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The aim of this paper was to investigate the role of public institutions in the pursuit of sustainable development in a case study of international relevance: Taranto’s ILVA steel plant, which is one of the biggest steel and iron centres in Europe. The case study was analysed through investigating the different aspects of sustainable development in the four phases of development of the steel plant, from public direct management to private management. The analysis, based on a series of unstructured data, was carried out by applying a triple bottom line approach and the total interpretative structuring model (TISM). Evidence shows how—in the absence of stable, coherent, strong and present public institutions, capable of reading the forces of the local and international context and of intervening with regulatory actions inspired by a planned and interiorized economic strategy—the market, left in the hands of the private entrepreneur only, is destined to fail, and the paths of multidimensional sustainable development stray away from the ambitions of modern states.

The aim of this paper was to investigate the role of public institutions in the pursuit of sustainable development in a case study of international relevance: Taranto’s ILVA steel plant, which is one of the biggest steel and iron centres in Europe. The case study was analysed through investigating the different aspects of sustainable development in the four phases of development of the steel plant, from public direct management to private management. The analysis, based on a series of unstructured data, was carried out by applying a triple bottom line approach and the total interpretative structuring model (TISM). Evidence shows how—in the absence of stable, coherent, strong and present public institutions, capable of reading the forces of the local and international context and of intervening with regulatory actions inspired by a planned and interiorized economic strategy—the market, left in the hands of the private entrepreneur only, is destined to fail, and the paths of multidimensional sustainable development stray away from the ambitions of modern states.

Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil; it is essential to manage its palm oil industry in a sustainable manner through swapping the oil palm plantation in peatland to mineral soil to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. This study employed the latest spatial data using the ArcGIS software to analyze the potential area for the land swap option and to calculate the potential reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in Kalimantan, Indonesia. There are 1.08 million ha of oil palm in peatland, while 0.64 million ha of the area in mineral soil under the convertible production forest have the potential for land swapping. Via the land-swap option, emission reductions of 65.43% (from 979.05 MtCO2eq to 336.64 MtCO2eq) for the calculation period of 25 years and up to 61.19% (from 2147.81 MtCO2eq to 833.67 MtCO2eq) for that of 50 years is possible compared to the initial condition. The land swap will also increase the production of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) by 17.16% per year because the productivity of FFB in mineral soil is higher than that of the peatland. Considering that land swaps are costly, policymakers and stakeholders must collaborate to execute the land-swap option for the sustainability of Indonesian palm oil.

Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil; it is essential to manage its palm oil industry in a sustainable manner through swapping the oil palm plantation in peatland to mineral soil to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. This study employed the latest spatial data using the ArcGIS software to analyze the potential area for the land swap option and to calculate the potential reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in Kalimantan, Indonesia. There are 1.08 million ha of oil palm in peatland, while 0.64 million ha of the area in mineral soil under the convertible production forest have the potential for land swapping. Via the land-swap option, emission reductions of 65.43% (from 979.05 MtCO2eq to 336.64 MtCO2eq) for the calculation period of 25 years and up to 61.19% (from 2147.81 MtCO2eq to 833.67 MtCO2eq) for that of 50 years is possible compared to the initial condition. The land swap will also increase the production of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) by 17.16% per year because the productivity of FFB in mineral soil is higher than that of the peatland. Considering that land swaps are costly, policymakers and stakeholders must collaborate to execute the land-swap option for the sustainability of Indonesian palm oil.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all sectors of the tourism industry, particularly air transportation. However, air transport remains an important contributor to economic growth globally. Thus, this study examines whether air transport (a proxy for tourism) stimulates economic growth to validate the air-transportation-led growth hypothesis (ALGH) in the Australian context. To conduct the study, we analyse the asymmetric long-run and short-run impacts of the air passengers carried (a proxy for tourism) on the gross domestic product (GDP) in Australia. We use the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) modelling approach on data for Australia from 1971 to 2019. We also examined the effects of selected control variables (i.e., energy consumption, financial development, socialisation, and urbanisation) on economic growth. In both the short and long run, we observed statistically significant asymmetric impacts of air transport on economic growth. The positive shocks in air transport propel the long-term growth of Australia’s economy. Additionally, according to the findings, negative shocks of air transport have a stronger detrimental impact on economic development than positive shocks.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all sectors of the tourism industry, particularly air transportation. However, air transport remains an important contributor to economic growth globally. Thus, this study examines whether air transport (a proxy for tourism) stimulates economic growth to validate the air-transportation-led growth hypothesis (ALGH) in the Australian context. To conduct the study, we analyse the asymmetric long-run and short-run impacts of the air passengers carried (a proxy for tourism) on the gross domestic product (GDP) in Australia. We use the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) modelling approach on data for Australia from 1971 to 2019. We also examined the effects of selected control variables (i.e., energy consumption, financial development, socialisation, and urbanisation) on economic growth. In both the short and long run, we observed statistically significant asymmetric impacts of air transport on economic growth. The positive shocks in air transport propel the long-term growth of Australia’s economy. Additionally, according to the findings, negative shocks of air transport have a stronger detrimental impact on economic development than positive shocks.

The levels of production diseases (PD) and the cow replacement rate are high in dairy farming. They indicate excessive production demands on the cow and a poor state of animal welfare. This is the subject of increasing public debate. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of production diseases on the economic sustainability of dairy farms. The contributions of individual culled cows to the farm’s economic performance were calculated, based on milk recording and accounting data from 32 farms in Germany. Cows were identified as ‘profit cows’ when they reached their individual ‘break-even point’. Data from milk recordings (yield and indicators for PD) were used to cluster farms by means of a principal component and a cluster analysis. The analysis revealed five clusters of farms. The average proportion of profit cows was 57.5%, 55.6%, 44.1%, 29.4% and 19.5%. Clusters characterized by a high proportion of cows with metabolic problems and high culling and mortality rates had lower proportions of profit cows, somewhat irrespective of the average milk-yield per cow. Changing the perception of PD from considering it as collateral damage to a threat to the farms’ economic viability might foster change processes to reduce production diseases.