Environment-related Technologies Research Articles

Differential benefit of coal and natural gas efficiency in Denmark: How clean is the environmental-related innovation?

Inspired by Denmark's ambitious renewable energy initiatives and its commitment to achieving a substantial 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, this study delves deeper into examining the roles of energy source efficiency, renewable energy utilization, and environment-related technologies spanning the years from 1990 to 2021. A comprehensive array of wavelet tools, including wavelet coherence, wavelet-based ordinary least squares (WBOLS), Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT), Granger causality, and wavelet correlation, was employed to dissect these dynamics. The primary findings underscore the potential for enhancing environmental sustainability through these key indicators. For instance, employing the WBOLS method reveals that a percent increase in renewable energy consumption translates into an approximate reduction of ∼0.02%, ∼0.03%, and ∼0.54% in GHG emissions in the short-, medium-, and long-term, respectively. Similarly, improvements in energy efficiency yield remarkable outcomes. A one percent increase in the efficiency of natural gas utilization leads to GHG emission reductions of ∼0.44%, ∼0.19%, and ∼0.83% in the short-, medium-, and long-term, respectively. Moreover, a 1 percent enhancement in coal energy efficiency results in GHG emission reductions of ∼0.23%, ∼0.19%, and ∼0.91% in the short-, medium-, and long-term, respectively. Furthermore, the study indicates that a surge of 1% in innovation through environment-related technologies corresponds to GHG emission reductions of ∼0.56%, ∼0.10%, and ∼0.02% in the short-, medium-, and long-term, respectively. The results are notably substantiated by the CWT Granger causality approach. Considering the somewhat modest impact of innovation on GHG emissions, especially in the long-term, the study recommends a deliberate emphasis on the design and formulation of environmentally-related innovations that prioritize attributes such as reliability, durability, and adaptability.

Sustainable pathways for attaining net-zero emissions in European emerging countries - the nexus between renewable energy sources and ecological footprint.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between renewable energy and ecological footprint during the period of 1994-2018 from selected developing countries in Europe (Czechia, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Romania, and Turkey). In this context, the ecological footprint (EF), which has recently been the most widely used environmental indicator in the literature and is known as the most comprehensive because it includes many environmental factors, has been determined as the dependent variable. As independent variables, renewable energy consumption (REC), energy-related tax revenue (ETR), and energy productivity (EP) are included in the model. GDP and development of environment-related technologies (DET), which affect the ecological footprint in the model, are determined as control variables. As a result of the panel data analysis, according to the Durbin-Hausman cointegration test result, a long-term relationship between the variables was determined. According to the CCE estimator analysis, it can be said that there is a positive relationship between ETR and GDP variables and EF. For the AMG estimator analysis, it can be said that there is a positive relationship between GDP and EP variables and EF. Finally, according to the results of the Konya Causality test, a unidirectional causality relationship is detected from environmental technologies to the ecological footprint in Turkey, and a unidirectional causality relationship from the ecological footprint to GDP in Czechia, Romania, and Turkey. Furthermore, no causality relationship is detected between other variables. Based on the results, several policy implications are suggested.

Are environment-related technologies key to unlock the path towards sustainable development: An econometric analysis

The objective of this study is to investigate the correlation between energy intensity and environment-related technology in industrialized countries. By utilizing panel data from 23 countries over a span of 32 years (1990–2021), this research aims to contribute to the comprehension of the role of green innovation in sustainable development. The study employs the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology model while controlling for variables including population growth, gross domestic product in purchasing power parity, Information and Communication Technology capital deepening, renewable energy consumption, and green innovation represented by research and development expenditure on environment-related technology. The results of the analysis, employing panel unit root tests, cross-sectional dependence tests, and a Method of Moments quantile regression, reveal that green innovation has a positive influence on diminishing energy intensity, with a more substantial impact at higher quantiles. Moreover, ICT capital deepening is determined to have a positive and noteworthy effect on reducing energy intensity. The findings of this study offer valuable insights for policymakers in their endeavours to accomplish sustainable development goals.

Environmental benefits of nonrenewable energy efficiency and renewable energy intensity in the USA and EU: Examining the role of clean technologies

Given that the United States of America and European Union are among the world’s top greenhouse gas emitting economies, it poses yet to be answered questions on whether efficient utilization of nonrenewable energy sources or renewable energy intensification in these economies account for any environmental benefit. To answer these inherent questions, this study examines and compares environmental performances of the economies in response to nonrenewable energy efficiency, renewable energy intensity, and environmental-related technologies while controlling for natural resource rent and urban population over the period 1990–2019. By implementing the advantage of Kernel-Based Regularized Least Squares alongside robustness measures, the findings posit that nonrenewable energy efficiency, renewable energy intensity, and environmental-related technologies significantly mitigates greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in the economies. Importantly, while the three metrics show louder environmental impact in the EU, nonrenewable energy efficiency plays a louder and environmentally desirable role than the other two metrics. Conversely, natural resources and urbanization significantly hampers environmental sustainability by increasing GHG emission in the economies. Unfortunately, a terribly more damaging environmental impact arising from increased urbanization is noticeable in the EU. These findings afford concrete policy measures to be further devised for the USA and EU, and the entire globe given the foresight of net zero target.

Exploring aggregated and disaggregated environmental impacts of biofuels: Do affluence, green technological innovation and green finance matter for top biofuel-abundant economies?

The unceasing ravaging effects of global warming have made the world rethink the choice of energy consumption, with policymakers pushing for an unconditional transition to sustainable energy believed to be eco-friendly. Although studies have emerged with a view to unravel the path to global environmental sustainability, the paths of biofuels remain scantly investigated. Hence, this study presented the maiden empirical support for the aggregated and disaggregated impacts of biofuels on environmental sustainability in five top biofuel-abundant economies (Brazil, China, Germany, Indonesia, and the United States) from 1995 to 2019. The papers add to the existing knowledge by considering the roles of green technological innovation (proxied by environmental-related technologies), affluence, green finance, population and coal in a novel STIRPAT framework. The stated model is empirically verified based on recent techniques encompassing CS-ARDL, CCEMG, AMG, and MMQR. The empirical results uncover that both effects of biofuels substantially moderate carbon emissions, thus paving the way for environmental sustainability. Besides, environmental-related technologies and green finance significantly mitigate carbon emissions, whereas affluence, population, and coal positively drive carbon emissions. The empirical regularity of the main estimators is confirmed based on the feedback from MMQR which uphold the validity of biofuels in mitigating carbon emissions at different quantiles. The outcomes of the causality analysis uncover unidirectional, bidirectional and non-causal nexuses. Policy insights that promote sustainable exploration of biofuels for achieving a carbon-neutral environment are exposited following the findings.

New insights from the STIPART model on how environmental-related technologies, natural resources and the use of the renewable energy influence load capacity factor

The rapid development in environmental-related technologies, economic growth and natural resources has promoted many undesirable environmental influences that affect living standards and human health. Consequently, the present research employed an inclusive indicator to quantify ecological eminence known as the load capacity factor. Considering this view, the existing body of literature has not provided a sufficiently supportive indication to discover the factors influencing the load capacity factor in terms of ecological excellence. To do this, the present study employs various panel data estimators and causality tests considering cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity for the period 1990–2019 to analyze the environmental impacts of environmental technologies, economic growth, natural resources, renewable energy consumption, and urbanization for 17 Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries. The study results suggest that economic growth reduces environmental quality.In contrast, natural resources, technological development, urbanization, and renewable energy increase the load capacity factor, which indicates environmental sustainability while considering nature's supply and demand aspects. Based on these findings, APEC policymakers should take advantage of technological development, urbanization, and renewable energy. They should transform their current economic growth models into an environmentally friendly structure to achieve their environmental goals and contribute to a sustainable world order.

Effects of ‘social’ environmental stability and entrepreneurial parameters in assessing the relationship among entrepreneurship, green innovation, and strategic orientation: an entrepreneur development of documentary

Sustainable entrepreneurship is essential for solving the issue of economic and social stability. This paper is about the determinants of entrepreneurship among green innovation and strategic innovation. The research studies the communication and R&D variables that impact entrepreneurship development. The literature shows that green innovation is vital in developing strategic orientation. Entrepreneurship must work on R&D to gain economic and social stability. Entrepreneurship development is a dependent variable, and communication and R&D are independent variables. This paper evaluates the performance of Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and the Artificial Neural Network Regression (ANN) approach for estimating entrepreneurship development (ED) in China from 2000 to 2021. For this work, nine independent variables related to entrepreneurial development were selected, which include CO2 emissions (CO2), GDP growth (GDP), Total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), Computer, communications, and other services (CCS), Nitrous oxide emissions (NO2), Personal remittances, received (PRR), Research and development expenditure (R&D), New businesses registered (NBR), and patents in environment-related technologies (PERT). Data were gathered from the World Bank (WB) official data bank portal. The highest correlation (−0.85 and −0.71) with ED was observed with GHG, followed by a strong correlation with R & D. The MLR model generated 0.78 R2 (error = 0.26) whereas the ANN model produces 0.83 R2 (error = 0.01). The results of the ANN showed that the association among parameters is strong. Ten input variables and 15 hidden neurons were used to estimate the dependent variable. The process took 87 steps, and the optimum result had a Sum of Square Error of 0.001.The top 5 essential variables are NO, NBR, GHG, R&D, and CO2. The least essential variables are PPR and CCS, respectively, with the lowest variable importance (VI) score. This work is unique in the sense that it covers the research gap with new advanced techniques (ANN) applied to time series data. We believe the idea that we developed is a novel approach for social scientists, entrepreneurial development, social stability, and a sustainable environment. The findings of this research can benefit entrepreneurs in many different ways. By understanding the effects of social environmental stability on their success, entrepreneurs can better tailor their strategies to ensure they get the best possible results.

Examining the (non)symmetric environmental quality effect of material productivity and environmental-related technologies in Iceland

This study considers the carbon neutrality 2040 ambition of Iceland to examine the role of raw material productivity, environmental-related technologies, and export intensity (components of the 48 elements of the country’s Climate Action Plan (CAP)) in navigating the country's environmental sustainability pathway. By employing symmetric and asymmetric empirical approaches with dataset that span over 1990–2019, the result reveals that a positive shock to raw material productivity accounts for a decline in GHG emission in both short- and long-run, thus aiding the pathway toward green productivity in the country. While GHG emission is impacted negatively by a positive shock in environmental-related technologies, the finding reveals a surge in GHG emission arising from a negative shock in environmental-related technologies in all the examined models. However, it is revealed that a positive shock to GDP spurs GHG emissions especially in the long run while a negative change in GDP impact hinders the surge in GHG emissions. This evidence poses more question about the country’s pathway to sustainable growth. Interestingly, the result further posits that a positive shock to export intensity enhances environmental sustainability by promoting a decrease in GHG emissions. Meanwhile, a negative shock to export intensification shows a contrary effect. In a compelling manner, the results of the symmetric analysis corroborate the above-mentioned asymmetric evidence. Thus, the result from this investigation brings the Icelandic’s CAP performance under scrutiny alongside offering further recommendation to attaining improved performance.

The role of innovation in environmental-related technologies and institutional quality to drive environmental sustainability

In this study, we examine the long-run effect of environmental-related technological innovation, institutional quality, trade openness, energy consumption, and economic growth on CO2 emissions in APEC countries from 2004 to 2018. Firstly, panel unit root tests were used to explore the stationarity of each data series. The panel unit root test findings showed that all data series are stationary at the first difference. Second, the Westerlund panel cointegration test was used to deal with heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. Thirdly, the empirical findings from the augmented mean group (AMG) and common correlated effects mean group (CCEMG) estimators indicate that environmental-related technological innovation and institutional quality destructively affect CO2 emissions. In contrast, trade openness, energy consumption, and economic growth positively impact CO2 emissions. While causality analysis refers to the unidirectional causality runs from trade openness, energy consumption to CO2 emission and bidirectional causality relationships are between technological innovation, institutional quality, GDP, CO2 emission. Based on the findings, we proposed that APEC countries should raise investment in environmental-related technological innovation and improve the quality of the institutional environment to achieve sustainable development targets.

Examining the environmental aspect of economic complexity outlook and environmental-related technologies in the Nordic states

Understanding the outlook of countries' economic complexity is vital for assessing the future of industries' product characterization. It provides opportunity and insight on how to mitigate the negative externalities that arises from the increasing pressure on the ecosystem. Based on this account, the effect of economic complexity and the corresponding outlook on environmental degradation vis-a-vis greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions alongside other environmental indicators are examined for the panel of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden for the period 1995 to 2020. After employing Driscoll- Kraay's standard errors for random effect (RE) with individual effects for the examination, the results indicate that the region's level of economic complexity favors environmental sustainability. Contrarily, the economic complexity outlook spurs GHG emissions, thus suggesting that future performance of the region's economic complexity could be detrimental to its ecosystem. Another similar, and undesirable observation is that the increase in urban population hampers environmental quality as it causes a surge in GHG emissions. Meanwhile, the results then conclude that economic growth, economic complexity, and environmental-related technologies are found to be potent drivers of environmental sustainability as the indicators exert negative pressure on GHG emissions in the Nordic region. Important policies that potentially guide immediate, and future sector-wide activities toward enhancing the region's sustainable development programs are posited through the study outcome.

Role of environmental ownership and associated parameters to assess green patents in technologies with environmental scanning system as a controlling factor

There is a general conception that environmental firms are more adapted to green solutions, and environmental patents are just lagging. The existing literature has paid particular attention to identifying obstacles and situational factors associated with established firms going green and has concentrated on how and why established businesses are becoming more financially viable and ecologically sustainable. In changing environment, manufacturing companies are direct contributors to environmental impacts. Increased awareness of consumers about the environment puts a handful amount of pressure on manufacturing companies to care about the environment. It also asserts unseen pressure on the financial performance of the companies. Therefore, it is time to go for green patenting of such firms while satisfying the eco-innovation and environmental scanning process. Moreover, Environmental ownership and its associated parameters keenly monitor this aspect. This paper evaluates the performance of the support vector machine (SVM/SVR) approach for estimating patents in environment-related technologies (PERT) in China from 1995 to 2021. For this work, six independent variables related to environmental ownership and environment-related technologies were selected, which include medium and high-tech exports (MHTE), green patents applicants (GPA), listed domestic companies (LDC), human capital index (HCI), self-employment (SE), and manufacturing value added in GDP (MVA). Data for dependent and independent variables were gathered from the World Bank (WB) official data bank portal. To make an initial understanding of the data basic statistical summary was computed in R programming to see the mean, minimum and maximum values in the data set. A correlation matrix plot showed the association between dependent and independent variables. SVM/SVR with radial basis function (RBF) regression was applied to see the impact of contributing parameters that influence PERT. For PERT, the model generated 0.95 R2 (RMSE = 92.43). The results of the SVR showed that the association among environmental parameters is strong. With a value of 4.82, the strongest coefficient in the SVR model is PAR. This work is novel and will benefit the manufacturing sector, analysts, policymakers, environmentalists as how green patenting can boost the eco innovation and environmental ownership and scanning system with advance technologies and practices.

A time-varying approach to the nexus between environmental related technologies, renewable energy consumption and environmental sustainability in South Africa

Ecological degradation is a major challenge for all nations. The problem is particularly worrying for South Africa, which has recently suffered from various ecological catastrophes. Thus, the empirical study evaluates the nexus between CO2 emissions and financial development, renewable energy, economic growth and environmental-related technologies in South Africa utilizing data between 1980 and 2020. We employed autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and time-varying causality to evaluate these connections. The results from the ARDL show that financial development and environmental-related technologies lessen CO2 emissions while economic progress intensifies CO2 emissions. Surprisingly, renewable energy does not mitigate CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the time-varying causality shows that all the independent variables can forecast CO2 emissions at different sub-periods. Finally, our results are resilient to various policy ramifications useful in reducing CO2 emissions and associated adverse ecological consequences.

Modeling the causal dynamics among energy consumption, economic growth, and oil import prices: A panel co-integration analysis for EU economies

The circular economy creates a robust system that can combat global concerns like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution by decoupling economic activity from the use of natural resources. This study for the first time in European Union (EU) countries, examines the impact of economic growth, urbanization, investment in information technology and communication (IT&C), oil import prices, environmental technology and environmental tax on energy consumption. Additionally, it also examined the impact of oil import prices, urbanization, energy consumption, investment in information technology and communication, environmental technology and environmental tax on economic growth by using panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model for the estimations over the period 1990–2020. According to the correlation matrix's estimations, findings suggest that the economic expansion of the EU member countries is positively influenced by oil import prices, urbanization, environmental technology and energy consumption, while negatively impacted by investment in IT&C and environmental taxes both in the short and long-run. On the other hand, energy consumption is found to be positively impacted by economic growth, urbanization and oil import prices while negatively influenced by investment in IT&C, environmental taxes and environmental related technologies. In addition, the results of the panel ARDL model indicate that oil import prices positively and significantly influence the economic growth of the EU members. However, results of urbanization reveal a negative influence on economic growth in the short-term, but in the long-run, it has a favorable and considerable influence on the economic growth of the European Union. Finally, the research has implications for policy makers and regulators in the EU.

Environmental innovations, geographically mediated knowledge spillovers, economic and environmental performance

This paper explores the connection between environmental innovations, geographically mediated knowledge spillovers (geographical spillovers), economic and environmental performance. Specifically, with data gathered from the OECD database for three economic areas (Europe, Japan and USA) over the period 2005–2017 the paper focuses on measuring the relationship between patents in environmental related technologies as well as geographical spillovers and economic performance in terms of GDP. The empirical analysis evidence that innovation processes related to environmental technologies and geographical spillovers have a positive relationship with GDP. The results also evidence a N-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve, where the direction (negative or positive) of the relationship between environmental (CO2 emissions) and economic performance depends on the economic development level of a country. The results bring forth important lessons for ‘green growth’ policies.

An empirical approach to the nexus between natural resources and environmental pollution: Do economic policy and environmental-related technologies make any difference?

The outlooks for the interactions between natural resource rent, economic growth, and environmental pollution are widely debated in the literature but not well understood in the context of policy uncertainty and environmental technologies. Therefore, this study empirically explores nexus between natural resource rent, economic policy uncertainty, economic growth, globalization, environmental-related technologies, and CO2 emissions in the United States between 1985 and 2020. The study employed dynamic Auto-Regressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) simulation and Kernel-based Regularized Least Squares (KRLS) techniques. The long-run regression outputs validate that environmental-related technologies are helpful in pollution reduction and improve environmental quality significantly. However, the increase in globalization tends to lead to environmental degradation. Furthermore, results reveal that the rise of natural resource rent contributes to carbon emissions, suggesting that an excessive dependency on natural resource rent disturbs ecological sustainability in the United States. Results indicate that environmental-related technologies should be encouraged, and more stability in economic policies can be suitable choices in fighting against climate change. New policy insights are further discussed in the paper.

Does cyclical innovation in environmental-related technologies make knowledge-based economies carbon neutral?

The knowledge-based economies have reacted by enacting stringent legislation and encouraging innovation in environmental-related technologies (IERTs) across organizations, such as academic institutions. Although previous research continues to support green innovation as a pro-cyclical concept, the irregular effect of IERT dynamics on CO2e in knowledge-based economies has not yet been studied. The paper looks at the cyclical nexus between IERT and CO2e in 37 knowledge-based economies using panel data from 1990 to 2019. The augmented mean group supported that an adverse change in IERT contributes to CO2e during economic downturns. Second, the findings confirmed that positive dynamics in IERT reduces CO2e during economic expansions. Third, the findings signified that trade openness, expansionary commercial policy, gross domestic product per capita, and expansionary monetary policy all increase CO2e, while contractionary commercial policy and use of renewable energy all decrease CO2e. Overall, the results of this study showed that there is a counter-cyclical association between IERT and CO2e. It is suggested that to reduce CO2e in knowledge-based economies, the government should support IERT in both economic contraction and expansion periods.

Eco-Innovation and Its Influence on Renewable Energy Demand: The Role of Environmental Law.

There is a consensus among the empirics regarding the positive role of renewable energy in mitigating the effects of climate change. Hence, it is vital to search for the factors that can promote renewable energy demand. As a result, this analysis investigates the impact of educational attainment, environmental law, and innovation on renewable energy consumption (REC) in China. From empirical estimates, we confer that the long-run estimates attached to the environment-related taxes and environmental policy stringency are positive and significant, implying that both these factors increase the REC in China in the long run. Similarly, the estimated coefficients of environment-related technologies and patent applications are significantly positive, confirming that environmental and other technologies give rise to REC in the long run. Likewise, the long-run estimates of education are significantly positive in both models, which confer that REC increases along with an increase in average years of schooling. Lastly, the estimates of CO2 emissions are significantly positive in the long run. These results imply that policymakers should invest in research and development activities that are crucial for promoting eco-innovation and renewable energy demand. In addition, strict environmental laws should be introduced to induce firms and businesses to invest in clean energy.

Recent developments in green hydrogen–environmental sustainability nexus amidst energy efficiency, green finance, eco-innovation, and digitalization in top hydrogen-consuming economies

The present era is facing a dilemma relating to engaging the essentialities of energy resources to attain economic prosperity due to the ensuing environmental complications. Consequently, sectors such as transport, aviation, and refining industries are under the scrutiny of reducing their reliance on fossil fuels achievable with the promotion of hydrogen energy which is largely neglected in the environmental empirics. To this end, the environmental impacts of green hydrogen in the top seven hydrogen-consuming countries are assessed from 1995 to 2019. Moreover, the roles of green finance, environmental-related technologies, energy efficiency, and digitalization are considered in the model specified within the STIRPAT framework. Second generation estimators comprising cross-section autoregressive distributed lag, Common Correlated Effect Mean Group, Augmented Mean Group, and Method of Moment Quantile Regression are employed in evaluating the stated hypotheses. Feedbacks from the analysis uncovered that green hydrogen; green finance, environmental-related technologies, energy efficiencies, digitalization, and structural change promote environmental sustainability in the top seven hydrogen-consuming countries. Contrariwise, natural resource dependence and urbanization trigger CO2 emissions, thereby exacerbating environmental complications. Based on the findings, policy measures leading toward sustainable environment are suggested.

Material productivity and environmental degradation: Moderating role of environment-related technologies in achieving carbon neutrality

After the COP21 climate summit in Paris, the majority of emerging nations confront challenges in achieving their goals of a sustainable economy and carbon neutrality with the lowest possible CO2 emissions. In doing so, environment-related technologies are crucial components that can assist in achieving carbon neutrality objectives. Therefore, the present study examines the impact of material productivity on environmental degradation with the moderating role of environment-related technologies in 17 emerging nations using data from 1995 to 2019. For the empirical analysis, the Driscoll Kraay standard error and Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality methods are used, which are robust to cross-sectional dependence. The results reveal that economic growth, globalization, and financial development positively impact environmental degradation. However, material productivity and environment-related technologies decrease environmental degradation. Furthermore, environment-related technologies negatively moderate the relationship between material productivity and environmental degradation. This study helps policymakers in developing a comprehensive policy to improve environmental sustainability using environment-related technologies in emerging nations.

The potency of resource efficiency and environmental technologies in carbon neutrality target for Finland

Motivated by Finland's ambitious transition to circular economy through the reduction of consumable non-renewable resources and carbon neutral 2035, this study employs the Fourier approaches of stationarity, cointegration, causality alongside the long-run estimators of fully modified and dynamic least squares to examine the environmental aspects of resource productivity, environmental-related technologies, and export intensity over the period 1990–2020. Interestingly, given the two long-run estimators, the result established that a percent increase in raw material productivity yields a decline in greenhouse gas emission by a range of 61–70 percent. Additionally, there is a desirable and statistically significant impact of environmental-related technologies on greenhouse gas emission with an elasticity range of 0.16–0.18 in the long-run. While the intensity of export activities does not constitute a significant impact, economic growth as measured by Gross Domestic product (GDP) significantly hampers environmental sustainability in the long-run. Moreover, the causality approach including the Fourier Toda Yamamoto offers a strong inference along the insinuation of the long-run results for all the examined factors. Given this observation, relevant policy measures were highlighted to further guide decision makers in Finland on the pursuit of circular economy and carbon zero target.