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Even with the benefits of sustainability and climate change reporting, there is limited information on how municipalities are reporting on performance for external stakeholders in comparison with private sector organizations. The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of the current state of sustainability and climate change reporting at the local level and to investigate the extent to which municipalities across Ontario, Canada, report. We used content analysis to identify the presence or non-presence of information on the websites of 38 municipalities and analyzed the results using descriptive statistics. Our analysis showed that the sample municipalities were not widely reporting on sustainability or climate change performance. Also, we identified a gap between the number of plans and reports produced by sample municipalities, with the latter being less common, indicating a need for an improved evaluation of plan implementation. Further, we found that a provincial regulation that required municipalities to make their energy conservation and demand management plans public did not guarantee publication of the plan on a municipality’s website. This study contributes to the growing field of sustainability and climate change planning and reporting by local governments and offers empirical evidence specific to Ontario, Canada.

This article examines the porosity of national borders using the examples of two nuclear facilities at Gorleben and Morsleben located at the West German municipality in the state of Lower Saxony as well as the former Börde district of Saxony-Anhalt (former East Germany). Gorleben and Morsleben became known for their final nuclear waste repositories located directly at the German-German border. Debates and protests surrounding the facilities began in the 1970s and continued after the wall came down. Since opponents had to deal with two different political systems, protests differed in their duration, effect, and methods, even though the border as such was not the problem since West Germans were allowed into the GDR. Transboundary relations were much rather limited by the dictatorial regime on the one side, by the absence of anti-nuclear groups in the GDR until the mid-1980s, and by sufficient coalition partners for West German activists in their own country. Since the disclosure of environmental data by the East German government and the Chernobyl accident a few years later, transboundary relations increased and activists interconnected in many ways. With their protest they indicated that even if the border was a fact, concerns of people in both states transcended it and that borderlands are often characterized by relationality and entanglement.

A conducive business environment is crucial for establishing a sustainable market economy. This paper aims to quantitatively analyze the evolution of China’s business environment policy, offering valuable insights for future optimization. Focusing on 1335 national-level business environment policies from 2006 to 2023, this study employed a social network analysis (SNA) and the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model to investigate policy changes in terms of the issuing rhythm, collaborating departments, and policy attention. The findings reveal: (1) China has established a mature policy system for its business environment, with both an increasing number and improving impact of related policies. (2) A governance network of the business environment has gradually formed, with the participation of differentiated departments and the domination of one central unit, ensuring efficient collaboration and clear instruction. (3) The attention of the business environment policy has shifted from attracting foreign investment and developing the industrial chain to simplifying bureaucratic approval procedures, smoothing trade circulation, and ensuring legal reliability. This paper’s results serve as an empirical contribution to the field of business environment policy research.

The energy analysis of injection moulding processes is influenced by complex interactions amongst the moulded part, its material, the injection machine, the process parameters and the environmental conditions. The availability of energy usage analyses that comprehend information on specific materials and machine kind is limited. This paper reports a study that estimates and analyses the power usage profile (PUP), the specific energy consumption (SEC), and the energy distribution at an operation level of two different injected parts made of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and produced in a hybrid injection moulding machine. The methodology followed by the authors incorporates an experiment carried out in an industrial facility. A large sample size, and data-acquisition and data post-processing processes to obtain an accurate PUP and SEC are used. A breakdown of the energy consumed by the injection moulding process of the parts studied at an operation level using Sankey diagrams is discussed. The study results are used to identify strategies to reduce the energy consumed by the processes. The methodology employed, and the strategies reported could be used with other plastic parts regardless of the material and machine used. The results reported are new experimental data useful input for theoretical models.

Institutionalized Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) are a widely debated phenomenon, addressed by both scientific literature and policymakers. The most important contribution of this work is to describe the various theories used for understanding the performance expectations of PPPs, as the focus on performance is still poor despite the growing interest in participant companies (mixed-owned companies), especially at the local level. While analyzing the evaluation of the performance of these entities, a wide stream of literature has focused on profitability and efficiency, showing a substantial difference in terms of the performance of such companies compared to private capital ones. All this leads us to consider the Public Value theory as the best framework in literature to address the many dimensions of performance and business strategy in PPPs while pursuing sustainable development. The interest in this area has increased lately, mainly due to the growing complexity within this dynamic context. Therefore, it seems meaningful to carry out a systematic review of the relevant published literature in this field. This study contributes to the literature on sustainable development in Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) that are seen as a form of mixed-owned companies, trying to address their multilayered performance expectations within the public value perspective and to understand how the role of performance measurement is influencing business strategies and the attitude towards sustainable environment. This will prove useful to scholars, policymakers and practitioners alike.

The border regions between Northeast India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Southwest China are characterized by close historical, intra-ethnic relations and a developing civil society sector as well as violent conflicts and disputes about hydropower and resource extraction projects. What is more, this region will be affected by climate change. The articles reflect expanding regional economic relations, resource extraction projects, climate change challenges, minority issues and the potential for further involvement of the civil society. Die Grenzregionen zwischen Nordostindien, Myanmar und Südwestchina sind geprägt von engen historischen, intra-ethnischen Beziehungen, von einer sich entwickelnden Zivilgesellschaft sowie von Gewaltkonflikten und Konflikten über Wasserkraft- und Ressourcengewinnungsprojekte. Diese Region wird zudem vom Klimawandel betroffen sein. Die Aufsätze behandeln die wachsenden regionalen Wirtschaftsverbindungen, Ressourcenerschließungsprojekte, Herausforderungen des Klimaschutzes, Minderheitenfragen sowie Möglichkeiten des zivilgesellschaftlichen Engagements.

Abstract What is the place of voluntary self-regulation in today’s international trade? Can we continue to understand the contract in its relation to the historical unity of state and law considering the massive transformation of the closely related dichotomies between national and international, public and private, and hard law and soft law? What is the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the contemporary debate over global value chains (GVCs)? This paper addresses on the role of law in societal challenges arising from the kaleidoscopic view of globalization. GVCs operate through interdependent contracts and in relation to multiple normative orders that impose moral, economic, and legal obligations. This paper seeks to re evaluate the role of contract law in its relation to sustainable and ethical global trade. The perspective it develops prioritizes the interaction between extra-legal considerations in contract law and the momentum of CSR as well as the historical dynamics of law, economics, and politics.

Abstract One of the most prominent urban problems European cities face, is not only the physical degradation of its historic city centers, but also the degradation of their social, economic and environmental context. Moreover, common rehabilitation methods and strategies are often unsuccessful combatting such problem, and new ways and strategies must be researched, tested, and implemented under a new sustainable development policy. Creativity and artistic activities can play an important role in the resolution of this problem. For example, the re-occupation of derelict buildings, through creative and innovative activities, can contribute to resolving the primary issue. While analyzing a comparative case study using three examples: LxFactory in Lisbon, Ateneu Popular 9 Barris in Barcelona, and 59 Rivoli in Paris, it´s possible to conclude that their rehabilitation through art and culture, could produce positive side effects leading to social renovation and solid economic activity within itself and its surrounding area, creating new local economies, jobs, new tourists attractions, real estate opportunities and more. Considering the current standpoint and outlook on rehabilitation, as an action and movement of sustainability, especially at the environmental level, and associating it with the arts and culture movement, will allow it to solve the social and economic problem simultaneously. By introducing new dynamic living spaces in unoccupied and derelict buildings also re-energizes the economic value of the building as well as, most importantly, regenerating the actual city.

Sammendrag Den globale klimainnsatsen må bygge på en forståelse av erfaringer gjort i fortid og nåtid, samt ta opp i seg forventningene til et mangfold av aktører. Imidlertid ser vi at den nåtidige klimainnsatsen domineres av en senkapitalistisk produksjonslogikk. Klimavisjoner blir i all hovedsak skapt av en håndfull aktører basert på snevre forestillinger om verden og frakoblet viktige fortidserfaringer. Samtidig ser vi at disse visjonene blir presentert som innovative og enestående selv om dette ikke nødvendigvis er tilfelle. Antropologien er godt rustet til å produsere gode analyser av dagens klimainnsats. Fagets evne til å trekke frem viktige sammenhenger ved å knytte det globale sammen med stedspesifikke virkeligheter og til å vise mangfoldighet, kan gi et viktig bidrag i analyser av dagens klimatiltak. Ved å sette utfallet av tidligere visjoner og intervensjoner opp mot de nye forestillingene kan vi synliggjøre hva som står på spill, for hvem og hvordan gammel retorikk og strategi framtrer i ny forkledning.