Search results

This study investigates the impact of the Paris Agreement (and other factors) on carbon information disclosures to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

A sample of South African listed companies was selected and data analysed from 2013 to 2017. A random effect panel data model using SPSS was used to determine whether the Paris Agreement had an effect on carbon information disclosure.

The results indicate that (1) the Paris Agreement, as an example of an intergovernmental coordination initiative, is significant in creating awareness and increasing the carbon disclosures to the CDP. Furthermore, (2) in terms of the other factors examined, providing incentives for managing climate change and assessing climate risks further into the future improves disclosure quality, while no relationship was found between the CDP score and the approval by key management personnel.

This research examines CDP disclosures for an emerging market before and after the signing of the Paris Agreement.

This research shows the importance of supportive government policy. Furthermore, a commitment to climate change disclosure is manageable and achievable and needs to be implemented at the management level.

Aviation is not only one of the key contributors to the economy and social structure of the world but it is also an industry whose environmental impacts are being closely monitored. Aircraft efficiency and technological advancements have significantly reduced aviation noise and emissions in recent decades. Nevertheless, as the need for passenger and freight transportation grows, the aviation sector is becoming a primary source of environmental issues and a significant driver of global warming. This chapter focusses on environmentally sustainable aviation with a net-zero emission target. It also highlights sustainable aviation policies and collaborative initiatives in the aviation industry to meet the 2050 net-zero emission goal. While the industry's efforts have increased opportunities recently, the industry has also had to face several challenges to achieve the net-zero aviation target.

Globally, the paucity of conventional energy sources has created an unprecedented increase in demand for green energy. Continuous dependency on conventional energy sources has given rise to several undesirable environmental consequences. In the 20th century, the international forum pondered about the development and uses of green energy, which commenced with the realization of global warming and the signing of the Kyoto Protocol agreement. This study aims to divulge the nexus between green energy, carbon emissions and economic prosperity from a global perspective. The study has been conducted by considering panel data of 35 global economies from 1971 to 2019.

To calibrate the uses of green energy, this study dwells upon the ratio between green energy consumption and total energy use. These instrumental variables have been widely acknowledged and accepted by several empirical analysis done in the past (Lin and Moubarak, 2014; Shahbaz et al., 2015). This research specifically uses the emission of carbon dioxide in a million tons as an instrumental variable of environmental degradation, which has been disregarded by all-preceding researchers from a global perspective. Additionally, this study also considers real gross domestic product value in terms of US$ (2010 constant price) as an indicator of economic prosperity. The same has been contemplated by an ample number of empirical research studies conducted previously. Thus, the authors adopted the panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) technique to achieve this research objectives; and to tackle the issue of contemporaneous correlation, the authors applied cross-sectional augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CSARDL) of common correlated effect pooled mean group (CCEPMG).

The results of panel ARDL analysis reveal that in the long-run, real gross domestic product (GDP) leads to carbon emission, whereas green energy uses do not have a substantial effect on the reduction of carbon emission. However, in the short-run, green energy consumption seems definitely helpful for combating carbon emission, while real GDP instigates carbon emission. This study effectively fortifies the notion of a trade-off between ecological pollution and economic prosperity. The empirical results of the Granger Causality test produce evidence of unidirectional causality from carbon emission to green energy uses and from real GDP to carbon emission in the panel countries

First, decisive corollaries of the conclusions drawn above have been made purely on the basis of a comprehensive investigation of 35 global economies. However, there is the scope for inclusive examination by considering more modern economies simultaneously. Second, this paper studied the potential impact of the uses of green energy and real GDP on carbon emission. Notably, the inference of this study has been grounded on three relevant variables, whereas there are possibilities that such an investigation could possibly be extended by considering other instrumental variables of environmental pollution.

A significant number of studies in the past have investigated the connection between renewable energy consumption (REC) and economic growth. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, none have looked to investigate the nexus between REC, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability simultaneously, specifically from the global perspective. Hence, this study intends to widen the prevailing perception of the emerging context above in two ways; first, by reconnoitering the effect of REC on environmental consequences and economic progress simultaneously, which has not been accomplished in extant literature. Second, the authors also strive to gradually augment the comprehensive analysis by expanding the study from a global perspective and by constructing the panel data of developing and advanced economies.

The aim of this paper is to discuss a selection of policy strategies, regional initiatives and market approaches to uncover the realities of twenty-first-century building energy performance. A position that market-based approaches, human influence and policy interventions are part of an ecosystem of building energy performance is presented.

An exploratory search of secondary sources spanning the last three decades was conducted. Both peer-reviewed and grey literature were included to capture a broader understanding of the discourse in literature. Research questions guided the literature search, and a data extraction tool was designed to categorise the literature. The primary limitation of this study is that only a few applications could be discussed in a condensed format.

Several challenges about the current status quo of building energy performance were identified and summarised as follows. (1) Inconsistencies in measurement and verification protocols, (2) Impacts of market approaches, (3) National policy priorities that are at variance with regional targets and (4) Ambiguous reporting on environmental impacts of energy efficiency (EE) technologies.

The practical implications of the findings in this paper for practice and research are that as part of the building energy performance ecosystem, national responses through government interventions must become adaptive to keep up with the fast-paced energy sector and social trends. Simultaneously, before market-based approaches overcome the messiness of socio-economic dynamics, institutional conditions and cultural nuances, they ought to transparently address environmental impacts and the infringement of several SDGs before they can become viable solutions to building energy performance.

This paper presents building energy performance as an ecosystem comprising human influence, market-based approaches and policy interventions which form interdependent parts of the whole. However, evidence in the literature shows that these aspects are usually investigated separately. By presenting them as an ecosystem, this paper contributes to the discourse by advocating the need to re-align building energy performance to socio-economic-political dynamics and contextually viable solutions.

The world is in a cold peace which is peace without being secure. At the heart of the cold peace is the competition between China and the USA. The cold war will not return because the old and new great powers simply are not as powerful as the old duellers at the start of the cold war. Other important powers, like the EU, Japan, and Russia, have significant roles in determining the outcome.

However, the intense competition between China and the USA has dire consequences for the future of humanity. It fuels nationalism and xenophobia and makes them less capable of addressing domestic issues, such as inequality, misinformation, ageing, etc. It also dims the hope for meaningfully tackling global issues like global warming, which requires a global innovation and mass production system to change the fundamental calculation of economic development and climate policies.

The Brundtland Commission report has been widely cited in debates about sustainable development (SD), but disagreements still exist about what SD is and the role or importance of ecology are central to the debate. SD is a movement that seeks to address social and economic issues to meet the needs of the entire community through alternative methods of development. The Kyoto Protocol, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), World Summit on Sustainable Development, and Rio+20 have all been significant initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This book focused on the development of sustainable infrastructure, which is linked to seven of the recently established Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Researchers emphasized the importance of developing an objective definition of SD. The most used definition of SD is proposed in the World Conference on Environment and Development (WCED) report, which emphasizes harmony among the three pillars: social, ecological, and economic. However, Lehtonen (2004) contends that separating the terms ‘social’ and ‘economic’ will isolate economic problems from their larger social context. This SD model recognizes that economic activities must be carried out for the benefit of society and that initiatives affecting humanity’s social context must be completed within ecological bounds. Mebratu (1998) classified SD definitions and origins into three categories: functional, conceptual, and intellectual. Hopwood et al. (2005) demonstrated the many ecological, social, and economic implications of SD. O’Riordan (1988) and Robinson (2004) define sustainability as an integral concept with a strong emphasis on nature. SD is a conservationist approach to natural resource allocation that focuses on technology to address pollution and resource depletion issues. To achieve development, current institutions must be transformed, with an emphasis on meeting people’s wants and interests in a way that is consistent with economic, equitable, and environmental concerns. It is frequently used to describe outdated economic development that disregards the environment. SD is viewed differently by different authors. Mitcham (1995) discovered ‘investigated or creative ambiguity’ in the term, which is a strength, not a flaw. O’Riordan (1988) admitted that the ambiguity surrounding the concept’s definition has sparked debate. Dresner (2008) demonstrated that the confusion surrounding SD does not render it ineffective. The Forum for the Future’s 5-capitals model and the triple bottom line (TBL) model are two examples of SD models that promote SD, but technological and scientific progress has been slow. The definition of SD is ambiguous, with various perspectives and insights from various authors. This section examined the body of knowledge on sustainability and its underlying concepts and principles, with references and a discussion of the TBL.

This study investigated the visibility of carbon emissions allowances accounting in the financial reports of 32 clean development mechanism (CDM) projects in the UAE to uncover the obstacles to setting consistent standards for carbon emission accounting. As carbon emissions are monetized as credits, consistent accounting standards can aid decision-makers in the development of carbon emission mitigation strategies.

This study used a grounded theoretical framework for exploring the terms used in the policy documents of international accounting bodies regarding accounting standards and guidelines for carbon emission credits. Raw qualitative data were gathered, and an inductive approach was used by analyzing documents from various sources using the qualitative data text analysis software QDA Miner 6.

The findings showed that the financial statement reports of the corporations did not include disclosure of the carbon credit account. This omission was due to the lack of global standardization of carbon credit accounts and emission allowance recognition. This may hinder the production of a comprehensive report containing accurate and valuable financial information relevant to all stakeholders.

The study is among the first to use a grounded theoretical framework to investigate whether corporations are applying common standards and guidelines for carbon emissions accounting.

International climate politics are gradually changing in terms of new and ground-breaking policies and decision-making spearheaded by national governments. The growing global demand to combat climate change reflects the current challenges the world is facing. India’s negotiations at United Nations Conference on Climate Change are based on “equity,” “historical responsibility” and the “polluter pays” agenda, until a shift in the voluntary reduction of carbon emissions takes place. The purpose of this study is to understand why India, a “deal breaker”, is seen as a “deal maker” in climate governance?

For a state like India, domestic preferences are equally important in introducing climate policies alongside its concerns over poverty reduction and economic development, which also stand with its sustainable development goals. This paper explains India’s decision-making using a two-level approach focusing on “domestic preferences.” This rationale is based on India’s historical background as well as new upcoming challenges.

This paper shows that India has both the domestic needs and long-term benefits of combating climate change to cut carbon emissions, which gives the responsibility primarily to domestic audiences and international societies.

This paper uses an international political lens to critically analyze India’s climate positions and politics from both domestic and international levels, demonstrating the importance of considering both short- and long-term goals. The outcome benefits not only the policymakers in India but also stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific and beyond.

The authors characterize the conditions under which a country may eventually split and when it splits within an infinite horizon multi-stage differential game.

In contrast to the existing literature, the authors do not assume that after splitting, players will adopt Markovian strategies. Instead, the authors assume that while the splitting country plays Markovian, the remaining coalition remains committed to the collective control of pollution and plays open-loop.

Within a full linear-quadratic model, the authors characterize the optimal strategies. The authors later compare with the outcomes of the case where the splitting country and the remaining coalition play both Markovian. The authors highlight several interesting results in terms of the implications for long-term pollution levels and the duration of coalitions under heterogenous strategies as compared to Markovian behavior.

In this paper, the authors have illustrated the richness of the simplications of enlarging the set of strategies in terms of the emergence of coalitions, their duration and the implied welfare levels per player. Varying only three parameters (the technological gap, pollution damage and coalition payoff share distribution across players), the authors have been able to generate, among other findings, quite different rankings of welfare per player depending on whether the remaining coalitions after split play Markovian or stay precommited to the pre-splitting period decisions.

The current study aims to analyze the role of International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in sustainability issues and its impact on the attitude of practitioners (auditors) in industrial companies. The current study relies on the analytical method, one of the tools of the inductive approach, by examining the literature of researchers, international and local organizations, publications, series, alerts, and topics dealt with by the IFAC, as well as reviewing studies, theoretical and applied research, periodicals, books, and statistics. And specialized publications for this subject, which is related to other sciences – such as – environmental science, economic, and political sciences. The study reached many results, the most important of which are: (1) The first half of the current decade has seen high interest from the IFAC, has led to the issuance of International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) international standard on assurance engagements 3410, (GHG) Statements. (2) Sustainability has become important to a growing number of enterprises, and may have a significant influence, in certain cases, the financial statements, also became the sustainability of the topics under increasing attention from users of financial statements. Thus, the financial statements will need a practitioner to take into consideration sustainability issues and a private greenhouse gas when auditing the financial statements. This study is distinguished by analyzing the role of the IFAC and the IAASB for the period from 1998 to 2023 regarding sustainability issues.