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The article analyses sustainable economic development of EU countries according to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), by using indices of integrated sustainable development and environmental footprint. Sustainable economic initiatives can be driven by economic, environmental and social aspects, applying principles of innovation and knowledge. However, development requires skills, human and financial resources; in turn, it increases productivity, efficiency, competitiveness, profit, and promotes a better working environment. In general, sustainable business initiatives contribute to SDGs and reduce the environmental footprint. The scientific problem is how to develop a sustainable economy while ensuring the achievement of SDGs and at the same time reducing the environmental footprint. The object of the scientific research is the evaluation of sustainable economic development through the analysis of integrated sustainable development indicators. The aim of the research is, upon the evaluation of SDGs and environmental footprint indices as well as the analysis of the integrated sustainable development indicator, to identify the opportunities for sustainable economic development in the EU countries. The research has been carried out by analysing the scientific literature, and applying SDGs and environmental footprint methodology to calculate individual and integrated sustainable development indices. The results have shown that despite the disparity of SDG indices, the overall value of the integrated sustainable development indicator is distributed quite evenly among the EU countries. The impacts from each of the SDG indices range from 11% to 31% but the environmental footprint index has the greatest impact on the sustainable development of a country—up to 31%.

Against the backdrop of current sustainability problems, various social innovations for sustainable consumption are emerging across the globe. In order to explore the sustainability potentials of such initiatives, it is vital to understand (1) why consumers are accepting and joining these initiatives and (2) how they perceive the sustainability potentials of initiatives’ offers. In order to correctly estimate the sustainability potential of the initiatives, one should consider possible negative sustainability impacts as well as rebound effects alongside all the positive sustainability effects. Moreover, studies on social innovations for sustainable consumption have mostly been conducted in the context of the Global North. This paper focuses on studying and understanding the current situation of social innovations for sustainable consumption and its sustainability potentials in Tehran, Iran. A qualitative explorative study was conducted using desk research as well as semi-structured in-depth interviews with Iranian consumers. The results of this study confirm the existence of growing supply and demand trends for such initiatives in Iran. Among the different initiatives, those that are copies of international companies or offering alternative mobility solutions seem to have more chances for diffusion, as consumers are more motivated to use their offers. The sample of this study believed that by joining these initiatives, they could contribute to achieving greater sustainability. However, the results of the interviews also show that the possible negative sustainability and rebound effects of their engagement in such initiatives were often neglected. Therefore, there is still a need not only for educating consumers about the overall sustainability potentials of these initiatives but also for exhibiting the sustainability impacts that their consumption behaviors regarding the use of initiatives’ offers can have. This way, these initiatives can be more successful in terms of contributing to sustainability.

Tourism may not sustainably support territories with limited natural resource stock such as islands. The volume of visitor arrivals and the industry investments can increase the pressure even beyond sustainable levels. There is an evident and unresolved tension between these two great polarities, sustainability and economic growth driven by tourism. The aim for policymakers is to find an acceptable equilibrium between these two dimensions. This paper investigates tourism evolution between 2007 and 2019 in 15 Mediterranean islands, comparing tourism pressures through statistical indicators. The analysis will compare tourism demand and supply trends in these contexts. The performances will be evaluated to identify the islands’ positioning between sustainability needs and tourism development opportunities while considering post-COVID-19 challenges.

Soil bioengineering includes the sustainable use of vegetation for civil engineering purposes, including addressing climate change challenges. Previous research in this area has been focused on determination of the strength and stability that vegetation provides for the soil it grows in. The industry, on the other hand, has concentrated on mainly empirical approaches in the design and construction of nature-based solutions. The aim of this paper is to attempt a reconciliation of the scientific and technical aspects of soil bioengineering with a view of proposing broad guidelines for management of soil bioengineering projects aimed at combatting climate change and achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). More than 20 case studies of civil engineering projects addressing climate change challenges, such as erosion, shallow landslides, and flooding, were critically reviewed against the different project stages and the UN SDGs. The gaps identified in the review are addressed from civil engineering and asset management perspectives, with a view of implementing the scientific and technical nexus in the future. Recommendations are formulated to help civil engineers embrace the multidisciplinary nature of soil bioengineering and effectively address climate change challenges in the future.

Energy intensity reduction has become a constrained target from the 11th five-year plan in China. Energy consumption is expected to increase because of rapid urbanization and economic growth, whereas energy intensity reduction is regarded as a method to alleviate the pressure of growing energy demand. An important contribution of this study is the investigation of urbanization impact on energy intensity across China at the urban level. This research uses a balanced panel data set of 224 cities for the period between 2005 and 2016 and reports deep insights into and innovative findings for the reduction of energy intensity across different regions and cities in China. To examine the direct, indirect, and total effects and regional heterogeneous effects, we employ spatial Durbin models and spatial decomposition techniques. It reveals significant and negative direct effects of urbanization in the western and full regions. However, the indirect and total effects of urbanization are significantly negative in the eastern and western regions. The pressure of urbanization on energy has alleviated and is reversing, especially under the construction of people-oriented and green new-type urbanization. The empirics highlight industrialization as a contributing factor for high energy intensity in the spatial outcomes of regional analysis. The direct effect of per capita GDP supports the existence of the inverted U-shaped relationship between economic development and energy intensity. The study proposes fruitful implications to construct new-type urbanization for energy conservation and sustainable development in China.

Immunocastration, a technique to replace surgical castration of piglets, consists of two consecutive vaccinations to induce antibodies which transiently suppress testicular functions and avoid boar taint. It is a method to ensure both a high product quality and a high level of animal welfare. The impact of immunocastration on the three pillars of sustainability has been studied extensively. While all aspects of sustainability have been studied separately, however, a contemporary global overview of different aspects is missing. In immunocastrates, performance results are better than in barrows, but worse than in boars. The environmental impact of pork production with immunocastrates is lower than with barrows, but higher than with boars. The level of aggression is considerably lower in immunocastrates compared to boars. Societal concerns are mainly related to food safety, and are not supported by scientific evidence. After second vaccination, immunocastrates switch from a boar- to a barrow-like status. Therefore, the timing of second vaccination is a fine-tuning tool to balance advantages of boars with environmental and economic benefits against increased risk of welfare problems and boar taint. Nevertheless, both synergic and conflicting relationships between the pillars of sustainability must be communicated along the value chain to produce tailored pork products.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are offered as a comprehensive strategy to guide and encourage sustainable development at multiple scales both nationally and internationally. Furthermore, through the development of indicators associated with each goal and sub-goal, the SDGs support the notion of monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management, underpinned by the aspirations of social justice, equity and transparency. As such, the ethical intention of the SDGs is well founded. However, possible conflicts and trade-offs between individual SDGs have received little attention. For example, SDGs relating to poverty (SDG 1), inequality (SDG 10), food security (SDG2), economic development (SDG 8) and life in water and on land (SDGs 14 and 15), are potentially competing in many circumstances. In a social–ecological context, policy support and formulation are increasingly adopting systems approaches, which analyse the complex interactions of system elements. Adopting such an approach in this work, the above SDGs are analysed for coastal Bangladesh. This demonstrates multiple potential trade-offs between the SDGs, including agricultural farming approaches in the light of poverty reduction, and between economic growth and environmental integrity as well as equity. To develop coherent and policy relevant socio-ecological strategies, appropriate decision frameworks need to be co-developed across the range of stakeholders and decision-makers. Integrated models have great potential to support such a process.