Many countries have targeted the net-zero emissions by 2050 which requires a radical transformation of fossil-fuel-dependent power sector. While existing strategies such as Feed-in Tariffs (FiT) and Green Finance have laid the groundwork for Renewable Energy (RE) expansion, the dynamic impact of upcoming regulatory shifts, specifically the dynamic impact of Taiwan’s carbon fee policy, established under the Climate Change Response Act with 2024 emission baselines and statutory fee collection commencing in 2025, remains under-researched. This study proposes a System Dynamics (SD) model to simulate the interaction between renewable and non-renewable (thermal) power sectors within Taiwan’s evolving policy landscape. By integrating variables such as the Levelized Cost of Energy, carbon pricing mechanisms, and investment behavior, the model evaluates the effectiveness of diverse scenarios in reducing coal-fired generation and accelerating green energy adoption. Results demonstrate that the strategic integration of carbon fees is pivotal in bridging the investment gap for RE, effectively decoupling electricity demand from greenhouse gas emissions. These findings offer prescriptive policy recommendations for optimizing financial incentives and regulatory frameworks during the critical 2024–2035 transition window, establishing the necessary structural momentum and foundational pathways for Taiwan to meet its intermediate 2030 targets and long-term 2050 net-zero commitments. While power sector decarbonization contributes a modest proportion nationally, these regulatory and public R D recycling structures provide a crucial catalyst for broader energy transitions.
The reuse of building components requires structured information describing their characteristics, condition, and potential for subsequent use. This is particularly challenging in existing buildings, where complete lifecycle information cannot generally be assumed. This study proposes a structured method for deriving a reusable component data model under incomplete data conditions. Candidate information requirements are assessed through explicit Availability and Eligibility criteria and corresponding selection rules, and subsequently organised into a common information structure complemented by component-specific requirements. The resulting model was operationalised within the Building Legacy platform through component-specific parameter structures and individual component data sheet templates, together with a semi-automated data acquisition workflow combining BIM-based extraction with complementary information entry. The approach was applied to six reusable component categories from an existing building case study. The resulting model includes 66 common parameters, while parameter coverage for the analysed components ranged from approximately 53
Plastic waste management in Malaysia remains constrained by fragmented governance, uneven enforcement, limited source separation, and uneven material recovery systems. This study assesses regulatory policies across the plastic value chain and proposes a phased regulatory policy sequencing framework. A three-round modified Delphi method was employed. Round 1 used semi-structured interviews with 10 experts to contextualise and refine the preliminary policy set, while Rounds 2 and 3 involved the same 16 experts from the public sector, private sector, and academia. Round 2 assessed 18 policies, with four additional policies generated from open-ended feedback introduced in Round 3. Among the 18 policies assessed in both quantitative rounds, the proportion meeting the study-defined consensus criterion increased from 83.3
The transition toward a circular economy requires not only technological and regulatory changes but also consumer acceptance of products incorporating recycled materials. While previous research has extensively examined pro-environmental consumption, comparatively less attention has been paid to high-involvement durable goods, where purchase decisions are infrequent and involve substantial financial and functional considerations. This study explores how consumers evaluate refrigerators containing recycled insulation by examining the interplay between personal value orientations, product-specific considerations, overall product evaluation, and conditional purchase consideration. The study draws on two qualitative focus group interviews conducted in Poland with 14 participants representing two age cohorts. The transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis combining deductive and inductive coding. The findings show that biospheric, altruistic, egoistic, and hedonic value orientations coexist in consumers’ reasoning, while their relative relevance varies with the purchase context. Product-specific considerations, including price, quality, durability and reliability, energy efficiency, functionality and usability, design and aesthetics, and credible product information formed an important complementary dimension of product evaluation. Recycled insulation was not evaluated as inherently positive; rather, participants’ evaluations were qualified by the perceived credibility of environmental benefits and expectations concerning product performance. Purchase consideration was likewise strongly conditional, particularly on price comparability, durability, reliability, and transparent environmental information. The study contributes to sustainable consumption and circular economy research by showing how personal value orientations and product-specific considerations are jointly reflected in the evaluation of a high-involvement durable circular product. The findings further demonstrate that favourable environmental perceptions may contribute to product evaluation without being sufficient, on their own, to generate willingness to purchase.
Circularwashing limits eco-friendly consumption by overstating, confusing, or inadequately proving the circular properties of products. While regular greenwashing makes ambiguous claims about the environmental characteristics, circularwashing takes advantage of the complicated nature of resource loops and the quality of the supply chain, causing significant market friction and high information asymmetry. Hence, an unexpected change in information distorts price signals, weakens customer trust, and jeopardizes market transparency by creating a lemon market for real circular goods. The present research presents the idea of circularwashing risk and provides a model to analyze the effect of false claims on the customers’ skepticism, decision-making risk perception, institutional trust, penalties for unreasonable behavior, and post-decision actions. The model is based on the Signaling Theory and the Stimulus Organism Response theory and is verified with the help of the survey data collected from 607 digital consumers in Colombia using the method of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model (PLS SEM). The measurement properties were assessed through composite reliability, average variance extracted, and heterotrait monotrait discriminant criteria and bootstrap resampling. The findings imply that misleading environmental claims correlate with consumer skepticism, which has a positive relationship with perceived decision risks and the erosion of institutional trust. Moreover, the effects of perceived decision risk and erosion of institutional trust on behavioral penalty are considerable. Structural chains indicate that the relationship between decision risk and erosion of trust serves as two mediating channels. Lastly, the Circularwashing Risk Propagation Model serves to highlight the significance of verifiable claims in maintaining consumer trust and promoting Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13.
