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This paper examines the nexus between the main forms of transport, related investments, specific air pollutants, and sustainable economic growth. The research is important since transport may act as a facilitator of social, economic, and environmental development. Based on data retrieved from Eurostat, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and World Bank, the output of fixed-effects regressions for EU-28 countries over 1990–2016 reveals that road, inland waterways, maritime, and air transport infrastructure positively influence gross domestic product per capita (GDPC), though a negative link occurred in the case of railway transport. As concerning investments in transport infrastructure, the empirical results exhibit a positive impact on economic growth for every type of transport, except inland waterways. Besides, emissions of CO2 from all kind of transport, alongside other specific air pollutants, negatively influence GDPC. The fully modified and dynamic ordinary least squares panel estimation results reinforce the findings. Further, in the short-run, Granger causality based on panel vector error correction model pointed out a unidirectional causal link running from sustainable economic growth to inland waterways and maritime transport of goods, albeit a one-way causal link running from the volume of goods transported by air to GDPC. As well, the empirical results provide support one-way short-run links running from GDPC to investments in road and inland waterway transport infrastructure. In addition, a bidirectional short-run link occurred between carbon dioxide emissions from railway transport and GDPC, whereas unidirectional relations with economic growth were identified in the case of carbon dioxide emissions from road and domestic aviation. In the long-run, a bidirectional causal relation was noticed between the length of the railways lines, investments in railway transport infrastructure, and GDPC, as well as a two-way causal link between the gross weight of seaborne goods handled in ports and GDPC.

The tendency to implement diverse environmental tools and promote the adoption of environmentally friendly practices in tourism activities is relatively new. One such tool is the EU Ecolabel used in the hotel industry as a voluntary European initiative meant to attest to the responsible attitude towards the environment. Since holding the ecolabel by the Romanian accommodation units is rather an exception, our aim was to investigate the views of industry managers on environmental issues, focusing on the EU Ecolabel, and get a glimpse of the challenges and prospects of ecolabelling within the seaside hotel industry. To this end, the study was designed and conducted on 60 hotel managers. The research results gave evidence to the measures already implemented, those pending implementation, reasons for not applying for the EU Ecolabel, and the most challenging criteria. The potential impact of the EU Ecolabel on the economic activity efficiency, and its role in customer decision processes and in marketing communication, was highlighted. Subsequently, a mathematical model was proposed, revealing that the intention to meet the criteria and obtain the EU Ecolabel depends on the managers’ level of knowledge of the EU Ecolabel, their opinion on whether holding the EU Ecolabel represents a competitive advantage, and the current efficiency level of the hotels’ economic activity. Considering the research findings, it is obvious that the industry would benefit from ampler and more sustained information campaigns on the EU Ecolabel.

The textile and fashion industry is on the brink of a major disruption, and blockchain technology (BT) presents a promising solution that could transform the industry by facilitating supply chain transparency, traceability, and sustainability. This article explores the potential of BT in the textile and fashion industry, with a focus on its current applications and potential impact. Using case studies and analyzing all announced blockchain projects from January 2017 to January 2023, we examine the diversity of blockchain applications across different aspects of the textile and fashion industry, including smart contracts and payment processing, supply chain tracking, sustainability applications, and customer engagement. The findings suggest an increasing number of companies are adopting BT, and that BT has the potential to revolutionize the T and F industry by creating a more transparent and efficient supply chain, reducing fraud and counterfeiting, and increasing customer confidence in products. We also identified the challenges and difficulties that may arise during the implementation of BT. This article contributes to the literature on BT in the textile and fashion industry, providing critical insights into its potential impact.

This paper studies the evolution of the most important emerging economies between 2002 and 2017 by estimating their capacity to implement the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. In the existing literature there are only a few studies aiming to estimate the capacity of emerging countries to implement the sustainable development goals and demonstrate how groups are performing in the achievement of these goals. Being aware of the strengths and weaknesses of such studies, the authors identified a group of nine countries by applying as the main criterion the size of the economy, reflected by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in current prices, taking into account the level registered in 2017. From a methodological point of view, the study was conducted through three stages: data collection and processing; empirical analysis and correlation testing; and cluster analysis using Statistica software (10.0, StatSoft, Tulsa OK, USA). The results of this investigation highlighted that all of the nine examined countries have the attributes needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, based on the qualitative and quantitative analysed indicators. Furthermore, the nine countries have already developed measures and adopted national strategies to implement the 2030 Agenda, with political will being also a relevant factor in this regard. This study provides a framework for theoretical and empirical analysis that could also be used in the future, whereby both the number of countries and the timeframe taken into account could be increased in order to identify new development trends for emerging economies.

Provision of adequate energy services in terms of quality, at acceptable prices, in terms of environmental compliance and security of supply, and in accordance with the requirements of economic growth is a vital component of sustainable development.Within the European Union the states are insisting on creating a single market in energy (in particular electricity and natural gas energy market, energies that are infrastructure network dependent). Hence, the emphasis must be focused on two different directions: ?? development of transmission and distribution networks;?? institutional reorganization of the system, abolition of monopolistic structures, activities unbundling, establishment of regulatory authorities, etc..

Alkylated PAHs (APAHs) have been shown to be more toxic and persistent than their non-alkylated parent compounds. However, little is known about the extent of soil contamination by these pollutants. To help understand agricultural soil pollution by these compounds at a regional scale, a total of 18 methylated PAHs (MPAHs, a major class of APAHs) in 243 soil samples were analyzed. These soil samples were collected from 11 sites in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region, a representative fast developing area in China. The total concentration of MPAHs (∑18MPAHs) ranged from 5.5 to 696.2 ng/g dry soil, with methylnaphthalenes (M-NAPs) and methylphenanthrenes (M-PHEs) accounting for more than 70% of the compositional profile. Relatively high concentrations of ∑18MPAHs were found in Jiaxing and Huzhou areas of Zhejiang province, as well as on the border between the cities of Wuxi and Suzhou. Different MPAH groups showed dissimilar spatial distribution patterns. The spatial distribution of lower molecular weight MPAHs was related to agricultural straw burning and emissions/depositions from industrial activities, whereas that of higher molecular weight MPAHs was much more a function of the total organic carbon (TOC) content of soil. Although coal, biomass (crop straw and wood), and petroleum combustion were identified to be the major emission sources for most of the sampling sites, the areas with relatively severe pollution with ∑18MPAHs resulted from the localized hotspots of petroleum leakage. Isomeric MPAHs with methyl group substituted at 2- (β) position exhibited significantly higher concentrations than those substituted at 1- (α) position. Results of this work help to understand soil pollution by MPAHs, and are useful for designing effective strategies for pollution control so as to ensure food safety in areas with fast economic growth.

The study takes into account the two Romanian Eastern regions (North East and South East) trying to emphasize the post-communist dynamics of the energy sector in order to draw a general perspective for the future evolution towards both energy security and a clean environment. Before 1989, the energy sector, that had to sustain not only the population needs, but also an oversized manufacturing industry, was based on big power plants usually using coal and oil and highly polluting the environment. The hydropower had a rather small share in the total energy production. This inherited system was very much resistant after the end of the centralized political system, therefore after the general industrial decline the energy sector remained the main source of air pollution in many towns and cities from Romania. Meanwhile, in the last 6-7 years, due to a favourable national political context, we assisted, especially in the analysed area, to an important emergence of renewable energy investments (mainly wind and solar energy, but also biomass or hydro-energy). Our purpose is to evaluate, from a geographical point of view, the extent and the implications of a desirable progressive shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy that could radically change the territorial relations and sustain development on the long term.

This paper focuses on the main international legal documents providing guidance recommendations and principles on corporate social responsibility (CSR), considered it as a sustainability tool. A special attention is paid to the provisions of European Union regarding corporate disclosure of non-financial information and transparency. The nonfinancial information report has to include consultation rights, health and safety environment, social dialogue, fulfilment of the obligation of non-discrimination etc. Despite the fact that it is not necessary a comprehensive report on CSR matters, the outcome would consist in demonstration that the disclosure of information on policies, outcomes and risks will enable companies and their stakeholders to develop a very good strategy of corporate governance policy.