Advances in Environmental Management and Resource Economics for Sustainable Development
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Resources and Sustainable Utilization".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2027 | Viewed by 286
Editors
Interests: climate change economics; ecological economics; sustainable development; energy transition
Interests: resource economics; regional economics; electric power economics; emerging markets
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Climate change mitigation and the global low‑carbon transition are driving unprecedented demand for a wide range of resources—from energy carriers to critical minerals and metals. Yet the rapid deployment of clean technologies (e.g., electric vehicles, batteries, renewable power) has exposed new vulnerabilities in global resource supply chains. For instance, high penetration of variable renewables threatens grid stability, and geopolitical crises and fossil fuel trade disruptions have not only directly escalated industrial and household costs but also triggered shortages of raw materials for downstream chemical products. Meanwhile, supply risks of cobalt have prompted a technology shift from cobalt‑dependent ternary lithium batteries to alternative chemistries such as lithium–iron–phosphate.
This Special Issue invites research at the intersection of environmental management and resource economics. We seek contributions that explore how micro‑ and macro‑level decision‑makers can internalize environmental externalities, design resilient and equitable resource supply chains, and manage trade‑offs between economic growth, environmental sustainability, and geopolitical stability. We welcome submissions covering resource supply chain resilience under geopolitical shocks, environmental and economic assessment of critical material substitution, circular economy strategies for reducing primary resource dependence, optimization of resource allocation and operational decisions under environmental constraints, and policy instruments for securing sustainable resource flows.
Both original research and reviews are welcome. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, this Special Issue aims to advance practical pathways toward secure, efficient, and low‑carbon resource systems.
Research areas may include, but are not limited to:
- Pollution and carbon reduction for sustainable resource development and utilization;
- Resource supply chain resilience: geopolitical risks, trade disruptions, and downstream industrial effects;
- Resource economics and system stability under high penetration of variable renewable energy;
- Substitution strategies and circular economy for critical minerals;
- Cross‑sectoral modeling and optimization of resource supply and demand in the low‑carbon transition;
- Operational decision optimization under environmental regulations and market mechanisms;
- Digitalization and AI for resilience and efficiency of resource supply chains;
- Equitable resource policies from regional and global perspectives;
- Case studies on clean development of traditional energy resources under climate constraints.
Dr. Bolin Yu
Dr. Penghao Ye
Dr. Kun Xiao
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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-anonymized 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
- resilience of resource supply chain
- climate change
- complex system modeling
- equitable policies across regions and sectors
- optimization of operational strategies
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