among them, subsidy policy and discount policy were the most influential for farmers' adoption behavior. However, penalty and disincentive policy also impacted the outcome variables; (ii) a significant relationship was observed among regulatory, disincentive, and subsidy policies and a moderate relationship among penalty, insurance, and discount policies. However, bonus-community service and social critic policies did not show any significant relationship with any other variables. The research findings can assist the Chinese government in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of two crucial mechanisms and promoting the adoption of environmentally friendly practices by farmers. The government should highlight and strengthen the importance of social obligations and orientation, as well as providing monetary support at the rural level to improve farmers' ability to adapt to environmentally friendly waste management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is an objective result of technological progress, which will radically change the traditional ways of doing business. This will also contribute to radical changes in the human's role in the labour market. Employees with high qualifications and developed social-behavioural skills will experience high demand in the labour market, and a consequence of this will be necessary transformations of the talent management concept. This study aims to demonstrate the need to change the talent management concept in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The conducted research is based on the analysis of statistical data regarding labour productivity in the economic system EC-27. Economic and mathematical modelling techniques have been used for the analysis of selected statistical indicators (places of convergence and divergence, places of growth, declining and side trend have been found). As a result of the studies performed, a method of calculating the original Index the lack of talents in the economic system. The results of the completed research demonstrate: on the one hand, on the market, there is a shortage of talent and a transformation of the labour market is required for organizational and technological reasons; on the other hand, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the accompanying transformation of economic processes create new requirements for human resources. In such conditions, the role of human capital development process management increases significantly, and the necessary transformation of the talent management concept is increasingly becoming a key element that directly determines the sustainable development of social and economic systems. The transition to this concept should proceed through modern technologies and digital solutions, pursuing the main goal, being to provide a continuous process of not only searching for talents but also creating talents by delivering knowledge and forming skills as required by technological progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to measure implementation management efficiency of Chinese green buildings, the input–output index system of Chinese green buildings was constructed base on provincial-level panel data during 2017–2021.The basic model Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and DEA-Malmquist index method were adopted to measure and analyze the development law and time–region evolution tendency of implementation efficiency of Chinese green buildings from the static and dynamic perspectives, contributing to clarifying critical factors of restricting green building development, respectively. It was found that the comprehensive implementation management efficiency of Chinese green buildings was lower, but the development tendency was good. There was a remarkable regional and provincial difference, showing the development pattern of "east > middle > west" as a whole. Pure technical efficiency did not have a big gap, but most areas kept an invalid scale state, resulting in fluctuations of regional efficiency in varying degrees. The average annual increase of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) was 14.80%, indicating that TFP was developed well. Technical progress was considered as a decisive factor to restrain increase or decrease of TFP. As a result, to improve implementation efficiency of Chinese green buildings, it is necessary to focus on destroying the regional limitations, optimizing the input scale moderately, and paying attention to technical progress and innovation management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standardization in energy-saving and emission-reduction measures has become increasingly important. The impact of standardization on carbon-emission efficiency in China was explored by using panel data from 2002 to 2017. The results showed that standardization significantly improved China's carbon-emission efficiency, which remained robust after a series of tests. Furthermore, the development of industry standards had a greater effect on the improvement of carbon-emission efficiency in the economically developed coastal areas, while the development of national standards significantly promoted the improvement of carbon-emission efficiency in the inland areas. An assessment of the impact mechanism demonstrated that standardization affects carbon-emission efficiency through technological progress, industrial modernization, and economies of scale. We compared our findings with the existing literature regarding the governance of a low-carbon economy; we also considered the subsequent policy implications of our findings in terms of sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coal power policy has been influencing the development of China's coal power industry from the aspects of quantity control, technological progress, and market-oriented reform. Meanwhile, the strategic coal power policy of the mid- and long-term future is yet to be well-designed under the carbon peak and neutrality targets. Therefore, it is necessary to have a comprehensive overview of the coal power policy during the past and give targeted prospects for policy-makers. This paper discusses the policy effect on the development and technological progress of the coal power industry by giving an overview of the policy and reform processes of the coal power industry in China in the past 20 years. The results indicate that China's coal power policy has promoted the progress of coal power generation technology, optimized the coal power structure, accelerated the diversified investment in the power industry, and alleviated the overcapacity problem of coal power generation. After discussion, we conclude that: (1) It is necessary to gradually reduce the average generation hours of coal-fired power units while retaining high-quality coal-fired power units. (2) The renewable energy enterprises that adopt the support services of coal power enterprises should provide reasonable capacity compensation costs to create favorable conditions and achieve sustainable development for China's coal power industry. (3) To deploy coal power units combined with large-scale renewable energy in the western and northern regions will achieve efficient energy utilization. (4) Different strategies should be adopted for different coal power units, and the peak regulation potential of coal power units with low-capacity parameters should be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green finance integrates the concept of environmental governance into the financial industry, which is conducive to sustainable development. Applying the mediating effect model, this paper investigates the effect of green finance on urban haze pollution and explores the mediating role of technological innovation of enterprises between them. Based on a sample of 639 enterprises in China over 2016–2019, a significantly negative effect of green finance on urban haze pollution is found. An increase of one standard deviation in green finance decreases PM2.5 concentration by 8.8 μg/m3, ceteris paribus. Further, green finance may improve environmental quality by promoting technological innovation. Considering the heterogeneity of enterprise ownership, this mediating effect exists in non-state-owned enterprises, while it cannot be observed in state-owned enterprises. This study proposes a new solution for pollution: using green financial tools to promote environmentally friendly technological progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the destruction of the marine ecological environment and the imbalance of economic structure have put forward urgent requirements for the green development of the marine economy. Based on the input and output data of China's coastal provinces from 2006 to 2018, the RDM (range directional model) direction distance function was used to measure the output bias technology progress (OBTC) index of each region, and its influence on China's marine economy green total factor productivity (GTFP) was judged accordingly. Furthermore, the rationality of the current OBTC index was studied. The results show that there is obvious output-biased technological progress in China's marine economy, and it has led to the improvement of the GTFP. Although most coastal areas still tend to pursue the improvement of the total output value of the marine economy at the expense of environmental damage, the green bias of China's marine economy has improved significantly since 2015, driven by relevant marine environmental protection policies. From the perspective of different areas, the imbalance of regional development in the process of China's marine economic development is significant. The green bias of the marine economy is highest in the East China Sea area and lowest in the Bohai rim area. However, the coordination between the development of the green marine economy and environmental protection in the South China Sea area needs to be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article concerns the issue of intelligence-based design, which, during the design process undertaken by architects, signifies (according to the authors of the article) thinking about perceptual involvement in the built environment, designing together with people and for people and not forgetting about conveniences brought by technological progress. The way to smart cities, in respect of architectural solutions, leads (to a significant extent) through the smart design of multifunctional buildings based on the idea of sustainable development. The article-related research involved multiple case studies including three buildings, i.e., Asian Cross Road Over the Sea (ACROS) in Fukuoka, Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern (KKL) in Luzern and Changsha Meixihu International Contemporary Art Museum (MICA) in Changsha. The above-named buildings, located in different countries, i.e., Japan, Switzerland and China, respectively, and erected within various time spans, i.e., the 1990s–2020, are characterized by primary common features—multifunctionality, large cubature and comparable program elements. The research presented in this article aimed to find and present the elements of intelligence-based design in the buildings and perform their comparative analysis taking into consideration the fact that the buildings were erected within the span of 30 years. The article presents a graphic comparative analysis of the intelligence-based design, a multicriterial case study (encompassing the concept, functional and spatial solutions and structure) of selected architectural objects. The article includes also a graphic comparative analysis of the very objects and concert halls: Fukuoka Symphony Hall (ACROS), Salle Blanche (KKL) and Hunan Grand Theatre (MICA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for ensuring clean water and sanitation worldwide by 2030, SDG target 6.4 seeks to attain sustainable withdrawals of freshwater through efficiency gains with a view to relieving water stress in vulnerable populated areas. The water footprint (WF) is a key metric to measure this concept, although the dynamics of the drivers of the WF through space and time remain relatively under-researched, whilst in foresight studies, the WF is often subject to simplistic assumptions. Thus, constructing a panel dataset of 130 countries and 156 crops for the period 2002–2016, this paper empirically assesses the sign and magnitude of WF drivers of agricultural crop activities, employing a careful selection of demographic, economic and climatic drivers. The study uncovers evidence of significant deviations in WF drivers across regions segmented by relative wealth, relating specifically to the stage of economic development and the presence (absence) of economies of scale, whilst we confirm that geographical coordinates have a major bearing on the climatic WF driver. Moreover, examining the temporal dimension, there is compelling evidence supporting a structural break in the role that technical progress exerted on the WF prior to, and in the wake of, the 2008 financial crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovations play a significant role in the primary sector (i.e., agriculture, fisheries and forestry), ensuring a greater performance towards bioeconomy and sustainability. Innovation is being progressively applied to examining the organization of joint technological, social, and institutional modernizations in the primary sector. Exploring the governance of actor relations, potential policies, and support structures is crucial in the phase of innovation, e.g., during research activities, often applied at the national or sectorial scale. However, when opposing normative guidelines for alternative systems of agriculture arise (e.g., the industrial agriculture paradigm), modernizations in agricultural and forestry may contribute to outlining more sustainable systems. To date, innovations in the primary sector do not seem as advanced as in other sectors, apart from industrial agriculture, which sometimes appears to be the most encouraged. The present review aims to shed light on innovations that have been identified and promoted in recent years in the primary sector, including agriculture and forestry. The need to pursue sustainable development in this sector requires the inclusion of a fourth dimension, namely energy. In fact, energy sustainability is an issue that has been much discussed in recent years. However, the need for progressive technological progress is indispensable to ensure long-lasting energy efficiency. The aim is to understand what innovations have been implemented recently, highlighting opportunities and limitations for the primary sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]