Sustainability Ranking Research Articles

Analysing the Recent Dynamics of Agricultural Sustainability in Portugal Using a Compromise Programming Approach

Society recognises the importance of agriculture to supply goods, which are essential for human survival and well-being. Sustainable agriculture is an important goal since resources need to be preserved for future generations. The recent agricultural policy orientations towards environmental concerns have also had consequences for Portuguese agriculture. The information provided by the 2019 Agricultural Census offers an opportunity to analyse the recent dynamics and establish rankings of municipalities related to agricultural sustainability. Sustainability in agriculture can be studied using different types of indicators, but its quantification and aggregation into an index is still difficult. This paper proposes an approach based on compromise programming to analyse sustainability considering the dynamics between the 2009 and 2019 Agricultural Census. This approach has three main steps: in the first one, the indicators are selected and a HJ-Biplot and Cluster analysis are carried out to identify groups of municipalities and general dynamics; in the second step, the weights of indicators are defined, and a novel compromise programming model is implemented to define the rankings of sustainability for each year; finally, in the third step, the spatial dynamics of the sustainability rankings are analysed and classified into the clusters of municipalities previously created. The analysis was implemented using data from the 308 Portuguese municipalities for 12 individual indicators encompassing the several dimensions of sustainability. The results were promising since the approach allowed for the identification of the main dynamics and tendencies regarding sustainability.

Cobalt-catalyzed ring expansion/ring opening of oxetanes using phosphine oxides as promoters under hydroformylation conditions

Phosphine oxides, especially tricyclohexylphosphine oxide (P7), promote the cobalt catalyzed carbonylative ring expansion and reductive ring opening reaction of oxetanes under syngas atmosphere. Depending on the substrate structure and the stability of the carbocation intermediate either γ-lactones or primary alcohols are obtained in moderate to excellent yields. Syngas proved to play a crucial role for the catalyst activity and its stability in this process. Green solvents with high sustainability rankings, such as dimethyl carbonate (DMC), can be used in replacement of traditional solvents. The optimized conditions for both procedures were substrate (1 mmol), Co2(CO)8 (2 mol%), DMC (2 mL), 100 °C, gas phase – CO/H2 (1:1) 40 atm, 24 h resulting in the yields of 56–94% in the ring expansion, and 65–94% in the ring opening of oxetanes.

The Participation of Higher Education Institutions in Sustainability Rankings

This paper aims to understand the role of institutional pressures in the participation of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in global sustainability rankings. A qualitative research was carried out based on multiple case studies in six representative Brazilian HEIs in the IU GreenMetric sustainability rankings. Data were collected from interviews with key professionals and institutional documents. From the results, we observed that the main motivations and reasons for the participation of HEIs in the ranking are associated with institutional pressures, among which social expectation, involvement of senior management, reputation and benchmarking stand out. Other factors that instigated participation were also observed, such as institutional commitment to sustainability, environmental awareness, and the expectation of contributing to sustainable development. The findings of this research bring a new theoretical perspective to explain the participation of HEIs in sustainability rankings. Practical contributions involve a series of information regarding the motivations, benefits, facilitators, and barriers to the participation of institutions in the rankings that may be useful for the management of sustainability in HEIs.

Comparative Sustainability Assessment: Rome, Italy and São Paulo, Brazil

Rome and São Paulo share many cultural similarities, there are in São Paulo metropolitan area (M.A.) 6 million people from Italian descendancy, being the Italian population in São Paulo M.A. bigger than Rome’s. This study develops a sustainability assessment (S.A.) to obtain a comprehensive framework to assess the sustainability performance of both cities, compare them and propose a solution. Five metrics on which based the S.A. were chosen according to the results of a survey with São Paulo and Rome residents. 
 
 To validate the effectiveness of these indicators two focus groups were conducted, then the indicators were valued, and a Sustainability Solution Space was applied to identify their interactions. A Multi-Criteria Analysis was carried out to assess which of the cities has currently the highest performance in terms of sustainability. Rome had a higher sustainability ranking than Sao Paulo, nevertheless both cities should improve corruption scores to improve their ranking.

Sustainability reporting tools: Examining the merits of sustainability rankings

Sustainability reporting tools (SRTs) are becoming increasingly prevalent as corporate social responsibility performance continues to be a key factor for establishing a firm's value and intangible assets such as reputation, legitimacy, and credibility. This study explores one particular SRT, corporate sustainability ranking lists. The methodologies of three ranking lists were examined to understand the similarities, differences, limitations, potential efficacy, and consistency in the way data are collected and evaluated. Our findings illustrate strong variances in the ranking methodologies, and in turn, the results such as the inclusion of controversial industries. We also observed inconsistencies in the way sustainability is understood and applied, bringing into question the merits of ranking lists as a meaningful SRT. As one of the few empirical studies on sustainability rankings, our paper contributes to SRT scholarship and practice.

Circular economy disclosure in corporate sustainability reports: The case of European companies in sustainability rankings

Circular economy (CE) continues to become an increasingly important topic within disclosure frameworks and taxonomies for sustainable finance, however, early evidence points to CE not readily being included within corporate sustainability reports. Therefore, this research aims to explore how CE is emerging within the sustainability reports of companies listed in sustainability rankings. More specifically, the presence of CE within five corporate sustainability reporting elements has been investigated (when applicable): (i) the Chief Executive Officer's message, (ii) non-financial materiality assessments, (iii) references to the Sustainable Development Goal framework, (iv) targets, and (v) indicators. Qualitative and quantitative content analysis techniques were utilised to review 138 reports published in 2020 from 94 European companies, not restricted by sector. Results showed that nearly all companies are explicitly referencing CE, however, only 7% of them integrate CE within all five sustainability reporting elements. Less than one third of companies were found to include both targets and indicators for CE suggesting that overall, CE content within sustainability reports is largely superficial and inconsistent. This investigation contributes a descriptive overview of current CE reporting trends and shortcomings, as well as detailing implications relevant for academia and practitioners developing sustainability reports and/or CE assessments. The transition towards a CE requires transparency, therefore, further research and engagement is needed to better define the value of CE within external corporate communication.

Common features of sustainable higher education sector according to an international sustainability ranking data

Common features of sustainable higher education sector according to an international sustainability ranking data

Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education Rankings: Challenges and Opportunities for Developing Internationally Comparable Indicators

As more higher education institutions strive to embed sustainable development principles in their teaching, it becomes increasingly important to identify indicators that can measure institutional contribution in a meaningful and internationally comparable manner. This paper shows that existing sustainability rankings, such as the UI Green Metric and THE Impact ranking, have paid relatively little attention to indicators on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). In a quest to develop such indicators for U-Multirank—the multi-dimensional transparency and ranking tool—we reviewed the literature, consulted experts, and ran a survey amongst practitioners. This article summarises opportunities and challenges for developing internationally comparable ESD indicators in the higher education sector, discussing indicator relevance, validity, and feasibility. The results suggest that (i) ESD indicators are considered highly relevant by diverse stakeholders; (ii) the majority of HEIs surveyed are planning to collect ESD data within 3 years, signalling good prospects for data feasibility; (iii) the ESD indicators proposed so far still lack criteria that would allow one to sufficiently identify and compare these indicators across countries, inhibiting indicator validity. At least three potential definitions are used by HEIs. The results of this paper can contribute to the discussion on identifying appropriate criteria for the development of ESD indicators and their use in international rankings.

The Importance of Sustainability for University Competitiveness

Abstract Sustainability is one of the most used words these days. Sustainable development approaches are relevant wherever the business. Because there is a bewildering array of indicators that relate to university competitiveness the article emphasizes the importance of sustainability indicators. Starting from the impact on international rankings a bibliometric analysis was built in order to extract information. An overall assessment of the subject revealed the main topics that configure the research on university sustainability. The sense of the right direction for the future, and being in touch with students’ desires to avoid waste and environmental impact, is what led many universities to explore the sustainability rankings and research on this subject.

Enhancing the accountability and comparability of different campuses’ energy profiles through an energy cluster approach

International sustainability ranking systems generally set criteria in order to monitor global achievement of universities in terms of sustainability. However, current sustainability ranking systems do not provide specific consumption thresholds according to the different buildings’ function or characteristic and the comparison among universities lacks of precise criteria. Thus, this paper proposes different energy clusters enabling a meaningful comparison among campuses within the international rankings. Energy profiles of two university campuses—Politecnico di Torino (Italy) and Hokkaido University (Japan)—similar for climate, surface, and population have been collected for 4 years as a relevant case study. Five different clusters of homogeneous consumption have been identified: cluster 1 (around 1 GJ/m2/year) includes the Art departments, cluster 2 (2 GJ/m2/year) includes the Science faculties, cluster 3 (3 GJ/m2/year) includes the hospital and the medicine departments, cluster 4 includes the Data Centre (9 GJ/m2/year), and cluster 5 includes special research facilities with consumption over 10 GJ/m2/year. Findings show how comparisons between different buildings should also take into account the electrification rate (dependence on electricity) and the leveling rate (variation of consumption during a year), which variations are directly related to the main building function (e.g., hospitals/data centers have high values, while arts or humanities departments have low values for both rates). The proposed energy cluster approach and the introduction of proper weights for energy performances based on the proposed clusters can significantly enhance the accountability and comparability of different campuses’ energy profiles, contributing to a better evaluation of universities’ energy performances.

Evaluating the sustainability of soil improvement techniques in foundation substructures

The soil is not always suitable or competent to support a direct shallow foundation in construction. In many cases, to avoid costly deep foundations, it is indicated to replace, improve, or reinforce such soil. This paper focuses on evaluating the contribution to sustainability between different soil improvement techniques and the outcome of their application to the foundation of a single-family house as an alternative to the one built. The life-cycle performance in sustainability is compared between the baseline design (without intervention), backfilling and soil compaction, soil-cement columns, rigid inclusion of micropiles, and nailing of precast joists. To characterize sustainability, a set of 37 indicators is proposed that integrate the economic or environmental aspects of each design alternative and its social impacts. A sustainability ranking is obtained for the different alternatives based on the ELECTRE IS method for multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). The sensitivity of the obtained results is evaluated against different MCDM methods (TOPSIS, COPRAS) and different criteria weights. The evaluation provides a cross-cutting view, comparing the ability and reliability of each technique to prioritize the ground consolidation solution that best contributes to the sustainability in the design of a building's substructure.

A composite indicator to measure sustainable water use in Portugal: A compromise programming approach

Clean water is an important resource for maintaining human life, economic activities, and ecosystems' survival. Nevertheless, its irregular distribution and occasional scarcity lead to the need to promote its sustainable use. To assess the current situation and the dynamics of sustainable water use, it is crucial to identify the main factors affecting it and to propose monitoring indicators. This paper develops an approach based on compromise programming to analyse water use sustainability at the municipal level, with a methodology that comprise a framework designed in five steps: 1 – indicators' choice; 2 – indicators's weights; 3 – definition of sustainability rankings with the application of a compromise programming approach; 4- application of a GIS analysis; 5 – identification of the main factors affecting sustainable water use. As a first result, the consensus weights of the chosen indicators were defined, indicating that the most important internal factors affecting sustainable water use are safe water, the percentage of housing served by water supply and water distributed by inhabitant. Then sustainability rankings at the municipality level were defined considering these factors. Finally, it was possible to conclude that tourism activity, income level, and young age population have a significant negative effect on sustainable water use, and municipal revenue has a positive effect. Irrigated farming shows a non-significant negative effect on sustainable water use. Population density, elderly population and education level did not show the expected effects on sustainable water use.

Energy Security in Poland: Where the Energy Sector Falls Short and Where It Can Go

In the aftermath of World War II, Poland rebuilt its energy sector through the use of fossil fuels, thus establishing a dependence on coal power. This reliance has slowed its transition to environmentally friendly energy sources, leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions. These characteristics of Poland’s energy sector serve as a roadblock to diversifying the nation’s energy sources and have subsequently resulted in its average energy security and poor environmental sustainability rankings in the top 25 largest on the 2020 International Index of Energy Security Risk. This ranking highlights the areas of improvement necessary for the nation to achieve greater energy security. This paper outlines Poland’s current energy security status and provides policy recommendations that the nation’s federal government can employ to improve overall energy security by diversifying their energy sources and improving the environmental impact of the energy sector.

A decision support system for sustainability prioritization of air pollution control technologies in energy and carbon management: Oil & gas industry of Iran

The environmental, economic, social, and technical challenges associated with implementing the air pollution control technologies (APCTs) in oil, gas, and petrochemical industries (OGPIs) necessitate a sustainability prioritization analysis. Environmental issues, economic parameters, social concerns, and technical performances all must assessed and weighted. Accomplishing such a crucial decision with rigorous potential environmental, economic, social, and technical effects needs a robust decision support system (DSS) for guiding the sustainability prioritization process of the technologies. This study purposes in developing a hybrid DSS by integrating the analytical network process (ANP), decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), and multi-objective optimization on the basis of ration analysis (MULTIMOORA) methods based on the fuzzy set theory for sustainability prioritization of implementing APCTs. Three cases of the petrochemical plant, gas refinery, and oil refinery in Iran are selected to assess and prioritize the most commonly used of APCTs including four alternatives of Electrostatic precipitators, Fabric filters, and Wet scrubbers, and Cyclones by the proposed DSS. The sustainability ranking of implementing the four technologies sequentially for three cases is obtained. The suggested DSS is feasible for group decision-making based on experts’ opinions and uncertain data. It can assist the stakeholders/decision-makers to attain the energy and carbon management (ECM) policies in three cases and apply to advance the oil & gas supply chains towards the targets of sustainability, green growth, and low-carbon economy. Finally, sensitivity analysis indicates the robustness of the proposed approach for the prioritization order.

Sustainable performance analysis and ranking of organizations through fuzzy multi-criteria group decision making - A case study

In this paper, a decision support methodology for multiple attributes group decision making problem is developed. The proposed methodologies are based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Grey Relation analysis (GRA) and hybrid GRA-DEA methods. These methods are implemented for evaluation and ranking of organizations in sustainable perspective. In the proposed methods, the payoff values of alternatives are expressed in linguistic terms, given by the decision makers. Then, these linguistic terms are described by triangular fuzzy numbers. Charnes model of DEA is formulated in fuzzy environment to determine efficiencies of DMUs. Following the GRA method’s algorithm, a relative closeness coefficient is defined to determine the ranking order of all alternatives by calculating the distances to the fuzzy positive-ideal solution (FPIS), as well as to the fuzzy negative-ideal solution (FNIS). Also, performance evaluation of these companies is made through hybrid GRA-DEA in fuzzy environment. The weights of the criteria are determined objectively during evaluation of these companies in the proposed GRA and DEA-GRA methods. Comparison of proposed approaches is made and final ranking of the organizations is sustainable perspective is arrived. The proposed methodologies are illustrated with a case study of five steel manufacturing companies in India.

A comparison on the evaluation standards of sustainable campus between China and America

PurposeThis paper aims to make a comparative study on the latest version of green campus evaluation standard between China and America: Green Campus Evaluation Standard (GB/T51356-2019) and the sustainability tracking, assessment and rating system (STARS 2.2). The differences of evaluation methods and contents are analyzed and their respective characteristics and advantages are sorted out, so as to promote the development of sustainable campus evaluation standards.Design/methodology/approachThe research mainly adopts the method of comparative study, which is carried out from three dimensions, namely, the related policies development of campus construction and world university sustainable rankings; the content of evaluation standards (including evaluation methods and evaluation categories and scores); the characteristics and current application of standards.FindingsThere are great differences between the evaluation standards of China and America in organization and participation mode, evaluation method and content. Public engagement, energy and campus engagement are the hot spots. Buildings, energy, food and dining and investment and finance will become the focus of sustainable campus in the future. Specific optimization strategies of key points, evaluation method and content and organization and participation mode of Chinese standard are put forward.Practical implicationsThis paper clarifies the advantages and disadvantages of the current global sustainable campus, and provides the basis for the next stage of construction policy. At the same time, it is helpful for all countries, especially China, to formulate construction guidelines that not only meet their own actual needs but also conform to the trend of global sustainable campus development.Social implicationsThe connotation of sustainable campus is enriched, and the evaluation standards of sustainable campus are improved. The development of sustainable campus is promoted, so as to realize the sustainable development goals.Originality/valueThis research expands the scope of the study to the whole campus, rather than just one aspect of campus buildings. It compares the evaluation standard of green campus in China with STARS in the USA, and no longer compares leadership in energy and environmental design for schools. It discusses the campus building’s energy conservation while paying attention to the campus green consciousness, green management and green planning. Based on the relevant data currently used by STARS in the global evaluation, this paper analyzes the hot spots and shortcomings of the current global sustainable campus construction and puts forward some optimization suggestions for China’s green campus evaluation system.

Sustainability Assessment of Renewable Energy Technologies in Context to India Using Multicriteria Analysis with and without Incorporating Risk Analysis

Sustainability assessment at a national scale is a complex task that ought to be seen with a range of conflicting indicators and multicriteria analysis (MCA) is the best approach that can address these conflicts. The study aims for a comprehensive sustainability assessment of renewable energy (RE) technologies in India based on MCA and examines the impact of associated social and environmental risks on the overall sustainability ranking. Large hydropower is evaluated as the most sustainable RE technology in context to India under selected indicators. Contrary to this, large hydropower has also been identified with the highest social and environmental risks. Therefore, in a developing country like India, the techno-economic advantages of large hydropower with its significant untapped potential cannot be overlooked. Hence, there arises a need to enhance the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. Thus, the study recommends a transparent process for public participation in EIA for comprehensive and effective social and environmental risk management of the project to achieve the goal of sustainable development.

Enfoque de tarjeta de puntuación para medir la sostenibilidad de cooperativas seleccionadas en la zona de West Shoa, estado regional de Oromia, Etiopía

The present paper analyzed the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of cooperatives sustainability and examined the sustainability oriented competitive strategies adopted by sample cooperatives. Field survey method will be followed. Multi-stage sampling method was adopted to select study area, cooperatives and respondents. Six cooperatives and by adopting PPS 100 members were selected. The sustainability score card approach advocated by Measuring Cooperative Difference Research Network (MDCRN), Canada and Morris Inequality Index were used. The result shows that the agricultural cooperatives do have better position with economic sustainability, to some extent social sustainability, but they do not have favourable situation in environmental sustainability so that the cooperatives are located at moderate and low level of sustainability condition. With regard to comprehensive cooperative sustainability the same result is seen among sampled cooperatives. Sustainability level and ranking are in consonance with the strategies they adopted and right strategy at right time effectively is advocated.

Sustainability Ranking of the Iranian Major Ports by Using MCDM Methods

The maritime industry is moving towards a sustainable supply chain (SSC), intending to increase the quality of logistics and make more profit. The sustainability of the maritime supply chain (MSC) in Iran is one of the topics that has not been widely studied. Ports play a crucial role in promoting Iran’s position in the international transit of products, strengthening economic, social, and environmental connections with neighboring eastern and northeastern countries, improving GDP, and promoting the role of the free zone in the national development of the country. Port development is one of the essential elements in the government’s strategic planning in developing and activating the East axis. It has a special priority in line with government policies based on deprivation elimination and improving people’s living standards. This paper considers five significant ports of Iran that are part of special economic zones and studies the sustainability of those ports. In this research, different multi-criteria decision-making methods were applied to solve a sustainability-ranking problem of major Iranian ports. First of all, by using the SWARA method, sub-criteria of loading and unloading oil, pier length, and population obtained the highest scores in economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainability, respectively, which shows that they had the greatest impact on the sustainability assessment of Iranian ports. Finally, the MARCOS and CoCoSo techniques were the most similar in all three dimensions of sustainability, and both seemed to be suitable methods for evaluating the sustainability of ports. Furthermore, the implementation of sensitivity analysis and definition of different scenarios for port evaluation and the high efficiency of the MARCOS method were determined in solving the port-ranking problem. According to the MARCOS method results, economic, environmental, and social criteria were all effective criteria in the sustainable development of major Iranian ports and have been largely applied in Astara, Bushehr, and Imam Khomeini ports. Based on the analysis of the results, several managerial insights to make better industry decisions are also revealed.

Sustainability university rankings: a comparative analysis of UI green metric and the times higher education world university rankings

PurposeThis study aims to answer the research question: How to evaluate the structure of global university sustainability rankings according to the Berlin Principles (BP) framework.Design/methodology/approachThe authors investigated two global sustainability rankings in universities, The UI green metric World University Ranking (WUR) and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE-WUR). The authors performed content analysis regarding their evaluation criteria and assessed both rankings using the BP framework.FindingsResults show that there is still a gap to be filled regarding the specificity of global university sustainability rankings. Although the THE-WUR had a better performance in this research, there are several items for improvement, especially regarding the methodological procedures. There are structural differences, limitations and points for improvement in both rankings. Besides, it may not be possible to have a unique and more appropriate ranking, but one that can be more suitable for a contextual reality.Practical implicationsThis study can be helpful for university managers when deliberating on the most appropriate ranking for their institutions and better preparing their higher education institutions for participating in sustainability-related rankings. Besides, it suggests possible improvements on the rankings’ criteria.Social implicationsThe authors shed light on challenges for improving the existing university sustainability rankings, besides generating insights for developing new ones. In a provocative but constructive perspective, the authors question their bases and understandings of being “the best university” regarding sustainability.Originality/valueThis is the first study that provides an in-depth analysis and comparison between two of the most important global university sustainability rankings.