This study explores the interrelations among environmental quality (EQ), poverty (POV), and green growth (GG) across 34 provinces in Indonesia from 2015 to 2023, employing a simultaneous equation model (SEM) to address the gap in prior research which often overlooked the concurrent analysis of these variables. It was found that POV exerts a significant negative impact on EQ, quantified at a reduction of 0.235 percent. Conversely, GG contributes positively to EQ, enhancing it by 0.197 percent. The findings underscore the necessity for policies that integrate environmental, social, and economic considerations, advocating for inclusive and sustainable development strategies. These strategies are pivotal for fostering economic opportunities that enhance community welfare while ensuring environmental sustainability. The study concludes that a nuanced understanding of the relationships between these endogenous factors is crucial for effective policy formulation, highlighting the need for a balanced approach that harmonizes developmental objectives with environmental stewardship.

This study examines the impact of emotional perceptions and social influence on green consumption practices, with a focus on Vietnam. Conducted using a non-probability sampling method, the research drew upon responses from 548 Vietnamese consumers. The SmartPLS Software was employed for hypothesis testing. It was determined that attitudes towards green products and the appraisal of environmental threats positively influence green purchase behaviors. Moreover, the effect of both attitudes and threat appraisal on green purchasing behavior was found to be positively moderated by social influence. By incorporating the role of social influence, this research extends the protection motivation theory (PMT) and bridges the gap between perception, attitude, and behavior. The findings suggest managerial implications for companies marketing green products in Vietnam, highlighting strategies to enhance consumer engagement and purchase. This study not only sheds light on the intrinsic motivations behind green product purchases but also underscores the amplifying role of social contexts in environmental consumerism.

Climate change (CC) represents a paramount environmental challenge, necessitating the deployment of sustainable, low-carbon strategies particularly in developing regions such as Africa. This study introduces a novel decision-making framework aimed at enhancing the prioritization of policies to combat the adverse effects of CC. The proposed two-stage model employs the integration of Step-Wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) and Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS) under spherical fuzzy (SF) conditions to address the strategic sequencing of sustainable policies. Initially, SF-SWARA is utilized to ascertain the relative significance of diverse criteria. Subsequently, the SF-WASPAS method ranks these policies, facilitating informed decision-making. The primary obstacles identified include limited institutional capacity, insufficient financial resources, and technological constraints, for which strategic alternatives are proposed. Moreover, rigorous sensitivity and comparative analyses affirm the model's applicability. By systematically delineating and prioritizing necessary policies, this study contributes significantly to the scholarly discourse on climate mitigation (CM) in an African context.

Linking Norbert Elias’s concept of the triad of controls, to Andrew Willard Jones’ analysis of the ‘complete act’, the paper outlines the relation between culture and personality and the implications of this for any project of localization and the re-embedding of the economy. Re-iterating the reality that degrowth cannot be a liberal project, the paper goes on to explore the relation between Western individualism and Judeo-Christianity. Shorn of the overarching ontology and orienting architecture of Christianity, individualism has become corrosive, unstable and, in the end, self-destructive. The socially conservative preoccupation with a decline in virtue is linked to eroding social capital, anomie, and unhappiness arising from a surfeit of freedom. Hyper-social and -spatial mobility is linked to the suppression of the domain of Livelihood, with its bottom-up, communitarian and family-based forms of social regulation; and a corollary expansion of both top-down collectivist regulation by the State and the transactional logic of the Market. Livelihood is a function of embedded individuals enmeshed in relations not only with other individuals and groups, but with God. In contrast, the materialist metaphysics of Market and State both depend on disembedded, free-wheeling citizen-consumers, severed from any relation to transcendent values. But these same phenomena are also the principal drivers of consumption and ecological degradation. On this basis it is argued that any culture of ecological restraint predicated on the re-embedding of markets must also entail an ontological re-embedding of the sacred conception of the individual (the Imago Dei) into a relation with the divine. Such a project implies a very different understanding of freedom predicated on an external, legitimate authority; a freedom that is ‘fullest not when it serves itself but when it serves truths freely held” ([1], Loc. 419). Applying Christopher Alexander’s theory of pattern languages, the paper goes on to explore what such a sustainability project might look like.

The Bayano region, in Panama, has been linked to many different stakeholders who were or are influenced by the Bayano dam, which was completed in 1976 and flooded a large area. Stakeholder tables are a good way of exploring the views of stakeholders and their relationships. They can also help in identifying hidden stakeholders. Hidden stakeholders refer to stakeholders who use or are impacted by regions or events, but are generally ignored. A primary goal of this research is to allow a better understanding of the region. In this study, several sources, including discussions with community members and workshop results, were used to develop a stakeholder table for the Bayano region. Stakeholders include displaced Guna and Embera Indigenous communities. In order to identify hidden stakeholders, I applied the table to relevant court cases and agreements, with hidden stakeholders being those who were not addressed in these documents. Hidden stakeholders include Indigenous individuals who raise cattle or are involved in tree felling, along with tourism industries. Using some follow-up workshops to gauge views on potential interventions, along with a relational values approach, which focuses on relationships with components such as nature, I highlight sustainable projects and methods that can target multiple hidden stakeholders at the same time. As such, another goal was to illustrate potential, sustainable projects that would include many hidden stakeholders. In the end, this research helps understand the stakeholders in the Bayano region and the results can also help other researchers involved in the region and beyond.

Rooftop solar photovoltaics will play a role in decarbonizing electricity generation and meeting global climate goals. Policymakers can benefit from understanding how their policy choices impact rooftop solar PV adoption. We conduct a case study of Regina, Saskatchewan to determine the extent to which solar policy changes in that Canadian province have impacted the relative desirability of rooftop solar PV. We assess financial returns that can be achieved in Regina under three policy scenarios: net metering, net billing, and net billing with a capital incentive. We use GIS analysis to identify suitable roofs in Regina and assess any shading that may occur. We calculate hourly capacity factors for these roofs using solar irradiation data, temperature data, and shading factors. We match the simulated solar output results with hourly load data to simulate over 4 million potential roof-load combinations and calculate NPV and net monthly return for each combination. We conduct a telephone survey of 451 Regina residents to assess willingness to install solar at different levels of financial return and compare these results to our solar simulations. Our results indicate that a move from net metering to net billing reduced financial returns from rooftop solar and lowered solar potential from 129 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year to 99 GWh/yr in Regina. The introduction of a capital incentive grant by the federal government has helped increase solar potential upwards to 120 GWh/yr. The capital incentive grant may also help overcome high discount rates by providing a larger upfront benefit to households that install solar.

Capturing the various facets of sustainable development is the main objective of sustainability assessment studies. Scientists and practitioners use sustainable development criteria and indicators as instruments to link the theoretical definitions with the evaluation of the effectiveness of management strategies; therefore, identifying and selecting indicators are the most critical processes in evaluating the implementation of sustainable development strategies and progress toward achieving sustainability goals and objectives. The manuscript argues the need for increasing credibility in the identification and selection of criteria and indicators through stakeholder engagement, participation and management. Sustainability aims to primarily address and balance the [social, economic, environmental] needs and expectations of stakeholders; therefore, reaching consensus amongst the various groups of stakeholders became the determining factor in the design, implementation, and assessment of sustainable development strategies. Because a precise definition of sustainability that is universally agreed upon is yet to be introduced, the process of identifying and selecting indicators to assess progress toward achieving sustainable development is embedded in subjectivity and vagueness and can be easily manipulated to meet particular interests. Furthermore, the absence of rigorous and standardized methodological frameworks contributes to continuously proposing set indicators that best capture the notion of sustainable development which creates distrust in the assessment process and directly affects the credibility of the sustainability concept. Departing from acknowledging the relevance of stakeholders groups in decision-making and management processes, the manuscript identifies and discusses three credible and reliable frameworks designed by consensus (FDC) to identify and select criteria and indicators to assess the sustainability performance of cities and communities: (1) ISO 37130:2018 which is complemented by ISO 37122:2019, (2) United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) with focus on Goal 11, and (3) customized frameworks for sustainable cities (CFSS). To minimize subjectivity and strengthen credibility, the manuscript also makes the case for the need of embedding FDC into sustainability assessment processes to identify and select criteria and indicators. Because of the methodology adopted for their development, FDC provide scientists and practitioners with reliable and credible sources to identify and select criteria and indicators for the assessment of the sustainability performance of cities and communities.