Search results

Today’s one of the most important difficulties is tackling climate change and its effects on the environment. The Paris Agreement states that nations must balance the amount of greenhouse gases they emit and absorb until 2050 to contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse gases and to support sustainable development. According to the agreement, each country must determine, plan and regularly report on its contributions. Thus, it is important for the countries to predict and analyze their net zero performances in 2050. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate European Continent Countries' net zero performances at the targeted year.

The European Continent Countries that ratified the Paris Agreement are specified as decision making units (DMUs). Input and output indicators are specified as primary energy consumption, freshwater withdrawals, gross domestic product (GDP), carbon-dioxide (CO₂) and nitrous-oxide (N₂O) emissions. Data from 1980 to 2019 are obtained and forecasted using autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) until 2050. Then, the countries are clustered based on the forecasts of primary energy consumption and freshwater withdrawals using k-means algorithm. As desirable and undesirable outputs arise simultaneously, the performances are computed using Pure Environmental Index (PEI) and Mixed Environmental Index (MEI) data envelopment analysis (DEA) models.

It is expected that by 2050, CO₂ emissions of seven countries remain constant, N₂O emissions of seven countries remain stable and five countries’ both CO₂ and N₂O emissions remain constant. While it can be seen as success that many countries are expected to at least stabilize one emission, the likelihood of achieving net zero targets diminishes unless countries undertake significant reductions in emissions. According to the results, in Cluster 1, Turkey ranks last, while France, Germany, Italy and Spain are efficient countries. In Cluster 2, the United Kingdom ranks at last, while Greece, Luxembourg, Malta and Sweden are efficient countries.

In the literature, generally, CO₂ emission is considered as greenhouse gas. Moreover, none of the studies measured the net-zero performance of the countries in 2050 employing analytical techniques. This study objects to investigate how well European Continent Countries can comply with the necessities of the Agreement. Besides CO₂ emission, N₂O emission is also considered and the data of European Continent Countries in 2050 are estimated using ARIMA. Then, countries are clustered using k-means algorithm. DEA models are employed to measure the performances of the countries. Finally, forecasts and models validations are performed and comprehensive analysis of the results is conducted.

This paper aims to provide insights into the environment needed for advancing a digitally enabled circular plastic economy in Africa. It explores important technical and social paradigms for the transition.

This study adopted an interpretivist paradigm, drawing on thematic analysis on qualitative data from an inter-sectoral engagement with 69 circular economy stakeholders across the continent.

The results shows that, while substantial progress has been made with regard to the development and deployment of niche innovations in Africa, the overall progress of circular plastic economy is slowed due to relatively minimal changes at the regime levels as well as pressures from the exogenous landscape. The study highlights that regime changes are crucial for disrupting the entrenched linear plastic economy in developing countries, which is supported by significant sunk investment and corporate state capture.

The main limitation of this study is with the sample as it uses data collected from five countries. Therefore, while it offers a panoramic view of multi-level synergy of actors and sectors across African countries, it is limited in its scope and ability to illuminate country-specific nuances and peculiarities.

The study underlines the importance of policy innovations and regulatory changes in order for technologies to have a meaningful contribution to the transition to a circular plastic economy.

The study makes an important theoretical contribution by using empirical evidence from various African regions to articulate the critical importance of the regime dimension in accelerating the circular economy transition in general, and the circular plastic economy in particular, in Africa.

This paper aims to provide a more comprehensive look behind the China’s rapid ascent and influence across the African continent by exploring the Sino-African funding data at the project level while incorporating recipient nations’ economic characteristics of interest such as trade data and natural resources endowment.

Combining AidData’s project reported data with country bilateral exports and imports data and other pertinent African countries’ data, the authors are able to perform a cross-sectional interrogation of China’s finding motives and their impact on the continent. The results indicate that the China’s funding to Africa mostly goes to energy and transportation sectors, as expected, and the recipient country’s exports to China increase as the funding increases. However, the authors find that the impact of China’s financing on the bilateral trade flow is unbalanced because the recipient country’s imports from China are not found to be significant.

Interestingly, although the analysis confirms that oil is a key contributing factor in attracting China’s funding, the authors discover that there exists no positive relationship between the China funding amount and the recipient country’s general natural resource level. The results do not support the common notion that China is primarily interested in extracting natural resource deposits, aside from oil, from the host nation when they allocate their funding.

Overall, the paper supports the theoretical propositions of the new structural economics framework when it comes to the relationship between China’s funding and the recipient country’s characteristics.

In this final chapter, we explore the ever-evolving 21st century landscape where ethics drive community development toward resilience and progress. Drawing inspiration from the subheadings mapping our journey, we traverse international case studies spanning Canada, Brazil, Sweden, Kenya, China, Australia, Antarctica, and India. Through these global insights, we uncover the impacts of dynamic forces on communities worldwide, navigating ethical dilemmas and opportunities. We present strategies tailored to diverse continent-specific needs, explore inclusive governance models, and highlight the transformative power of ethical engagement. This journey underscores the vital role of resilience and concludes with a global call to embrace ethical approaches for inclusive community development and a sustainable future.

The paper has intended to advance the research on the relationship between COVID-adjusted HR practices (CAHRP) and employees' stress (ES) by exploring the mediating role of employees' satisfaction from remote working (ESRW). Further, a consolidative moderated mediation model with HR pandemic readiness (HRPR) as moderator on the above-stated relationship has also been proposed.

A data set of 2266 respondents from 84 countries across six continents of the world was analysed using techniques like factor analyses, correlations and bootstrapping through PROCESS Macro in SPSS 23.

The results highlighted that ESRW significantly mediated the relationship of CAHRP and ES. Further, HRPR moderated significantly the indirect relationship between CAHRP and ES via employees' satisfaction. This relationship was found stronger at highest level as against lower level of HRPR.

This study has augmented empirical evidences to the existing literature of COVID-19 by presenting HRPR as a new dimension of HR and its role in handling the challenging situations of pandemics.

This chapter aims to analyze and evaluate the economic potential of Chad within the African continent, identify the challenges faced by the country, and propose potential solutions. The authors used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Relevant data is collected from reliable sources such as government reports, international organizations, research institutes, and academic studies, including data on Chad's GDP, trade flows, foreign direct investment (FDI), infrastructure, human capital, and natural resources.

The Republic of Chad is an agrarian country where the prosperity of 55% of the population depends on the development of agriculture, mainly livestock. Although rich in natural resources, Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world. Several investment projects have recently appeared in this country, which will help reduce the population's poverty in the future. The growth rate of Chad's economy lags behind that of the population. Foreign assistance is needed to solve the identified problem. With regard to the investment projects that have become more active this year, it would be unnecessary to be dizzy with success because they are still unable to break the established way of life. The Republic of Chad is situated in Africa and is considered one of the largest countries in the continent. The country has no access to the sea.

The advancement of a profession depends on factors such as firm education, training programmes and vibrant professional associations. The purpose of this study is to provide baseline information on archives and records management (ARM) professionals from Africa, including their views on education and training programmes. Related studies have been limited to investigating the experiences of graduates from a few institutions within a limited jurisdiction. Similar studies have not been conducted by African-based ARM associations.

This study’s survey approach was administered electronically. Two surveys explored themes through 10 research questions in three categories: background information; characteristics of the education; and types of courses and extent covered during the study.

The two surveys had 107 and 179 respondents, respectively, domiciled in 19 African countries. In both studies, about 75% of the respondents had an undergraduate- or master-level qualification. Between 69% and 87% of the respondents from the first and second surveys, respectively, had completed their educational programmes within their home countries. There was varied sentiment on the types of courses and level of coverage within their studies. Legal and technology aspects were less covered in the curriculum than core subjects.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first with findings from ARM respondents across several African countries. It provides insight into the demographics and educational programmes. This study’s unique contribution provides baseline data for more detailed and nuanced studies that will explore data and investigate patterns within and among individual countries on the continent.