• Energy Research

This study aims to fill the gap in estimating the Green Country Brand Strength Index and its convergence among EU countries and Ukraine (as a potential EU candidate) from 2006 to 2020. Drawing upon data from the World Data Bank, Eurostat, and The Food and Agriculture Organization, the study employs various analytical tools including principal component analysis, the global Malmquist‒Luenberger productivity index, the entropy method, and σ- and β-convergence theories. The findings suggest a notable increase in the green brand values of the analyzed countries from 2006 to 2020, with a significant expansion of the measurement scale. Notably, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden emerged as leaders in the Green Country Brand Strength Index by 2020. Furthermore, the study uncovers convergent policies among EU countries aimed at fostering green brands aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, as evidenced by a decline in σ- and β-convergences. This research provides valuable insights into the dynamics of green branding and policy convergence within the EU and prospective candidate countries. It introduces a distinctive approach to assessing and analyzing green brand strength, emphasizing its critical importance to the formulation of sustainable development policies and strategies.

A green economy refers to a modern form of harmony between the environment and the economy. China showing the fastest economic growth in the world has entered into a new phase of advance, facing a critical industrial transformation and progression. The paper aims to analyse China's green economic development considering the differences in development of regions. The study applied the ultra-efficient slacks-based measure model to scrutinize China's green economic development efficiency. Dagum Gini coefficient and Kernel density methods are used to estimate spatial characteristics, local adjustments, and dynamic evolution trends. The analysis is based on an annual dataset of 30 Chinese provinces from 2010 to 2019. The findings did not confirm extensive China's green economic development. In contrast, the development efficacy reveals an influential drive over the years. Regional green development is detected as unstable and diverges due to interregional differences. The findings showed that environmental regulation, government investment, industrial structure, education development were 0.0648, 0.00154, 0.0035 and 0.118 (significant at 5% and 1%), respectively. Besides, they stimulate the green economic development in the analysed regions. However, urbanization and openness of economy had the negative value. It confirmed their restriction impact on the green economic development. In addition, the findings showed that ongoing Chines policy on management of environmental development is the priority direction and provoke the declining the environmental pollution. Besides, the modernization and optimization of the Chinese industry structure stimulate the further green economic progress.

The omnichannel approach to forming marketing strategies for the development of the green competitiveness of enterprises is seen as a process for the inseparable interaction of marketing-mix elements that are aimed at promoting green competitiveness. This approach integrates traditional and digital marketing communication channels and provides consideration for stakeholder interests. The effectiveness of applying the omnichannel approach to the formation of marketing strategies to develop the green competitiveness of enterprises depends on a set of marketing communication channels, which, in various combinations, can increase or decrease the level of companies’ green competitiveness. For that purpose, this paper proposes a scientific approach to identifying the quality parameters of marketing communication channels, which involves testing the hypothesis that statistically significant relationships exist between their quality parameters and the levels of green competitiveness. The objects analyzed in the paper comprise large Ukrainian production companies that are part of the agro-industrial, mechanical engineering, and food industries, and that work in both the local and international markets. According to the results of the calculations, four relevant parameters were identified for determining the quality of the marketing communication channels: the speed of loading pages, the failure rate, image, and remarketing activities.

Accepting sustainable development goals leads to the reorientation of all sectors at all levels. The European Union (EU) actively accepts a vast range of policies to achieve environmental sustainability due to declining carbon dioxide emissions. Within the Green Deal Policy, and in particular the Fit for 55 packages, the EU declared ambitious goals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by at least 55% from the transport industry by 2030 and 100% by 2035. These goals require introducing appropriate digital technologies into the ecologically friendly functioning of the transport sector to attain sustainable development. This paper aims at analyzing the impact of digitalization on environmental sustainability by providing an effective transport sector that functions with minimum environmental degradation. The object of research is the EU countries for the period 2006–2020. This study applies the panel-corrected standard errors technique to achieve the paper’s aims. The findings allow us to conclude that digitalization is conducive to environmental sustainability. Thus, digital inclusion, the input of the IT sector to GDP, and e-commerce have direct negative and statistically significant linear effects on carbon dioxide emissions. Growth of digital inclusion, input of the IT sector to GDP, and enterprises with web sales by one point allow for decreasing CO2 emissions by 0.136, 2.289, and 0.266, respectively. However, key enablers and digital public services for citizens have a nonlinear, statistically significant impact on carbon dioxide emissions. The findings could be the basis for upgrading incentive policies for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Ongoing environmental issues and degradation provoke the implementation of relevant incentives to overcome them without restrictions of economic growth. Considering the Chinese sustainable development policy, each province should provide the effective ecological regulations that consider the dynamic changes of the economic and ecological indicators of the province’s development. In this case, the paper aims to analyze the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality. The object of the investigation is the Henan provinces of China from 1994 to 2020. The study applied a vector autoregression model between the one-way and two-way relationship analysis, Granger causality test, cointegration test, and impulse response function. The findings confirm that GDP growth causes exhaust gas production and that SO2 will also influence wastewater. The results of the co-consolidation analysis showed that if the production of industrial solid waste gas and SO2 volume increased by 1% each, GDP per capita would increase by 0.22% and 0.35%, respectively. The findings of the variance decomposition of the GDP per capita in the first phase are all due to their perturbation term. The other influencing factors have no influence. Over time, GDP per capita is less and less affected and significantly enhanced by wastewater, exhaust gas, and SO2.

Digitalization has become a key driver of business innovation in recent years. It provides businesses with new opportunities to innovate and create value. Digital technologies, such as cloud computing, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence, have helped businesses boost the development of new products and services, optimize their operations, and improve customer engagement. This study aimed to analyze the impact of digitalization on business performance within business innovation. This study applied an ordinary least square regression model and an intermediary to explore relationship in the chain of digital capability–business model innovation–company performance. The object of investigation was 1663 listed A-share companies Shanghai and Shenzhen in the software and information technology service sectors. The results showed that digital capabilities could be divided into three dimensions according to the hierarchical relationship: (1) basic digital capabilities, (2) digital operation capabilities, and (3) digital integration capabilities, all of which significantly positively affected enterprise performance. Furthermore, while business model innovation significantly positively affected corporate performance, it was also driven by the preceding variables of digital capabilities. Business model innovation enhanced the positive impact of basic digital capabilities, digital operation capabilities, and digital integration capabilities on company’s performance. Considering the empirical results, this study underlines that the government should promote digital skills development, create supportive regulatory environments, promote access to funding for innovations, foster partnerships between businesses and technology providers, and promote collaboration between businesses, which are conducive to extending digitalization within the business innovation model and improving business performance.

The intensification of ecological issues provokes to search for the appropriate mechanism and resources to solve them without declining the economic growth. This requires moving from resources oriented to green economic development. It could be realised through two goals: achieving macroeconomic stability – core driver of economic growth; declining environmental degradation and increasing efficiency of resources using – core requirements for green development. The paper aims to check the hypothesis on macroeconomic stability's impact on the green development of the countries. The object of investigation is European Union countries from 2000 to 2020. The study applied the following methods: the Global Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index – to estimate the green development of the countries; Macroeconomic Stabilisation Pentagon model – to estimate macroeconomic stability; Kernel density estimation and Tobit model – to check the macroeconomic stability impact on the green development of the countries. The empirical findings show that Malta from the ‘Green Group’ and Estonia from the ‘Yellow group’ have the highest value of green development, and Sweden and Greece have the highest value of macroeconomic stability. Besides, the findings allow confirming the research hypothesis. Thus, the growth of external dimensions of macroeconomic stability by 1 point led to the growth of green economic development by 0.085 (among ‘Green group’) and 0.195 (among ‘Yellow group’). It confirms that harmonising macroeconomic stability among all EU members allows for achieving the synergy effect.

The relentless advancement of digital technologies has the potential to significantly reshape the energy landscape as digital technologies become increasingly integrated into diverse sectors of the economy. This study explores the intricate relationship between digitalization and energy in EU countries, focusing on its direct and indirect impacts on energy consumption, structure, and intensity. Furthermore, this study explores the mediating mechanisms that facilitate these changes, including the role of technological innovation and government efficiency in the relationship between digitalization and energy outcomes. Focusing on EU countries and using the system-GMM method, this research accounts for the heterogeneity in the impact of digitalization on energy across various member states. It examines the varying effects in different countries, considering their income levels, environmental regulations, and green investments. The results demonstrate that the strategic deployment of digitalization in EU countries substantially benefits the energy sector. By optimizing energy consumption and enhancing the energy structure through the integration of renewable sources, the EU could move closer to its sustainability objectives.