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Socially responsible investment (SRI) has gained importance as about one out of eight US dollars is currently invested based on screening in the USA. However, European private investors are generally much more reluctant to invest in shares, and in Austria, only 7 percent of private households hold shares. There is nevertheless some interest in “green shares” (a sub‐class of SRI comprising shares that are screened for their least impact on the environment) as a representative survey recently exhibited that 8 percent of respondents were definitely interested in holding “green shares”. Econometric estimates of an empirical model explaining the respondents' willingness to invest in green shares showed that education, income, environmental awareness and the expected profit are the main explanatory variables. Based on these results, conclusions are drawn regarding marketing strategies for “green shares”. In particular, credibility both regarding financial aspects (competitive return), and environmental and social criteria have to be guaranteed to make more consumers interested in investing in green shares.

Weak sustainability indicators often suffer from their unrealistic and inadequate assumption of substitutability between natural capital and man‐made capital. Defining sustainable development in these terms is almost trivial; measurement problems as well as methodological and sociological issues may be considered as major flaws of operationalizing weak sustainability indicators. On the other hand, strong sustainability indicators rely on physical measures. This ecological economics approach concedes that the economy is embedded in matter and energy flows ultimately limited by solar energy input and the Earth’s capability to produce renewable resources and to cope with emissions of all kinds. Drawing on the example of regional environmental resources, ground‐water in Austria, some thoughts on strong regional sustainability indicators are presented.

This article investigates the impact of foreign trade on carbon emissions of the member countries of the largest trade bloc, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The aggregate bilateral trade with members of RCEP during the period 1991–2020 was considered for analysis. The study also examines the impact of foreign trade (between member countries) on economic development, represented by GDP per capita. Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel Granger causality test was conducted to understand the impact of foreign trade on GDP per capita and carbon emissions.

Results indicate that though foreign trade is heterogeneously Granger causing GDP per capita, it also aggravates carbon emissions in RCEP bloc.

The study is of significance to the policymakers in the member countries as it provides evidence to include climate impact in trade agreements. The wealthier RCEP member countries can support the green transition of low-income countries through transfer of eco-friendly technologies.