Environment Nexus Research Articles

Assessing the performance of sustainable entrepreneurship and environmental corporate social responsibility: revisited environmental nexus from business firms.

Society is currently contemplating sustainable growth strategies, which have become somewhat apprehensive by associating entrepreneurship, innovation, and sustainable development. In this perspective, this article's objective is to connect sustainable development to environmentally sensitive entrepreneurship via scientific proof of developing nations. Therefore, this research objective is to confirm the hypothesis of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to confirm that Pakistan achieves its objectives for sustainable development. The combined average estimator and pooled mean group (PMG) model of the self-release lag model determines a lengthy-term combination of factors and environmental analysis in the Kuznets. We can see the U-shaped ecological arcs in Pakistan. Further results show that the pooled mean group autoregressive distributed lag (PMG-ARDL) estimator has a long-term relationship. This indicates that a 1% rise in per-capita income at some stage of industrial growth will reduce environmental emissions by 2.88%, 4.54%, and 2.48%. The results show that (1) CSR has a substantial and robust link to the two factors of organizational success (employee engagement and credibility); (ii) respectively socio-cultural and ecological CSR make a positive contribution to the success of Pakistani companies; (iii) the ecological dimensions of CSR being the essential relevance to Pakistani companies' credibility and engagement of employees. This research attempts to include additional analytical information on the contribution of CSR to profitable growth. This also has academic and empirical ramifications, showing how domestic and international companies in developing countries can do CSR. This research is expected to give guidance to policymakers.

COVID-19 and environment: a poignant reminder of sustainability in the new normal.

The nexus of COVID-19 and environment is conspicuously deep-rooted. The roles of environmental factors in the origin, transmission and spread of COVID-19 and the mutual impact of the pandemic on the global environment have been the two perspectives to view this nexus. The present paper attempts to systematically review the existing literature to understand and explore the linkages of COVID-19 with environment and proposes conceptual frameworks to underline this nexus. Our study indicates a critical role of meteorological factors, ambient air pollutants and wastewater in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2) transmission-spread dynamics. The study also focuses on the direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 on the regional and global environment. Most of the indirect environmental effects of COVID-19 were attributed to global human confinement that resulted from the implementation of the pandemic containment measures. This worldwide anthropogenic ‘pause’ sent ripples to all environmental compartments and presented a unique test bed to identify anthropogenic impacts on the earth’s natural systems. The review further addresses emerging sustainability challenges in the new normal and their potential solutions. The situation warrants critical attention to the environment-COVID-19 nexus and innovative sustainable practices to address the ramifications of short- and long-term environmental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.Graphical abstract

Understanding environmentalism as a feminist media concern: documentary filmmaking, argumentation, advocacy and industry

ABSTRACT Over the last two decades, documentary filmmakers have increasingly turned their attention to environmental issues, whether the climate crisis, pollution, threats to the biosphere and its species or the effects of resource extraction. Women consistently play key roles in environmental documentary filmmaking, whether behind or in front of the camera. This essay explores the nexus of documentary filmmaking, women and environment. It examines the Australian documentary sector, tracking changing pathways of opportunity for women working in documentary production, particularly in relation to the causal connections between the rise of philanthropic funding and environmental documentary. The discussion investigates two recent examples, Wild Things (2020) and The Leadership (2020), exploring how they might reward an analysis that connects environmentalism and women. Tracking the convergence of a number of factors, including the gendered composition of the documentary sector, the rise of “impact documentary” with its changed conceptualisation of audiences, and the gendered profile of environmentalism, this article argues that contemporary documentary filmmaking is a significant site for understanding the environment as a feminist concern.

The Urbanization–Environmental Pollution Nexus: An Analysis Based on a Spatial Perspective

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the impact of urbanization on environmental pollution by using provincial and municipal panel data from 2004 to 2015 in China. Using the spatial Durbin model, the study finds a notable difference between the impact of urbanization on residential and industrial wastewater and waste gas. Urbanization in China will significantly improve the emissions of residential wastewater and industrial waste gas in local and neighboring provinces. The effective improvement of energy use, or energy efficiency, plays a key role in reducing environmental pollution and can effectively curb the emission of pollutants.

A multilevel scenario based predictive analytics framework to model the community mental health and built environment nexus

The built environment affects mental health outcomes, but this relationship is less studied and understood. This article proposes a novel multi-level scenario-based predictive analytics framework (MSPAF) to explore the complex relationships between community mental health outcomes and the built environment conditions. The MSPAF combines rigorously validated interpretable machine learning algorithms and scenario-based sensitivity analysis to test various hypotheses on how the built environment impacts community mental health outcomes across the largest metropolitan areas in the US. Among other findings, our results suggest that declining socio-economic conditions of the built environment (e.g., poverty, low income, unemployment, decreased access to public health insurance) are significantly associated with increased reported mental health disorders. Similarly, physical conditions of the built environment (e.g., increased housing vacancies and increased travel costs) are significantly associated with increased reported mental health disorders. However, this positive relationship between the physical conditions of the built environment and mental health outcomes does not hold across all the metropolitan areas, suggesting a mixed effect of the built environment’s physical conditions on community mental health. We conclude by highlighting future opportunities of incorporating other variables and datasets into the MSPAF framework to test additional hypotheses on how the built environment impacts community mental health.

Food Composition Databases: Does It Matter to Human Health?

Food provides humans with more than just energy and nutrients, addressing both vital needs and pleasure. Food habits are determined by a wide range of factors, from sensorial stimuli to beliefs and, once commanded by local and seasonal availability, are nowadays driven by marketing campaigns promoting unhealthy and non-sustainable foodstuffs. Top-down and bottom-up changes are transforming food systems, driven by policies on SDGs and by consumer’s concerns about environmental and health impacts. Food quality, in terms of taste, safety, and nutritional value, is determined by its composition, described in food composition databases (FDBs). FDBs are then useful resources to agronomists, food and mechanical engineers, nutritionists, marketers, and others in their efforts to address at maximum human nutrient needs. In this work, we analyse some relevant food composition databases (viz., purpose, type of data, ease of access, regularity of updates), inspecting information on the health and environmental nexus, such as food origin, production mode as well as nutritional quality. The usefulness and limitations of food databases are discussed regarding what concerns sustainable diets, the food ‘matrix effect’, missing compounds, safe processing, and in guiding innovation in foods, as well as in shaping consumers’ perceptions and food choices.

Policies for Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihood in Marginal Lands: A Review

Despite the substantial improvements in agricultural productivity owing to technological progress, the poor in agriculturally marginal areas are overlooked and left behind. Nearly a billion people still live in poverty, the majority of whom happen to be in developing countries, with a larger share of those who are poor living on marginal lands. Food insecurity is a vicious reality in the everyday lives of these marginalized poor, and the threat of food insecurity and hunger is becoming even more serious and imminent, with increasing trends in population growth. Climate change is expected to add yet more weight to this equation and to pose greater risks for the livelihoods of these communities. In spite of the challenges faced, addressing marginal agriculture systems and poverty is vital to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this paper, we investigate the historical policy perspective towards marginal areas to pinpoint potential shortcomings in the policy environment. Subsequently, we present a roadmap to future research engagement and develop a policy framework, with instruments and strategies focusing on the food–poverty–environment nexus, to target poverty reduction, preserve biodiversity, and restore marginal lands. Our analysis of historical policies reveals that conventional policy approaches towards marginal agriculture have been conducive to favorable areas (specific to input-responsive crops only), neglecting marginal areas. Future policies to address the food–poverty–environment nexus within marginal environments must evolve around a framework that is all-inclusive but context-specific. Agricultural and other public investments should be prioritized geographically in accordance with the characteristics of marginality hotspots. Policy instruments should encourage long-term solutions to enhance productivity through regenerative production systems and preserve the environmental resource base.

Design and Optimization of Smart Central Heating Units for Homes; Energy and Environment Nexus

Due to urban extension, air pollution is continuously getting to be a vital issue in present day social orders, particularly in metropolitan zones. Owing to the tremendous characteristic gas assets in Iran, a significant number of residential, commercial and industrial sectors use the central heating unit (CHU) as a source for warming. Emission of pollutants from these sources not only increases environmental degradation and energy consumption, but it also decreases the working life of heating systems and the safety factor. Thus, planning and improvement of inventive frameworks in this division can result in noteworthy diminishment of pollution and increment of energy consumption productivity. In this paper, a smart CHU has been designed and implemented, using an innovative intelligent network with the aim of optimizing burner performance in a 2250 square meter residential building. Furthermore, carbon monoxide (CO) emission and fuel consumption were analyzed and reduced simultaneously. The use of software and hardware elements in the design has reduced the working hours of the burner and improved its performance according to the required heat capacity at different times of the day. The result of this innovation showed a reduction in CO emission by 28% and an increment in energy saving by 25%, in comparison to the initial state. This study further indicates how intelligent control can significantly lower the pollution and optimize energy consumption.

Environmental Impacts and Public Opinion About International Trade: Experimental Evidence from Six OECD Countries

Abstract Do environmental implications of international trade influence public support for economic globalization? And under what conditions do environmental considerations shape individuals’ trade attitudes and policy preferences? In this study, we examine the microfoundations of the trade–environment nexus based on survey-embedded experiments in six OECD countries. Our empirical findings demonstrate that environmental implications have a substantial causal effect on public opinion about international trade. Furthermore, our results indicate that citizens are similarly sensitive to both domestic and international environmental implications of trade. These findings suggest that there is probably sufficient public support for green economy policies that take into account the global rather than only national environmental impacts from trade when designing trade policies.

Microwave assisted carbonization and activation of biochar for energy-environment nexus: A review

Conventional thermochemical conversion techniques for biofuel production from lignocellulosic biomass is often non-selective and energy inefficient. Microwave assisted pyrolysis (MAP) is cost and energy-efficient technology aimed for value-added bioproducts recovery from biomass with less environmental impacts. The present review emphasizes the performance of MAP in terms of product yield, characteristics and energy consumption and further it compares it with conventional pyrolysis. The significant role of biochar as catalyst in microwave pyrolysis for enhancing the product selectivity and quality, and the influence of microwave activation on product composition identified through sophisticated techniques has been highlighted. Besides, the application of MAP based biochar as soil conditioner and heavy metal immobilization has been illustrated. MAP accomplished at low temperature creates uniform thermal gradient than conventional mode, thereby producing engineered char with hotspots that could be used as catalysts for gasification, energy storage, etc. The stability, nutrient content, surface properties and adsorption capacity of biochar was enhanced by microwave activation, thus facilitating its use as soil conditioner. Many reviews until now on MAP mostly dealt with operational conditions and product yield with limited focus on comparative energy consumption with conventional mode, analytical techniques for product characterization and end application especially concerning agriculture. Thus, the present review adds on to the current state of art on microwave assisted pyrolysis covering all-round aspects of production followed by characterization and applications as soil amendment for increasing crop productivity in addition to the production of value-added chemicals, thus promoting process sustainability in energy and environment nexus.

Technical requirements for cultured meat production: a review.

Environment, food, and disease have a selective force on the present and future as well as our genome. Adaptation of livestock and the environmental nexus, including forest encroachment for anthropological needs, has been proven to cause emerging infectious diseases. Further, these demand changes in meat production and market systems. Meat is a reliable source of protein, with a majority of the world population consumes meat. To meet the increasing demands of meat production as well as address issues, such as current environmental pollution, animal welfare, and outbreaks, cellular agriculture has emerged as one of the next industrial revolutions. Lab grown meat or cell cultured meat is a promising way to pursue this; however, it still needs to resemble traditional meat and be assured safety for human consumption. Further, to mimic the palatability of traditional meat, the process of cultured meat production starts from skeletal muscle progenitor cells isolated from animals that proliferate and differentiate into skeletal muscle using cell culture techniques. Due to several lacunae in the current approaches, production of muscle replicas is not possible yet. Our review shows that constant research in this field will resolve the existing constraints and enable successful cultured meat production in the near future. Therefore, production of cultured meat is a better solution that looks after environmental issues, spread of outbreaks, antibiotic resistance through the zoonotic spread, food and economic crises.

Agricultural trade and environment nexus- A case study of rice exports from India

In recent years there is discussion regarding nexus between agricultural trade and environment and shared responsibility in addressing trade related environmental externalities. In the current study, this nexus is examined focusing on rice exports from India in the recent decade. India’s share in quantity of world rice exports was 22.45 per cent on an average in the decade 2010-2019. However, in the same period India’s share in water footprint of world rice exports was 28.29 per cent. Further average economic productivity of water in rice exports was 0.24 and 0.22 USD/ M3 in the case of World and India, respectively. The estimated methane emission associated with Indian rice exports ranged between 2.42 to 11.31 per cent of total methane emission from rice production. Totally, 47 countries were involved as top 5 destinations of different types of rice exports from India. Land scarcity, water scarcity, water availability for agriculture, agricultural trade policies in these countries were the underlying factors of the observed rice export pattern of India. Out of these 47 trade partners, in 27 countries, methane emission intensity in paddy was higher than that of India in 2017, but paddy area was lower compared to India. Several national level and international level policy options are available for handling the environmental externalities associated with rice exports from India.

Energy, Development and Environment Nexus: A Review

Energy, Development and Environment Nexus: A Review

Innovation affecting growth aspirations of early stage entrepreneurs: culture and economic freedom matter

PurposeEarlier research confirms the positive effect of innovation in shaping growth ambitions of entrepreneurs. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the effect of innovation on growth ambitions of entrepreneurs is contingent on the role of institutions, namely, culture and economic freedom. In other words, the authors’ objective is to provide an institutionally contingent understanding of the role of innovation in shaping growth ambitions of early-stage entrepreneurs.Design/methodology/approachThe authors applied hierarchical linear modeling technique on the data of 100,566 early-stage entrepreneurs in 109 countries that participated in annual surveys of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.FindingsThe authors find that the effect of innovation on shaping growth ambitions of early stage entrepreneurs is contingent on the role of culture such that, in secular cultures, innovation benefits growth ambitions more than traditional cultures. Further, the authors found that the effect of innovation on growth expectations is dependent on the level of economic freedom in the country in which the firms operate so that in the countries with higher level of economic freedom, early-stage entrepreneurs expect more growth out of their innovation as compared to their counterparts in the depressed economies.Originality/valueThe results contribute to our understanding of entrepreneurial growth aspirations as a result of the interplay of entrepreneur–firm–environment nexus.

The Entrepreneurs Environment Nexus: Understanding the Entrepreneurial Training, Skills and Networking for Youths’ Business Sustainability

The personality of a youth is an important factor in determining business continuity. However, facing the business competition in the era of industrial revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) required environmental support factors beyond personality of youth entrepreneurs. Based on that framework, this study claims that training, skills and support network from the government-sponsored entrepreneurship program is critical factor in ensuring business sustainability among Malaysian youth entrepreneurs. The quantitative research design was conducted involved 150 youth entrepreneurs. This study shows that government initiatives comprise of training, skills and support of business networks have influenced business continuity among youth entrepreneurs to stay relevant.The research was funded by Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia research grant (SO Code: 13923).

Four propositions on integrated sustainability: toward a theoretical framework to understand the environment, peace, and sustainability nexus

The sustainability agenda has evolved around a set of interconnected dilemmas regarding economic, social, and environmental goals. Progress has been made in establishing thresholds and targets that must be achieved to enable life to continue to thrive on the planet. However, much work remains to be done in articulating coherent theoretical frameworks that adequately describe the mechanisms through which sustainability outcomes are achieved. This paper reviews core concepts in the sustainability agenda to develop four propositions on integrated sustainability that collectively describe the underlying mechanisms of sustainable development. We then advance a framework for integrated sustainability and assess its viability through linear regression and principal components analysis of key selected indicators. The results provide preliminary evidence that countries with institutions that enable cooperation and regulate competition perform better in attaining integrated sustainability indicators. Our findings suggest that institutional design is important to sustainability outcomes and that further research into process-oriented mechanisms and institutional characteristics can yield substantial dividends in enabling effective sustainability policy.

The Potentials and Challenges of Achieving Sustainability through Charcoal Producer Associations in Kenya: A Missed Opportunity?

The charcoal industry, specifically charcoal production, is tremendously valuable to Kenya for its contribution to economic, social and environmental nexus. Considering the degradation of ecosystems and charcoal production’s critical role, the government established the Forest (charcoal) rules of 2009, assigning commercial charcoal production under Charcoal Producer Associations (CPAs). Identifying numerous bans in the recent past, this paper sets out to understand CPAs’ potentials and challenges in attaining sustainability within the sector. Using focus group discussions with CPA members from Tana River and Kitui counties, the paper outlines analysed data within the functionality, governance and policy implications parameters of operation. The findings show high economic value for the members and an in-depth environmental significance to the communities within which these CPAs exist. Thus, we propose a schematic to enhance charcoal production processes to achieve sustainable ecosystems and livelihoods. There is high potential within the CPAs for the sector’s sustainability through monitoring platforms, restoration plans, adopting sustainable practices, knowledge dissemination and societal advancement. To advance this untapped potential of these associations, we recommend building their technical, business and governance skills, exploring various restoration schemes, financial and regulatory support in implementation, and policy support.

The anthropogenic consequences of energy consumption in E7 economies: Juxtaposing roles of renewable, coal, nuclear, oil and gas energy: Evidence from panel quantile method

The emerging industrialized seven (E7) economies are not excluded from the global warming issues which is a major problem for most economies. The E7 member countries have partaken in policies to mitigate against global warming in terms of decoupling CO2 emission from economic growth trajectory in the highlighted economies. It is on this premise that the present study is motivated to consider the connection among economic growth, pollutant emissions, coal rent while accounting for the role of other co-variates such as CO2 damage and energy from a nuclear energy source, oil gas energy between 1990 and 2016 on an annual frequency. This study adopts the use of panel ordinary least squares alongside panel quantile regression to explore the coal rent-energy and environment nexus. The empirical result shows a positive and significant effect of both real GDP and coal rent on CO2 emissions. More precisely, a 1% increase in GDP growth increases pollution emission by 0.400% while for coal rent, an increase in coal consumption dampens environmental quality by 0.088% as reported by the panel regression which is resonated by the quantile regression estimations at different tails of the data. Nevertheless, we observe that 0.95 percentile GDP growth strongly contributes to environmental pollution while at the median tail i.e. 0.5 percentile renewable energy consumption dampens the adverse effect of environmental degradation. Additionally, renewable energy, on the other hand, was found a negative and significant impact on CO2 emissions in E7 countries as a 1% increase in renewable energy consumption improves environmental quality by 0.588% Moreover, the estimated results indicate that regulation of coal consumption through the rent in addition to the cost of carbon damage will further increase the CO2 emissions in E7 countries. This study implies that putting stringent regulations on coal consumption as it concerns the increasing cost of carbon damage will not be of help to environmental sustainability within the E7 economies. The adoption of renewable energy consumption, nuclear energy, oil energy will reduce CO2 emissions in E7 countries. Thus, suggesting a paradigm shift for low-carbon energy sources which are more environmentally friendly.

Why has the ‘black’ market in the Gulf of Guinea endured?

ABSTRACT This study seeks to investigate the resilience of energy black market in the Gulf of Guinea. The objective of the study is carried out in a theoretical elucidation grounded in qualitative empirical research. The study argues that the regional ‘black’ market of the trivet of crude oil theft, petro-piracy and illegal trade in fuel is an organised business crime; a well-structured illegal enterprise which thrives on inadequate energy infrastructure and corruption in the region. The key ingredients, processes and institutions of the ‘black’ economy are constructed within socio-economic networks, exist in an overlap, and operate in a constantly mutating crime environment. The study concludes that business–network–environment nexus of crime provides a justifiable explanation for the elasticity of the crude economy in the Gulf of Guinea, with the enterprise’s socio-economic infrastructure enhancing its susceptibility as much as it reinforces its resilience and should be the fulcrum of targeted measures.

Renewable-nonrenewable energy: institutional quality and environment nexus in South Asian countries

Today energy has become a fundamental need; without energy consumption, no country can survive economically. Along with developed economies, developing countries are struggling more to achieve sustainable economic growth. Therefore, different strategies are being made to develop renewable energy for economic gains. In this line, this study attempts to investigate the impacts of nonrenewable and renewable energy and other socioeconomic factors on CO2 emissions in South Asian countries. The annual data was converted into quarterly data of 1996Q1-2019Q4. The unit root test with structural breaks confirmed mix order of integration and further ARDL approach was applied to know the long- and short-run associations. The long-run association shows that economic growth in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka is not sustainable. Nepal is achieving economic growth with reducing CO2 emissions. In India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, institutional quality can play an important role to achieve cleaner production. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, population growth is also lowering CO2 emissions. In India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, nonrenewable energy usage is contributing to environmental pollution and renewable energy is lowering it. These countries need to enhance the ratio of renewable energy to their industrial production units.