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Advances in Low-Carbon Economy Towards Sustainability

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 May 2026 | Viewed by 658

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX 78520, USA
Interests: economic growth; international development; technical innovation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Division of International Business and Technology Studies, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, TX 78041, USA
Interests: business analytics; machine learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Sustainability seeks to disseminate the latest findings in, and implications of, topics related to Advances in Low-Carbon Economy Towards Sustainability. It is more urgent than ever that carbon emissions are lowered such that they asymptotically approach zero. Failing to achieve carbon neutrality will irreparably worsen climate change, thus altering biodiversity and ecosystems around the world.

The Special Issue Advances in Low-Carbon Economy Towards Sustainability provides a platform for meaningful discussion around energy issues with substantial managerial and policy-making implications in the midst of unprecedented social, legal, economic, political, and technological uncertainty and volatility. Given these issues, the role that international organizations, private sectors, federal governments, higher education institutions, and non-governmental entities must play in promoting ambitious yet feasible carbon neutrality targets is unquestionable.

A better understanding of the most appropriate eco-friendly decarbonization alternatives will allow for a more impactful reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and the enaction of comprehensive mitigation policies to ameliorate climate change. Topics of interest for this Special Issue include circular economy, artificial intelligence, governability, green commerce, and other energy issues relevant to achieving a sustainable world.

In this Special Issue, original research articles that focus on challenging and debated issues in this field are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Circular economy;
  • Digital technologies;
  • Energy transitions;
  • Environmental management;
  • Regulatory frameworks;
  • Renewable energy;
  • Global warming;
  • Clean technologies;
  • Sustainable development goals.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Jaime Ortiz
Prof. Dr. Haibo Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

 

Keywords

  • low-carbon economy
  • sustainability
  • carbon neutrality
  • decarbonization
  • climate change

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 1296 KiB  
Article
Integrating the IoT and New Energy to Promote a Sustainable Low-Carbon Economy
by Yan Chen, Yuqi Hou and Jiayi Lyu
Sustainability 2025, 17(15), 6755; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17156755 - 24 Jul 2025
Viewed by 236
Abstract
This study explores the complex interaction between the Internet of Things (IoT) and the new energy sector and analyzes how their integration can catalyze a transition toward a sustainable low-carbon economy. Through the full-sample and rolling sub-sample methods, we empirically examine the dynamic [...] Read more.
This study explores the complex interaction between the Internet of Things (IoT) and the new energy sector and analyzes how their integration can catalyze a transition toward a sustainable low-carbon economy. Through the full-sample and rolling sub-sample methods, we empirically examine the dynamic interrelationship between China’s IoT index (IoT) and the New Energy Index (NEI). Quantitative analysis reveals significant time-varying characteristics and bidirectional causal complexity in the interaction between the IoT and new energy. The IoT has a dual-edged impact on the development of new sources of energy. In the long run, the IoT plays a dominant role in incentivizing new energy, helping to enhance its stability and economic value. However, during stages characterized by technological bottlenecks or resource competition, the high energy consumption of IoT infrastructure may suppress the investment returns of new energy. Simultaneously, new energy has both positive and negative impacts on the IoT. On the one hand, new energy provides low-cost, sustainable power to support the IoT, driving the construction of the IoT ecosystem. On the other hand, it may threaten the continuity of IoT power supply, and the complexity of standardization and regulation in the sector may constrain the development of the IoT. This study provides a fresh perspective on promoting the integration of digital technology and green energy, uncovering nonlinear trade-offs between innovation-driven growth and carbon reduction goals, and offering policy insights for cross-sectoral collaboration to achieve sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Low-Carbon Economy Towards Sustainability)
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18 pages, 520 KiB  
Article
Carbon Risk and Capital Mismatch: Evidence from Carbon-Intensive Firms in China
by Changjiang Zhang, Sihan Zhang, Chunyan Zhao and Bing He
Sustainability 2025, 17(14), 6477; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17146477 - 15 Jul 2025
Viewed by 295
Abstract
Emerging economies such as China have benefited from rapid growth but now face acute carbon risk amid worsening environmental conditions. Carbon-intensive firms—major emitters—face rising carbon risk that pervades operations and threatens efficient capital allocation. To advance global climate-change mitigation, help China meet its [...] Read more.
Emerging economies such as China have benefited from rapid growth but now face acute carbon risk amid worsening environmental conditions. Carbon-intensive firms—major emitters—face rising carbon risk that pervades operations and threatens efficient capital allocation. To advance global climate-change mitigation, help China meet its dual-carbon goals, and enhance corporate financial sustainability, we analyze panel data on 575 Chinese carbon-intensive companies from 2012 to 2022 and estimate OLS models to assess how carbon risk influences capital mismatch. Results show that higher carbon risk significantly widens capital mismatch, whereas higher media attention and better corporate governance each weaken this effect. These findings suggest that regulators and the media should monitor carbon-intensive firms more closely to improve information transparency and guide capital to its most productive uses, while firms themselves need to strengthen governance to limit the damage carbon risk inflicts on capital allocation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Low-Carbon Economy Towards Sustainability)
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