Search Results (34)

The main objective of this study is to offer fresh empirical insight into the evolving relationship between digitalisation and agroecology by examining Mulini Di Segalari, a biodynamic vineyard in Italy. While much of the existing literature positions digital agriculture as potentially misaligned with agroecological principles, this case study unveils how digital tools can actively reinforce agroecological practices when embedded within supportive socio-technical networks. Novel findings of this study highlight how the use of digital technologies supported agroecological practices and led to the reconfiguration of social relations, knowledge systems, and governance structures within the farm. Employing a technographic approach revealed that the farm’s transformation was driven not just by technology but through collaborative arrangements involving different stakeholders. These interactions created new routines, roles, and information flows, supporting a more distributed and participatory model of innovation. By demonstrating how digital tools can catalyse agroecological transitions in a context-sensitive and socially embedded manner, this study challenges the binary framings of technology versus ecology and calls for a more nuanced understanding of digitalisation as a socio-technical process. Full article

In an era marked by accelerating ecological degradation and widening global inequalities, prevailing patterns of resource extraction and consumption are proving increasingly unsustainable. Driven by hyper-consumption and entrenched linear production models, the global economy continues to exert immense pressure on planetary systems. This communication article calls for a fundamental paradigm shift from the long-standing assumption of resource abundance to a framework of responsible scarcity. Drawing from recent data on material throughput, on the transgression of planetary boundaries, and on the structural and geopolitical disparities underlying global resource use, this article highlights the urgent need to realign natural resource governance with ecological limits and social justice. A conceptual framework is proposed to support this transition, grounded in principles of ecological constraint, functional sufficiency, equity, and long-term resilience. The article concludes by outlining a forward-thinking research and policy agenda aimed at fostering sustainable and just modes of resource utilization in the face of growing environmental and socio-economic challenges. Full article

Simple indicators are often used to summarize the complexity of systems or products, commonly through color-coded labels paired with letters. These labels, like those indicating energy efficiency or nutritional ratings, help users quickly understand essential characteristics. Building on this approach, the Quality Urban Label (QUL) has been developed to assess public space adaptation to urban climate change. The QUL utilizes four key indicators, called quality components: air quality (pollutants), noise pollution, thermal comfort, and visual comfort. It ranges from 0 to 25 and is represented by a color and letter code (green, A, ranging from 0 to 2; blue, B, ranging from 6 to 11; orange, C, ranging from 15 to 19; and red, D, ranging from 22 to 25), with green representing better quality and red poorer quality. The QUL aims to evaluate public spaces based on energy consumption reduction, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and progress toward carbon neutrality. This article explores some ecological and climate benefits of the QUL, especially in warm Mediterranean cities. An objective label that quantifies the alignment of urban public space with climate neutrality has numerous advantages, which are discussed in the article. In addition, it is a key tool for urban project planning, focused on reducing urban social inequalities and promoting a just energy transition of urban public space. Full article

China’s chemical industry has faced severe environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, such as high safety and environmental accidents and risks. To address these issues and promote industrial upgrading, China’s central government has issued a national relocation and improvement policy targeting its chemical industry. However, its countrywide policy implementation may also lead to other ESG risks during the relocation of chemical enterprises, namely industrial transfer. The typical ESG risks that appear to occur in developed eastern region provinces include a one-size-fits-all solution and unemployment, while less developed central and western region provinces may encounter pollution transfer, carbon leakage, environmental injustice, and health disparities. These ESG risks might overlap with other economic and financial (non-ESG) risks, like stranded assets, industry hollowing-out, and debt sustainability issue. These ESG and non-ESG risks could result from potential mismatches between chemical enterprises and chemical parks, categorized as mismatching errors explained by social-ecological systems, behavioral economics, and information economics. To better manage these risks, we propose an ESG matching policy comprising a national standardized ESG scoring and ranking system, a deferred acceptance mechanism, and a score announcement instrument. Such a policy innovation aims at achieving fair and efficient chemical enterprise–chemical park pairs, which would help manage both ESG and non-ESG risks and provide a just transition toolkit for China and other developing countries. Full article

This paper presents a novel circular-ESG framework integrating circular economy (CE) principles with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria to address the lack of uniform sustainability measures. We introduce normalized sustainability coordinates (NSCs) as a comprehensive metric for sustainability performance, reconciling economic development with environmental balance. The circular-ESG model employs a four-quadrant Cartesian system to map business model impacts on natural and socio-economic systems, ranging from linear open-loop to circular closed-loop ESG models. This framework enables empirical analysis through data-driven NSCs (−1 to 1) and establishes temporal key performance indicators. By incorporating the Human Development Index within ecological limits, the model promotes regenerative development aligned with planetary boundaries. The circular-ESG approach offers a practical tool for businesses, households, organizations, and policymakers to navigate sustainable development complexities. This integrated framework fosters innovation and supports a just transition towards regenerative practices, providing a roadmap for high human development within ecological limits. The circular-ESG model advances sustainability science and management, contributing to the discourse on measuring and implementing sustainable practices across sectors and scales. The model is currently conceptual; we encourage empirical validation and further research to explore its practical applications and effectiveness in real-world scenarios. While the provided examples of use cases serve as conceptual demonstrations, future research could empirically apply the model to real-world data. Full article

EU politics on decarbonizing shipping is an argumentative endeavor where different policy actors strive try to influence others to see problems and policy solutions according to their perspectives to gain monopoly on the framing and design of policies. This article critically analyzes, by means of argumentative discourse analysis, the politics and policy process related to the recent adoption of the FuelEU Maritime regulation, the world’s first legislation to set requirements for decarbonizing maritime shipping. Complementing previous research focusing on the roles and agency of policy entrepreneurs and beliefs of advocacy coalitions active in the policy process, this paper dives deeper into the politics of the new legislation. It aims to explore and explain the discursive framing and politics of meaning-making. By analyzing the political and social meaning-making of the concept “decarbonizing maritime shipping”, this paper helps us understand why the legislation was designed in the way it was. Different narratives, storylines and discourses defining different meanings of decarbonization are analyzed. So is the agency of policy actors trying to mutate the different meanings into a new meaning. Two discourses developed in dialectic conversation framed the policy proposals and subsequent debates in the policy process, focusing on (i) incremental change and technology neutrality to meet moderate emission reductions and maintain competitiveness, and (ii) transformative change and technology specificity to meet zero emissions and gain competitiveness and global leadership in the transition towards a hydrogen economy. Policy actors successfully used discursive agency strategies such as multiple functionality and vagueness to navigate between and resolve conflicts between the two discourses. Both discourses are associated with the overarching ecological modernization discourse and failed to include issue of climate justice and a just transition. The heritage of the ecological modernization discourse creates lock-ins for a broader decarbonization discourse, thus stalling a just transition. Full article

The concept of policy entrepreneurs has gained increasing attention in studies of policy change, including climate policy and governance. It foregrounds the role of agency in understanding policy change. However, agency of policy entrepreneurs in the policy process is political and conceals the power that shapes how public problems and policies are framed and defined. Thus, policy entrepreneurs should be confronted with the challenge of generating legitimacy, accountability, and justice in their actions and the implementation of their targeted policy change. Drawing on political–philosophical theories of liberal and deliberative democracy as well as environmental and ecological democracy this paper outlines a conceptual framework for critical analytical as well as normative research on strategies and impacts of policy entrepreneurs on democratic governance, primarily in climate policy but also more generally. Empirical research on the strategies and impacts of policy entrepreneurs in recent policymaking on climate change mitigation in the EU and Sweden identifies several deficits related to the democratic principles of legitimacy, accountability, and justice. It is found that policy entrepreneurs from different social spheres use cultural–institutional entrepreneurship to influence beliefs and perceptions on problems and policies. In addition, it is found that public sector policy entrepreneurs use structural entrepreneurship on ideological grounds to change existing power relations in climate governance. In all, the paper brings ideology and politics into research on policy entrepreneurs. It is suggested that not only the strategies used, but also the ideologies of the actors that use them, are decisive for the impacts of policy entrepreneurs, and thus, whether their advocacy will adhere to democratic norms and facilitate or hamper a just transition to climate neutrality and sustainability. The paper ends with proposals on how policy entrepreneurs can act more democratically, how to deal with populist policy entrepreneurs wanting to erode democracy, and conditions for climate justice movements to take responsibility and act in a more entrepreneurial way. Full article

The global surge in environmental pollution, largely attributed to industrialization, has fueled a pressing need for sustainable solutions. In response, the construction sector is increasingly focusing on bio-based materials such as hemp, recognized for its low environmental footprint and prominent carbon-negative quality. As designers, housebuilders, and an environmentally conscious society pivot towards ecological alternatives to standard building materials, hempcrete emerges as a promising candidate. As a composite material mainly made from hemp hurd/shiv, water, and lime, hempcrete offers the ability to sequester carbon long after its incorporation into structures. As a result, the hemp cultivation process—which can be completed within less than four months—ensures that more carbon is absorbed during production and deployment than emitted, e.g., per one study, sequestration on the order of 300 kg of CO₂ per m³ of hempcrete. In comparison to concrete, hempcrete offers a more sustainable footprint, given its recyclability post life cycle. This state-of-the-art review paper delves deep into different aspects of hempcrete, summarizing its multifaceted attributes, particularly its compressive strength. Based on the study conducted, the paper also suggests strategies to augment this strength, thereby transitioning hempcrete from a non-load-bearing material to one capable of shouldering significant weight. As architects and designers consistently strive to align their projects with high ecological standards, focusing not just on aesthetic appeal but also environmental compatibility, hempcrete becomes an increasingly fitting solution for the future of construction. Full article

In the current poly-crisis scenario, in which we face the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and unstable geopolitical conditions, a just ecological transition increasingly plays a pivotal role in determining our visions for the future. Communities must be adequately prepared and made protagonists in order to ethically orient and support this transition. This article shows an experience from the Basilicata region (southern Italy) that is intended to engage the community in the just ecological transition process. To that end, an Environmental Participatory Governance model was implemented, exploiting both the synod of the churches for existing community networks and scientific expertise to support multi-actor knowledge integration and learning. The developed model allowed us to obtain an in-depth knowledge of the main players who carry out environmental education, the strengths and weaknesses of their environmental strategies, and the synergy among them. Bottom–up outcomes, in terms of perceived environmental risks and suggested priority actions, represent a challenge for stakeholders, but confronting these has led to significant alignment of visions for the implementation of a shared action plan. The most significant result of this work is the learnings concerning the implementation of a participatory experience, which should be replicable at different scales and for any environmental problem. Such an experience allows for the possibility of forming consolidated networks, which make environmental governance more effective at the regional level. Full article

The transition from a linear economy (LE) to a circular economy (CE) is not just about mitigating the negative impacts of LE, but also about considering changes in infrastructure, while leveraging the power of technology to reduce resource production and consumption and waste generation, and improve long-term resilience. The existing research suggests that digital technologies (DTs) have great potential to drive the CE. However, despite the exponential growth and increasing interest in studies on DTs and the CE from year 2016 onwards, few systematic studies on the application of DTs to enable the CE have been found. In addition, the current status and development direction of the DT-driven CE is unclear, and the potential of DTs to support CE implementation is under-researched. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the potential of DTs to drive the CE. This paper set out to analyze the current status and development of the DT-driven CE and examine future development trends in the field. Using a systematic literature review approach, this paper is the first attempt to use a mixed method, i.e., to combine macro-quantitative bibliometric methods with a micro-qualitative content analysis method to explore the DT-driven CE. The results, which include the research background, co-occurrence clusters, research hotspots, and development trends of keyword co-occurrence network visualization and keyword burst detection, are presented from a macro perspective using two bibliometric analysis softwares. In addition, the use of 13 specific DTs in the CE is analyzed according to seven disciplinary areas (Environmental Sciences and Ecology, Engineering, Science and Technology and Other Topics, Business Economics, Computer Science, Operations Research and Management Science, and Construction and Building Technology) of greatest interest from a micro-qualitative point of view. Further, future trends and challenges facing DT-driven CE development are explored and feasible directions for solutions are proposed. Full article

In the 21st century’s global push for sustainable development, strategies for new urbanization and rural revitalization in China have transitioned from traditional geographic expansion to a focus on high-quality integration across ecological, social, and economic dimensions. Employing advanced methods such as the entropy weight TOPSIS, coupling coordination model, kernel density estimation, Markov chain, and geographic detector, this study comprehensively explores the spatiotemporal dynamics and driving mechanisms of urban–rural integration in China from 2001 to 2022. Key findings reveal increasing coupling coordination degrees in each province, with significant spatial variations. Notably, during the 15th Five-Year Plan, all regions, including eastern, central, and western areas, exhibited low-level coupling coordination. However, a decreasing ladder-like distribution emerged during the 13th and 14th Five-Year Plans, forming a development pattern centered on eastern coastal regions and spreading inland. The central regions experienced significant changes in development kernel density, while the national eastern and western regions remained relatively stable. Looking ahead, highly coupled regions are expected to maintain leadership, positively influencing neighboring areas and propelling overall urban–rural development towards sustainable goals. Conversely, low-level coupled regions require deeper reforms for leap-frog development. The core driving forces behind spatiotemporal differences in coupling coordination degrees involve innovation within the environment, government capabilities, openness to the outside world, and population agglomeration. Secondary roles are played by factors like non-agricultural industrialization, per capita GDP, government investment, and market conditions, while education, healthcare, transportation, and natural resource levels act as bridges in spatiotemporal differentiation. Overall, this study provides a concise spatiotemporal interpretation and strategic recommendations for urban–rural sustainable integration development, advancing towards a more harmonious, green, and just future in alignment with the core principles of sustainable development. Full article

A bio-based circular economy is fundamental to catalyzing the transition to a new economic model that thrives well within the planet’s ecological limits. The microalgae biorefinery, which consists of converting biomass into multiple products, operates in light of the principles of a circular economy. Therefore, as the pivot of a new economic paradigm that aims to promote ecological robustness, the main scope and motivation of this article are to use life cycle assessment to scrutinize the environmental sustainability of a microalgae-based biorefinery system. We assume β-carotene as the flagship of the microalgae industry and evaluate the sustainability metrics and indicators of two residual products: bulk oil and defatted biomass. The role of the use of renewable energy in the unit operations of the biorefinery was also evaluated. The results of this study show that waste products contribute an almost insignificant fraction of the ecological footprint and the cost and energy demand of the microalgae-based biorefinery. It is also confirmed from the results that the transition from coal-based energy to renewable is the most realistic path to production with significantly lower emissions. In sum, the consolidation of the microalgae biorefinery seems to be just around the corner, and our highlights can help make this a successful route. Full article

The challenge of this century is without a doubt to counter global warming. Land management, agriculture, and forests are responsible for 23% of total greenhouse gases (GHGs). In developing countries, such as those in African territories, where economic capacities are sometimes small and socio-cultural and linguistic perceptions are different, this requires a transition that is just and respectful of local culture and language, while at the same time helping to create labor conditions that respect gender and minors. This article describes a socio-technical ecological transition in the cocoa chain production in Côte d’Ivoire, which is not only the world’s leading producer of cocoa beans (45%) but also one of the African countries most prone to deforestation. Linguistic and multicultural aspects come together in Côte d’Ivoire, where more than 70 local languages are spoken. Intelligent digital approaches, agroecological issues, new methods, and sociocultural questions are embedded in a context of collaboration and co-creation, a living lab approach, to ensures sharing and co-creation among NGOs, farmers, companies, and researchers. A framework of socio-technical transition is presented, and this research aims to not only achieve the goals of a just ecological transition and reduce carbon footprint and deforestations but also to create diverse labour conditions, gender respect and inclusion. Full article

This paper addresses issues pertaining to the future of work and sustainability through the lens of a case study of ecological deterioration and how it destroys and creates green jobs in a forest village of Istanbul. As elsewhere in major urban centres of developing countries, the hyper-expansion of city regions due to authoritarian developmentalism fosters the state-led construction sector in Turkey. Growth-driven economic policies continue to have adverse effects on the environment, resulting in deforestation among an array of ecological damage. Based on a qualitative analysis of oral history interviews and observations informed by a larger interdisciplinary research project, we observe resilience in the forest village under scrutiny as certain types of work are abandoned, and new forms are created by adaptation to the ecological and social conditions. The perceptions of changing conditions by locals vary across existing ethnic, gender, and class hierarchies in the local community. Moreover, our findings indicate that the types of work available in the village prior to urban transformation were not all decent or green. In face of ongoing ecological deterioration in a (formerly) forest community, participatory micro-initiatives, and grassroots, utilizing local community projects emerge that nevertheless pursue a green and just transition. We focus on one such initiative, the Community Fungi platform, to demonstrate the possibility of working towards a collective imagination of a green future inspired by past but unforgotten sustainable communal practices, in the context of the forest village under scrutiny in this paper. Full article

The relationship between economic growth and environmental variation is an important issue of sustainable development for human beings, especially in developing countries. However, developing countries usually use the standards of developed countries when dealing with environmental issues, which makes the relationship exhibit different characteristics than it does in developed countries. In order to realize a balance relationship between water use and income per capita in developing countries, a multivariable environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) simulation model based on the grey absolute correlation method was modified to improve the description of the balance relationship between water use and per capita income in the Jiangsu Province of China from 2005 to 2017. The results showed that the industrial and agricultural water uses first increased and then decreased, which agreed with an inverted “U” characteristic. The industrial water use was in the declining stage of the inverted “U” characteristic, while the agricultural water use was in a transition phase of the inverted “U” characteristic. However, the domestic water use showed an increasing trend, and it is difficult to estimate whether it showed an inverted “U” characteristic. Simultaneously, different watershed partitions in Jiangsu Province presented different EKC characteristics. In the three different watershed zoning regions of Jiangsu Province, the total water use of the Tai Lake Basin and the Yangtze River Basin exhibited the typical inverted “U” characteristic, while the Huai River Basin was just in the increasing stage. Moreover, the improved multivariable EKC model was suitable to describe the inverted U-shaped variation characteristics of water use, and the developed model outperformed the univariate EKC model in the study area. Based on the characteristics of the EKC, policy ideas for enhancing the coordination among water resources, the economy, and the ecological environment were proposed in order to achieve sustainable development. Full article