Insights into the Sustainable Development of the Bioeconomy at the European Level, in the Context of the Desired Clean Environment

The increasing awareness of the impact of global climate change has brought bio-based projects back into consideration. Thus, having as supports the reality of the troubling scenario that threatens the entire ecosystem and the up-to-date theoretical discourse and debate on sustainable development, this article aims to investigate the socio-economic and institutional determinants that trigger the dynamics of the bioeconomy value added indicator-a valuable instrument developed and recently launched by the EU's BioMonitor project. Using a panel corrected standard errors framework, we find that investment in human development along with innovation, the growing role of women and sound public governance have a positive effect on the transition towards a durable and resilient bioeconomy at the European level. This naturally implies that a combination of social and technological innovation can ensure the rise of a sustainable bioeconomy.

Boosting Sustainable Operations with Sustainable Supply Chain Modeling: A Case of Organizational Culture and Normative Commitment

The importance of sustainability in supply chain management is growing worldwide. It is possible to find reasons for this using various phenomena that negatively affect humanity, e.g., climate change, scarce materials, supply disruptions, and complex fossil fuel dependency. Because of that, is extremely important to constantly look for new ways to systematically increase sustainability in enterprises and their logistics and supply chain processes by considering different stakeholders and influential factors. Therefore, this paper explores how different types of organizational culture and normative commitment impact sustainability and each other in business logistics and supply chains and develops a conceptual model to manage this challenge. Gaining new insights is valuable especially for managers to obtain better information on how to improve sustainability not just by integrating green technologies but mainly by changing culture, attitude, and perception in their enterprises. The research is focused on employees from global logistics or related branches in micro, small, medium, and large enterprises with the primary activity mostly related to manufacturing, transport, and storage. The findings are based on the questionnaire which was sent directly to 1576 employees from 528 enterprises. A total of 516 employees from enterprises that are mostly located in 34 countries responded to requests for participation. The results reveal statistically significant positive and negative impacts, e.g., clan culture has a positive statistically significant impact on the sustainable development of supply chains. Most of the connections to the eighth Sustainable Development Goal by the United Nations (decent work and economic growth) were also found, which was the enterprise's highest priority with a share of 52.99%. A contribution to the theory development is gained using the developed model that considers both positive and negative statistically significant impacts studied.

Influence of HP Financial Economic Effect on Environmental Visualization under Sustainable Development

With the proposal of a sustainable development strategy, HP Finance has received extensive attention in the market, and its economic effects have also promoted the vitality of social development. However, the core of sustainable development is to achieve a two-dimensional balance between economic effects and the environment. In recent years, ecological and environmental problems have become more and more prominent and continue to bring challenges to the sustainable development of society. Environmental visualization plays an increasingly important role in the development of the times. Only by understanding the influencing factors of environmental visualization and promoting the healthy development of environmental visualization can social development goals be achieved. In the context of the social implementation of sustainable development strategies, this article deeply studies the impact of HP's financial economic effects on environmental visualization. Based on analyzing the development characteristics and status quo of the two, a fixed-effect model and a spatial model were constructed, and the specific impact of economic effects on environmental visualization was further explored. It was found through regression analysis that the breadth of coverage of economic effects and the depth of use improved the development efficiency of environmental visualization at the significance level of 0.05, respectively. However, the degree of opening to the outside world and the industrial structure in the economic effect hindered the development of environmental visualization. Its regression coefficients were -0.142, -0.134 and -0.527, -0.537. In the regression analysis of the spatial effect with a significance level of 0.01, the HP financial economic effect could promote the development of local environmental visualization, but it also hindered the development of adjacent environmental visualization. It shows that only the balanced development of economic efficiency among various regions can promote the positive improvement of the level of environmental visualization.

Does China's Eco-Province Policy Effectively Reduce the Pollutant Emission Intensities?

Economic development and environmental conservation are two important challenges for China. A series of initiatives including Eco-province (EP) policies have been taken to achieve sustainable development by the Chinese government. Increasing concerns regarding policy implications on sustainable development have increased attention to the topic. However, the research on the relationship between economic development and pollutant (COD, SO₂) emission intensities after the implementation of EP policy remains inadequate. We applied a Time-Varying Difference-in-Differences Model by employing Chinese provincial panel data to quantitatively study the policy effect, and further utilized the Mediating Effect Model to analyze the mechanism. The article generates several findings: (1) The EP policy had overall inhibitory effects on both COD and SO₂ emission intensities, and it would reduce the emission intensity by 4.99% and 6.77% on average, respectively. However, there was a five year lag in the policy effect. (2) The policy effect was significant in the western and central provinces with high pollutant emission intensities, but not in the eastern provinces. (3) The primary inhibiting mediating effects of Eco-province policy to lower pollutant emission intensity were increased GDP per capita and inventions.

Sustainable Development of Green Reverse Logistics Based on Blockchain

With the depletion of global resources and the deterioration of the ecological environment, the implementation of green reverse logistics management has become a necessary means. Green reverse logistics is a new type of reverse logistics that aims to improve resource utilization and protect the ecological environment. While promoting sustainable development, "green reverse logistics" also has certain social and economic significance. This paper compared the green reverse logistics system based on blockchain with the current green reverse logistics system. Taking drug recycling as an example, this paper mainly analyzed the waste rate, utilization rate, and enterprise income. The comparison results showed that the efficiency of drug recycling based on blockchain has increased by 20.1% compared with the current stage, and the waste rate has decreased by 16%. The utilization rate has increased by 14%, and corporate income has also increased by 19.5%. It is greatly indicated that green reverse logistics based on blockchain is of great significance to enterprise income and environmental protection, which also produces great social benefits.

The Economic Impact of Universal Design on Cultural Heritage Contribution to SDGs: Evidence from Italian Museums

United Nations' Agenda 2030 highlights the need to "make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable" (SDG 11) and reduce inequalities (SDG 10) for the good health and well-being (SDG 3) of the citizens. Although most Italian museums have been forced to comply with the rules for accessibility in public spaces since 1971 following Law 30/3/1971 n. 118 and, more recently, Legislative Decree 81/2008, in this context, Universal Design can contribute to the achievement of these goals by improving accessibility to spaces, services, and the community's well-being on the one hand, along with providing a deeper comprehension and awareness of the informational processes on the other hand. In this regard, museum organizations play a critical role in enhancing the quality of life and society's education by preserving and distributing cultural heritage over time. Despite the large number of studies focused on museum organizations, there is little research that takes into account Universal Design and its macro-and firm-level economic benefits on museum institutions (not-for-profit, public, and private). Considering this research gap, this study's aim is twofold: 1) to explore how some Italian museums have actually improved their facilities and services according to Universal Design principles and 2) to assess the economic museum accessibility. A qualitative methodology was applied using a questionnaire delivered to eight Italian museum, and collected data was compared. The findings underline how museums' investments in Universal Design may produce relevant economic benefits, both on the macroeconomic and firm levels, providing guidelines for public policies concerning welfare, transport, environment, education, and well-being. Universal Design principles can lead museums to an increasing convergence toward Sustainable Development Goals, improving their overall economic performance as well as strengthening their role in a more aware and participative society. This study has several relevant implications in terms of both policy and management. Policymakers should promote Universal Design investments in museums in order to ensure accessibility to a greater number of visitors, and cultural institutions should consider accessibility as a specific key management dimension to be monitored and improved.

Interpreting Inclusion for Sanitation Perspectives from India: A Contextual Approach to Universal Design

Access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) for all is fundamental for sustenance. Goal 6 of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals urges that 'universal access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene' is fundamental as a response in the current post-COVID scenario. Despite Government of India's efforts through programs like Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission, there is a long way to go to integrate equity and inclusion in the sanitation facilities of the public realm. This paper is an attempt to understand the aspect of inclusion in sanitation systems of urban public spaces of India, limiting the study to Delhi and Noida, which are in the National Capital Region (NCR). The aim is to explore the contextual challenges of universal design in public sanitation and develop an understanding of what makes a public toilet inclusive in the urban Indian context. A field-based, mixed methods approach is followed which begins with a literature review of government policies & schemes and theoretical understanding of inclusion as well as the role of universal design as an approach to achieve inclusion. This is followed by on-ground studies involving ethnographic surveys, analysis of imagery and field observations. The results show an analysis of the inclusive aspects of sanitation under the thematic domains of public perception, usage preferences and issues in the public toilet experience. The sanitation facilities in urban public spaces are used by a diverse population and the results showcase a collection of the qualitative experiences of a varied set of user groups. The subjective challenges of inclusive sanitation are highlighted through the various stages and components of the entire sanitation system - the design & infrastructure, operations & maintenance, and behavioural patterns. This paper tries to raise new grounded questions to further explore the highlighted marginal distinctions between inclusion and accessibility in the urban public sanitation experience of India.

SMARTAGING in Venice. Toward a Definition of Age-Friendly Neighbourhood

The growing population over 65 years old and the process of urbanization are two of the major challenges that the contemporary city has to address urgently. These issues require a rethinking of public spaces to ensure health and well-being and stimulate active ageing. The theme of age-friendly cities emerges in this context; it's about inclusive cities harmonised with the Agenda 2030 goals and the Universal Design principles since they support people's lives regardless of age, gender, and abilities. In particular, the neighbourhood scale represents the optimal one able to implement experimentations for the sustainable development of the city. Furthermore, the neighbourhood is generally the place of the elderly's everyday life where they are encouraged to go out and maintain their daily habits thanks to the existence of a safe and good public realm. Starting from the case study of the Santa Marta neighbourhood in Venice, the author has conducted a multi-phase analysis to investigate the quality of outdoor public spaces and which activities are played in these spaces to understand how the urban experience and the quality of life of the elderlies can be improved. At the same time, both the good practices listed by the WHO for the achievement of age-friendly environments and some of the major neighbourhood sustainability assessment tools were studied, paying attention to the social dimension of sustainability, seen as an "accelerator" of urban well-being and inclusiveness. This paper aims to present the first results of an ongoing research, whose purpose is to draft a new tool able to measure the age-friendliness - called SMARTAGING protocol - of a selected neighbourhood. Specifically, the methodological framework will be better described. In this regard, the new protocol shall support administrations in the understanding of the phenomena related to ageing by directing active policies and design choices with an increasing focus on citizens and local and social issues acting complying with the principles of Universal Design.

Does Pure Contemplation Belong to Architecture? The Denied Ramps at the Church of San Salvatore in the Santa Giulia Museum in Brescia

This paper addresses the issue of balancing the two values underlying the accessibility and conservation of cultural heritage: its use and its protection. These values are often, wrongly, regarded as opposites, or as incompatible. The reason for this contrast originates in the way of understanding ancient architecture and in the value of the relationship between architecture and people. This issue is considered by presenting a recent case concerning the Museum of Santa Giulia in Brescia, a multi-layered complex that preserves evidence ranging from the prehistoric to the contemporary age, housed in a monastic complex of Longobard origin. The recent failure to build some ramps proposed for increasing accessibility to the church of San Salvatore, an integral part of the museum's itinerary, offers an opportunity to reflect on the need for better integration between different, and only apparently opposed, instances. The topic is dealt with by referring to the most recent disciplinary reflections in the field of conservation carried out in Italy with respect to the issue of accessibility to the cultural heritage, without neglecting juridical-normative aspects and international documents, such as the Faro Convention. This multidisciplinary reading aims to highlight the main significance of accessing cultural heritage, with reference also to the objectives of sustainable development and the human development of the individual and the reference community.

Higher Education and Universal Design in Tanzania. A New Model of Inclusion and Sustainable Development

The need to create a more inclusive society in Tanzania is confronted with a discrepancy between the aims of a regulatory framework, aimed at making Higher Education spaces inclusive, and the question of the right of access to built environments, particularly in universities. The study presents the pilot case of the RUCU's Learning Center for Disabilities to demonstrate that the combination of UDL, architectural accessibility and international cooperation can give impetus to new research and application themes, creating innovative models and good practices to be disseminated for a new shared awareness.

Rethinking Play Environments for Social Inclusion in Our Communities

"Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable" is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda approved by the UN General Assembly. This means that every Country must commit to facing the challenge of increasingly welcoming and barrier-free cities, providing "universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities". The mission of inclusive play is to create accessible and sensory-rich play environments that meet the widest range of users and abilities offering several and stimulating play opportunities in the same setting. In many playgrounds of our cities, for persons with disabilities, accessing, moving and making play experiences is not easy, in some cases it is not possible. The paper presents the results of a study carried out in order to investigate the inclusiveness of outdoor playgrounds and introduces the need of new perspectives towards a new and innovative view of inclusive playgrounds. The development process of the checklist for assessing the inclusiveness of outdoor playgrounds involved four steps. Step 1: Definition of the main concepts of investigation and generation of the items on the basis of the relevant literature and best practices. Step 2: Scaling and scoring. Step 3: Pilot test to verify the real applicability of the checklist. Step 4: Design of the final checklist. The final checklist was applied to a sample of playgrounds belonging to an Italian urban area selected as a case study in order to make a picture of the state of the art of the playgrounds built in recent years. After the checklist application, the processing of the collected data shows that there is still much to be done to make urban play areas fully accessible and usable by all. Physical accessibility (not always guaranteed) to the play area and to the play components is not enough. Currently there are few playgrounds that ensure inclusive experiences by offering a wide range of equipment with different game values and levels of challenge and services that can be used by everyone. Inclusive playgrounds in our communities are still a small percentage compared to all existing play environments, although there is a greater attention to the theme from year to year. The importance of inclusive playgrounds is recognized by everyone at a theoretical level, but in practice it is still necessary to promote, implement and verify the culture of accessibility and inclusive play. If we want inclusive cities, it is necessary to find skills and resources as well as effective operational tools to map the critical issues of existing playgrounds and to implement restyling interventions or new projects of successful and comprehensive inclusive play environments.

Assessment of Ecological Environment Quality for Urban Sustainable Development Based on AHP

Cities are gradually developed on the basis of adapting and transforming the natural environment. In a certain urban area, human activities, natural environment, and other factors and their mutual influence constitute the urban ecological environment. Therefore, the evaluation of urban ecological environment quality is of great significance to the analysis of urban development. This paper takes a city in Western China as the evaluation object, uses AHP to determine the index weight, reasonably analyzes the current situation of the urban ecological environment, and further comprehensively evaluates the quality of the urban ecological environment. The study shows that from 2013 to 2018, the comprehensive capacity of the city's ecological environment quality showed a steady upward trend, except that the natural disasters of floods and mudslides in 2014 had a certain degree of fluctuation. The comprehensive index of ecological environment quality has increased from 0.337 in 2013 to 0.412 in 2018. The overall level is still low, but the development speed is relatively stable. The urban ecological environment has been gradually improved, and society, economy, and nature have maintained a certain degree of sustainable development.

Sustainability in the Sardinian sheep sector: A systems perspective, from good practices to policy

Three million sheep raised on 10 000 active farms operating in traditional and innovative farming systems in Sardinia, Italy, account for 13% of sheep milk production in the European Union (EU). Almost all of the milk delivered is processed to sheep cheese and is destined for world trade. The Sardinian dairy sheep sector also emits approximately 1600 kt CO₂ eq/year, approximately 60% of regional livestock greenhouse gas (GHG), prompting the need for regional mitigation plans. The SheepToShip LIFE project (EU-LIFE Climate Change Action 2014-2020) is a regional case study to test emission mitigation strategies. Based on the SheepToShip LIFE findings, this paper presents a systems perspective against the backdrop of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework, with the aim of underlining system interlinkages between environmental, societal, and economic objectives. The project included (i) a life cycle thinking approach featuring environmental and socioeconomic traits of 18 sheep farms, (ii) on-farm implementation and demonstration of eco-innovative mitigation techniques indicating the most viable actions to reduce impact, (iii) focus groups discussing beliefs and reactions of the main stakeholders, and (iv) group model building producing a causal loop diagram from a systems thinking approach and exploring insights for regional policy-making that aligns with the SDGs. Causal links connect public interventions and stakeholder interaction (SDG 17) to boost farm eco-innovations (SDGs 9 and 8) and education and farmer training (SDG 4), and they foster efficient production (SDG 12) and high-quality food provisioning (SDG 2). These benefits contribute to climate change mitigation (SDG 13), water quality (SDG 6), and farm ecosystem services (SDG 15). Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:1187-1198. © 2022 SETAC.

Marine macroalgae as a feasible and complete resource to address and promote Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Because the world's population is increasing, science-based policies are needed to promote sustainable global development. It is important to maintain and restore the environment and help human society overcome the risks from industrialization and unsustainable exponential growth. In recent years, many studies have highlighted that macroalgae represent a key marine resource for ecological and sustainable living, thus helping to address today's global problems, such as water pollution, ocean acidification, and global warming. Macroalgae show the potential to provide innovative, ecofriendly, and nutritious food sources and natural compounds for various industries, such as biomedical, food, agricultural, and pharmaceutical industries. This review discusses how macroalgae can help us today and how they can promote a more sustainable way of life in the future. It also discusses the potential danger for ecosystems and the global population if these organisms are not part of the solution but part of the problem. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:1148-1161. © 2022 SETAC.

Towards smart and sustainable development of modern berry cultivars in Europe

Fresh berries are a popular and important component of the human diet. The demand for high-quality berries and sustainable production methods is increasing globally, challenging breeders to develop modern berry cultivars that fulfill all desired characteristics. Since 1994, research projects have characterized genetic resources, developed modern tools for high-throughput screening, and published data in publicly available repositories. However, the key findings of different disciplines are rarely linked together, and only a limited range of traits and genotypes has been investigated. The Horizon2020 project BreedingValue will address these challenges by studying a broader panel of strawberry, raspberry and blueberry genotypes in detail, in order to recover the lost genetic diversity that has limited the aroma and flavor intensity of recent cultivars. We will combine metabolic analysis with sensory panel tests and surveys to identify the key components of taste, flavor and aroma in berries across Europe, leading to a high-resolution map of quality requirements for future berry cultivars. Traits linked to berry yields and the effect of environmental stress will be investigated using modern image analysis methods and modeling. We will also use genetic analysis to determine the genetic basis of complex traits for the development and optimization of modern breeding technologies, such as molecular marker arrays, genomic selection and genome-wide association studies. Finally, the results, raw data and metadata will be made publicly available on the open platform Germinate in order to meet FAIR data principles and provide the basis for sustainable research in the future.

Biocapacity convergence clubs in Latin America: an analysis of their determining factors using quantile regressions

Latin America experiences an increasing urban primacy index and a rapid expansion of the financial system, putting direct pressure on the demand for resources to satisfy the consumption of large cities. We investigate the convergence of per capita biocapacity in 16 Latin America countries and evaluate the factors that influence its evolution over time. Specifically, we analyze the impact of the urban primacy index, economic progress, and the financial globalization index on the convergence of per capita biocapacity. We use the methodological framework developed by Phillips and Sul Econometrica 75:1771-1855, (2007) to analyze the convergence and the formation of convergence clubs of biocapacity during 1970-2017. The findings indicate that the countries of the region do not share a common trend of biocapacity, although they are grouped into five converging clubs. Biocapacity transition analysis reveals that countries have heterogeneous transition pathways between them. Using marginal effects, we find that the urban primacy index and economic progress reduce the biocapacity. The effect of the financial globalization index on biocapacity is not conclusive. The quantile regressions reveal that quantiles' impact of the urban primacy index and financial globalization on per capita biocapacity is heterogeneous. However, the effect of economic progress on biocapacity that predominates among quantiles is positive. The adoption of common policies among the countries that form the converging clubs could improve the effectiveness of pro-environmental policies and promote the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals related to environmental quality.

Effects of the green supply chain management practices on firm performance and sustainable development

The idea of sustainable development and green supply chain management is considered at the underlying stage in the research and academic fields, particularly in the rising economies of Asia. This research investigates the persuasive force of the firm's green supply chain management practices with the mediating part of the competitiveness and investment recovery. Data was collected from the 12 ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 leather industries based in Pakistan. We distributed the 350 questionnaires at 12 leather industries, and the questionnaire was also transferred on Google Forms, and 50 questionnaire mail to different individuals who work in leather industries of other cities of Pakistan; out of 350 questionnaires, 183 were filled, and the remaining questionnaires were incomplete, and out of 50 emails, we get the response of 33 emails, and evaluated the model of this study by using the partial least square structural equation modeling PLS-SEM. We interact with the employees of leather industries and try to understand how they are following the green practices in their firms. This research uses resource dependence theory as the theoretical base. This study elaborates how the organization's behavior is affected by the external resources of the corporation. The actual outcomes uncover that green supply chain management activities positively impacting the firm's performance, where competitiveness and investment recovery play a mediating role among intra-organizational green practices.

Progress towards the 2030 sustainable development goals: direct and indirect impacts on neurological disorders

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were set forth in 2015 as a blueprint for all nations to create a more sustainable future together. These 17 social, environmental, and economic goals have established targets to meet globally by the year 2030, with a focus on pro-poor initiatives, gender equality, and ending hunger. The relationship of the SDGs with neurological disorders and how the achievement of the SDGs intersects with the future of neurological practice have not been comprehensively examined. However, the incidence of neurological disorders, the outcomes of people living with neurological disorders, and the training of future neurologists can be interlinked, directly or indirectly, with programming for the SDGs and their eventual achievement. Each SDG is reviewed in the context of neurology. This lens can inform programming and policy, enhance research and training, and improve inter-sectoral action for neurological disorders worldwide.

Data-driven evaluation and optimization of the sustainable development of the logistics industry: case study of the Yangtze River Delta in China

In this study, a data-driven way is proposed to evaluate and optimize the sustainable development of the logistics industry (LI). Based on a comprehensive consideration of economic, societal, and environmental factors, an evaluation index system was established for the sustainable development of the logistics industry (LISD). Logistics industry-related data were collected from the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 2011 to 2020. The anti-entropy method was used to determine the index weight and process the data. Furthermore, the coupling harmonization degree and barrier degree models were used to analyze the coordinated development of each subsystem and identify key obstacles. Our results indicate that there are significant temporal and spatial differences in the level of LISD in YRD, with Shanghai (score 0.4834) being the best and Anhui (score 0.4553) the worst, showing a wave-like evolution in time. The coupling and coordination states among the subsystems are significantly different, with that of environmental benefits and other subsystems being poor. Moreover, innovation ability and environmental benefits are the main obstacle factors of this system. Based on the results of this study, targeted optimization countermeasures are put forward and evaluation indicators and research methods are suggested, which will provide the government and practitioners decision support, as well as provide theoretical and methodological support for LISD.

The sustainable agriculture imperative: A perspective on the need for an agrosystem approach to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030

The development of modern, industrial agriculture and its high input-high output carbon energy model is rendering agricultural landscapes less resilient. The expected continued increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, in conjunction with declining soil health and biodiversity losses, could make food more expensive to produce. The United Nations has called for global action by establishing 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), four of which are linked to food production and security: declining biodiversity (SDG 15), loss of ecosystem services and agroecosystem stability caused by increasing stress from food production intensification and climate change (SDG 13), declining soil health caused by agricultural practices (SDGs 2 and 6), and dependence on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to maintain high productivity (SDG 2). To achieve these SDGs, the agriculture sector must take a leading role in reversing the many negative environmental trends apparent in today's agricultural landscapes to ensure that they will adapt and be resilient to climate change in 2030 and beyond. This will demand fundamental changes in how we practice agriculture from an environmental standpoint. Here, we present a perspective focused on the implementation of an agrosystem approach, which we define to promote regenerative agriculture, an integrative approach that provides greater resilience to a changing climate, reverses biodiversity loss, and improves soil health; honors Indigenous ways of knowing and a holistic approach to living off and learning from the land; and supports the establishment of emerging circular economies and community well-being. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:1199-1205. © 2021 SETAC.

Impact of market constraints on the development of small-scale biogas technology in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review

The sustainable production and use of small-scale biogas energy are required to ensure clean household energy access in developing countries, including the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region. This is influenced by market risks, which can be identified as political, economic, social, technical, legal, and environmental (PESTLE). This study examines peer-reviewed and grey literature for the period from 2000 to 2020 to identify the PESTLE constraints and assess their impact on the sustainable development of the technology in the SSA region. The production of biogas with small-scale plants is commonly done by rural and peri-urban households. Results show that economic constraints are the most dominant and reducing at a slow pace. This is followed by political constraints, which have received much attention in the last two decades. Despite the policy improvements, broader national bioenergy policies and interventions are still to make significant gains, especially in the Central African region. In order of significance, the Southern, East, and West Africa regions have made greater progress in reducing the constraints. To achieve the sustainable development of the technology, there is a need to further address the PESTLE constraints at national and regional levels. This study partly deduces that the unsustainable production, use, and inadequate regulation of the small-scale biogas sector are delaying its transition in the SSA region.

Validation of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis and role of carbon emission policies in the case of Russian Federation

Climate change currently observed and expected in the future is associated with risks to security and sustainable development and natural and irreversible consequences. To minimize these risks, it is necessary to adapt the public administration, economic sectors, and regional infrastructure to the changing climate conditions. This paper discovers the links between CO₂ emissions and their key determinants such as economic growth, energy consumption, population, trade openness, and financial development including the period from 1990 to 2020 to test the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis by using ARDL bound test for the Russian Federation. Findings reveal that energy consumption and population have a positive impact on CO₂ emissions, while economic growth, financial development, and trade openness have been found to decrease CO₂ emissions in the long term. The results of this paper show that there is a "U"-shaped relationship between CO₂ emissions and economic growth in the Russian Federation. This shows that EKC is valid up to a certain income level in the Russian Federation, and when this income level is exceeded, a positive relationship will begin between economic growth and environmental degradation. As a policy implementation, policymakers must implement clean energy technology policies to achieve the 2060 net zero carbon target. Policies such as fossil-based energy use and reducing energy intensity should be adopted.

[Urbanization and ecological effect in mid-southern Liaoning urban agglomeration, China]

China has entered the stage of rapid urbanization since the 1990s, resulting in a series of environmental problems. Based on the nighttime light remote sensing data and land use data from 1995 to 2020, we extracted the compound night light index (CNLI) to measure the urbanization level of mid-southern Liaoning urban agglomeration, evaluated habitat quality by InVEST model. We examined the relationship between urbanization level and habitat quality in mid-southern Liaoning urban agglomeration by using the correlation analysis method and the geographic weighted regression model. The results showed that CNLI increased by 0.14 from 1995 to 2020. The urbanization level increased continuously, with a pattern of "low in the east and high in the west". The habitat quality decreased by 0.005, showing a pattern of "high in the east and low in the west". The ecological environment became worse. There was a significant negative spatial correlation between urbanization level and habitat quality in mid-southern Liaoning urban agglomeration. The negative impact of urbanization level on habitat quality gradually decreased. In order to alleviate habitat degradation caused by urbanization and realize the coordinated and sustainable development of regional social economy, it was urgent to take a series of measures, such as delimiting the ecological protection red line, improving the intensive use of land, delimiting the urban boundary, promoting the coordinated development of regional integration.

Study on sustainable development and construction of karst mountain city based on the concept of a sponge city

In recent years, there has been rapid urbanization development in China. The rapid expansion of cities and the increase in the proportion of the area of impervious surfaces have caused urban flooding problems. The karst area in Southwest China is characterized by a sensitive ecosystem, poor self recovery ability and typical karst development. The problems of a fragile and imbalanced water ecology are particularly prominent in karst areas, making it necessary to explore the applicability of the concept of sponge cities in such environments. This study reviews the technical ideas, methods and concepts of sponge cities in China and abroad in recent years. Guiyang, a typical karst mountain city in China, was taken as an example in this study. This was because Guiyang has special hydrogeological characteristics as well as the current urbanization development processes that are affecting the water resources and the environment in the region. It is believed that the construction of mountain sponge cities in karst areas should be mainly through source reduction, process control and end management, combined with intelligent construction methods. Focus should be on strengthening the prevention and control of soil erosion in key areas and risk areas and on properly handling the relationship between urban construction and water resources and ecological environment protection.

Study on cooperative constraint zoning of water environment

This study comprehensively considers two elements of water environmental sensitivity and pressure using the combination of qualitative analysis and quantitative calculation. And it puts forward the water environmental collaborative constraint zoning method and focuses on the construction of the water environmental collaborative constraint zoning evaluation index system using the fuzzy optimization programming model to determine the index weight. This study takes the Liaohe River Basin in Liaoning Province as a study area through two-dimensional quadrant analysis of water environmental sensitivity and pressure; it is divided into four types of areas: high-pressure and high-sensitivity area (HP-HS area), high-pressure and low-sensitivity area (HP-LS area), low-pressure and high-sensitivity area (LP-HS area) and low-pressure and low-sensitivity area (LP-LS area), respectively. The results show that the proportion of HP-HS area is 28.4%, the proportion of HP-LS area is 10.1%, the proportion of LP-HS area is 22.2% and the proportion of LP-LS area is 39.3%, respectively. The evaluation results are in line with the actual situation of the Liaohe River Basin in Liaoning Province. According to the results of different zoning, this research puts forward the optimization and adjustment scheme of industrial layout to achieve the comprehensive and coordinated sustainable development of population, economy, society, and environment in the study area. The research results also have been applied to the formulation of '14th Five-Year Plan' for water ecological environment protection of key river basins in Liaoning Province.