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Since the 1970s, the sustainable development was developed from science and environmental crusade. Since then, there were many programs done in the field but not named as “Sustainable Development.” The environments have affected because of the process of the development which was noticed by the world community. Malaysia has made a commitment to the 2030 Agenda in September 2015 for the future of mother earth. Despite the increasing attention toward sustainable development and circular economy across the world, understanding of the potential sustainability synergy among developing countries remains sluggish. This chapter therefore briefly discusses the development of circular economy within developed and developing countries. The chapter then narrowed the discussion toward Malaysian practices of the circular economy. Malaysia also recorded among the countries that faced waste management issues in Asia. The detailed discussion includes Malaysian acceptance and initiatives in reaching a circular economy within the past years, present, and future. The discussion surrounds the circular economy practiced by Malaysian industrial players as well as government's initiatives in encouraging and educating Malaysian toward embracing the idea of circular economy and sustainable consumption. As most countries embrace green technologies, Malaysia has taken proactive steps toward adopting green technology. Among the four main policy priorities are energy, environment, economy, and social, the key to green technology in driving the country's economy while promoting sustainable development. In fact, the major economic drivers of the Malaysian economy involve industrial activities such as palm oil, mining, and manufacturing, which are now beginning to take steps toward the development of green technology development. The application of green technology can provide a balance between economic development and environmental preservation as well as solutions to climate change issues. The initiative aims to make Malaysia one of the best countries in the world with sustainable economic growth, innovation, and prosperous citizens by 2050.

With the Chinese marine economy developing rapidly, the environmental problem has been occurring frequently, which needs green finance that supports energy conservation, environmental protection, and sustainable development to solve.

In this paper, the entropy method is used to measure the development level of green finance, the DEA-ML index is used to measure the green total factor productivity which is used to indicate the high-quality development level of the marine economy in 11 coastal provinces (cities), then the grey correlation degree between them whose result shows that there is a certain correlation between the two variables is calculated. The fixed-effect model was used to analyze the relationship between them.

The results show that the development level of green finance can promote the high-quality development of the marine economy, but there are still some problems in the process of green finance supporting the marine economy.

This paper seeks new growth drivers, green finance, for the high-quality development of the marine economy, which few scholars have studied.

The purpose of this paper is to examine benchmarking leadership theories in order to build a new leadership model for the green economy.

The collection and critical analysis of secondary data from relevant publications were used to evaluate the feasibility of a new leadership model in the green economy. Analysis of organizational and leadership theories has been utilized in order to benchmark future successful efforts.

The paper found five key issues: there is little research in how the green economy will impact contemporary organizations' strategy, structure, and culture; new theories may need to be developed to assist organizations in developing the right kind of leadership for the green economy; the creation of green jobs may infuse organizations with more emphasis on values and leadership competency; the over dependence on technology to create jobs and sustain society's quality of life carries unintended consequences; and agrarian leadership may offer organizations a better ability to lead workers in the green economy.

The paper examines benchmarking applications that are exclusively relevant in both private and public organizations.

There are several implications for researchers and practitioners related to improving the personal and organizational success of leaders guiding their followers in a green economy. Many countries hope that the green economy will be able to improve their financial situation. Yet, organizations are struggling with the issues of ethical behavior by managers and how to motivate their employees toward greater performance. A new leadership based on agrarian values may be a positive step in addressing these matters.

The paper is significant because it presents a theoretical framework for interpreting how agrarian values can work building the quality of life when applied in a green economy.

Driven by the development of the global digital economy, knowledge management in industrial enterprises offers more possibilities for green innovation. Based on the perspective of external knowledge sources, this study aims to construct a panel regression model to explore the relationship between digital economy and industrial green innovation efficiency.

Panel data from 30 regions in China from 2011 to 2020 were selected as research samples. All data are obtained from national and provincial statistical yearbooks. Coupling coordination degree analysis, entropy method, panel regression analysis, robustness test and threshold effect test by Stata 16.0 were used to test the hypotheses.

The empirical results demonstrate the hypotheses and reveal the following findings: the digital economy is positively related to industrial green innovation efficiency and external knowledge sources, and external knowledge sources mediate the relationship between them. Moreover, based on the threshold test results, the digital economy has a double-threshold effect on industrial green innovation efficiency.

Based on the perspective of external knowledge sources, the proposed mediating mechanism between the digital economy and industrial green innovation efficiency has not been established previously, further enriching the research on the antecedents and outcomes of external knowledge sources. Moreover, this study estimated the direct influence mechanism and double-threshold effect of the digital economy on industrial green innovation efficiency from theoretical and empirical analysis, thus responding to the call of scholars and adding to existing research on how the digital economy affects the green transformation of industrial enterprises.

In recent times, both academics and industrialists have undertaken research into various areas of circular business models (CBM) in a bid to promote a green economy. Yet despite numerous studies conducted, the ensuing discourse contains scant information regarding the contributions of CBM towards the transition of green economy in the construction industry. This present study therefore aims to explore the contributions of CBM in the transition towards a green economy in the Ghanaian construction industry.

A comprehensive literature review was first conducted to identify the contributions of CBM towards the transition towards a green economy. A quantitative research strategy was then adopted to collect primary questionnaire data from professionals with knowledge of CBM and the green economy from 104 participants for the study. The data gathered was analyzed using descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis viz. Principal component analysis.

The contributions of CBM towards the transition towards a green economy were found to be: value contributions (i.e. lower carbon footprint, lower emission of waste by the industry, value creation for clients, innovation in construction materials and methods, reduced maintenance cost, creation of energy efficient infrastructures, improved value proposition for firms, improved sustainability of the industry and reduced pressure on finite resource.); green contributions (i.e. recycling and reuse of construction waste, promotion of green building technology, increased potential for economic growth, increased resource efficiency and creation of green building market) and longevity contribution (i.e. increased life span of buildings). It was evident that CBM make significant contributions in the transition towards green economy and as such, policymakers and other stakeholders within the construction industry must adopt these models to maximize their green credentials and accrue inherent benefits associated with transitioning towards a green economy.

This paper presents a novel and comprehensive study that explores the contributions of CBM towards engendering a green economy. The study’s results provide construction industry stakeholders and policymakers with clear insight into the contributions of CBM towards the transition into a green economy. In practice, this study provides much needed guidance to support construction practitioners to transition towards a green economy in alignment with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Section 6.1 explores the prerequisites for the formation and features of the development of the National Strategy for Sustainable Development of the Republic of Belarus, which is a complex of scientifically grounded directions for solving national problems that are closely interrelated with world development. During the years of the state sovereignty of Belarus, three national strategies of sustainable development were developed and adopted by the government. The strategic goal of sustainable development in the latter national strategy is to ensure high living standards of the population and conditions for the harmonious development of the individual through the transition to a highly efficient economy based on knowledge and innovation, while maintaining a favorable environment for current and future generations. The objectives of sustainable development, defined in the strategy for the first five years, are detailed in the National Action Plan for the Development of a Green Economy in the Republic of Belarus until 2020.

In Section 6.2, it is noted that the green economy is becoming a new engine of growth, contributes to the creation of decent jobs, and is a vital factor in the eradication of poverty and destitution. The main factors of the transition to a green economy and the main directions of its development in the Republic of Belarus are outlined.

In Section 6.3 the features of the concept of circular economy and the formation of business models for its implementation are analyzed. The study concluded that the concept of sustainable development is a theoretical model of the desired future of mankind, and the green and circular economies provide very specific projects for the practical implementation of the sustainable development paradigm.

This study aims to contribute to the current Green human resource management (HRM) field by providing an empirical examination of a comprehensive model that tests the effect of green strategic intent on Green HRM implementation, the possible effect of Green HRM and green empowerment on circular economy, and the effect of circular economy on sustainable performance. It examines the mediating effect of circular economy on the link between Green HRM and sustainable performance.

The study is empirical in nature. It focuses on the service sector in Qatar. Managers that work in the service sector represent the study participants. 149 questionnaires were collected and 131 completed questionnaires were used in the analysis. An advanced Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (SEM-PLS) analysis was conducted to reveal the study results.

The study findings confirmed the positive effect of green strategic intent on Green HRM, the positive link between Green HRM and green empowerment on circular economy, and the positive relationship between circular economy and sustainable performance. It also confirms the indirect effect of circular economy on the link between green HRM and sustainable performance.

Because of the chosen research approach and the focus on the service sector in Qatar only, research results may lack generalizability.

This study provides important implications for practice on how to improve Green HRM practices; particularly for its unique context, the Qatari service sector.

This study is considered original since it is one of the few to examine a conceptual framework that links Green HRM, circular economy and sustainable performance.

This paper examines the development of green skills across firms located in an institutional context, specifically the national education and skill-formation system, of the under-researched developing country of Thailand.

This paper qualitatively explores the Thai education and skill-formation system and conducts a cross-case analysis of four firms across different industries in Thailand. The empirical findings in this paper draws on semi-structured interviews with various stakeholders; field visits to vocational colleges, universities, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) and firms across industries both in Bangkok and in other provinces in Thailand; and a review of archival documents and web-based reports and resources.

This paper proposes that firms across industries in Thailand must be responsible for helping their employees/workers obtain the green knowledge and skills necessary to perform green jobs through high-road human resource (HR) practices in response to the fact that the Thai education and skill-formation system is unlikely to produce a sufficient number of employees/workers who have green knowledge, skills and abilities and are industry-ready to perform green jobs, leading to a shortage of employees/workers who possess green skills in the labor market. Specifically, curricula in vocational colleges and universities in Thailand are not likely to respond to the needs of firms in producing those employees/workers.

The limitations of this research concern its methodology. This research is based on the qualitative studies of the Thai education and skill-formation system and a case study of firms across industries in Thailand. Thus, this paper does not aim to generalize the findings to all other countries but to enrich the discussion on the effects of macro-level HR policies on the creation of green jobs and the development of green skills across firms in each country. Additionally, it is difficult to gain access to firms across several industries and various stakeholders to understand the development of green skills among employees in these firms. The reasons are resource constraints, time constraints and the hesitation of firms in permitting the author to access the data. These difficulties have restricted the sources of information to construct a more nuanced picture of firms across various industries in developing green skills among their existing employees. Consequently, this research does not include firms in several other industries, including the pulp and paper industry, textile and garment industry, plastic industry and agri-food industry. Thus, future research may extend the topic of the development of green skills among employees to these industries. Quantitative studies using large samples of firms across industries may also be useful in deepening the understanding of this topic, which is significant from the perspectives of the strategic human resource management (SHRM), comparative institutional perspectives on HR strategies and practices, and green economy.

This paper also provides practical implications for top managers and/or HR managers of firms in Thailand, other developing countries and other emerging market economies with deficiencies in the national education and skill-formation system. First, the top managers and/or HR managers can apply various methods to internally develop managers and employees/workers with the appropriate environmental/green knowledge and necessary skills to perform green jobs. The methods include classroom training, on-the-job training, coaching, mentoring systems, job shadowing and being role models for younger generations of employees. Second, these top managers and/or HR managers can cooperate with vocational colleges and/or universities in their countries to design educational programs/curricula related to environmental/green management to be able to produce graduates with suitable qualifications for their firms. These managers can request for assistance from universities in their countries when their firms confront sophisticated questions/problems related to environmental/green management. In this regard, universities will have an opportunity to solve real environmental/green problems experienced by industries, while firms can appropriately and accurately solve environmental/green questions/problems. Third, these top managers and/or HR managers can encourage their firms to apply for certificates of green-/environmentally friendly products or carbon footprint labels from NGOs to foster a green image among firms' consumers. These applications require the firms to pay special attention to the cultivation of green awareness and the development of green skills among their employees. Fourth, these top managers and/or HR managers can encourage their employees to express green-/environmentally friendly behaviors as well as sufficiency-based consumption behaviors. In fact, these top managers and/or HR managers can foster their employees to reduce energy consumption, including electricity and water, to conserve these types of energy for young generations. Fifth, these top managers and/or HR managers can adopt and implement green human resource management (GHRM) practices consisting of green recruitment and selection, green training and development, green performance management, green pay and rewards and green employee relations in their firms to upgrade both the environmental and social performances of firms. Finally, these top managers and/or HR managers must take serious actions regarding the implementation of environmental/green management policies and practices within their firms in order to facilitate the movement of the country toward the bioeconomy, circular economy, and green economy (BCG economy).

This paper provides social/policy implications for the government, vocational colleges and universities in Thailand, other developing countries and emerging market economies where the skill shortage problem is still severe. First, the government of each country should incorporate green/environmental policies into the national education policy and the long-term strategic plan of the country. Second, the government should continuously implement such national policy and strategic plan by encouraging government agencies, vocational colleges, universities, firms and NGOs to cooperate in developing and offering environmental/green management educational programs/curricula to produce graduates with suitable qualifications for those firms. Third, the government should encourage vocational colleges and universities to equip their students with green skills to be industry-ready in a real working context. Fourth, to alleviate the skill shortage problem in the labor market, the government should foster firms, especially private sector firms, to focus on the upskilling and reskilling of their existing employees. With this action, their existing employees will have green skills, be able to effectively perform green jobs and become an important driver to help the country move toward the BCG economy. Fifth, the government of each country should encourage firms to develop green-/environmentally friendly products by offering them various types of incentives, including tax reductions or tax exemptions. Sixth, the government should encourage universities in the country to sign a memorandum of understanding with leading research institutes and world-class digital technology companies such that these institutes and/or companies admit high-potential university students to work as trainees/entry-level employees for a certain duration. This action can ultimately facilitate knowledge transfer from these institutes and/or companies to those university students who will finally return to work in their home country. Seventh, the government, especially the Ministry of Education, should encourage vocational colleges and universities to teach students in the environmental/green management program based on real case studies/problems found across firms. In this way, graduates should be industry-ready to perform green jobs. Finally, the government must pay serious attention to the implementation of environmental/green management policies across levels within the country so that the transition of the country toward the BCG economy will finally come true in the future.

This paper contributes to the SHRM, comparative institutional perspectives on HR strategies and practices, and the literature on the green economy and the development of green skills in firms in the following ways. First, this paper focuses on examining how the institutional context of Thailand shapes the development of green knowledge and skills among employees across firms in Thailand. In this regard, the paper aims to fill the gap in the literature on strategic HRM and comparative institutional perspectives on HR strategies and practices as proposed by Batt and Banerjee (2012) and Batt and Hermans (2012), who suggested that the literature on strategic HRM should go beyond the organizational context and examine how firms adopt and implement HR practices in response to the national institutional context. Second, the paper aims to extend the literature on the green economy regarding the roles played by institutional factors in shaping the development of green knowledge and skills across firms. Finally, strategic HRM, comparative institutional perspectives on HR strategies and practices and green economy studies have overlooked the under-researched country of Thailand. Most studies in these three areas focus more on developed countries. Thus, the findings of this paper should extend the literature on those areas regarding the development of green skills among employees across firms in response to the Thai institutional context.

This study aims to examine the relationship between financial development (FD), financial risk, green finance and innovation related to carbon emissions in the G7 economies.

This quantitative study examines the roles that financial development [FD: Domestic credit to private sector by banks as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP)], economic growth (GDP: Constant US$ 2015), financial risk index (FRI), green finance (GFIN: Renewable energy public research development and demonstration (RD&D) budget as percentage of total RD&D budget), development of environment-related technologies (DERTI: percentage of all technologies) and human capital (HCI: index) have on the environmental quality of developed economies. Based on panel data, the study uses a novel approach method of moments quantile regression as a main method to tackle the issue of cross-sectional dependency, slope heterogeneity and nonnormality of the data.

The study confirms that increasing economic development increases emissions and negatively impacts the environment. However, efficient resource allocation, improved financial systems, and green innovation are likely to contribute to emission mitigation and the overall development of a sustainable viable economy. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of risk management in financial systems for future emissions prevention.

The study uses a reliable estimation procedure, which extends the discussion on climate policy from a COP-27 perspective and offers practical implications for policymakers in developing more effective emission mitigation strategies.

The study offers policy suggestions for a sustainable economy, focusing on both COP-27 and the G7 countries. Recommendations include implementing carbon pricing, developing carbon capture and storage technologies, investing in renewables and energy efficiency and introducing financial instruments for emission mitigation. From a COP-27 standpoint, the G7 should prioritize transitioning to low-carbon economies and supporting developing nations in their sustainability efforts to address the pressing challenges of climate change and global warming.

In comparison to the literature, this study examines the importance of financial risk for G7 economies in promoting a sustainable environment. More specifically, in the context of FD and national income with carbon emissions, previous researchers have disregarded the importance of green innovation and human capital, so the current study fills the gap in the literature related to G7 economies by exploring the link between the identified variables related to carbon emissions.

Basing himself on the premise that present economic progress cannot follow the ‘Business as usual paradigm’ and hope for continued and unlimited progress, the author holds that we need to look into the larger dimensions of growth and development, which include social, environmental and other complex factors. So in this chapter, the author makes some pertinent suggestions for a sustainable growth model inspired by green growth and degrowth.

The first section evaluates the salient features of green growth and its drawbacks. It is followed by a discussion on the notion of degrowth, with its challenge to change the direction of growth (economic, ecological, social and cultural), without which human civilisation, as we know it today, may not survive. Finally, in the concluding chapter, based on these two notions of green growth and degrowth, an all-inclusive and sustainable regrowth model is propounded.

By creating an awareness of the need to shift development goals and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the author argues that we could use economic regrowth strategically and responsibly to make the world more sustainable and viable. Responsible corporates will make their contribution to such an organic, resilient and sustainable regrowth and their CSR activities could be the starting point for this change, without which humanity's future is seriously threatened.

Finally, the author acknowledges that humanity has profited from the tremendous technological and economic progress we have made in the last four centuries, learnt from its mistakes and are ready to reorient ourselves individually and collectively towards a sustainable economic regrowth.