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The “green transformation of the express” delivery industry in this study primarily refers to the adoption of green energy and environmentally friendly technologies in express delivery packaging, transportation, and recycling systems. This transformation can significantly enhance energy efficiency and reduce emissions in the express system, promoting the sustainable development of the entire industry. However, the progress of green transformation in China’s express delivery industry has been impeded by various barriers. To address this, we propose a barrier analysis framework based on the Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methodology to explore key obstacles to green transformation in the express industry. Our research aims to answer three main questions: (1) What are the key barriers to green transformation in China’s express delivery industry? (2) How do these barriers interact and influence each other? (3) What strategic measures can be implemented to overcome these barriers? We first compile a list of barriers, innovatively proposing two new ones: “inadequate green standards in the express industry” and “suboptimal green packaging technology”. Considering the ambiguity in expert input and the complex interactions among barriers, we employ fuzzy DEMATEL within an Interval Type 2 Fuzzy Sets (IT2FSs) environment to investigate the significance and causality of these barriers. This approach distinguishes our study from previous research by providing a more nuanced understanding of barrier interactions in the specific context of China’s express delivery industry. Based on our analysis, we identify eight critical barriers and propose corresponding strategic measures. Full article

This study highlights the advantages of employing acetylation to enhance the morphology and thermal properties of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) derived from maize stalks. Utilizing a green synthesis approach for CNC extraction, this research presents a novel comparison between green extracted CNCs, and their acid hydrolysed, followed by their acetylated counterparts (ACCNCs). This comparison reveals significant improvements in the properties of acetylated CNCs over those produced through conventional acid hydrolysis. The study employs advanced characterization techniques, including Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), to analyze untreated maize stalk extracted cellulose, green extracted CNCs, and acetylated CNCs. FTIR spectroscopy identifies changes in functional groups, underscoring the efficacy of the extraction and modification processes. XRD analysis demonstrates a beneficial transformation from cellulose I to cellulose II allomorphs post-acetylation, with increased crystallinity index values indicating effective removal of amorphous regions. SEM imaging reveals the preservation of rod-like structures in CNCs, while acetylated CNCs exhibit advantageous morphological changes, such as reduced nanocrystal length and increased branching. TGA results show superior thermal stability in green extracted CNCs and favorable thermal degradation behavior in acetylated CNCs. Overall, this study underscores the potential of acetylation to develop sustainable nanomaterials with tailored properties, offering significant advancements for various applications. Emphasizing the advantages of the prepared ACCNCs and the green synthesis method over traditional acid hydrolysis extraction, this research paves the way for innovative applications in diverse fields. Full article

The influence of light downconversion films (red, pink and blue films) on leaf physiological features and fruit bioactive compound accumulation was studied in strawberry plants. Red, pink and blue films were able to convert light less utilised by plants into more efficient light wavebands with various possibilities depending on the film characteristics (blue film shifts UV into blue radiation; red film shifts green into red radiation, pink film shifts UV and green into blue and red radiation but to a lesser extent than red film). Indeed, by enhancing the quality of light available for photosynthesis, the utilization of these films holds the potential to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability. All of these light downconversion films resulted in higher plant fresh weight compared to a control colourless (Cnt) film, with plants grown under blue film (UV-to-blue light conversion) showing the most impressive results in terms of total leaf area (+25%), leaf thickness (+10%) and leaf mass per area (+15%). Simultaneously, during the flowering stage, plants under blue film had a higher net photosynthetic rate due to the increase in photosynthetically efficient wavelengths. Moreover, blue film resulted in the highest total phenolic (+40% and +28% than red and pink films, respectively) and flavonoid content (+54%, +84%, +70% than Cnt, red and pink films, respectively) in fruit, with specific effects on targeted phenols, i.e., quercetin, ellagic acid and its glycoside, ellagitannins, and procyanidins. In conclusion, the use of the UV-to-blue conversion light film tested herein represents an innovative solution to increase strawberry yield and promote fruit nutraceutical features, playing a pivotal role in ensuring food quality and security and sustainable agricultural practices. Full article

Based on the double-carbon target, the agricultural sector has implemented the concept of being green and synergistically promoted pollution and carbon reduction. Positioned as a novel financial paradigm, green finance places greater emphasis on environmental stewardship compared to its traditional counterparts. This focus enhances resource allocation efficiency, thereby achieving the goal of reducing pollution and carbon emissions. To research the influence of green finance on agricultural pollution and carbon reduction, this study leverages panel data spanning 2011 to 2021 from 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities across China. It employs the fixed-effect model and mediating-effect model. The findings reveal that: (1) Green finance exerts a notable influence on reducing both pollution and carbon emissions in agriculture, with the latter showing a more pronounced effect. (2) Regional disparities exist in green finance, affecting agricultural pollution and carbon reduction. (3) By fostering technological innovation and optimizing industrial frameworks, green finance emerges as a catalyst for curbing surface pollution and carbon dioxide emissions in agriculture. On this basis, relevant suggestions are put forward to provide policy insights for improving the green financial system, which will help further promote carbon and pollution reduction. Full article

In the context of escalating environmental and climate concerns, it is imperative for enterprises to embark on carbon emission reduction initiatives. Exploring the driving pathways for corporate low-carbon transformation is crucial for the development of a green economy. In this paper, various configuration pathways that may drive heavily polluting industrial enterprises towards green and low-carbon transformation were investigated based on the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) theoretical framework and the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method. The results indicated the following: (1) the low-carbon transformation of heavily polluting enterprises is the result of the joint action of multiple factors; (2) there are eight pathways that can promote corporate low-carbon transformation, roughly divided into single-factor driving types (including MEA drive, DT drive, and GI drive), dual-factor driving types (DT–ER drive and DT–ESGR drive), and multi-factor driving types (including GI–DT–MEA–ER drive, GI–FS–ER drive, and GI–FS–ESGR drive). It can be concluded that there can be certain substitutions between green technology innovation and digital transformation, and environmental regulations and ESG ratings. (3) GI and DT are crucial to the low-carbon transformation of heavily polluting enterprises, and the latter has a more significant impact on promoting low-carbon transformation. MEA is also worthy of attention. The research conclusions not only provide theoretical support for the low-carbon transformation of heavily polluting industrial enterprises but also have valuable reference significance for other industry enterprises, and even the whole of society, to achieve green sustainable development. Full article

This study examines the influence of green technology innovation on employment in enterprises and explores the potential mechanisms behind this impact, which is critical to understanding the social impact of the green transition in the climate change scenario. This paper, based on detailed data from listed corporations in China between 2010 and 2020, discovers that the introduction of green technology innovation by corporations has a substantial positive impact on employment levels. The effects of green technology innovation on employment are both persistent and heterogeneous; they persist even two years later, with more significant effects observed in non-heavy-polluting industries, state-owned enterprises, and highly educated employees. This article also carries several policy implications. The findings presented in this paper provide useful insights into the potential employment consequences of the green transition as well as the reactions and adjustment behaviors that corporations exhibit in the low-carbon transition. Additionally, this development holds significant implications for other developing nations grappling with the challenges of switching to environmentally sustainable practices. Full article

We are currently facing a potential ‘polycrisis’, a critical inflection point that requires a holistic response aimed at building collective foresight and preparedness for short-, medium-, and long-term risks. The role of higher education institutions and social stakeholders is decisive for sustainability goals. This paper presents a case study where academia, governance, and industry have aligned to challenge, inspire, and encourage universities to enhance student growth and bind macro-scale measures leading to a sustainable future. A teaching innovation project has served as a transforming lever, in combination with the private sector, to create a platform that reaches more than 50,000 undergraduate students and teaching staff. This structure, rooted in the 2031 Strategic Plan of the University of Granada, has also served to channel local and regional initiatives, establish effective partnerships with broad social members, raise awareness, and promote actions to advance in the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals. A comprehensive overview is provided, which details its chronology, materials, results, challenges, impact, and descriptions of the various courses, programs, and actions. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research, policy and cooperation among stakeholders. Full article

The green transformation of the service sector is crucial for promoting the construction of ecological civilization and boosting high-quality development. The aim of the relationship between environmental regulation and eco-efficiency is to explore the path of the green transformation of the service sector. Based on the provincial data in China from 2001~2019, this study investigated the effect of environmental regulation on the eco-efficiency of the service sector, concentrating on the influencing mechanism and threshold effect of environmental regulation on the eco-efficiency of the largest service sector in the Chinese economy. Applying the panel OLS model, mediating model, and threshold effect model. The main findings are as follows. First, environmental regulation is not beneficial for boosting the eco-efficiency of the service sector because of compliance costs. Second, environmental regulation can reduce the eco-efficiency of the service sector through service agglomeration. However, the effect of innovation compensation can hinder the negative influence of environmental regulation on the eco-efficiency of the service sector. Third, the inhibiting effect of environmental regulation disappears non-linearly with boosting economic development. Conversely, the positive influence of environmental regulation becomes negative, along with improving service agglomeration. At last, this study provided recommendations for the policymakers who hope to accelerate the green transformation of the service sector from the perspectives of strengthening technological innovation, reducing agglomeration, and establishing coordinated development mechanisms. Full article

Under the dual carbon goals, the relationship between land production-living-ecological function and carbon emissions points to a new direction for land spatial planning. This study compiles and analyzes carbon emissions and the production-living-ecological function coupling coordination degree of 16 cities in the Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration for the years 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021. Furthermore, it introduces the Tapio decoupling model to calculate the decoupling index between carbon emissions and the coupling coordination degree. The spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of production-living-ecological function coupling coordination, carbon emissions, and the decoupling index were analyzed. The results indicate that (1) from 2001 to 2021, the production-living-ecological function coupling coordination degree in Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration increased overall, with an obvious “high in the east and low in the west” feature in the spatial pattern. That is caused by the difference in resource endowment between the east and the west and the gap in the process of urbanization, industrial structure transformation, and ecological governance. (2) During the study period, overall carbon emissions increased, with a significantly reduced growth rate. A polarization phenomenon of increase and decrease trends within the urban agglomeration was observed. The spatial distribution characteristics of land use carbon emissions showed significant production-living-ecological coupling coordination degree heterotropism. (3) From 2001 to 2021, the decoupling relationship between production-living-ecological coupling coordination degree and carbon emissions mainly exhibited three patterns: strong negative decoupling, expansion negative decoupling, and strong decoupling, maintaining a good decoupling trend overall. These results indicate that the coordinated development level of production, living, and ecological functions in the study area has improved during the research period, and its decoupling relationship with carbon emissions has also shown a positive trend. However, there is still a problem of uneven regional development. In the future, the production-living-ecological development of Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration should adhere to the development pattern of “two circles and four regions”, which aims to promote resource sharing and complementary advantages through specific regional divisions, and achieve coordinated development within the region. This involves optimizing land use structure and function, encouraging innovation and development of green industries, and deepening ecological environment restoration and protection to realize the coordinated development of the production-living-ecological function of land use under the dual carbon goal. Full article

The digital economy plays an important role in promoting the high quality and sustainable development of the marine fishery economy. Based on the panel data of the digital economy and marine fishery development from 2011 to 2022, we firstly adopted the entropy method to comprehensively evaluate the economy quality level of the digital economy and marine fishing. Secondly, we constructed a two-way fixed effect model to empirically analyze the impact of digital economy development on the marine fishery economy quality and the mediating role of marine green science and technology innovation, and further explored the regional heterogeneity of the digital economy on the marine fishery economy quality. Several findings emerge. The digital economy and the marine fishery economy quality level was relatively low and showed a fluctuating increase. The development of the digital economy can significantly improve the economy quality of marine fishing, and the conclusion was still valid after considering a series of robustness tests. The digital economy can drive the development quality of the marine fishery economy through marine green technology innovation. This paper proposes fostering the advancement of digital technology in the marine fishery sector, to effectively harness the innovation-driven potential of the digital economy, so as to facilitate the harmonious development of both the marine and digital economies. Full article

Achieving sustainable green building design is essential to reducing our environmental impact and enhancing energy efficiency. Traditional methods often depend heavily on expert knowledge and subjective decisions, posing significant challenges. This research addresses these issues by introducing an innovative framework that integrates building information modeling (BIM), explainable artificial intelligence (AI), and multi-objective optimization. The framework includes three main components: data generation through DesignBuilder simulation, a BO-LGBM (Bayesian optimization–LightGBM) predictive model with LIME (Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations) for energy prediction and interpretation, and the multi-objective optimization technique AGE-MOEA to address uncertainties. A case study demonstrates the framework’s effectiveness, with the BO-LGBM model achieving high prediction accuracy (R-squared > 93.4%, MAPE < 2.13%) and LIME identifying significant HVAC system features. The AGE-MOEA optimization resulted in a 13.43% improvement in energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and thermal comfort, with an additional 4.0% optimization gain when incorporating uncertainties. This study enhances the transparency of machine learning predictions and efficiently identifies optimal passive and active design solutions, contributing significantly to sustainable construction practices. Future research should focus on validating its real-world applicability, assessing its generalizability across various building types, and integrating generative design capabilities for automated optimization. Full article

This study addresses the integration of agricultural practices, technological innovations, and energy policies to achieve carbon neutrality in Mardan, Pakistan. A cross-sectional design was employed, collecting data from 400 stakeholders using stratified random sampling. The analysis involved descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM), Chi-square tests, and multiple regression analysis to explore the relationships between agricultural sustainability practices (ASPs), green technology implementation (GTI), energy policy measures (EPMs), and carbon-free development (CFD). The findings indicate strong positive correlations between ASPs, GTI, EPMs, and CFD, with a relatively high positive correlation coefficients. SEM path coefficients further confirmed the significant positive effects of ASPs on CFD. It is concluded that integrating sustainable farming practices, green technologies, and effective energy policies significantly advances carbon-free development in Mardan. Policymakers should prioritize promoting sustainable farming, investing in green technologies, and implementing robust energy policies with subsidies for renewable energy and carbon pricing mechanisms to foster carbon-neutral development. Full article

Despite being stored at 113 K and at atmospheric pressure, LNG cold potential is not exploited to reduce green ships’ energy needs. An innovative system based on three organic Rankine cycles integrated into the regasification equipment is proposed to produce additional power and recover cooling energy from condensers. A first-law analysis identified ethylene and ethane as suitable working fluids for the first and the second ORC, making freshwater and ice available. Propane, ammonia and propylene could be arbitrarily employed in the third ORC for air conditioning. An environmental analysis that combines exergy efficiency, ecological indices and hazard aspects for the marine environment and ship passengers indicated propylene as safer and more environmentally friendly. Exergy analysis confirmed that more than 20% of the LNG potential can be recovered from every cycle to produce a net clean power of 76 kW, whereas 270 kW can be saved by recovering condensers’ cooling power to satisfy some ship needs. Assuming the sailing mode, a limitation of 162 kg in LNG consumptions was determined, avoiding the emission of 1584 kg of CO₂ per day. Marine thermal pollution is reduced by 3.5 times by recovering the working fluids’ condensation heat for the LNG pre-heating. Full article

Türkiye’s earthquake zone, primarily located along the North Anatolian Fault, is one of the world’s most seismically active regions, frequently experiencing devastating earthquakes, such as the one in Hatay in 2023. Therefore, reconstructing energy-efficient buildings after major earthquakes enhances disaster resilience and promotes energy efficiency through retrofitting, renovation, or demolition and reconstruction. To this end, this study proposes implementing energy-efficient design solutions in dwelling units to minimize energy consumption in new buildings in Hatay, Southern Turkiye, an area affected by the 2023 earthquake. This research focused on a five-story residential building in the district of Kurtlusarımazı, incorporating small-scale Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) with thin-film photovoltaic (PV) panels, along with the application of a green wall surrounding the building. ANSYS Fluent v.R2 Software was used for a numerical investigation of the small-scale IceWind turbine, and DesignBuilder Software v.6.1.0.006 was employed to simulate the baseline model and three energy-efficient design strategies. The results demonstrated that small-scale VAWTs, PV panels, and the application of a green wall reduced overall energy use by 8.5%, 18%, and 4.1%, respectively. When all strategies were combined, total energy consumption was reduced by up to 28.5%. The results of this study could guide designers in constructing innovative energy-efficient buildings following extensive demolition such as during the 2023 earthquake in Hatay, Türkiye. Full article

Digital technologies hold significant potential for addressing environmental issues, such as air pollution and rising global temperatures. China is focusing on accelerating the dual transformation of industrial greening and digitization to accomplish the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and sustainable economic growth. By combining a two-way fixed effect model, a mediated effect model, and a panel threshold model, this research endeavors to explore the effect that the expansion of the digital economy has on the level of carbon emission intensity that is produced by industry. The research yielded the following primary conclusions. (1) The digital economy effectively reduces the industrial carbon intensity via three distinct mechanisms: enhancements to the technological and innovative capacities of China, improvements in energy efficiency, and enhancements to the country’s overall industrial structure. (2) Regions where industrialization and digitization are highly integrated and developing, as well as the early pilot regions of the Comprehensive Big Data Pilot Zones, are particularly susceptible to this inhibitory effect. This research offers a theoretical backing for advancements in the digital economy; the achievement of energy-saving and carbon-reducing sustainable development objectives; and the establishment of green, ecologically friendly, and recycling development strategies. Full article