Greening the digital stack with AI: An explainable fuzzy assessment of ICTs and sustainable development in MENA, with a Tunisia case study

PurposeHigher education institutions (HEIs) should play a fundamental role in achieving the international 2030 sustainable development (SD) agenda. Quality education is the fourth of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and one of the targets related to this is to ensure that by 2030 all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote SD. Therefore, the SDGs provide a motive for HEIs to integrate SD concepts into their day-to-day practices. This study aims to introduce a framework for HEIs’ sustainable development assessment. Such a framework guides HEIs and educational leaders to support their countries’ commitments to achieving the SDGs.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents the results of a case study analysis of the role and successful techniques of HEIs in achieving SD in three countries, namely, Germany, Japan and Egypt. Primary data was collected by semi-structured interviews with three Cairo University officials, while secondary data was collected by reviewing the universities' official websites, reports, publications and related papers. This study introduces a novel framework for HEIs' SD analysis and assessment, which guides HEIs and educational leaders to support SD to fulfill their countries' commitments to achieving the SDGs. This framework is based on the following five categories: strategic direction and institutional working practices, supporting students, supporting university staff competencies, supporting society's stakeholders and networking and sustainable campus. Consideration is given to the potential role of HEIs to support SD in each of these areas.FindingsCairo University could learn from the novel and pioneer practices of the Leuphana University of Lüneburg, and the University of Tokyo to fill in the gaps it has in different roles. It can also put more effort into adopting the suggested higher education programs of Egypt's Vision 2030.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is limited to a case analysis comparing three countries, Germany, Japan and Egypt. Second, this study has not considered school education, which is equally essential in countries' SD.Practical implicationsHEIs can use the framework and the findings in this paper to evaluate their current roles in supporting SD, identify the gaps and take actions accordingly to address their weaknesses.Originality/valueThe paper compares three universities, one in each of the case study countries. It draws conclusions that identify ways in which the paper's framework and findings can guide SD practice in HEIs internationally, especially those in the developing world.

Assessment of coastal zone sustainable development: A case study of Yantai, China

The significance of acknowledging well-being (WB) has increased in local sustainable development (SD) assessment. Meanwhile, scholars and practitioners have paid growing attention to using subjective indicators which rely on a person’s subjective evaluation to measure SD subjects, due to the frequent critique. The predominant use of objective indicators to assess SD frequently overlooks capturing individual’s and community’s WB. Nevertheless, the scopes and functions of subjective indicators remain underexamined in the SD assessment context. Therefore, this study discusses the distinctive characteristics of subjective sustainable development indicators (SDIs), contrasting with objective SDIs, complemented by examining WB indicators. To this end, an analysis of the literature on indicator-based assessment of SD and WB at the community and local level was conducted. The findings highlighted that the three distinctive approaches of SDIs could optimally capture and address associated WB: the objective SDIs could most sufficiently capture and address material WB capture, which turned, however, the shortcoming that overlooks other dimensions of WB. In contrast, the expert-led subjective SDIs could optimally capture and address community’s social WB, whereby the outcomes reflected social norms and preferences recognised by a community and sustainability theories. Likewise, the citizen-based subjective SDIs distinctly measured individual’s life satisfaction levels, whereby the outcomes explicitly presented individual’s subjective WB while addressing local needs and values. This study finally suggests that the complementary use of the respective SDIs contributes to a thorough local-level SD assessment, by optimally addressing associated WB, which ultimately helps meet the current and future generations’ WB in achieving local SD.

Purpose: Urgency of solving the scientific problem of regional economy connected with the assessment of the productive capacity and economic activity defining the region’s sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach: It is extremely important to evaluate the state of productive capacity and economic activity of the regional social and economic system basing on synthesis of the evolutionary and genetic approach, as well as the spatial approach providing objective identity, classification, visualization and assessment of factor components for the region’s sustainable development. The article gives the assessment results for factor components of the municipal districts’ productive capacity and economic activity; the districts’ spatial variability was also studied. The research result is represented by the methodology for assessing the sustainable development of municipal districts. Findings: The article demonstrates the effectiveness of using themed digital maps providing the visual side of spatial predicted patterns in distributing indexes of productive capacity and economic activity in municipal districts. The key characteristic of the region’s sustainable development assessment is its interdisciplinary nature provided by integration of the evolutionary and genetic, as well as spatial approaches based on contemporary GIS technologies. Originality/value: The results’ scientific value includes the theoretical and methodological explanation for method tools used for reasoning the decisions made in the area of managing the region’s sustainable social and economic development. According to the authors, the spatial approach based on the spatial analysis methods will enable to bring up serious thought on the meaning of the region’s sustainable social and economic development opening up certain perspectives to improve methods and means for regional and municipal management, include spatial analysis methods into the process of making management decisions.

The overall purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of financing renewable energy sources on the assessment of sustainable development in Poland’s provinces. There are also two detailed objectives: (1) define how Polish policies are being passed on to local authorities; (2) realize a Poland’s provinces ranking, taking into account the indicators of sustainable development, thanks to the taxonomic measure of development in the area of environmental order. This study deals with the taxonomic assessment of local sustainable development in the local administration units of Poland. To this end, the methods of linear ordering were applied for the assessment of the level of objects differentiation with the use of a closed set of statistical features. The presented analysis proved that the taxonomic distances between synthetic measures for particular provinces are considerable. The highest values of the integrated measure in 2018 were obtained by the following provinces: Podlaskie, Subcarpathian and Lubusz. It is noteworthy to point to the big changes in the ranking between 2018 and 2016. The cluster analysis showed some progress in achieving the goals of sustainable development. The group of provinces with an average level of sustainable development in 2018 included six provinces compared to two provinces in 2016. Removing one indicator from the integrated measure (the financing of renewable energy sources (RES)) led to a moderate increase in the integrated measure across all the provinces. This implies that, on average, the financing of renewable energy sources exerts increasingly smaller impacts on the level of sustainable development in Poland.

This article is aimed to address the issue of sustainable economic development assessment in family farms. A complex methodology of family farm sustainable economic development assessment based on the family farm sustainable economic development index has been created following analysis of family farm sustainable economic development assessment methodologies, which are proposed by scientists and used in practice. The Kruskal-Wallis test and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to check the relevance of the index in family farm sustainable economic development assessment. The index value range was calculated using descriptive statistics. The characteristics of the index allow creating models for family farm sustainable economic development classification types based on k-means clustering. The family farms were classified into nine types. Examples of Lithuanian family farms were provided to demonstrate practical applications of the index. Furthermore, analysis of Lithuanian family farm sustainable economic development types by specialisation enabled to identify the main reasons for the existing situation in the farms.

In the article, the authors turn to the consideration of the question of the formation of an effective mechanism for the sustainable development of industrial enterprises. The authors of the article analyzed the existing mechanisms. They found that some researchers consider the mechanism of sustainable development as a set of several mechanisms, and others talk about the complex of organizational structures of the enterprise. The authors define the mechanism of sustainable development of an industrial enterprise as a set of elements of the organization system that contribute to the functioning, promotion and development of an object under the influence of both internal and external factors that lead to the formation of quantitative, qualitative and structural transformations of the enterprise, in order to achieve an equilibrium state and predetermined results. Based on this definition, the main elements of the mechanism of sustainable development of enterprises were identified. These include objectives, methods and tools, principles, factors, assessment of sustainable development, and management based on identified materials. Process of forming an effective mechanism for the sustainable development of industrial enterprises, the authors divide it into five blocks. The first block is aggregate potential of the enterprise. It consists in determining the totality of indicators or factors characterizing the strength of the company, sources, capabilities, funds, reserves, capabilities, resources and many other production reserves that can be used in economic activities. The second block is sustainable development goals. Which states the need to set the goal of sustainable development. The third unit is a set of factors, methods and principles of sustainable development. It includes three important components of the mechanism, such as principles, factors, methods and tools. The fourth block is assessment of the level of stability. Speaking about the assessment of sustainable development, it is necessary to take into account the specifics and features of production and in accordance with them, the enterprise can choose any indicator for assessing the level of sustainability. The fifth block is adaptation of managerial decisions and adjusting the goals, functions, principles and methods. It is a response and decision-making in accordance with the level of sustainability identified in the evaluation phase.

Sustainable development represents a civilization challenge that should meet the needs of today’s generations without jeopardizing the ability of the Earth to meet the needs of the future generations. This challenge, as an evolutionary process in which the social and economic development and the environment protection are independent, but mutual complementary components demands the solving of several issuesThe vision of sustainable economic development is based on the historical, cultural and political development of the countries. There is no unique way of sustainable development for different countries and therefore they cannot be made in the same way.The transition toward sustainable development represents a social choice that connects the global vision of the local needs and goals. The citizens must participate in the process of sustainable development. They must recognize the role they have in creating problems and finding solutions.In order to gain a general frame for the assessment of sustainable economic development it is necessary to integrate several methodologies and approaches toward the possible future generations for a quality and healthy life.One of the ways of assessing the results from the policies and the activities is the use of the principles and indicators according to which it is determined how much the countries work on sustainable development. Part of the indicators are generally accepted, and part are in a modeling phase. A systematic approach is necessary to see whether all indicators are necessary, and which of them are necessary for the assessment of sustainability. The economists do not have problems in executing the objective and quantitative indicators. The sociologists are facing many problems in the execution of indicators because of the immateriality of the life quality. However, the environment experts see problems when they are limited in the execution of indicators.Sustainable development is much more than a mutual connection between the economy, the law and the ecology in establishing relations between the indicators of sustainable development and the economic development are the basis for creating conceptual link between the different approaches toward sustainable economic development.The aim of this paper is the implementation of today’s relevant experiences, practices and theoretical knowledge expressed through the changes that are reflected in the life in the Republic of Macedonia:• Protection of natural resources• Sustainable production and consumption• Sustainable sources of energy and• Following and reporting about the conditions, supported by the following indica-tors:• Level of citizens’ involvement in the social activities• Number of companies that have an ecological strategy• Number of people involved in the planning process• Number local communities in the Republic of Macedonia, which are eco-logically oriented• Number of shops that sale home food and organically developed food• Number of companies for organic production• Renewable sources of energy in the Republic of Macedonia• The level of nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere The elaboration of the final material will go through the following principles: Participation of local citizens. Key segment of the implementation of the Agenda 21; Short-term plans that support the municipalities that environmentally oriented; Local production, which is forced whenever possible;The oil, coal, gas, water should be saved and renewable sources of energ y should be used instead.

Despite the extensive literature on rural issues, the relationship between sustainable development of rural areas and spatial localisation (bound to local conditions with a focus on own sources of development) remains debatable. The paper aims to determine the impact of territorial differences and existing restrictions on the sustainability of social, ecological and economic processes in rural areas. According to the hypothesis, a system of indicators can be developed to comprehensively assess sustainable rural development considering the localisation component, as well as to propose relevant management tools. The research methodology is based on the discourse, fundamental approaches, criteria, and the system of indicators. Methods of comparative analysis, ranking and clustering were utilised. The developed approach to the comprehensive assessment of sustainable rural development, tested in Belgorod oblast, includes three steps. First, indicators of sustainable development and local specificity of rural municipalities were identified. Second, rural areas were classified according to the sustainable development coefficient and degree of localisation. Third, a differentiated approach to the management of sustainable rural development was presented. 4 types of municipalities were identified: low localised with a high level of sustainable development (3 districts); moderately and highly localised with high and average levels of sustainable development (8 districts); low localised with an average level of sustainable development (2 districts); highly localised with average and low levels of sustainable development (8 districts). This result indicates the complex spatial structure of the region. Measures for ensuring the sustainable rural development in each type of municipality were substantiated. The findings can be considered by the government for creating socio-economic strategies and programmes to develop rural settlements, as well as for studying the inter-municipal polarisation of rural areas.

The article analyses sustainable economic development of EU countries according to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), by using indices of integrated sustainable development and environmental footprint. Sustainable economic initiatives can be driven by economic, environmental and social aspects, applying principles of innovation and knowledge. However, development requires skills, human and financial resources; in turn, it increases productivity, efficiency, competitiveness, profit, and promotes a better working environment. In general, sustainable business initiatives contribute to SDGs and reduce the environmental footprint. The scientific problem is how to develop a sustainable economy while ensuring the achievement of SDGs and at the same time reducing the environmental footprint. The object of the scientific research is the evaluation of sustainable economic development through the analysis of integrated sustainable development indicators. The aim of the research is, upon the evaluation of SDGs and environmental footprint indices as well as the analysis of the integrated sustainable development indicator, to identify the opportunities for sustainable economic development in the EU countries. The research has been carried out by analysing the scientific literature, and applying SDGs and environmental footprint methodology to calculate individual and integrated sustainable development indices. The results have shown that despite the disparity of SDG indices, the overall value of the integrated sustainable development indicator is distributed quite evenly among the EU countries. The impacts from each of the SDG indices range from 11% to 31% but the environmental footprint index has the greatest impact on the sustainable development of a country—up to 31%.

The concept of sustainable economic development takes into account economic, social and environmental aspects and strives to achieve balance between them. One of the basic areas where it is required to revalue the current views on sustainable development is energy. The growing public awareness of environmental protection forces changes in this industry. Despite the global nature of this problem, its solution is perceived differently in various regions of the world. The unquestionable leader in introducing the idea of sustainable development economy is the European Union, where the energy sector is of key importance for the effectiveness of this process. In order to assess the sustainable energy development of the European Union countries, studies were conducted based on 13 selected indicators characterizing this sector in terms of energy, economy and environment. In order to assess the specificity of the European Union countries, these indicators were additionally compared to the gross domestic product value and the number of inhabitants of individual countries. For these cases, multi-criteria analyses were carried out using the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. It allowed the authors to rank the European Union countries in terms of their adaptation to a sustainable energy economy. Based on the determined values of indicators versus the gross domestic product and the number of inhabitants of the countries in question, these countries were also divided into similar groups with the use of the Kohonen artificial neural networks. These groups can pursue a common energy policy in the field of sustainable development. The aim of the research was to present a new approach to the assessment of sustainable energy development of the European Union countries. The extensive ratio analysis (13 indicators of the sustainable energy development), including the economic and demographic potential of individual countries, and the use of modern tools made it possible to acquire new knowledge in the field of sustainable energy development in the European Union countries. The results should be utilized for more effective sustainable energy development of the European Union countries.

Sustainable development assessment from a capitals perspective: Analytical structure and indicator selection criteria

The energy transition has now been recognised by European Union (EU) member states as a necessary condition for their long-term development. The process of energy transformation is predicated on the simultaneous implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, which present a considerable challenge for modern economies and impose significant restrictions on their functioning. The objective of this article is to evaluate the transformation of EU member states in the field of sustainable energy development and to categorise them based on their alignment with Sustainable Development Goal No. 7 of the United Nations Agenda 2030, concerning affordable and clean energy, in 2015 and 2023. The monitoring of the progress of the energy transition, as well as the examination of its temporal trends and spatial characteristics, can provide a fundamental analysis framework for the strategic development of energy policy in the EU at national and regional levels. An important approach for this endeavour is the indicator-based assessment of trends. The correspondence analysis proposed in this study and the hierarchical classification, which was intended to help link categories in a two-dimensional space, have the potential to facilitate a more comprehensive assessment of the degree to which EU member states are developing sustainable energy. The study results confirmed significant heterogeneity among the EU-27 countries in terms of energy sustainability. In both 2015 and 2023, the groups of EU countries that achieved a certain level of energy sustainability were identified. However, it should be noted that the composition of each group changed in 2023 compared to 2015. Moreover, no group of EU countries was without its own particular strengths and weaknesses. The results provide opportunities for their interpretation, both in terms of analysing changes in individual indicators and in terms of the global assessment of sustainable development in individual countries. The adoption of an original research approach, divergent from previous studies, for the new timeframe contributes to the resolution of the research gap in empirical studies concerning the classification of EU member states in terms of SDG7 implementation.

Topic of the thesis: system analysis of sustainable development. Research hypothesis: sustainable development planning and monitoring model allows to assess the development of various socio-economic systems (countries). The aim of the doctoral thesis: to analyze sustainable development processes, based on a systemic approach, in order to create a sustainable development monitoring model and develop proposals for planning the strategic goals of Latvia’s sustainable development. Tasks solved to achieve the goal. 1. To study the theoretical aspects, concepts and models of sustainable development in the world. 2. To compare and systematically analyze the development indicators of different socio-economic systems (countries) in terms of money and energy units. 3. To develop sustainable development assessment methodology and sustainable development monitoring model, using system power change system analysis approach and invariant coordinate system. 4. To analyze within a systemic approachthe indicators of sustainable development of Latvia and forecast them in the invariant coordinate system in energy units 2030 and 2060. Research methods used: scientific: content analysis; monographic method; method of analysis and synthesis; induction method; deduction method; the logically constructive method. Statistical analyses: descriptive statistical method; mathematical data analysis method; time series analysis. Other: Granger method, causality test; Pearson correlation test; Durbin-Watson test. Study period: from 1990 to 2019, excluding developed countries USA, Japan, France, Germany and Italy data 1960-2019 and Latvia's 2021 data. The main scientific novelties of the doctoral thesis: in this interdisciplinary study, the methodology for evaluating indicators of sustainable development of socio-economic systems (countries) has been developed, using natural science processes and connecting the regularities of economics, mathematics, physics and the environment. The sustainable development monitoring model – SDMM – has been created. Sustainable development indicators in energy units have been formulated for the first time in Latvia. The socio-economic indicators of Latvia and several other countries are analyzed in the context of sustainable development, as well as the possible scenarios of sustainable development of Latvia until 2030 and 2060 are modeled. Economic significance: the results of the study can be used in the process of planning, evaluation and monitoring of sustainable development indicators of state and local government institutions, in the study process of higher education institutions on sustainable development issues. Theses to be defended. Thesis 1: the study of the theoretical aspects of sustainable development is the basis for evaluating the shortcomings of existing concepts and methods and for further improvement. Thesis 2: the formalization of the principles of sustainable development in energy units, using the invariant coordinate system and the power change system analysis, allows determining the current state and target indicators of any socio-economic system (country), indicating problems and predicting development scenarios. Thesis 3: The sustainable development planning and monitoring model of Latvia in the invariant coordinate system in energy units allows to predict the possible scenarios of the country's development. The structure of the doctoral thesis is made in accordance with the proposed hypothesis, the set goal and tasks and consists of three chapters with subsections. The first chapter of the work analyzes the prerequisites and historical aspects of the formation of the concept of sustainable development, the models of strong and weak sustainability, the concept of the capital theory approach. The use of the approach of natural sciences in economics is studied and the concept of sustainable development in energy units is described, as well as the capacity (energy flow) model of the socio-economic system. In the second chapter, 15 different socio-economic systems (countries) were chosen to test the SDMM and country indicators were compared according to two methods: (1) gross domestic product in monetary terms; (2) development indicators in the invariant coordinate system in energy units, based on the methodology of the author of the doctoral thesis, which is based on the models of scientists Kuznecov and Odum. Thus, different results of the sustainable development assessment of the analyzed countries were obtained and their importance was explained not only in the current (concrete) situation of the country, but especially in forecasting and monitoring future development. The third chapter analyzes the Latvia’s sustainable development planning and monitoring system. Four possible scenarios of sustainable development of Latvia until 2030 and 2060 are predicted within the framework of the created sustainable development monitoring model (SDMM). At the end of the work, the main results and problems of the study are formulated, as well as proposals for their solution are put forward. The length of the dissertation (Ph.D.) for obtaining a scientific degree in social sciences is 148 pages. The work contains 66 tables, 49 images, 18 annexes (on 55 pages), 257 sources of information are used, incl. 231 sources – in English. The doctoral thesis was developed thanks to the support of Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies scientific projects: No. 8.2.2.0/20/I/001 “Transition of LLU to the new doctoral funding model” (2023) and Z70 “Integrated approach to determining socio-economic indicators of sustainable development” (2023-2024).

The traditional assessment of efficiency ofoperations and of development projects of transportsystems is based on a mercantilist approach thatconsiders efficiency of activities according to the«cost–income–profit of economic entities» pattern.In this case, non-systemic, external results areusually not considered, while they can be many timeshigher in value terms than the internal resultsobtained by economic entities. External results areoften seen outside the realm of purely economicrelations. This is especially evident in theinfrastructure sector, the material basis of which isformed by transport and logistics. To some extent acrisis of economic doctrine has arisen. An ecologicalcrisis is being observed due to unrestrainedanthropogenic activity. The concentration of peopleand production activities in cities has become thecause of the urbanization crisis. Growing inequalityhas led to an exacerbation of social contradictions.As a result, mankind has faced a complex crisis ofcivilization. Sustainable development was recognizedas the main means of resolving the crisis. Sustainabletransport dev elopement-being primarily aninfrastructure field of activity, serves as thefoundation for building sustainable development ofthe economy and social sphere. The sustainabledevelopment goals set by the world communityunder the auspices of the UN can only be achievedthrough the comprehensive assessment ofeffectiveness of management decisions (cumulativeaccounting of all internalities and externalities).Transport has become a pioneer in sustainabledevelopment of territories and cities. The approachto a comprehensive assessment of effectiveness ofsustainable development determines the reform ofeconomic and fiscal relations in the future accordingto the principle of the Pigou tax.The objective of this article is to explore ways toimprove assessment of effectiveness andmethodology of sustainable development oftransport organizations and transport systems. Thearticle substantiates the relevance and directions ofimproving the methodology for a comprehensiveassessment of the results of transport activities andpresents analytical models for a comprehensiveassessment of its effectiveness. The promising tasksfor continuation of research and development areassociated with justification and legal legitimation ofthe use of cost estimates of various external resultsof improving transport, as well as with developmentof a system for monitoring of information necessaryfor a comprehensive assessment of sustainabletransport development.