Special Issue "A Prerequisite for Sustainability: Financial 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: 1 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Josef Marousek
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice, Faculty of Technology, České Budějovice 370 01, Czech Republic
Interests: Biochar; Soil; Economy; Nutrients; Process management
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Otakar Strunecký
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Jihoceská Univerzita v Ceských Budejovicíchdisabled, České Budějovice 370 05, Czech Republic
Interests: ecosystems; microbiology; algae; phytoplankton

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A huge number of environmentally friendly measures have been proposed and published in recent decades. However, the vast majority of them have not had even the slightest chance to succeed in commercial practice. We believe that we can easier proceed with a circular (bio)economy  provided that the processes are designed to generate competitive products.

The main target of this Special Issue is to promote sustainable concepts that do not ignore the economic, political or legal reality and have realistic ambitions of becoming profitable. We postulate that both sustainability and profitability are key features to be addressed together while designing successful and ethically responsible business. Inspiring proposals, results from lab-scale or pilot plants, and accomplished projects are welcomed to be presented in this Special Issue. They may include (but are not limited to) social research, new analytical techniques, innovation and digitalization, social behavior, economic sociology, digital business, inspiring business concepts, public and nonprofit management, techno-economic assessments, urban and regional research, innovation management, novel techniques econometrics, and process designs. Innovative and economically reasonable solutions in recycling, regeneration, (bio)rafination and reuse of organic matter, nutrients, biowaste, plastic, paper, glass, metals, building materials, foodwaste and other waste are particularly welcomed.

Please ensure your manuscript contains:

  1. A title that shortly describes your key discovery;
  2. An introduction so anybody who reads this chapter can fully understand (all the complexity, abbreviations, symbols and terminology must be explained) the urgency to investigate your research hypothesis;
  3. Materials and methods to allow replication of your procedures while obtaining the same results;
  4. A results and discussion section that critically discuss all the limitations and reveals new mechanisms;
  5. Conclusions that represent your original theoretical findings.

Prof. Josef Marousek
Dr. Otakar Strunecký
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 papers will be 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 1900 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

  • bioeconomy
  • recycling
  • recovery
  • competitiveness
  • product
  • biowaste
  • sustainability
  • economy
  • profitability

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Examining the Asymmetric Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic and Global Financial Crisis on Dow Jones and Oil Price Shock
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4688; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094688 - 22 Apr 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 549
Abstract
COVID-19 has significantly affected the financial and commodity markets. The purpose of this investigation is to understand the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Dow Jones and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil returns in relation to other crises using the Exponential Generalized Autoregressive [...] Read more.
COVID-19 has significantly affected the financial and commodity markets. The purpose of this investigation is to understand the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Dow Jones and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil returns in relation to other crises using the Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) model. The results indicate that COVID-19 and the accompanying lockdown have adversely impacted both yields and that the impact on oil prices is more significant than on the Dow Jones index. The variance and squared residuals of oil prices and the Dow Jones reached their highest historical levels during the COVID-19 outbreak, even higher than during the global financial crisis, and especially the VaR of both markets reached their historical peak points during the COVID-19 era. The variance of WTI during COVID-19 is higher than that of DJI, as was also the case during the financial crisis. These findings confirm that COVID-19 has negatively impacted investors’ ability to determine optimal portfolios and thus the sustainability of financial and energy markets more than the global financial crisis of 2007–2009. We, therefore, suggest that policy changes are needed to maintain financial sustainability and help investors deal with future financial and other crises. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue A Prerequisite for Sustainability: Financial Sustainability)
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Article
Residues from Water Precipitation via Ferric Hydroxide Threaten Soil Fertility
Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4327; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084327 - 13 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 487
Abstract
From the moment it was first indicated that use of aluminum chloride during purification of drinking water might be one of the triggers of Alzheimer’s disease, it took only a few years to almost abandon this practice worldwide. Now, two years after the [...] Read more.
From the moment it was first indicated that use of aluminum chloride during purification of drinking water might be one of the triggers of Alzheimer’s disease, it took only a few years to almost abandon this practice worldwide. Now, two years after the initial evidence was presented that the cheapest possible replacement for aluminum chloride (ferric hydroxide, better known as ferrous sludge) significantly threatens soil fertility, there is almost no action. A robust case study was conducted among European drinking water treatment plants. First, it is reported that some samples of ferrous sludge can reduce phosphorus availability by more than 70%. This creates a precondition for a significant reduction in fertility over a decade. Because the legislation usually responds to similar findings with great delay, the extent to which managers of drinking water treatment plants are willing to change process settings by themselves has also been assessed. The findings obtained allow us to expect that a long continuation of this hazardous practice can be expected, since managers of drinking water treatment plants show little willingness to switch from the ongoing questionable technology (harmful to nutrient cycles in soil) to environmentally favorable (though slightly more costly) solutions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue A Prerequisite for Sustainability: Financial Sustainability)
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