This study reflects upon the transformability of the chosen principles of Energiewende (Germany’s energy transition) and policy instruments met in the Iraqi energy and urban scenario. The study does not take it for granted that the German model is directly applicable to other countries. Instead, using secondary sources such as policy documents, institutional reports, and academic literature, this study is comparative and context-sensitive. The analysis focuses on six dimensions: technical and network readiness, financial and investment capacity, institutional and regulatory quality, community acceptance and participation, equity in energy access, and renewable energy potential and energy efficiency. Finally, the Multi-Level Perspective is used to analyze and explain how emerging niche innovations, the prevailing socio-technical regime, and the landscape pressures are connected. Results show how elements of the Energiewende can be adapted and are divided into three types: elements which need little adaptation, elements which need significant adaptation, and elements which require more advanced institutional, technical, financial and/or market conditions. Energy efficiency and distributed solar energy, along with smart metering, reduction of transmission and distribution losses, institutional capacity building, and pilot energy storage and microgrids are the most viable components for the Iraqi environment. In contrast, electricity-market liberalization, sophisticated trading mechanisms, large-scale community ownership, and ambitious decarbonization objectives call for a certain amount of contextual provision and deeper readiness of the system. Based on these results, the study proposes three stages of an adaptive pathway: System Stabilization and Enabling Foundations, Expansion and Institutional Embedding, System Integration and Structural Transformation. Movement between stages is determined by observable improvements in readiness and not by pre-determined levels or timescales. The results also showcase how the framework can be implemented at the city, neighborhood, building and infrastructure level linked by smart urban planning, which offers a spatial and institutional context to operationalize the framework. The key enabling measures are: rooftop solar systems, microgrids, energy-efficient urban development, smart metering, demand management based on data analysis, local governance, and spatial-equity safeguards. The study presents an integrated analytical framework that integrates Energiewende principles, readiness assessment, Multi-Level Perspective, and smart urban planning for situations where the performance of the grid is weak, institutions and financial resources are limited, and access to energy service is unequal. Empirical validation of this framework will be needed by engaging the various stakeholders, spatial analysis, techno-economic analysis, pilot activities, and long-term monitoring.
Small-scale fisheries are vital for coastal livelihoods and food security but face persistent sustainability challenges driven by environmental degradation, climate variability, and structural economic vulnerability. Although sustainability assessments of small-scale fisheries are well established, financial aspects—particularly green finance—are often treated as secondary or mediating factors and remain weakly operationalized within integrated analytical frameworks. This study assesses the sustainability status of small-scale fisheries and identifies key leverage attributes by explicitly embedding green finance-related attributes as cross-cutting drivers within a multidimensional sustainability assessment. Using Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) implemented through the Rapid Appraisal for Fisheries (RAPFISH) framework, sustainability was evaluated across six interrelated dimensions: economic, social, institutional, regulatory, environmental, and cultural. The analysis was applied to coastal small-scale fisheries systems in East Java Province, Indonesia, using ordinal scores derived from expert judgment and stakeholder input. Results show that the cultural dimension exhibits strong sustainability and the social dimension remains moderately stable, while economic and environmental dimensions remain highly vulnerable. Leverage analysis indicates that green finance-related attributes—particularly access to finance, financial intermediation capacity, and policy integration—emerged as high-leverage attributes the overall sustainability configuration despite their limited current implementation. These findings indicate that finance functions as a high-leverage, cross-cutting structural driver in small-scale fisheries sustainability rather than a peripheral factor, offering evidence-based insights for policy alignment, institutional coordination, and targeted financial interventions to strengthen the sustainability of small-scale fisheries.
This study examines the association between board structure and characteristics and the quality of sustainability reporting, using an integrated reporting-based proxy. Thirty-seven companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in South Africa were selected. Panel data were collected on board size, women on the board, ethnic diversity, the number of financial experts on the board, the average age of board members and their independence. Three control variables were included, namely profitability, firm age and firm size. Sustainability reporting quality (SRQ) was operationalised using the Ernst and Young (EY) Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards, a categorical rating with four levels: Progress to be made, Average, Good, and Excellent. A multinomial logit model with firm level clustered standard errors was applied to assess the relationship between board structure and SRQ. Under the sample conditions, the results indicate a statistically significant positive association between ethnic diversity and the highest SRQ category. Board size and average board age showed negative and positive associations respectively, but neither was statistically significant after clustering. Board independence, financial expertise and gender diversity were not statistically associated with SRQ. The findings offer insights for policymakers on board composition, with ethnic diversity emerging as the characteristic most strongly associated with high-quality sustainability disclosure under the sample conditions examined.
Vietnam’s post-pandemic tourism recovery raises the question of how renewed visitor growth relates to economic value, climate vulnerability, and mobility-related carbon performance. This study assesses Vietnam’s tourism recovery under climate change and the Net Zero transition using secondary data for 2019–2023. It applies descriptive analysis, recovery indices, system-level emission-to-activity ratios, passenger-aviation Tapio decoupling analysis, and a national-transport system-level proxy elasticity for 2022–2023. National transport and passenger-aviation emissions are treated as system-level proxies for mobility-related carbon pressure and do not constitute a tourism emissions inventory. The results indicate a scale–value–carbon mismatch. In 2023, total tourist volume reached 117.3% of its 2019 level, whereas nominal tourism revenue and average nominal revenue per reported tourist visit reached 89.8% and 76.5%, respectively. Contextual climate evidence indicates vulnerability channels affecting destinations, infrastructure, transport connectivity, business operations, and service continuity. National transport and passenger-aviation emissions reached 104.1% and 93.8% of their 2019 levels. During 2022–2023, national transport emissions grew more slowly than measured passenger activity, while passenger aviation exhibited weak decoupling. Absolute emissions nevertheless increased in both systems. The results indicate short-run relative improvement in emissions performance rather than structural decarbonisation. Three policy priorities emerge: strengthening tourism carbon accounting, integrating climate adaptation into destination and transport planning, and coordinating measures to reduce mobility-related emissions. The diagnostic framework may also be relevant to tourism transitions in emerging economies facing similar climate, mobility, and data constraints.
By combining social cognitive theory (SCT) and capability approach (CA), this study aims to explore Indonesian youths’ intentions regarding responsible consumption shaped by their awareness and capability. An online survey was conducted among youths aged 18–24 in Indonesia. By developing distinct theoretical models, our study then utilised structural equation modelling to explore cognitive, normative, and structural pathways that shape youths’ sustainable behavioural intentions. This research finds that the three models capture different behavioural mechanisms underlying responsible consumption intentions. It concludes that youth behavioural intention emerges through the interplay between internal awareness and strong external enabling conditions. This research implies that high awareness does not directly lead to committed action when structural barriers such as affordability or limited access persist. The gap between values and behaviour reflects how unequal capability across youth groups can limit the realisation of sustainable choices. This paper offers a novel theoretical contribution by bringing together SCT and CA within a complementary SCT-CA framework, addressing the empirical gap between awareness and action in pro-environmental consumer research. It also introduces a scenario-based measurement of behavioural intention, offering contextually grounded insights into youth responses to real-life sustainability dilemmas. Ultimately, it presents a further policy reformulation agenda for social re-engineering that addresses environmental-legal and infrastructural gaps, enabling motivated youth to translate their intentions into responsible consumption practices.
This paper discusses the effects of the sustainable digital marketing approach on the green purchase intentions in the renewable energy market in Jordan and in particular the behavioral processes that mediate the formation of the environmentally responsible consumption. The quantitative research design was utilized to obtain data based on 237 consumers and processed with the help of the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling, to determine the direct, mediating, and moderating relationships. The results indicate that sustainable digital marketing initiatives have a significant positive impact on the environmental awareness and green purchase intentions. The environmental awareness can be identified as one of the main explanatory factors, and it mediates the connections between sustainable digital marketing and green purchase intentions, which shows that it is the key influential factor of pro-environment consumer behavior. In contrast, the moderating effect of perceived consumer effectiveness on the relationship between sustainable digital marketing strategies and green purchase intentions is found to be statistically insignificant. However, the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) values of the saturated and estimated models slightly exceeded the recommended 0.08 threshold, suggesting that the structural estimates should be interpreted with caution and that future research should validate the model using larger samples and additional fit indicators. These findings imply that the digital sustainability messages are effective in increasing awareness and behavioral intentions, but the individual perceptions of personal impact might not have a significant effect on strengthening this relationship in the context of the study. On the whole, the research finds that sustainability of digital marketing through the use of eco-friendly practices is a very crucial channel via which sustainable marketing strategies can predict green consumption behavior. The results advance the existing knowledge of the effects of sustainability-focused digital communication on consumer behavior in the developing markets and offer valuable practical recommendations to policymakers and marketers who may want to encourage the use of renewable energy by leveraging the behavioral-based digital communication approaches.
This paper discusses the effects of the sustainable digital marketing approach on the green purchase intentions (GPIs) in the renewable energy market in Jordan and in particular the behavioral processes that mediate the formation of the environmentally responsible consumption. The quantitative research design was utilized to obtain data based on 237 consumers and processed with the help of the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), to determine the direct, mediating, and moderating relationships. The results indicate that sustainable digital marketing initiatives have a significant positive impact on the environmental awareness (EA) and GPIs. The EA can be identified as one of the main explanatory factors, and it mediates the connections between sustainable digital marketing and GPIs, which shows that it is the key influential factor of pro-environment consumer behavior. In contrast, the moderating effect of perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) on the relationship between sustainable digital marketing strategies (SDMS) and GPIs is found to be statistically insignificant. However, the standardized root mean squared residual (SRMR) values of the saturated and estimated models slightly exceeded the recommended 0.08 threshold, suggesting that the structural estimates should be interpreted with caution and that future research should validate the model using larger samples and additional fit indicators. These findings imply that the digital sustainability messages are effective in increasing awareness and behavioral intentions, but the individual perceptions of personal impact might not have a significant effect on strengthening this relationship in the context of the study. On the whole, the research finds that sustainability of digital marketing through the use of eco-friendly practices is a very crucial channel via which sustainable marketing strategies can predict green consumption behavior. The results advance the existing knowledge of the effects of sustainability-focused digital communication on consumer behavior in the developing markets and offer valuable practical recommendations to policymakers and marketers who may want to encourage the use of renewable energy by leveraging the behavioral-based digital communication approaches.
This investigation aims to determine how the combination of Cybersecurity (CS), Digital Spending (DS), and Innovation (INN) affect Economic Growth (EG) in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), using data collected quarterly from 2015 through 2024. The original panel is balanced (4 countries × 40 quarters = 160 observations), and it remains balanced after first differencing removes the first quarter of each country (4 × 39 = 156 observations), making it possible to study differences in short-run effects across four countries. In order to correct both non-stationarity and multicollinearity, first-differenced standardized variables (N = 156) were used, reducing VIF values below 1.04 and significantly lessening the potential for false discoveries associated with spurious regression. The study utilized Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions, with heteroskedasticity-consistent covariance matrix estimator type 3 (HC3) using robust standard errors, and a fixed effects (FE) model identified by Hausman Test (χ² = 31.49; p < 0.001). Results indicate INN was statistically significant with regard to EG in the short-run (β* = 0.2508; p = 0.007), while CS and DS did not have short-term predictive value for EG. The combined model accounted for 6.5% of variations in EG (R² = 0.065; p = 0.017). Findings indicate INN was the only significant predictor of immediate productivity, while effects from CS and DS will be longer in duration before becoming evident and measurable. The non-significant effects of CS and DS should be interpreted as a lack of contemporaneous short-run predictive power in this first-differenced specification and not as evidence of long-term economic irrelevance. Robustness measures confirmed all results across alternative model specifications were consistent.
Submit to CiS
Review for CiS
Propose a Special Issue 
Open Access
News 
Journal Metrics
Journal Overview
Associated Journals