George Halkos

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• Professor Dr
• Professor Dr at University of Thessaly

Eco-efficiency is crucial for the European rubber and plastics industry to minimize production costs through effective resource management (e.g., energy management) and reduce environmental impacts like greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions. Circular economy (CE) solutions can support the industry’s competitiveness while aligning with sustainability go...

This study examines the eco-efficiency performance of green energy transitions in 45 high-emission countries (1995–2022), focusing on convergence in policymaking. Using hybrid window data envelopment analysis (WDEA) models, eco-efficiency was evaluated for non-renewable energy (NRES), renewable energy (RES), and mixed sources. Inputs included capit...

The European fashion industry can tackle parameters such as energy and carbon intensities, aiming to contribute to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) 9 and 12 under the scope of circular economy (CE) principles. The present paper measures eco-efficiency of fashion industry in 22 European countries via a hybrid window data envelopment analysis...

Energy has become a significant research issue across many disciplines under different methodological approaches, indicating the importance of theoretical and practical implications to structure and implement robust decision-making processes at a global level [...]

Dear colleagues and partners, The 10th ENVECON Conference has come to an end, but there is much more to look forward to! As we conclude this incredible journey together, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who contributed to making this conference a success. To our keynote and honorary speakers, thank you for your inspiring con...

Happy to announce the organization of the 10th Anniversary Conference on the Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment. We are glad to have with us distinguished academicians and colleagues. The Conference is HYBRID and will take place 6-7 December 2024 at the premises of the Department of Economics, University of Thessaly.

Happy to announce the organization of the 10th Anniversary Conference on the Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment (ENVECON). The Conference is HYBRID and will take place 6-7 December 2024 at the premises of the Department of Economics, University of Thessaly. Email conference: envecon_conference@econ.uth.gr Conference site: http://...

What a nice new metric from Scopus: an eye on global research! This novel metric illustrates the impact of authors in Environmental Sciences. Specifically, using United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) research involvement and comprehensive citation data from the last 10 years, allowing researchers to evaluate their influence. The fo...

Protection of marine ecosystems is vital for biodiversity conservation as it ensures the health of our oceans and seas, moreover it supports the livelihoods of millions who rely on them. Nevertheless, there are global issues that put at risk biodiversity levels, inter alia, climate change, invasive species, eutrophication, waste, and pollution. Thi...

The present review examines the primary (heatwaves and air pollution) and cascading (population density, traffic and noise, health issues, and biodiversity loss) hazards in urban settlements. The motivation is to understand the interaction between hazards in urban areas to develop a novel holistic approach that enhances urban sustainability. Three...

Human activities have created environmental degradation with the internalization of the resulting externalities having been the main concern for policy makers worldwide. Uncertainty and unconvincing scientific evidence of various biophysical processes are present in many planned environmental policies. An important source of model uncertainty is ac...

Project management, a methodological approach that has gained the trust of many organizations, is significantly influenced by leadership and management style, playing a vital role in project success. This discussion paper attempts to underscore the role of leadership and management style in delivering projects. The interdisciplinary nature of many...

In our modern world, the intensity of economic activities dominates the linkages between the natural environment and the economic system. By nature, organizations and entrepreneurs strive to gain more and advance their position in terms of competitiveness, frequently, within volatile market conditions and uncertainty. In this generic situation, spe...

Tourism is a complex system with multifaceted characteristics that concern a wide range of stakeholders. Furthermore, it uses multiple natural resources as a core element of its products and services. Moreover, in recent decades, we have been experiencing tourism growth in many countries across the globe. It is significant to understand how these r...

Coastal environments, as complex systems, are a valuable natural setting where intense economic activities take place. Their environmental values have been extensively researched due to their importance in maintaining high environmental quality. This discussion paper aims to promote the concept of fishing tourism as a strategy for preserving the sa...

The Black Sea region faces pressures on ecosystem services (ES) due to invasive species, waste, eutrophication, and biodiversity loss. We apply a stated preference technique, i.e. a choice experiment (CE), aiming to compare three hypothetical scenarios regarding the welfare impact of ES on citizens’ lives in terms of willingness-to-pay (WTP). Initi...

Tourism growth drives considerable shifts in environmental quality levels and natural resource exploitation patterns. This study aims to develop a theoretical perspective for the context and ‘functionality’ of ‘smart’ technologies that will remove the existing barriers of traditional tourism practices with new and modern alternatives to search, edu...

Sustainable development ensures the longevity of civilization by balancing economic growth, environmental protection, and social equity. The present study evaluates cultural heritage assets via a meta-regression analysis function transfer, in which 85 studies were examined that revealed 106 different willingness-to-pay (WTP) values in the period 19...

Human insecurity is omnipresent due to the negative effects of globalization and multi‐crisis. A global analysis based on club convergence was conducted for 162 countries and covers the period 2007–2021. The studied indicators are (i) sustainable development goals index (SDGI), (ii) human development index (HDI), and (iii) corruption perception ind...

Climate change and environmental degradation constitute challenging and demanding issues that need mitigation and adaptation strategies and plans, as well as scientific research to test the causality between economic growth and pollution levels. From this viewpoint, the present theoretical approach defines the concept of circular economy in the hig...

Behavioral environmental economics (BEE) is an emerging field that combines principles from behavioral and environmental economics along with psychological theory to study how human behavior influences environmental issues. It recognizes that human behavior often deviates from the rational actor model assumed in traditional environmental economics...

Trying to reach carbon neutrality is by no means plain sailing in times of energy crisis, price volatility, and war. The European Green Deal (EGD) prioritizes green pathways, but it is not enough when it copes with greenhouse gases (GHGs). The present research utilizes the Malmquist–Luenberger productivity index (MLPI) to estimate advancements in t...

In this research, the intertemporal optimal management of subsidies offered by the environmental regulator and the dynamic conflict between two groups of economic agents involved in environmental quality are discussed. First the environmental model is examined in its optimal control management form with two state variables. The analysis of the impr...

The paper measures environmental efficiency and productivity change to then carry out a decomposition analysis of an environmental efficiency index and a productivity change index. The paper includes a novel comparative assessment to determine the drivers of environmental efficiency and the sources of productivity change of the manufacturing sector...

Globalisation has created a highly interconnection between countries, however this phenomenon has ushered in more abrupt dissemination of crises as well. For this reason, the countries have strengthened their resilience against the novel multi-crisis via the implementation of frameworks, pathways, and strategies. A great paradigm is the environment...

This study aims to investigate the ecological efficiency of industry in Greece through a sector-wise framework using data envelopment analysis and considering three different types of environmental emissions. Through this quantification, it is possible to determine the degree of internalization of the environmental impact for each sector of the Gre...

Sustainable development incorporates the sustainable pathway of each civilization. However, cultural heritage assets can be heavily impacted by pollution, such as acid rain and climate change. The present study evaluates cultural heritage assets via a meta-regression analysis function transfer, in which we examined 106 studies, mainly from differen...

As waste proliferation becomes an apparent problem in the European Union (EU), there are two ways to cope with waste generation: circular economy (CE) and sustainable development principles and strategies. The present study demonstrates a socioeconomic approach of sustainable waste management (SWM) with understanding over the negative externalities...

Widespread in THE literature is the conclusion that air pollution is associated with various health problems. The present study discusses two discrete Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models and two related indexes. This approach has been adopted in previous research by Halkos & Argyropoulou (2021a, 2021b, 2022). Consequently, this paper uses inputs...

The current review aims to briefly (1) examine the relationship between personality traits and pro-environmental behaviors, considering the role of attitudinal and other psychological factors like concern, and (2) explore how personality variables are associated with economic choices in the context of environmental preference, especially willingnes...

Natural resources provide ecosystem services to humans and society. Economic sectors use natural resources for economic benefits. Intense and uncontrolled economic activities and human intervention create adverse effects on the balance between all pillars of sustainability, namely the economy, environment, and society. In this context, researchers...

The current waste crisis calls for a stable and integrated institutional framework. Policymakers try to untangle the complicated and interconnected acts, regulations, and directives in the European Union (EU). However, it is not a plain sailing to observe and implement the vast regulatory armamentarium of the EU in the circular economy (CE) sectors...

The significance of the SDGs lies in their holistic, global and interdisciplinary nature. But this nature at the same time poses significant challenges, as it is difficult to bridge the breadth of different aspects included in the SDGs, such as the environmental and the socio-economic, both in theory, practical application and policymaking. SDG14 o...

The interconnectedness of fashion industry and waste generation is pivotal for policymakers in the circular economy sector. Fashion industry creates a great bulk of waste in an era of rapid consumption and production – the waste crisis. Fast fashion is indeed a conundrum for policymakers and ought to be observed in order to be easily coped with. In...

Great cities are exposed to the global warming phenomenon such as heatwaves and longer periods of droughts. The present multi-crisis has posed a plethora of novel challenges to urban environment, such is the case study 1 of the Arsinoe Project, i.e., the Athens Metropolitan Area (AMA), Greece. AMA is burdened by heatwaves during summers and the urb...

The effects of climate change are getting worse over time. At the same time, there is a significant increase in extreme weather phenomena as well as the negative results caused by these phenomena. One of the most important factors of the extreme weather phenomena studied is the loss of human life as well as the danger to which the inhabitants of ea...

The significance of the SDGs lies in their holistic, global and interdisciplinary nature. But this nature at the same time poses significant challenges, as it is difficult to bridge the environmental with the socioeconomic aspects of SDGs, in theory, practical application and policymaking. SDG14 on "life below water" consists of these aspects, as i...

Blueprinting sustainable development pathways is by no means plain sailing [...]

The aims of this study were to (i) provide a critique of waste hierarchy (WH), (ii) provide a policy review of the circular economy (CE), and (iii) recommend best management practices (BMPs) in the Mediterranean under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12. European Mediterranean countries (i.e. Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece...

This study extends the energy tourism growth discussion by adopting the concept of market segments when investigating tourism proxies. We adopt econometric procedures to identify potential structural breaks and cross-sectional dependence together with appropriate panel data model specifications. Causality tests are also processed to search for the...

This paper refers to the valuation of European, Marine and Fresh Water Ecosystem Services. Using a meta-regression approach, we estimate the Annual Willingness to Pay (WTP) for several classifications of the ecosystem services and various biogeographical and marine regions across all 27 EU markets. Moreover, we explore the correlation between WTP a...

Replacing conventional CO2 intensive generation with green electricity from RES constitutes an essential prerequisite of sustainable development. Renewables play a vital role in achieving the UN’s goals for clean low-cost energy production and the reverse of climate change process. Based on a comprehensive dataset including observations for 17 Euro...

This Special Issue examines the nexus between economic growth, energy consumption, and the environment. Our industrialized world depends on fossil fuels to meet its energy needs, and since fossil fuels are associated with both economic growth and severe environmental degradation, the associations between air pollutants emissions, energy consumption...

The term "multi-crisis" refers to the occurrence of multiple crises simultaneously, often stemming from geopo-litical risks. These risks can cause societal disruption and political instability in times of uncertainty, as evidenced by the water crisis, stagflation, COVID-19, population growth, and wars. Hence, it is critical to mitigate geopolitical...

The present study evaluates cultural heritage assets via a meta-regression analysis function transfer, from different countries in the period 1995 – 2022. This methodology enables the valuation of cultural heritage – tangible and intangible – goods and services, as well as cultural values (e.g. aesthetic, spiritual, symbolic etc.).The utilization o...

Paper presented in the 28th Annual EAERE Conference 2023 , Limassol Cyprus in the SDSN SWG Report event (Thursday June 29, 2023). In this presentation it appears that distinction of intangible cultural heritage affects statistically both the European and non-European specifications, while the tangible affects significantly the European ones. Aest...

The present study uses four rounds of household panel data to investigate consensual-based energy poverty in Greece. Employing dynamic Probit random effects and Wooldridge conditional maximum likelihood (WCML) estimators, we find evidence of genuine state dependence effects in consensual-based energy poverty among Greek households. Poverty persiste...

In our modern world, energy keeps the global economy running, and economic growth concerns are profoundly interrelated with environmental quality issues. Interestingly, scientists engage with empirical research to identify the impacts and causalities at the interface of economic activities, energy supply, and demand. The importance of the present s...

Climate change has become an increasingly intense global phenomenon in recent years. A great number of researchers support the idea that climate change is strongly connected to some environmental hazards, and specifically, those correlated to extreme weather events. Following the Paris Agreement, and due to the increased concern regarding climate c...

This study examines whether shifts in the stance of policymaking can account for the observed predictability in excess energy poverty (EP) or fuel poverty (FP) levels. Energy-related poverty is a subcategory of global poverty and can be categorized into accessibility problems related to EP and affordability issues associated with FP, which have a s...

Prevailing measures on the topics of monetary and non-monetary poverty —as well as economic and carbon inequality— are being critically assessed under sustainable development goals (SDGs) with a worldwide perspective. On the one hand, the poverty headcount ratio and the indices poverty gap, poverty severity, and Watts are assessed as core poverty i...

This study aims to investigate the impacts and identify the causal links between tourism expansion and the environment among countries of the Eurozone from 1996 to 2019 in the context of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). To achieve this end, we used a new set of untested tourism proxies when elaborating the EKC. We disaggregated the tourism ph...

The European Green Deal (EGD) is the growth strategy for Europe, covering multiple domains, and aiming to an equitable, carbon neutral European Union by 2050. The UN Agenda 2030, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set the bases for a global sustainability transition. However, the integration of the SDGs into the EGD is an overlooked i...

Electricity is by far the most valuable energy commodity for households; hence, it is of the utmost importance for national regulatory authorities and the European Commission (EC) to guarantee affordable and unimpeded access for European citizens to this vital social good. The existing academic literature mainly focuses on the effect of specific re...

The aim of this study is to delve into the interrelations between sustainability and the circular economy (CE) as it relates to the development of sustainable waste management (SWM). Innovative environmental policy pathways towards the CE are discussed as are the novel Environment Action Programme (EAP) and the new circular economy action plan whic...

The present study aims to investigate potential causality relationships between environmental quality, energy efficiency, and economy when testing the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. To this effort, panel data analysis concerning Eurozone member states is put into the process for the period 1996–2019. We conceptualize...

This paper refers to the valuation of European, Marine and Fresh Water Ecosystem Services. Using a meta-regression approach, we estimate the Annual Willingness to Pay (WTP) for several classifications of the ecosystem services and various biogeographical and marine regions across all twenty-seven EU markets. Moreover, we explore the correlation bet...

This Special Issue collects twelve studies that explore current issues concerning the environment and sustainability. The selected papers review and investigate various issues such as the nexus between trade and climate, the spatial interaction between economy and territory, climate justice in an intergenerational sustainability framework, resource...

This paper reviews the case of nuclear energy. Currently, the worldworld is facing one of the greatest energy crises due to the Russo-Ukrainian war. This conflict has lead to limited sources of gas, causing a dramatic decrease in energy supply, leading to emerging energy crisis risks. This is one on the main purposes of reviewing nuclear energy as...

An eco-friendly and sustainable power production system constitutes the cornerstone of every country’s strategic plan to tackle climate change and enhance energy resource autonomy. Carbon dioxide abatement in electricity generation, in addition to being a necessary condition for “green” energy transition, can contribute greatly to cleaner industria...

The disadvantages of fossil fuels and their impact on the environment have made the transition to renewable energy sources essential to cover our energy needs. However, different energy resources have a different impact on energy poverty conditions in the world, an issue that is important to examine and properly address. This study examines the imp...

Aim of the present study is the critique of waste hierarchy (WI) and policy review on circular economy (CE) and sustainable development goal (SDG) 12 of the United Nations (UN): responsible consumption and production. WI introduced in Directive 2008/98/EC has plenty of potential aspects on the scope of CE and sustainable municipal solid waste manag...

The European Green Deal (EGD) is the growth strategy for Europe, covering an extensive range of areas, including Climate Action, Energy, Agriculture, Industry and Infrastructure, Environment and Biodiversity, Transportation, Finance and Development, and Research and Innovation. The UN Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are...

The US National Climate Assessment, published in 2018, states that “Earth’s climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization, primarily as a result of human activities” [...]

The purpose of this study is to estimate the efficiency exemplified by a production function of EU-28 countries from 1995 to 2019. We explore the capability of these countries to convert in an environmentally efficient way, the typical inputs of labor force, capital stock together with energy and land use into desirable (GDP) and undesirable (CO2,...

This paper adopts the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure technical efficiency (TE), technical efficiency change (TEC) and technical change (TC) scores across four subgroups of EU-27 countries for the period 1995-2019. Then metafrontier frameworks are used to evaluate technological gap ratio (TGR) and also catch-up effect achieved by each Gr...

The present paper is inspired by the notions of “financial risk” and “financial uncertainties” and transfers their basic reasoning to social science analysis; that is, it develops a theoretical analysis in order to explain social and political change. We know that the degree of social and political change depends on the set of established instituti...

The purpose of this research is to investigate how citizens understand and cope with issues related to the management and utility of biodiversity. Simultaneously it explores the motives that lead society to support or take part in actions for biodiversity protection. For this reason, a face-to-face survey of 468 randomly selected respondents was ca...

In this paper, we present a series of environmental policies that were implemented by the city-state of Athens during the Classical period (508–323 BCE) through a specific set of environmental institutions. They included: waste management, the implementation of a recycling process regarding animal manure as well as hygiene practices. Special admini...

This paper aims to assess the factors influencing the economic value of the visitor experience in two urban parks in Attica, Greece. Contingent Valuation is applied to estimate the willingness of visitors to pay an entry ticket under a hypothetical scenario. Our sample consisted of Niarchos Park visitors, which is located at Stavros Niarchos Founda...

This study proposes the use of the Gini index and the non-parametric method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for strategic planning and performance management in the Greek tourism sector. To attain our research effort, we use an innovative two-stage DEA bootstrap procedure to establish, among other determinants, the Gini coefficient in the light...

Natural resources are important in sustaining the livelihoods of rural households and the environment. However, over-exploitation is causing an alarming depletion of natural resources in many developing countries. At the same time, rapid economic growth has created non-farm employment opportunities for local people. In this context, examining the i...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify the reasons for visiting the urban park Antonis Tritsis in Athens, Greece, focusing on visitors’ motives and perceived characteristics of the park. When urban parks are located in areas that are particularly densely populated are characterized as green lungs and are easily accessible to the residents...

A great idea by my colleague Dr Athina Economou to attempt to shed some light on the environmental attitudes gap between the two genders in Germany and the Netherlands. The empirical results indicate that females exhibit higher pro‐environmental values but less environmental support and concerns than males.

Although the willingness to pay for parks and protected areas has been widely researched, the differentiation of determinants within different levels of payment presents significant limitations. Quantile regression, through which this differentiation is detected, has been applied mainly to specific methods of economic valuation (e.g. hedonic), whil...

This paper aims to work towards a factual framework to substantiate the linkage between corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting and economic activity and between CSR reporting and CO2 pollution, continent-wide. The document summarizes the conclusions of the dynamic analysis of CSR reports and the correlation analysis between CSR reports and...

Good health is essential for sustainable development; the other sustainable development goals cannot be achieved with prevalent high rates of debilitating infectious and non-infectious illnesses and without physical, mental and social wellbeing in the population (UN General Assembly, 2012). The third goal of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda...

The report provides an overview of the European Union’s policies established since 2020 in support of the implementation of the European Green Deal (EGD); explores the financial trends, tools, and implications related to the joint implementation of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and the EGD; and stresses the need for private financial flow...

In this work, we map and measure the interdependencies that exist in green bond markets, relying on yearly proceeds allocation data reported in Tolliver et al. (Environ Res Lett 14:064009, 2019). We focus on transactions from 53 organizations to projects and assets throughout 96 countries from 2006 to 2017 and we build the network of relationships...

The paper places emphasis on primary energy resources, their covariation, and their correlation with socioeconomic factors and aims to provide a systematic analysis of their development over time. The analysis uses evidence from European Union (EU) country-level data and is based on visual analytics techniques. Different results from the same terri...

The building sector is responsible for 40% of primary energy consumption, with heating/cooling covering the most significant portion. Thus, passive heating/cooling applications have gained significant ground during the last three decades, with many research activities on the subject. Among passive cooling/heating applications, ground cooling (espec...

Shipyards are industrial areas where workers are likely exposed to environmental pollutants such as welding fumes, fine organic solvent and dye dust, that render the occupational environment a high risk one. Assessing the risk that workers are exposed to is a high critical factor in improving their working conditions. The present study aims to inve...

Effective environmental policies have to be based on robust information taking into consideration the existing trends. The objective of this paper is to facilitate data-driven decisions. Specifically we aim at policies that are built on officially reported emissions data making use of intuitive tools and interfaces to guide European air quality str...

Pollution is associated with serious environmental and health problems. For instance particulate matter (PM2.5) causes severe health problems like respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and outdoor exposure may be carcinogenic to humans. In this study data envelopment analysis is used to estimate the efficiencies of 18 European countries for the y...

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is a possible hedging technique against a potential unexpected hazard, that can secure the capital invested by individuals or corporations. More specifically, the traditional hedging techniques are presented and illustrating whether they can be applicable against unexpected environmental disaste...

This study analyses the relationship between foreign direct investment, economic growth, urbanization, energy use, and carbon emissions in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS countries) between 1990 and 2014. According to the empirical results, both environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and pollution haven hypotheses (PHH) are confirm...