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Insights on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals scope: Are they aligned with a ‘strong’ sustainable development?
Abstract
The seventh edition of the International Workshop “Advances in Cleaner Production” (IWACP) was held at Universidad de La Costa, Colombia, in June 2018. Thematic sections were held for allowing theoretical discussions and practical activities, with the main goal of supporting discussions on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). Participants provided their perception on the allocation of UN-SDGs as relevant for managing the main forms of capital (environmental, economic and social) within two different sustainability conceptual models: a “traditional” model (representing the interdependence and substitutability among the environment, social and economic capitals), and the five sectors sustainability model (5SenSu). Results show an unbalanced distribution of SDGs among the capitals for both sustainability models, with social capital perceived as the most relevant across the SDGs. Particularly, the environment as a resource provider supporting societal development is perceived as relevant only for SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation). The main outcomes of the workshop emphasize the need for further efforts towards a more objective interpretation of policy goals in post Agenda-2030 initiatives. The SDGs must be clearly understood and have a scientific resonance to objectively support public policies. Sustainability models, such as the 5SenSu, have the potential to support a more balanced definition of sustainable development goals across the different dimensions of sustainability.
... It is fundamental to highlight that indicators chosen are relative to a given functional unit, allowing comparisons among WWTCs independently of size and/or capacity. When discussing sustainability issues, according to importance, the relationships of the indicators feeding the 5SEnSU with the SDGs were also identified and considered; the identification was based on information provided by Giannetti et al. [22] and the author's expertise on the subject. The following section presents the chosen indicators used in the 5SEnSU model, in detail, separating them into environmental, economic, and social sectors. ...
... The K 22 indicator represents the drinking water treatment process, which involves intensive use of electricity [5] produced by different sources, generating different quantities of GHGs as further embodied impacts. This indicator measures the GHGs in CO 2 equivalents due to the electricity used in the potable water treatment process (Equation (2)), and it should be minimized to increase WWTC sustainability. ...
... This indicator should be maximized. Table 1 summarizes the ten indicators chosen to feed the FIVE SEctor model, its goals, as well its potential in contributing to one or more SDGs due to the interactions and trade-offs [22,26,27]. The general goals of each SDG are considered without further details related to the 169 indicators within them, since the available data would not allow for such an extensive and complete study at this moment; moreover, this aspect does not reduce the importance of the main findings from this work. ...
The world’s water resources are under pressure due to human activities. The challenges surrounding water resources management include enhancing long-term water security and minimizing undesirable economic, social, and environmental impacts, along with the production chain. Since water and wastewater treatment plants are designed to maintain and conserve freshwater provisioning services, understanding how they operate—prior to proposing options for sustainability—is of paramount importance. The diagnostic phase calls for scientifically-based, systemic, and more objective methods to provide information for decision-makers regarding strategic management of water resources. This work applied the FIVE SEctor SUstainability (5SEnSU) model to assess twenty major water and wastewater treatment companies (WWTC) in Brazil, to quantify sustainability levels that allowed ranking procedures, and to establish benchmarks for improvements. On a comparative basis, the results identified the top-three sustainable companies—CORSAN, CASAN, and SANEPAR—which should be considered as examples of best practices. Specifically, the following best-ranked companies in each sector within 5SEnSU should be used as benchmark patterns for more oriented best practices: SANEAGO, sector 1; AGESPISA, sector 2; CORSAN, sector 3; CASAL, sector 4; MA, sector 5. This work contributes toward the advancement of sustainability assessment modeling in human-managed systems (applied in WWTCs in this present study) from systemic- and epistemologically-rooted approaches, avoiding shortcomings and misleading discussions on the sustainability issue. Quantifying sustainability of WWTCs using the 5SEnSU model allows for the identification of those sectors/indicators that require immediate cleaner production practices by decision-makers, to improve overall sustainability, as well as to identify which companies are more aligned with the requirements of UN SDGs. The decision-makers would be able to visualize balanced or unbalanced relationships among all sectors and propose actions that would improve the performance in a given sector, realizing what effects a given action would cause in the other sectors of the system.
... Another research gap that was identified concerns the lack of studies offering quantitative evidence about the process of overcoming the barriers for the adoption of CP, while connecting it with the SDGs. Existing work related to the barriers for the adoption of CP in SEs in the metal and mechanics sector usually refer to the SDGs but fail to address the economic, social and environment aspects with an equivalent depth [26]. Companies consider the that the specific limitations of SEs are determinant for the ability to understand the barriers for the adoption of CP and highlight that such limitations affect the ability to access relevant knowledge and information for overcoming the barriers. ...
... As such, one of guiding objectives of this study was to evaluate the economic and environmental gains that resulted from the implementation of CP in a small enterprise in the metal and mechanics industry, allowing for overcoming barriers and contributing to the SDGs. It is important to highlight that there are few studies relating CP with the SDGs [9,23,26,28,29]. However, sustainable development must be considered as a key issue in the adoption of CP [34], particularly when it allows for extending the CP practices to the stakeholder community [35,36]. ...
... There is still a paucity of research work addressing the relationship between the activities of SEs and the preservation of the environment, and a lack of evidence about solutions that can be applied and that lead to both economic and environmental gains. For this reason, several authors have claimed that the environmental actions are still far from being a reality for most of the SEs [12][13][14]26]. ...
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the economic and environmental gains that result from the implementation of cleaner production in a small enterprise (SE) from the metal and mechanics industry, allowing for overcoming barriers and contributing to sustainable development goals. The research work builds on a case study that involved several data sources, including semi structured interviewing and non-participant observation. Data analysis involved the calculation of mass balance, building solid and liquid waste that were minimized in the process. The results suggest that cleaner production led to economic gains, by allowing for reduction in losses and promoting a better use of raw materials. It also led to environmental improvements by means of the implementation of a wastewater treatment station that allowed for the reuse of water in the manufacturing process. It was concluded that the economic gain in the project played a determinant role for the SE to overcome the barriers for the implementation of CP and leading to the reduction of the environmental impact in the abiotic, biotic, water and air compartments, as estimated with the Mass Intensity Factor. The study offers a timely and relevant contribution for the literature in the field, while offering insights for o managerial practice, and the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations Development Program.
... On the other hand, one of the targets of Goal 7 is to "increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030" [7]. It has been mentioned in sustainable development goals that every country must derive a specified portion from the renewable energy sector so that it will be possible to form a pollution-free world by reducing the emission of carbon [8][9][10][11]. Following this, all developed countries have set a form a pollution-free world by reducing the emission of carbon [8][9][10][11]. Following this, all developed countries have set a mandatory target for renewable energy, which is known as the "Mandatory renewable energy target". ...
... It has been mentioned in sustainable development goals that every country must derive a specified portion from the renewable energy sector so that it will be possible to form a pollution-free world by reducing the emission of carbon [8][9][10][11]. Following this, all developed countries have set a form a pollution-free world by reducing the emission of carbon [8][9][10][11]. Following this, all developed countries have set a mandatory target for renewable energy, which is known as the "Mandatory renewable energy target". The mandatory goal of renewable fuel defines what percentage of a country's total electricity capacity will be acquired from renewable fuel in a given period. ...
For a developing country such as Bangladesh, renewable energy is immensely important for its entire development and advancement. Bangladesh has taken steps to increase the development capacity in the renewable energy sector and to fulfill the target of achieving one hundred percent electrification. The goal of this study is to determine the present scenario of the capability of the sustainable energy sector, the advancement as well as achievement of adopted plans, obstacles to achieving goals, and to discuss overall issues with necessary suggestions. In this article, according to qualitative research, data have been collected about the steps taken by Bangladesh in the renewable sector, potential achievements, and various progress to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) in the renewable energy sector. The most important things that have been discussed in this article are what obstacles Bangladesh faces in increasing the capacity of renewable energy and what steps should be taken to overcome those obstacles. To present the obstacles in this article, some important points are discussed including the lack of coordination among the institutions that are responsible for implementing ongoing projects and the lack of adequate maintenance. In addition to increasing public awareness of the mentioned obstacles, valuable advice has also been given in making the loan system accessible to entrepreneurs and customers, increasing the capability of renewable energy, and encouraging conducting research on the overall subject. Nevertheless, for technological advancement in the sustainable energy sector, it has been suggested to reduce imports and to make renewable energy equipment available by increasing the production of the equipment that is necessary. To enrich this renewable energy sector in a sustainable manner, the analysis of the current state of the energy division of Bangladesh, taken steps, obstacles, and given proposals presented in this article will play an important role in the future.
... Solutions to the described problems are creating so-called "Smart Cities", within which one of the areas that is addressed with smart solutions is urban mobility. For the transition from a conventional city to a smart city, it is necessary to conduct a transformation that demands the implementation technological innovations, such as Internet of Things technology [8,9], Artificial Intelligence [10], sensors [11], cyber-physical systems, digital twins, etc. [12]. Implementing such technologies can result in the increased sustainability of a city and can also solve problems such as air pollution. ...
... Furthermore, when talking about the need to redefine the existing paradigm of urban transport, it is necessary to highlight the European Union's plan, which emphasizes that by 2035, all newly manufactured vehicles must emit 0 g of CO 2 [13], which means that the existing technologies used to produce fossil fuel vehicles will no longer be able to meet the targeted CO 2 emission levels [12,14]. In other words, after 2035, fossil fuel cars will still exist, but new ones will be produced with the aim of reducing the total global amount of CO 2 emissions. ...
The growing relevance of sustainability, as well as the necessity to replace traditional forms of transportation with sustainable ones, has made sustainable urban mobility an imperative. In order to respond to the ever-increasing need to develop sustainable modes of transport, the importance of electric, autonomous, and electric autonomous vehicles is increasingly emphasized. In addition, as trends of growth and development in electric autonomous vehicle technology are increasing, one of the questions that has appeared is whether autonomous electric vehicles represent one of the mechanisms that will be used to increase the sustainability of urban mobility. With this in mind, the results of a systematic analysis of existing research in the WOS and Scopus databases using the keywords “urban mobility”, “electric vehicles”, and “autonomous vehicles” was carried out to identify research trends in the use of autonomous electric vehicles in urban areas. The research showed that authors focus on the advantages and disadvantages of autonomous electric vehicles and their usage in the urban mobility system, but an insufficient number of authors consider and define the need to plan the transition towards incorporating autonomous electric vehicles into the urban system. The results of this research also indicate an insufficient number of papers that research and describe the application of autonomous electric vehicles in distribution logistics. This paper provides an overview of existing research related to autonomous electric vehicles and the challenges of transition in the context of infrastructure and the development of a culture of sustainability among urban residents.
... However, other findings evidenced a significant effect in developed countries too (Aldieri and Vinci, 2020;Giannetti et al., 2020). There are over 200 estimates of CO 2 emissions' marginal damage costs. ...
... Climate change damage estimates are currently incomplete, with both positive and negative biases. From a welfare perspective, the impact of climate change is problematic because the population is endogenous, and because policy analyses should separate impatience, risk aversion, and inequity aversion between and within countries (Giannetti et al., 2020;Tol, 2008). Changes in air temperature and precipitation have a significant direct and indirect impact on the hydrologic cycle, as well as on water resources (Oo et al., 2020). ...
Stocking rate and rangeland area are key variables to provide the livelihood of herders in different climatic zones. To evaluate the economic and ecological management of pastoral units, this study aims to determine the optimal economic size of pastoral units for livestock grazing use considering the ecological capacity of semi-arid rangelands in different climatic scenarios. Therefore, 12 pastoral units (an area of 47,355 ha) were selected in two climatic zones (summer and winter rangelands) in the Kalat region of Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. By measuring forage production, carrying capacity was calculated. Based on the results, the costs of traditional livestock management in winter rangelands are higher than those of summer rangelands. Moreover, the current size of the assigned rangeland, especially the summer rangeland, is lower than that of the economic justification. The results emphasize that rangeland-based livestock husbandry cannot create a good livelihood for herders in the region, and it is necessary to pay special attention to other services and aspects, despite the existing ecological and socio-economic complexities. In this regard, providing multi-purpose rangeland use and useable technologies to better manage these areas is necessary to increase per capita household income and reduce the stocking rate in the region's rangelands. Ultimately, both increasing the level of available rangelands and reducing costs by applying new technology are required, as is the economic consideration of pastoral units by using rangelands for multiple purposes.
... The connections between mining activity and the SDGs were also examined by Monteiro et al. (2019), who provided suggestions for attaining the SDGs in the mining sector in three mining industries, in Brazil, such as the provision of decent jobs (SDG 8) aiming the reduction of poverty (SDG 1) and hunger (SDG 2) Table 1 Summary of the articles in this VSI and their contributions to the SDGs. Giannetti et al. (2020) through the increase of income in isolated and deprived areas. However, a lack of investment in education for employees was consistently noticed, as well as the lack of concern to waste disposal and emission control compromising the realization of SDG 13. ...
... Finally, the results of the in-depth discussions that occurred during the thematic sections of the 7th IWACP provided unique perspective on the distribution of UN-SDGs as significant for managing environmental, economic and social capital under two theoretical models for sustainability (Giannetti et al., 2020). The five sectors sustainability model (5SenSu) and the traditional one that considers a trade-off among the three capitals. ...
Cleaner production is a lively concept in which new procedures and technologies constantly emerge introducing methods and practices to prevent damages to the environment. A broad range of cleaner production initiatives contribute to sustainable development not only through the efficient management of resources and energy, but also through the development of new and smart technologies, new ways of assisting policies development, and organizing supply chains, sectors and individual companies. The authors of this Virtual Special Issue sought to introduce first-hand knowledge and discussions identifying and highlighting the ways cleaner production can contribute to reach the United Nations sustainable development targets. The intent of the Virtual Special Issue is to provide an overview of the recent trends that cleaner production practitioners/researchers are following in the chase of the sustainable development goals, and in this context, this editorial was designed to summarize and underscore the link between cleaner production concepts and practices and the sustainable development goals. An adequate response to this challenge required scientific knowledge and reassessment of the papers ensuring that the science is responsive to the evolving needs of sustainable development. This Virtual Special Issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production is mainly dedicated to the 7th International Workshop on Advances in Cleaner Production, held at Universidad de La Costa, Barranquilla, Colombia on 21–22 June 2018. Based upon the examination of the papers of this Virtual Special Issue, the authors were able to establish that there is an pressing need for research on the assessment on which/when cleaner production interventions are more effective; inter and multidisciplinary cooperation among social and technical scientists to distinguish and address the cleaner production/sustainable development goals interactions and connect cleaner production solutions and large-scale sustainability approaches.
... The development of sustainable manufacturing models is necessarily linked to energy production (European Commission, 2020a). An increasing power generation from renewable resources like sun, biomasses and water certainly contributes to the transition from a fossil fuel economy to a renewable energy economy (Giannetti et al., 2020). Global warming is the most severe threat that humankind has to face shortly (Biermann et al., 2022), and the reduction of fossil fuels that generate greenhouse emissions cannot be postponed anymore (Adedoyin et al., 2022;Caferra et al., 2021;Calabrese et al., 2021). ...
Photovoltaic (PV) panels have a crucial role in coping with the global warming mitigation and the energetic crisis currently affecting the European Community. However, from the circular perspective of end-of-life (EoL) management, there are still big issues to be solved in order to recover materials from this kind of e-wastes. Because of several reasons (e.g. type of embedded materials, illegal shipments, location of manufacturers) EoL businesses do not have the interest in approaching them. This poses a significant environmental concern in terms of their management. This work wants to assess the profitability of a specific PV module recycling plant, by evaluating several market contexts in which multiple scenarios of material price, investment and process costs will be considered. The results for a 3000 tonnes plant show that profitability is not verified in the absence of an avoided landfill cost. Instead, when a value of 200 €/tonnes is applied, the net present value is positive in 35.2% of the scenarios and at 87.6% when a value of 350 €/tonnes is considered. The policy choice of this value requires linking the PV module disposal fee to the circular benefits associated with its recovery.
... ◄ SDGs can only be achieved via solid global partnerships and collaboration. According to Giannetti et al. (2020), the statement by United Nations regarding the SDGs consists of crucial elements that are connected to a solid sustainability vision which are (i) acknowledging the significance of both people and the earth; (ii) acknowledging that time is a significant factor and that short-term, medium-term, and long-term actions and policies should be taken into account strategically; and (iii) acknowledge that the economy, the environment, and society served as significant sources of capital for sustainability. His finding indicates that the SDGs only partially discourse the environment as a resource provider and its biophysical boundaries. ...
The desire to go even further in eradicating poverty in all aspects, dealing with climate change and eliminating inequalities has established the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2915. The world leader adopted it at the historic UN summit. Malaysia has long sought to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The satisfaction degree of accomplishment of sustainable development the still low. Thus, this paper aims to shed light on the trend of sustainable development goals in Malaysia, which provides the community with information on a council's sustainable development goals. This has concluded Malaysia's three main SDG patterns, including reducing inequalities, climate action, and zero hunger. This study has concluded that the SDGs are crucial for achieving a better quality of life and sustainability. The SDGs' achievement does not solely depend on the government and its responsibility to all stakeholders. It is suggested that the better improvement of SDGs and better achievement, this study argue that government, industry, community and civil society organisations to work together to achieve shared and sustainable prosperity.
... According to the relationship among the main capital forms (environmental, social, and economic), it is possible to obtain "weak", "intermediate", and "strong" sustainability models. In particular, the strong sustainability model implies that different capitals cannot be substituted because they provide different and unique contributions (Giannetti et al., 2020). ...
This study aimed to evaluate the sustainability of a commercial organic broiler production system based on the concept of strong sustainability. Thus, the FIVE SEctors of SUstainability model (5SENSU) under a perspective of Goal Programming philosophy were used and the results were compared to a commercial convencional broiler production system. For the data collection, two case studis were carried out in a representative commercial organic broiler production system (UPrO) and commercial conventional broiler production system (UPc) in the state of São Paulo from October/2020 to June/2021. The environmental and social dimensions were considered as providers of resources for the system and receivers of products and negative externalities. Environmental criteria were performed using the Emergy Synthesis, while economic criteria were performed using calculation models based on Economic theory. Furthermore, social criteria were performed using data collected on a farm. In the end, the broiler production system sustainability was compared using a general sustainability index by means of the Goal Programming philosophy. The results show a trade-off between animal welfare and economic and environmental costs. The lower stocking density in UPrO raised the animal welfare by providing more area/animal, but increased the resource consumption, GHG emission and the production cost. However, when social results were considered, UPrO showed more pathways to achieve a more sustainable commercial broiler production, as shown by the general sustainability index (43.2 and 49.4 for UPrO and UPc, respectively).
... Sustainable goals are as cross-cutting as they are specific, making it necessary to adopt methods that can aggregate them [34,35]. The literature shows that ranking among different alternatives is likely to increase both awareness and accountability toward achieving the SDGs [36,37]. ...
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have the ambitious goal of protecting the planet, eradicating poverty and providing peace and prosperity for all citizens. The challenge is certainly very ambitious and it is necessary to monitor progress toward these SDGs over time. This work is based on the multi-criteria decision analysis and aims to build a framework that can be replicated. A necessary condition for this aim is that the data are available and that they are as recent as possible. This work is based on 28 targets with data mainly from 2019 to 2020 and related to Italian regions. The results show that Trentino Alto Adige and Valle d’Aosta have the best performance and, in general, the northern territory has several realities that perform positively toward the SDGs. Important results are also present at the level of central Italy (in particular Marche and Toscana), while at the southern level the situation is not flourishing, with the sole exception of Abruzzo. The policy implications thus drive the need for targeted green investments for southern regions, projects that nationally promote the “green, bio and circular Made in Italy” brand that can enhance territorial distinctiveness, and the necessary collaboration among regions to be poles of excellence based on available resources and skills.
... Since the publication of the agenda in 2015, most critical literature focused on the second and third parts of the documentwhat and how. For example, on the capitalistic and neoliberal character of the goals (Carroll and Jarvis, 2015;Mediavilla and Garcia-Arias, 2019;Weber, 2017); on the difficulty of measuring the achievements (Fukuda-Parr, 2019;Kapto, 2019;MacFeely, 2019;Ordaz, 2019); on the ambiguity ofand the contradictions betweenthe goals and targets (Adelman, 2017;Fletcher and Rammelt, 2017;Giannetti et al., 2020;Kedir et al., 2017;Koehler, 2016;Soederberg, 2017); and on the problems that the coordination proposed by the agenda generates (Novitz and Pieraccini, 2020;Pingeot, 2016;Saner et al., 2017;Scheyvens et al., 2016). The research analysing the implementation of the agenda and the achievement of the goals and targets in specific contexts (e.g. ...
This article analyses the marginal position cultural diversity is granted in the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development. Drawing on the work of Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida, it analyses and deconstructs the ontological assumptions of the UN's discourse. The inquiry shows that the ontological structure of the UN's agenda creates an essentialist and teleological understanding of history that privileges universality – unity – at the expense of diversity. In this way, the UN's plan of action reproduces what Ernesto Laclau defined as hegemony – a particularity assuming the representation of the totality. The 2030 Agenda naturalises the international power structure designed after World War II and presents it as beneficial for everyone. The article concludes that the 2030 Agenda's ontological assumptions create an inherently ethnocentric understanding of global issues.
... The discussion in the literature on the effects of climate change on sustainable development has therefore become very heated (Kazemi et al., 2018;Kristensen and Mosgaard, 2020), as we can observe in the research and analysis of the factors that can affect the transition process to technologies aimed at cleaner production has grown over the years (Matsumoto, 2019;Mi et al., 2019). There are studies focusing attention on the construction of appropriate indicators relating to climate change (Perkins et al., 2018;Zhang et al., 2020) and other papers exploring specific sectors, such as energy or agriculture (Peng et al., 2019;Repar et al., 2017), which represented an important role in explaining some important features, but they cannot explore the difficult causal impact of carbon emissions on the land use technology, by taking into due account the labor and physical capital inputs, declared very important in each production stage (Song et al., 2018;Franco and Borras, 2019) and by evidencing that the land use technology assumes an important role for industrial structure of countries (Giannetti et al., 2020;Neto et al., 2018). ...
The objective of the analysis is to investigate the production efficiency in the USA and Europe through the channel of knowledge spillovers from technological innovation in the agricultural sector. Since the empirical evidence concerning the climate change effects on the production efficiency is yet weak, the paper further contributes to the literature attempting to bridge this gap. To this end, the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) empirical methodology and Tobit regression are developed on the basis of a sector-based panel data set over the time period of 2002–2017. In particular, the empirical results evidenced a negative effect of land use spillovers on efficiency indicator for American firms and a positive effect for European ones. The study findings are innovative and invaluable to generate policy implications for the investigated country governments particularly in terms of developing industrial strategy instruments in the agricultural field: Government is supposed to establish the special funds to encourage the firms to expand innovation activities in their own production process and the investment of R&D is expected to increase, which can further improve the productivity and reduce the reliability of knowledge spillovers. Finally, it is important that the results are scalable, and the model could be extended also to developing countries.
... Even if all the SDG indicators were to be easily measured by all countries in the world, they would not provide a good measure of sustainable wellbeing due to omission of some important measures, misspecification of others, and an overall unbalanced distribution of social, environmental, and economic factors (Aksoy & Bayram Arlı, 2020;Costanza, Daly, et al., 2016;Giannetti et al., 2020). For example, although goal 10 is "Reduce Inequality," the indicators associated with this goal do not translate into capturing progress toward reducing inequality, particularly within countries (Winkler & Satterthwaite, 2017). ...
In 2015, all 193 member states of the United Nations (UN) adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These 17 goals, 169 targets, and 232 indicators (including over 650 indicators if all the subdivisions are included) are intended to guide and improve sustainable wellbeing and life satisfaction for everyone on earth. Challenges include the fact that many indicators are not measured or reliably tracked in many countries, the cost of tracking is unclear, and no explicit overarching goal exists. To highlight some of the problems with this approach, we model life satisfaction (LS) survey scores by country, as a proxy for overall wellbeing, as the dependent variable against the official 232 SDG indicators. Using a constrained linear regression approach (LASSO), we identify a model that includes only 8 of the 232 indicators and explains 84% of the variation in LS. These eight indicators are proxies for economic, social, and environmental variables. We also cluster countries according to these indicators and LS showing correlation within geographical and cultural regions. We discuss these results with regard to the meaning and measurement of sustainable development vs. sustainable wellbeing and its relationship with LS and the SDGs. We recommend how these results can be used to prioritize goals and measurement efforts to create more meaningful and useful measures of sustainable wellbeing.
... Since then, it is commonplace to find extensive literature on sustainability university within the context of education, research and campus operations (Menon and Suresh, 2020). Different elements for a sustainable university have been noted in the literature, including policy, evaluation and sustainable curricular design (Lukman and Glavi c, 2007;Van Weenen, 2000;Giannetti et al., 2020) and a large number of papers examining the reduction of energy and material consumption in or by university campuses have been published (Almeida et al., 2013;Oliveira et al., 2018). ...
Purpose
Students play an unequivocal role in sustainable universities as they are theorized to embody the mission of a sustainable university through a sustainable lifestyle and spread sustainability practices during their professional careers. Despite this, it is not well known how or why students come to embody a sustainable lifestyle. This study aims to better understand the relationship between happiness, academic achievement and sustainability behaviors among the student population in a Mexican higher education institution.
Design/methodology/approach
In a questionnaire study, engineering and psychology university students at a large public university in northwestern Mexico answered questions regarding their environmental sustainability behaviors, happiness and academic performance. A stratified random sampling technique was used to obtain the sample population that best represents the entire population. After chi-square tests, it was confirmed that the three variables were independent of one another. Therefore, a series of correspondence analyses were conducted to examine clusters or patterns that could indicate relationships among the three variables.
Findings
The main finding from this work was that the happiest and most academically astute participants were only slightly environmentally sustainable or not sustainable at all. The lack of environmental sustainability in students from one of the most top-rank sustainable universities in Mexico does not align with previous sustainability reports. External factors to the university, such as cultural values and extreme weather conditions, may have influenced students’ sustainability behaviors.
Research limitations/implications
As with any other questionnaire study, the provided data is subject to interpretation, judgment and bias. In addition, the environmental and happiness index used in this study are not free of criticizing, and some author had disputed its efficacy. Finally, this study’s findings did not determine any causality or directionality between any of the latent variables. However, causality and directionally between environmental sustainability-happiness and happiness-academic performance have to be found in both directions.
Practical implications
Despite the unsustainability of students in this study, this study has several contributions. First, it provides an evaluation of a sustainable university from the perspectives and behaviors of students. The views of students as they relate to the complexities and visions of a sustainable university have remained relatively underexamined. Second, these analyses point to specific sustainability-oriented challenges and inadvertent barriers (e.g. extreme weather patterns) toward the embodiment of a sustainable lifestyle. These challenges and barriers suggest that sustainable universities need to address the dynamic changes inherent in sustainable development. Finally, this study indicates that the link between happiness, academic performance and sustainability may be more complicated and driven by cultural and structural barriers. The issue of barriers, as they relate to sustainability behaviors, is highly relevant and presents important opportunities and questions for future research.
Originality/value
This study provides an evaluation of a sustainable university from the perspectives and behaviors of students. Students’ views as they relate to the complexities and visions of a sustainable university have remained relatively underexamined. Second, these analyses point to specific sustainability-oriented challenges and barriers as they relate to the embodiment of a sustainable lifestyle. These challenges and barriers suggest that sustainable universities need to address the dynamic changes inherent in sustainable development. Finally, this study indicates that the link between happiness, academic performance and sustainability may be more complicated and driven by cultural and structural barriers.
... Segundo os autores, para alcançar uma sustentabilidade forte onde o capital natural suporta o desenvolvimento humano, os indicadores ambientais estão recendo pouca atenção pelos ODSs, colocando em dúvida se seus almejados objetivos poderão realmente ser alcançados. Na mesma linha de pensamenro, Giannetti et al. (2020) Os resultados da Figura 2 evidenciam que a Mandala ODS está priorizando os aspectos sociais para alcançar os objetivos da Agenda 2030. Embora os aspectos sociais são inquestionavelmente fundamentais à sustentabilidade, principalmente em um mundo com crescente desigualdades, entende-se que os aspectos ambientais deveriam receber igual importância, uma vez que o meio ambiente é quem fornece todos os recursos necessários ao desenvolvimento do homem, além de diluir seus resíduos. ...
... Further, it was clear the SDGs were not being routinely embedded or applied in Victorian public decision-making practice and were unlikely to be anytime soon: 'We are, sadly, if you go back 30 years, I believe we are nowhere near as prepared in, in a political frame, in a policy frame to embrace this, I don't think we're anywhere near it' (Senior Official, DELWP). Further, analysis of interviewee and survey free-text responses somewhat parallel the findings of Giannetti et al. (2020) to suggest this limited current and future uptake of the SDGs is likely to be driven by four factors: alignment, complexity, perceived value and commitment, and responsibility. ...
Sustainable development ('SD') is a longstanding internationally accepted and adopted policy concept, but little is known about how well it is understood and applied by public decision-makers. This article enhances that understanding by empirically examining public servant experiences within the State of Victoria, Australia.
Thematic and statistical analyses of 35 semi-structured interviews and 97 online survey responses yield seven key insights: (1) SD is more widely understood than the associated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), although variable understandings exist for both, and participants indicate neither are being widely or consistently implemented; (2) Definitions of SD are inconsistent, and a holistic understanding of the concept is absent within some decision-makers' intuitive thinking, but potential for consensus exists; (3) Applications and interpretations of the polluter pays and precautionary principles of sustainable development are similarly varied; (4) Legislative and institutional structures are likely contributing to the latter findings; (5) Implementation is considerably impacted upon by heuristics and framing; (6) Leadership is recognised as a necessary catalyst for the achievement of the SDGs within Victoria; and, encouragingly, (7) public decision-makers possess many ideas for enhancing intergenerational equity, and overall decision-making effectiveness.
These novel insights illustrate sustainable development is not being consistently considered or achieved by public decision-makers in Victoria, and that solutions can and must be identified and implemented to achieve the 'future we want'.
Article is open access. Available at: doi.org/10.1016/j.crsust.2021.100056
... This allows the use of bitumen emulsion or foamed bitumen so that the mixture can be workable at low temperatures. Both these goals are in line with the 9th sustainable development goal of the United Nations (Giannetti et al., 2020), which aims to build resilient infrastructures, promote sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation to reduce the consumption of resources and energy, sustaining the transition to a more circular economy by 2030. ...
As a response to the reduction of environmental pollution and energy consumption in the maintenance or building of a road pavement, this research aims to provide innovative asphalt mixture solutions when designing asphalt base layers containing solidified Jet Grouting Waste (JGW) particles. This involved adding (or not) solutions made up from Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) obtained by milling old pavements.
The first step focused on a JGW and RAP leaching test before going on to design two non-traditional mixtures: a) a hot asphalt mixture made by replacing 4% of the limestone filler by the total weight of the aggregates with JGW (HMAJ), mixing all of them at a high temperature (160÷180°C), and b) a cold asphalt mixture made by adding 3% JGW as a filler, 70% RAP (CMRAJ), and 27% limestone by the total weight of the aggregates at low temperatures (40÷50°C). These innovative mixtures were investigated from the point of view of engineering performance by ascertaining their physico-mechanical features and environmental impact through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) test. Further comparison with traditional ones was then carried out using a hot mix asphalt (HMA) and a cold mixture made up from RAP, substituting a portion of the limestone aggregates (CMRA). Such mixtures are subject to special tender specification requirements.
Engineering performance assessment showed that, compared with HMA, when JGW is added to both hot and cold mixtures, the ITS is 11% higher for HMAJ and CMRAJ, and cumulative strain is reduced by 17% for HMAJ and 39% for CMRA, while the cold asphalt mixtures (CMRA and CMRAJ) showed greater stiffness levels (on average 50%) at all test temperatures (10, 25, and 40°C).
LCA analysis provided significant results for the solutions being compared. Specifically, use of HMAJ as the base layer helped save 65g/m³ of CO2 compared with HMA, at the same time helping to reduce 29.7kg of CO2eq./m³ global warming potential. On the other hand, the use of CMRA as the base layer, again compared with the HMA, helped save 45g/m³ of phosphorous compound emissions in water. In terms of terrestrial ecotoxicity and human non-carcinogenic toxicity, the best performance was obtained using a CMRAJ mixture, whose indicators showed a 60% reduction compared with the HMA solution base layer.
... Clearly, tourism is not a tangential activity but rather a significant agent of change, modifying economies, landscapes, societies, cultures, and behaviours. It is part of the forces that affect and are affected by the geophysical changes that characterize the Anthropocene (Gren & Huijbens, 2014Giannetti et al., 2020). ...
Humanity has affected almost every ecosystem on Earth; it has even changed how the Earth works, ushering in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. Climate change, biodiversity loss and the growing plastic soup in the oceans are all facets of this new epoch. Tourism is a main force behind the emergence of the Anthropocene and is also greatly impacted by it. To learn to live within the Earth’s bounds requires a paradigm change that transcends the ‘old ways of doing things’. Education offers our best chance of endowing new generations of professionals with the knowledge and skills to bring this paradigm change about, also in tourism. This Special Issue provides examples of methods, tools, and approaches to address environmental challenges and sustainable gaps in tourism education. The collection of articles emphasises the relevance of new technologies, fieldwork, and student involvement as building blocks for new teaching paradigms in response to the environmental challenges and tourism dynamics occurring in the Anthropocene.
... This impact includes the reduction in the indiscriminate use of scarce natural resources (da Costa Maynard et al., 2020) and hunger (Fonseca et al., 2020), and to meet the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs) (B. F. Biagio F. Giannetti et al., 2020;Patala et al., 2020). The research question will be addressed through a multiple case study in six supermarket chains operating in Brazil. ...
This article identifies and analyses green marketing actions towards reducing food waste of short shelf life (SSL) products in retailers to propose mitigations alternatives. The article is based on a multiple case study with selected supermarkets that carry out actions that emphasize the reduction of food waste. The findings identified that both conventional or digitized green marketing actions should be implemented in the following sequence: product, place, price, and promotion. First, products must be divided into items based on retailers’ brand and suppliers’ brand. Such division aims to avoid future problems with the items that bear the supermarket's brand. This division also helps to define the places, prices, and promotions of products with SSL items. Besides, the pricing of items with SSL needs to be dynamic. Careful attention paid to where offers are placed inside stores also contributes to leverage sales, and, as a result, reduce food waste.
... Social capital is perceived as the most relevant across the SDGs [22] and shows the highest value [23] to bring sustainability to livelihoods, environmental conservation, and harmonic coexistence [24]. Additionally, women and men have different economic, and social capital, which influences their interaction with IOM [25]. ...
This paper presents an ontology which encapsulates 6,480 pathways for sustainable social development through innovation of materials (IOM). After reviewing evolution of perceptions on IOM, and their strong links with society and its sustainable development, different dimensions of an ontological framework are identified and deliberated upon leading to the comprehensive ontology. As illustrated by a few examples presented in the paper, the ontology can be applied to develop a roadmap for future research while balancing IOM according to the relevance and potential impact on sustainable social development.
... Sustainability models can support balanced progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Giannetti et al., 2020(Giannetti et al., , 2019, and such models show that increased power generation from renewable sources e such as solar and biomass e can significantly contribute to tackling climate change by promoting the production of clean energy (Benvenuto and de Monte, 1995;Choudhary and Srivastava, 2019;Ferella et al., 2017). Photovoltaic (PV) plants represent one of the most reliable technologies for transforming solar into electric energy . ...
... According to literature, one can observe that environmental conditions may produce a severe effect on the life of modern economies (Yu et al., 2017;Burke et al., 2015;Dell et al., 2014;Hsian et al., 2013) but their effects on economic activity seem inconsistent. Attention to the achievement of environmental sustainability topic was increasing (Aldieri et al., 2019;Awan et al., 2020Awan et al., , 2019Hasan et al., 2019;Cong et al., 2020;Giannetti et al., 2012Giannetti et al., , 2020. There were studies, based on aggregate macroeconomic productivity of developed countries, which reported that their economies did not to respond to temperature (Dell et al., 2012), and there were studies relative to poor countries where their economic structure reacted only linearly (Hsiang, 2010;Dell et al., 2012;Tang et al., 2018;Tol, 2009). ...
This paper explored the extent to which the climate change could affect economic performance for large enterprises in the world through the process of knowledge diffusion in the energy sector. There is a theoretical dichotomy between studies to understand if and how economies react to climate change both at macro and micro level. The economic analysis of climate change effects is important to demonstrate that production is associated to world climate and to implement an opportune framework for modelling the economic damages. In this way, new sustainable strategies for increasing efficiency in the use of energy can be suggested by policy makers. Because of environmental externalities produced by the economic activities of companies, the analysis of technological diffusion processes play a crucial role in analysing the economic impact of the climate change. In this perspective, this paper intends to fill two gaps in the literature: firstly, it sheds more light on the sensitivity of the economic performance of companies to climate change; secondly, it analyses the role of knowledge spillovers in a relevant field of cleaner production, which is that of energy. Indeed, the empirical evidence concerning the climate change effects in energy technology through knowledge spillovers is yet poor. The econometric analysis considered a sector-based panel dataset for the USA, Japan and the following European countries: France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Finland and Denmark, over the time span 2002-2014. The results showed a significant impact of climate change on firms’ productivity and the spillovers play an important role in this process. The findings should have relevant policy implications for each country government in case of development of industrial strategy instruments in cleaner production technology.
As políticas públicas devem ser relevantes para a elaboração e posterior execução das ações das governanças e das demais entidades, no propósito de mitigar os impactos ambientais, dos quais as atividades humanas são preponderantes. Neste sentido, o Tribunal de Justiça de Pernambuco vem assumindo iniciativas sustentáveis através do Plano de Logística Sustentável da instituição. Desta forma, o presente artigo visa analisar as políticas públicas no trato da questão hídrica, dando destaque particular ao Plano de Logística Sustentável do Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de Pernambuco, buscando compreender a relação com os mecanismos legais para aumento da eficiência e eficácia hídrica. A metodologia focou no levantamento documental de âmbito internacional, nacional e estadual, concernente a Acordos, Leis, Decretos e Normas, por meio de leitura crítica. Os Acordos Internacionais liderados pela ONU tornaram-se importantes fomentadores de políticas públicas, no enfrentamento dos fenômenos e fatores que contribuem para a ocorrência da escassez hídrica no mundo. As Leis nacionais e os demais instrumentos infralegais seguiram estes encaminhamentos, buscando adequarem-se à tendência mundial para promover a sustentabilidade hídrica. Já o Tribunal de Justiça de Pernambuco, por meio do Plano de Logística Sustentável, pode ser considerado um caso de benchmarking setorial, mesmo que as iniciativas ainda necessitem de maior aprofundamento nos campos ambiental, social e de governança.
Water and energy are two critical natural resources necessary for human activities and socioeconomic development. Water and energy systems are highly interdependent, and water efficiency and energy efficiency are two related indicators for the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. It is critical to improve energy–water use efficiency to sustain socioeconomic development while reducing adverse effects on natural resources, society and the environment. By using longitudinal energy–water use data for China over the past 21 years, this paper develops a temporo-spatial study to address key issues and introduce analytical approaches needed to understand the water–energy nexus and support integrated resource planning and management to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Decomposition analysis indicates that the production effect was the dominating factor contributing the increase in the country's energy–water use, while energy–water efficiency is the major factor slowing the growth of the country's energy–water use. Changes and trends analyses show that the country's energy intensity, water intensity, and water/energy ratio significantly decreased from 1999 to 2019, but the rate of decline has slowed. The disparities of the country's provincial energy intensities, water intensities, and water/energy ratios significantly decreased with economic growth. Results suggest that improving energy–water efficiency is critical for the country to curb increasing energy and water use and achieve resource and environmental protection targets with rapid economic development. The disparities between regional energy-water efficiencies can be reduced along with economic growth, while an overheated economy can widen the disparities and result in unsustainable and inefficient utilization of resources. Government coordination, targets and policy as part of the efficiency governance system are critical for continuous energy–water efficiency improvement and directly influence the implementation and effectiveness of energy–water efficiency policy.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to achieve a more inclusive, resilient, safe and sustainable society. Policy makers, together with entrepreneurs and citizens, are called to a great challenge to optimize land use. This work, through a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), aims at comparing the sustainability of 103 Italian cities through the evaluation of 45 SDGs’ indicators, ranking cities on the base of their performance. Results show strong disparities across Italy with three northern cities at the top of the ranking and many southern cities at the bottom. The analysis then creates a framework based on experts’ view composed of 21 criteria that would facilitate the development of a sustainability plan. A hybrid methodology based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the 10-point scale is used to rank among the criteria. Selected experts underlined how sustainable policy and green investment are enabling factors of sustainable cities, but political stability and streamlined public spending are also essential to achieve this goal. The analysis offers insights for different categories of stakeholders and invites to measure and monitor the progress of cities towards SDGs proposing eight directions (policy, economy, operations, environment, organization, staff, society and human).
Our research emphasizes the need to explore the importance of cross‐country cultural differences in shaping sustainable development. We employ the fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to analyze cross‐national data, focusing on the relationship between Hofstede's six cultural dimensions and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) index of 82 countries worldwide. The empirical evidence sustains that the culture influences the modalities through which countries reach sustainable development. We identified four configurations of cultural dimensions associated with high levels of sustainability performance. The analysis informs that there are mainly two possible configurations: the first is characterized by low power distance (PDI) and high individualism, while the second is characterized by high PDI and low individualism. Given the existence of multiple modalities for reaching the same goal, we derive some policy implications to advise policymakers and governments on how to improve the sustainable development of their countries, taking into consideration their cultural characteristics.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a shared blueprint to support countries in their pursuit of reconciling economic growth with sustainability. This study considers 35 indicators related to the economic SDGs (SDG 7, SDG 8, SDG 9, SDG 11 and SDG 12) considering available data from 27 European countries in order to identify an aggregate value of sustainability in accordance with the multicriteria analysis. The results obtained make it possible to draw up a ranking in which Sweden comes out on top, ahead of Denmark. Denmark, along with Austria, are the only two countries to perform better than the European average in all 5 SDGs analyzed. In general, northern and western countries outperform other considered countries. The obtained multicriteria aggregate sustainability indicator shows a good linear fit with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. However, Luxembourg and Ireland behave as outliers, showing a high GDP level misaligned from the multicriteria aggregate sustainability indicator. A distinguished characteristic of these countries is the very attractive taxation system, which, as it seems, has succeeded in prompting economic growth yet failing in reconciling it with sustainability objectives. These findings open up to reflections in which growth drivers should be aligned with sustainability targets.
This chapter brings an overview on the Sustainable Development goals and describes the relationships between the SDGs and sustainability. The relationships are discussed along with the potential contributions from the academia for their application. Indicators and the perception of scientists on their ability to reach each SDG are examined in terms of the lack of a scientific model linking the SDGs and sustainability.
This paper presents a low‐cost and scalable method for providing a sustainable water allocation for enterprises based on the hydrological, economic, and demographic contexts of their facilities. Context‐based performance indicators are vital for effectively monitoring and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Currently, the SDGs consist of 17 goals that are associated with 169 targets and 232 indicators. Making valid and objective measurements of the 232 indicators represents a significant challenge for scientists and policy makers. Achieving the SDGs will likely involve significant efforts in developing and sustaining systems for monitoring status and progress, providing incentives, and conducting enforcement. Provision of low‐cost Sustainable Development Performance Indicators (SDPIs) of progress at high spatial and temporal resolution is essential for effective management by governments and businesses. The water allocations we produce are based on a facility's total and consumptive use of water, their contribution to gross domestic product (GDP), their number of full‐time employees, the population and GDP of several geographic contexts, and the annually specific hydrological balance (i.e., precipitation minus evapotranspiration) of those contexts. The allocations and related sustainability assessments are determined for a range of geographic contexts (circular regions centered on the facility with radii of 10, 50, 100, 200, and 300 km respectively). From the hydrological data we give priority to ‘Water for Nature’ and allocate a proportion of the remaining ‘Water for Economy’ to the facility based on their contribution to GDP and the number of full‐time employees they have. This allocation is compared to their actual water withdrawals to provide an indication of the sustainability of their economic activity.
This research utilizes an Object-Oriented Bayesian Network (OOBN) to model the relationships between the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) and resilience and sustainability at national, regional, and global levels. The ability of the OOBN to learn the parameters, i.e., the conditional probability distributions between the variables included in the network, was exploited to explore the impacts of progress of SDGs on the sustainability and resilience of nations. The resulting OOBN is used to examine different situations pertinent to policy analysis and design at the times of disasters, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Three case studies are used to illustrate the step by step process of using the proposed OOBN as well as the expected results of its application in policy analysis and evaluation contexts. The proposed is able to provide insight regarding which SDGs will have more significant impacts on both resilience and sustainability as well as their constituent components. The results of this research indicate how data induced OOBNs can be utilised by policy makers to prioritize new policies and evaluate the impacts of existing policies on both the resilience and sustainability of societies.
Sustainable development goals (SDG) represent one of the pillars of the UN’s 2030 agenda aiming to secure a more sustainable future for all nations. The 17 goals comprising the SDG framework form a transformative action plan that is designed to help nations achieve a more sustainable future focusing on their environmental, social, and economic systems. Achieving the goals within the designated timeframe, however, entails overcoming multiple challenges related to policy design, resources management, and harnessing the synergies and trade-offs among the goals themselves. Recognizing the vital role modeling and simulation can play in facilitating the achievement of the SDG, this paper provides a review of the academic literature published between 2015 and 2021 relating to the models developed to tackle SDG related issues. The main purpose of this review is to explore the modeling practices related to SDG and to determine how aligned those modeling practices are with the priorities of sustainability science. We developed a multi-dimension classification scheme to categorize the models retrieved from the literature based on their main characteristics focusing on characteristics such as the modeling approach used, model uncertainty treatment, model temporal and spatial scales, and which science priority the model focuses on. The results of this research show that most of the models focused on studying policy changes needed to achieve the SDG and monitoring the progress of the SDG. The results also highlight missing important characteristics in SDG models such as cross-scale treatment and advanced uncertainty treatment. While this research can be valuable in informing modelers about the gaps need to be filled in SDG modeling and facilitates the communication between modelers and policy makers, it can be further extended by including an evaluation for the modeling approaches used in SDG contexts as well as adding more characteristics to the model categorization scheme.
The monitoring report on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a global context involves a large number of actors as it represents probably the biggest change that our society is implementing. Actions at all levels, from local, regional and national to the aggregation of multiple countries (e.g. EU 27) are needed to achieve a sustainable future. This work focuses on a national perspective (Italy) where multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is used to measure current performance. A sustainability score for each region is calculated from a set of 175 indicators contained in all 17 SDGs. Additionally, sustainability scores are disaggregated along the three pillars – social (1–5, 10, 16, and 17), environmental (6, 13–15) and economic (7–9, 11, and 12). The results highlight the positive performance of northern regions and, in particular, of Trentino Alto Adige, which ranks first in the two considered scenarios. In addition, the relevance of territorial specificities emerges for which the analysis of individual SDGs shows different leading regions. It is noteworthy to highlight the performance of the environmental sub-group of SDGs in southern regions, in contrast to the social and economic sub-groups. Evidently, policy actions are needed to reduce the long-lasting North/South divide—yet the highlighted heterogeneous sustainability performance along the three dimensions calls for well targeted policy measures necessary to regain competitiveness at a European and global level, without compromising with environmental sustainability.
This exploratory paper investigates how to reduce 25% of the potential perishable processed food disposal (PPFD) in the industrial-retail sector in a specific emerging economy The data were collected through 28 semi�structured interviews with suppliers and supermarket managers in an emerging economy. The findings contribute by revealing a paradox and a symbiosis that can advance the circular economy (CE). This paradox
begins when suppliers reduce their own food disposal by offering benefits to supermarkets, which helps to sell items close to their expiration date. However, these benefits may induce supermarkets to place orders that exceed their sales capacity. When supermarkets do not sell these items before their expiration date, the products tend to
be returned to the supplier, thus reducing the supermarket’s waste but increasing the supplier’s waste. These actions reveal a paradox: reducing PPFD in one link of the supply chain may exacerbate it in another. “Industry�Retail symbiosis” can improve the CE. Such symbiosis emerges when suppliers reduce their margins to offer additional benefits to supermarkets. These additional benefits improve supermarkets’ sales to consumers with
lower purchasing power or to smaller retailers that may use the items immediately, thus avoiding the return of items which are still suitable for human consumption and thereby improving the CE. Future studies could investigate: how to enhance Industry-Retail Symbiosis; what managerial information is required to use tech�nologies to align products, stocks, prices, and stores; how suppliers can best manage the benefits offered to retailers or their partnerships with other suppliers (e.g., a shared sales center to improve symbiosis with re�tailers); and how retailers can best manage alternative sales channels and store managers’ autonomy.
China is an important participant in and practitioner of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By quantitatively comparing policy instruments for implementing sustainable development goals of China, Japan and South Korea at the macro level, it is possible to analyze the lack and conflicts of China's policy instruments for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and to identify policy preferences and priorities for sustainable development. This article uses the content analysis method to build an analytical framework based on policy instruments and the social-economic-ecological dimensions of sustainable development. Through coding statistics, this research analyzes China’s National Plan on Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (NPIASD), the Third National Basic Plan for Sustainable Development 2016-2035 (NBPSD) of South Korea, SDGs Implementation Guiding Principles (SIGP) of Japan. It was found that the current policy arrangements intervene in all aspects of sustainable development and provide various regulations and incentives to achieve SDGs. Compared with South Korea and Japan, symbolic and advisory instruments need to be strengthened in China. South Korea attaches great importance to ecological sustainability, social sustainability dimensions have the most policy instruments in China and Japan. While China’s ecological sustainability dimensions have less proportion of policy instruments than Japan and Korea, a situation that needs adjustment and optimization. In the follow-up policy design and improvement of sustainable development, China should optimize the application structure of policy instruments and allocate policies in different dimensions of sustainable development rationally to give full play to the role and functions of policies.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the United Nations 2030 Agenda emerged in 2015, becoming an unprecedented global compass for navigating extant sustainability challenges. Nevertheless, it still represents a nascent field enduring uncertainties and complexities. In this regard, the interplay between digitalization and sustainability unfolds bright opportunities for shaping a greener economy and society, paving the way towards the SDGs. However, little evidence exists so far, about a genuine contribution of digital paradigms to sustainability. Besides, their role to tackle the SDGs research gaps remains unexplored. Thus, a holistic characterization of the aforementioned topics has not been fully explored in the emerging literature, deserving further research. The article endeavors a twofold purpose: (1) categorizing the main SDGs research gaps; (2) coupled with a critical exploration of the potential contribution of digital paradigms, particularly Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, towards overcoming the aforesaid caveats and pursuing the 2030 Agenda. Ultimately, the study seeks to bridge literature gaps by providing a first-of-its-kind overview on the SDGs and their nexus with digitalization, while unraveling policy implications and future research directions. The methodology has consisted of a systematic holistic review and in-depth qualitative analysis of the literature on the realms of the SDGs and digitalization. Our findings evidence that the SDGs present several research gaps, namely: flawed understanding of complexities and interlinkages; design shortcomings and imbalances; implementation and governance hurdles; unsuitable indicators and assessment methodologies; truncated adoption and off-target progress; unclear responsibilities and lacking coordination; untapped role of technological innovation and knowledge management. Moreover, our results show growing expectations about the added value brought by digitalization for pursuing the SDGs, through novel data sources, enhanced analytical capacities and collaborative digital ecosystems. However, current research and practice remains in early-stage, pointing to ethical, social and environmental controversies, along with policy caveats, which merit additional research. In light of the findings, the authors suggest a first-approach exploration of research and policy implications. Results suggest that further multidisciplinary research, dialogue and concerted efforts for transformation are required. Reframing the Agenda, while aligning the sustainable development and digitalization policies, seems advisable to ensure a holistic sustainability. The findings aim at guiding and stimulating further research and science-policy dialogue on the promising nexus amid the SDGs and digitalization.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, got by each United Nations Member States in 2015, gave a common framework to amicability and flourishing for people and the planet, by then and into what's to come. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are a basic call for action by all countries-made and making-in an overall association. This study describes the understanding of all 17 sustainable development goals in detail and observed that fulfillment desperation and various hardships must go inseparable with philosophies that improve prosperity and guidance, decline irregularity, and push financial advancement-all while taking care of natural change and endeavoring to spare our oceans and boondocks. To make the 2030 Agenda a reality, wide responsibility for SDGs must convert into a solid duty by all partners to actualize the worldwide objectives. Regular monitoring and accountability will be essential to sustain policy focus and funding for the broad and complex SGDs agenda.
The UN’s Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) are the most significant global effort so far to advance global sustainable development. Bertelsmann Stiftung and the sustainable development solutions network released an SDG index to assess countries’ average performance on SDGs. Ranking high on the SDG index strongly correlates with high per person demand on nature (or “Footprints”), and low ranking with low Footprints, making evident that the SDGs as expressed today vastly underperform on sustainability. Such underperformance is anti-poor because lowest-income people exposed to resource insecurity will lack the financial means to shield themselves from the consequences. Given the significance of the SDGs for guiding development, rigorous accounting is essential for making them consistent with the goals of sustainable development: thriving within the means of planet Earth.
Identifying and quantifying planetary boundaries that must not be transgressed could help prevent human activities from causing unacceptable environmental change, argue Johan Rockström and colleagues.
In a 2014 issue of Nature, members of our research group called for abandoning the gross domestic product as the key indicator in economic policymaking. In this new article, we argue that a new post–gross domestic product economy focusing on wellbeing rather than material output is already emerging in the Anthropocene, thanks to the convergence of policy reforms and economic shifts. At the policy level, the Sustainable Development Goals require policymakers to protect ecosystems, promote greater equality, and focus on long-term equitable development. At the economy level, the provision of services has outpaced industrial production as the key driver of prosperity, with innovative business models optimizing the match between supply and demand and giving rise to a burgeoning “sharing economy”, which produces value to people while reducing output and costs. The economic transformation already underway is, however, delayed by an obsolete system of measurement of economic performance still dominated by the gross domestic product–based national accounts, which rewards the incumbent and disincentives the new. We show that a different approach to measuring wellbeing and prosperity is the “missing link” we need to connect recent evolutions in policy and the economy with a view to activating a sustainable development paradigm for a good Anthropocene.
Monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is an important challenge and strategic opportunity for stakeholders and beneficiaries involved with Agenda 2030 at all levels. To monitor progress across a diverse set of goals with multiple targets and indicators and to track overall progress, Jeffrey Sachs and associates have developed the SDG Index. Although their index is robust and permits comparisons across countries, it neglects the ‘balanced’ and ‘integrated’ nature of the SDGs (set out in Transforming Our World), and exhibits well-known problems associated with the use of an arithmetic mean (which assumes perfect substitution between dimensions). To overcome these difficulties, this
paper introduces an adjusted ‘Integrated Sustainable Development Index’ (I-SDI) that can take account of trade-offs and synergies between goals and targets as well as across the economic, social and environmental spheres of sustainable development. This is accomplished by introducing a new aggregation method based on the Multidimensional Synthesis of Indicators (MSI) approach. This approach overcomes well-known problems associated with replacing the arithmetic mean with the geometric mean (a difficulty encountered by the post-2010 HDI). Specifically, it makes an allowance for the heterogeneity of dimensions, while avoiding the tendency of the geometric mean to collapse to zero. In this paper, the I-SDI scores and rankings are compared with those generated by the SDG Index and the geometric mean. Moreover, to capture the heterogeneity within goals, the I-SDI2 is introduced (which applies the MSI method within as well as between goals). By taking account of heterogeneity within and between goals as well as across the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, and by capturing synergies and trade-offs among indicators, our study reveals crucial differences in I-SDI scores and rankings that illustrate the value of a more flexible and integrated measure for guiding policymakers and monitor overall progress.
Sustainability assessment is a fundamental step to support decisions towards sustainable development, and several procedures to assess the sustainability of antrophic production systems have been suggested. However, most of them lack a scientific-based construct supporting their conceptual model of sustainability, which usually results in a choice of indicator(s) without criterion that can best represent a fraction of the larger and deeper concept of sustainability. This work proposes a novel framework, named Sustainability Assessment Procedure for Operations and Production Processes (SUAPRO), supported by the PDCA four-step management method (plan, do, check, and act) and the five sectors sustainability (5SEnSU) model. Grounded on scientific bases, SUAPRO provides the steps for a sustainability assessment, including its contextualization (objectives, functional unit, boundaries, energy diagram), the choice of indicators based on the 5SEnSU model, the quantification step including goal programming as a multicriteria tool, and conclude the first cycle with a sensitivity analysis. To illustrate an application of SUAPRO, the road and railroad transportation options for soybean in Brazil are considered as a case study. Results show that the railroad mode has better performance as for the Sustainability Synthetic Indicator (SSIS of 3.6 ± 0.4) than the road mode (SSIS of 4.0 ± 0.3). Towards a SSIS improvement, the sensitivity analysis highlights that public policies or even private actions should be mainly focused on reducing the emergy invested in the railroad system, while the road transportation option claims effort in reducing its global warming and acidification potentials. SUAPRO is the main contribution in this work, as it tries to overcome shortcomings as usually found in scientific papers aiming to assess the sustainability of antrophic systems. The subjectivity inherent in any multicriteria method is present as the main limitation, thus all criteria used in choosing weights must be clearly presented.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a detailed dashboard of goals, targets and indicators. In this paper we investigate alternative methods to relate the SDGs to overall measures of sustainable wellbeing that can motivate and guide the process of global societal change. We describe what a Sustainable Wellbeing Index (SWI) that connects with and complements the SDG dashboard might look like. We first investigate several options for how to construct such an index and then discuss what is needed to build consensus around it. Finally, we propose linking the SDGs and our SWI with a comprehensive systems dynamics model that can track stocks and flows and make projections into the future under different policy scenarios.
Principles that appear to govern all systems including human societies were used to consider the time of economic descent ahead. These include the energy laws, the emergy concept, the maximum empower principle, the universal energy hierarchy, the conservation and hierarchical distribution of materials, the spatial organization of centers, and the pulsing paradigm. Population and cities, energy consumption and climate change, agriculture and environment, information and electric power, capitalism and economic policies, structures and materials, human life and standard of living are dealt with in this paper as interconnected aspects of the same problem, i.e. the necessary descent phase of human economies, due to decreasing resource base. We expect much of the resource use, culture and public policy appropriate for the growth period to be replaced with a new set of ethics and policies affecting each scale of time and space during descent. Decisive changes in attitudes and practices can divert a destructive collapse, leading instead to a prosperous way down.
This insightful book explores the limits of the two opposing paradigms of sustainability in an accessible way. It examines the availability of natural resources for the production of consumption goods and services, and the environmental consequences of economic growth. The critical forms of natural capital in need of preservation given risk, uncertainty and ignorance about the future are also examined. The author provides a critical discussion of measures of sustainability. As indicators of weak sustainability, he analyses Genuine Savings and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare, also known as the Genuine Progress Indicator. Indicators of strong sustainability covered include ecological footprints, material flows, sustainability gaps and other measures, which combine the setting of environmental standards with monetary valuation.
Sustainable Development Goals and the EU: Uncovering the Nexus between External and Internal Policies
- M Kettunen
- C Bowyer
- L Vaculova
- C Charveriat
Kettunen, M., Bowyer, C., Vaculova, L., Charveriat, C., 2018. Sustainable Development Goals and the EU: Uncovering the Nexus between External and Internal
Policies, Think2030 Discussion Paper, IEEP Brussels. www.think2030.eu.
EESC Hearing on Civil Society Indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals
- L F Mortensen
Mortensen, L.F., 2018. EESC Hearing on Civil Society Indicators for the Sustainable
Development Goals. European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark.
www.eesc.europa.eu.
Our Ecological Footprint e Reducing Human Impact on the Earth
- M Wackernagel
- W E Rees
Wackernagel, M., Rees, W.E., 1996. Our Ecological Footprint e Reducing Human
Impact on the Earth. New Solutions Publishers, USA.
Strong Institutions 17. Partnerships for the Goals
- Justice Peace
Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
17. Partnerships for the Goals.
Credit author statement
United Nations sustainable development goals platform. https:// sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu¼1300
- Un-Sdgs
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