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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.

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 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.

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.

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.