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Companies and their business networks impact on Earth's life and ecosystems must be seriously addressed and minimized. The purpose of this paper therefore proposes and describes a generic model as well as a network model of business sustainability.

“Business sustainability” is defined as a company's or an organization's efforts to manage its impact on Earth's life‐ and eco‐systems and its whole business network. The work concentrates on one research question, namely: how can business sustainability and E‐footprints be conceptualised?

The model introduced emphasises not only the importance of business networks adopting an E‐footprint and an Earth‐to‐Earth (EE) cradle‐to‐cradle approach, but also a transformative Earth (E) footprint‐model derived and inspired from a causal framework in complexity sciences.

Research is rare that simultaneously focuses on EE‐approaches, E‐footprint stakeholders and zero‐sum cycles. The authors have striven to address this gap by introducing a business sustainability model in an EE‐approach and with an interconnecting transformative E‐footprint‐model.

It is crucial to embed appropriate routines and processes within the company in the first instance with the aim of business sustainability. This may cause a ripple effect in the company's business network as raw material producers, value‐adding suppliers and customers become drawn into make appropriate strategic, tactical and operative adaptations in their own business dealings. This stresses the importance of E‐footprint stakeholders fostering networks of both interdependent and collaborative corporate efforts aimed at business sustainability.

The main contribution should be a business sustainability model of life and ecosystems from an EE‐approach with a transformative E‐footprint.model. Each company within a business network must endeavour to minimise its E‐footprint through its zero‐sum cycles. These should be seen as interdependent and interconnected thereby contributing to the total E‐footprint of the business network.

Under the global climate change, carbon footprint has become a hot issue at home and abroad. However, there is no consensus on the concept, measurement and application of carbon footprint.

In this paper, first, the concept and connotation of carbon footprint are reviewed; then, different methods of carbon footprint measurement are compared, and it is found that “bottom-up” life cycle assessment and “top-down” input–output analysis are applicable to different research scales.

Finally, the problems in the process of carbon footprint assessment in textile industry are analyzed and further research directions are proposed.

Analyzed and further research directions are proposed.

Urbanization is driving the growth of China’s carbon footprint. It’s important to investigate what factors, how and to what extent, affect carbon footprints embedded in various categories of rural and urban households’ consumption.

We employ an environmental extended input-output model to assess and compare the rural-urban household carbon footprints and perform a multivariant regression analysis to identify the varying relationships of the determinants on rural and urban household carbon footprints based on the panel data of Chinese households from 2012 to 2018.

The results show evidence of urbanity density effect on direct carbon footprints and countervailing effect on indirect carbon footprints. The old dependency ratio has no significant effect on rural family emissions but has a significantly negative effect on urban direct and indirect carbon footprints. A higher child dependency ratio is associated with less rural household carbon emissions while the opposite is true for urban households. Taking advantage of recycled fuel saves direct carbon emissions and this green lifestyle benefits urban households more by saving more carbon emissions. There is a positive relationship between consumption structure ratio and direct carbon footprints while a negative relationship with indirect carbon footprints and this impact is less significant for urban households. The higher the price level of water, electricity and fuel, the lower the rural household’s direct carbon footprints. Private car ownership consistently augments household carbon footprints across rural and urban areas.

This paper provides comprehensive findings to understand the relationships between an array of determinants and China’s rural-urban carbon emissions, empowering China’s contribution to the global effort on climate mitigation.

Purpose: Due to technological developments, industrialisation, irregular urbanisation, rapid population growth, and unconscious consumption, environmental problems have been on the agenda of activists, not for profit organisations, businesses, and governments for the last 20 years. Global warming, climate change, and ozone layer depletion are among the environmental problems which are the most threatening to life on earth. What is underlying these three problems is greenhouse gases emitted into atmosphere. Carbon footprint is a measure of carbon emission. The amount of carbon footprint is closely related to consumption styles as well as production. Unconscious life styles and consumption habits of consumers increase the amount of carbon footprint produced. Together with the rise of environmental problems, the concept of sustainable consumption has become very important. In the most simple of terms, sustainable consumption means consumption without consuming natural resources and this will play an important role in reducing carbon footprint.

Aim: In this chapter, keeping in mind the context of sustainable consumption, the concept of carbon footprint is explained as well as the methods for reducing carbon footprint arising from consumption, in a bid to bring strong awareness of these issues to consumers.

Methodology: To do this a literature review was carried out and methods of reducing carbon footprint were examined and discussed.

Findings: Consumers play an important role in reducing the amount of carbon footprint arising from individual consumption.

Originality of the Study: Most studies are carried out on the carbon footprint resulting from businesses and on carbon footprint calculation and determination of carbon footprint of products. Therefore, this study is specific in that it focusses on the carbon footprint of consumers.

Implications: Studies show that one of the important factors increasing carbon footprint is the unconscious acts of consumers relating to the environment. As long as this unconscious consumption model continues, the amount of carbon footprint will also increase. Hence, consumers need to know which activities reduce the amount of carbon footprint.

Sustainability performance of the global trade as well as of the traded products are affected by the trade policies and trade tariffs. Trade tariffs and policies can either encourage or discourage trade among the countries affecting feasibility of trade. In other words, the scope and amount of these trade tariffs have impact on the trade globally. Based on an in-depth literature review, this chapter aims to examine impacts of the trade policies and trade tariffs on the environmental footprint of the global trade. With this aim, recent trade policies and trade tariffs as well as roles of the trade policies, trade tariffs in reducing environmental footprint of the global trade are examined. It arrives at the conclusion that trade tariffs can affect environmental footprint of the global trade as well as of the traded products. They can have impact on the feasibility of the trading activities influencing their profit margins and costs. Based on these findings, recommendations for trade policies and trade tariffs are thereby provided to enhance sustainability performance of the global trade.

The study examines the presence of the pollution haven or pollution halo hypothesis in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) and Next-11 economies. Hence, it empirically tests the direct impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the ecological footprint. Further, it explores the moderating role of green innovation on the nexus between FDI and ecological footprint.

The study uses the Driscoll–Kraay (DK) standard error panel regression technique to examine the long-run elasticities amongst the variables for the group of emerging countries, BRICS and Next-11, during the period of 1992 to 2018. Further, statistical robustness is demonstrated using the fully modified ordinary least squares technique.

The empirical finding shows that FDI degrades environmental quality by raising the ecological footprint. Thus, it proves that FDI is a source of pollution haven in BRICS and Next-11 countries. However, green innovation negatively moderates the relationship between FDI and ecological footprint. That means the joint impact of green innovation, and FDI proves the presence of the pollution halo hypothesis. Further, renewable energy consumption is reducing the ecological footprint, but economic growth and industrialisation are worsening the environmental quality.

This study offers policy implications for governments and policymakers to promote environmental sustainability by improving green innovation and allowing FDI that encourages clean and advanced technology.

No prior studies examine the moderating role of green innovation on the relationship between FDI and ecological footprint in the context of emerging countries.

This study aims to evaluate the nutrient profile, carbon footprint and water footprint of one-month menus presented in five hospitals in Turkey and compare their environmental impacts with that of the Mediterranean diet.

The energy and nutrient content of menus were compared with recommendations of the Turkey Dietary Guidelines (TUBER) 2022. Nutrient profiles of hospital menus were evaluated using Nutrient Rich Food 9.3 (NRF 9.3) and SAIN-LIM models. The carbon and water footprints of the menus were calculated and compared with those of the Mediterranean diet.

Menus’ energy and nutrient content did not conform with TUBER 2022. The SAIN-LIM score of Hospital A (5.7 ± 1.1) was significantly higher than that of Hospitals C (4.8 ± 0.7, p = 0.001) and E (5.1 ± 0.7, p = 0.025). The carbon footprint of Hospital A was significantly lower (2.6 ± 0.3 kg CO₂ eq/person/day) and that of Hospital D (4 ± 0.9 kg CO₂ eq/person/day) was significantly higher than those of others (p < 0.001). While other menus were similar (p > 0.05), the water footprint of Hospital A was significantly lower (3.5 ± 0.7 L/kg, p < 0.001). In addition, if the menus were suitable for the Mediterranean diet, a reduction of 2.2–23.4% in the carbon footprint and 37.5–58.6% in the water footprint could be achieved. Moreover, menus’ carbon and water footprints were negatively correlated with NRF 9.3 and SAIN-LIM scores.

The primary aim should be to ensure that the planned menus follow the dietary guidelines. In addition, it is an undeniable fact that sustainable nutrition is a complex process with many dimensions. However, it seems possible to improve the nutrient profiles of the menus and reduce their environmental footprint with minor changes to be made in food services.

It seems possible to improve the nutrient profiles of the menus and reduce their environmental footprint with minor changes. For both health and environmental impacts, food services should switch to menus suitable for the Mediterranean diet.

The findings provide new insights into hospital menus’ quality and environmental impact.

This study investigates the relationship among economic growth, energy usage, urbanization, trade openness, carbon emission, ecological footprint, and ecological carbon footprint with the sample of G-7 countries over the period 1991–2017. The Continuously-Updated and Fully-Modified (CUP-FM) estimator method applied to the panel series is utilized. As a result of empirical analysis, an increase in the real per capita GDP increases the ecological footprint by 0.844%. Also, there are positive impacts that are detrimental to the environment among the environmental quality and explanatory variables for each established model. The findings indicate that a relationship exists among the variables in the long run, and at the same time, carbon emission as an indicator of pollution should be noticed as well as the ecological footprint and ecological carbon footprint. It is observed that a positive relationship exists among the variables such as economic growth, energy usage, and environmental pollution indicator. In this context, G-7 countries indicate that, upon taking their developed economic structures and global pollution levels into account, the Environment Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis becomes valid, and that the U-shaped behavior is valid for the total ecological footprint. It is been seen that, besides economic growth and energy usage, other explanatory variables contribute to environmental degradation in trade openness. In compliance with these results, in terms of the sustainability of economic development, G-7 countries should pay attention to economic activities that would impair the environmental quality and control them with regulations.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of the industrial sector, renewable energy consumption and nonrenewable energy consumption in Indonesia on the ecological footprint from 1990 to 2020 in the short and long term.

This paper uses vector error correction model (VECM) analysis to examine the relationship in the short and long term. In addition, the impulse response function is used to enable future forecasts up to 2060 of the ecological footprint as a measure of environmental degradation caused by changes or shocks in industrial value-added, renewable energy consumption and nonrenewable energy consumption. Furthermore, forecast error decomposition of variance (FEVD) analysis is carried out to predict the percentage contribution of each variable’s variance to changes in a specific variable. Granger causality testing is used to enhance the analysis outcomes within the framework of VECM.

Using VECM analysis, the speed of adjustment for environmental damage is quite high in the short term, at 246%. This finding suggests that when there is a short-term imbalance in industrial value-added, renewable energy consumption and nonrenewable energy consumption, the ecological footprint experiences a very rapid adjustment, at 246%, to move towards long-term balance. Then, in the long term, the ecological footprint in Indonesia is most influenced by nonrenewable energy consumption. This is also confirmed by the Granger causality test and the results of FEVD, which show that the contribution of nonrenewable energy consumption will be 10.207% in 2060 and will be the main contributor to the ecological footprint in the coming years to achieve net-zero emissions in 2060. In the long run, renewable energy consumption has a negative effect on the ecological footprint, whereas industrial value-added and nonrenewable energy consumption have a positive effect.

For the first time, value added from the industrial sector is being used alongside renewable and nonrenewable energy consumption to measure Indonesia’s ecological footprint. The primary cause of Indonesia’s alarming environmental degradation is the industrial sector, which acts as the driving force behind this issue. Consequently, this contribution is expected to inform the policy implications required to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2060, aligned with the G20 countries’ Bali agreement of 2022.

The primary purpose is to investigate the dynamic relationships among urbanization, energy use and environmental pollution in the context of India from 1971 to 2018. The paper also examines the validity of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in the present Indian context.

The study uses a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag cointegration test (Shin et al., 2014) to investigate the dynamic relationship among the mentioned variables. The Wald test is also used to statistically check the presence of asymmetry. Additionally, the VECM test is applied to examine the causality among the variables.

This study documents that urbanization in India is good for environment in the long run, whereas energy consumption is bad for the environment. It also finds that positive and negative shocks of energy and urbanization exert asymmetric impacts on ecological footprint. Furthermore, the results could not validate the EKC hypothesis for India.

The outcome of the study suggests designing an environmental policy which considers the nonlinearity of the investigated relationships and bearing in mind the use of comprehensive indicator like ecological footprint is equally important to address the wide-ranging problem of the environment. Policy reorientation towards the production and consumption of green energy, investment in research and development, and use of efficient technology is very crucial to achieve sustainable outcomes in the long run.

In this study, the researchers use the ‘ecological footprint’ variable to obtain a more accurate and comprehensive assessment of environmental deterioration. The mentioned dynamic relationships are investigated using an improved methodology of the NARDL model, which assumes the asymmetric impact of the explanatory variables on the response variable. The novelty of this study lies in examining the non-linear impact of urbanization and energy on ecological footprint which is inadequately addressed in the context of Indian economy.