Search Results (148)

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping sustainability reporting, influencing how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information is collected, analysed, and disclosed. While AI-assisted reporting improves efficiency and analytical capability, it also raises important concerns regarding transparency, accountability, verification, and AI-enabled greenwashing, creating new challenges for the credibility of sustainability disclosures. This study adopts a doctrinal legal research design supported by qualitative analysis, comparative regulatory assessment, and a structured review of legal, regulatory, and academic sources. It examines how emerging approaches to AI governance and sustainability reporting address these challenges and identifies the governance principles required to support trustworthy AI-assisted ESG reporting. Existing regulatory initiatives strengthen important aspects of sustainability reporting, yet AI governance, ESG disclosure, and greenwashing continue to be addressed through separate regulatory instruments. To bridge this gap, the study develops an integrated governance framework that combines transparency, meaningful human oversight, AI auditing, sustainability verification, and clearly allocated accountability within a coherent governance structure. The proposed framework contributes to the literature by offering a structured governance model specifically designed for AI-assisted sustainability reporting. The framework also provides practical guidance for regulators, standard setters, organisations, and assurance providers seeking to strengthen reporting integrity and stakeholder confidence in AI-assisted ESG reporting. Full article

Against the global transition toward sustainable development, firms are increasingly integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles into their business strategies. This study develops a conceptual framework linking digital servitization to ESG performance and examines the underlying mechanisms and heterogeneous effects. Using 4686 firm-year observations from Chinese A-share listed firms in heavily polluting industries during 2013–2024, we construct a text-based measure of digital servitization through text mining and Python 3.13’s Jieba word-segmentation function. The empirical results show that digital servitization significantly improves firm ESG performance. The mechanism analyses indicate that carbon emission reduction and information transparency partially mediate this relationship. The quantile regression results further show that the positive effect of digital servitization is stronger at higher conditional quantiles of ESG performance, suggesting a possible cumulative advantage pattern. The heterogeneity analyses reveal that the effect is significantly stronger for non-high-tech firms than for high-tech firms, whereas the difference between state-owned and non-state-owned firms is not statistically significant. These findings extend the literature on digital servitization and ESG performance and provide practical implications for firms and policymakers seeking to promote sustainable development in the digital era. Full article

Against the backdrop of increasing global uncertainty and the growing acceptance of sustainable development principles, enhancing supply chain resilience has become a core issue for enterprises in managing risks and ensuring operational security. Based on a review of the literature and theoretical analysis, this study constructs an evaluation system comprising 12 third-level indicators across three dimensions: proactive defense capability, green operational capability, and collaborative recovery capability. When determining whether there are interdependent relationships among the indicators, this study introduces an extended Bayesian fusion method based on trapezoidal fuzzy numbers to evaluate and confirm these relationships, thereby reducing biases arising from subjective judgments. By quantifying experts’ assessments of the relationship strength and confidence levels between indicators using trapezoidal fuzzy numbers, this method effectively integrates the opinions of multiple experts, reducing the randomness and subjectivity associated with individual judgments. During the ANP weight calculation stage, to overcome the ambiguity and uncertainty inherent in traditional pairwise expert comparisons, trapezoidal fuzzy numbers were similarly used to quantify the comparison results. These were then defuzzified using the mean area metric to construct a precise judgment matrix. Finally, using the publicly available annual reports and ESG disclosure data from three multinational corporations—one in the semiconductor manufacturing sector (Company T), one in industrial digital manufacturing (Company S), and one in the food and beverage industry (Company N)—as empirical samples, the cross-industry applicability and validity of the constructed evaluation system were verified. The results demonstrate that this method can systematically reflect the key factors influencing sustainable supply chain resilience and their weighting structure. Full article

This study conducts a systematic literature review to examine how inclusive and sustainable local development is conceptualized and operationalized in relation to local governments and municipalities. Guided by PRISMA 2020, the review draws on academic, institutional, and standards-based sources retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and selected official portals, and organizes the evidence through three analytical pillars: conceptual and theoretical approaches; governance and policy frameworks; and operational tools, standards, indicators, and reporting practices. The findings show that the literature provides strong justice- and inclusion-oriented conceptual foundations, while governance studies emphasize the importance of multilevel arrangements, institutional capacity, and policy translation at municipal level. The review also finds that sustainability reporting, ESG-related practices, and indicator frameworks offer operational tools through which municipalities respond to accountability and stakeholder expectations, although these remain unevenly institutionalized and only partly connected to decision-making. Overall, the review identifies a persistent implementation gap between justice-oriented development objectives, municipal governance arrangements, and operational accountability mechanisms. While municipalities increasingly adopt sustainability-oriented tools, reporting practices, and indicator frameworks, the integration of normative inclusion principles into governance structures and measurable outcomes remains uneven. The study contributes a three-pillar analytical framework that helps explain how conceptual, governance, and operational dimensions interact within municipal sustainability practice. Full article

A This study examines the interplay between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices, artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, and financial performance within Saudi Arabia’s financial sector. It investigates whether AI adoption moderates the ESG–performance relationship, reflecting the sector’s ongoing digital transformation under Vision 2030. Drawing on 224 firm-year observations across banks, diversified financials, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and insurance companies, the study employs content analysis of annual reports to identify AI implementation. Panel regression models are used to test the effects of ESG practices on both accounting-based (ROE) and market-based (Tobin’s Q) performance measures, while examining AI’s moderating role. The results reveal that ESG practices significantly enhance accounting-based performance, particularly return on equity, while board size exerts a positive and board independence a negative influence. However, ESG does not significantly affect market-based valuation (Tobin’s Q). Notably, AI adoption negatively moderates the ESG–financial performance link, suggesting short-term challenges in integrating digital transformation with sustainability strategies. This study contributes to literature in three key ways. First, it provides new evidence from financial institutions in a developing economy—Saudi Arabia—where ESG and AI integration remains underexplored. Second, unlike previous research that proxies AI adoption through R&D expenditure, this study captures actual deployment of AI tools in operational activities. Third, it extends the ESG–performance debate by introducing AI adoption as a novel moderating factor. The findings offer actionable insights for managers and policymakers in emerging markets, underscoring the importance of developing organizational capabilities that harmonize AI-driven innovation with ESG principles to foster sustainable long-term value creation. Full article

This article examines Liquid Equity Rewards (LERs), a proposed blockchain-enabled mechanism designed to provide shareholders with time-weighted, utility-only incentives as a potential tool for improving corporate governance. LERs employ a dual architecture comprising voucher-based rewards for off-chain equities and programmable on-chain units for tokenized stocks to encourage shareholder retention amid proxy battles, activist challenges, and corporate political complexities. Drawing on NASDAQ’s tokenized stock framework, stablecoin infrastructure, and DeFi liquid staking principles, this article develops a conceptual and normative framework for LERs and evaluates its potential effectiveness relative to conventional defenses such as poison pills. The analysis assesses LER’s plausible legal compatibility with Delaware corporation law, U.S. securities rules, and the EU’s MiCA framework, while acknowledging that definitive legal conclusions require case-specific adjudication and future regulatory interpretation. The article advances four testable hypotheses regarding LER’s potential to mitigate stock price volatility, reduce activist success rates, and address ESG, M&A, and political expenditure disputes in a market context shaped by shareholder activism. The proxy-fight context is the principal application; ESG, M&A, political-spending, and executive-compensation contexts are discussed as illustrative extensions of the framework rather than as equally mature use cases. A comparative evaluation against existing governance mechanisms and a cost–benefit analysis suggest that LER’s governance enhancements and market opportunities may outweigh implementation challenges, subject to empirical validation. This article contributes a structured analytical framework and identifies conditions under which LERs could offer a scalable, transparent alternative that fosters stakeholder alignment. Full article

In the last 10 years, the global green bond market has reached an estimated value of USD 6.8 trillion. However, credibility concerns persist due to greenwashing risks and issues regarding the reporting system. The current measurement, reporting, and verification systems (MRV) have high uncertainty levels of 10–30%, and so they contribute to information asymmetries and fuel investor skepticism when allocating capital to green bond instruments. The scope of this study is to develop an integrated management approach that links air quality and greenhouse gas monitoring with financial incentives throughout the lifecycle of green bonds. The central contribution is a four-phase lifecycle model covering issuance, allocation, monitoring, and impact reporting, which systematically identifies where greenwashing risks and verification gaps arise across the investment cycle. Methodologically, the study combines qualitative content analysis, a novel Disclosure Quality Score (DQS) instrument, based on the Regulation (EU) 2023/2631, four documentary case studies, and an advanced verification framework. The content analysis shows that regulatory and market-performance studies dominate the literature, while integrated lifecycle verification frameworks remain less explored. The DQS uses eight indicators, applied to a matched sample of green bonds, in accordance with the European Green Bond Standard (EuGB) and the ICMA Green Bond Principles (GBP). The results demonstrate that bonds issued under the EuGB present higher disclosure quality (mean DQS = 15.4/16) compared to GBP-aligned bonds (mean DQS = 11.4/16). Case studies show strong issuance-stage disclosure, but weak post-issuance verification. The framework enables lifecycle-wide accountability by reducing information asymmetry. The proposed lifecycle framework and DQS instrument offer a replicable model for improving disclosure quality and ESG performance standards, with direct implications for sustainable investment screening and ESG fund selection. Overall, the findings show that improving green bond credibility requires moving beyond issuance-focused disclosure toward lifecycle-wide verification. Full article

The rapid transformation of urban centers into smart environments introduces complex challenges at the intersection of technological advancement, environmental stewardship, and social justice. This study evaluates Lisbon’s smart city transition by establishing an integrated framework that links digital equity with Environmental, Social, and Governance principles. Employing a convergent qualitative research design, this paper triangulates a comprehensive regulatory policy analysis with primary empirical data gathered from twenty-five semi-structured interviews with municipal officials, academic experts, and residents of marginalized communities. The findings expose critical systemic disparities in digital infrastructure deployment, device affordability, and platform literacy across socio-economic strata, demonstrating how localized digital divides directly impede the execution of urban ESG objectives. While green financing mechanisms offer robust pathways for sustainable energy and transit infrastructure, their equity outcomes remain constrained without mandatory, transparent information disclosure systems that mitigate agency costs. Cultivating urban resilience requires shifting from tokenistic e-governance to genuine citizen empowerment. This study offers a novel theoretical contribution by operationalizing corporate ESG metrics within public urban governance frameworks, providing an empirical roadmap for municipal policymakers globally to balance digital innovation with structural inclusion and environmental accountability in smart city agendas. Full article

The use of European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) represents a major change in corporate sustainability reporting, particularly through the formalisation of the double materiality principle. Despite its regulatory relevance, empirical evidence on how organisations disclose double materiality remains limited, especially during the first reporting cycle. This study provides early empirical indicative evidence on the application of double materiality in disclosure following the initial ESRS reporting. It examines how leading European water-sector companies and environmental service providers with urban water activities integrated this approach into their 2024 sustainability disclosures. A mixed-methods design is applied, combining qualitative content analysis with descriptive quantitative checks of sustainability, ESG, and integrated reports. The disclosed material topics are assessed against the ESRS thematic framework. The findings indicate a strong convergence on the key environmental issues reported, notably climate change, water management, and circular economy-disclosed practices, including companies not yet fully subject to ESRS requirements. In contrast, social and governance disclosures suggest greater heterogeneity. Overall, the results suggest that broader material coverage does not necessarily imply higher information quality, as this reflects the breadth of disclosure rather than its quality, reinforcing double materiality as a sector-driven prioritisation mechanism. Full article

A recurring challenge in the development of information systems (ISs) across complex organizational domains is the lack of integration and alignment between strategic, tactical, and operational levels, resulting in methodological fragmentation that constrains traceability, innovation, and organizational value generation. This study proposes and applies to the Integrated Innovation Framework for Information System Development (IIF-ISD) to overcome this gap. The research was structured through a systematic literature review, following the PRISMA and ROSES protocols, and validated through an exploratory single-case study involving the development of an IS supporting the Selo Casa Azul (SCA) environmental certification process in a Brazilian construction company, a context chosen for its multi-level organizational complexity and ESG compliance requirements, representative of broader certification IS development challenges. The framework integrates DSRM, agile methodologies, Design Thinking, and Lean Startup through three governing principles—Hierarchical Embedding, Functional Complementarity, and Traceability by Design—achieving cross-level alignment between strategic objectives, tactical performance monitoring, and operational execution. Empirical evaluation (n = 9; 14 weeks) yielded SUS scores of 76.8–82.1/100, a 76% reduction in data entry error rates, and a 78% stakeholder engagement rate, providing initial support for the framework’s practical effectiveness. Full article

This article develops and empirically supports a multi-level model for integrating sustainable practices in the hospitality industry, using the Zhetysu region of Kazakhstan as a regional case. The theoretical basis of the study is formed by the concepts of sustainable development, ESG principles and the Triple Bottom Line framework, which are integrated into a macro-, meso- and micro-level structure of sustainability management. The empirical analysis uses regional statistical data on the hotel sector for 2022–2025, including service volume, employment, wages, accommodation capacity, bed-days, investments and environmental protection expenditures. On this basis, a system of sustainability indices was constructed to assess economic, social and environmental dynamics. The results show that the Composite Sustainability Index increased from 0.00 in 2022 to 0.66 in 2025, indicating positive but uneven progress. Social indicators demonstrated the most stable improvement, while economic sustainability remained constrained by low capacity utilisation and unstable labour productivity. Environmental indicators were the weakest component, reflecting fragmented and inconsistent green practices. The novelty of the study lies in linking ESG and Triple Bottom Line principles with measurable regional indicators and a multi-level governance model. The proposed framework and roadmap can support regional authorities, tourism organisations and hospitality enterprises in coordinating sustainability initiatives and monitoring their implementation. Full article

The primary objective of this article is to examine the organizational, economic, and sustainability-related implications of implementing artificial intelligence (AI) systems in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Poland. The study combines a survey of 112 SMEs in the Kuyavian–Pomeranian region, including 70 AI-using firms, with 13 in-depth interviews with managers. The quantitative analysis applies logit models to identify determinants of perceived AI effects on internal processes: working time and workload reduction, automation, cost effects, and creativity. The qualitative component explains how AI is adopted and embedded in business practice. The results show that AI adoption in SMEs is increasingly common but remains uneven and mostly operational. The strongest effects concern workload reduction and time efficiency, particularly in service firms and where AI is used intensively. Advanced AI adoption increases the probability of perceiving workload and cost-related effects. However, these effects should not be interpreted simply as direct cost reduction. Rather, AI improves productivity and work capacity while creating new costs related to paid tools, data preparation, integration, output verification, and governance. The interviews show that AI implementation follows a staged path: from curiosity-driven experimentation, through cognitive work augmentation, to workflow integration and, in selected cases, AI-enabled business model innovation. The transition from ad hoc use to strategic implementation depends less on firm size alone and more on process maturity, capabilities, and data readiness. Barriers also change with maturity: early-stage firms face a lack of knowledge, time, and clear use cases, whereas advanced users encounter data quality, hallucinations, security, integration, and governance problems. The study finds that sustainability considerations, particularly environmental impacts and ESG-related implications of AI, remain largely unperceived in SME decision-making. Entrepreneurs primarily interpret sustainability through the lenses of organizational resilience, long-term competitiveness, adaptability, and responsible digital transformation rather than through formal environmental metrics. The findings suggest that SME managers should implement AI gradually, link adoption to measurable process-level outcomes, and invest in AI literacy and governance. They should also integrate responsible AI principles into organizational strategy to support sustainable digital transformation. The study contributes to the literature by showing that AI adoption in SMEs should be understood not only as a productivity-enhancing process but also as a broader organizational transition shaping long-term sustainability and resilience. Full article

This paper presents a methodological framework for anomaly detection in child benefit administration based on Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural networks. The content of this analysis, in general, is situated within the social (S) pillar of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) accountability framework. We construct a framework applied to 305,338 child allowance claim records from the Fund for Child Protection of Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina (February 2017 to December 2025), construct behavioural and demographic features at the applicant and household level, encode sequential claim histories as three-dimensional tensors, and conduct a systematic architecture sweep across six LSTM configurations. The target variable, the guardianship anomaly flag, identifies 172 anomalous records (0.056%) among 305,338 claims, and yields a class weighting ration of approximately 1515:1. Across all six configurations, ROC-AUC values range from 0.706 to 0.870 and PR-AUC from 0.002 to 0.071. The reference configuration (L1_U10_T20_he_normal, ROC-AUC = 0.870) flags 170 applications (0.37% of the test set) for priority manual review at the operational audit threshold of $\tau =0.05$. The highest-risk application identified (anomaly probability 0.935) is characterised by a four-child household with below-poverty declared income, elevated benefit-to-income ratios, home delivery payment method, and a persistent high-risk sequential claim pattern not previously flagged by the Fund’s rule-based administrative system. The results confirm that LSTM-based sequential anomaly detection is a viable and principled complement to rule-based eligibility screening in public social transfer administration. Full article

Developing countries in which infrastructure development is heavily dependent on overseas development aid face significant sustainability challenges, including financing gaps and inadequate maintenance. Increasing private-sector investment is crucial for addressing these challenges. This paper proposes an innovative framework linking environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles with a revised joint credit mechanism (JCM) to attract private investment in infrastructure development, particularly in Pacific Island countries facing the climate crisis. Under the revised JCM, by allocating generated carbon credits to participating Japanese companies, rather than the Japanese government, corporations can monetise credits through market transactions, creating compelling economic incentives for private-sector engagement. In ESG-advanced markets, credits serve as strategic instruments for corporate value enhancement beyond revenue generation, while corporations require continuous credit acquisition to sustain investor confidence. Our revised framework provides a sustainable solution to both financing gaps and infrastructure maintenance challenges. Our analysis demonstrates that integrating market dynamics and corporate incentives into bilateral climate mechanisms holds substantial potential for mobilising private capital for sustainable climate infrastructure finance. This approach represents a promising departure from traditional donor-dependent models, effectively aligning corporate interests with sustainable development objectives while advancing national emission reduction commitments. Full article

The transition toward a sustainable bioeconomy and the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles into finance have increased the demand for green skills in the financial sector. However, the literature remains fragmented, as green skills are often discussed through related constructs such as ESG competencies, sustainability knowledge, green human capital, green training, or green HRM outcomes. This study systematizes existing research and develops a finance-specific framework explaining what green skills in finance are, how they are formed, and how they support sustainable practice and bioeconomy-oriented capital allocation. A systematic literature review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020 guidelines through searches in Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. After applying predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, 47 articles were included. The findings show that green skills in finance are multidimensional and include environmental and sustainability knowledge, digital and analytical skills, behavioral and value-oriented skills, and managerial, strategic, and creative capabilities. Their formation is shaped by education and professional training, green HRM practices, and institutional and regulatory mechanisms. Overall, green skills function as human, organizational, and institutional capacities that support ESG credibility, climate-risk assessment, sustainability disclosure, responsible capital allocation, and anti-greenwashing practices in the transition toward a sustainable bioeconomy. Full article