Search Results (293)

This study examines two competing green supply chains, each consisting of a supplier and a retailer, using a Stackelberg game model to investigate the impact of different levels of corporate reputation awareness on supply chain members. A comparative analysis of equilibrium decisions under three distinct modes of corporate reputation awareness was conducted, and numerical simulations were employed for validation. The findings reveal that improving corporate reputation awareness of fresh agricultural product suppliers can effectively enhance product freshness efforts and expand market share. In a dual-chain competitive environment, the supply chain with a higher corporate reputation has an advantage in both freshness efforts and market share, while the supply chain with a lower reputation faces the loss of market share, which is highly detrimental to the long-term development of the business. The study suggests that supply chain members can leverage corporate reputation awareness to build differentiated competitive advantages, providing managerial insights for optimizing strategies in green supply chain competition. Full article

Environmental awareness is widely recognized as a key factor of environmentally friendly behavior, especially as human activities persist in exacerbating global environmental issues. While previous research has largely focused on environmental regulations to promote green technology, such approaches often fall short in developing countries due to weak enforcement mechanisms and the prominence of informal economic activities. This study takes a different approach by exploring how environmental awareness can foster the adoption of green technology in informal manufacturing enterprises, thereby enhancing both environmental and social outcomes. Enterprise-level survey data, collected from a major city in a developing country, serves as the basis for this analysis. The survey captures information related to knowledge attitudes and the behavioral practices of owners or managers with respect to the environment, as well as pollution and its management. Utilizing the collected data, and guided by established theoretical frameworks, the study develops an environmental awareness (EA) index. This index is then applied in probit and logit models to estimate its effect on the likelihood of adopting pollution-reducing technologies. The marginal effect analysis reveals that informal SMEs with a higher environmental awareness are 28.5% more likely to adopt green technologies. This probability increases to 30.1% when demographic- and business-related variables are incorporated into the model. Based on empirical findings, this study recommends targeted investments in awareness building initiatives, alongside long-term educational and training programs for enterprise owners and managers to instill environmental values and practices across operations. Given the financial constraints faced by informal enterprises, this study also recommends both public and private sector support to make this transition feasible and sustainable. Full article

This paper addresses the very important and topical issue of the effective and efficient implementation of green and energy transition processes, taking into account social aspects and energy security. Due to climate change and the geopolitical situation, these processes are currently priorities for most countries and regions of the world. The opportunity to achieve success in their implementation lies in the implementation of the Open Innovation concept in a new model developed and presented in this paper. Its essence is an identified group of stakeholders in the processes under study (science, business, state, society, environment) and their specific positions, roles, and relationships. It was also important to analyze the mechanisms of cooperation and interaction between stakeholders, defining key forms and directions, as well as ways of harmonizing them, leading to synergy in innovation processes. A significant stage of the work was also the development of a RACI role and responsibility matrix, which enabled the precise assignment of functions to individual stakeholders in the developed model. Key challenges, barriers (technological, regulatory, organizational, and social), and factors conducive to the coordination of cooperation and interests of the identified stakeholder groups were also identified. To deepen knowledge and better understand the dynamics of this cooperation, a matrix was also developed to assess priorities and their impact on the energy sector within the open innovation model. This tool enables the identification of diverse perspectives in relation to key criteria such as energy security, innovation, social participation, and sustainable development. In addition, a set of indicators (in five key categories of the innovation ecosystem) was developed to enable multidimensional measurement of the effectiveness, efficiency, and scalability of the open innovation model in the energy sector. They also allow for the study of the impact of these factors on the sustainable development, security, and resilience of energy systems. The developed and presented concept of a model of cooperation between stakeholders using the Open Innovation model in the energy industry is universal in nature and can also be used in other sectors. Its application offers broad opportunities to support the management of transformation processes, taking into account the innovative solutions that are necessary for the success of these processes. Full article

Green innovation (GI) plays a pivotal role in advancing sustainable transformation. To implement the concept of green development, China is vigorously advancing green innovation adoption (GIA). Although prior research has largely focused on the manufacturing sector, little is known about how ownership structures shape GIA in the construction industry, nor about its impact on cost. To address this gap, this study, grounded in the Technology–Organisation–Environment (TOE) framework, investigates the extent to which technological, organisational, and environmental factors influence the GIA in the construction sector and how GIA contributes to cost reduction, as well as how these effects differ between state-owned and private firms. Data were collected from 277 construction enterprises, and analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Our findings show that GIA significantly reduces costs in both state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private firms, while market pressure exerts no obvious influence on GIA. Notably, organisational support is found to negatively affect green process innovation in SOEs, suggesting that such initiatives may be more symbolic than substantive. This study could serve as a reference for businesses and governments, and contribute to China’s new development philosophy of “innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared.” Full article

Using the “Policy Pressure-Innovation Alignment-Performance Transformation” theory, this paper looks at how ESG ratings, green innovation, and corporate dual-organizational performance are linked. This study uses a multi-period Difference-in-Differences (DID) model in conjunction with a conditional mediation effect model to examine how ESG ratings causally influence substantive green innovation, which in turn improves corporate financial and environmental performance. Regression results show that corporate ESG ratings have a big effect on the performance of both organizations. ESG ratings have a bigger effect on financial performance, while ESG scores have a bigger effect on environmental performance. Looking at the sub-dimensions shows that policy ratings have immediate effects on environmental performance and delayed effects on financial performance. The conclusion that the internalization response of corporate environmental costs is timely, while the market revaluation has a delayed transmission effect, holds true after being tested through parallel trend analysis and synthetic DID testing. More research shows that differences in ESG ratings hurt financial performance but help environmental performance. This means that differences in ESG ratings may lead to more real green innovation activities, which have a direct effect on the environment and, in the end, lead to bigger improvements in environmental performance. The moderating effect test shows that being aware of the environment makes substantive green innovation more focused on quality by making people feel responsible for their actions. Also, environmental management leads to more corporate green patents, which has resource displacement effects and makes green patent innovations less effective. Heterogeneity analysis shows that state-owned businesses use their institutional advantages to improve the “quality-quantity” of substantive green innovation, which helps their corporate green development performance. Declining businesses push for green innovation to fix problems that are already there, but mature businesses don’t like ESG rating policies because they are stuck in their ways, which stops them from making real progress in green innovation. This paper ends with micro-level evidence and theoretical support to solve the “greenwashing” problem of ESG and come up with “harmonious coexistence” policy combinations that work for businesses. Full article

This study examines the causal impact of China’s New Energy Demonstration City construction policy on corporate energy consumption. The results demonstrate that this policy effectively reduces corporate energy consumption. The policy significantly decreases the consumption of coal, natural gas, and diesel. Although the policy significantly reduces energy consumption in both local state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs, its effect does not show statistically significant variation across different types of controlling shareholders. The energy-saving effect is particularly pronounced in the following industries: Manufacturing, Electricity, Heat, Gas, and Water Production & Supply, Wholesale & Retail Trade, Information Technology Services, Leasing & Business Services, and Water Conservancy, Environment, and Public Infrastructure Management. The policy operates through multiple channels: internal mechanisms including direct innovation effect, accelerated green M&As effect as well as digital empowerment effect, and external moderators including marketization level and green finance environment. The findings yield important insights for scholars, policymakers and corporate stakeholders. Full article

Water use and water environmental protection exhibit highly complex interactions, and their coupling coordination is essential for long-term urban sustainability. This study analyzes the system structure of water utilization, and constructs a water resources–social economy–water environment (WR-SE-WE) system dynamics model for Tianjin and five policy scenarios (business as usual (BAU), water conservation prioritization (WCP), social–economic advancement (SEA), water environmental protection (WEP), and integrated balanced development (IBD)) are simulated. A coupling coordination degree (CCD) model is employed to evaluate scenario performance. The key results show that Tianjin’s WR-SE-WE CCD keeps increasing but differentiates for different scenarios: IBD consistently outperforms all scenarios, achieving an optimal coupling coordination degree of 0.926 by 2035, while the other scenarios rank SEA (0.920) > WEP (0.902) > BAU (0.880) > WCP (0.874). The indicators’ quantitative results exhibit single-policy scenario trade-offs: WCP maximizes water efficiency and pollution control, but severely constrains social economy, offering a temporary solution. WEP excels in water resources supply but limits GDP growth, serving as an effective interim measure. SEA drives rapid economic expansion but strains resources and delays pollution control, making it suitable for long-term planning. Combining the obstacle degree model, four recommendations are proposed, including implementing cross-sector water governance, accelerating the green industrial transition, prioritizing reclaimed water, and scaling agricultural efficiency. These results provide a scientific basis for promoting high-quality regional development in the future. Full article

The specificity of the business of agro-food companies is that their products have little or no impact on the environment. However, environmental pollution of these products is caused by the use of packaging. Therefore, it is necessary to apply the principles of the circular economy in the business of companies. Applying green packaging that has little or no impact on the environment helps in preserving the environment. Companies usually purchase packaging from suppliers and therefore, it is necessary to choose the right supplier from which to purchase green packaging to support the implementation of the circular economy. The aim of this research is to select a green packaging supplier for company X in order to influence the development of a circular economy in the company’s business. Based on this, the following research question is considered in this paper: how can the selection of a green packaging supplier influence the implementation of a circular economy at company X? The research covers ten criteria used in this selection, with which eight suppliers were observed. Because every decision-making process in the economy is characterized by risk and insecurity that affects the uncertainty in decision-making, an intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS) was used. Determining the importance of weights was performed directly based on the ratings of the decision-maker (DM) and the steps of the SiWeC (Simple Weight Calculation) method, as well as using the Entropy method. The compromise results of these methods showed that the most important criteria for assessing the life cycle of packaging are transparency and ethics in business. The ranking of suppliers was carried out using the TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method and its results showed that supplier 5 is the first choice for establishing long-term cooperation in the procurement of green packaging. Full article

This review explores the current status of green hydrogen integration into energy and industrial ecosystems. By considering notable examples of existing and developing green hydrogen initiatives, combined with insights from the relevant scientific literature, this paper illustrates the practical implementation of those systems according to their main end use: power and heat generation, mobility, industry, or their combination. Main patterns are highlighted in terms of sectoral applications, geographical distribution, development scales, storage solutions, electrolyzer technology, grid interaction, and financial viability. Open challenges are also addressed, including the high production costs, an underdeveloped transport and distribution infrastructure, the geopolitical aspects and the weak business models, with the industrial sector appearing as the most favorable environment where such challenges may first be overcome in the medium term. Full article

Through their open space layout, rich green configuration and low floor area ratio (FAR), low-density commercial blocks show significant advantages in creating high-quality outdoor thermal comfort (Universal Thermal Climate Index, UTCI) environment, reducing regional energy consumption load (building energy consumption, BEC) potential, providing pleasant public space experience and enhancing environmental resilience, which are different from traditional high-density business models. This study proposes a workflow for morphological design of low-density commercial blocks based on parametric modeling via the Grasshopper platform and the NSGA-II algorithm, which aims to balance environmental benefits (UTCI, BEC) and spatial efficiency (FAR). This study employs EnergyPlus, Wallacei and other relevant tools, along with the NSGA-II algorithm, to perform numerical simulations and multi-objective optimization, thus obtaining the Pareto optimal solution set. It also clarifies the correlation between morphological parameters and target variables. The results show the following: (1) The multi-objective optimization model is effective in optimizing the three objectives for block buildings. When compared to the extreme inferior solution, the optimal solution that is closest to the ideal point brings about a 33.2% reduction in BEC and a 1.3 °C drop in UTCI, while achieving a 102.8% increase in FAR. (2) The impact of design variables varies across the three optimization objectives. Among them, the number of floors of slab buildings has the most significant impact on BEC, UTCI and FAR. (3) There is a significant correlation between urban morphological parameters–energy efficiency correlation index, and BEC, UTCI, and FAR. Full article

In Thailand, companies are facing increasing pressure from investors, consumers, customers, and regulators to integrate sustainability into business policies and practices. Achieving corporate sustainable development requires incorporating environmental attitudes and work environments into employee behaviors. This study examines how perceived sustainability policies (PSP) influence pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) in the workplace. A total of 589 respondents from four Thai companies in diverse sectors—rubber, consumer products, B2B industrials, and garments—participated in the study. Grounded in the Focus Theory of Normative Conduct, the research extends individual-level psychological frameworks by incorporating the mediating roles of organizational-level descriptive norms—green shared vision (GSV) and green work climate (GWC)—and the moderating role of individual green value (IGV). Structural equation modeling was conducted using AMOS. The findings supported both a direct effect of PSP on PEB and a sequential mediation pathway through GSV and GWC, while the individual mediation roles of GSV and GWC were not significant. These results reflected strong institutional and in-group collectivist culture of Thailand. Moreover, IGV was found to have a significantly negative moderating effect, suggesting that employees with high IGV may rely less on formal perceived sustainability policies in shaping their pro-environmental behaviors. Full article

Strengthening climate resilience constitutes a foundational approach through which cities adapt to climate change and mitigate associated environmental risks. However, research on the influence of economic policy environments on climate resilience remains limited. Guided by institutional theory and dynamic capability theory, this study employs a panel dataset comprising 272 Chinese cities at the prefecture level and above, covering the period from 2009 to 2023. It constructs a composite index framework for evaluating the green business environment (GBE) and urban climate resilience (UCR) using the entropy weight method. Employing a two-way fixed-effect regression model, it examined the impact of GBE optimization on UCR empirically and also explored the underlying mechanisms. The results show that improvements in the GBE significantly enhance UCR, with green innovation (GI) in technology functioning as an intermediary mechanism within this relationship. Moreover, climate policy uncertainty (CPU) exerts a moderating effect along this transmission pathway: on the one hand, it amplifies the beneficial effect of the GBE on GI; on the other hand, it hampers the transformation of GI into improved GBEs. The former effect dominates, indicating that optimizing the GBE becomes particularly critical for enhancing UCR under high CPU. To eliminate potential endogenous issues, this paper adopts a two-stage regression model based on the instrumental variable method (2SLS). The above conclusion still holds after undergoing a series of robustness tests. This study reveals the mechanism by which a GBE enhances its growth through GI. By incorporating CPU as a heterogeneous factor, the findings suggest that governments should balance policy incentives with environmental regulations in climate resilience governance. Furthermore, maintaining awareness of the risks stemming from climate policy volatility is of critical importance. By providing a stable and supportive institutional environment, governments can foster steady progress in green innovation and comprehensively improve urban adaptive capacity to climate change. Full article

The process of urbanization has intensified the urban heat environment, with the degradation of thermal conditions closely linked to the morphological characteristics of different functional zones. This study delineated urban functional areas using a multivariate dataset and investigated the seasonal and threshold effects of landscape and architectural features on land surface temperature (LST) through boosted regression tree (BRT) modeling and Spearman correlation analysis. The key findings are as follows: (1) LST exhibits significant seasonal variation, with the strongest urban heat island effect occurring in summer, particularly within industry, business, and public service zones; residence zones experience the greatest temperature fluctuations, with a seasonal difference of 24.71 °C between spring and summer and a peak temperature of 50.18 °C in summer. (2) Fractional vegetation cover (FVC) consistently demonstrates the most pronounced cooling effect across all zones and seasons. Landscape indicators generally dominate the regulation of LST, with their relative contribution exceeding 45% in green land zones. (3) Population density (PD) exerts a significant, seasonally dependent dual effect on LST, where strategic population distribution can effectively mitigate extreme heat events. (4) Mean building height (MBH) plays a vital role in temperature regulation, showing a marked cooling influence particularly in residence and business zones. Both the perimeter-to-area ratio (LSI) and frontal area index (FAI) exhibit distinct seasonal variations in their impacts on LST. (5) This study establishes specific indicator thresholds to optimize thermal comfort across five functional zones; for instance, FVC should exceed 13% in spring and 31.6% in summer in residence zones to enhance comfort, while maintaining MBH above 24 m further aids temperature regulation. These findings offer a scientific foundation for mitigating urban heat waves and advancing sustainable urban development. Full article

Digital technology has become an essential engine of green development and economic progress due to the meteoric rise of new technologies. Our paper seeks to explore the impact of digitalization on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance in different business contexts. Data were collected from listed firms across 19 Asian countries from 2015 to 2024, covering 1839 firms, yielding 18,390 firm-year observations and establishing a balanced panel data set. We used the dynamic panel data model to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings revealed that digitalization has a significant and positive impact on ESG performance. It also revealed that environmental uncertainty moderates this relationship. Moreover, our analysis indicated that the impact of digitalization on ESG performance is stronger for product (vs. service) firms, stronger for B2B (vs. B2C) firms and stronger for firms in IT-intensive industries. In addition, the analysis indicated that the impact of digitalization on ESG performance is stronger in more dynamic, complex and munificent environments. Our examination offers meaningful implications for theory and practice by expanding our knowledge of the complex mechanism underpinning the positive correlation between digitalization and ESG performance. Full article

Today, businesses operate to maintain their assets sustainably and profitably, but they face resource scarcity and environmental problems. In order to overcome this problem, businesses should focus on environmental, social, and economic development while considering the environment. In this context, green human resource practices and sustainable leadership, which have emerged from green management philosophy, increase the environmental awareness of businesses and support them in protecting resources while also positively affecting many human resource metrics, such as performance and commitment at the business level. In recent years, definitions have been established, and scales have been developed within the scope of green human resource and sustainability leadership research, which has been a subject of interest in the relevant literature. Because studies measuring the effects of green human resource management (HRM) and sustainable leadership at the business level are rare, this work is important as it provides resources for further research. In this context, this research aimed to analyze the effects of green human resource management practices and sustainable leadership on employee commitment. In order to reach a general judgment about a system consisting of a large number of people and find answers to the research questions, the general screening model, which allows for single or relational screenings over the entire system or a group of samples to be taken from it, was selected. The correlational model, a type of quantitative research model, was used to examine the relationships between the variables within the scope of this research. According to the results, the effects of green HRM practices on organizational commitment change significantly through the mediation of sustainable leadership. The findings reveal that, for organizations seeking to foster a sustainable business culture, merely implementing green policies is insufficient; leaders must also embody these practices and motivate their workforce. Such an integrated strategy enhances both ecological sustainability and employee commitment, thereby securing a lasting competitive edge. Full article