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This paper aims to explore stakeholder perspectives of the role of a campus eco-garden in education for sustainability (EfS). It will combine the perspectives to highlight a powerful learning environment (PLE) for university students to realize the concept of EfS.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted to reveal stakeholder understandings of a campus eco-garden, as well as its associated expectations of learning activities and education outcomes. Three stakeholder groups were interviewed; designers, educators and environmental and non-environmental subject-related students.

All three stakeholder groups expected cognitive learning of EfS to be enhanced by the eco-garden. The use of affective learning was not strongly expected by the stakeholders. Psychomotor learning was believed to be the most difficult to realize. To fulfill the potential of the eco-garden in EfS, all stakeholders suggested learning activities and roles for both students and teachers. The combined perspectives of the stakeholders helped to visualize a PLE to aid EfS.

This study underlines the importance of effective communication of expectations between stakeholders. It underlines the importance of integrating educational activities with the eco-garden as a PLE, highlighting the roles of teachers and students. It also sheds light on the importance of introducing a cultural component to the EfS program.

This is the first study to apply the PLE theory to enhance EfS with the aid of infrastructure. Both users and designers reveal their views on the planning of the campus eco-garden, especially in its educational function. The study is possibly the first to reveal the differences in expectations between designers and other stakeholder groups (teachers and students) using Könings et al.’s (2005) combination-of-perspectives model.

People visit malls not only to buy a product they need but also to enjoy the atmosphere or environment of the shopping center. Based on design and eco-natural environment, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the attraction factors of shopping centers.

The sample comprised 449 consumers from 25 different shopping centers in Bogota. The structural equation model (AMOS) enables the authors to discuss the influence of the design of green and natural spaces in the commercial management of shopping centers, given its positive and significant effect on the intention to visit.

Shopping centers are, by definition, spaces with a high level of design of the commercial environment. In this case, as evidenced in the results of this research, the design of ecological spaces and environments has the potential of becoming a field of interest for the commercial management of shopping centers, given its potential effect on visiting and shopping intentions.

The main originality of this study was to empirically include and demonstrate the influence of design and natural eco-environment on the intention to visit, along with other elements considered in previous investigations. Therefore, identification of specific empirical findings related to the way attraction factors work allows marketing directors and managers to improve their management decisions concerning design and implementation of marketing strategies, tactical decision guidance, decision-making assessment or control, and the proposal of alternative positioning attributes, such as the design, management, and arrangement of eco-natural environments that allow to increase the number of visits and purchases within these establishments.

This study aims to gain a first explorative view on what intrinsic/extrinsic attributes a generic cup for hot beverage should possess to be perceived as eco-friendly, and how some attributes of a hot beverage could influence consumers’ purchase decision and willingness to pay (WTP) for that beverage dispensed by vending machines (VMs).

A questionnaire was developed in 2021 and sent to all students of an Italian university campus. For the first goal, students were asked to assign a score to some eco-friendly intrinsic/extrinsic attributes using a five-point Likert scale. For the second aim, a choice experiment with six scenarios was developed.

Both intrinsic and extrinsic attributes play a key role in shaping students’ opinions and preferences. Results indicate that students are attracted by the idea of a cup that communicates its environmental properties through corresponding labels and information, and it is made by materials that guarantee biodegradability, recyclability or reusability.

The research represents the first academic attempt to provide a first consumers’ viewpoint on the importance of eco-friendly attributes of cups for hot beverages able to influence consumers’ perceptions and consumption choices of hot beverages dispensed by VMs.

This paper aims to define and measure the environmental capabilities that are applied when the circular economy (CE) is introduced in businesses. Founded on the dynamic capabilities theoretical approach, the study analyzes different environmental competences that firms apply during this process. Environmental management systems, corporate social responsibility, reporting and accountability and other environmental accounting practices are studied in the same analytical framework used to study the environmental capabilities that influence the circular scope (CS) of firms. This study contributes to bridging the gap between academic research focused on environmental accounting and that investigating the introduction of the CE in businesses.

The results were obtained by using partial least squares structural equation modeling to analyze the relationship between environmental capabilities for the CE and the CS achieved by a sample of Spanish firms with more than 50 employees that expressed interest in the CE, eco-design, eco-innovation and other environmental issues.

Based on an analysis using the dynamic capabilities theoretical approach, the results suggest a positive relationship between the CS of firms, their environmental accounting practices and their level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and accountability. Stakeholders’ pressure – which has a mediating effect on the CS of firms – is also analyzed, adding new insights to recent studies of this topic at the micro-level. The authors also explore whether the CS of businesses, which is related to the degree of their development of capabilities, influences environmental and financial performance.

The new insights obtained in this study can help overcome the limitations of conventional accounting approaches and incorporates a much broader scale of environmental information that can be applied to CE practices. These results also offer insights to practitioners regarding the internal measurement processes related to the CE and regarding CSR in particular for small and medium enterprises, because these metrics can be partially applied depending on the practices introduced in each firm. For policymakers, a better understanding of the CE’s introduction into businesses will contribute to the design of policies that can enhance its deployment, for example, by providing tools that set up regional priorities depending on the CE-related practices adopted by the firms located in the territory.

A CE involves the transformation of a linear economic model into a circular one to reduce dependence on raw materials and energy and to reduce the environmental impact of production and consumption. Understanding how to manage the specific competences that integrate capabilities applied to the CE will allow firms to improve their social and environmental reporting. In addition, other social implications of this study relate to improving relationships with consumers and stakeholders and to the practice of social corporate sustainability.

This study goes beyond previous research on the CE to extend the authors’ knowledge about its adoption at the micro-level by taking a transversal approach, as its subject spans the fields of environmental accounting and the CE while addressing both in a framework of analysis. The analysis of the accounting concerns of the CE in businesses and the study of concerns related to endogenous environmental competences are quite original under the theoretical framework of dynamic capabilities, and this study is a first step in an incipient line of inquiry.

The study aims to determine the impact of sustainable manufacturing on environmental performance through government regulation and eco-innovation in Indonesian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The results indicate sustainable manufacturing plays a significant role in SMEs' environmental performance and regulations, and eco-innovation can moderate it. It also reveals that government regulation has a positive and significant effect on environmental performance. Moreover, eco-innovation has a positive and significant effect on environmental performance.

The findings of this study indicate that SMEs can embrace sustainable manufacturing practices and achieve their long-term sustainability goals by adhering to regulations, collaborating with stakeholders and implementing eco-friendly innovations.

This research uncovers ground-breaking perspectives on the evolution of scientific knowledge about the impact of eco-innovation, regulatory measures and sustainable manufacturing practices on the environmental performance of SMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the headlined eco-bulkers ordered in 2012 and 2013 are posing a threat to the less-efficient ships ordered at the end of the boom in 2008 and 2009.

This paper will first investigate the drivers for the interest in such low-emission, low-speed bulker as well as the more general history of bulker designs. This is followed by a study on the vessels delivered between 2005 and 2014, based on eight parameters representing fuel efficiency, speed and hydromechanics properties. Within these results, evidence is sought for a significant change in the qualities of the vessels delivered after the last boom.

The data showed that at least till present, no significant changes could be discovered between 2014 and the earlier years. This indicates that either because of the long delivery times at the end of the boom, such vessels are still to be delivered, or that they were not ordered in an amount large enough to change the trend. For the future, this fact and the changes in vessel design resulting from the introduction of the energy efficiency design index (EEDI) in 2017 and the large fluctuations in the fuel prices will be interesting to keep monitoring the developments in the eight studied parameters.

This paper extends (in time) and improves (number of variables studied) a number of earlier studies on average qualities of the world fleet. It studies both the composition and the changes in average properties of the ships produced each year. It allowed the author to discover and explain the trends that would not have been evident when studying ships as single units or as the result of a business opportunity optimisation. Most important of which is the fact that, on average, ships produced are optimised for the current economic conditions and are not taken into consideration for future trends and scenarios.

The sustainable transition towards the circular economy requires the effective use of artificial intelligence (AI) and information technology (IT) techniques. As the sustainability targets for 2030–2050 increasingly become a tougher challenge, society, company managers and policymakers require more support from AI and IT in general. How can the AI-based and IT-based smart decision-support tools help implementation of circular economy principles from micro to macro scales?

This chapter provides a conceptual framework about the current status and future development of smart decision-support tools for facilitating the circular transition of smart industry, focussing on the implementation of the industrial symbiosis (IS) practice. IS, which is aimed at replacing production inputs of one company with wastes generated by a different company, is considered as a promising strategy towards closing the material, energy and waste loops. Based on the principles of a circular economy, the utility of such practices to close resource loops is analyzed from a functional and operational perspective. For each life cycle phase of IS businesses – e.g., opportunity identification for symbiotic business, assessment of the symbiotic business and sustainable operations of the business – the role played by decision-support tools is described and embedding smartness in these tools is discussed.

Based on the review of available tools and theoretical contributions in the field of IS, the characteristics, functionalities and utilities of smart decision-support tools are discussed within a circular economy transition framework. Tools based on recommender algorithms, machine learning techniques, multi-agent systems and life cycle analysis are critically assessed. Potential improvements are suggested for the resilience and sustainability of a smart circular transition.

Maintaining food safety techniques in the supply chain management require special food safety labelling techniques during distribution in the retail food industry. The food products have to be of good quality and labelling inbound, manufacturing, and outbound in the supply chain contributes to this aim. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how food safety labelling is managed in Vietnam’s retail food industry with a special focus on food in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photography was used in an observational study conducted among five separate retail market chains all located in this city. In which ways are the applications of the developed food safety labelling techniques among three separate retail food markets similar and dissimilar being accounted for? The results show that the packaging and labelling in Big C, Aeon Citimart, and Giant using the symbols of food safety build trust for their customers. The Big C indicates guidelines for VietGAP and green labelling. Aeon Citimart indicates the name of the good, expiration date and instructions for use as well as guidelines for the government factor (VietGAP) to the food safety practices in the Vietnamese food retail sector.

Improving productivity and efficiency has always been crucial for industrial companies to remain competitive. In recent years, the topic of environmental impact has become increasingly important. Published research indicates that environmental and economic goals can enforce or rival each other. However, few papers have been published that address the interaction and integration of these two goals.

In this paper, we identify both, synergies and trade-offs based on a systematic review incorporating 66 publications issued between 1992 and 2021. We analyze, quantify and cluster examples of conjunctions of ecological and economic measures and thereby develop a framework for the combined improvement of performance and environmental compatibility.

Our findings indicate an increased significance of a combined consideration of these two dimensions of sustainability. We found that cases where enforcing synergies between economic and ecological effects were identified are by far more frequent than reports on trade-offs. For the individual categories, cost savings are uniformly considered as the most important economic aspect while, energy savings appear to be marginally more relevant than waste reduction in terms of environmental aspects.

No previous literature review provides a comparable graphical treatment of synergies and trade-offs between cost savings and ecological effects. For the first time, identified measures were classified in a 3 × 3 table considering type and principle.

The green logistics literature remains undecided on how collaboration between shippers (i.e. logistics buyers) and logistics service providers (LSPs) may facilitate green logistics practices (GLPs). This paper identifies two types of collaboration mechanisms, relation specific and knowledge sharing, to systematically examine their influence on facilitating the different types of GLPs – as seen by shippers versus LSPs.

Survey responses of 169 shippers and 162 LSPs in Sweden were collected and analysed using exploratory- and confirmatory factor analysis, followed by multiple regression analysis.

The findings reveal that neither of the actors consistently favour a certain type of collaboration mechanisms for facilitating all types of GLPs. Although it was found that both actors share the same view on the role of collaboration mechanisms for some GLPs, their views took contrasting forms for others.

This study contributes to the green logistics literature by incorporating a trilateral distinction to present collaboration recommendations for GLPs, based on (1) the collaboration mechanism at play, (2) the actor's perspective and (3) the GLP in question.

Insights are offered to managers at shipper/LSP firms to apply the right (“fit for purpose”) collaboration mechanisms in their relationships with their logistics partners with respect to the desired GLPs.

This is one of the first large-scale studies to systematically reveal in what way collaboration can facilitate the different types of GLPs.