sustainability-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Sustainable Operations: Innovations in Management for a Greener Future

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: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 1201

Special Issue Editor

School of Economics and Management, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 100085, China
Interests: green innovation; green transformation; energy economics and finance; climate risk; digital economy; ESG; sustainable accounting and finance

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, the global community has increasingly recognized the urgency of addressing environmental challenges, such as climate change, resource depletion, and pollution. These environmental issues pose significant threats to the planet's ecosystems and human well-being, necessitating urgent and innovative responses from all sectors, including business and industry.

Sustainable operations management has emerged as a critical field within the broader sustainability agenda, focusing on the development and implementation of management strategies that minimize negative environmental impacts while enhancing economic and social performance. This field recognizes that businesses and organizations play a pivotal role in driving environmental change, both through their operational activities and their influence on supply chains and consumer behavior.

Innovations in management are crucial for advancing sustainable operations. Traditional management approaches often prioritize economic performance at the expense of environmental and social considerations. However, the increasing awareness of the interconnectedness of these three pillars of sustainability has led to the development of new management frameworks and tools that integrate environmental sustainability into core business strategies.

Technological advancements, such as digitalization, big data, and artificial intelligence, are also playing a transformative role in sustainable operations. These technologies enable businesses to monitor and manage their environmental impacts more effectively, optimize resource use, and identify opportunities for innovation and efficiency improvements. Despite these developments, there remain significant challenges in achieving the widespread adoption of sustainable operations practices. Here, barriers such as a lack of awareness, financial constraints, and regulatory hurdles can hinder progress. Moreover, the complexity and interconnectedness of global supply chains pose additional challenges in achieving sustainability across entire value chains.

The Special Issue, “Sustainable Operations: Innovations in Management for a Greener Future”, welcomes original research articles, case studies, and review papers that explore various facets of sustainable operations management. Key areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Sustainable innovation and green innovation;
  • Green supply chain management;
  • Digitalization and new technology in sustainable operations;
  • Circular economy and sustainable production;
  • Environmental policy and regulation in sustainable operations;
  • ESG, climate change and sustainable innovation;
  • Sustainable operations in emerging markets;
  • Stakeholder engagement and collaboration in sustainable operations;
  • Energy efficiency and renewable energy in operations;
  • Capital markets and sustainable operations;
  • Improvements in quality, productivity and sustainability.

Dr. Huayu Shen
Guest Editor

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

  • sustainable innovation
  • green supply chain
  • environmental policy
  • climate change
  • ESG
  • renewable energy in operations
  • sustainable operation

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

37 pages, 668 KiB  
Article
Green Technology Innovation and Corporate Carbon Performance: Evidence from China
by Hua Wang and Zenglian Zhang
Sustainability 2025, 17(12), 5357; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17125357 - 10 Jun 2025
Viewed by 476
Abstract
Against global carbon neutrality goals and China’s “dual carbon” strategy, this study examines how green technology innovation shapes corporate carbon performance through a dual-path mechanism—improving enterprises’ resource utilization efficiency and environmental governance capabilities. Leveraging data from Chinese A-share listed firms (2007–2022) and methods [...] Read more.
Against global carbon neutrality goals and China’s “dual carbon” strategy, this study examines how green technology innovation shapes corporate carbon performance through a dual-path mechanism—improving enterprises’ resource utilization efficiency and environmental governance capabilities. Leveraging data from Chinese A-share listed firms (2007–2022) and methods including fixed effects, instrumental variables, and Heckman two-stage models, key findings include: (1) Green technology innovation significantly improves carbon performance. (2) This effect operates through two pathways: enhancing total factor productivity (TFP) and strengthening environmental governance. (3) Green media and investor attention amplify the positive impact of green innovation on carbon performance. (4) The effect remains significant but shows diminishing marginal returns over 1–4 future periods. (5) Non-state-owned enterprises and non-high-carbon industries exhibit more pronounced improvements. This research provides micro-level evidence for “technology-driven low-carbon transformation”, offering theoretical support for policy differentiation and corporate green technology strategies, with practical implications for achieving China’s “dual carbon” objectives. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

24 pages, 753 KiB  
Article
Does Artificial Intelligence Promote Firms’ Green Technological Innovation?
by Hanna Li and Yu Chen
Sustainability 2025, 17(11), 4900; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17114900 - 27 May 2025
Viewed by 365
Abstract
Green technological innovation represents one of the critical driving forces for addressing environmental issues and advancing the sustainable development process. As a key driver of the new round of technological transformation, artificial intelligence is bound to exert significant impacts on firms’ green technological [...] Read more.
Green technological innovation represents one of the critical driving forces for addressing environmental issues and advancing the sustainable development process. As a key driver of the new round of technological transformation, artificial intelligence is bound to exert significant impacts on firms’ green technological innovation. In this study, green technology innovation is divided into clean production and pollution control technology innovation according to the production link. A double fixed-effects model was used to test the impact of AI using data from Chinese listed companies from 2006 to 2020. The research findings are as follows: First, artificial intelligence has a significant contribution to green technology innovation in different segments. Second, mechanism analysis reveals that artificial intelligence enhances green technological innovation by improving human capital caliber and firm efficiency. Third, heterogeneity analysis shows that the greater the intensity of environmental regulation a firm faces, the greater the incentive for the firm to use AI for green technology innovation; its effect on pollution control technological innovation is more significant for firms in high-pollution industries; and its effect on clean production technological innovation is more prominent for enterprises in low-pollution industries. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop