• Energy Research
• social sciences close
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• 7. Clean energy close
• 3. Good health close
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In the financial industry, two relationships are well-researched: (i) innovation and financial performance and, (ii) sustainability and financial performance, both focused primarily on Western and advanced countries. The relationship between innovation and sustainability, however, is underresearched. This study’s purpose consists of determining whether there is a relationship between innovation and corporate sustainability in the financial industry. In doing so, this study responds to a critical question: are the most innovative firms also the most sustainability-oriented? We empirically explore sustainability-oriented innovation in the financial industry of 11 catching-up countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Using Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data for 2012–2014, this study empirically analyzes a large sample of 1574 firms in the financial industry. Our results suggest that innovation is positively linked to corporate sustainability, pointing out that innovation capabilities are positively related to sustainability. Our study proposes a framework for analyzing innovation and sustainability from a capability-perspective.

Social networks, which are characterised by accessibility and interactivity, offer great potential for dialogue between companies and stakeholders, for example as platforms for publishing information on aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR). In this paper, we use a synthetic index to analyse levels of CSR disclosure via Twitter, and identify explanatory variables of this disclosure by studying the demographic characteristics of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and of the company. This synthetic index was based on data for 93 companies located in the four countries of the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru), using categories based on the 2016 Global Reporting Initave (GRI) Standards. The tweets were compiled during a period of two months in 2017, immediately before and after the publication of each CSR report. The synthetic index was taken as the dependent variable and used as the basis for multivariate regression analysis to identify the relationship between the level of CSR disclosure on Twitter and the characteristics of the firm and its CEO. The results obtained show that firms operating in environmentally-sensitive industries present higher levels of CSR disclosure on Twitter than those in other sectors. By country of origin, the Colombian and Chilean companies offered higher levels of disclosure than those in Mexico and Peru. The regression analysis revealed a positive relationship between the firm operating in a sensitive industry and its level of CSR disclosure on Twitter, and an inverse relationship between the latter variable and the tenure of the CEO.

The transition from traditional energy to cleaner energy sources has raised concerns from companies and investors regarding, among other things, the impact on financial downside risk. This article implements backtesting techniques to estimate and validate the value-at-risk (VaR) and expected shortfall (ES) in order to compare their performance among four renewable energy stocks and four traditional energy stocks from the WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation and the Bloomberg World Energy for the period 2005-2016. The models used to estimate VaR and ES are AR(1)-GARCH(1,1), AR(1)-EGARCH(1,1), and AR(1)-APARCH(1,1), all of them under either normal, skew-normal, Student’s t, skewed-t, Generalized Error or Skew-Generalized Error distributed innovations. Backtesting performance is tested through traditional Kupiec and Christoffersen tests for VaR, but also through recent backtesting ES techniques. The paper extends these tests to the skewed-t, skew-normal and Skew-Generalized Error distributions and applies it for the first time in traditional and renewable energy markets showing that the skewed-t and the Generalized Error distribution are an accurate tool for risk management in those markets. Our findings have important implications for portfolio managers and regulators in terms of capital allocation in renewable and traditional energy stocks, mainly to reduce the impact of possible extreme loss events.

The literature suggests that innovation allows organizations to reach a desirable level of sustainability. There is evidence to support the role of knowledge management (KM) as well as management capability (MC) in producing a sustainable approach at organizations. Furthermore, organizations commonly achieve sustainable practices through corporate social responsibility (CSR). In particular, the health sector is increasingly implementing CSR strategies, although with a narrow understanding of the factors to success. Hence, trends lead to asymmetric growth between organizations. This study aims to examine the mediating role of KM in the relationship between MC and innovative performance (IP) in 331 Health Provider Institutions (HPIs). The research reflective model was assessed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). According to the results, MC has a positive effect on IP, MC has a positive effect on KM, and KM has a positive effect on IP. Likewise, KM significantly mediates the relationship between MC and IP. Our findings support the importance of KM in addressing MCs in HPIs as it enables innovative practices to address CSR goals to achieve a sustainable impact. Moreover, this study contributes by expanding KM to contexts that are not usually studied, such as health in a South American country.

The sustainability of ecotourism initiatives represents a major challenge. The aim of this study is to enhance our understanding of how community participation in ecotourism management can contribute toward achieving more sustainable results by identifying key factors that make it possible to potentiate a broader range of economic, social and environmental objectives. Based on the theory of collaborative planning and the strategic focus of community tourism, our work adopted a mixed approach to compare and explain the differences between two local cooperatives on the coast of the state of Nayarit, Mexico. The results reveal statistically‑significant differences between the benefits obtained through ecotourism and identify the factors that foment active community participation by local residents that, in turn, generates positive correlations with those benefits. Findings were supported by qualitative interviews with external informants. Our conclusion is that the level of benefits obtained can be reasonably explained by a set of six key factors

AbstractThis study analyzes the degree to which conspicuous consumption motives, environmental concern, perceived consumer effectiveness, trust in sustainable clothing brands, and perceived greenwashing trigger the purchase of sustainable clothing. The theoretical framework was tested with a representative online sample of the Australian population (N = 600). Results showed that all proposed antecedents have a positive relationship with the purchase of sustainable clothing, with the exception of perceived greenwashing, which decreases purchase intention. In addition, perceived consumer effectiveness positively moderated the effect of conspicuous consumption motives on purchasing. Conspicuous consumption motives had a stronger effect on purchase when perceived effectiveness was high, and this influence was reduced for lower perceived effectiveness. The interaction between conspicuous consumption and perceived efficacy had the strongest effect in the model. Our findings highlight the relevance of conspicuous consumption as a motive for switching to sustainable clothing and the likewise important role of perceived consumer effectiveness, which is a boundary condition for this effect. Findings also confirm the significant positive influence of environmental concern and trust in the sustainable clothing brand, while perceived greenwashing is a barrier to the adoption of sustainable clothing. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

This research sets out to examine the interaction between accessibility, social inequalities and sustainability by revisiting a well-documented case of inequalities in access in Global South cities: Bogotá. Our analysis builds on the concept of accessibility, focusing on the role of transport as an enabler of opportunities for social interactions, healthcare and leisure, which are essential to the full participation in society. The research applies a methodological framework for accessibility developed and tested in the Latin American context, though it has not been previously applied to non-commuting travel. Our paper contributes to the existing evidence base showing the relevance of non-commuting travel to sustainable transport assessment in contexts of high inequality, which can be scaled up and applied in other contexts with various levels of social and environmental inequalities. The empirical analysis is based on data from Bogotá’s household travel survey. Using this dataset, we measure accessibility using a gravitational type of metric that is calibrated based on observed travel behavior. Accessibility levels were estimated by car and public transport for every zonal planning unit in the Bogotá Region. Accessibility indices are analyzed from an equity perspective using metrics such as the Palma ratio for differences of income and socioeconomic positions. Results show that on average, low- and middle-income areas have higher accessibility than high-income areas by both private and public transport. Accessibility conditions are discussed considering a framework of transitions to sustainable urban mobility, reflecting on various drivers and consequences of barriers to access in different areas and social groups. Our findings provide insights to support actions that redistribute accessibility of opportunities beyond the job market, questioning the applicability of accessibility measures to discuss equity and sustainability in cities such as Bogotá.

AbstractThis article is concerned with soil‐sustainability problems of agriculture in developing countries, in particular with soil erosion. The aim of our study is to develop a comprehensive model that explains the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices with respect to soil conservation. Our approach includes the following special features: (a) the model is comprehensive in that it includes a large number of institutional, personal–social, economic, and physical explanatory variables; (b) particular attention is paid to the influence of marketing systems on the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, which to our knowledge has been neglected in past research; (c) the concept of adopting sustainable agricultural practices (ASAP) is differentiated into a limited number of basic components of soil conservation; and (d) the model is estimated by Principal Component Regression, which enhances efficient estimation of the impact of many explanatory variables on ASAP. Our model is applied to Cabuyal hillside farming in Colombia. The application demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed model. ASAP is differentiated into three basic components: soil‐disturbance control, soil‐protection practices, and run‐off control. It appears that soil‐disturbance control is particularly influenced by farmers' characteristics, such as education and managerial variables. The second component, soil‐protection practices, appears to be strongly influenced not only by farmers' managerial variables but also by their relationship with their environment, in particular marketing institutions. The third soil‐conservation component, run‐off control, is influenced by the physical characteristics of the plot and by the available farm labor. Our empirical results demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed model in designing agricultural policies, because it can determine which variables are more likely to influence the adoption of a specific type of soil conservation.

The purpose of this study is to identify teaching styles (TS) and learning styles (LS) in teachers and students in public schools with a focus on renewable energies, with the aim of designing and applying curricular strategies based on active learning in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the same way, it seeks to determine the differences related between TS and LS. The research was developed with a quantitative methodology and a correlational descriptive approach. In addition, a non-experimental, cross-sectional design was used and an intentional non-probabilistic sampling of 125 students and 20 professors from the Maria Inmaculada School of the municipality of Puerto Carreño, Colombia. The results indicate that there is no significant difference between TS and LS. However, it was identified that students prefer a reflective teaching methodology (M = 15.5, SD = 0.75) followed by the active style (M = 14.2, SD = 1.10) and, to a lesser extent, the pragmatic style (M = 11.4, SD = 1.19). In the case of teachers, the most used teaching style is also reflective (M = 25.7, SD = 1.02), followed by individualized (M = 20.1, SD = 0.56) and, to a lesser extent, inquiry (M = 5.3, SD = 1.10). This research allows the generating of new knowledge that contributes to improving educational processes in the school population with a focus on renewable energies, enabling the promotion of strategies towards a sustainable society.