• Energy Research
• 11. Sustainability close
• 1. No poverty close
• Frontiers in Environmental Science close

The objective of this paper is to analyse impacts of COVID-19 on the nexus of food systems, the environment and sustainable development and propose ways for governments and international agencies to mitigate impacts in the short and medium term. It covers the historic period from early 2020 to early 2021 and also makes an assessment on future prospects. Although evidence is collected from all around the world, the focus is primarily on developing countries. The methods used are a review of the announced actions and preliminary findings in the academic and grey literature as well as on reliable websites from global and international institutions. By October 2020, governments around the world had invested about $12 trillion to counteract the economic effects of COVID-19. This investment could contribute to progress on the SDGs and global climate targets insofar as it was invested within a framework that supports both socio-economic recovery and sustainability. Initial analysis indicates that investments for economic recovery did not sufficiently address food security and sustainability, concentrating instead on immediate economic risk management. The global sustainable development agenda must promote the resilience and sustainability of food systems through policies and measures that: i) account for environmental thresholds and trade-offs; ii) promote food security and healthy diets; iii) enhance and protect rural livelihoods; and iv) address the inequalities and injustices that have emerged and will prevail during a post-COVID transition. National stimulus programs and the actions of international agencies must be assessed and monitored to deliver multiple benefits simultaneously and guide building back better.

The topic of whether globalization, energy consumption and financial development can substantially reduce emissions during the globalization era remains unanswered. In this context, this research highlights empirical indications supporting this theoretical discord; assessing the effect of globalization, energy consumption and financial development on the CO2 emissions in Japan (utilizing a dataset that spans between 1990 and 2019). The study employed the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique and frequency domain causality to probe these relationships. Unlike other conventional causality tests, the frequency domain causality test can capture causality at different frequencies. The findings from the ARDL analysis disclosed that globalization and renewable energy contribute to the mitigation of CO2 emissions while fossil fuel, economic growth and financial development caused an upsurge in CO2 in Japan. Furthermore, the frequency domain demonstrated that all the exogenous variables can forecast CO2 mostly in the long-term which implies that any policy initiated based on the exogenous variables will impact emissions of CO2. Based on the results obtained, Japan has to improve its financial systems and increase its use of renewable energy. Furthermore, Japan needs to restructure its policy regarding globalization owing to the fact that it contributes to the degradation of the environment. Since globalization is a major driver of economic growth, the government should concentrate on luring and licensing investors that use environmentally beneficial (net-zero) technology.

Population and industry are closely related to CO2 emissions in Cities. However, few studies have explored the joint influence of population size and industrial structure on CO2 emissions. This paper examined the nonlinear influence of population size and industrial structure on CO2 emissions by using a threshold-STIRPAT model with the latest available data in 2001–2017 from 255 cities in China. Results indicated that the promotion effect of urban population size on CO2 emissions increased in the first two stages and then decreased in the third stage when the industrial structure exceeded the threshold value of 1.22. Meanwhile, the industrial structure had a positive impact on CO2 emissions if the urban population was less than 1.38 million. However, the previous promotional effect became an inhibitory effect when the urban population exceeded 1.38 million. According to the above findings, it is necessary to find a reasonable match between urban population size and industrial structure. Specifically, China should formulate differentiated urban population policies in cities with different industrial structures. In addition, for cities with a population size of more than 1.38 million, adjusting the industrial structure to give priority to the tertiary industry will be an effective way to reduce CO2 emissions.

Regional carbon emissions related to forest cover change (FCC) and wood harvest (WH) are critical for the accurate estimates of global carbon balance over an extended time period. Using remote sensing and inventory data, this study provides a comprehensive record of FCC, WH, and their integrated carbon emissions between 1908 and 2015 in the dry temperate regions of Pakistan. Results demonstrate a significant decline in forest area (21,034 ha) at an annual rate of 0.56% from 1973 to 2015. The total WH was 24.84 million m3 (0.23 million m3 yr−1) between 1908 and 2015. Deforestation was responsible for a net loss of 1.39 million Mg C (0.018 million Mg C yr−1), while WH-related carbon emissions accounted for 11.29 million Mg C (0.52 million Mg C yr−1). The present results indicate that under the existing FCC and WH harvest scenario, the forests are acting as a net source of 0.29 million Mg C yr−1. Agriculture expansion and the heavy dependency of local communities on the forest’s resources, exclusion of conservation and local communities from forest management, insufficient monitoring, and weak law-enforcement were the striking drivers of FCC, WH, and their related emissions. These findings suggest that to maintain forest carbon and meet the communities’ requirements, counter approaches such as agriculture incentives, agroforestry, trophy hunting, alternative energy sources, and inclusion of conservation and secure community-based management are needed.

This study aims to find the nexuses among energy efficiency, renewable energy consumption, foreign direct investment, logistics industry, manufacturing industry and global trade during the COVID-19 pandemic and their impact on global supply chains in exporting nations of the world. The data for this study has been extracted from the World Development Indicators and Statista 2021 for 13 years ranging from 2007-to 2020 for nine top exporting countries. The fixed effect panel estimation technique was implied to examine and analyze the data. The results of our study revealed that highly risky diseases significantly impact supply chain operations globally. Global supply chains, logistics and manufacturing industries significantly influence global trade operations. Our results implicate that the overall international trade and logistics can be enhanced by improving the manufacturing and logistics industries by coping with the risk of pandemic diseases. Moreover, by utilizing cost-effective, renewable and efficient energy resources companies address sustainability issues of global trade and operations. By exerting further attention to the proficiency of the levies approval process, competence and quality of logistics services, and ease of assembling competitively priced shipments, the governments can significantly enhance the export from the logistics industry. Also, increasing manufacturing and agricultural value-added healthier consequences might be acquired in global supply chain operations from the manufacturing industry.

This study explores the relationship between ESG investments and carbon emissions in China. Our results show that 1% increase in environmental investments would cause 0.246% decrease in CO2 emissions and 0.558% decrease in carbon emission intensity. The impact of ESG investment is heterogeneous across the developed and underdeveloped regions. Environmental investments in the advanced eastern region have significantly improved carbon productivity. In contrast, environmental investments in the central and western regions significantly reduced carbon emissions, but they have little impact on carbon productivity.

This study investigates the relationships between infrastructure development, human development index (HDI), and CO2 emissions in China. Infrastructure has played an essential role in achieving social and economic developmental goals in China, but environmental pollution has significantly increased in the country in the last two decades. Our analysis uses time series data from 1990 to 2021 and quantile regressions, and we find that infrastructure has positive and statistically significant relationships with HDI, CO2 emissions, and GDP in all quantiles. Recent infrastructure upgrades improve living standards and increase HDI but damage the environment, and infrastructure is the main source of CO2 emissions in the country. Therefore, the government should invest in sustainable infrastructure to mitigate CO2 emissions. The government may consider infrastructure options such as low carbon transportation, including railway infrastructure, urban metros, and light rail.

Ensuring sustainability of sanitation infrastructure assets and services over the long-term is crucial for achieving safe sanitation for all. Co-management is an emerging approach that balances state and citizen responsibility for services, with applicability to community-scale (or decentralized) sanitation systems in a city-wide context. In Indonesia more than 30,000 of these systems are typically managed solely by communities, however, due to challenges in technical, social and financial aspects, commonly fall to disrepair. This paper presents qualitative research comprising document review, interviews and co-design workshops with local government and community management groups that developed a model for co-management of community-scale systems. The co-management model articulated four minimum responsibilities for local government: monitoring and corrective action; provision of technical and institutional support to community groups; formalization of fee collection; and funding of large costs for rehabilitation and expansion. This model was developed and tested in two case study locations, and through this process, was deemed appropriate, acceptable and feasible for both local government and community management groups. Related changes to Indonesia’s national program guidelines were also identified to clearly articulate local government’s role. The agreed co-management approach aligns with the human right to sanitation by supporting local governments fulfill their legal mandate for services, promotes professionalized sustainable management arrangements, ensuring community-scale systems can contribute effectively to future citywide solutions.