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This study aims to identify sustainability indicators in the energy sector through a literature review and validate them from the perspective and context of professionals working in the sector in an emerging economy country, Brazil, considering the relationship of these indicators with the achievement of the targets set by the United Nations sustainable development goals (UN SDGs).

To accomplish this, a literature review on sustainability indicators specific to the energy sector was conducted. Subsequently, a research instrument (questionnaire) based on the identified indicators was developed and a survey was administered to professionals in the field. The collected data were analyzed using the Lawshe method.

The results revealed 20 indicators, distributed across environmental, economic and social dimensions. Among these, nine indicators were validated, including global impacts, local impacts, renewable energy production as a percentage of total production, greenhouse gas emissions, access to electricity, investment in the energy sector, installed capacity in the electricity sector, energy prices in the end-use sector and energy distribution and conversion efficiency.

Consequently, it was possible to determine which SDGs are directly impacted and provide a foundation for future actions that can contribute to the sustainable advancement of the energy sector in emerging countries.

The purpose of this study is to identify the most prevalent initiatives undertaken by leading universities in sustainability and offer a roadmap for other institutions seeking to undertake similar actions and contribute to more effective implementation of sustainability practices.

By using a quantitative assessment approach, the study sheds light on successful initiatives implemented by universities worldwide, spanning six categories: transportation, waste management, curriculum, food and dining, water and energy. Each category is clearly related to one or more of the 17 sustainable development goals. A cluster analysis was also applied to identify regional trends in preferred initiatives.

The study underlines the importance of integrating sustainability principles into the curricula of higher education institutions (HEIs) as well as educating staff members on energy and water management. The most common and impactful initiatives in the studied six categories have been identified. Many of the initiatives mentioned in the study do not just result in reducing ecological footprint but also provide economic savings as well. Differences among regions and countries were observed in the implementation of initiatives. Cultural and habitual factors should not be disregarded during the selection process of initiatives.

The findings of this study may help universities to take their first steps toward implementing initiatives that can effectively promote sustainable development. Results will aid other HEIs in planning for next steps while outlining the more common initiatives.

The present work investigated the effect of corporate social responsibility and top management support on employee ecological behaviour (EEB) with the mediating role of green culture and green commitment. Social identity theory (SIT) was used to describe the association between green culture, green commitment and EEB. Further, a conceptual model that summarises the interaction between perceived corporate social responsibility, top management support, green commitment, green culture and the adoption of ecological behaviour was developed.

The paper opted for a quantitative design using convenience sampling by collecting the data through a structured questionnaire gathered from 308 academics working in five Malaysian higher education institutions.

Corporate social responsibility and top management support positively influence green culture and commitment. Moreover, green commitment positively influenced EEB and fully mediated the relationship between corporate social responsibility and EEB and between top management support and EEB.

The academic staff of universities was the target population of this research. Nevertheless, universities have a diverse population with complex activities that can affect the implementation of a sustainable workplace within the campus. Future research should also examine non-academic staff, including administrative, technical and operational staff, due to different employees' perceptions.

As far as the authors know, this is the first study to assign the mediator role to green culture in a relationship between top management support and EEB amongst academic staff in the Malaysian context. Future research should consider other intervening variables that influence adopting ecological behaviour.

This study aims to use 67 developing countries to examine the role of financial inclusion as an “empowering tool” for renewable energy uptake and to improve environmental sustainability in developing countries.

Using a battery of econometric models, including the generalized method of moment-panel vector autoregression (GMM-PVAR), impulse response function, Granger causality, fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares, the study proposed and tested three hypotheses.

The results from various estimations indicate that financial inclusion has a positive effect on renewable energy consumption and environmental sustainability improvement in developing countries. The findings suggest that financial inclusion can improve environmental sustainability by increasing access to financing to fund renewable energy projects, support sustainable businesses and promote sustainable practices.

This study suggests that policymakers prioritize financial inclusion to promote renewable energy consumption and environmental sustainability. Policies should enhance access to financial services, offer financial incentives and subsidies, provide affordable loans through microfinance institutions and fintech companies and promote sustainable businesses and green technologies.

This paper offers a bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature on social finance. It provides an overview of the research field by identifying gaps in the existing academic literature and presenting future research directions.

The study uses co-word analysis and visualization mapping techniques.

This study's findings show that the social finance research field comprises five main research clusters and four main research hotspots—impact investing, social entrepreneurship, social impact bonds, and social innovation—which represent the core of this research domain. The authors also identify the researchers and the research institutions that have contributed to the development of social finance. In addition, emerging research areas are mapped and discussed.

Compared with most previous literature reviews, this work provides a more complete and objective analysis of the entire social finance landscape by revealing the trends and evolving dynamics that characterize its development. To this end, clear terminological boundaries have not yet been established in social finance. The field appears immature because only a few researchers have contributed to it, and papers have yet to be published by top finance journals. Finally, the findings of this research provide directions for future studies.

The purpose of this study is to examine the application of sustainable building design and operation within a university setting to determine its economic efficacy and potential for further university investment.

This study incorporated a life cycle cost analysis (LCCA), simple payback period and discounted payback period calculations to determine the return on investment, including a sensitivity analysis when comparing the energy use and financial benefits of the sustainable design of a multi-use facility at Toronto Metropolitan University with buildings of similar size and use-type.

It was found that there is a positive business argument for Canadian Universities to consider the use of sustainable design to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A reasonable payback period and net present value within an institutional context were determined using a life-cycle cost assessment approach.

This study was limited to the measure of only a single location. Certain assumptions regarding energy pricing and interest rates and the related sensitivities were anchored on a single year of time, and the results of this study may be subject to change should those prices or rates become significantly different over time. Considerations for future research include a longitudinal approach combined with a more detailed analysis of the effect of use-type on the variables discussed.

For university administrators, the results of this study may encourage institutions such as universities to approach new building projects through the lens of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.

GHG emissions are a well-proven contributor to global climate change, and buildings remain a significant source of GHG emissions in Canada due to their winter heating and summer cooling loads. As a result, sustainable building design on university campuses can mitigate this impact by optimizing and reducing energy consumption.

Research related to the economic evaluation of sustainable building design on university campuses is generally limited, and this study represents the first of its kind in regard to an LCCA of a sustainably designed building on a Canadian University campus.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the agriculture-induced environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in South Asian economies (SAE).

This study employs econometric techniques, including Westerlund cointegration tests, cross-sectional augmented distributive lag model (CS-ARDL) and Dumitrescu and Hurlin (DH) causality tests to investigate the relationship between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, agriculture, economic growth, financial development and carbon emissions in SAE from 1990 to 2019.

The CS-ARDL test outcome supports the presence of the agriculture-induced EKC hypothesis in SAE. Additionally, through the application of the DH causality test, the study confirms a unidirectional causality running from renewable energy consumption (REC), fossil fuel consumption (FFC), economic growth (GDP) and squared economic growth (GDP²) to carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

This study proposes that future research should extend comparisons to worldwide intergovernmental bodies, use advanced econometric methodologies for accurate estimates, and investigate incorporating the service or primary sector into the EKC. Such multidimensional studies can inform various methods for mitigating global climate change and ensuring ecological sustainability.

Environmental degradation has been extensively studied in different regions and countries, but SAE face significant constraints in addressing this issue, and comprehensive studies in this area are scarce. This research is pioneering as it is the first study to investigate the applicability of the agriculture-induced EKC in the South Asian region. By filling this gap in the current literature, the study provides valuable insights into major SAE and their environmental challenges.

The coal-fired power plants have been confronted with new operation challenge since the unified carbon trading market was launched in China. To make the optimal decision for the carbon emissions and power production has already been an important subject for the plants. Most of the previous studies only considered the market prices of electricity and coal to optimize the generation plan. However, with the opening of the carbon trading market, carbon emission has become a restrictive factor for power generation. By introducing the carbon-reduction target in the production decision, this study aims to achieve both the environmental and economic benefits for the coal-fired power plants to positively deal with the operational pressure.

A dynamic optimization approach with both long- and short-term decisions was proposed in this study to control the carbon emissions and power production. First, the operation rules of carbon, electricity and coal markets are analyzed, and a two-step decision-making algorithm for annual and weekly production is presented. Second, a production profit model based on engineering constraints is established, and a greedy heuristics algorithm is applied in the Gurobi solver to obtain the amounts of weekly carbon emission, power generation and coal purchasing. Finally, an example analysis is carried out with five generators of a coal-fired power plant for illustration.

The results show that the joint information of the multiple markets of carbon, electricity and coal determines the real profitability of power production, which can assist the plants to optimize their production and increase the profits. The case analyses demonstrate that the carbon emission is reduced by 2.89% according to the authors’ method, while the annual profit is improved by 1.55%.

As an important power producer and high carbon emitter, coal-fired power plants should actively participate in the carbon market. Rather than trade blindly at the end of the agreement period, they should deeply associate the prices of carbon, electricity and coal together and realize optimal management of carbon emission and production decision efficiently.

This paper offers an effective method for the coal-fired power plant, which is struggling to survive, to manage its carbon emission and power production optimally.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between top management commitment and energy management in small and medium manufacturing firms in a developing country context.

This study was executed through a survey of 66 manufacturing firms in Kampala, Uganda. The data collected were analysed using SPSS v.26.

The results show that top management commitment influences energy management. A further probe of its three dimensions of top management participation, top management support and top management beliefs reveals that all of them positively and significantly predict energy management in manufacturing firms.

The current study results were obtained from manufacturing small and medium firms in Kampala, Uganda. Therefore, caution should be taken prior to generalization. Furthermore, this study only focuses on top management participation, top management support and top management beliefs as the dimensions of top management commitment. This study thus provides the foundation for future studies to test other dimensions of top management commitment, particularly in other sectors.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the contribution of top management commitment dimensions top management participation, top management support and top management beliefs to energy management in a developing country context. Although all dimensions are significant, top management beliefs contribute more to energy management.

This study assesses the SDG-related well-being of indigenous communities in India using bibliometric analysis and the ADO-TCM framework. It provides insights into their alignment with sustainable development objectives.

This study analysed 74 high-impact journals using bibliometric analysis to evaluate the well-being of India’s indigenous peoples about the SDGs.

This study analyses the well-being of tribal communities in India using existing scholarly articles and the ADO-TCM framework. It emphasises the importance of implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to promote the well-being of indigenous populations.

This study uses bibliometric analysis and the ADO-TCM framework to investigate factors impacting tribal community welfare. It proposes theoretical frameworks, contextual considerations and research methodologies to achieve objectives.