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As civilization and technology have developed, there have been multiple energy transitions that have pushed various resources like coal, wood, oil, and gas to the forefront of the energy mix. Due to a variety of geopolitical initiatives, there have been progressively more restrictions on the energy sector in recent years. One of the main concerns of researchers is the widespread use of renewable energy and the replacement of fossil resources. The utilization of non-renewable energy sources results in a detrimental increase in greenhouse gas emissions. One of the most crucial strategies for lowering energy consumption and enhancing the energy system’s sustainability is to increase energy efficiency. Numerous studies note that energy transition has become necessary in the modern day. Using the analysis of the main components as an extraction method, hierarchical cluster analysis, this study focuses on the situation of the states of the European Union in their race for energy transition, taking into account the main challenges generated by geopolitical tensions and the energy poverty spectrum for the population. The conclusions of the study call for a reconfiguration of the energy mix based on renewable energy. Increasing the share of renewable energy is a goal pursued by EU countries, but energy policies must be considered in a broader context that includes the social aspects of the energy transition. So, just transition is a new concept that reshapes the actions of public authorities on the path to a low-carbon economy. Just transition is a necessity that puts the consumer at the center of attention so that the negative externalities generated by the move away from fossil fuels are minimized in terms of social impact.

The cement-based mixture market or dry mix for the ETICS (External Thermal Insulation Composite System) is a highly competitive market and it is becoming increasingly difficult to comply with European sustainability specifications such as the development of products with a lower carbon footprint, lighter and less energy-intensive materials, lower environmental impacts, the option of recycling, etc. This market plays a highly important role in the construction sector, not only for the technical solutions and green innovation it offers but also for the aesthetic aspects. Since 2005, this market has been growing by more than 20% per year, which makes it increasingly attractive with better opportunities. However, this increase has been reduced not only by the crisis of 2007–2008 but also by the pandemic of recent years. The use of cement type CEM II, 42.5R, B-LL, together with a modified RDP ratio, has visibly improved the properties of the thermal insulation system through the adhesion of the EPS boards, the modulus of elasticity, wear resistance, flexibility, and impact resistance. Our research results as green innovation products are above the minimum values agreed by the ETICS standards; in addition, this product has in its formulation a 30% lower carbon footprint compared to any other adhesive in the construction market applied for ETICS systems; therefore, we are talking about a sustainable and clean product, suitable for rehabilitations and ecological constructions adjusted to the European policies of carbon footprint reduction.

This paper proposes a “systematization” of current concerns about sustainable public procurement, an investigation of ways and solutions for public procurement to make an increased contribution to achieving sustainable development goals. The authors emphasize the need to capitalize on all the components of sustainability, especially the social component and those on how to support the public procurement process in compliance with climate change procedures. It is very important for the authorities to take into account the social sustainability of public procurement when awarding contracts by introducing sustainability clauses in public procurement legislation. In order to clarify this issue, the national laws of the countries reporting to the World Bank on public procurement issues have been mapped, the opinions of other researchers have been systematized, as well as relevant studies of international organizations (OECD, European Commission, UNESCO, World Bank). Statistical data from the World Bank's Global Public Procurement Database (GPPD), systematized by group of countries, were processed using statistical tools to test the hypotheses.

The study aims to determine whether auditors can use a business model canvas in their operations and how it increases the auditing value. This paper uses qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews with 37 internal auditors from Poland. It shows that the current channel of communicating audit assumptions with requesters is insufficient to facilitate audit processes. The auditors’ communication with their clients is limited by being in their knowledge area. The study presents a modified business model canvas, which fits auditors’ needs. The proposed changes rely on a different sequence of the traditional Osterwalder’s Canvas building blocks. Besides, modified Osterwalder’s model includes Mission, Impact, and Accountability blocks. These blocks, added to the model, make aware audit parties that the auditors are mission-focused and impact-driven on audited organizations and their environment. Adopting the business model canvas framework in the audit process showed potential, as auditors can better explain audit goals and limitations. The study fits the literature related to firms because it emphasizes that creating the process understandability for external parties is a crucial performance point.

The objective of the paper is to provide an overview of the current evolution of energy security coordinates in European Union and in Romania, by reference to global efforts to achieve climate neutrality through the energy transition. The study highlights the role of the energy transition as a security factor for current and future communities. The authors draw attention to the recent geopolitical context and propose a comprehensive analysis of economic conditions, in particular those related to the provision of energy resources for the countries of the European continent and beyond, which determine or delay political and diplomatic decisions, both at European Union level and in each Member State. In this context, issues related to energy poverty are brought to the fore in terms of the social impact that geostrategic decisions have on the quality of life of citizens. The historical method was used in the elaboration of the material, in order to make it possible to understand the process of outlining the current energy security policies in terms of the imperatives of sustainability, both environmental and social. The logical method has helped to better understand the cause-effect relationship and the objective connections between economic processes of an energetic nature. With the help of the graphical method, the statistical data and their evolution in details of interest for the present study were highlighted. The analysis and synthesis of the information provided us with a systematic and integrated approach to the complex of factors considered in the study. The results of the articles are embodied in an approach that aims to focus on economic and social determinations of state capacity to support the EU's independence from a single supplier in the current context of conflict. The authors conclude by anticipating massive challenges to achieving the environmental objectives of the European Green Pact, as well as by highlighting the issue of energy poverty as a social factor influencing global strategic decision. Romania's energy security could be ensured in a sustainable way, within the targets set by the European Union, through the development of interconnected infrastructure and through the judicious use of funding.

Galicia is one of Spain's leading regions regarding agricultural and livestock production. In the light of the COVID-19 crisis, the permeability to the economic shocks of these sectors led to an unprecedented recession, given the heterogeneity of their characteristics, resulting in widespread losses. The main objective of this article is to analyze the impact of COVID-19 in the agricultural and livestock sectors in Galicia and, at the same time, identify the degree of affectation in each of these sectors, determine the impact of the pandemic in each province and study the institutional responses to the COVID-19 crisis. For this purpose, financial analysis of these sectors will be carried out through a sample of 998 companies. The results show a variation in operating income of -16.41% in the agricultural sector and -9.15% in the livestock sector in Galicia, although they are mixed across the different provinces of the region. Despite the articulation of a network of public aids and the adoption of new commercialization strategies, there are sub-sectors with high losses, such as the ornamental plant industry and the subsector dedicated to the production of beef.

In these last decades, especially after the Russia–Ukraine war, the impact of energy related to issues, such as energy poverty, energy transition, and energy security have been heavily debated. To comprehend the conceptual development of this subject in the academic literature, few studies tackle the problems above by reviewing earlier research on the subject. Inspired by this interest and literature ago in this field, this study aimed to address the past, present, and future advancements of critical issues in this regard. Thus, in this review paper performed during February–April 2023, we employed the PRISMA method selecting and checking the review papers articles indexed in the three databases of Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and JSTOR. Then, the research was followed by extending it and adding some other articles discovered on the gray literature. After a detailed classification of articles, a total of 2615 review articles were deemed valid for this analysis. The study’s key contributions is the classification of the some cluster themes for the metasynthesis analyses, which point to potential future directions with a special focus on governmental policies to pursue some macrolevel goals concerning energy poverty, energy transition, and energy security in our daily lives.

On the complex framing of the agricultural fields, related to the corporate social responsibility (CSR), the general objective of this paper is to assess the impacts of environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials of CSR and human capital features on the financial performance of agricultural companies. The data consists of a sample of 412 public companies from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database, with data for 2020, operating in 17 agricultural areas with headquarters allocated around the world. The methodological endeavor embeds two econometric procedures, multifactorial models of robust regression and structural equation modelling (SEM). The research results bring new evidence to underline the risks related to the sustainability of the financial performance of agricultural companies and the decisive role played by the ESG dimensions to counteract these risks, particularly by the environmental pillar, along with CSR specific strategies and human capital characteristics (management board and employees). We propose several strategies for companies operating in agricultural fields in order to enhance profitability by CSR measures.

The energy transition is a subject of significant interest in the countries of the European Union, and the involvement of public authorities is remarkable. Unlike previous energy transitions, this process is politically driven, the efforts of public authorities being secondary to the actions of companies whose guidelines are based on stability at the European level through strategies and directives. This paper aims to provide an overview of the current evolution of energy security status in the European Union and in Romania, with reference to global efforts to achieve climate neutrality through the energy transition. The historical method was used in the elaboration of the material, in order to outline the current energy security policies in terms of sustainability, both environmental and social. The logical method was used in order to emphasize the cause–effect relationship between economic processes in the energy sector. The use of bibliometric analysis demonstrated the importance of the topic of energy transition in scientific literature, but it also demonstrated the increasing interest of researchers in subjects related to energy security and energy poverty in the context of this new transition. By using the graphical method, statistic data and their evolution were highlighted in detail for the present study. The results of the articles are embodied in an approach that aims to focus on economic and social factors that determine the capacity of states to support the EU’s independence from a single supplier in the current context of conflict. The authors conclude by anticipating massive challenges in achieving the environmental objectives of the European Green Deal, as well as by highlighting the issue of energy poverty as a social factor influencing global strategic decisions.

The research conducted in this paper aims to examine the role of energy innovations, digital technological transformation, and environmental performance in enhancing the sustainable economic development of the European Union (EU) countries, widely shaped by the globalization process. An advanced empirical analysis is configured on a cross-sectional dataset of EU-27 Member States compiled at the level of 2018 based on several modern econometric procedures, namely robust regression, structural equation modelling (SEM) and network analysis through Gaussian graphical models (GGM). We apply the econometric procedures to firstly identify and assess the direct, indirect, and total interlinkages between all considered variables, as well as their further cumulated spillover impact on sustainable economic development. EU countries are afterward clustered according to the Ward method inset on hierarchical clustering for an in-depth assessment and tailored policy design by accounting for the level of financial and trade globalization (captured through the KOF Index of Globalization), environmental performance and sustainability (captured through the Environmental Performance Index—EPI), and the degree of integration of digital technologies (proxied through the Digital Economy and Society Index—DESI). Main results highlight that there are significant beneficial effects induced by energy innovations, increased environmental performance and digital transformation on the sustainable development of EU countries, with notable differentiation among them. Policy guidelines and strategic directions are also enhanced and largely presented within the paper.

The countries of Central and Eastern Europe, from the non-euro area, have completed the process of economic transition before joining the European Union. Achieving a certain level of economic development and membership in the European Union have generated their involvement in a new transition process, namely the energy transition. Concerns about promoting the low carbon economy have become increasingly complex for those countries that are interested in the environmental impact of economic activity. This study aims to analyze the process of energy transition in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe on the basis of the causality relationship among specific variables for the period 1990–2018. The study is based on cross-sectional panel data and the panel vector error correction model (PVECM). The efforts made by these countries by joining the European Union have generated economic development, with positive effects being recorded on the protection of the environment, a fact due to the strict regulations adopted and rigorous implementation at the national level. Foreign capital had a positive impact on the transition to a low carbon economy because most of the FDI flows attracted by the non-euro countries in the CEE come from Western Europe, i.e., from EU member countries, located either among the founders or among the countries that joined during the first waves of union expansion. Membership in the European Union facilitates the energy transition process for the non-euro countries of Central and Eastern Europe, but the new geopolitical events generate the reconfiguration of the European strategy of considering the need to ensure energy security.

Recent economic anomalies, including the unprecedented lockdown generated by the COVID-19 crisis, have demonstrated that the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) remains an actual topic in the financial literature and in practice. Companies operate in an increasingly volatile environment, due to twin transitions and interlinked crises, and so they must have specific tools for measuring risk and profitability, in order to enable them to have a sound financial policy. Based on the earlier results obtained by Modigliani and Miller (1963), Harris and Pringle (1985), and Farber, Gillet, and Szafarz (2006), this study shows the relationship between WACC and interest rate. It offers a modified WACC formula that considers unstable market circumstances. The new redefined WACC can be a valuable tool in business planning for companies from different fields. The companies in the energy sector are very interested in the topic of WACC, considering not only the complex nature of the investments made and the long-term nature of investment recovery but also the multiple risks that have an impact on their activity and that can be found in different economic, social, and geopolitical spheres.

Beyond the conventional understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a voluntary obligation for promoting triple-bottom-line CSR, development-oriented CSR is emerging and requires empirical investigation. This organisation-level research fills this gap by exploring development-oriented CSR as a driver of entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Arising from the review of the literature, human capital theory and stakeholder theory provided theoretical groundings for the study. The empirical study provides an enhanced understanding of development-oriented CSR that incorporates entrepreneurship into the extant literature. The target comprised multiple stakeholders in the Nigerian telecommunication industry, from which a sample of 369 responses were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The five tested hypotheses showed mixed results. The stakeholder management and economic dimensions of development-oriented CSR were found to have significant positive effects on entrepreneurship. However, the environmental, national, and social dimensions do not have significant positive effects on entrepreneurship. Overall, it was found that development-oriented CSR is a potential driver of entrepreneurship in the Nigerian telecommunication industry, but the predictability is weak (15%). The study concludes with practical implications and recommendations for further research in this multidisciplinary field.

Although NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and cryptocurrencies are active on the same market, their prices are not so closely related over time. The objective of this paper is to identify the relationship between the two types of assets (NFTs and the cryptocurrencies Ethereum, Crypto Coin, and Bitcoin), using data for the period between September 2020 until February 2022. The conclusions of the study are useful for cryptocurrency and NFT issuers, but also for investors on the financial market who are reconfiguring their portfolios with increasing frequency, and use these new assets for speculative or hedging purposes based on blockchain technology. The results highlighted relationships between NFTs and Ethereum, between Ethereum and Crypto Coin, and between Bitcoin and Ethereum, Ethereum being a bridge between all four. Therefore, NFTs present a relationship with Ethereum, the NFTs price had a causal effect on the price of Ethereum.

The attention to the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship has been especially enhanced during the current turbulent times, as social enterprises have a key role to play in solving social problems caused by the pandemic. Currently, social entrepreneurship is still an undeveloped area in Georgia, but it has the potential to contribute to the country’s economy and improve the social, ecological, and economic conditions of society. This paper analyses the concept in Georgia and explores social entrepreneurship from the social entrepreneurs’ perspective. A qualitative interview method was applied to collect the data for this study, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the seventeen Georgian social entrepreneurs from May–June 2021. The research reveals the drivers of social entrepreneurs and investigates the financial sources of social enterprises. It also discusses the practice of social entrepreneurship in terms of preventing and supportive factors while adopting the concept in transition economies, particularly in Georgia. The research demonstrated an urgent need for legislation to regulate the field of social entrepreneurship and formalize it.

Economic growth is a major goal pursued by public authorities but can be achieved with the involvement of several categories of stakeholders given the complexity of the phenomenon and the many influencing factors. In this research paper, the authors analyze specific current issues that are representative as influencers of economic growth. This study brings into focus the importance of education, particularly tertiary education, entrepreneurship skills, and innovation capacities of businesses. The objectives are (1) to find out if tertiary education leads to economic growth; (2) to examine if innovation is one of the promotors of economic growth; and (3) to discuss the impact of the dynamic of businesses (enterprise birth) on economic growth. The methodology used in this research is panel regression (static model) for a sample consisting of 30 European countries for the period 2003–2020. The main findings are associated with a positive influence of tertiary education on economic growth, whereas the two other variables, that of entrepreneurship and innovation, are found to be insignificant for this time period.

Food safety represents a current topic, with significant implications and diverse approaches within the specialized literature. In the context of globalization and integration of agricultural markets, the necessity of guaranteeing food safety is imperative for the functionality of contemporary agricultural systems. The radical transformation of the national agricultural systems as a result of the influences imposed by the convergence with the requirements and directions of the European agricultural model entails a significant change for the markets of agri-food products, affecting the food trade, its structure and, implicitly, food safety. In this context, the main objective of the present paper is to examine food safety in Romania using an econometric approach to the phenomenon. Nine fundamental variables are considered, for which the causal relationship between food safety and the exogenous variables taken into analysis is tested. The time frame for data availability for all the variables is 1990-2011. The obtained results highlight the transformations of paradigm of the national agricultural model from the perspective of the dimensions regarding food safety, confirming results from previous studies.

The association between carbon emissions and international trade has been examined thoroughly; however, consumption-based carbon emissions, which is adjusted for international trade, have not been studied extensively. Therefore, the present study assesses the asymmetric impact of trade (import and export) and economic growth in consumption-based carbon emissions (CCO2) using the MINT nations (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey) as a case study. We applied the Nonlinear ARDL to assess this connection using dataset between 1990 and 2018. The outcomes from the BDS test affirmed the use of nonlinear techniques. Furthermore, the NARDL bounds test confirmed long-run association between CCO2 and exports, imports and economic growth. The outcomes from the NARDL long and short-run estimates disclosed that positive (negative) shocks in imports increase (decrease) CCO2 emissions in all the MINT nations. Moreover, positive (negative) shocks in exports decrease (increase) CCO2 emissions in all the MINT nations. As expected, a positive shock in economic growth triggers CCO2 emissions while a negative shift does not have significant impact on CCO2 emissions in the MINT nations. Furthermore, we applied the Gradual shift causality test and the outcomes disclose that imports and economic growth can predict CCO2 emissions in the MINT nations. The study outcomes have significant policy recommendations for policymakers in the MINT nations.

Purpose: The article aims to identify the determinants of the urbanization process given the magnitude of this phenomenon and also its economic, social and environmental implications and pressure on public authorities to find viable solutions in the context of sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on regression analysis with urbanization growth being the dependent variable and enrollment in higher education, GDP, value added by industry and female labor force as independent variables. Findings: The main factors that favor urbanization are the increase in population, industry value-added and the female labor force. Urbanization is an objective that must be pursued differently by public authorities in developed and developing countries, given the different realities they face-population growth in developing countries, and population aging and international migration in developed countries. Research limitations/implications: The present research has limitations generated by the selection of independent variables, which is why in future directions, the research will consider the use of other indicators such as the number of graduates, exports as percent of GDP or migrations as a percentage of the total population. Given the complexity of the phenomenon of urbanization, future research will focus on groups of countries as they resulted from the clustering made by this article. Practical implications: The impact of higher education on urbanization is low, which is why the intensification of partnerships between municipal authorities and universities could be a solution that ensures not only the transfer of knowledge from academia to the public sector but also from entrepreneurs increasingly aware of the importance of promoting SDGs for urban development in the context of the challenges posed by global warming. The involvement of women in the labor market is essential for the intensification of the urbanization process. The increasing presence of women in the labor market generates an increase in the income of families, an increase in the level of education and an intensification of national and international migration. The research findings can be used by policy and decision-makers to develop appropriate urbanization and education policies and strategies. Originality/value: The existence of inhomogeneous clusters is noticeable, which demonstrates the complexity of the urbanization phenomenon that is present in all countries around the world, but under the influence of different factors such as the export of natural resources (mainly oil) or the intensification of industrial activity. Taking into account the variables used, this study stands out in the multitude of articles published in the international mainstream.

Foreign direct investments (FDI) are a force that shapes the world economy. Stocks and flows of FDI (inward and outward) are indicators followed with great attention by national and international entities and they are correlated with other macroeconomic indicators to detect trends at regional, national and international levels and to determine the degree of development of a country. The dramatically changes that occurred in world economy in the last 30 years have generated major changes on the motivations of foreign investors, the emergence of new types of economic agents that generate foreign direct investments and new international regulations regarding FDI. In this article, the authors analyzed the relations between FDI, import, export and GDP for Romania economy for the period 1990-2014. The research methodology applied is based on the Augmented Dickey-Fuller statistic test and the Granger causality test, the datasets for the variables included in the study have been drawn from official data sources, the UNCTAD database and the National Statistics Institute of Romania’s database (TEMPO). To present their results, the authors have used graphical and table-based instruments, which provides better understanding of the research outputs. Also, the study is placed within the context and historical landmarks of the Romanian economy, the results and conclusions emphasize the effects of certain actions and events on the indicators and correlations analyzed.

The main aim of the paper is to assess the impact of fix capital, energy use and domestic material consumption in changing the inland Romanian economic paradigm, from an economic perspective, using the intensive form of the Cobb-Douglas function. In order to identify various connections of economic growth, sustainable development, energy usage has determined the application of the vector error correction (VEC) model and the implied error correction term (ECT). This method was chosen based on the premise that it has a high degree of applicability and it can be used in order to revile significant aspects terms of indicator significance and displays. The results obtained during the research confirm that both in Romania and at EU-28 level there are determinant and significant elements shaping a proactive economic policy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the application of a generalized dynamic factor model (GDFM) based on dynamic principal components analysis to forecasting short-term economic growth in Romania. We have used a generalized principal components approach to estimate a dynamic model based on a dataset comprising 86 economic and non-economic variables that are linked to economic output. The model exploits the dynamic correlations between these variables and uses three common components that account for roughly 72% of the information contained in the original space. We show that it is possible to generate reliable forecasts of quarterly real gross domestic product (GDP) using just the common components while also assessing the contribution of the individual variables to the dynamics of real GDP. In order to assess the relative performance of the GDFM to standard models based on principal components analysis, we have also estimated two Stock-Watson (SW) models that were used to perform the same out-of-sample forecasts as the GDFM. The results indicate significantly better performance of the GDFM compared with the competing SW models, which empirically confirms our expectations that the GDFM produces more accurate forecasts when dealing with large datasets.

Contemporary economies are strongly reliant on energy and analyzing the determining factors that trigger the changes in energy paradigm and their impact upon economic growth is a topical research subject. Our contention is that energy paradigm plays a major role in achieving the sustainable development of contemporary economies. In order to prove this the panel data methodology of research was employed, namely four panel unit root tests (LLC, IPS, F-ADF and F-PP) aiming to reveal the connections and relevance among 17 variables denoting energy influence on economic development. Moreover, it was introduced a specific indicator to express energy consumption per capita. Our findings extend the classical approach of the changes in energy paradigm and their impact upon economic growth and offer a comprehensive analysis which surpasses the practices and policy decisions in the field.

This paper presents a heuristic methodology for estimating the possible variation of the liquid biofuel potential of a region, an appraisal made for a future period of time. The determination of the liquid biofuel potential has been made up either on the account of an average (constant) yield of the energetic crops that were used, or on the account of a yield that varies depending on a known trend, which can be estimated through a certain method. The proposed methodology uses the variation of the yield of energetic crops over time in order to simulate a variation of the biofuel potential for a future ten year time period. This new approach to the problem of determining the liquid biofuel potential of a certain land area can be useful for investors, as it allows making a more realistic analysis of the investment risk and of the possibilities of recovering the investment. On the other hand, the presented methodology can be useful to the governmental administration in order to elaborate strategies and policies to ensure the necessity of fuels and liquid biofuels for transportation, in a certain area. Unlike current methods, which approach the problem of determining the liquid biofuel potential in a deterministic way, by using econometric methods, the proposed methodology uses heuristic reasoning schemes in order to reduce the great number of factors that actually influence the biofuel potential and which usually have unknown values.