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Nowadays, the issues related with environment preservation assume an increasing importance. Progressively, more sustainable solutions/techniques are being developed to combat environmental destruction. The decision to include themes related to the environment in the curriculum of technological courses in higher education aims to promote more sustainable behaviors and in an indirect way, increase the environmental literacy of the population. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the environmental literacy focusing on four topics, i.e., air pollution, water pollution, global warming, and energy resources. For this purpose, a questionnaire was developed and applied to a convenience sample, formed by individuals of both genders, aged between 20 and 81 years old. The questionnaire intended to collect data to characterize the sample and assess the literacy regarding environmental issues. In order to carry out the environmental literacy assessment, the respondents were asked to express their degree of agreement with some statements related with the environmental themes mentioned above. The data collected was analyzed using data mining tools. The results suggest that the population’s literacy is satisfactory in relation to some issues, but insufficient in relation to others, equally important, but less disseminated.

This is the first study to use a quantitative approach in examining the impact of internet banking implementation as a green banking practice on bank profitability in Egypt. Moreover, it is the first global study to differentiate the impact between basic and advanced transactional internet banking on bank profitability. A total of 20 banks operating in Egypt were sampled over two time periods: 2009–2018 and 2014–2018. Random effects generalized least squares (GLS) regression analysis and nonparametric analysis were used. Findings indicate that advanced transactional internet banking, as a green banking practice that contributes to the Egyptian sustainable development strategy (SDS), significantly impacts bank profitability after three or more years of implementation. This study’s results are consistent with the findings of other comparable research conducted in developed markets. The findings of this study provide practical implications for managers and policymakers.

Although the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advocate, through SDG 4 and SDG 10, equitable quality education and the reduction of inequalities within and between countries, respectively, few studies have examined how inequalities in regional sustainability influence higher education. Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationship between regional sustainability and higher education in China using fixed-effects panel modelling. A systematic force framework showing how regional sustainability drives higher education was constructed from economic, social, and environmental perspectives, and the endogeneity in the process of how regional sustainability affects higher education was explored by introducing one-year lagged values as instrumental variables. Our results show that regional sustainability has a significant impact on higher educational attainment in China, with differing effects in the eastern, central, and western regions, respectively. In central China, economic sustainability plays a significant positive role in higher educational attainment; in the western region, economic and social sustainability have stronger positive effects, while environmental sustainability has significantly negative effects. In terms of policy implications, our findings can be used to support regional development policies to promote regional higher education.

Abstract Background The place of agriculture in the economic development process has long been the subject of much criticism. If the authors are unanimous that agriculture contributes to the development of the economy, its role in the growth of other sectors remains unclear. This research examines the contribution of agriculture, industry and services sectors to Gross Domestic Product in Economic Commission of West African States from 1975 to 2014. The study identifies the sector with a greater participation, analyses the robustness of the relationship between the three sectors and discusses the bidirectional causality relationship. Moreover, the interactions between the long-run equilibrium relationships and short-run dynamics are explored through an error correction model. Taking into account climate change, this research establishes by simulation the effect or response to a change in temperature and rainfall on the production of agricultural sector under the assumption of a positive policy integration of Economic Commission of West African States. Results The causality links between the three sectors are different among countries. Agriculture causes other sectors in some countries, while it is industry or services in other countries. The long-term equilibrium shows that the contribution of agriculture is predominant in Burkina Faso, Gambia and Nigeria. Countries such as Benin, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Guinea have a comparative advantage in industry. The simulation confirms the benefits of a positive policy integration in agriculture sector. Indeed, in the scenario of a positive policy integration, the effect of climate change through changes in temperature and rainfall is neutral and without consequences on agriculture per capita income. Conclusion The implementation of a special program is suggested for each country group based on their comparative advantage. A program between similar countries can be a coping strategy. Positive policy integration is fundamental to reduce the harmful effect of climate change.

Abstract This study aims to assess the efficiency of the fossil fuel taxation scheme currently in effect in Switzerland. To this end, the concept of implicit CO2 prices is introduced, based on which prices for different fossil fuel uses are derived. Implicit CO2 prices are defined as the difference between actual prices paid by consumers and efficient domestic fuel prices. Efficient domestic fuel prices, in turn, consist of private production costs, a uniform value added tax and only local external costs, not including external costs due to CO2 emissions and global climate change. The resulting prices differ substantially, which suggests that there is considerable cost-saving potential in reducing CO2 emissions in Switzerland. For passenger cars and air traffic, the implicit prices are negative. For these uses, higher fuel charges would therefore be beneficial from a purely domestic perspective, i.e., without considering the negative repercussions of global warming.

The aim of this study is to simulate the self-organized evolution mechanism of inner innovation of large-scale construction enterprises (LSCE) under different contexts. Based on NK stochastic combinatorial optimization model with two parameters (N, K), this study proposes three modules—ambidexterity, punctuated equilibrium, and automation—to simulate the change behaviors of the inner innovation system. Furthermore, this study analyses the influence of factor correlation on inner innovation performance under discusses nine different combination situations. The research results show that (a) regardless of how the relationship strength changes, fitness increases with an increasing K value; and (b) the comparison of optimization modes show that the punctuated equilibrium mode can guarantee the long- and short-term inner innovation performance LSCE. This study therefore reveals the mutual effects of the factors in the inner innovation system in LSCE and provides an effective model for internal systems analyses in the construction industry and in other sectors.

We use household survey data and results from a lab-in-the-field experiment to examine the impact of governance perceptions on the cooperativeness of water users in the maintenance of 19 small-scale irrigation schemes in northern Ghana. Cooperativeness is measured by two indicators, one indicator derived from the experiment and the other obtained from the survey. We distinguish the governance perceptions of users into six main components, and regress the two indicators on these six components. We consistently find for both indicators that cooperativeness is lower when users perceive that their water user association (WUA) is more successful in resolving conflicts. We also find that perceptions of accountability, transparency, and participation in governance jointly affect cooperativeness in a positive way, but collinearity problems refrain us from identifying which component(s) do(es) so. Type of leadership—whether or not the WUA leader was democratically elected—does not have a significant effect on cooperativeness, while having received irrigation-related training positively affects cooperativeness as measured by labor contributions to scheme maintenance. We argue that these novel insights can be of great importance for promoting sustainable management of small-scale irrigation schemes, but needs further research to examine its external validity.

In the last thirty years of the twentieth century we saw a resurrection of the writings of Matlhus. In their new guise we are told that instead of war, pestilence and famine, the earth has decreasing biodiversity, loss of species, loss of natural resources and water shortages, to name but a few, to look forward too. Population growth today, as it was two hundred years ago, is portrayed as Public Enemy number one. There is little doubt that the Neo-Malthusian argument has made an impact on policy, indeed, probably moreso than did its namesake. The newly clad argument shares much with its namesake, not least, its significant faults. The argument is two hundred years old, and the inaccuracies share that age. Malthus' predictions never reigned true because he made the fundamental error of not taking account of technical progress, or the ability of human ingenuity to adapt to change. This paper looks at the evolution of both sides of the population argument, and argues that this year's World Summit in Johannesburg should not fall foul to the dangerous generalisations invoked by the Neo-Malthusian school of thought. This paper is an attempt to lay the blame for environmental degradation not on the increasing population of the Third World, but on the consumption patterns and lifestyles of the First World. Affluence consumes energy and produces waste at a far higher rate than poverty. In looking at the environmental debate only an integrated approach, and not one that is concerned solely with ‘demonising’ population growth, can result in success.