Search Results (84)

Sustainable development has emerged as a critical priority for the global community, influencing all aspects of development worldwide. Within this context, the role of education and training in advancing sustainable development can contribute to this. This research aims to explore whether the integration of Information and Communication Technology educational tools into the curricula of engineering technicians helps trainees better understand the concepts of climate change and resource management, which are directly linked to the green transition and the green economy, compared to traditional educational methods. The study was conducted with trainees from Higher Vocational Training Schools (SAEKs) in the wider Athens area, Greece. According to the results, using educational technology to teach engineering courses aids students in developing the competencies needed to change production processes and business models in the direction of a greener future. This is especially crucial as future technicians will be able to use cutting-edge methods to lower emissions and boost resource use efficiency. The findings of the study could provide important information for all those involved in the design of educational curricula of engineering technicians. Concerns and thoughts on the effective use of educational technology in the educational process are also expressed. Full article

This study examines the impact of technological innovation, digitalization, and information and communication technologies (ICTs) on trade-related carbon emissions (TAEs) and the role of economic growth in this relationship. Using data from the 15 countries with the highest carbon emissions in the world for the period 1997–2022, analyses were conducted with Panel-Corrected Standard Errors (PCSEs), Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR), and Driscoll–Kraay (D-K) estimators. TAEs provide a more comprehensive environmental assessment than traditional emission calculations by taking into account the impact of international trade on carbon emissions. The findings show that technological innovation, digitalization, and ICTs use increased trade-related carbon emissions, and economic growth further strengthens this effect. These results reveal that sustainable production models and green energy policies should be emphasized more in order to minimize the environmental impacts of technological developments and economic growth. The findings of this study provide important strategic information for policymakers, environmental regulators, and international trade institutions in developing sustainable technology and trade policies to reduce carbon emissions. Full article

The increasing risks posed by climate change have turned CO₂ emissions into a pressing global issue, prompting the widespread adoption of sustainable development policies. This study investigates the empirical drivers of CO₂ emissions across 15 of the world’s highest carbon-emitting countries from 2000 to 2021, using a range of advanced panel data techniques. The core explanatory variables include green energy transition (GET), fossil fuel consumption (FFC), financial development (FD), mineral resource consumption (MRC), energy intensity (EI), and information and communication technology (ICT). By employing cross-sectional dependence tests, CIPS and CADF unit root tests, cointegration techniques (Westerlund and Dickey-Fuller), and Driscoll-Kraay standard error (DKSE) estimators, the study ensures robust and reliable inference. The findings reveal that a 1% increase in GET and FD leads to a 1.59% and 4.51% decrease in CO₂ emissions, respectively, while higher energy efficiency (EI) also significantly reduces emissions. In contrast, greater use of fossil fuels, mineral resources, and ICT expansion contributes positively to emissions. These results demonstrate the critical role of financial systems, clean energy investments, and energy efficiency in mitigating environmental degradation. The study offers targeted policy insights for countries aiming to balance economic growth with climate goals and highlights the need for enhanced technology transfer and financing mechanisms in low- and middle-income countries. Full article

This study explores the complex relationship between innovation and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions across the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors within the 27 European Union (EU) member states over the period 2017–2023. Drawing on a comprehensive dataset and grounded in theoretical frameworks, the research investigates how different innovation indicators—including broadband penetration, digital skills, public and business R&D expenditure, ICT training, and SME-driven innovations—affect sectoral CO₂ emissions. Using robust regression, the findings reveal a nuanced landscape: while ICT skills training, human resource mobility in science and technology, and SME business process innovations are associated with significant reductions in emissions, certain R&D investments and broadband penetration display positive correlations with emissions in specific service-oriented sectors. These results suggest that the environmental impacts of innovation are highly context-dependent and not uniformly positive. This study highlights the importance of strategically aligning innovation policies with sustainability objectives. Policymakers are encouraged to promote targeted digital training, support environmentally conscious R&D, and foster SME-led innovation practices. The results contribute to the growing discourse on sustainable innovation and provide actionable insights to advance the EU’s green transition. Full article

In the context of green sustainable development, improving the quality of green innovation (GI) has become an urgent issue for enterprises. Corporate social networks play a vital role in improving the quality of GI, but there is a lack of research on how the social networks established by management team members influence GI, the pathways of their relationships, and their moderating effects. This study uses data from Chinese ICT industry listed companies between 2012 and 2022, employing social network analysis to construct the social network connections of core management team members. Mechanism analysis indicates that degree centrality and structural holes have positive effects on GI, while network density has a negative effect. R&D expenditure and personnel investment mediate the relationship between structural holes/network density and GI. Environmental information disclosure (EID) strengthens the relationship between structural holes/network density and GI. This research integrates the mediating effect and moderating effect models to elucidate the logical relationship among corporate social networks, R&D investment, EID, and GI, which has practical significance for further optimizing government environmental governance mechanisms, adjusting corporate social network structures, and enhancing innovation capabilities. Full article

This study investigates the effects of financial globalization, trade globalization, and information and communication technology on the ecological footprint in G9 industrial economies (China, the United States, Japan, Germany, India, South Korea, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom) from 2000Q1 to 2018Q4. A distinctive Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) model was employed to analyze these relationships, and the Bootstrap Quantile Regression (BSQR) model was used to validate the results. The findings reveal that financial globalization (FG), environmental tax (ETAX), and institutional quality (IQ) contribute to environmentally sustainable development by reducing the ecological footprint (ECOFP). In contrast, trade globalization, information and communication technology (ICT), and gross domestic product (GDP) have a significant positive impact on the ecological footprint, leading to increased environmental degradation. The BSQR results corroborate these findings, confirming the roles of financial globalization, institutional quality, environmental tax, trade globalization, information and communication technology, and gross domestic product in shaping the ecological footprint. Based on these results, policymakers in G9 industrial nations should promote financial globalization as a tool to reduce the ecological footprint by encouraging green financing and environmentally sustainable investments. For trade globalization, stricter environmental regulations and sustainable trade practices are essential to mitigate its adverse environmental effects. Also, efforts to minimize the ecological impact of information and communication technology should focus on integrating renewable energy into ICT infrastructure and advancing green technology innovations. Full article

Countries worldwide are focusing on energy efficiency, economic sustainability, and responsible resource management to address climate change and meet sustainable development goals (SDGs). This study investigates how factors such as artificial intelligence, renewable energy, green human capital, geopolitical risk, natural resource rent, and information and communication technology influenced CO₂ emissions in 36 countries between 2000 and 2021. The study also explores how institutional quality moderates these relationships. We employed advanced econometric techniques to address this gap, including panel-correlated standard errors (PCSE) and the Driscoll–Kraay estimations (DKSE) models. A two-step system GMM approach was also used to strengthen the robustness of our findings. The findings reveal that green human capital, renewable energy consumption, and institutional quality can significantly reduce CO₂ emissions. Conversely, artificial intelligence, geopolitical risk, natural resource rent, and information communication technology contribute to increased CO₂ emissions. Institutional quality enhances the positive impact of green human capital and renewable energy on emission reduction. However, it has the opposite effect on artificial intelligence, leading to an even greater increase in CO₂ emissions. These findings underscore the importance of green policies in achieving sustainable development goals. We recommend that policymakers prioritize investing in clean energy and green human capital while strengthening institutional quality to effectively mitigate carbon emissions and meet SDGs. They also regulate AI and ICT carbon footprints and address geopolitical risks through energy diversification and international cooperation. Full article

Despite the fact that countless IoT applications are arising frequently in various fields, such as green cities, net-zero decarbonization, healthcare systems, and smart vehicles, the smart grid is considered the most critical cyber–physical IoT application. With emerging technologies supporting the much-anticipated smart energy systems, particularly the smart grid, these smart systems will continue to profoundly transform our way of life and the environment. Energy systems have improved over the past ten years in terms of intelligence, efficiency, decentralization, and ICT usage. On the other hand, cyber threats and attacks against these systems have greatly expanded as a result of the enormous spread of sensors and smart IoT devices inside the energy sector as well as traditional power grids. In order to detect and mitigate these vulnerabilities while increasing the security of energy systems and power grids, a thorough investigation and in-depth research are highly required. This study offers a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art smart grid cybersecurity research. In this work, we primarily concentrate on examining the numerous threats and cyberattacks that have recently invaded the developing smart energy systems in general and smart grids in particular. This study begins by introducing smart grid architecture, it key components, and its security issues. Then, we present the spectrum of cyberattacks against energy systems while highlighting the most significant research studies that have been documented in the literature. The categorization of smart grid cyberattacks, while taking into account key information security characteristics, can help make it possible to provide organized and effective solutions for the present and potential attacks in smart grid applications. This cyberattack classification is covered thoroughly in this paper. This study also discusses the historical incidents against energy systems, which depicts how harsh and disastrous these attacks can go if not detected and mitigated. Finally, we provide a summary of the latest emerging future research trend and open research issues. Full article

Heavy metal cadmium (II) residuals have inflicted severe damage to human health and ecosystems. It has become imperative to devise straightforward and highly selective sensing methods for the detection of Cd²⁺. In this work, a ratiometric benzothiazole-based fluorescence probe (BQFA) was effortlessly synthesized and characterized using standard optical techniques for the visual detection of Cd²⁺ with a change in color from blue to green, exhibiting a significant Stokes shift. Moreover, the binding ratio of BQFA to Cd²⁺ was established as 1:1 by the Job’s plot and was further confirmed by FT-IR and ¹HNMR titrations. The ratiometric fluorescence response via the ICT mechanism was confirmed by DFT calculations. Furthermore, the limit of detection for detecting Cd²⁺ was determined to be 68 nM. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that BQFA showed good performance in real water samples, paper strips, smartphone colorimetric identification, and cell imaging. Full article

Climatic change and environmental degradation have become a worldwide discourse. Green innovation is commonly viewed as a means of lowering environmental pollution in the era of climate change. Considering this, the primary purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of environmental technology (ET) on CO₂ emissions by controlling Saudi Arabia’s ICT use, energy use, energy intensity, and financial development. It uses a quantile-based multiple-threshold “nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL)” estimation utilizing data from 1990 to 2020. It also conducts the ARDL and NARDL estimation techniques simultaneously for comparative outcomes. The Toda–Yamamoto (T-Y) causality assessment also crosschecks the primary multiple-threshold NARDL estimates. The outcomes reveal that ET promotes environmental pollution due to its low scale compared to the Kingdom’s technological base. ICT improves environmental quality, and energy consumption deteriorates it. All three estimation techniques confirm these findings. The multiple-threshold NARDL estimation appears robust and reveals damaging impacts of energy intensity and financial development on emissions. The T-Y causality assessment also authenticates the primary estimation outcomes. The outcomes have important implications for policymakers to focus on enhancing patents for ET, raising ICT diffusion, reducing energy intensity through generating more renewable energies, expanding financial support for ICT and green investments, and ensuring a sustainable environment. Full article

Cities are facing challenges in adaptation to, and mitigation of climate change. Urban Green Spaces (UGS) have a pivotal role in this transformative process and are almost always coupled with digital tools. The deployment of digital solutions, encompassing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the Internet of Things (IoT), seeks to increase awareness of UGS benefits across a wider range of users. This study is part of a Horizon 2020 project that aims to measure the social impact of Visionary Solutions (VS), i.e., combined Nature Based Solutions (NBSs) and Digital Solutions (DSs), in UGSs located in seven European cities. The project proposes a novel application of the Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology to forecast the impact of VS implementation in the case of an Italian demonstration. The three main objectives are: (i) establishing a causal chain for transformation through the Theory of Change (ToC) tool; (ii) quantifying the expected change by developing two monetary alternatives; and (iii) comparing these alternatives to assess which is more influential in stakeholders’ decision-making. The authors reviewed a range of financial proxies of social outcomes from other SROI case studies. The result of the Italian demonstration is that, for each euro invested in project solutions, two euros of social return are generated. The analysis reveals these monetized intangible outcomes. Full article

This review investigates the evolution of green information systems (ISs) based on an examination of the literature spanning the years 2000 to 2023. Using bibliographic analysis, a method that enables the study of a large volume of sources, this paper establishes connections among pertinent concepts in the green ISs field, outlining the authors’ interests in the analysed period. Based on the identification of key trends, primary directions, interdisciplinary initiatives, and emerging areas, the assessment reveals that the interest in minimizing the negative impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the environment is a relevant research topic, with significant evolution in the analysed period. On this basis, this study emphasizes the need for the integration of environmental protection in all stages of the IS life cycle and in all industries, a holistic approach we consider essential for the sustainable growth of the ICT-based societal domains. Full article

Up to now, highly efficient narrowband thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules constructed by oxygen-bridged boron with an enhancing multiple resonance (MR) effect have been in urgent demand for solid-state lighting and full-color displays. In this work, a novel MR-TADF molecule, BNBO, constructed by the oxygen-bridged boron unit and boron–nitrogen core skeleton as an electron-donating moiety, is successfully designed and synthesized via a facile one-step synthesis. Based on BNBO as an efficient green emitter, the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) shows a sharp emission peak of 508 nm with a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 36 nm and realizes quite high peak efficiency values, including an external quantum efficiency (EQE_max) of 24.3% and a power efficiency (PE_max) of 62.3 lm/W. BNBO possesses the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) property of donor-acceptor (D-A) materials and multiple resonance characteristics, which provide a simple strategy for narrowband oxygen–boron materials. Full article

In the European Digital Decade 2030 Policy Program, the following guidelines for European digital transformation are named, which means that more than 90% of small- and medium-sized companies reach at least a basic level of digital intensity. In addition to that, the European Commission pays a lot of attention to implementing the “Green Deal” in order to achieve less environmental impact. ICT SMEs already play a key role in Europe’s green and digital transformation, creating technologies that promote sustainability and strengthen Europe’s position. The limited and fragmented application of today’s digital and sustainable technologies in SMEs is observed at the EU level. The bibliometric literature analytical results show that the number of papers on the digital direction is five times higher than on the sustainable direction topic. The paper seeks to identify directions that could help SMEs to speed up this twin transformation in each EU country. The authors proposed a two-stage methodology, which is used for researching twin transformations in SMEs. According to the methodology, first, the authors analysed the indicators of EU-27 SMEs, representing their activity towards the twin transformation, comparing them among other size classes. The results show that the SME’s numbers in the 16 indicators area are worse than the numbers characterizing EU-27 enterprises, having more than ten employees. In addition, a multi-criteria decision making-based assessment framework was constructed to show the progress towards the twin transition. The provided research shows which areas require more attention from SMEs and policy makers responding to the twin transformation objectives. Full article

The Public Administration (PA) in Portugal is impacted by the constant acceleration and evolution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), where the Portuguese State, transposing European Union directives, has legislated and encouraged their use as instruments of added value for the PA. Establishing rigorous and sustainable governance is crucial, ensuring that the organization’s strategic objectives are aligned with ICT and, preferably, with Green IT practices. In this context, it is necessary to be able to estimate and subsequently evaluate the impact of strategic and operational choices on improving environmental quality. For such, this article presents a framework developed to optimize ICT management practices and indicators that, in this environmental area, support the forecasting and assessment of the impact of the choices made in the search for technologically advanced solutions in the Barreiro municipality. These choices enable, among other things, a reduction in energy consumption, implying a reduction in financial costs, resulting in environmental benefits, such as a reduction in CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere or less deforestation. The results presented, obtained in a real-world context, make it possible to assess the progress of alignment with Green IT in this area, as well as the overall result. Full article