Search Results (3)

Cacao is a food of global interest. Currently, the industry primarily utilizes the seed, which represents between 21% and 23% of the total fruit weight. In 2023, global production reached 5.6 million tons of fermented dry cacao beans, while approximately 25.45 million tons corresponded to cacao residues. The objective of this review was to compile and analyze alternatives for the utilization of cacao by-products. The methodology involved technological surveillance conducted in specialized databases between 2015 and 2025. Metadata were analyzed using VOSviewer software version 1.6.20. Priority was given to the most recent publications in high-impact indexed journals. Additionally, 284 patent documents were identified, from which 15 were selected for in-depth analysis. The reviewed articles and patents revealed a wide range of industrial applications for cacao by-products. Technologies including ultrasonic and microwave-assisted extraction, phenolic microencapsulation, cellulose nanocrystal isolation and targeted microbial fermentations maximize the recovery of polyphenols and antioxidants, optimize the production of high-value bioproducts such as citric acid and ethanol, and yield biodegradable precursors for packaging and bioplastics. The valorization of lignocellulosic by-products reduces pollutant discharge and waste management costs, enhances economic viability across the cacao value chain, and broadens functional applications in the food industry. Moreover, these integrated processes underpin circular economy frameworks by converting residues into feedstocks, thereby promoting sustainable development in producer communities and mitigating environmental impact. Collectively, they constitute a robust platform for the comprehensive utilization of cacao residues, fully aligned with bioeconomy objectives and responsible resource stewardship. Full article

In the context of the rapid development of the global economy, promoting corporate economic development while taking into account sustainable development has gradually become the focus of attention of countries around the world. The ESG performance reflects the differences in the assessment of enterprises’ sustainable development potential by capital market information intermediaries. These differences affect the internal governance and external financing of enterprises, thereby influencing corporate green innovation. This research is based on 1500 Shanghai-Shenzhen A-share listed companies in China from 2012 to 2022. Using green technology innovation quantity (GINUM) and green technology innovation quality (GICIT) as the measures of corporate green innovation capabilities, and by constructing a DiD model and a benchmark regression model, the dynamic relationship between ESG performance and green innovation is explored. At the same time, the mediation effect model is introduced to examine the impact of ESG performance on corporate green innovation capabilities from three perspectives: financing constraints, management’s green development awareness, and employee innovation efficiency. In addition, endogenous analysis methods and robustness test methods are employed to further ensure the reliability of the research results. The research findings show that ESG performance can significantly promote corporate green innovation capabilities. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that ESG performance significantly enhances the green technology innovation capabilities of enterprises, especially among non-state-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and enterprises in the eastern region. The regression coefficients for GINUM and GICIT are 0.019, 0.021, 0.084, and 0.086, respectively, all of which are statistically significant at the 1% level. The mechanism analysis shows that in terms of alleviating financing constraints, enhancing management’s green development awareness, and improving employee innovation efficiency, the regression coefficients of ESG performance for GINUM and GICIT are −1.559, −1.953, 0.018, 0.011, 0.427, and 0.495, respectively, indicating a certain promoting effect. The results of this study enrich and expand the relevant research on the relationship between ESG and corporate green innovation capabilities to a certain extent. This research is expected to provide some new practical directions for promoting green innovation capabilities within the ESG framework. Full article

Mitigating the negative impacts of climate change in urban areas has recently become essential to improving citizens’ living conditions. Trees are one of the most effective ways to attenuate the Heat Island phenomenon in cities, and numerous projects have been carried out to calculate tree ecosystem services (ES) provisioning. Among these, the Clivut European project (LIFE 18 GIC/IT/001217) developed a web app to allow citizens and the public administration to quantify the ES provided by the most common tree species. The present study aims to consider a new model to calculate the tree evapotranspiration cooling effect in the urban environment in terms of CO₂-compensated emissions. The model directly converts the surface temperature change produced by tree evapotranspiration into the corresponding CO₂ offset in four urban parks in two Italian cities (Bologna and Perugia). The considered parks stored 1100 t of CO₂ at the time of the study, while the CO₂ compensated is 860 t, showing the significance of this interpretation. As a result of the study, it can be concluded that the presented model will allow a better estimation of the potential trees’ climate change compensation and also add further functionality to the web app. Full article