Search Results (3,927)

Against the backdrop of economic growth and the transition toward a green, low-carbon economy, the coordinated advancement of digital intelligence and green development has become a crucial pathway to promoting high-quality industrial development. Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2013 to 2023, this study employs two-way fixed-effects models, mediation models, and threshold regression models to conduct an empirical analysis. The results indicate that, during the sample period, both the level of digital intelligence and industrial green transformation efficiency increased steadily across Chinese provinces, exhibiting significant temporal and spatial heterogeneity. A significant positive relationship is identified between the two variables, with industrial structure and green technological innovation serving as mediating mechanisms. The effect of digital intelligence on industrial green transformation efficiency exhibits a nonlinear pattern, with the provincial average enterprise size functioning as the threshold variable. Furthermore, this effect exhibits significant regional heterogeneity. These findings provide novel empirical evidence on the relationship between digital intelligence and industrial green transformation. Full article

The intensifying global challenges of environmental degradation, escalating energy demands, and unsustainable waste accumulation necessitate the exploration of alternative, high-value biomass resources. Algal biomass has emerged as a uniquely versatile and sustainable candidate, offering transformative potential across a broad range of industrial and environmental sectors. This review comprehensively evaluates the recent advancements and multidisciplinary applications of algae, with a strong emphasis on their distinctive chemical composition, bioactive compounds, and environmental adaptability. The novelty of this review lies in its integrative scope, which spans from algae cultivation, production, and trade to cutting-edge extraction technologies for bioactive constituents. Furthermore, the review presents a detailed exploration of algae’s functionality as a feedstock for biofuels, pharmaceuticals, sustainable agriculture, bioplastics, green chemistry, and water treatment, positioning it as a cornerstone in the development of the blue economy. By critically analyzing both conventional and innovative applications, this work contributes to a deeper understanding of algae’s strategic role in shaping a sustainable and resilient bioeconomy. Full article

Wine production is one of the most important agricultural activities worldwide, and generates significant amounts of organic by-products, particularly grape pomace. Traditionally, this was seen as waste, but currently, this residue has been reanalyzed from the perspective of the principles of the bioeconomy and circular economy, demonstrating its potential as a rich source of bioactive compounds with great potential for valorization. Its heterogeneous composition accumulates a variety of polyphenols, dietary fibers, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and other secondary metabolites that confer important biological properties, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities. The chemical composition of grape pomace varies substantially according to variety, winemaking method, and extraction conditions, directly impacting its potential application. Extraction methods have progressed from traditional procedures to more advanced techniques such as ultrasound, supercritical fluids, and natural solvents, enabling the selective separation of high-value compounds. This review provides a comprehensive and critical overview of grape pomace valorization, emphasising its composition, green extraction and current industrial applications. In addition, regulatory frameworks and sustainability strategies supporting the integration of grape pomace into value-added production chains are discussed. Overall, grape pomace valorization supports waste reduction and the production of new functional products that balance economic efficiency and environmental responsibility. Full article

Achieving the EU’s climate goals by 2050 requires a rapid transition to a resource-efficient and circular economy. The electrification of transport increases the demand for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LiBs), where lithium–nickel–cobalt–manganese (Li-NMC) is the predominant cathode technology in the European automotive sector. Large-scale facilities for LiB production and recycling are emerging worldwide, bringing not only technical challenges but also challenges regarding healthy and safe working environments. Current knowledge on occupational exposure and health risks in the LiB industry is limited and largely based on evidence from other occupational settings. However, the LiB industry involves legacy and new combinations of metals and chemicals in novel contexts. Some of these substances have well-known adverse health effects, and combined exposure may increase their absorption and toxicity. Although processes are often highly specialised and automated, manual handling tasks remain, which put workers at risk of exposure. Important knowledge gaps remain regarding exposure levels, exposure pathways, dermal and systemic uptake, combined exposures, and potential health effects among workers. This perspective paper discusses current exposure scenarios and health risks in LiB production and recycling, identifies key knowledge gaps, and highlights future research needs to support evidence-based occupational risk management. To address several of these challenges, the GreenWorkLiB initiative applies a multidisciplinary approach combining exposure assessment, biomonitoring, and occupational medicine. The initiative investigates exposure pathways via air and skin, internal dose through biomonitoring, and potential health effects among workers in LiB production and recycling. The results can support the assessment of human health and safety within the EU’s Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework and contribute to safe and sustainable working environments in the LiB industry. Full article

Against the global backdrop of the manufacturing industry (MFI)’s transition toward sustainability, we investigated the impact mechanisms and spatial effects of digital elements on the green upgrading of manufacturing industries. Based on an innovation ecosystem perspective, we utilize panel data from 13 prefecture-level cities in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region of China spanning 2003 to 2023, employing a spatial Durbin model (SDM) for empirical analysis. The findings reveal the following: (1) Both digital element inputs and manufacturing green upgrading in the BTH region exhibit significant positive spatial correlation, with the latter demonstrating notable path dependence. (2) While digital elements significantly drive local manufacturing green upgrading, they also generate a spatial siphon effect at the regional level, exerting a certain inhibitory impact on the green upgrading of neighboring areas. (3) Mechanism analysis indicates that local digital elements facilitate manufacturing green upgrading by enhancing firms’ digital innovation capabilities, stimulating consumer digital demand, and optimizing corporate resource allocation efficiency. This research provides theoretical support and empirical evidence for governments to formulate targeted digital economy policies and promote low-carbon, green development in the manufacturing industry (MFI). Full article

This research adopts a model that has been developed around the Ecological Modernization and Resource Bless/Curse theories to offer practical insights on environmental sustainability. Data from 28 selected Caribbean and Latin American economies (grouped into 11 Small Island and Developing States (SIDSs) and 17 Large Continental Economies (LCEs)) for the period 2004 to 2024 is utilized in the analysis. ‘Method of Moments’ quantile regression and the two-stage least squares technique are employed for robust direct findings, while path analysis—a subset of structural equation modelling—is employed to examine the mediation and moderation relationships. Key findings shows that renewable energy is the key driver of sustainability in all Caribbean and Latin American economies regardless of the economy type. Consequently, digitalization and trade openness worsens environmental problems in the SIDSs. However, in the LCEs, digitalization advances sustainability up to a certain threshold, after which it becomes ineffective. Trade openness also tends to present a weak drive to sustainability in the LCEs. Green finance improves sustainability symmetrically in the SIDSs and asymmetrically in the LCEs as it only advances sustainability in highly environmentally stressed LCEs. The meditation role of green finance is significant in the SIDSs and insignificant in the LCEs, while the moderating role of institutional quality is insignificant in all Caribbean and Latin American economies. This study recommends channeling resources for supporting the development of green financial mechanisms for sustainable environments. Policy reforms that align economic efforts in advancing environmental sustainability can be adopted. Full article

Against the backdrop of global advancement toward carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, and green economic transition, the coordinated evolution of low-carbon development and socioeconomic growth has emerged as a core issue for high-quality regional development. Taking Jiangsu Province as the research subject, this paper establishes a synergy evaluation system for the low-carbon economic composite system covering resources, energy, economy and society based on panel data from 2009 to 2024. The Z-score standardization method, order parameter method and geometric mean integration method are adopted to measure and analyze the synergy degrees of the low-carbon development subsystem, socioeconomic development subsystem and composite system. The results reveal that Jiangsu has achieved remarkable progress in low-carbon economic construction. The green and low-carbon industrial transformation keeps advancing, the quality of economic growth improves steadily, and people’s well-being is continuously enhanced. Low-carbon development and socioeconomic growth maintain a coordinated state with improved orderliness of the low-carbon subsystem. This study optimizes the measurement framework of low-carbon economic synergy, and its findings can provide empirical evidence and policy implications for promoting low-carbon economic development in Jiangsu Province. Full article

This systematic review examines the global sustainable urban planning strategies used worldwide and whether they are applicable to the United Arab Emirates. This study reviewed 150 peer-reviewed articles and identified 14 of the most significant sustainable urban planning strategies in use today, including green infrastructure, smart city technologies, compact urban development, transit-oriented development, circular economy principles, mitigation of urban heat island effects, renewable energy integration, sustainable drainage systems, biophilic design, fifteen-minute city concepts, mixed-use development, vertical farming, participatory planning, and urban resilience frameworks. The methodologies applied by the authors to identify the sustainable urban planning strategies employed in the research were thematic analysis and the classification of the strategies into five main categories: environmental sustainability, technological innovation, social equity, economic viability, and cross-cutting. Case studies from Singapore, Copenhagen, Melbourne, and Amsterdam, and examples of current sustainable urban planning initiatives underway in Dubai and Abu Dhabi show how the models can be successfully implemented. The results indicate that multi-strategy approaches produce better results than the application of single strategies. Based on the results of the research, green infrastructure, smart city technologies, and the mitigation of urban heat island effects have been identified as strategies whose characteristics are closely aligned with the UAE’s arid climate conditions, while emphasizing that all fourteen strategies contribute to comprehensive sustainability outcomes and that their relative importance depends on local relevance. The researchers also concluded that for sustainable urban planning to be successful in the UAE, it will require the best practices from around the world be adapted to the unique environmental conditions, cultural contexts, and economic structures of each country. The findings of this study will contribute to the growing body of knowledge related to sustainable urbanism and provide practitioners with useful information and practical guidance when implementing sustainable urban planning practices in the UAE and other arid regions. Full article

Rural low-altitude tourism serves as an important carrier for the deep integration of general aviation technology and agricultural culture and tourism, driven by the comprehensive promotion of the rural revitalization strategy and the accelerated rise of the low-altitude economy. However, systematic sustainability assessment tools suitable for complex rural scenes remain lacking. This study aimed to fill this gap and constructed a multi-dimensional evaluation framework. The framework included five main dimensions: the integration of low-altitude general technology and digital infrastructure, the digital protection and activation of rural cultural heritage, the economic and social benefits of agricultural culture and tourism integration, ecological coordination and community inclusiveness, and airspace governance and policy support. Twenty-one secondary indicators supplemented these dimensions. The triangular fuzzy number-TOPSIS group decision method determined the indicator weights and reduced subjective uncertainty in expert evaluation. The TOPSIS method quantitatively evaluated and ranked five typical villages: Anji in Zhejiang, Yangshuo in Guangxi, Yuanjiajie in Hunan, Nantai in Gansu, and Lingshui in Hainan. The results show that Zhejiang Anji leads in comprehensive sustainability, followed by Hunan Yuanjiajie and Guangxi Yangshuo. Sensitivity analysis confirms the robustness of the ranking results. The innovation of this research lies in the integration of frontier elements such as airspace synergy efficiency into the evaluation framework. The application of triangular fuzzy number TOPSIS enhances the methodological rigor and robustness of the evaluation. This study provides practical insights for optimizing rural low-altitude tourism resource allocation, strengthening cultural heritage transmission, and promoting green transformation. Full article

The recycling of power batteries is a key measure for improving the new energy industry chain and achieving green circular economy goals. However, the process of evaluating and selecting recycling schemes is influenced by multiple complex factors and often involves a significant amount of ambiguous and uncertain decision-making information. As an important extension of intuitionistic fuzzy sets, picture fuzzy sets characterize fuzzy information through three distinct dimensions: membership, neutrality, and non-membership. This three-dimensional structure offers unique advantages in addressing uncertain and ambiguous decision-making problems, where traditional fuzzy sets may lose valuable information. Drawing on the Bray–Curtis distance measure, this paper proposes a novel picture fuzzy distance measure that captures differences across all three dimensions more comprehensively. By combining the weighted form of the proposed picture fuzzy distance measure with the classical TOPSIS method, a new multi-attribute decision-making model is established under the picture fuzzy framework. The effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method are demonstrated through a case study on the recycling of power batteries for electric vehicles. A sensitivity analysis of relevant parameters is conducted, confirming the stability of the model against variations in parameter settings. Comparative results indicate that the proposed novel picture fuzzy distance measure exhibits superior robustness compared to existing similar distance measures. Furthermore, the constructed decision-making model can provide reliable and practical support for uncertain multi-attribute decision-making problems in real-world applications. Full article

Waste-to-hydrogen (W2H) technology is gaining recognition as a viable pathway for simultaneous waste valorisation and clean energy production in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). However, the water resource implications of hydrogen production pathways in this acutely water-scarce region have received insufficient analytical attention. This paper presents the first systematic comparative analysis of water consumption across grey, blue, green, and waste-to-hydrogen production pathways calibrated to the GCC context, using the ISO 14046 water footprint framework and accounting for the desalination penalty that arises when hydrogen facilities draw on energy-intensive desalinated water. The analysis shows that green hydrogen, widely promoted in GCC national hydrogen strategies, incurs a compound water–energy burden substantially greater than global benchmark figures suggest, with electrolysis requiring 9 to 18 litres of water per kilogram of hydrogen and desalination accounting for 4 to 20 per cent of GCC electricity consumption. In contrast, W2H gasification exhibits considerably more modest water demands at 10 litres per kilogram of hydrogen, with high potential for treated wastewater substitution and co-location with municipal waste infrastructure, positioning it as the most water-compatible near-term hydrogen production pathway for arid GCC economies. Drawing on the water–energy nexus and water governance literature, the paper proposes a Water–Hydrogen Governance Framework comprising four policy pillars: water efficiency standards for hydrogen production facilities, water allocation policy for industrial hydrogen projects, integrated water–energy planning at the national level, and regional GCC coordination on water–hydrogen governance. The framework is aligned with SDGs 6, 7, 13, and 17 and provides a structured and practical tool for GCC governments and development institutions seeking to integrate water security into hydrogen strategy. The findings contribute to the emerging literature on resource-constrained hydrogen deployment and offer a replicable governance model for other arid economies pursuing clean hydrogen transitions. Full article

Circular economy (CE) and green building (GB) are playing increasingly prominent roles in operationalising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the built environment, including in rapidly urbanising Global South contexts such as India. Although often assumed to be complementary, their integration remains insufficiently examined, particularly in terms of their structural alignment and divergence. This study investigates the synergies and structural divergences between CE and GB through an empirical and analytical approach grounded in the Indian built environment sector. Qualitative data were collected from a multi-stakeholder participatory workshop with built environment practitioners in India and through follow-up interviews and analysed using qualitative content analysis to identify patterns in how these approaches are interpreted and applied in a participatory setting. The findings indicate that GB predominantly engages SDGs through performance-oriented, asset-level interventions, while CE operates through system-level strategies focused on material circulation and value-chain transformation. Although areas of convergence are evident, particularly in relation to SDGs 11 and 12, important structural divergences emerge across three key dimensions: scale, temporality, and underlying mental models. These divergences influence how sustainability interventions are framed and implemented with SDG targets. The alignment of CE and GB requires systemic reforms that incorporate circularity criteria within building rating systems, align CE and GB within unified regulatory and procurement frameworks, and embed systems thinking and life cycle approaches within professional education to translate CE from a conceptual framework into an operational paradigm in the built environment. Full article

Against the backdrop of the deep integration of the “Dual Carbon” goals and the digital economy, whether digital asset allocation can improve corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance has become an important topic of academic concern. Taking all Chinese A-share listed firms from 2013 to 2024 as the research population, this study obtains a final panel sample of 29,329 firm-year observations after excluding financial and insurance firms, ST/*ST firms, newly listed firms, and observations with missing key variables. Digital asset allocation is measured by the proportion of digital technology-related intangible assets to total intangible assets. The study employs a two-way fixed-effects panel model, firm-clustered robust standard errors, IV-2SLS estimation, robustness tests based on alternative measurements and sample restrictions, and Bootstrap sequential mediation analysis. The findings reveal that digital asset allocation significantly enhances corporate ESG performance. Mechanism tests indicate that digital asset allocation improves corporate ESG performance through internal control quality, green technological innovation, and the sequential pathway from internal control quality to green technological innovation. Further moderation analysis shows that the promotion effect is more pronounced in heavily polluting industries, while heterogeneity analysis indicates stronger effects among firms in the growth and decline stages, non-state-owned enterprises, and firms with lower financing constraints. This study provides empirical evidence and policy implications for optimizing corporate digital resource allocation, improving internal governance mechanisms, and advancing classified ESG. Full article

This paper investigates the relationship between green vocational education and training (VET), structural economic features, and green employment in Central and Eastern European (CEE) economies. For the purpose of the research, an initial database covering the post-2010 period was assembled from Eurostat and related statistical sources. Due to data availability and cross-country comparability constraints, the final empirical analysis employs a balanced panel of six EU Member States covering the period 2018–2022. The empirical analysis employs pooled OLS and fixed-effects estimators over the period 2018–2022, following a stepwise modeling strategy to assess baseline relationships and robustness. The results show that VET enrollment alone is not a reliable predictor of green employment growth, while VET graduation rates exhibit a more consistent—yet not robust—association once country-specific heterogeneity is controlled for. By contrast, structural reliance on industrial sectors is consistently linked to lower green employment shares, while environmental tax revenues demonstrate modest positive effects. Overall, the findings suggest that green employment dynamics are driven primarily by structural and macroeconomic conditions rather than by skill formation alone. The study contributes to the literature on the green transition by providing an integrated perspective on the interaction between skills, structural transformation, and policy incentives in shaping sustainable labor market outcomes. Full article