• Energy Research
• economics and business close
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• 11. Sustainability close
• 13. Climate action close
• BG close

Abstract Effective low carbon transport policy-making needs to first understand what are the factors influencing residents’ modal choice and how it can be intervened. This study uses a discrete choice model to analyse the factors influencing residents’ mode choice in Beijing. A questionnaire survey was conducted in 2015, with sample data containing 865 respondents and 1704 trips collected. The results suggest that residents’ mode choice is closely related to their characteristics. Moreover, our study has linked residents’ mode choice with travel carbon emissions and estimated the emissions reduction potential of those policy measures aiming to improve public transport. For commuting and education trips, public transport improvements can reduce carbon emissions by 12.3~16.6% on average, but for other trip purposes, the reduction is only 2.9~6.8%. As commuting and education trips account for the largest proportion of urban residents’ daily travels, it suggests that policy should primarily focus on the improvement of public transport and its particular support for major commuting routes.

The paper focuses on the stochastic forecast of the financial sustainability ofbasic pension, based on predictions for the population of China. The population was calculated iteratively by using Leslie matrix. An auto-regressive moving average model was adapted for the predictions of the fertility rates and the mortality rates. The Monte Carlo stochastic method was adapted for the projections of the dynamic process of the financial sustainability of the basic pension from 2013 to 2087 by 5000 times simulation. The forecasting results show that the imbalance of basic pension will occur in 2026. If the statutory retirement age is postponed by five years, the occurrence of the financial gap of the basic pension may be delayedby about 20 years, and the median deficit of basic pension will be reduced by about 64.25% in 2087.

Abstract Like other developing countries, Pakistan is under severe economic pressure and striving to boost entrepreneurial orientation for achieving growth through minimal depletion of natural resources. In order to facilitate widespread and successful adoption of green entrepreneurial farming, it is crucial to address barriers inhibiting the uptake of green entrepreneurial activities in farming for the sustainability of natural resources as well as food provision. To this end, the present study aimed to investigate barriers in the adoption of green entrepreneurial farming in Pakistan. To fulfill the study objectives, after a comprehensive literature review and field visit, 34 barriers were identified. The results based on ranking analysis identified 20 out of 34 barriers as critical barriers to adoption of green entrepreneurial farming in the country. Furthermore, factor analysis was employed to group underlying 20 critical barriers into six major categories viz. 1) training and development-related barriers, 2) entrepreneurial orientation-related barriers, 3) market orientation-related barriers, 4) customer orientation-related barriers, 5) innovation orientation-related barriers, and 6) green supporting supplies-related barriers. Results showed that most dominant barrier among six groupings was training and development-related barriers and the marginal role of government in the provision of such endeavours. This implies that government needs to play a more active role in the adoption and promotion of green entrepreneurial farming in Punjab, Pakistan.

This paper explores the effect of product placement strategies on customer behavior in the Chinese context and the results will help companies in China select appropriate marketing strategies to achieve sustainable development. Following the Foote, Cone and Belding (FCB) grid model, we construct a product difference model in which products are classified into four types, namely High Involvement/Thinking, High Involvement/High Feeling, Low Involvement/Thinking, and Low Involvement/High Feeling. Further, we conduct a questionnaire survey to analyze the effect of product placement strategies on various behaviors, including awareness, recognition, attitude and purchase intention. The results of repeated measures of General Linger model suggest that Chinese customers accept product placement strategies. Furthermore, among the four product types, the positive effect of product placement strategies on customer behavior is more pronounced in the Low Involvement/High Feeling product type. However, the purchase intention of Chinese customers is stable and hard to change. The results also help the company to avoid misleading advertising and to design sustainable marketing strategies by applying more effective tools in terms of specific product types. As a result, the company will reduce financial expenditure to achieve sustainable development.

The traditional development mode for social and economic progress has resulted in crises and challenges; therefore, various countries have begun to actively explore sustainable development. As a developing country, China has outstanding environmental problems. However, there are not many empirical studies on the influencing factors of sustainable supply chain in domestic enterprises. Therefore, according to the manufacturing industry in China, a hypothesis model of influencing factors of sustainable supply chain management is set up. The sustainable supply chain practice is based on three dimensions: economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, and social sustainability. The influencing factors of sustainable supply chain include internal management cognition, industry pressure, consumer pressure, and government participation. A structural equation model was used to analyze the questionnaire data of 167 enterprises in Beijing, China. The results show that internal management cognition and government participation has a direct effect on the sustainable supply chain management practice, and internal management cognition has a strong positive influence. Consumer pressure and industry pressure have a small positive impact on internal management cognition, while the effect of government participation on industry pressure is very significant.

Turkey is increasingly concerned about the effects of climate change, weather unpredictability, and severe events on agricultural production, food loss, and livelihoods. Turkey has long struggled against climate variability and catastrophic climatic events to prevent further declines in agricultural output. This study assessed the risk of climate change in Turkey from the perspective of loss in food grains and food security domain considering exposure to extreme climate events using the data from 1991 to 2019. This paper makes a theoretical contribution to the literature by identifying the relationship between food waste and food import, food prices and economic growth. It also makes an empirical contribution by administering and econometrically analyzing the impact of the loss of food grains on the aforementioned independent variables. Policy implications for the current national agriculture policy were provided using the vector auto-regression (VAR) model and derivative analysis. Food grain loss negatively correlates with food security since it increases reliance on food imports from outside. Moreover, the losses in food supplies contributes greatly to price increases. The GDP growth rate, however, was shown to be a feeble instigator. Climate change threatens food security, and the country’s progress toward sustainable development objectives is hampered in general, particularly concerning no poverty and zero hunger goals. In conclusion, climate change and its associated factors harm Turkey’s food security and economy.

This paper discusses and explores the different effects of contractual forms on the satisfaction with public transport (PT) at different urban scales. Using public transport systems in 12cities in China as the focus (four large-I-sized cities, four large-II-sized cities, and four medium-sized cities), a measurement model of the passenger satisfaction index (PSI) is constructed and estimated on the basic of the adjusted European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI) and Partial least square-structural equation model (PLS-SEM), respectively. Then, a two-stage truncation regression bootstrap model is proposed to assess the different effects between them. The major findings of this study are summarized as follows: (1) different effects of contractual forms on PT satisfaction in large- and medium-sized cities are confirmed. (2) In large-I-sized cities and lager II sized cities, operators supervised by management contracts incite higher PT satisfaction levels than those supervised by gross and net cost contracts. (3) In medium-sized cities, operators supervised by gross cost contracts provide incentives to be the satisfaction compared to those of management and net cost contracts. According to different urban scales, different and appropriate contractual forms and supervision mechanisms should be chosen to regulate public transport services.

The Chinese government is promoting a waste classification policy to solve the increasingly serious issue of cities being besieged by waste. Only few studies investigate whether residents’ understanding of garbage classification policy has an impact on their garbage classification behaviour and the nature of such impact. The purposes of this study are twofold: first, to explore conceptually the mechanism behind any moderating effects of perceived policy effectiveness (PPE) on waste classification and, second, to examine empirically if and how PPE influences the relationships between attitude (ATT), subjective norm (SN), perceived behaviour control (PBC), awareness of consequence (AC) and waste classification intention (WCI). The conceptual model of the study is developed by combining insights from the theory of planned behaviour, norm activation theory and value–belief–norm theory. A total of 351 questionnaires were administered in person to households in Bengbu, China. The results based on structural equation modelling with partial least squares show that PPE negatively moderates the relationship between AC and WCI. AC is more strongly related with the intention to classify waste when PPE is weaker. Likewise, when PPE is higher, people’s awareness of consequences becomes less important for WCI. The findings have significant implications in policymakers’ developing guidelines and offer a framework for implementing more effective waste classification policy.