Search Results (6,763)

Sustainability has become a core guiding principle for high-quality urban development. As a key dimension of urban resilience, economic resilience is of utmost importance. It directly relates to a city’s capacity to maintain stable operations and sustainable development when confronting shocks, serving as a crucial foundation for safeguarding economic health and public welfare. Through bolstering risk management, accelerating industrial upgrading, and enhancing the efficiency of resource allocation, financial technology (fintech) empowers urban economic resilience. This plays a pivotal role in accelerating the transition to new engines of national economic growth and promoting sustainable urban economic development. This paper selects panel data from 281 prefecture-level cities covering the period from 2009 to 2023 to examine the impact of fintech on urban economic resilience. It further examines the moderating role of industrial agglomeration in this relationship, analyzes heterogeneity in urban economic resilience, and investigates the spatial spillover effects of fintech on it. The results demonstrate that fintech significantly promotes the enhancement of urban economic resilience. This finding remains valid after multiple robustness tests and endogeneity treatments are conducted; the role of fintech in promoting urban economic resilience is more pronounced in cities with a higher degree of industrial agglomeration, and fintech can generate spatial spillover effects, leading to a marked improvement in the economic resilience of neighboring areas. Full article

Decentralized finance (DeFi) has been studied mainly as a financial and technological system, while the role of digital entrepreneurial capability in shaping sustainable user traction remains underexplored. This study repositions DeFi as a digitally mediated entrepreneurial ecosystem and examines whether retention-oriented user behavior is associated with three capability dimensions—entrepreneurial visibility, network embeddedness, and organic acquisition efficiency—together with ecosystem-finance conditions such as total value locked and decentralized-exchange activity. Using an exploratory, correlational design with monthly aggregated data from five incumbent DeFi platforms during the post-FTX recovery period (October 2022–September 2023), the analysis combines canonical correlation analysis, partial least squares regression, and ridge regression. Results indicate a significant multivariate association between ecosystem-finance conditions and the entrepreneurial-capability block, and show that returning-visitor behavior is more coherently linked to the predictor set than broad visitor inflow. Entrepreneurial Visibility Capital and Network Embeddedness emerge as the most stable positive correlates of user retention, while Organic Acquisition Efficiency shows a directionally mixed pattern. Because the sample is small, the findings are interpreted as preliminary evidence rather than confirmatory claims. Overall, the study offers an integrative framework that connects DeFi, digital entrepreneurship, and sustainability-oriented business-model research, and identifies the joint configuration of digital capability and financial conditions as a promising direction for future, larger-scale investigation. Full article

Climate finance has become a major means of fostering sustainability in the construction industry, which encounters higher pressures to mitigate its environmental footprint without sacrificing economic viability. In line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, this study employs a hybrid approach, integrating a systematic literature review (SLR) and bibliometric analysis, to provide a comprehensive overview of the role and mechanisms of climate finance for sustainable practices in the construction industry. From 2019 to 2025, 176 papers were identified in the Scopus (73) and Web of Science (103) databases. The SLR enables both systematic collection and qualitative analysis of financial instruments, policy frameworks, and sustainability performance metrics, and bibliometric analysis provides a report of publication behavior, geographic distribution, and thematic network. Findings suggest intense clustering of research in countries, with India, China, and the United States as key focus areas, and that construction firms predominantly accessed climate finance on instruments including green bonds, sustainability-linked loans, public–private partnerships, and multilateral climate funds. Sustainability performance is commonly assessed using indicators such as carbon emissions, energy efficiency, lifecycle costs, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics. The findings also highlight the critical role of public policies, such as green procurement, carbon pricing, and fiscal incentives, in enabling sustainable construction practices. From a theoretical perspective, this study contributes to the understanding of how financial mechanisms, policy frameworks, and sustainability metrics interact to drive sectoral transformation. Future research should focus on standardizing sustainability metrics, evaluating financing impacts, and expanding studies in emerging economies. Full article

The intersection of financial innovation and environmental sustainability offers important opportunities for low- and middle-income (LMI) countries. This study examines the association between FinTech investment, geopolitical-economic uncertainty, urbanization, economic development, and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in LMI countries. CO₂ emissions per capita are used as an environmental outcome indicator rather than as a direct measure of green finance. Using a panel dataset covering 2010–2021, the study applies fixed-effects panel regressions as the main empirical approach and reports one-step difference the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimates as exploratory dynamic evidence. The fixed-effects results indicate that GDP per capita is positively and significantly associated with CO₂ emissions, while FinTech investment and urbanization do not show consistent significant associations. Geopolitical risk is positively associated with CO₂ emissions in some static specifications, but this association becomes insignificant once gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is included. The exploratory GMM results, estimated with collapsed instruments and restricted lag depth, do not provide statistically significant evidence that FinTech investment is associated with lower CO₂ emissions. Overall, the findings suggest that FinTech investment may be relevant for environmental outcomes in LMI countries, but its role is neither automatic nor uniform and remains sensitive to model specification. Policy implications emphasize the need to strengthen digital financial infrastructure, regulatory transparency, institutional stability, urban planning, and climate-oriented investment channels to support FinTech-driven environmental performance. Full article

In high-demand financial environments, employees’ capacity to regulate and sustain personal energy may constitute a critical yet underdeveloped organizational resource. Drawing on the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study conceptualizes energy management as a multidimensional personal resource that may support adaptive functioning and innovation under demanding work conditions. Despite increasing conceptual attention to energy-related constructs, systematic scale validation and cross-level performance evidence remain limited. This research adopts a two-study design to develop and validate a multidimensional Energy Management Scale within financial institutions. Study 1 (N = 299 employees from 11 financial institutions) examines the factorial structure, reliability, and nomological validity of the scale. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to examine the proposed four-dimensional configuration of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual energy. The scale demonstrates acceptable internal consistency reliability and evidence of structural validity, including convergent and discriminant validity. Structural modeling results reveal that overall energy management is positively related to innovative behavior and organizational citizenship behavior. However, perceived workload was significantly associated only with physical energy, suggesting that demand-related mechanisms of energy may not operate uniformly across energy components. Additionally, exploratory institution-level aggregation analyses showed preliminary, counterintuitive negative associations between mean organizational energy levels and return on equity (ROE) in some years. Given the limited number of institutional clusters, these cross-level findings are preliminary and intended to provide initial external criterion evidence rather than confirmatory causal inference. Study 2 (N = 148 employees from two institutions) further examines alternative scale versions and external validity through stress coping capacity, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction. Results were discussed to examine the robustness and predictive validity of the scale across samples. Collectively, this study advances energy management research by providing a psychometrically supported measurement instrument and preliminary multilevel evidence of its organizational relevance. The findings position energy management as a measurable human-capital resource with implications for sustainable workforce innovation and performance in financial institutions. Full article

The integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into corporate and financial decision-making has become one of the most significant transformations in today’s financial markets. Growing regulatory pressure, stakeholder expectations and increased awareness of sustainability challenges have led companies and investors to incorporate ESG considerations into strategic and investment decisions. Despite the rapid spread of ESG practices, the academic literature presents conflicting and sometimes contradictory evidence regarding their economic implications and practical effectiveness. This article provides a review of the literature on the main academic contributions to ESG integration, focusing on three key dimensions: the economic benefits associated with ESG practices, the methodological and credibility challenges relating to ESG measurement, and the organisational and technological factors that enable effective ESG implementation. The findings indicate that ESG integration is generally associated with positive organisational outcomes, including improved financial performance, lower cost of capital, greater stakeholder trust and a reduction in firm-specific risk. However, the realisation of these benefits is not automatic and depends to a large extent on the credibility of ESG practices and information. Rather than endorsing the widely held view that ESG criteria are inherently capable of creating value, the analysis shows that the value-creating effect of ESG criteria depends crucially on the credibility of ESG practices and the quality of their implementation. The literature highlights significant methodological challenges, including rating divergence, the lack of standardised metrics, methodological opacity and the growing risk of greenwashing, which can undermine the reliability of ESG information. This paper proposes an deductive conceptual framework in which ESG effectiveness emerges from the interaction between value creation mechanisms, credibility constraints, and enabling organisational and technological factors. Full article

Large portions of rural population in South Africa lack access to basic water and sanitation. This advocates for urgent interventions in support of water supply. This study assessed the performance of solar-powered groundwater pumping systems established at nine pilot sites in rural areas of Greater Giyani Municipality (Limpopo, South Africa). Performance assessment indicators, namely weather, groundwater abstraction, power supply, water supply, water quality, number of beneficiaries and farm productivity, were monitored (2023–2024). Increased groundwater abstraction reduced groundwater levels by 0.4–11 m, depending on the monitored borehole. This was replenished by above-average rainfall in 2023 (≈650 mm). Power supply and pump discharge rates were stable with generally low fluctuations at recommended pumping rates (0.5–2.0 L s⁻¹). Groundwater quality was generally fit to marginal for irrigation and drinking. High levels of NO₃⁻ and total organic carbon, especially in the proximity of villages, mandated the installation of mini water treatment plants for drinking water. The implementation of solar-powered groundwater pumping schemes was generally successful, with more than 5000 villagers benefiting directly from the interventions, whilst smallholder farms turned into commercial and financially viable enterprises. Long-term monitoring of bio-physical and socio-economic drivers is essential to ensure long-term sustainability of the solar-powered groundwater pumping systems. Full article

National risks constitute an important but still underexplored dimension of sustainable development, particularly in countries exposed to institutional fragility, demographic decline, and geopolitical uncertainty. This study identifies and prioritizes the ten most significant risks facing Bulgaria’s development over the next decade, with particular attention to their fiscal and macro-financial transmission channels. The analysis is based on a structured expert survey conducted among 82 specialists from academia, business, research institutions, civil society, and public practice. Respondents assessed 32 potential risks according to likelihood and impact using a five-point scale. A combined priority index was constructed as the product of mean likelihood and mean impact scores. The results show that the most significant risks are concentrated around institutional and systemic vulnerabilities, especially distrust in the rule of law, ineffective healthcare, disinformation, corruption, crisis of statehood, demographic decline, and deterioration in education and infrastructure. The findings indicate that these risks affect Bulgaria’s long-term development through five main fiscal and macro-financial channels: higher sovereign risk premia, expenditure pressure, weaker revenue capacity and investment efficiency, labor market deterioration, and broader financial fragility. The study contributes to the literature on sustainability governance, sovereign resilience, and fiscal sustainability by showing that national resilience depends not only on the management of external shocks, but also on the institutional capacity of the state to absorb long-term structural pressures. The practical applicability of the study lies in the possibility and necessity of conducting a content analysis of the main strategic documents for the country’s development in order to establish the extent to which the identified main risks are reflected in them, as conclusions about the situation and as countermeasure policies. Full article

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance has become an important component of corporate sustainability and responsible governance, yet its economic implications remain contested, especially in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that are expected to balance commercial goals with broader social responsibilities. This study examines the relationship between ESG performance and firm performance in Chinese listed SOEs, with particular attention to the mediating role of corporate reputation. The results show that ESG performance is positively associated with firm performance. Corporate reputation, risk-taking, and financial constraints are identified as important transmission channels through which ESG performance affects firm outcomes. Further analysis reveals a threshold effect in the ESG–performance relationship: when corporate reputation is relatively low, ESG investment may weaken firm performance; however, once reputation exceeds a critical threshold, ESG performance significantly improves firm performance. These findings enrich the literature on corporate sustainability and ESG value creation by showing that the performance effect of ESG is conditional on reputational capital. The study also provides practical implications for managers and policymakers seeking to promote sustainable corporate transformation in state-owned enterprises. Full article

Mobile payment systems are widely viewed as a practical lever for sustainable financial inclusion in developing economies, with relevance to UN Sustainable Development Goals 1, 8, and 10. Yet in countries such as Egypt—where mobile penetration exceeds 95% but banking penetration remains below 35%—sustained engagement with these services lags policy expectations, suggesting that determinants beyond technology shape behavior. This study examines the determinants of behavioral intention and continued use of mobile payment among Egyptian users, and tests whether cultural factors dominate conventional technology-acceptance predictors in a collectivist, high-power-distance setting. A structured bilingual (Arabic–English) questionnaire measuring nine predictors across technology, psychological, and socio-cultural dimensions was administered to 200 active mobile-payment users in Egypt during January–February 2025. Hierarchical regression and mediation analysis (with Sobel/delta-method 95% confidence intervals as a robustness check) were used to examine direct effects on Behavioral Intention and continued use, and the mediating role of Behavioral Intention. Cultural Influence emerged as the strongest predictor of Behavioral Intention (β = 0.421, p < 0.001), followed by Facilitating Conditions (β = 0.282, p < 0.001); conventional TAM variables were not statistically significant. Cultural Influence retained a significant direct effect on continued use (β = 0.253, p < 0.01), indicating partial mediation. The findings support culture-sensitive approaches to technology adoption research and inform financial-inclusion policy in non-Western contexts. Limitations include the cross-sectional design and the convenience-based snowball sample of existing users. Full article

Wetland system design, management and modelling to support ecosystem services during climate change have been evaluated in this structured and critical review. The focus was on non-tidal and agriculture-linked wetlands in oceanic, temperate and boreal regions. After applying 54 search terms using Google Scholar, 229 references have been cited. The review indicates that local wetland improvements rarely have a measurable impact on the overall watershed. Water can be retained mostly successfully in the landscape for relatively low- and medium-level rainfall. For large and less frequent floods, the concept of Retaining Water in the Landscape rarely applies. The success of compensation schemes for European and United States American farmers to control flood retention depends on financial status, farm size, age and the contract term duration. Ecosystem disservices such as greenhouse gas and nutrient release from ditches should be counteracted by rewetting. Combined water level and nutrient management supports carbon sequestration and protects watercourses from eutrophication. Restored wetlands usually reduce diffuse pollution and enhance biodiversity. The conservation of existing natural wetlands compared to restoring former wetlands is normally more effective regarding carbon storage. The value of sustainably managed wetlands is up to 50 times higher than the mean wetland restoration costs. Full article

The European energy transition is rapidly reducing the role of fossil-based generation, raising concerns about system adequacy and the financial sustainability of dispatchable plants. Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGTs) remain essential to ensure grid flexibility and security of supply, particularly in markets with high renewable penetration such as Portugal. This paper applies the European Union’s adequacy assessment methodology to compute the Cost of New Entry (CONE) and the Cost of Renewal or Prolongation (CORP) for CCGTs, establishing the minimum annual revenues required for new investments and for extending the lifetime of existing units. A simplified market closure algorithm is developed using 2023 MIBEL data to estimate CCGT revenues under current conditions. Results show that annual market revenues (about 20 k€/MW) are far below the calculated thresholds of 123 k€/MW for CONE and 39 k€/MW for CORP, revealing a substantial investment gap. These results suggest the need for capacity remuneration mechanisms (CRMs) to maintain existing plants and attract new capacity. Indicative values of about 103 k€/MW/year for new entrants and about 20 k€/MW/year for renewals are obtained, which should be interpreted as order-of-magnitude estimates rather than direct payment levels for market implementation. The findings highlight the critical role of CRMs in guaranteeing energy security during the decarbonization process and provide policy-relevant benchmarks for Portugal and other EU countries facing similar challenges. Full article

As a policy-driven land use transition initiative bridging poverty eradication and sustainable development, China’s Poverty Alleviation Relocation (PAR) program exemplifies how state-led resettlement can reconfigure land use patterns while balancing immediate livelihood security with long-term community capacity development. The integration of large-scale PAR communities into new urbanization is a critical postrelocation task that is essential for consolidating poverty eradication achievements and enhancing endogenous development capacity. This study examined how the configuration of policy instruments shapes the endogenous development capacity of PAR communities during their transition to new urbanization. Employing a “tool–goal” analytical framework, we conducted a content analysis of 38 provincial-level policy documents (2021–present) using NVivo 20 software. The findings reveal that while local governments have established a preliminary policy system, structural imbalances persist: (1) uneven deployment of policy tools, (2) underutilization of demand-based policy tools, (3) tool–goal misalignment, and (4) insufficient market/societal participation in government-led measures. The discussion further reveals that the land use transition in the PAR program emphasizes the “living mode” (housing and public services) over the “livelihood mode” (productive resources and nonagricultural employment), creating structural dependency and leaving industrial land underutilized—as evidenced by weak policy support for industrial development (14.83%) and labour outmigration from resettlement areas. Drawing on the sustainable livelihoods framework, we further demonstrate how this exogenous-dominated policy mix disproportionately enhances physical and financial capital while constraining the accumulation of human and social capital—the very foundations of endogenous development capacity. To address these issues, we propose three key recommendations: (1) optimizing the policy mix to strengthen the endogenous development capacity of PAR communities; (2) realigning policy tools with objectives to achieve diversified yet coordinated goals; and (3) addressing implementation gaps to better leverage market mechanisms and social forces in promoting the sustainable urban integration of resettlement areas. Full article

Digital news organizations increasingly adopt generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) under conditions of economic strain and platform dependency. While AI integration is often framed as a strategy for operational efficiency, its institutional implications extend beyond productivity gains. This study examines how different governance approaches to GenAI adoption—specifically variations in transparency, disclosure, and oversight practices—correspond to shifts in audience engagement and financial performance. Using a comparative mixed-methods design, we analyze three prominent cases between 2022 and 2025—CNET, Gizmodo, and The New York Times—representing, respectively, covert AI use with limited disclosure, transparent but poorly managed deployment, and proactive ethical and legally grounded positioning. To operationalize audience stability, we introduce two behavioral indicators: the Engagement Resilience Index (ERI), measuring depth and consistency of user engagement; and the Market Turbulence Ratio (MTR), capturing post-incident volatility in audience behavior. The findings indicate that AI deployment strategies associated with limited disclosure or weak governance correspond with increased engagement instability and revenue contraction, whereas approaches framed through institutional accountability and ethical positioning align with more stable or positive performance trajectories. The results suggest that AI integration functions not merely as a technological shift but as a governance-mediated signal interpreted by audiences in economic terms. These dynamics highlight the centrality of institutional trust in shaping the sustainability of digital journalism in the age of automation. Full article

As global urban centers transition into “Super-Aged Societies,” the paradigm of urban sustainability has shifted from mere housing provision to the development of Sustainable Care Retirement Communities (SCRCs). This study addresses a critical gap in the urban aging literature: the lack of culturally sensitive frameworks for social resilience in non-Western contexts. By integrating Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory, this research investigates how national culture influences the prioritization of community attributes within the “15 min city” framework. Methodologically, a hierarchical evaluation framework comprising 4 dimensions and 26 indicators was established. It employed the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) to achieve expert consensus among stakeholders in Taiwan’s Long-term Care 3.0 ecosystem. Analysis using Double Triangular Fuzzy Numbers identified the “Charging Model,” “Staff-to-Resident Ratio,” and “Zoning with Care Continuity” as the highest-priority factors ($G^i$ ≥ 7.8). These results indicate that in cultures with high uncertainty avoidance, institutional financial stability and human-centric staffing are perceived as the structural bedrock of social resilience. Furthermore, the study highlights the emergence of AI-driven “Active Sensing” environments as a pivotal component of technical resilience, mitigating the loneliness epidemic while maintaining institutional efficiency. The findings suggest that social resilience in SCRCs is not merely a product of physical accessibility but is theoretically inferred by experts to be deeply rooted in the synergy of Bonding and Bridging Social Capital, rather than being a directly measured outcome. This research provides urban planners and policy-makers with a robust, evidence-based toolkit to design inclusive, resilient, and culturally aligned aging-in-place environments in the face of unprecedented demographic challenges. Full article