Environmental Dimensions Of Sustainability Research Articles

A Composite Indicator to Assess Sustainability of Agriculture in European Union Countries

Few studies have been conducted to assess agricultural sustainability in the European Union (EU), and all of them fail to provide a holistic view of sustainability in a relevant temporal horizon that could effectively support the design of policies. In this paper, a composite indicator is constructed based on the geometric aggregation of 12 basic indicators measured yearly in the period 2004–2020 (17 years) on all EU countries plus United Kingdom, with weights determined endogenously according to the Benefit of Doubt (BoD) approach. Our composite indicator has a two-level hierarchical structure accounting for the contributions of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability. In our results, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania and Poland are the countries with the strongest growth rate of sustainability, while countries reaching the 90th percentile of the score in sustainability include Austria, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden. In overall, the social and the environmental dimensions have similar levels, while the level of the economic dimension is definitely higher. Interestingly, several countries with a high level of sustainability are characterized by a decline of the economic dimension, including Austria, Finland, Italy, Latvia and Slovakia. The reliability of our composite indicator is supported by the substantial agreement of sustainability scores with subsidies attributed by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Therefore, our proposal represents a valuable resource not only to monitor the progress of EU member countries towards sustainability objectives, but also to refine the scheme for the attribution of CAP subsidies in order to stimulate specific sustainable dimensions.

Sustainability in management undergraduate courses: mapping the Brazilian higher education institutions

PurposeThis study aims to analyse the insertion of Sustainability in Management undergraduate courses in Brazilian higher education institutions (HEIs).Design/methodology/approachThrough content analysis, the authors have mapped the curricular grids of the Management courses simultaneously best classified in an independent national ranking and with the highest scores in the Brazilian Government’s assessment instruments. Afterwards, the authors carried out both network and cluster analyses.FindingsAmong the main findings, the authors can highlight the exclusive presence of public universities in the sample, the absence of courses that offer sustainability themes in the Amazon region, the high incidence of Sustainability in elective courses, the prominence of themes related only to the environmental dimension of Sustainability and the considerable difference among the five regions of the country in terms of the content offers. Given these findings, the authors can state that Sustainability via curricular insertion in the studied undergraduate courses in Management is still in its initial stages. The study sheds light on how the Management curriculum can embed Sustainability and provides insights for dealing with this issue in educational policies, both at local and national levels.Practical implicationsThe study confirms that the insertion of Sustainability via curriculum in the undergraduate courses in Management is still in its initial stages and discusses how different Sustainability contents are related or not to their context.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the theme of Sustainability in HEIs by conveying structured and comprehensive data, besides contributing to studies on the topic in emerging countries, particularly in Latin America.

Eco-efficiency and shadow price of greenhouse gas emissions in Lithuanian dairy farms: An application of the slacks-based measure

This paper estimates the eco-efficiency, shadow price and marginal abatement costs of dairy farms in Lithuania based on Farm Accounting Data Network (FADN) data from 2015, 2017, and 2019. The Slacks-Based Measure-Data Envelopment Analysis (SBM-DEA) model is applied for approximating the environmental production technology. Herd size, labour, feed costs, agricultural land, capital are considered as inputs, whereas milk production and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission are used as desirable output and undesirable output respectively. To reflect the heterogeneity of farms in terms of GHG emissions, farm-specific emission parameters are calculated. The results show that the mean eco-efficiency remained relatively stable, ranging from 0.55 to 0.59, and that the GHGs emission reduction potential ranged between 20% and 25% over the period considered. The shadow price was not stable and increased from 41.54 EUR/t CO2-eq in 2015 to more than 55.89 EUR/t CO2-eq in 2019. The potential GHGs emission reductions of 1% in 2015, 2017 and 2019 resulted in marginal abatement costs of EUR 41.58, EUR 54.74, and EUR 31.68 respectively. Results across farm size classes imply that farms with the highest GHG emission have the lowest marginal abatement costs, which means that policy actions should target the most polluting farms. The findings have also revealed that farms are more inefficient in terms of land use, capital, and feed as opposed to GHG emission. Our results suggest that the large dairy farms require more attention in regards to their environmental productivity improvements, whereas small farms are underperforming in feed use and capital utilisation. Thus, policy interventions are needed for improvement of farm productivity, yet they should also address the environmental dimension of sustainability as well.

Back and Forth on Sustainable Development: A Focus on Healthcare Organisations

The sustainability of healthcare systems represents a relevant target of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda. Nevertheless, academic research has neglected to study healthcare systems when focusing on the transition toward sustainable healthcare. This study addresses this gap by investigating the implementation of the sustainable development (SD) principle in the Italian healthcare system, in light of international and national institutional discourses on SD. A questionnaire-based survey has been directed to the General Directors (GDs) of government-funded healthcare orgsanisations to investigate their perceptions about the SD principle applied to healthcare, their strategic planning for SD, their implemented projects for sustainability and the intellectual capital factors that influence the latter’s implementation. The study was conducted in two waves: a first survey was administered in 2016, with a second one in 2021. We used content analysis to identify the potential differences emerging over time in GDs’ perceptions in light of the changes in the institutional discourse; we then assessed the differences over time in the perceived contribution of intellectual capital factors to the implementation of sustainability actions. Results show a substantial decrease in strategic planning for sustainability, as well as in the volume of sustainability projects implemented, as organisations were found to be less involved in implementing SD strategies and projects in 2021 than in 2016. Policies at the country level have mainly focused on balancing cost containment with quality targets, leaving the environmental dimension of sustainability and its connection with healthcare with limited guidelines. Regarding intellectual capital factors, organisational culture and technologies are increasingly perceived as enablers of SD; nevertheless, further studies are needed to deepen their effective contribution to sustainable healthcare.

Unmasking Sustainability in Early Childhood Education: Teachers' Voices from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia.

Education for sustainable development is one of the key components of the 2030 Agenda. Previous research emphasizes the importance of access to education as early as possible in accordance with the goals and contents of sustainable development. It is assumed that educational policies have incorporated education for sustainable development (ESD) into key documents regulating the early childhood education (ECE), although the existence of legislation is not a guarantee that the practice follows the educational policy. Preschool teachers are key persons who can integrate content that promotes and encourages acceptance of the concept of sustainability into the ECE setting. In order to determine ECE teachers’ understanding of the concept of sustainability and contents that promote a sustainable lifestyle, an empirical study with a qualitative approach was conducted, where 91 ECE teachers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia participated. The participants presented their views on the socio-cultural, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability, as well as gave many practical examples that, in their view, promote a sustainable lifestyle. They evaluated the efficacy of the researched segments of sustainability as well. Deductive content analysis was used for the analysis of the ECE teachers’ answers. In order to get a real image of sustainability in ECE practices, responses were coded using the SOLO Taxonomy and the OMEP ESD Rating Scale. The empirical study showed that ECE teachers often understand sustainability differently from that described in educational policy documents but also pointed to creative approaches to implementation.

SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING AND THE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF BANKS IN AFRICA

Purpose– This study examined the relationship between sustainability reporting and bank performance in Africa. Unlike previous studies that solely dwelled on accounting measures of performance, this study adopted both accounting (i.e., return on assets) and market-based measures of firm performance (i.e., Tobin's Q). Methodology– The study relied on secondary data gathered from the audited financial statements of listed banks in Africa over ten years from 2010 to 2020. Notably, the financial statements of 20 listed banks (drawn from Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa) were subjected to quantitative content analysis to quantify the extent of sustainability content. It was guided by the sustainability reporting framework developed by the global reporting initiative. The content analysis aims to identify and classify the extent to which firms report on Economic, governance, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainability. Besides, the financial statement figures aided the computation of a performance measure (return on assets and Tobin's Q) for the banks. Concerning data analysis, the study utilized a panel fixed effect regression model to estimate the relationship between sustainability reporting and firm performance. Findings– The results suggest that economic, social, and governance reporting of sustainability content (in the financial statement) has a significant positive association with Tobin's Q and Return on Assets (ROA). Furthermore, the study's findings suggest that banks ' reportage of environmental sustainability content has a significant positive effect on ROA. However, it has no significant effect on Tobin's Q. Conclusion– Generally, the study concludes that increased sustainability reporting enhances bank performance in the long term. Among others, the study recommends that policymakers develop a sustainability framework specific to the banking industry's needs. Keywords: Sustainability, return on assets, bank performance, framework. JEL Codes: E44, F40, F43

The increasing importance of environmental sustainability in global real estate investment markets

PurposeWithin the context of ESG (Environment, Social and Governance), environmental sustainability has taken on increased global importance in recent years. Similarly, real estate investment managers in developing their global real estate investment portfolios need a fuller understanding of the ESG and environmental sustainability dimensions of these global real estate markets for more informed real estate investment decisions. Using the JLL GRETI sustainability sub-index, this paper examines the environmental sustainability transparency status of 99 global real estate markets over 2016–2020 and explores various strategic issues regarding ESG and environmental sustainability; particularly the critical issues relating to climate risk mitigation, climate resilience and zero-carbon. The current status of environmental sustainability in these 99 real estate markets is assessed, with areas for “best practice” improvement identified to the benefit of real estate investment managers; particularly the improvements needed in ESG to support real estate investment in the emerging real estate markets.Design/methodology/approachThe JLL GRETI sustainability sub-index is analysed to examine strategic issues relating to environmental sustainability transparency. 99 real estate markets are assessed globally for a range of critical ESG issues over 2016–2020. Differences between the developed and emerging real estate markets are highlighted.FindingsConsiderable variation was seen in the ESG and environmental sustainability practices, procedures and frameworks across these 99 real estate markets. This was particularly evident amongst the emerging real estate markets. Compared to the other five dimensions for real estate market transparency, environmental sustainability was seen to be well behind these other dimensions in most markets. Progress has been made in recent years, but it has been slow and steady rather than at a dynamic level. Clearly, more is needed globally to enhance the stature of environmental sustainability in the context of an increasing focus on ESG and specifically on climate risk mitigation, climate resilience and zero-carbon in real estate investment.Practical implicationsWith ESG and environmental sustainability taking on increased importance across the international real estate markets, it is important that real estate fund managers have a full understanding of the ESG and environmental sustainability status of these real estate markets where they may be considering real estate investment opportunities; this includes both the developed and emerging real estate markets. This is essential to ensure future capital raising for new funds, as well as supporting the global ESG agenda by the real estate investment community. Specific strategies are also identified for emerging real estate markets to improve their environmental sustainability practices and ESG status.Originality/valueThis is the first paper to use the JLL GRETI sustainability sub-index to assess the environmental sustainability status of 99 real estate markets globally; providing strategic insights for real estate investment managers as they develop their global real estate portfolios and more fully embrace the challenges of ESG and environmental sustainability in the real estate space going forward. Specific strategies are clearly identified for all markets to improve their environmental sustainability ratings to the benefit of both global real estate investment and the broader communities.

Interactions between food and nutrition security and the socio-economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability in small-scale farms: evidence from a simultaneous confirmatory factor analysis in Poland

ABSTRACT Given the unique role of small farms in providing their own food and nutrition security, the classic three-dimensional approach to sustainability evaluation is not exhaustive. In addition to the socio-economic and environmental dimensions, the question of sustainable development should be extended to the dimension of food and nutrition security. But yet the relations among the different sustainability dimensions at the farm level are not obvious. Consequently, the objective of this paper is to assess the interactions between food and nutrition security and the socio-economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability in small-scale farms. The study is based on surveys conducted in 2018 on a sample of 710 small-scale farms in Poland. By applying structural equation modeling with simultaneous confirmatory factor analysis, the study found a positive relationship between the socio-economic and food and nutrition security dimensions of sustainability, but there was a lack of synergy between the environmental component and the other dimensions.

Integration of Ergonomic Aspects into Lot-sizing Model of the Production Line Supply Process Based on Relaxation Allowance and Maximum Endurance Time

The maximum endurance time is a key parameter for the estimation of relaxation allowance and rest time. Recently, researchers have started to investigate and integrate particularly economic aspects of sustainability as well as environmental sustainability dimensions in intralogistics systems, and only a few contributions studied the social aspect of sustainability. Therefore, the aim of the paper is the extension and development of a new cost model based on relaxation allowance and endurance time. The effects of endurance time and relaxation allowance on the total cost of logistics operation were investigated. The developed new model considered the maximum endurance time for calculation of rest time necessary for different quantities of handled items and item weights. The results of comparison with the total cost of maximum lifting and carrying (25 kg) limit for two-handed lifting show that the percentage savings achieved with the implementation of our new model from using ergonomic rest time and maximum endurance time was equal to 43.2% in the total cost of production line supply process.

Strategic Niche Management for Sustainability: A Systematic Literature Review

With the aim of achieving a sustainable future, a new research area dealing with “sustainability transitions” has emerged. The focus on socio-technical niches and the related management activities are paramount to understand their aptitude to replace the dominant socio-technical regime. Strategic niche management (SNM) has become a renowned analytical framework for understanding the introduction and diffusion of very new sustainable innovations through societal experiments. With an emphasis on SNM, a systematic literature review (SLR) mainly looking at the environmental dimension of sustainability was carried out adopting the PRISMA statement. The increase in publications over the years, the enlargement of the geographical borders interested, the presence of points of reference in the literature, as well as the adaptability of the theoretical framework to both a generic and specific issue related to sustainability, demonstrate the centrality of SNM for studying the transition towards sustainability in socio-technical systems.

SIMURG: Performance-based Model for the Assessment of Sustainability: Synthesis of the Paradigmatic and Frame Models

Today decision-making processes of public authorities for developing sustainable policies, do not support transparency, accountability, and consistency of their decisions. What societies require is a human-centric vision that supports this vision, and the tools that increase the legitimacy of the whole decision-making process. The problem is the lack of these visions and tools that allow the citizens to meet their priorities in their lives with the identities of built environment entities and public authorities to accept/propose suitable projects by using “layers” such as historical/smart/ green/slow/safe, etc. Most of the studies in the literature deal with the sustainability assessment problem at only one environmental dimension of sustainability without considering interactions among the dimensions of 3D Cartesian system and their levels. A paradigmatic model and frame model, which will be used as a guide for developing further conceptual and practical models must be developed from scratch. The conceptual and practical models can only be developed in an iterative process by considering the interactions among these components. In this study, a bottom-up approach in an iterative process was adopted and practiced in the development process of the relationships among the components to propose the above-stated parts of the model of the research.

A framework for dynamic life cycle sustainability assessment and policy analysis of built environment through a system dynamics approach

Sustainability is gaining attention, particularly in the building sector, owing to its significant influence on economy, society and environment. However, most assessment methods/frameworks available for this sector focus solely or dominantly on the environmental dimension of sustainability. Hence, a sustainability assessment framework for buildings that accounts for the interdependencies amongst social, economic and environmental aspects is essential. Further, buildings also undergo several time-induced changes in their characteristics, such as changes in electricity consumption, material properties, surrounding infrastructure and energy mix that can influence their sustainability. Therefore, this paper introduces a system dynamics-based methodological framework for Dynamic Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (D-LCSA) capable of incorporating the dynamic changes in the building characteristics with time and capturing the interactions amongst different sustainability indicators. The usability and utility of the framework is demonstrated using a case study residential project in India. The case study results show that ignoring time-dependant dynamic aspects in sustainability assessment of buildings leads to underestimating the overall sustainability impacts by about 50 per cent and specific environmental impacts by about 12 per cent. Therefore, the study reinforces the need to adopt dynamic thinking through modelling and simulation to predict sustainability performance in the built environment.

5G Networks Towards Smart and Sustainable Cities: A Review of Recent Developments, Applications and Future Perspectives

5G wireless communication systems provide massive system capacity with high data rates, very short low-latency, and ultra-high reliability, in addition to high connection density with a positive experience on smart cities and the Internet of Things (IoT). Future networks are anticipated to revolutionize typical applications such as the enhanced mobile broadband services (EMBB), ultra-reliable low latency communication (uRLLC), and massive machine-type communications (mMTC) anywhere and everywhere. This rationalizes the need to investigate the sustainable elements of 5G networks in smart cities to understand how 5G networks can be more environmentally- friendly and energy-efficient. This paper aims to investigate how 5G networks can act as key enablers in achieving sustainability in smart cities, using a macroscopic review. An overview of 5G communication networks and several 5G technologies used in smart city applications to enhance sustainability is presented. This is followed by investigating the indicators that measure sustainability in 5G networks across the environmental, social, and economic dimensions; and sub-dimensions such as energy efficiency, power consumption, carbon footprint, pollution, cost, health, safety, and security. The results show that the majority of research papers focus on the environmental dimensions of sustainability (42%) when attempting to address sustainability in 5G systems and smart cities. The findings also showed a huge interest in the economic (37%) and social (21%) dimensions as well. Further, when examining the sub-dimensions, it was found that most of the studies focused on energy efficiency (20%), power consumption (17%), and cost (15%).

LABOUR–SPECIFIC FACTORS INFLUENCING THE VOLUME OF CONSTRUCTION WASTE GENERATION IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

The construction industry generates a large volume of waste which distorts the aesthetics of the environment and contributes to the impediments to achieving social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. Construction waste impact project schedule, cost, and derails contractor's profit, leads to claims and disputes. Construction tradespeople who are the frontline workers have a role to play in the waste generation of construction projects irrespective of the level of development of a nation. This study assessed the labour-specific factors influencing construction wastes generation on construction projects in Nigeria. The well-structured questionnaire conveniently administered to construction tradespeople in active construction sites in Port Harcourt was used to gathered data. Garnered data were analysed using the mean item score and Kruskal-Wallis H tests. The study found that the most significant labour-specific factor that influence construction waste generation are workers' mistakes/errors leading to rework, poor attitudes of workers, shortage of skilled workers/use of unskilled, poor workmanship, and lack of experience. The study recommended for the organisation of adequate training to improved workers knowledge and skills needed to execute projects tasks.

Sustainable Food System Applications in the European Union: An Appraisal on Food Donation

This article discusses food donation as a tool in the sustainable food policy design of the European Union (EU). The absence of a common food policy in the EU and the neglect of environmental impacts in policy-making process are identified as key problems. In the proposed model, it is demonstrated that the implementation of food donation through the regulation of food charities and food banks contributes to social, economic, and environmental sustainability goals. In this context, food donation is an important method to be addressed in food policy design due to its sustainability advantages. Based on selected EU documents and Multi-Criteria Method, the current food policy of the EU, sustainability dimensions and stakeholders in the decision-making process are evaluated and concluded that the EU should form a common food policy by considering all sustainability dimensions, eliminate the gaps in the regulation and pay particular attention to the environmental sustainability dimension of food donation.

Multiple Understandings of Sustainability among Alternative Food Organizations in Geneva

Alternative Food Organizations (AFOs) seek to establish more sustainable practices in the food system. However, they might hold different conceptualizations of sustainability. Hence, we miss an overview of AFOs’ conceptualizations of sustainability that allows grasping their overall transformative potential. In this paper, we analyze a broad range of AFOs active in food production, distribution, and consumers’ advocacy to examine to what extent they share a common understanding of sustainability. Our empirical analyses focus on the Swiss canton of Geneva, we build on organizational survey data and detailed coding of the discourses published on their websites. We find that the environmental dimension of sustainability is more prominent and that weak and strong conceptualizations of sustainability are equally present in AFOs’ discourses. However, important differences appear between food producers and distributors. The former have a multidimensional and strong conceptualization of sustainability, while the latter focus on fewer dimensions and a weak conceptualization. In spite of these differences, AFOs interact within a small but heterogeneous network.

Mapping the Concept of Sustainable Consumption: An Analysis From the Adoption and Promotion of Pro-Environmental and Social Behaviors in University Students

The concept of sustainable consumption has been described in the literature from different perspectives, but few have focused on defining the consumer perspective and strategies to appropriate this knowledge and behaviors in the classroom, which becomes a major challenge in times of Covid 19 and confinement. This article proposes an approach to the concept by university students from the implementation of a pedagogical strategy, which involved the implementation of a virtual learning community and the evaluation of the understanding of this concept through the use of mind maps (pre and post). Through the mind maps, data were collected to evaluate the understanding of the concept, the analysis of semantic richness and systemic complexity. The results show the associations established by the students, proposing a categorization system arising from the data and the previous literature review. The study concludes that the students broadened their vision of sustainable consumption in terms of the actors involved, consumption decisions and the social and environmental dimensions of sustainability.

Toward a sustainable energy system in China: Status and influencing factors

This paper focused on the endogenous and exogenous factors that affect China's sustainable energy system (SES). 19 Endogenous factors, from economic sustainability dimension, social sustainability dimension, environmental sustainability dimension and energy security dimension assessed China's SES by entropy method-analytic hierarchy process-criteria importance through intercriteria correlation method (EM-AHP-CRITIC). We used urbanization, foreign direct investment and industrialization as exogenous variables and explored the extent of their long-term and short-term impacts on China's SES by autoregressive distributed lag-error correction (ARDL-ECM) model.

A development of indicators for the sustainability assessment of the Mexican power system planning

Countries with emerging economies face a significant challenge when developing strategies to move towards a low emission energy system and keep their economies growing. The power System plays a crucial role in these strategies and by the correct measurement of its sustainability is possible to identify which alternative improves sustainability the most. This article proposes indicators for the evaluation and assessment of the sustainability of Mexican Power System planning scenarios put forward by two government administrations with a study horizon to 2030. The scenarios are characterized by the program of additions and retirements of generating capacity along the period of 2019 to 2030, and eventually, optimal dispatch was obtained to accomplish the hourly demand. Sustainability indicators were developed and calculated to evaluate the energy security, energy equity and environmental sustainability dimensions. Subsequently the indicators were fed to the Position Vector of Minimum Regret Analysis as multicriteria decision analysis. By analysing the results, it is highlighted that the expansion of power grid capacity, as well as the hourly availability of hydro plants improve the sustainability of the Mexican Power System. The comparison between both scenarios’ performance, based on the Energy Trilemma, indicates that the current government’s planning is slightly more sustainable.

Can the Sustainable Development Goals Green International Organisations? Sustainability Integration in the International Labour Organisation

ABSTRACT In global sustainability governance, many actors have emphasised the need for policy integration across the economic, social, and environmental dimensions. In 2015, the United Nations agreed on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to advance such integration. But have international organisations responded to this call, and can we observe any integrative effect of the SDGs? We draw on International Relations theories that incorporate change in their analysis and develop an analytical framework to assess change through the lenses of ideas, norms, and institutions. We use this framework to assess sustainability-oriented change in the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The ILO is traditionally an organisation with a primarily socio-economic mandate and hence an ideal case to study whether the SDGs had any impact after 2015 in strengthening the environmental dimension of sustainability in the ILO’s institutional settings and policy development. We focus on the 2010–2019 period and conduct a systematic qualitative content analysis of primary documentary sources, complemented with expert interviews and data on operational developments. The paper concludes that there is a significant yet instrumental greening trend in the ILO’s approach to sustainable development, but also a bidirectional influence between the ILO and the SDGs.