Aviation accounts for roughly two to three percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and its full climate impact—including high-altitude effects such as contrail-induced cirrus and nitrogen oxide chemistry—may be substantially larger. As mandatory sustainability disclosure expands across major economies—through European Union reporting requirements, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) climate baseline, the GHG Protocol, and international aviation schemes such as CORSIA—organisations face a practical problem: the proliferation of calculation methodologies produces materially different emissions estimates for the same flight, undermining comparability and auditability. This study asks which aviation greenhouse gas methodologies best support transparent, assurance-oriented corporate disclosure, and what drives the divergence in reported results. We assess ten widely used or policy-relevant methodologies through a three-part design: a structured documentation review with explicit version locking; controlled computations over standardised short-, medium-, and long-haul flight profiles under each method's native assumptions for the eight methodologies with publicly reproducible factors; and a documentation-based multi-criteria analysis scoring transparency, boundary clarity, non-carbon-dioxide treatment, data granularity, and auditability on a four-point ordinal scale, with a double-coded protocol and sensitivity analysis. Estimates converge at short range but diverge markedly beyond about five thousand kilometres, driven primarily by lifecycle boundary choice (tank-to-wake versus well-to-wake) and by how non-carbon-dioxide effects are represented; methods including upstream fuel-chain emissions and a radiative forcing multiplier report systematically higher totals. The analysis reveals no universal link between documentation quality and emission level: higher scores coincide with higher estimates only when driven by boundary completeness. We therefore propose a minimum-viable reporting schema—explicit energy-scope declaration, documented non-carbon-dioxide treatment with sensitivity disclosure, versioned emission factors, and traceable allocation rules—enabling comparability without mandating a single tool. We do not claim physical accuracy: some implementations are partly proprietary, and airline fuel-burn ground truth is unavailable.
Environmental degradation and resource depletion from industrial activities have positioned sustainability as a critical strategic priority for organizations globally. While technological innovation and regulatory compliance remain important, organizational environmental performance increasingly depends on the collective actions of employees across all hierarchical levels. Employee green behavior, encompassing both required workplace activities and voluntary initiatives directed toward environmental sustainability, has emerged as a primary driver of organizational environmental outcomes. Green Human Resource Management practices that integrate environmental objectives into recruitment, training, performance appraisal, and reward systems have been identified as key mechanisms for fostering such behaviors. However, existing research predominantly employs variable-centered approaches that examine average effects, potentially obscuring meaningful heterogeneity in how employees engage with sustainability initiatives. This study addresses this gap by applying latent class analysis to identify distinct patterns of employee green behavior among automotive manufacturing workers in Turkey. Drawing on survey data from two hundred seventy-nine employees across three industrial regions, the analysis examined five behavioral dimensions: energy conservation, waste management, sustainable commuting, eco-initiatives, and eco-helping. A four-class solution emerged, consisting of Comprehensive Green Performers (22.2 percent), Traditional Conservers (34.8 percent), Passive Participants (30.5 percent), and non-engagers (12.5 percent). Multinomial logistic regression revealed that organizational factors, particularly environmental training, management support, and green human resource management practices, served as the strongest predictors of class membership, explaining substantial variance and exerting stronger effects than demographic characteristics. Validation analyses demonstrated that class membership was associated with significant differences in environmental attitudes, knowledge, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. These findings underscore the heterogeneous nature of workplace environmental engagement and highlight the importance of tailoring interventions to distinct employee segments rather than implementing universal programs that assume behavioral homogeneity.
Coffee is a major source of value creation in many developing countries, yet it is associated with significant sustainability challenges. In this context, Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) has highlighted the need for a deeper understanding of cause-and-effect relationships, particularly regarding social sustainability outcomes. Against this background, this study investigates the social impact pathway linking the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (SAP) to farmers’ well-being in coffee production systems.The research builds upon the S-LCA framework and integrates the Theory of Planned Behaviour to identify factors influencing farmers’ adoption of SAP. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is employed to analyse the relationships between behavioural determinants, SAP adoption and perceived well-being. Expert consultations further support the contextual interpretation of the results.The findings indicate that both attitude and perceived behavioural control are positively associated with the adoption of SAP and with improvements in farmers’ well-being. Also, socio-demographic factors significantly influence both behavioural patterns and well-being outcomes. Expert consultations reveal that socio-cultural dynamics help explain several context-specific correlations identified by the SEM analysis.By integrating behavioural theory and statistical modelling into S-LCA, the study advances the operationalisation of Type II social impact pathways. The findings also provide valuable insights for decision-making and capacity building initiatives aimed at promoting SAP adoption in coffee production. More broadly, the study sheds light on socio-ecological trade-offs inherent in agricultural sustainability and offers practical implications for coffee cooperatives and policymakers seeking to maximise positive impacts on farmers’ well-being.
The integration of Artificial Intelligence into the cosmetics industry has predominantly focused on personalization, marketing, and supply chain optimization. However, its potential to drive sustainable innovation in product development and packaging remains underexplored. Furthermore, existing studies don't adequately consider the relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the areas of industry innovation and infrastructure (SDG9), responsible consumption and production (SDG12), and climate action (SDG13). This review investigates the current and emerging applications of AI in sustainable product formulation, packaging, branding and labelling along with key practical and theoretical limitations, and directions of future research required to unlock AI's potential for sustainable developments within the cosmetics industry. Also, this study aims to highlighting how AI-enabled innovation can support SDGs through sustainable industry development, responsible production, and climate action by explicitly embedding SDG 9, SDG 12, and SDG 13 within its research framework. The undertaken study synthesizes findings from 51 peer-reviewed articles and systematic review methodology by using PRISMA and meta-analysis. The originality of this review lies in its interdisciplinary approach to include triangulated theoretical perspective by linking Resource Based View (RBV) for competitive advantage, Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) for fostering innovation adoption and communication, and Innovation Systems (IS) enabling sustainable innovations through a collaborative network while proposing a multidimensional research framework along with an actionable framework reflecting SDGs-based outcome and concrete future research agenda. The comprehensive research framework systematically maps how emerging AI technologies, such as generative AI and reinforcement learning, can be strategically integrated across key stages of sustainable product development from formulation and packaging to branding to accelerate the transition to a sustainable economy. The conclusion shows a pivotal role in advancing SDGs 9, 12, and 13, each representing a vital facet towards a sustainable future. By clarifying the role of AI in accelerating eco-innovation, and by offering concrete limitations, this review contributes to both the academic discourse and the practical advancement of sustainability in the beauty industry.
Digital Product Passports are intended to disclose sustainability information along product value chains, supporting sustainable product management and enabling circular value chains. However, whereas environmental aspects are widely represented in current passport conceptualizations, social issues remain insufficiently integrated, creating a critical gap for electric vehicle batteries. This study addresses that gap by identifying and prioritizing social data point requirements for a Digital Battery Passport for electric vehicle batteries and by introducing the concept of a social sustainability delta to reveal misalignments between regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations. A multi-method design was employed, combining a systematic literature review and five expert workshops, with qualitative content analysis used to synthesize and triangulate findings across three stakeholder perspectives: policymakers, researchers, and industry experts. The results indicate that current regulations emphasize narrow social disclosures (e.g., responsible sourcing) while omitting salient issues across the battery value chain. Stakeholders consistently prioritize worker health and safety, labour rights, fair wages, and community engagement, with marked differences among perspectives captured by the social sustainability delta. The study provides targeted social data point requirements for inclusion in a Digital Battery Passport and clarifies their implications for governance and practice. The findings inform the conceptualization of Digital Product Passports and Digital Battery Passports, support sustainable product management in electric vehicle battery value chains, and advance the social sustainability discourse by identifying context-sensitive priorities across stakeholder groups. Ultimately, integrating these social data points into a Digital Battery Passport contributes to more holistic and socially responsible management of electric vehicle battery value chains.
Although the circular economy in construction has attracted growing scholarly attention, limited empirical research has examined how circular economy principles are implemented at the project level through sustainable project management, particularly in rapidly transforming construction markets. Moreover, most empirical research has been conducted in Western countries and the awareness of circular economy and sustainable project management in the Gulf region remains limited. Therefore, their implementation in resource-dependent regions such as the Gulf region shows a critical gap in both research and practice. This study addresses this gap by exploring the implementation of circular economy principles through sustainable project management strategy in construction projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A qualitative research design with an inductive approach based on ten semi-structured expert interviews was adopted. The findings reveal a strong contradiction between the circular economy vision and its implementation at the project level. The main barriers include limited awareness of circular economy and sustainable project management, client-dominated decision structures, limited authority of consultants and contractors, reliance on conventional project management and procurement approaches, low stakeholder involvement, and a lack of incentives and capabilities to implement circular practices. The study concludes that advancing circular economy implementation in construction projects requires awareness, expertise and a shift from traditional linear project management toward more collaborative and sustainability-oriented project management approaches. The paper contributes to research on the implementation of circular economy and sustainable project management by showing critical gaps and offering suggestions for their implementation in construction projects within rapidly transforming, resource-dependent economies.
The circular economy (CE) is increasingly recognised as being relevant to climate-change mitigation and investor-oriented disclosure. However, despite the substantive links of the CE to climate-transition issues (e.g. material-related emissions, regulatory exposure, and technology pathways) prior research has paid limited attention to how firms connect CE initiatives to climate-related risks and opportunities. Therefore, this study examines how companies position the CE in climate reporting and what this positioning reveals about strategy, risk management, and accountability under the financial-materiality lens. Using a mixed-methods design, we analyse disclosures from fifty-three chemical-industry firms supporting the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. Quantitatively, we apply structural topic modelling with low-dimensional mapping to identify the thematic location of the CE; qualitatively, we conduct targeted textual analysis and case reviews to assess the substance of CE–climate linkages. Three main findings emerge. First, climate narratives are risk-heavy, whereas CE is framed predominantly as an opportunity with limited discussions of CE-related risks. Second, although firms emphasise collaboration among diverse stakeholders, the disclosed CE activities are technologically narrow. Third, while many firms link the CE to business strategy, integration with climate- or sustainability-transition strategies—especially through environmental-impact assessment such as LCA—remains limited. The results clarify where CE contributes substantively to climate communication and where disclosure practices are lacking, offering benchmarks for report preparers, guidance for stakeholder collaboration, and reference points for improving the comparability and credibility of CE-related climate reporting.
Global concerns over climate change have intensified the pressure on firms to enhance transparent environmental reporting. Climate change is recognized as a complex challenge for corporate governance, leading to the comprehensive exploration of its dynamics and impact on the accounting profession. However, comprehensive studies that investigate the history of climate change disclosure and its impact on accounting practices, including the role of the accounting profession, remain limited. Therefore, this study addresses this gap. It adopts a systematic literature review approach based on Scopus data and international reports. The results show that dynamic development has been observed over the past two decades. Additionally, pressure and regulation are the main factors influencing the transformation of disclosure toward a more structured and strategic reporting system. Both factors cause the accounting profession to perform administrative functions and support sustainable business decisions. This research proves that addressing climate change should not be left solely to companies. Instead, it requires collaborative actions from the government, the private sector, the accounting profession, and civil society.
Sustainable value creation (SVC), while increasingly prioritized, remains challenging for large manufacturing firms because it requires balancing environmental responsibility, economic performance, and social well-being. Meeting these expectations demands a clear understanding of regulatory requirements, market dynamics, and environmental conditions in a cost-effective and reliable manner. Open data (OD) or Open Governmental Data (OGD), referring to publicly accessible and reusable free datasets, offers a potential solution that industrial firms can draw upon to support strategic and operational decisions. Although few studies acknowledge the benefits of OD, there is limited understanding of how firms actually use it in practice for SVC. To address this gap, this study identifies seven industrial practices, spanning strategic and economic imperatives, social-environmental responsibility, and regulatory and operational activities, through which large manufacturers leverage OD to improve SVC. The analysis is based on 27 in-depth interviews from 11 leading Indian manufacturing firms, complemented by a validatory focus group. The study contributes theoretically to sustainability and OD literature by demonstrating how OD supports all three dimensions of sustainability and extends its influence beyond firm boundaries to shape sustainability performance across supply chains. It also offers managerial guidance on integrating OD-based practices to report progress towards SDGs. For policymakers, the study provides insights to strengthen the design and relevance of OD platforms, ensuring better alignment between OD providers and industrial users.
The Circular Economy has emerged as a key strategy for reducing resource consumption and environmental impacts across industries, and understanding the end-of-life processes of products is essential in this transition. In the European heavy-duty vehicle sector, products are highly resource intensive yet long-lived, typically undergoing several use phases under different owners and frequently being exported before reaching their end-of-life. This fragmented lifecycle limits manufacturers’ insights into where their products ultimately end up and how they are treated at the end of their service life. The new End-of-Life Vehicle Directive proposed by the European Commission requires heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers to provide a take-back infrastructure for end-of-life vehicles and ensure their proper treatment. To meet these new obligations, a detailed understanding of how heavy-duty vehicles are dismantled and how their components and materials are currently managed at the end-of-life is necessary. Thus, this study analyzes the disassembly process of a long-haul truck and performs an analysis of its components and materials. A complete vehicle disassembly was carried out in an original equipment manufacturer workshop, complemented by interviews with mechanics and vehicle design experts. The material and component flows were mapped and evaluated to identify opportunities for reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling. The results show that 58% of the vehicle mass can be directly reused or remanufactured, while 33% is recyclable. The findings demonstrate a high suitability for circular strategies in the HDV sector but also reveal significant challenges in technical feasibility, lifecycle considerations during product development, and economic viability.
Coastal communities are facing increased risks due to climate change, as evidenced by heightened shocks such as hurricanes and wildfires, and stressors including sea-level rise and drought. To confront these risks, many coastal communities are planning and designing their built environments in new ways, with the overall goal of increasing their resilience. However, resilience practices have been widely guided by an event-based timeframe, which may not be sufficient to confront the multiple and overlapping threats expected over the coming decades. To address this concern, this study investigated a long-term perspective on resilience progression, termed resilience maturity. To better understand resilience maturity in practice, this study drew directly on community perspectives, thereby identifying common challenges. Furthermore, variation in resilience maturity across communities provided an opportunity to identify existing successful strategies. Inductive qualitative analysis was used to examine perspectives from 15 interviews with local practitioners across 12 coastal communities. The analysis revealed that communities in early stages of resilience maturity often struggle with local stakeholder alignment and minimal dedicated resilience resources. In contrast, those further along the maturity path often face technology barriers and challenges in aligning regional stakeholders. Few examples of a fully mature resilience culture were found within the communities studied, underscoring systemic barriers to achieving advanced resilience maturity. Overall, these findings supported development of a practical framework for classifying community resilience efforts, identifying common obstacles, and informing localized resilience advancement.
Manufacturing firms in emerging economies face growing pressure to improve their environmental performance while maintaining competitive positions. In this context, organizational capabilities related to human resources management and learning processes become particularly relevant. This study examined how green human resource management contributes to environmental performance and green competitiveness through organizational learning culture and employees’ environmental commitment. Drawing on dynamic capabilities theory, an integrated model was proposed to explain how learning-oriented human resource practices are translated into environmental and competitive outcomes through employee-level behavioral mechanisms. The model was empirically tested using survey data collected from manufacturing firms in Colombia and examined through partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results show that green human resource management strengthens organizational learning culture, which in turn fosters employees’ environmental commitment and enhances environmental performance. While organizational learning culture does not exert a direct effect on green competitiveness, its influence is fully transmitted through employees’ environmental commitment and environmental performance. These findings extend the dynamic capabilities literature by emphasizing the contribution of employee environmental commitment as a behavioral micro-foundation and offer relevant insights into aligning sustainability-oriented people management with competitive strategies in emerging economy contexts.
Implementing the circular economy in rural regions has been proposed as a solution for the sustainability transition required for sustainable development. Prior research has provided initial insights into stakeholder involvement in regional sustainability transitions, but further scientific evidence on the role of stakeholders during implementation is needed. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the development of regional sustainability using real-life examples. The focus of the analysis is on the involvement and roles of stakeholders as important actors in circular economy innovation processes in regions. The study uses a case study design to investigate two northern German regions. The results provide organisational drivers that can be orchestrated by local authorities. The paper contributes to both scientific literature and practice by adding specific findings for rural regions and for different stakeholder types in innovation processes, and it provides practical guidelines for the key actors involved in regional-level circular economy transitions.
Due to the complexity of multi-dimensional sustainability measurements, the meaning and representation of sustainability itself can vary considerably across different organizations and industrial sectors. This is reflected in numerous ways to communicate sustainability efforts made, such as by certifications. The benefits and competitive advantage stemming from sustainability certifications depend on the measurement focus, which can vary from the product and process levels to wider contexts on the societal level. The paper explores, via empirical data based on qualitative case studies, how manufacturing companies operationalize sustainability certification to support system-wide transition. The research is guided by three questions that are connected to micro, meso, and macro levels: how do manufacturing companies utilize sustainability certifications, what are the drivers in selecting the most relevant certifications, and how can these certifications support managerial decision-making when aiming to transition towards sustainability at micro, meso, and macro levels. According to the findings, the benefits generated by sustainability certification and associated reporting practices can be divided into direct benefits, such as enhanced reputation, cost savings, and better access to capital, and indirect effects, such as broader industry changes, innovation. The study utilizes Multiple Level Perspective (MLP) as a method theory to explore how sustainability certification supports the sustainability transition as our domain theoretical area. However, our study also contributes to MLP by showing how a predefined certification process can accelerate the institutionalization phase for the different layers (micro, meso, macro). The paper concludes with recommendations for obtaining and maintaining sustainability certification, offering practical guidance long-term strategies.
Tidal energy is an abundant and predictable renewable energy source that represents a promising alternative for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To promote the sustainable development of tidal energy technologies (TETs), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a key method for evaluating the environmental impacts associated with materials and technological processes. Although LCA has been widely applied to other renewable technologies, available data for TETs remain limited and scarce. This research conducts a systematic review (PRISMA protocol) and data mining of LCA studies using the ReCiPe method to identify the main impacts generated by TETs and their materials. The results show significant variability among technologies, with tidal stream turbines exhibiting the highest GHG emissions (69.97 g CO2/kWh) and bulb turbines the lowest (3.9 g CO2/kWh). Copper affects all LCA categories with the highest negative impacts, followed by steel, which is the most widely used material in turbine manufacturing. Therefore, further research on alternative materials is necessary to replace copper and steel or to reduce their primary use in turbine manufacturing. An apparent positive trend since 2015 was observed in the reported GHG emissions of real hydrokinetic turbine LCA projects; this trend is likely influenced by data gaps in LCA databases and by differences in LCA methodologies. Hence, this research calls on academia to unify LCA methodologies and enhance databases to provide more precise and detailed information on the impacts of traditional and emerging materials used in TETs.
Circular supply chains depend on collaboration among manufacturers, suppliers, and downstream partners, yet many industries still lack partnership-level performance measures that can guide the shift from linear “take–make–dispose” practices to circular operations. This study develops and validates a set of circular partnership performance indicators for the paint and coatings sector using a sustainable balanced scorecard logic. An expert-based hybrid approach was applied in the Indian paint and coatings industry to screen indicators from the literature and to model their cause–and–effect relationships. The results validate 23 indicators across six perspectives and show that resource and energy efficiency, financial strategy, and technology competency act as key drivers that shape stakeholder transparency, internal strategy, and risk management. The validated indicators provide a practical basis for monitoring circular supply chain partnerships and for prioritising capability-building efforts when firms face limited resources. The driving indicators that propel the CSC partnership to the practitioners include resource cycling, reduction of costs, quality enhancement, value co-creation, integration of technology, and the innovation that is green.
The building and construction sector places immense pressure on the environment, contributing significantly to resource extraction, global greenhouse gas emissions, and the loss of ecosystems and biodiversity. In this context, the B&C sector can both contribute to, and benefit from, a global shift towards a circular economy (CE), moving away from unsustainable linear consumption patterns that degrade vital ecosystem services. However, little is known about the extent to which B&C businesses implement circular strategies in many countries. This study aimed to assess the current level of implementation of circular strategies among businesses within Aotearoa New Zealand's B&C sector. An exploratory sequential mixed-methods research design was utilised. Experts from seven business types (manufacturing, architecture and engineering, construction, design-build, fit-out, demolition, and waste management companies) were interviewed to explore the relevance and uptake of circular strategies from the literature. This informed a survey distributed to professionals across the seven business types. Most circular strategies were considered relevant by interviewees and were subsequently included in the survey. Interviewees suggested that CE implementation is currently insufficient, inconsistent, uncoordinated, and limited to a narrow focus on recycling. According to survey responses from 213 professionals, most businesses are at a ‘beginner’ stage of maturity regarding CE implementation, and most circular strategies receive minimal to moderate levels of implementation. In particular, service-based models, sharing platforms, material passports, remanufacturing, take-back schemes, organic recycling, and regenerating nature require greater attention. These findings suggest that CE implementation in Aotearoa New Zealand's B&C sector is still nascent, with significant potential to increase engagement in circular strategies. Findings also underscore the necessity for greater education, a stronger emphasis on the design phase, and a systemic, collaborative approach to accelerate the transition towards a CE.
Batik micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) around the world are increasingly facing pressure to adopt environmentally responsible practices while simultaneously adapting to rapid digital transformation. However, research that integrates environmental entrepreneurship, digital transformation, business innovation, and business sustainability—especially within culture-based creative industries—remains limited and fragmented. This study addresses this gap by developing a theoretical model that explains how environmentally oriented entrepreneurship and digital transformation influence innovation and long-term business sustainability in Batik MSMEs in Madura, Indonesia. A quantitative research design was employed using Structural Equation Modeling with the Partial Least Squares approach. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to batik MSME owners and managers, and analyzed using SmartPLS version 4. The findings show that environmentally oriented entrepreneurship and digital transformation both enhance business innovation and overall business sustainability, with innovation serving as a key mediating factor. That most Batik MSMEs actors display environmental awareness and engage in product innovation, although creative promotion remains relatively low. Indicators of sustainability also show positive tendencies, including stable profit patterns and the creation of permanent employment. This study contributes to the international literature by offering a culturally grounded model that integrates environmental and digital dimensions in creative microenterprises. The conclusions highlight the importance of strengthening innovation capabilities and supporting environmentally responsible digitalization as strategic pathways for ensuring the long-term sustainability of Batik MSMEs.
Construction is a fundamental sector in most economies, and its high consumption of physical resources presents major opportunities for applying circular economy principles to minimise waste and improve sustainability. Procurement functions at the intersection of construction supply chains, managing design, purchasing, and material sourcing activities. Effective information sharing both within and between organisations is essential for embedding circular economy principles into procurement processes. This paper adopts a systematic literature review approach to identify and synthesise research on information sharing in circular procurement. Descriptive analysis outlines the research trends, theoretical and methodological orientations, and geographical distribution of studies, while synthesis categorises barriers and enablers of information sharing across micro, meso, and macro-organisational levels. Additionally, circular economy-related information and knowledge management activities, such as creation, dissemination, and application, are mapped against stages of the strategic procurement process and the Royal Institute of British Architects Plan of Work, strengthening the study’s relevance to construction practice. By integrating fragmented yet expanding bodies of literature, the paper provides a comprehensive understanding of how circular economy information and knowledge management intersect with procurement in construction. It offers a construction-specific framework that embeds circularity throughout the procurement lifecycle, with support from the Resource-Based View and Institutional theory and also identifies key organisational enablers and barriers. The review also highlights limited empirical and theoretical integration in current research and recommends future studies that apply behavioural and organisational theories to explore knowledge-sharing dynamics, examine policy impacts, and assess the role of technology and skills development in advancing circular procurement.
