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Multistakeholder Meta-Organisations (MS-MOs) are often perceived as a ‘magic bullet’ that can tackle societal grand challenges in global supply chains. In this paper, we consider the case of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and we investigate the extent to which an MS-MO reshapes the attribution of responsibility for sustainability in supply chains, especially in relation to underlying power dynamics. We conduct a multimodal critical discourse analysis of a broad range of sources, including videos and interviews. We show that through its discursive strategies, the RSPO allocates the responsibility for social and environmental issues to the two extremes of the supply chain: objectifying consumers at one end and smallholders at the other, hence reproducing and even exacerbating the traditional imbalanced power dynamics in supply chains. Our work contributes to the emerging, more critical strand of research investigating meta-organisations (MOs) and sustainable supply chain management.

Abstract Transportation de-carbonization is a complex problem involving the economy, population, technology and environment. Implementing the pathway simulation based on systematic methods will help to optimize the transportation sustainability plan. This study’s key motivation is that earlier research ignored the relationship between driving factors and the transmission process. To quantitatively identify the path and process of emission reduction, a hybrid system dynamics STIRPAT-SD model is proposed to explore the transportation optimization’s de-carbonization ability. This study fully considers the composition of elements and subsystems based on the STIRPAT theoretical model and visually shows the system’s feedback relationship. Transportation structural and technical optimization scenarios are set to identify the threshold reduction paths. It is found these optimization strategies have significant de-carbonization effects. And transportation structure policy has the highest de-carbonization efficiency, the emission intensity decreased by 9.1% under the TSS2 scenario (Transportation structure scenario). This study proposes a novelty model combining dynamic simulating processes with a significantly theoretical model to improve simulation and factor composition accuracy. And the joint scenario setting identifies the most effective de-carbonization pathway and clarifies the threshold of all possible pathways. Research findings can effectively track, test, predict the achievement of policy goals, and provide policy optimization references for the sustainable development related to the transportation system in practice.

As a relatively mature technology, biomass molded fuel (BMF) is widely used in distributed and centralized heating in China and has received considerable government attention. Although many BFM incentive policies have been developed, decreased domestic traditional fuel prices in China have caused BMF to lose its economic viability and new policy recommendations are needed to stimulate this industry. The present study built a regionalized net present value (NPV) model based on real production process simulation to test the impacts of each policy factor. The calculations showed that BMF production costs vary remarkably between regions, with the cost of agricultural briquette fuel (ABF) ranging from 86 US dollar per metric ton (USD/t) to 110 (USD/t), while that of woody pellet fuel (WPF) varies from 122 USD/t to 154 USD/t. The largest part of BMF’s cost composition is feedstock, which accounts for up 50%–60% of the total; accordingly a feedstock subsidy is the most effective policy factor, but in consideration of policy implementation, it would be better to use a production subsidy. For ABF, the optimal product subsidy varies from 26 USD/t to 57 USD/t among different regions of China, while for WPF, the range is 36 USD/t to 75 USD/t. Based on the data, a regional BMF development strategy is also proposed in this study.

Purpose This study aims to consider environmental sustainability, a global challenge under the preview of sustainable development goals, highlighting the significance of knowledge economy in attaining sustainable aggregate demand behavior globally. For this purpose, 155 countries that have data available from 1995 to 2021 were selected. The purpose of selecting these countries is to test the global responsibility of the knowledge economy to attain environmental sustainability. Design/methodology/approach Results are estimated with the help of panel quantile regression. The empirical existence of aggregate demand-based environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) was tested using non-linear tests. Moreover, principal component analysis has been incorporated to construct the knowledge economy index. Findings U-shaped aggregate demand-based EKC at global level is validated. However, environmental deterioration increases with an additional escalation after US$497.945m in aggregate demand. As a determinant, the knowledge economy is reducing CO2 emissions. The knowledge economy has played a significant role in global responsibility, shifting the EKC downward and extending the CO2 reduction phase for every selected country. Further, urbanization, energy intensity, financial development and trade openness significantly deteriorate the environmental quality. Originality/value This study contains the empirical existence of aggregate demand-based EKC. The role of the knowledge economy is examined through an index which is calculated by using four pillars of the knowledge economy (technology, innovations, education and institutions). This study is based on a combined panel of all the countries for which the data was available.

This study aims to explore the application of fractional order chaotic system (FOCS), based on the T-S fuzzy model, in the design of secure communication (SC) and this SC system’s role in the construction of efficiency evaluation system for dispatching operation of energy saving and power generation under a low carbon economy (LCE). First, the definition of fractional order differential equations and the stability theory of FOCS are discussed. T-S fuzzy control is introduced to analyse the stability of FOCS. Then, based on the adaptive synchronisation theory, the combined FOCS is designed for SC, and the performance of the system constructed here is analysed in a MATLAB environment. Next, an evaluation index system of the dispatching operation effect of energy saving and power generation under LCE is constructed. The confidential communication system constructed here is used to transmit the index data. The particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm is then used to optimise the back propagation neural network (BPNN) model. The BPNN algorithm based on PSO (PSO-BPNN) is obtained, and the evaluation model is constructed. After training this model, it is applied to the evaluation of the dispatching operation effect for energy saving and power generation in 10 provinces in China. The simulation results show that the FOCS based on the T-S fuzzy model can acquire the criterion of system stability. Furthermore, the constructed SC system can effectively undertake the secure transmission of square and sine waves. The performance of the PSO-BPNN model seems to be better than other algorithms. After analysing the data on energy saving and power generation from 10 provinces in China using this model, the comprehensive evaluation value of province 5 is found to be the highest and good (0.802), while that of province 4 is the lowest and general (0.600). Summarising, the FOCS based on T-S fuzzy model constructed here is applied to the design of SC. This can improve the confidentiality of data transmission and reduce the transmission error. Moreover, the BPNN evaluation model based on PSO can effectively achieve the evaluation of the dispatching operation effect of energy saving and power generation under LCE.

Energy is consumed at every stage of the cycle of water production, distribution, end use, and recycled water treatment. Understanding the nexus of energy and water may help to minimize energy and water consumption and reduce environmental emissions. However, the interlinkages between water and energy have not received adequate attention. To address this gap, this paper disaggregates and quantifies the energy consumption of the entire water cycle process in Beijing. The results of this study show that total energy consumption by water production, treatment and distribution, end use, and recycled water reuse amounts to 55.6 billion kWh of electricity in 2015, or about 33% of the total urban energy usage. While water supply amount increased by only 10% from 2005 to 2015, the related energy consumption increased by 215% due to water supply structural change. The Beijing municipal government plans to implement many water saving measures in the area from 2016 to 2020, however, these policies will increase energy consumption by 74 million kWh in Beijing. This study responds to the urgent need for research on the synergies between energy and water. In order to achieve the goal of low-energy water utilization in the future, water and energy should be integrated in planning and management.

The ERC-funded FRAGSUS Project (Fragility and sustainability in small island environments: adaptation, cultural change and collapse in prehistory, 2013–18), led by Caroline Malone (Queens University Belfast) has explored issues of environmental fragility and Neolithic social resilience and sustainability during the Holocene period in the Maltese Islands. This, the first volume of three, presents the palaeo-environmental story of early Maltese landscapes. The project employed a programme of high-resolution chronological and stratigraphic investigations of the valley systems on Malta and Gozo. Buried deposits extracted through coring and geoarchaeological study yielded rich and chronologically controlled data that allow an important new understanding of environmental change in the islands. The study combined AMS radiocarbon and OSL chronologies with detailed palynological, molluscan and geoarchaeological analyses. These enable environmental reconstruction of prehistoric landscapes and the changing resources exploited by the islanders between the seventh and second millennia bc. The interdisciplinary studies combined with excavated economic and environmental materials from archaeological sites allows Temple landscapes to examine the dramatic and damaging impacts made by the first farming communities on the islands’ soil and resources. The project reveals the remarkable resilience of the soil-vegetational system of the island landscapes, as well as the adaptations made by Neolithic communities to harness their productivity, in the face of climatic change and inexorable soil erosion. Neolithic people evidently understood how to maintain soil fertility and cope with the inherently unstable changing landscapes of Malta. In contrast, second millennium bc Bronze Age societies failed to adapt effectively to the long-term aridifying trend so clearly highlighted in the soil and vegetation record. This failure led to severe and irreversible erosion and very different and short-lived socio-economic systems across the Maltese islands.

With the 2015 Paris Agreement pursuing efforts to limit global temperature increase to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and the “energy trilemma” goals of energy security, energy equity and environmental sustainability, decarbonisation remains a priority across all of the United Kingdom (United Kingdom) energy system, not just electricity. Electricity and thermal energy storage technologies can offer a host of benefits across the energy value chain through the abilityS to capture, store and then release electricity or thermal energy over a period of time. These benefits include helping capture the full potential of renewable generation and providing services such as frequency response and reserve to Great Britain’s (GB) electricity system. In addition, with the aforementioned climate targets in mind, energy storage can also play a role in facilitating the decarbonisation of other activities and sectors. Here we delve deeper into how energy storage technologies can contribute to both energy sector transformation and more broadly, decarbonisation. Furthermore, we discuss the importance of ensuring a technology-agnostic approach to the development of policy and regulation with relevance to energy storage. This ensures that storage technologies with significant potential to contribute to the ‘energy trilemma’ goals are not precluded from entering the market due to unfavourable policy and regulatory frameworks.