International Business, Trade and Institutional Sustainability

Multinational hotel corporations participating actively in international business developments have become aware of the significance of disclosures on Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) and Sustainability issues. Such development is driven by the external stakeholders and endorsed by the internal ones. Financial regulators around the world have appeared to embrace the international trend of disclosures about CSR and Sustainability by publicly listed corporations. Through case studies of major multinational hotel corporations operating in Asia and the West, this study examines the emerging emphases of disclosures on CSR and Sustainability matters as a global trend—including public relation management (PRMs), enterprise risk management (ERMs), and integrated innovation management (IIMs). The results showed different aspects of CSR and sustainability practices among multinational hotel corporations worldwide. Western hotel corporations indicate an emphasis on IIMs with global measurement and standard such as GRI standard and ISO14001 certification. In the meantime, Asian hotel corporations have diverse CSR and sustainability initiatives in terms of PRMs (e.g., staff development, staff remuneration and welfare, and good stewards of the environment) and ERMs (e.g., operational risks management, use of solar energy, and new energy conservation) approaches, but low implementation on IIMs. Various aspects of CSR and sustainability initiatives can be reinforced to enhance multinational hotel corporations’ sustainability.

Sustainability management in organizations lacks a holistic operational framework; thus, learning from the best practices of selected sustainable firms may allow researchers to extend and transform the theoretical sustainability management models to practicable frameworks and standards. The objective of this study is to review the sustainability best practices from sustainability/annual reports of the systematically identified most sustainable organizations. The starting set of 100 most sustainable organizations was obtained from a sustainability ranking—Corporate Knights, Global 100. A review-selection-criteria was developed and applied to objectively screen the organizational reports between 2013 and 2017. As a result, 28 sustainability/annual reports, of six organizations, were selected for the review of best sustainability practices. The review highlights several best practices under eight sustainability themes, ranging from governance to operational level. Managers can use the findings of this study to roll-out similar initiatives in their firms, while researchers may use these practices to instill a practical approach in the theoretical sustainability management models.

A corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative by supermarkets have made significant contributions to the elimination of plastic bags consumption, hence establishing a new norm in the society. This means that the various initiatives conducted in promoting a sustainable shopping lifestyle have challenged the ‘status quo’ of providing free single-use plastic bags for consumers’ convenience. Moreover, pressure from global environmental challenges for plastic pollution and the multifaceted global trade environment affect the corporate sector’s operation. This paper analyses the multifaceted involvement of the CSR initiatives of supermarkets in a global movement on the anti-plastic bag ban by examining Malaysia’s No Plastic Bag Campaign (NPBC) as a case study. The studies have deployed the Carroll’s global CSR pyramid framework to defragment the complexities of the supermarkets’ CSR initiatives by using content analysis. Furthermore, the result reinforced by the descriptive analysis of the consumer’s survey and revealed several competitive advantages of the corporate sector’s involvement in anti-plastic bag initiatives. These advantages include elaborating on the concept of supermarket CSR in the context of the plastic bag ban, detangling the multifaceted discussion around supermarket CSR, provide platform to nudge sustainable shopping behaviour lifestyle practices and clarifying the crucial role of supermarket CSR in the governance of the plastic bag ban from the business sector’s perspective. Finally, by deploying the global CSR pyramid framework, the study outlined the CSR initiatives of supermarkets in terms of the anti-plastic bag campaign from four key responsibilities; economic, ethical, legislative and philanthropy. Hence, the involvement of the CSR supermarket initiative’s contribution to a global movement of anti-plastic bag ban is crucial.

Sustainability has been seen as the key to reversing the planet’s plight and ensuring better living conditions in the future. Since the discussion on sustainable development has gained momentum, actions at the global level have been implemented so that, through an integrated change process, the long-awaited sustainable development is achieved. There are many inherent challenges to sustainability, however, through strategies and proper execution, it is possible to achieve good performance in all dimensions (environmental, economic and social). Thus, the objective of this study is to identify, through a literature review using the Knowledge Development Process—Constructivist (Proknow-C) intervention instrument, the role of public entities and local authorities in the implementation and execution of sustainable practices, as well as the indicators used to assess their performance. Considering that the decision maker has a fundamental role in choosing the criteria for choosing one action instead of another, an evaluation model was built supported by the Multi-Criteria for Decision Support—Constructivist methodology—MCDA-C, through which it was possible to realize that the focus of attention of the municipal administration studied is the social dimension. The limitation of the research is the construction of the model based on only one municipality, so that the methodology can be replicated in other municipalities of similar size in order to confirm the existence of a standard of vision of public decision makers.

This article focuses on innovation and sustainability from the perspective of dynamic capabilities at BOSCH Curitiba/PR. The conceptual study model articulates the sociotechnical approach of transition towards sustainability, dynamic capabilities and sustainable innovations. The general objective of the study was to analyze the development of dynamic capabilities, considering the sociotechnical approach and, the transition to sustainability at BOSCH, in order to understand the relationship between innovative actors and alternative urban mobility systems, with a view to reducing energy consumption, as well as public transitional policies for sustainability, in the Brazilian automotive industry. The study design was an exploratory-descriptive, qualitative and cross-sectional approach, with a single case study as the method. Interviews were conducted with managers and coordinators, as well as non-participant observation and secondary source research. The company under study implemented innovation in a business model for mobility, articulating cooperation among universities, research institutes, and other subsidiaries of the group, encouraging research, corporate startups, and incubators for sustainable innovation projects. Evidence suggests that the company is developing dynamic capabilities in new business sources in order to achieve superior performance in the transition to sustainability.

The adoption of a sustainability approach within emerged technologies is increasing across the years. It is becoming impossible to disassociate sustainable development from the use of information technology tools. The use of digital technologies has gone from optional to necessary, and including sustainability in this spectrum, is thinking toward and for future generations. The dynamism of the corporate market demands solutions with agile development. Introducing sustainability principles into agile and effective software projects ensures a rapid proliferation of the triple bottom line culture. The aim of this analysis is to present a simple but efficient solution that balances the sustainability pillars (economic, social, and environmental) within the human resources management of an automotive organization, specifically regarding employees’ registration of time (time card). This article explores an online portal for clocking employees’ time that is already connected with the pertinent internal systems that avoids the use of thermal paper and reduces the company’s carbon footprint. Configured to engage employees in a “home office” strategy, this solution reduces CO2 displacement.

This study aimed to compare the environmental performance measurement in industrial processes by three different tools, LCIA, MFCA, and EPIP. Thus, a case study of a planned furniture industrial process was carried out. Visits were made in the industrial process for observation and data collection. The functional unit defined was 1 month of production, and the boundary considered was the industrial process area. Data collection addressed the identification of Environmental Aspects (EA) and Cost Centers (CC), as well as quantitative information such as masses, energy, operating times, machine power, employee numbers, and costs. Subsequently, the Spearman’s Correlation Coefficient was used to analyze the sensitivity of the three tools. Thus, the most critical EAs were Mixed powder, and VOCs of drying for both EPIP, and LCIA. For the MFCA, the most critical CCs were Cyclone and Rolling mill. Through the Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient, it was verified that EPIP showed influence of a larger number of input parameters. This was because the EPIP has a greater number of analysis variables, presenting greater comprehensiveness in the parameters of environmental performance. Then, the EPIP showed more robustness to evaluate environmental performance compared to other tools.

Nowadays the society observes changes in the surroundings and the environment more and more often, probably caused by traditional ways of production and service practised for several decades—several generations have been taking, using and wasting too much resources. Now companies, especially small and medium enterprises, have to change their operations—life cycle management to match requirements of the Circular Economy. The aim of this chapter is to introduce the concept and requirements of the Circular Economy as a logical continuation and evolution of Environmental Sustainability; to find learning outcomes from observation of historical evidence and identify gaps in the life cycle of existing products in a real food processing company, and to elaborate recommendation for company improvements to be applied as fundamentals of the Circular Economy. The research consists of three sections—theoretical overview of the main definitions and concepts, practical analysis—historical observations, processing of statistical data about waste management in Latvia; and practical findings from case analyses of a food processing company. The research methods used were qualitative research methods—interviews, statistical data analysis, and company’s documentation analysis for Life Cycle Assessment, and also a non-structured direct interview was carried out with the management of the company. Besides Triangulation problems, also other losses were identified after analysis of company “XXX” and turned into recommendations for the company management, such as, to attract European funds support programs, acquisition of triangular equipment and improvement of efficiency; to consider the idea of creating a glass container recycling plant as an additional niche for the company; to pay more and more attention to the sorting and management procedures for residue; to organize feedstock feed in such a way as to minimize the long-term storage of unprocessed products. The theory section includes an overview of the main concepts and definitions and differences between the Linear and the Circular Economy. Reflections of final/modern concepts and definitions of Sustainable business are also included—not only as a role, but also as a stage of development. The historical and today’s development in the EU and Latvia is also observed and described. Some statistics about today’s situation in waste and waste management has been presented and analysed. The practical research consists of socio-economic process and case analysis. One part of the practical research is devoted to the Soviet occupation period in the Baltic countries when many aspects of the Circular Economy evidence were observed, not because of luxury life, but because of poor and modest living conditions. The second section—case includes analyses of the life cycle of a food processing company in Latvia to identify ways to improve the company performance according to the requirements of the Circular Economy. This will give a strong base for the future development of guidelines for food processing companies in order to support their self-evaluation and transition towards requirements of the Circular Economy. Framework for the Circular Economy is tested as flexible and easy to use for explanation and for creation of common understanding among company management and workers. A handbook or guidelines for introduction and implementation of fundamentals of the Circular Economy could be developed for future research.

Sustainable waste management in the Republic of Belarus is an urgent problem. This is mostly due to the lack of understanding of the need to sort waste, the lack of pledge containers’ turnover, of sorting opportunities in rural areas. About 1500 types of waste with a wide range of morphological and chemical properties are produced in Belarus. Most waste is generated at Belaruskali JSC. That is why the improvement of waste management in Belarus, as in all developed countries of the world, is recognized as a priority and a specific problem to solve for environmental protection. The Republic of Belarus has been taking some steps in the field of waste management, within the framework of the goals and objectives of the Strategy of sustainable social and economic development and the Strategy of environmental protection. Notwithstanding a certain progress in the field of the industrial waste management, there is still much to be done in the field of municipal waste management. One of the promising solutions this respect is the public-private partnership, which means the involvement of private businesses on a contractual basis for a more efficient and high-quality performance of tasks related to the public sector of the economy in the terms of cost compensation, risk sharing, obligations, competencies. The present research was aimed at studying the public-private partnership in waste management. It involved the analysis of the national and international legislation in the field of waste management; as well as of the experience of such partnership. The article discusses the experience of partnership of state bodies of the Republic of Belarus with a leading global company. An example of such a partnership is the agreement concluded by Remondis JLLC with the administration of one of the regions of Belarus—the city of Soligorsk. The agreement will allow developing and implementing a new concept of creating a closed cycle of waste management.

From the viewpoint of environmental security it is important to review the life cycle of phosphorite raw material transformation, from extraction to its use in the chemical industry with the forming of both useful products and secondary raw materials/waste, primarily upon the production of phosphate fertilizers with the forming of large-tonnage waste—phosphogypsum. The annually worldwide production of phosphogypsum is possibly up to 100 million tons. This paper focuses on the environmental analysis of chemical wastes as resource of technogenic genesis. To achieve the aim, the following tasks are set: the environmental impact analysis of the extraction and treatment process of phosphorous raw materials; alternatives in the field of phosphogypsum recycling within the framework of the concept of environmentally safe waste treatment development; the expediency of phosphogypsum use in environmental protection technologies. Thereupon, analytical study considers not only the accumulation of production waste in the environment, but also the products derived from this production waste when using it as a secondary raw material. Also the study includes analyses of features factors and practical recommendations for the implementation of a business strategy for different products from phosphogypsum.

The circular production model indicates a restorative and regenerative system, in which the streams of materials and products take place in a cyclic way, recovering the value of waste by reducing disposal at most, creating sustainable production chains. Considering social pressures, major industrial enterprises perceived the need for readjusting their production chains according to circular chains, which are more sustainable and also consider the generated waste. In this research we aim to determine factors for sustainable waste management in major industrial enterprises based on the circular economy approach. We consider primary data on the availability of waste in a major industrial company. Approaches of circular economy, such as fault tree analysis and others, are applied to determine the conditions for the implementation of a circular process to industrial waste, especially those of lower value that have greater difficulties in being processed. The results show that the generating company alone cannot create a closed cycle for processing their waste. It is necessary to broaden the scope of participation in the production chain of industrial waste.

The National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS) was implemented in 2010; it aims to prevent and reduce waste generation, eliminate the so-called ‘landfills’ and implement municipal solid waste management plans. Waste selective collection and recycling can reduce the amount of waste destined to landfills, reduce transportation frequencies and minimize overall disposal costs. However, the conventional approach currently adopted in Brazil is inefficient considering economic, social and environmental aspects. There is an urgent need to improve municipal solid waste management (MSWM) by proposing alternatives, which cover product-service systems (PSS) and IoT based smart trash dustbins. This study provides an assessment through multicriteria analysis whether the implementation of scenarios using IoT smart trash cans is to be considered a sustainable operational strategy for the municipal public administration. The criteria used in the study was extracted from a systemic literature review; AHP and TOPSIS Fuzzy Methods were applied to achieve the best solution according to the selected criteria, which is the research main objective.

Studies and assessments of municipal solid waste management systems are of fundamental importance to public authorities. Public management strategies and systems should be based on the design of integrated approaches to ensure sustainability requirements to mitigate negative impacts on the environment, economy and society. Innovative organizational and technological systems of waste management have been studied as alternative solutions to the inefficiency of conventional systems. They can be designed to guarantee quality and efficiency and understanding these new technologies is necessary. Appropriate systems for measuring sustainability performance and supporting decisions should be based on criteria and aspects relevant to the implementation of these new innovative and sustainable waste management concepts. This study aims to (1) propose a model of analysis and diagnosis for sustainable and innovative operations in the management of solid urban waste; (2) support the development of criteria and inclusion of aspects relevant to the construction of scenarios and projection of future waste management systems. The model draws from a systemic review of literature and interviews with experts in conventional waste management. The results highlight a great concern with financial factors and population awareness to obtain good results in the management systems and technologies.

Waste management in large companies is becoming increasingly important. Waste resulting directly or indirectly from production process has very different values, importance, and characteristics, all of which need to be properly processed. The lack of sufficient processors to deal with a wide range of wastes has been shown to limit the sustainability levels of this reverse logistics chain. Thus, this research aims at evaluating the conditions for the development of a waste customers chain of large industrial companies. This research builds on theories and studies such as the Theory of Planned Behavior and the approach to Supplier Development, hitherto used upstream to be now applied downstream. The research is based on the primary data of a large industrial company, the survey of environmental legislation for some types of industrial waste, interviews with environmental agencies and other important stakeholders in the structuring of this logistics chain. The results show there are still no consolidated logistic chains for the industrial waste market. The following are the factors and recommendations for the industrial waste logistics to become more comprehensive and sustainable.

Currently, construction and demolition wastes (CDW) represent more than 50% of the urban solid waste share in Brazil. It is a primary environmental concern for the construction industry and also affects city waste management plans. The CDW final disposal often occurs on improper areas, which combined with the urban expansion, postpone the sustainable city development. This study analyzed the class A waste generation leading causes, with multiple statistical regression, assessing the most significant factors that influenced the CDW generation. The class A CDW can be recycled and reused in construction sites, according to national regulations. Thirty construction sites in Curitiba composed the database. Eleven variables with high significance were diagnosed, and the main challenges were discussed. The results revealed expected and unexpected correlations, such as the more experienced and trained was the labor force, the less CDW were produced, and the higher the quality standard of the building, the more CDW were generated. The lack of a public, easy to access database and data treatment were also challenges that had to be overcome. Knowledge about the construction waste generation leading causes is essential to ensure the correct destination, a more sustainable construction industry, good life quality and a sustainable city.

Domestic effluents collected from urban areas are transported along extensive sewer networks that are assumed to operate as watertight systems. Such operability is ensured by maintenance routines, both preventive and corrective, that are capable of detecting weak points where loss of effluents might occur and affect bodies of water. Since urban rivers are the destination of such organic loads, they may be used as indicators of potential weak points along the sewage network. The implementation of initiatives whose goal is to avoid such input of pollutant loads is in line with at least three of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals from the 2030 Agenda. The assumption that rivers may be used as indicators forms the basis of the Urban River Revitalization Program (PRRU) carried out since 2011 by the Water Resources Management division of the Sanitation Company of Paraná—Sanepar. Since its inception, over 3410 weak points have already been located and repaired within the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba, which covers about 98 river basins including the Belém River, one of the most important, located completely inside the urban area. In its northern basin 309 weak spots have been corrected, resulting in improved appearance and odor, as well as higher levels of dissolved oxygen.

Internet of Things (IoT) technology has a substantial role to play in promoting sustainable agriculture and food production. SMEs are playing a leading role in this space. Tools that allow continuous monitoring and decision making for example regarding the use of fertilisers or water consumption are being applied in various parts of the world by SMEs as in Vietnam and Australia, to undertake sustainable agriculture and food production. The aim in this article is to provide an overview of the latest technology which has been developed and applied in this space. Through the consideration of examples of applications, the resulting implications and impacts for example relating to water and energy use are provided. The potential for reducing environmental impacts while creating sustainable agriculture and food production from the perspective of technological applications by SMEs is discussed with broader environmental impact considerations.

Agribusiness is one of Brazilian economy’s main pillars. In this scenario, soybean was the most exported agricultural commodity in 2017. International markets have postulated requirements demanding that this commodity way of production be adapted to environmentally friendly best practices. Brazilian producers have positively responded to these demands by implementing best practices in soil and water resources’ usage, producing more by exploiting less. This work explores how Geographic Information System, free and open source software, can be used to graphically present agricultural and human development synergy. Data regarding soybean production, Human Development Index (HDI), from 2000 and 2010 were compared. QuantumGis software was used to graphically express changes in soybean production and HDI at Goiás mesoregions. This work’s main findings show that municipalities that increased soybean production also increased its HDI; the use of GIS software is an effective and low-cost tool to present agribusiness information to stakeholders.

Studies on climate change’s impact on agricultural production including soybean and corn crops in Brazil require subnational analysis due to the large expanse of the country and its diverse climate, geographies, biomes and availability of natural resources. Accordingly, this study aims to understand the effects of climatic variations on Brazilian agriculture and to understand how the expansion of land dedicated to crop production is influenced by production for export. Accordingly, four hypotheses were created and tested. The descriptive analysis of the data showed that soybean production for exportation is heavily concentrated in the last four months of the year, which indicates the seasonality of its production. The cluster analysis of all the variables (climate and soybean and corn production) shows that there is no relationship between climate variables and grain production variables, since both sets of elements are in separate groups. The non-relationship of climate variables and grain production are also confirmed when the data are analyzed by the principal components model, either by the Kaiser criterion or by the scree plot criterion. In this case, it is possible that crop yields are influenced by irrigation technologies, which reduces the dependence on rainfall patterns, but this data was not considered in this study.

Worldwide, there is a need to increase food production and storage to meet human consumption requirements. This need is rendered more important because developing countries struggle to produce sufficient food to feed their population. In Nigeria, the local food and agricultural market suffers from inadequate local production. Consequently, the state faces food shortage. In addition to insufficient food and agricultural production, majority of the food available do not meet the minimum requirements relevant to qualifying such food as being fit for human consumption. Nonetheless, the prevailing poverty makes consumers nonchalant about the need for producers/merchants to abide by best practices in food production/sale, especially when such food is available at extra charges. This paper focuses on the role of public policies on measures taken by the public sector to improve sustainable food and agricultural markets, and the societal responses to the policies in Nigeria.

This paper aims to describe the different types of market barriers in relation to the trade in agricultural goods and the possibilities of its overcoming through environmentally friendly technologies. The main reasons and features of both positive and negative effects of a market economy in connection with environmentally sustainable approaches for agricultural production will be considered. Some perspectives for sustainable agriculture production are observed in the context of global challenges faced by humanity. This article will be focused on the relationships between small and middle agro-firms, on the one hand, and also holdings, on the other hand, in connection with global and regional obstacles including climate change and market barriers. More important questions for now are multifunctional contradictions in a production technology, legal conditions, market pressure, pricing policy and other risk factors. Nevertheless, many small agrarian firms are often more variable, more mobile in relocation, etc., and have supply options for more environmentally friendly products. But, in different countries and regions, there are negative consequences for agrarian business such as bankrupting and the reduction of small and middle companies. Finally, we would like to consider cooperation as a more perspective option for survival not only for small farmers.

Sustainability development requires the use of strategies that involve all actors of the socioeconomic system and society in the pursuit of a common goal: to sustain current demands without compromising resources for future generations. These strategies generally address economic, social, and environmental performance, framed and named as the Triple Bottom Line. One of the fundamentals for developing adequate organizational strategies is the development of models to assess sustainability that contemplate the Triple Bottom Line of companies, organizations, processes and economic activities, such as agricultural activities. In this way, the objective of this work is to identify the economic, social and environmental indicators that could be used in sustainability assessment models of small rural properties. For that purpose, it is used the ProKnow-C methodology for literature review and bibliometrics analysis, and after that, it is submitted the developed conceptual model to experts’ review. This work develops a conceptual model, and the obtained results involved the identification of the main adopted sustainability indicators and their respective data sources, contributing to the development of new models for assessing the sustainability performance of small rural properties.

This study aims to analyze the degree of sustainability in irrigated rice cultivation in the South of Santa Catarina state. Qualitative research with deductive method was carried out with 10 farmers from the study region. The SAFA (Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture) method developed by FAO was searched for the measurement. The results show a convergence between the research participants, who classified their properties as having a high degree of sustainability in the areas of social welfare and economic resilience and performing poorly in relation to environmental integrity and governance. When validating the aspects found with specialists in the productive chain, they also had similar orientations to farmers, except for the government agency, which justified the development of sustainability policies for the rice production chain. These policies are translated into the sector as actions that promote economic gains, thus achieving an optimized result when applying their policies in the field. The authors conclude that the degree of sustainability of the irrigated rice in the South of Santa Catarina state has relevant aspects when it directly affects the producer in relation to the legislation or the economic result; on the other hand, it is considered low in relation to the indicators that they value for transparency in the market.

The development of farming technologies that allow the production of agricultural products free of chemical compounds that are harmful to the agricultural environment as well as the consumers is a challenge that several research groups have addressed. In several case studies the effect of various treatments of organic fertilization on quality variables of the agricultural product to be produced has been analyzed. The above is of vital importance for the development of agriculture that allows the sustainable development of the communities. The objective of this work was to study the antioxidant and nutraceutical properties of samples at 5 degrees of maturation of the variety Fragaria x ananassa Camino Real organically grown and compared with a commercial strawberry sample as a control; The parameters to be considered were: Superoxide dismutase activity, amount of anthocyanidins and total reducing sugars. The results indicate that the strawberry organically grown presents competitive nutritional properties and in some parameters superior to the commercially grown strawberry. In this work we can elucidate the benefits of developing sustainable agriculture techniques which allow the production of food free of toxic chemical agents for human health, as well as contribute to the preservation of the environment of the various communities.

Corporate Social Responsibility is being highlighted and demanded by consumers, government and non-governmental entities, and many other organizations. Companies’ environmental concern has become a matter of survival in the market. With the 4th Industrial Revolution many changes are happening in companies, new technologies are being used, innovation is present all the time, actually it is being required to innovate in a sustainable way, so innovation and sustainability are two fundamental issues for companies to remain competitive. Some organizations have already understood that becoming sustainable can bring many benefits and have identified the importance of balancing economic, social and environmental requirements. Brazil has a great worldwide participation in the production and export of poultry meat, which makes it a direct competitor of international companies, so it is necessary to worry about sustainable issues, so that it does not become a barrier to grow on new customers and to maintain the existing ones. In this paper, a systematic review of the literature was performed on economic, social and sustainable pillar indicators in agroindustry companies and in industry 4.0. The objective of the present work is to identify the indicators for assessing sustainable operations in a poultry slaughterhouse and to propose a model for assessing sustainable operations from the perspective of digital transformation. Three indicators were suggested for each pillar of the Triple Bottom Line (economic, social and environmental) as a model for assessing sustainable poultry slaughterhouse operations under the perspective of digital transformation.

Composting generates a suitable product to be used as a substrate for seed germination, contributing to resilient agricultural practices and progressively improving soil quality. Considering the growth of this compound use in home gardens and knowing that it may contain phytotoxic substances, which prevent seed development, the goal of this work was to evaluate the scientific production on the effectiveness of the use of the germination test in organic compound analyzes. The bibliographical research was developed through Capes’ Periodicals Portal, using the following descriptors: solid waste composting, toxicity, germination, fertilizers and coffee grounds, in both English and Portuguese languages, over a 20-year time horizon. Nine researches focused on the germination procedure, of which five of them were dissertations. The work evidences the effectiveness of the germination test in phytotoxic analyzes and contributes to more sustainable cultivation methods and improving the quality of ecosystems, what can achieve safety regarding the use of these compounds as fertilizers, on a domestic scale. In addition, composting contributes to consumption and production in a more responsible way, reducing food losses in production chains and waste, both encompassed by the sustainable development goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.

It is noteworthy that agriculture is a key element for achieving several SDG, such as fight against poverty, zero hunger, biodiversity protection and sustainable agriculture, production and consumption. Agriculture is also able to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Agroforestry stands out in face of other agricultural practices. It can contribute to both climate change mitigation and adaptation through enhanced carbon sequestration, vulnerability reduction, production diversification and smallholder’s capacity building to adapt to climate change. This paper makes an analysis of the main international instruments that promote the adoption of agroforestry practices to tackle climate change. Nevertheless, its adoption may be constrained by some adverse national policies. Thus, this paper also aims to present some legal and policy elements underpinning successful agroforestry regimes.

In Brazil, a series of activities and public policies aimed at regulating the production of organic food have been observed in the last decades, as well as an increase in the farmers’ interest to adopt this form of production. In 2003 the brasilian Law no. 10.831 de 23 de dezembro de 2003 defined organic agriculture. Therefore, this article has as general objective to verify the behavior of academic production regarding the topic of organic food and four related terms, which are food security, food education, sustainability and agroecology before and after the year 2003. For this purpose, the volume of scientific production was searched in the portal of scientific articles Web of Science and Biblioteca Digital Brasileira de Teses e Dissertações—BDTD, in the fifteen years before and after the enactment of the afore mentioned law. It was verified that the previous production was not very expressive for all the terms. In the years after 2003, there was a significant increase in the number of publications in all that terms and in their combinations. Based on the data it was observed that there was a simultaneous growth of publications and production and demand for organic products, after the year 2003, in Brazil.

Deep seabed mining is a high-risk activity due to its economic, environmental, social, and technical challenges. As the only international organization that has the authority to enact and enforce regulations for activities in the international seabed (Area), the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has established a number of exploration contracts with member States and their sponsored firms. These sponsoring States, including both developing and developed countries, should adhere to the same standards for ensuring responsible mining. There are trends in the linkage between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability for addressing social and environmental concerns on the global arena. Although entities that intend to conduct seabed mining can be regarded as triggers of environmental and biological changes, they are generally equipped with capacities to solve relevant problems, such as filling gaps in laws, regulations, and practices. The CSR framework can be a model for governing common resources to promote sustainability. However, the implementation of CSR varies among contractors in the Area, and how CSR can contribute to all humanity is still unknown. This chapter investigates practices of existing contractors and explores the role of corporations in sustainable development of the Area. It investigates the contract-based system, including the present status of contracts, the rights and responsibilities of contractors and sponsoring States, and a parallel system for benefit-sharing. It also provides some feasible approaches to integrating CSR and sustainability pertaining to the Area.

Tropical rainforests are often called the “lungs of the planet” because they produce oxygen, which helps regulate carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Open-pit coal mining in tropical forests exposes carbon and heavy metals and thus is a main cause of severe local, regional, and global environmental damage. The paradigm shift from mining to natural resources empowerment provides a new opportunity to change from red and green economic concepts to blue, which is smarter, wider, global, deeper, focused, sustainable, and futuristic. Tropical natural resources have the highest productivity in the world but still have a relatively low economic value. The net primary production in tropical ecosystems is more supported by the rapid bio-cycling than the almost infertile, weathered, acidic soil, which is caused by the high rainfall, moisture, temperature, and light intensity over a period of one year. Genetic engineering using fast-growing species (exotic and indigenous) and site engineering through land preparation and soil amendment facilitate the rehabilitation of post-coal mining areas and add value to the environment, economy, sociocultural setting, and health. An integrated bio-cycle system (IBS) is an almost natural ecosystem based on landscape ecological management for managing land resources (i.e., soil, water, mineral, air, and microclimate) and biological resources (i.e., fauna, flora, and human) under one integrated area; it is an important strategy for sustainable productivity in tropical ecosystems.

Small scale aggregates mining includes artisanal as well as small scale industrial mining, summarised as artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). Aggregates mining forms the backbone of the urbanisation process in developing countries as it is the source of construction materials for the infrastructural development process. Responsible mining is a mining process that uses cleaner production strategies, and that respects the social responsibility towards the employees, generally aiming on a long term stable economic growth. As such, the best practice for responsible small-scale aggregate mining addresses sustainability, particularly the following Sustainable Development Goals: end poverty, good health and well-being, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, sustainable cities and communities as well as responsible consumption and Production. This contribution illustrates best practice using examples from Vietnam (South East Asia), Uganda (East Africa), and Ecuador (Latin America).

This research assessed sustainability in the mining industry in the municipality of Canaã dos Carajás, Brazilian Amazon, home to the world’s largest iron ore mine. It analysed the mining Social License to Operate (SLO) and constructed Economic and Social Sustainability indicators. The SLO level was identified: Acceptance (3.62; Likert scale), the second level in a four-levelled scale. Procedural fairness, company-community interactions and improvement in infrastructure favoured the SLO, whereas the increasing cost of living and environmental impacts harmed it. Variables related to UN’s SDG were selected from secondary sources. A Principal Component Analysis identified the most significant variables to calculate their weights, constructing the indicators. Positive influence of mining in the long term has been proved in both economic and social dimensions, from 2004/2008 to 2017. Benefits were observed through growth in jobs, taxes and production; improvements in education; social investments from the mining companies; increasing female participation in mining jobs; and safeguard of staff’s rights to unionization and collective negotiation. This research developed economic and social indicators to assess sustainability, and was the first to quantitatively assess the SLO in Brazil. These findings can guide actions to improve sustainability in the mining industry in accordance with the UN’s SDG.

Strategic planning of energy matrices have become more complex with the increase in electricity demand and the need for reducing the impacts generated by human activities. Thus, the techniques of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) have been used to support sustainable decisions. By means of a systematic search in the literature a research gap on this subject has been identified. Therefore, the objective of the present paper is to identify how LCA and MCDA are being used in the choice of technologies to be used in the expansion of electricity generation capacity. To that end, it was conducted a literature review to assess the state-of-the-art literature. The Methodi Ordinatio was used to rank the main studies in the addressed theme. The articles were analyzed according to 5 criteria: Multi-Criteria model, Technical and Sustainability Indicators, Location, Application and Life Cycle Impact Assessment methods. Results show the most used MCDA methods, the LCA assumptions, the most addressed approaches, as well as the locations where the studies were conducted and the technologies that showed better performance. The methods and topics researched suggest that the concern with sustainability of each technology and life cycle thinking has been being incorporated to the analyses and planning of energy systems. Moreover, this study may be helpful to decision-makers on promoting environmentally more sustainable actions. Nevertheless, this piece of research contributes to the Sustainable Developments Goal number 7, proposed by the United Nations, providing insights and investigating paths for an “affordable and clean energy”.

Mining has been throughout history one of the basic activities for economic and technological development for humanity; In this sense, an important challenge for the mineral extraction industry is to achieve production processes more friendly to the environment; that is why the ventilation in contemporary mine tries to solve the problem of the emission gases as well as to minimize the consumption of energy resources for this operation, contributing solutions in this topic for a sustainable development of the mining communities. In this project, a simulation comparative study was carried out using three models for a system without extraction versus extraction in an underground mine development work, this in order to reduce CO and CO2 concentrations which are emission gases harmful to the environment; as well as obtaining a model that allows to vary parameters related to the best use of energy resources. The simulation work was carried out using the CFD software of ANSYS. The results show that in all cases the emission gases concentrations were reduced to values below the limits established by the standards (NOM-010-STPS-1999).

The purpose of this study is to identify several renewable and clean energy sources and investigate their accessibility. The structuring of the energetic sources was outlined to display the advantages and disadvantages of their use. To do so, the literature review method and the snowball method were used as the research methodology. Previous results had determined the elements of a sample of the main existing forms of energy. Therefore, this research analysed the following sources: solar energy, wind energy, hydroelectric power, thermoelectric energy with renewable fuels, tidal energy, biogas energy, geothermal energy and hydrogen energy. The results discuss the benefits of using sustainable energies, such as being helpful to the environment, as well as the implementation obstacles that, in this case, are stripped down to the high financial cost of initial investment. Because no previous research provided a structure to compare different energy forms, this study is expected to act as an initial guide for researchers and professionals in the field. As a limitation and recommendation for future research efforts, it is suggested to discover and verify mechanisms capable of reducing the high initial investment costs associated with sustainable energies.

An “energy system” is encompasses the “combined processes of acquiring and using energy in a given society or economy, from primary energy to its final use. For its important role in economic development, energy systems models started to appear in the 70s following the oil crisis. However, in the 90s and 00s, environmental issues as climate change and local pollution have taken the center of the stage in energy modeling due to the high share of negative impacts related to energy production. Today, these models move towards sustainability in general, but are not there quite yet. Having that in mind, this chapter analyzes how energy models are moving towards the sustainable development goals, through a review of 442 publications encompassing 34 modeling tools. Results show that 65% of the studies are concentrated in 2 sustainability goals, with much room for geographical redistribution of models, focusing on less developed countries and tackling other important sustainable development goals related directly or indirectly to energy.

Great contributions are expected by the public from science and technology (S&T), especially now, given the highly complex environmental and social challenges such as climate change, cleaner and affordable energy provision and economic crises, among others. These problems require a multidimensional approach involving all stakeholders working together: government, non-governmental organizations, funding agents, companies, academy and society. Based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched in 2015, actions have been carried out to develop capacities for the 2030 Energy Agenda in Brazil. Hence, this work aims to present a case study of the actions being developed in the analysis and integration of clean energy initiatives employing natural gas, biogas, hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage of CO2 (CCS). Particularly, this work focus on the experiences of the Research Centre for Gas Innovation (RCGI), created in 2016 by the University of São Paulo, Shell and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). This integration of strategic partnerships that incorporates academy, a private company and a research funding agency is evolving through 46 research projects that aim to contribute with sustainable solutions for the Energy agenda. The Centre is also contributing with the construction of the Social License to Operate for implementing clean energies initiatives and the development of a database and indicators that enable an evaluation of the Centre’s performance, to be made available to all the stakeholders in the framework of the SDGs.

Among the approaches derived from the interface between sustainability and economic theory, the pursuit of appraising the economic value of natural resources, based on the evaluation of services to the ecosystem as a mechanism for environmental assessment and as a support tool for investments in preservation both by government and businesses is emphasized. The objective of this study is to analyze the geographic reach and distribution of Itaipu power plant’s investments in environmental programs, among which their following actions: (i) sediment monitoring; (ii) micro-pollutants; (iii) water quality; (iv) vegetation management of the reservoir protection range; and (v) management of river basins, considering the area of influence and the water contributions of the municipalities upstream of its reservoir. A quantitative research approach was used to collect information on investments and water contributions from the analysis of water supply. It was observed that 94.6% of the investments were concentrated in regions whose water contribution to the generation of energy was less than 4%. From a results perspective, opportunities were identified for expanding investments in environmental preservation to other areas with greater relevance to maintenance of power generation

This paper applied a GIS platform (ArcGis software) as a tool to measure the conflicting use between priority areas for conservation and potential mineral and oil and gas exploitation sites. The study has as goal to analyze and quantify the distribution of each process stage, to determine the current and future multiple uses of the study area in order to understand the impact that such activities may have on the preservation areas. It’s a tool that contributes to reach the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically number 14, about Conservation and sustainably use of the oceans, seas and marine resources. The study area encompasses the territorial sea of Espírito Santo State. The software was used to produce maps and to analyze the overlap between the different uses. Large numbers of authorization and research requirements were found in Priority Areas for Conservation (PAC) in order to extract substances such as salts of potassium and limestone in larger quantities in the PAC. The study provides a basis for conflict identification for the sustainable management of the exploitation of marine mineral resources, which should include the management of extraction activities aiming at the sustainability of the ecosystem, valuing the existence of areas with greater sensitivity.

The aim of our study is to contribute to the achievement of the seventh goal of the Sustainable Development Goals, access to universal, affordable, and clean energy, based on a bottom-up and quantitative-qualitative methodological approach, little used in energy studies. We performed a case study in the Quilombo Ivaporunduva population, in Eldorado—SP, located in the largest continuous area of the remnant of Atlantic Forest in Brazil, a biome with high biodiversity index. Our objective is to understand how the electrification process took place in this traditional population and which are the consequences for the life in the community through productive activities and its culture. Still under development, the preliminary results were produced in the field work, elaborated based on the technique of direct observation and application of a mixed questionnaire. The collected preliminary data indicate that the models of the electrification programs applied to the community over the years did not consider their specificity as a culturally differentiated community, resulting in financial difficulties, misuse of electricity, and unsatisfactory service delivery by the distributor. Thus, we emphasize the importance of rethinking the current electrification program for the constitution of a more effective public policy.

The chapter aims to investigate vertical collaboration focused on making transport of chemical products more sustainable and safer by shifting from road to multimodal. This collaboration on transport planning, energy and emission management is supported by technological tools (Intermodal Links Planner and CO2 calculator) developed within ChemMultimodal Project. The research problem is analyzed based on literature review and empirical research on collaborative outsourcing in chemical industry. The main findings show that close collaboration between chemical companies and LSPs has a strategic importance for the sustainable transport development. On the one hand, the role of LSPs, as architects of transport processes as well as integrators of transport modes and connections, is crucial for rising eco-efficiency. On the other hand, chemical companies view their LSPs as critical partners in business development and supply chain management and are willing to share their plans to achieve competitive advantage. Both parties are expected to invest in the collaborative relationships that is strongly supported by technological tools for sustainable transport management. The preliminary results show that based on close collaboration companies are able to reduce CO2 emission in transport activities almost by 60%.

The purpose of this study was to investigate public attitude toward investment in sustainable infrastructure in Taiwan. We decomposed the value of sustainability development into three dimensions, namely, environmental, societal, and economic values, and then showed that there were relationships between public attitude toward investment in sustainable cities and these sub-values of sustainability development. To do so, we built scales to measure public attitude toward investment in sustainable infrastructure and these sub-values of sustainability development. We used a questionnaire to collect our data, interviewing 359 undergraduate students in June of 2018. Multiple regression models were then employed for statistical analysis. We first found that, after controlling for the students’ gender and majors, the public attitude toward sustainable cities in Taiwan was correlated with environmental value but only partially related to economic value. Meanwhile, the relationship between the public attitude toward investment in sustainable cities and societal value was trivial. Moreover, we also found that the economic, societal, and environmental values of sustainability development are not mutually exclusive concepts but, rather, are compatible with each other in the overall concept of sustainable city design. We concluded that investment in sustainable cities in Taiwan was regarded by the public as mainly contributing to environmental value. These findings provide a theoretical contribution to the literature of environmental psychology. Furthermore, the conclusions of the study have methodological and practical implications for countries and firms involved in the public infrastructure development of sustainable cities.

The built environment operates in a linear way where large amounts of non-renewable resources are used to feed the growing and rapid city building activities taking place globally, particularly in the Asia Pacific and Latin American regions. Recent estimates from the World Bank (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017, p. 4) indicate that over half of the world’s population will live in urban areas, whilst providing over 80% of global GDP generation. Building and construction uses 36% of energy consumption, produces 40% waste and estimated approximately 40% carbon dioxide emissions (GABC 2017). ‘Achieving Growth’ (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017, p. 12) has identified 115 billion euros investment opportunities in the built environment for designing and constructing buildings based on circular principles, closing the loop on building construction and demolition materials, and building circular cities. Not just creating jobs, application of circular principles supports resilience, reduces resource use and lowers overall emissions. This paper focuses on India as an emerging economy. It discusses the potential of placing the country on a path of circularity with reference to the built environment. Two case studies are used to demonstrate examples of as-yet untapped upscaling potential of integrating principles of circularity. It offers opportunities to increase knowledge in the sector, develop mainstreaming platforms from fragmented examples, and most importantly decoupling economic growth with resource consumption. By sharing these learnings, the key value drivers of increasing life cycles of the asset from multiple functional perspectives, increasing utilization and expanding regenerative potentials in an increasingly digitized world are highlighted.

The article discusses the problems of modern urban environment formation. Modern architectural environment is presented not only as a space organized by the law “benefit-strength-beauty”, but also as an environment that meets the needs and requirements of the modern user. All currently available terms “sustainable architecture” or “smart city” refer primarily to the economy and construction technology, but do not reflect the aesthetic, symbolic, artistic and psychological aspects of architectural activity. Along with the developed infrastructure and effective information technologies, the modern “smart city” is an architectural environment that largely determines human behavior; it is an environment filled with images, symbols and meanings that form the “image of the city” and should be understood by any user; it is an environment which is designed to promote harmonious existence and sustainable development of the individual. In this regard, the need for in-depth study of the environmental characteristics of the space is particularly important for a professional architect who will design a comfortable urban environment. The article presents the results of empirical studies of the “image of the city” formation among the future architects at the most important stage—the initial stage of professional development, as well as comparative and factor analysis of the features of the existing architectural environment perception on the basis of the semantic differential method. The researchers revealed similarities in the emotional assessments of certain city types among students-architects and students of other specialties; the differences in the perception of the proposed “image of the city” characteristics among students of different professional training. In conclusion, there are examples of solving various environmental problems in different countries.

Logistics is one of the sectors that requires large investments of resources and planning in an organization. At the same time, it also demands maximum operational efficiency. Because of its impacts on a company’s processes, it is possible to realize quickly the benefits that sustainable initiatives enable. This paper aims to optimize the newspaper delivery process of a printing company located in the city of Curitiba, in the State of Paraná, Brazil. For this purpose, the mathematical model of the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is applied, and then, based on the optimized deliveries proposal, the intention is to evaluate the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions with the help of the GHG Protocol calculation tool. This tool is widely used by companies and governments in GHG inventories because it is in line with the parameters of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). With the application of the proposed methodology, companies can find a new solution for the distribution process, demonstrating its economic, social and environmental responsibility. With regard to the economic aspect, operational costs will be reduced. From a social viewpoint, there is a greater customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the number of respiratory diseases will be reduced due to fewer emissions of atmospheric pollutants. In terms of the environment, there is a reduction in GHG. All these factors correspond to competitive advantages over other competitors. The tools presented here can be replicated in logistics distribution processes of a wide variety of segments, and is intended to increase sustainability in this segment.

A company that is developing a product must respect all phases: concept, research, analysis, development and launch. At the same time, the green supply chain management must be integrated with suppliers, production and distribution, along with the product development process. This study’s aim is to present a model of product development process oriented to green supply chain management, resulting in a product that meets the environmentally sustainable standards. In order to search about the existing models in the literature and the research opportunities in the area, the following keywords were used: sustainability, product development process and green supply chain management; the search was conducted in CAPES Periodicals Portal (MEC). The year of publication was not limited, aiming to understand the evolution of all materials already published. The first section presents concepts about market demands, laws, regulations and green products. The second section discusses about green supply chain management and product development process, and the model presentation. As a result, it was discussed that the green supply chain management and the product development process have still been treated with a broad approach, which made it possible to create a model that could guide the companies to develop a product aimed to the green supply chain management.

The paper concerns the sharing economy and its phenomenon in the world in recent years. The success of the sharing economy, especially in developed countries, which is a form of social reaction to crises, debt traps, high profits of large corporations, destruction of the environment or waste of raw materials and products, was the basis for the authors’ research topic. Especially that the development of the current sharing economy indicates that a new period of market education and economic rationality in consumer behavior has begun. The dynamics of these types of services are considerable, hence the governments of individual countries will have to take a position on the regulation and taxation of transactions in the new market segment, which is the sharing economy. The main aim of the chapter is to answer the question about the future of the sharing economy and an attempt to indicate the value created by this phenomenon. The authors made a detailed analysis of the sharing economy on theoretical, quantitative, and practical grounds. In addition, thanks to the authors own research using a very large sample of research surveys with experts, it was pointed out that the sharing economy, on the one hand, will be subject to progressive commercialization processes, but on the other hand, many new services or products will be subject to the processes of sharing.

Biodiversity is critical for international trade, businesses and investment. However, the issue of their ownership and exploitation has been a matter of debate. Specifically, the access to biodiversity resources and the distribution of the associated benefits are at the core of the environmental economics debate. Since 1992, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) established regulations for the access and benefits-sharing of genetic resources, which materialized in the 2010 Nagoya Protocol. In 2015, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal 15 renewed countries’ commitment to the promotion of appropriate access to genetic resources, and equitable and fair sharing of the associated benefits, calling for countries to adopt the policy and strategic frameworks to implement the ABS regime. Using examples from developing countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, this chapter explains how the ABS regime is being implemented in relation to international business and trade, and analyzes how it brings opportunities, best practices and challenges in order for these countries to improve the balance in the relationship between biodiversity conservation and economic activities. These new circumstances support the identification of actions that governments and international business actors can follow to effectively use the ABS regime as a policy instruments that contribute to sustainability through the implementation of economic and environmental regulations.

The emergence and development of innovative technologies have a multivalued impact on the region social-economic sphere and environment. Obviously, it will move region economies entirely to next decade. To reveal the streams and features of “fresh” processes, it is extremely relevant to launch sustainable development at the first steps. And there are some prerequisites and stumbling blocks to deal with, they are important to be identified and researched. In this paper, you can find important methodology gap and its description: official statistic authorities follow traditional classification and new economy industries are complicated to be revealed, studied and supported. As a solution initiative research project was run. This chapter presents its key methods, stages and results briefly. New economy of Kaliningrad region (53 companies) is described as a scheme. Additionally you can find key participants from each new industry and their brief description. The most valuable part of the project is recommendations for authorities how make new economy transparent for researches and effective government support. That is one stage of research series which is devoted to global innovation economy and sustainability.

Globally, investments in physical and human capital have been identified to foster real economic growth and development in any economy. Investments, which could be domestic or foreign, have been established in the literature as either complements or substitutes in varying scenarios. While domestic investments bring about endogenous growth processes, foreign investment, though may be exogenous to growth, has been identified to bring about productivity and ecological spillovers. In view of these competing–conflicting perspectives, this chapter, examines the differential impacts of domestic and foreign investments on green growth in Nigeria during the period 1970–2017. The empirical evidence is based on Auto-regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Granger causality estimates. Also, the study articulates the prospects for growth sustainability via domestic or foreign investments in Nigeria. The results show that domestic investment increases CO2 emissions in the short run while foreign investment decreases CO2 emissions in the long run. When the dataset is decomposed into three sub-samples in the light of cycles of investments within the trend analysis, findings of the third sub-sample (i.e. 2001–2017) reveal that both types of investments decrease CO2 emissions in the long run while only domestic investment has a negative effect on CO2 emissions in the short run. This study therefore concludes that as short-run distortions even out in the long-run, FDI and domestic investments has prospects for sustainable development in Nigeria through green growth.

Overtime, income level and level of industrialization are utilized in classifying economies as far as development is concerned. However, in these times where sustainable development is concerned, the level of industrialization may no longer suffice in categorizing countries. Indeed the level of greenness and the extent to which countries exacerbate or preserve the environment vis-à-vis economic activities should be the new order of economic classification. Nigeria, in its post-independence era, pursued the structuralist ideals of an import substitution industrialization policy. But, by 1986, during the economic reforms, the neoliberal policies of an open economy where imports and exports flowed freely were embraced. In view of these divergent policies, this chapter focused on the extent to which these policies have been consistent with the promoting or digressing from the ideals of eco-sustainability. Using causal analysis and interactive regressions within the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, an assessment of the payoffs or otherwise of these openness policies given the period 1970–1985 when Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) policies was in operation as against the 1986–2015 when openness policies came into operation. This is with a view to assessing the prospects for sustainable development as Nigeria keeps its economy open.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the pertinence of ecotechnologies in vulnerable dwellings in five socially disadvantaged municipalities in Guanajuato (Mexico). The methodological design is integrated in two phases, one quantitative and other qualitative, to show the contributions of ecotechnologies in three categories: social, environmental and economic. The main finding shows its pertinence in the axes of: family relationships, health, environment, income. It is provided evidence on the potential contribution of ecotechnologies to the improvement of the conditions of the dwelling, to the environmental care and to the families’ economy.

Water scarcity has become a major problem in the urban environment. However, a potential means of increasing the volume of water available for human necessities is the consumption by the industrial sector of effluent from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), provided the quality of this effluent is ensured. This work presents a map of the water demand of various industrial sectors of the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba (Brazil), to be used in support of an initiative to reuse the effluent from wastewater treatment plants. The method used to produce the map consisted of the following steps: (a) collection of data (number of employees and type of industrial production activity) provided by the Federation of Industries in Paraná State (FIEP); (b) application of the coefficients proposed by the Brazilian Water Agency (ANA); (c) construction of a geographic database that included the locations of the industries; (d) selection of WWTPs capable of providing the industries with treated effluent. Data were gathered from the municipalities of Campo Largo, São José dos Pinhais, and Curitiba (districts of Boqueirão, Cidade Industrial, and Xaxim only). The results identified 935 companies, which were classified according to their respective industrial sectors. Of these companies, 44 exhibit a high estimated water demand (a total of 88.73 L s−1), and 36 are located within 5 km of the closest WWTP (a total of 68.91 L s−1). The results also revealed that 9 WWTPs have the capability to meet the industrial demand for treated effluent. Assuming a effluent reuse potential of 15%, this represents a total average savings in drinking water in the order of 10.3 L s−1 for the municipalities studied; however, this percentage may be higher (30–40%) for industries related to the manufacture of cellulose and paper, drinks, and food processing from animal sources.

The adaptation of cities, whether large, medium or small, in relation to extreme weather events, is a great challenge. The society development culminated in urbanization, often without planning and with great concentration of the population in the urban environment. Across the world, this process has increased tensions between urban and natural environments, with serious consequences for human well-being and for the efficiency of infrastructure systems. Hydrological events are one of the main concerns of cities in many parts of the world. Heavy rains, with large daily or monthly accumulations, usually results in floods at the urban environment. These situations, in addition to generating economic losses, endanger the life of the population. In this scenario, this paper aims to identify structuring and non-structural measures used by cities around the world, to sustainable development, through strategies that make them less vulnerable to climatic events, which can be incorporated into urban governance, in order to contribute to adapt to climate change and to build cities that are more resilient. The main practices identified were Low Impact Development, Water Sensitive Urban Design, environmental sanitation legislation and events focused on awareness of the importance of urban water management.

The paper deals with the importance of the 17 SDGs as a force to align initiatives at a global level towards a green circular economy. The specific scope of this work is the nexus formed by the SDGs 2, 6 and 7 which deal with agribusiness, water management and renewable, reliable and affordable energy respectively. These three goals merge perfectly in the case of solar PV powered water pumps which can work for human consumption and irrigation. In a country such as Kenya where 75% plus of the population still live in rural areas and are deprived of both electricity and water, the lack of such basic resources drives people to an economy of subsistence with little or no surplus to generate income. In order to develop a sector there is a fundamental need to build capacity. That is why Strathmore Energy Research Centre (SERC) has, with the help of industry, developed a syllabus for theoretical and practical training on how to design, install and maintain such systems in different sizes. This initiative attracted NGO (Non-Governmental Organizations) such as Oxfam, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to partner and fund the training course. SERC has built a hands-on kit such that once gone through the course, participants are fully prepared to implement such units all over the geography of Kenya and other countries around. This nonetheless does not tell the whole story as aspects related to awareness amongst the rural population, access to line of credit and suitable regulations are also essential aspects required for adequate penetration of this specific technology. This paper thus analyses the holistic setting up of an ecosystem which has a potential to transform rural economy and eventually reduce urban migration.

In an era of climate change and greater demands for organisational commitment, the global university sector has taken up sustainability reporting in a modest fashion. Recent studies of the sector show extensive variation in coverage and quality of reporting even by comparison to the corporate sector. From a materiality point of view, sustainability reporting is an aspect of environmental management that aims via efficiency actions to reduce GHG emissions. Recent studies and reports criticise the Australian University sector for its lack of transparency and modest accomplishments in campus sustainability compared to the corporate sector and other regions. This study examines these claims and introduces organisational theory of institutions as a justification for the strategies and tactics adopted by the sector. Existing sector studies and reports have rarely employed organisational theory and preferred unrepresentative samples and definitions of reporting and scope, albeit admittedly due to the poor public availability of environmental and other data. This short case study combines desk analysis of publicly available Australian University sustainability reports, strategy plans, compliance reports of energy and water, built environment initiatives, and qualitative interviews with five (The interview component, which is on-going, has currently recruited and interviewed twenty participants. This study incorporates analysis of the first five interviews completed at the time of writing.) past and current campus sustainability managers and officers from the Australian University sector to (1) show the current state of reporting and commitment and (2) demonstrate the value of the organisational theory approach. The study finds that organisational theory is the missing theoretical lens to help explain why compliance rather than commitment and legitimacy claims in a context of weak national and sector expectations explains the varied leadership and commitment in this region. Reporting on the initial analysis of sources, this study identifies the concept of transparency and accountability across the academic and professional divide as key to understanding a sector compliance approach.

The main purpose of this research is to address three important questions concerning sustainability reporting in universities: what to report, why reporting is necessary, and how reporting should be carried out. A desk study method was used to systematically review key peer-reviewed scientific articles as well as sustainability reports of higher education institutions. The paper discusses theoretical and empirical research of sustainability reporting in the higher education sector. The paper shows that there is a focus on the widely used criteria of sustainability, which are in line with the literature. The study also illustrates how universities can report their sustainability advancement through highlighting the type of data collected, process of preparing the report, the parties involved, and channels where reports can be submitted to. Ultimately, this paper seeks to justify the significance of such reporting and why all higher education institutions should develop and regularly review the reporting of their sustainability performance. The added value of this research is that higher education institutions, particularly those at the early stages of assessing, documenting, and reporting sustainability practices, can be greatly assisted.

In 2010, University College Cork (UCC) was the first institution in the world to be awarded a “Green Flag” from the Foundation for Environmental Education. Since 2011, UCC has been ranked highly in the UI Green Metric World University Rankings and, in 2018, the university participated in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). STARS—a programme of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)—is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to comprehensively measure their sustainability performance. In 2018, UCC became the first university outside of the US and Canada to achieve a STARS Gold Rating. This paper documents the experience of UCC in undertaking the STARS assessment for the first time and explores how the process is helping to shape the sustainability agenda at UCC. The STARS submission process involves a collaborative review stage, and the use of this collaboration to shape further development of the STARS programme will be also be examined. Transparent reporting tools, such as STARS, present opportunities for further engagement with campus stakeholders. Recommendations for campuses embarking on the programme, and for the assessment of sustainability in higher education will be presented.

The concept of Sustainable Development attracts more and more specialists from various scientific fields. For a long time for architecture there was an understanding of sustainability as a “green”, “ecological” or “energy-efficient” architecture. Environmental psychology offered a new interpretation of the concept of “environment” giving the architectural space not only objective, but also psychological components. Preservation of historical and cultural heritage and the emergence of new architecture through the orientation of future architects’ professional consciousness to meet the needs of various architectural environment’s users is considered in this article as the main aspect on the way to sustainability in architecture. This work is devoted to the study of professionally valuable psychological qualities of the man who has chosen the profession of an architect in the paradigm of Sustainable Development. This article demonstrates the research results of creative imagination features of students-architects; the special attention is given to the change of values-based orientations in the process of professionalization. At present, there is a growing interest in the interaction of an architectural space with users which, in turn, requires increased attention to the professional architect’s formation at all stages of developing. This paper will be useful for teachers who work directly with students-architects, as well as for experts who form educational programs for them.

This paper presents the results of a research framed in the strategy of Conferencia de Rectores de Universidades Españolas (CRUE. Conference of Chancellors of Spanish Universities) towards the Education for Sustainable Development, Target 4.7 from UN 2030 Agenda. It focuses on the Master’s degree in Compulsory Secondary Education and Baccalaureate, Vocational Training and Language Education Teacher Training taught at National University of Distance Education (UNED); with two main objectives: (a) to know students’ literacy level in matters of sustainability (Sustainability literacy): (b) to know how university teachers perceive their teaching practice in substantial issues of the approach to education for sustainable development. In this empiric study the data have been collected through two questionnaires, one applied to the students, one applied to the university teachers. The results show, on one side, the insufficient literacy of students about the challenges of the current socio-ecological crisis; and on the other side, the teacher’s low awareness of their role as agents of educational change for sustainability, although they declare to use usual teaching methodologies of this type of education. It is confirmed the need for institutional strategies to strengthen the training of both groups, students and teachers, in the competencies that sustainable development demands.

Sustainability reporting is an important tool for the assessment and communication of sustainability performance in the corporate world; however, it is still in its early stages in higher education. Only a limited number of universities around the world have published sustainability reports, and there is still a lack of empirical evidence of how the sustainability reporting process is organized and how it contributes to sustainability integration in higher education. The aim of this paper is to provide in-depth insights into the complexities of the sustainability reporting process. A case study is presented on sustainability reporting in The University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, covering the period of 2008–2014. The case consists of document analysis and interviews with the internal actors of the sustainability reporting process at UBC. In the study, it was found that even in an institution with a deliberate sustainability strategy and integration process, sustainability reporting is a complex undertaking. Some of the key elements adding complexity to the reporting process are the search for suitable lead authors and relevant content for the reports in consecutive reporting cycles; the different aims that reporting tries to achieve simultaneously for the sustainability integration process; and suitably addressing the different internal stakeholders that are involved in the reporting process in higher education. In order to reduce complexity in universities, assigning an internal hybrid actor to facilitate the reporting process could be helpful. Unfolding the key complexities arising when undertaking consecutive reporting cycles can help internal actors of other institutions to better design and implement the process of sustainability reporting and integration in their universities.

Measuring the use of sustainable modes of transport at a university can confer many benefits. Investigating how university members arrive on-site can create a sense of urgency for sustainable mobility, and showing how the use of these modes of transport affects the university’s total ecological footprint can be an effective way of doing so. Furthermore, scenarios about the effects of methods for increasing transport sustainability can be calculated, although they should be regarded with caution. It can also be crucial to examine why university members use a specific mode of transport. This enables sustainability officers to adjust sustainability measures to needs and environmental conditions that can be critical for their success. Therefore, this paper introduces a four-stage approach to assessing the ecological footprint of specific modes of transportation based on university members’ attitudes and motives, the situation and environment, their actual behaviour and the resulting environmental impact. In doing so, the construct of mobility can be analysed in a way that does justice to its complexity and multifaceted nature. This is demonstrated with an analysis of two studies at the Hochschule für Technik (University of Applied Sciences) Stuttgart in which all of these aspects were used to define target groups and adjust and prioritise corresponding measures targeting their mobility behaviour.

This final paper summarises some of the lessons learned from the book and outlines some aspects related to sustainability at organisations, which may advance it further.