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The COVID-19 pandemic was a shock to the food supply chain without modern precedent. Challenges in production, manufacturing, distribution and retailing led to the highest rates of food price inflation in the US since the 1970s. The major goal of this paper is to describe statistically the impact of the pandemic of food price inflation and volatility in the US and to discuss implications for industry and for policymakers.

We use Bureau of Labor Statistics data to investigate food prices in the US, 2020–2021. We apply 16 statistical approaches to measure price changes and volatility and three regression approaches to measure counterfactuals of food prices, had the pandemic not occurred.

Food price inflation and volatility increased substantially during the early months of the pandemic, with a great deal of heterogeneity across food products and geographic regions. Food price inflation was most pronounced for meats, and contrary to expectations, highest in the western US Forecasting approaches demonstrate that grocery prices were about 7% higher than they would have been without the pandemic as of the end of 2021.

The research on COVID-19 and the food system remains in its nascent stage. As findings on food loss and waste, employment and wages, food insecurity and more proliferate, it is vital to understand how food prices were connected to these phenomena and affected. We also motivate several ideas for future work.

This paper aims to propose a methodology for assessing an optimal portfolio of investment instruments that minimise the social costs of decarbonising economic activity while improving the environmental objectives proposed in EU legislation.

The methodology defines the net social cost of decarbonisation related to a portfolio of four instruments: installation of solar PV and wind generation, thermal insulation of households and deployment of heat pumps. The social cost is minimised by restricting it to the minimum level of the targets proposed in the Spanish National Energy and Climate Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase generation from renewable sources and reduce energy consumption. The empirical approach also includes differences between regions according to the expected effect for instruments.

The application of this methodology to the environmental objectives defined in the current Spanish National Energy and Climate Plan for 2030 concludes that it is clearly possible to reduce the social cost of decarbonisation while improving environmental performance through a reorientation of investment instruments. In this case, such a reorientation would be based on a minimisation of efforts in thermal insulation of households and a maximisation of measures aimed at the installation of heat pumps.

The paper proposes a novel methodology for a social cost assessment that improves the allocation of a portfolio of environmental instruments. This portfolio could be extended in further work to include instruments related to transport or support for industrial decarbonisation, such as the deployment of renewable hydrogen, among others.

This study aims to examine the challenges in the implementation of energy management systems in residential buildings to lower the running cost and achieve a better energy-efficient building.

This study adopted a mixed research method. Quantitative data was gathered by issuing a research questionnaire to 20 Delphi experts, while qualitative data was acquired through a Systematic Literature Review. Data received was analyzed using the descriptive analysis method.

The findings revealed that the main barriers to incorporating energy management systems (EMSs) in residential buildings consist of a lack of awareness of energy management systems, lack of management commitment to energy management, lack of knowledge about energy management systems, lack of funds for energy management systems, resistance to energy management technology by the property owners and property managers, distrust and resistance to energy management technology by the property owners, high initial cost of energy management technologies, shortage of technicians for energy management technologies, the nonexistence of local manufacturers of energy management equipment, lack of incentives for efficient energy management and high repair costs of energy management technologies.

The specific focus on residential buildings may limit the applicability of findings to commercial or industrial sectors. Further research is warranted to accommodate other energy-consuming sectors.

People’s perceptions, either wrong or correct, affect their ability to make an informed decision to adopt energy management systems, denying them the opportunity to reap the associated benefits. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the residential industry stakeholders and the government to increase educational opportunities for property owners, managers and property tenants on the importance of energy management systems.

This research presents the potential obstacles and problematic areas that residents may encounter while using these energy management systems. Consequently, they will be able to make a well-informed choice when installing energy management systems. Moreover, the research elucidates the identification of novel perspectives and also unexamined obstacles that impede the widespread use of energy management systems in residential buildings.

The purpose of this paper is to asses the welfare and macroeconomic implications of three distinct degrowth strategies designed to reduce carbon emissions: penalizing fossil fuel demand, substituting aggregate consumption with leisure and disincentivizing total factor productivity (TFP) growth.

Using an environmental dynamic general equilibrium (eDGE) model that incorporates both green renewable technologies and fossil fuels in the production process, this study sets an emissions reduction target aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement by 2050.

The results reveal that the conventional degrowth strategy, wherein a reduction in the consumption of goods and services is compensated with an increase in leisure, may entail significant economic consequences, leading to a notable decline in welfare. In particular, a degrowth scenario resulting from a decline in TFP yields the most pronounced reduction in welfare. Conversely, inducing a reduction in fossil fuel demand by fiscally inflating the price of the imported commodity, despite potential social backlash, exhibits noticeably less detrimental welfare effects compared to other degrowth policies. Furthermore, under this degrowth strategy, the findings suggest that a globally coordinated strategy could result in long-term welfare gain.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first contribution that uses an eDGE model to evaluate the welfare implications of an additional degrowth strategy amidst the ongoing inertial reduction of carbon emissions.

For over 25 years, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has significantly influenced the US sustainable construction through its leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) certification program. This study aims to delve into how Baton Rouge, Louisiana, fares in green building adoption relative to other US capital cities and regions.

The study leverages statistical and geospatial analyses of data sourced from the USGBC, among other databases. It scrutinizes Baton Rouge’s LEED criteria performance using the mean percent weighted criteria to pinpoint the LEED criteria most readily achieved. Moreover, unique metrics, such as the certified green building per capita (CGBC), were formulated to facilitate a comparative analysis of green building adoption across various regions.

Baton Rouge’s CGBC stands at 0.31% (C+), markedly trailing behind the frontrunner, Santa Fe, New Mexico, leading at 3.89% (A+) and in LEED building per capita too. Despite the notable concentration of certified green buildings (CGBs) within Baton Rouge, the city’s green building development appears to be in its infancy. Innovation and design was identified as the most attainable LEED benchmark in Baton Rouge. Additionally, socioeconomic factors, including education and income per capita, were associated with a mild to moderate positive correlation (0.25 = r = 0.36) with the adoption of green building practices across the capitals, while sociocultural infrastructure exhibited a strong positive correlation (r = 0.99).

This study is beneficial to policymakers, urban planners and developers for sustainable urban development and a reference point for subsequent postoccupancy evaluations of CGBs in Baton Rouge and beyond.

This study pioneers the comprehensive analysis of green building adoption rates and probable influencing factors in capital cities in the contiguous US using distinct metrics.

This paper aims to explore three operations and supply chain management (OSCM) approaches for meeting the 2 °C targets to counteract climate change: adaptation (adjusting to climatic impacts); mitigation (innovating towards low-carbon practices); and carbon-removing negative emissions technologies (NETs). We suggest that adaptation nor mitigation may be enough to meet the current climate targets, thus calling for NETs, resulting in the following question: How can operations and supply chains be reconceptualized for NETs?

We draw on the sustainable supply chain and transitions discourses along with interview data involving 125 experts gathered from a broad research project focused on geoengineering and NETs. We analyze three case studies of emerging NETs (biochar, direct air carbon capture and storage and ocean alkalinity enhancement), leading to propositions on the link between OSCM and NETs.

Although some NETs are promising, there remains considerable variance and uncertainty over supply chain configurations, efficacy, social acceptability and potential risks of unintended detrimental consequences. We introduce the concept of transformative OSCM, which encompasses policy interventions to foster the emergence of new technologies in industry sectors driven by social mandates but lack clear commercial incentives.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first that studies NETs from an OSCM perspective. It suggests a pathway toward new industry structures and policy support to effectively tackle climate change through carbon removal.

Calculating an organization's carbon footprint is crucial for assessing and implementing emission reductions. Although Finnish higher education institutions (HEIs) aim for carbon neutrality by 2030, limited research exists on plans to reach a similar target in any country. This paper aims to address the shared and individual challenges Finnish HEIs have with carbon footprint calculations, reductions, resources and offsetting.

A survey was targeted to sustainability experts in all 38 HEIs in Finland to identify key patterns and trends in the focus fields of the study. SWOT analysis was used to classify main strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats, based on which a series of policy recommendations was drafted.

Finnish HEIs are committed to carbon footprint tracking (97%, annually by 87%). The lack of standardization and the number of external stakeholders complicate accounting indirect emissions, impeding comparability and reliability. Only 39% had set separate emission reduction targets, suggesting a preference for carbon footprint over other environmental impact indicators. Insufficient monetary and human resources emerged in 23% of institutions, especially those smaller in size. Only 52% had clear offsetting plans, with shared concerns over trust and responsibility.

By including both research universities and universities of applied sciences, the findings provide an unprecedented outlook into the entire Finnish HEI sector. The policy recommendations guide HEIs both locally and globally on how to improve their transparency and scientific integrity, reflect on core successes and weaknesses and how they complete their objectives of education, research and social impact while promoting stronger sustainability.

Managers must make numerous strategic decisions in order to initiate and implement a business model innovation (BMI). This paper examines how managers perceive the management team interacts when making BMI decisions. The paper also investigates how group biases and board members’ risk willingness affect this process.

Empirical data were collected through 26 in-depth interviews with German managing directors from 13 companies in four industries (mobility, manufacturing, healthcare and energy) to explore three research questions: (1) What group effects are prevalent in BMI group decision-making? (2) What are the key characteristics of BMI group decisions? And (3) what are the potential relationships between BMI group decision-making and managers' risk willingness? A thematic analysis based on Gioia's guidelines was conducted to identify themes in the comprehensive dataset.

First, the results show four typical group biases in BMI group decisions: Groupthink, social influence, hidden profile and group polarization. Findings show that the hidden profile paradigm and groupthink theory are essential in the context of BMI decisions. Second, we developed a BMI decision matrix, including the following key characteristics of BMI group decision-making managerial cohesion, conflict readiness and information- and emotion-based decision behavior. Third, in contrast to previous literature, we found that individual risk aversion can improve the quality of BMI decisions.

This paper provides managers with an opportunity to become aware of group biases that may impede their strategic BMI decisions. Specifically, it points out that managers should consider the key cognitive constraints due to their interactions when making BMI decisions. This work also highlights the importance of risk-averse decision-makers on boards.

This qualitative study contributes to the literature on decision-making by revealing key cognitive group biases in strategic decision-making. This study also enriches the behavioral science research stream of the BMI literature by attributing a critical influence on the quality of BMI decisions to managers' group interactions. In addition, this article provides new perspectives on managers' risk aversion in strategic decision-making.

This paper aims to unravel the puzzle that the United Kingdom’s high-quality government accounting and fiscal architecture is associated with low-quality outcomes, including poor productivity growth, high public debt, public services which do not meet citizen expectations and historically high levels of taxation. It contributes to public sector accounting research in the fields of fiscal transparency and governance.

This paper uses Miller and Power’s (2013) economization framework and Dunsire’s (1990) concept of collibration to explain why being a global leader in public sector accounting reform and in fiscal and monetary architecture has not protected the UK from weak governance. The intersection of economization’s roles of accounting with modes of government accounting clarifies the puzzle.

Whereas accruals government accounting contributes to fiscal transparency, this is not a sufficient condition for well-judged policy and its effective application. Collibration is the dominant mechanism for mediation in the fiscally centralized UK, but it has failed to deliver stable outcomes, in part because Parliament is limited in its ability to hold back inappropriate behaviour by the Executive. Subjectivization has disrupted adjudication because governments at all levels resist constraints on their behaviour, with unpredictable and often damaging consequences.

This paper provides insights through the combined lens of economization and modes of government accounting, demonstrating the practical value of this conceptualization. Although some causes for unsatisfactory outcomes are specific to the UK, there are cautions for accounting and fiscal reformers in other countries, such as Member States of the European Union.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed educational practices due to the intense use of information technology for teaching and learning. That phenomenon presents challenges for lecturers in higher education establishments because student engagement is threatened during online interactions. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of the SME project for maintaining student engagement during online learning.

The research used a quasi-experimental method involving experimental and control groups. Researchers collect quantitative and qualitative data to obtain comprehensive information. The data were collected using an electronic questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and open coding were used to analyze the data.

The research used a quasi-experimental method involving experimental and control groups. Researchers collected quantitative and qualitative data using an electronic questionnaire to obtain comprehensive information. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and open coding were used to analyze the data.

This study provides the educational community with a new insight into optimizing PBL in the online learning environment. Qualified PBL, as practiced by educators, will lead to student engagement, which leads to meaningful learning.