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New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 November 2021) | Viewed by 47304

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Margarita Martinez-Nuñez

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Guest Editor

Department of Organization Engineering, Business Administration and Statistics, Polytechnic University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Interests: digital transformation; data envelopment analysis (DEA); business and management; environmental economics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Mª Pilar Latorre-Martínez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Management and Organisation, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Interests: business analytics; network sciences; information systems; digitization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) are principles created by the UN, with the ultimate goal of guaranteeing well-being on and off the planet. The importance of these objectives is essential, not only for promoting environmental education and citizen science, but also for the commitment to the solutions at different levels of governments, companies, and civil society.

Among the SDGs, there are goals that both public and private organizations must meet before 2030, all with the aim of causing a positive impact on society. Policy makers, companies, and organizations, are challenged to cooperate to define new regulations, change business models, and promote the adaptation of society to the challenges posed by the 17 SDGs.

This Special Issue welcomes papers, research works, and investigations on new approaches to address SDGs from a more macro perspective—environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria.

This Special Issue pays attention to the following topics of interest, but is not limited to them:

Regulations on the shipment of waste: the missing link
Natural resources management and environmental policies
Digital transformation and organizational management triggered by SDGs
Network analysis: behaviour of communities in innovation and other parameters
Smart circular economy
Social dialogues to identify the accelerators to address SDGs
Rural community perceptions and attitudes towards sustainability

Dr. Margarita Martinez-Nuñez
Dr. Mª Pilar Latorre-Martínez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals
sustainable businesses
information and communication technologies
cleaner production
environmental management
ecoefficiency
smart solutions for sustainability

Published Papers (14 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 1117 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Institutional Quality, Governance and Progress towards the SDGs

by Edward B. Barbier and Joanne C. Burgess

Sustainability 2021, 13(21), 11798; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132111798 - 26 Oct 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3153

Abstract

Whether institutional quality and governance help or hinder progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of UN Agenda 2030 is an important issue to consider. These fundamental social structures are generally under-represented among the SDGs, but institutional quality and governance often have an important role in supporting or constraining efforts to achieve sustainable development. We compare estimates of the changes in net welfare that reflect progress towards the 17 SDGs over 2000–2018 with two institutional quality and governance indicators over the same period. We do this at the world level, for the group of low-income countries and for nine representative developing countries. We utilize the Worldwide Governance Indicators and OECD’s Country Risk Classification as our two institutional quality and governance measures. We find that SDG welfare gains are somewhat correlated with institutional quality and highly correlated with lower country risk. These results suggest that good governance and institutional effectiveness are associated with long-run development and sustainability success. Long-term progress towards the SDGs may hinge on improved institutional quality and reduced country risk. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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16 pages, 2418 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Observational Scale Matters for Ecosystem Services Interactions and Spatial Distributions: A Case Study of the Ussuri Watershed, China

by Jian Zhang, Hengxing Xiang, Shizuka Hashimoto and Toshiya Okuro

Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10649; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131910649 - 25 Sep 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1628

Abstract

Understanding how observational scale affects the interactions and spatial distributions of ecosystem services is important for effective ecosystem assessment and management. We conducted a case study in the Ussuri watershed, Northeast China, to explore how observational scale (1 km to 15 km grid resolution) influences the correlations and spatial distributions of ecosystem services. Four ecosystem services of particular importance for the sustainable development of the study area were examined: carbon sequestration, habitat provision, soil retention, and water retention. Across the observational scales examined, trade-offs and synergies of extensively distributed ecosystem services were more likely to be robust compared with those of sparsely distributed ecosystem services, and hot/cold-spots of ecosystem services were more likely to persist when associated with large rather than small land-cover patches. Our analysis suggests that a dual-purpose strategy is the most appropriate for the management of carbon sequestration and habitat provision, and cross-scale management strategies are the most appropriate for the management of soil retention and water retention in the study area. Further studies to deepen our understanding of local landscape patterns will help determine the most appropriate observational scale for analyzing the spatial distributions of these ecosystem services. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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17 pages, 1605 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Proposal of a Conceptual Model to Represent Urban-Industrial Systems from the Analysis of Existing Worldwide Experiences

by Carmen Ruiz-Puente

Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9292; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13169292 - 18 Aug 2021

Viewed by 1846

Abstract

The adoption of Industrial Symbiosis (IS) practices within urban areas is gaining interest due to the environmental impacts entailed by the development of cities. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about how the relationships between industrial and urban areas can be modelled. In this context, this research aimed at posing a conceptual model to understand and represent Urban-Industrial Systems (UIS). To this end, a set of worldwide previous UIS experiences were overviewed to identify the agents, dynamics, and collaboration opportunities that characterize them. The multi-perspective analysis of these cases indicated that UIS are complex systems, which means that they are autonomous, self-organized, responsive, nonlinear, and willing to consolidate their resilience. As such, Agent-Based Models (ABM) were suggested to be the most suitable approach for their representation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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14 pages, 1500 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Understanding Hazardous Waste Exports for Disposal in Europe: A Contribution to Sustainable Development

by Carmen Callao, M. Pilar Latorre and Margarita Martinez-Núñez

Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 8905; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13168905 - 09 Aug 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2582

Abstract

The concept of sustainable development was introduced in Europe by the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and was extended to waste management in the Waste Framework Directive. In order to achieve sustainable development, hazardous waste (HW) must be managed safely and in accordance with regulations. This also applies to worldwide HW transport, especially when HW is shipped for disposal. The United Nations, through the Basel Convention, aims to prevent the export of HW from developed countries to developing countries for disposal. In Europe, HW shipments are regulated by Regulation (EC) No. 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and by the Council of 14 June 2006 on shipments of waste. Additionally, all HW shipments must be in accordance with two principles contained in the Waste Framework Directive: proximity and self-sufficiency. Using data from 2014 and network analysis methodology, this paper fills the gaps in the scientific literature by looking at how shipments of HW travel for disposal in Europe, how the regulations affect these shipments and how GDP per capita influences the shipment of waste. The results show that countries with a high GDP per capita play an important role in the network (having the highest in-degree) and that the absence of landfill taxes for HW does not influence HW shipments for disposal. Therefore, countries in the EU act in accordance with the proximity and self-sufficiency principles. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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25 pages, 1576 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems in Spain: Analysis of the Research on SUDS Based on Climatology

by Ana Isabel Abellán García, Noelia Cruz Pérez and Juan C. Santamarta

Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7258; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13137258 - 29 Jun 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4400

Abstract

Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS), or urban green infrastructure for stormwater control, emerged for more sustainable management of runoff in cities and provide other benefits such as urban mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Research in Spain began a little over twenty years ago, which was later than in other European countries, and it began in a heterogeneous way, both in the SUDS typology and spatially within the peninsular geography. The main objective of this work has been to know through bibliographic review the state of the art of scientific research of these systems and their relationship with the different types of climates in the country. These structures have a complex and sensitive dependence on the climate, which in the Iberian Peninsula is mostly type B and C (according to the Köppen classification). This means little water availability for the vegetation of some SUDS, which can affect the performance of the technique. To date, for this work, research has focused mainly on green roofs, their capabilities as a sustainable construction tool, and the performance of different plant species used in these systems in arid climates. The next technique with the most real cases analyzed is permeable pavements in temperate climates, proving to be effective in reducing flows and runoff volumes. Other specific investigations have focused on the economic feasibility of installing rainwater harvesting systems for the laundry and the hydraulic performance of retention systems located specifically in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. On the contrary, few scientific articles have appeared that describe other SUDS with vegetation such as bioretention systems or green ditches, which are characteristic of sustainable cities, on which the weather can be a very limiting factor for their development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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16 pages, 641 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characterisation of Impact Funds and Their Potential in the Context of the 2030 Agenda

by Juan C. Santamarta, Mª Dolores Storch de Gracia, Mª Ángeles Huerta Carrascosa, Margarita Martínez-Núñez, Celia de las Heras García and Noelia Cruz-Pérez

Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 6476; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13116476 - 07 Jun 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2322

Abstract

The European Union has incorporated impact investment through two action plans: the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative and the Investment Plan for Europe. These financing tools seek to fund economic growth and promote job creation. Among the different measures carried out, the regulatory framework for impact investment funds stands out, under which the denomination, European Social Entrepreneurship Fund, is established to designate investment funds focused on social enterprises with the objective of generating a positive impact. It is possible to affirm that the creation of a solid impact intermediation infrastructure, by connecting both sides of supply and demand, is a critical aspect for the development and effective functioning of the impact market. Special importance is given to impact funds capable of attracting private capital. In order to categorise the different impact funds according to the most relevant aspects, a proposal form for the characterisation of impact funds has been drawn up and has been applied to a particular case. The presentation of Creas will allow for contextualising the practices that impact funds carry out and facilitate the general understanding of the article through a specific example that is considered successful in Spain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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12 pages, 541 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Trilemma of Nordic–Baltic Forestry—How to Implement UN Sustainable Development Goals

by Lars Högbom, Dalia Abbas, Kęstutis Armolaitis, Endijs Baders, Martyn Futter, Aris Jansons, Kalev Jõgiste, Andis Lazdins, Diana Lukminė, Mika Mustonen, Knut Øistad, Anneli Poska, Pasi Rautio, Johan Svensson, Floor Vodde, Iveta Varnagirytė-Kabašinskienė, Jan Weslien, Lars Wilhelmsson and Daiga Zute

Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5643; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13105643 - 18 May 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3729

Abstract

Forests are the dominant land cover in Nordic–Baltic countries, and forestry, the management of forests for improved ecosystem-service (ES) delivery, is an important contributor to sustainability. Forests and forestry support multiple United Nations Sustainability Goals (UN SDGs) and a number of EU policies, and can address conflicting environmental goals. Forests provide multiple ecosystem services and natural solutions, including wood and fibre production, food, clear and clean water and air, animal and plant habitats, soil formation, aesthetics, and cultural and social services. Carbon sequestered by growing trees is a key factor in the envisaged transition from a fossil-based to a biobased economy. Here, we highlight the possibilities of forest-based solutions to mitigate current and emerging societal challenges. We discuss forestry effects on forest ecosystems, focusing on the optimisation of ES delivery and the fulfilment of UN SDGs while counteracting unwanted effects. In particular, we highlight the trilemma of (i) increasing wood production to substitute raw fossil materials, (ii) increasing forest carbon storage capacity, and (iii) improving forest biodiversity and other ES delivery. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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16 pages, 1711 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainability Goals and Firm Behaviours: A Multi-Criteria Approach on Italian Agro-Food Sector

by Lucia Briamonte, Raffaella Pergamo, Brunella Arru, Roberto Furesi, Pietro Pulina and Fabio A. Madau

Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5589; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13105589 - 17 May 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2549

Abstract

Today, the transition to a more sustainable model of the agro-food system is increasingly impellent, requiring all actors’ commitment. In particular, small and medium agro-food business (SMABs) play a decisive and central role in the food and economies of national and underdeveloped areas. Our study aims to identify, through desk research, the level of commitment and communication to the sustainability of SMABs operating in southern Italy. In this study, we followed the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) approach to implementing such a transition, using their principles as a diagnostic tool to interpret business operations. The data were analysed using two approaches: a regime analysis to assess which FAO principles are commonly followed to make the above transition possible, and an extension of the Abraham and Pingali (2020) framework to describe the commitment of SMABs to the Agenda 2030 goals with respect to the behaviour of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). We found that the SMABs’ behaviours are more oriented towards some FAO principles: those that explain their commitment to improving natural resources and livelihoods, fostering inclusive economic growth, and achieving sustainable development goal 7 of Agenda 2030 than towards others. The contribution of our study lies in providing detailed insights into sustainable actions taken by SMABs while testing the FAO’s principles as a new model to evaluate business operations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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20 pages, 4327 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Capability Assessment toward Sustainable Development of Business Incubators: Framework and Experience Sharing

by Nathasit Gerdsri, Boonkiart Iewwongcharoen, Kittichai Rajchamaha, Nisit Manotungvorapun, Jakapong Pongthanaisawan and Watcharin Witthayaweerasak

Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4617; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13094617 - 21 Apr 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3569

Abstract

Business incubators have been widely developed to advise, support, promote, and provide a nurturing environment for new business start-ups and entrepreneurs. The development of a framework for capability assessment allows the management of each incubator to understand its strengths and room for further improvement. Moreover, assessment results across a community, such as a nation or state, can provide insights into resource allocation and various management policies so that policymakers can support the development of business incubators under their supervision. This article describes the development of a capability assessment framework for business incubators (BIs) in Thailand. A case study demonstrating how the capability assessment is analyzed is also presented in the article. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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19 pages, 470 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Factors Facilitating the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Regional and Local Planning—Experiences from Norway

by Kjersti Granås Bardal, Mathias Brynildsen Reinar, Aase Kristine Lundberg and Maiken Bjørkan

Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4282; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13084282 - 12 Apr 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 5596

Abstract

Successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) depends on regional and local authorities’ ability to implement the goals in their respective contexts. Through a survey and interviews with informants in Norwegian municipalities and county councils, this paper explores and offers new empirical insight into (1) which factors can be identified as facilitating the implementation of the SDGs in Norwegian local and regional planning; (2) how the facilitating factors are conditioned by the different local and regional institutional contexts; and (3) how these factors from the Norwegian context correspond or differ from those in the international literature. We find that the existing Planning and Building Act is considered a suitable framework for the implementation of the SDGs in the Norwegian context, and that the SDGs are high on the national and regional governmental agendas. However, work remains in integrating the SDGs into underlying governmental activities. They must be incorporated into action plans and planning tools, which will require involvement, collaboration and development work across sectors and authority levels, and the development of guidelines for how this can be done. Allocating enough resources for this work will be crucial, and smaller municipalities may need other types and degrees of support than larger ones. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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17 pages, 716 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainability-Oriented Project Scheduling Based on Z-Fuzzy Numbers for Public Institutions

by Dorota Kuchta, Ewa Marchwicka and Jan Schneider

Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2801; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13052801 - 05 Mar 2021

Viewed by 1302

Abstract

A new approach to sustainable project scheduling for public institutions is proposed. The approach is based on experts’ opinions on three aspects of sustainability of project activities (human resources consumption, material consumption and negative influence on local communities), expressed by means of Z-fuzzy numbers. A fuzzy bicriterial optimization model is proposed, whose objective is to obtain a project schedule of an acceptable sustainability degree and of acceptable duration and cost. The model was inspired and is illustrated by a real-world infrastructure project, implemented in 2019 by a public institution in Poland. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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20 pages, 3456 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Systemic Approach for Sustainability Implementation Planning at the Local Level by SDG Target Prioritization: The Case of Quebec City

by David Tremblay, Sabine Gowsy, Olivier Riffon, Jean-François Boucher, Samuel Dubé and Claude Villeneuve

Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2520; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13052520 - 26 Feb 2021

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 5155

Abstract

The success of the 2030 Agenda hinges on mobilization at the local level. The localization of sustainable development goals (SDGs) and their targets involves adapting them to local contexts. This case study of Quebec City, Canada, illustrates how the use of a systemic sustainability analysis tool can help integrate SDGs in the building of a sustainable development strategy at the local level. Our approach focuses on the use of an SDG target prioritization grid (SDGT-PG) and begins with the mobilization and training of a group of officers representing various city services. We first used an original text-mining framework to evaluate SDG integration within existing strategic documents published by the city. The result provides a portrait of existing contributions to SDG targets and identifies potential synergies and trade-offs between services and existing policies. A citywide prioritization workshop was held to assess the relative importance of SDG targets for the city. Priorities were then identified by combining the importance of the targets as viewed by stakeholders, the current level of achievement of SDG targets as determined by the analysis of existing documents, and the jurisdiction and responsibilities given to Quebec City in regard to federal and provincial legislation. We identified the main focus areas and related SDG targets. Furthermore, we observed whether actions needed to be consolidated or new actions needed to be implemented. The identification of synergies and trade-offs within the city service actions provides information on the links to be made between the different municipal services and calls for partnerships with other organizations. The use of the SDGT-PG allows the vertical and horizontal integration of the SDG targets and demonstrates how participation and inclusion facilitate stakeholders’ appropriation of the applied sustainable development strategy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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17 pages, 586 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ecological Footprint as an Indicator of Corporate Environmental Performance—Empirical Evidence from Hungarian SMEs

by Áron Szennay, Cecília Szigeti, Judit Beke and László Radácsi

Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 1000; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13021000 - 19 Jan 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3480

Abstract

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in the national economies of the EU member states. This economic activity has an inevitable environmental impact; however, environmental performance indicators are mostly measured at larger companies. Since the ecological footprint (EF) is a suitable measure of unsustainability, this paper considers it as a measure of the environmental impact of SMEs. An EF calculator for SMEs was developed that is freely available online, and it is a methodological innovation per se. Our previous research projects highlighted that the calculator must be easy-to-use and reliable; therefore, the calculator considers only the common, standardizable, and comparable elements of EF. Our results are based on validated ecological footprint data of 73 Hungarian SMEs surveyed by an online ecological footprint calculator. In order to validate and test the usefulness of the calculator, interviews were conducted with respondents, and results were also checked. The paper presents benchmark data of ecological footprint indicators of SMEs obtained from five groups of enterprises (construction, white-collar jobs, production, retail and/or wholesale trade, and transportation). Statistical results are explained with qualitative data (such as environmental protection initiatives, business models, etc.) of the SMEs surveyed. Our findings could be used as a benchmark for the assessment of environmental performance of SMEs in Central- and Eastern Europe. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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Other

Jump to: Research

13 pages, 1232 KiB

Open AccessPerspective

Implementing SDGs to a Sustainable Rural Village Development from Community Empowerment: Linking Energy, Education, Innovation, and Research

by Isabel del Arco, Anabel Ramos-Pla, Gabriel Zsembinszki, Alvaro de Gracia and Luisa F. Cabeza

Sustainability 2021, 13(23), 12946; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132312946 - 23 Nov 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4098

Abstract

Rural depopulation is a worldwide fact and has a domino effect on medium and small cities, which act as a nucleus of reference for small towns. Moreover, the United Nations (UN) stressed that disparities between rural and urban areas are pronounced and still growing over time. Globally, people in rural areas lack access to modern energy services, which affects productivity, educational and health services, exacerbating poverty, among other things. Given this reality, the following research questions arise: how can we act to reverse this reality? Are there examples of transformation in rural contexts where community empowerment is a key strategy? This paper aims at describing the transformation process of a small rural municipality towards a sustainable development, in parallel to the activation of the local productivity that helps to eliminate the effects of rural depopulation. Therefore, the project ALMIA was established as an example of a sustainable village that is Almatret (Catalonia-Spain). The backbone of such project is the commitment to community empowerment, where the main results are the generation of networks with experts and researchers to help the municipality’s energy transition, the involvement of the local administration, the commitment to technological development, as well as the socio-community development. Moreover, the activities developed within the project ALMIA are aligned with the UNs Sustainable Development Goals, alignment that is analyzed in detail. Thus, this paper aims to further highlight existing sustainable development practices related to community empowerment in order to promote similar practices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches in Social, Environmental Management and Policy to Address SDGs)

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