Sustainability

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22 pages, 886 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analyzing the Relationship between Digital Transformation Strategy and ESG Performance in Large Manufacturing Enterprises: The Mediating Role of Green Innovation

by Qingqing Zhao, Xintao Li and Siqi Li

Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 9998; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15139998 - 24 Jun 2023

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3607

Abstract

In the era of the digital economy, digital technology brings new opportunities for enterprises’ development. The degree of enterprises’ digital transformation determines their development level and potential. At present, China’s “double carbon” policy is having a profound impact on the industry. The relationship [...] Read more.

In the era of the digital economy, digital technology brings new opportunities for enterprises’ development. The degree of enterprises’ digital transformation determines their development level and potential. At present, China’s “double carbon” policy is having a profound impact on the industry. The relationship between digital transformation strategy and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance is analyzed based on the digitalization and sustainable development goals of enterprises, and on the basis of positioning enterprise digital transformation level through the strategic alignment model (SAM). Data are collected by questionnaire survey from 224 large manufacturing enterprises in China as a sample for empirical testing by the hierarchical regression method. The empirical results show the following. (1) Digital transformation strategy has a direct positive and significant impact on enterprise ESG performance. Specifically, it is reflected in the two dimensions of digital transformation strategy, namely business digitalization and platform digitalization, which have a significant direct positive impact on enterprise ESG performance. (2) Enterprise green innovation plays a significant intermediate role in promoting the relationship between digital transformation strategy and enterprise ESG performance. (3) The two dimensions of green innovation, namely green process innovation and green product innovation, both play a partial mediating role in promoting business digitalization and platform digitalization development level to enterprise ESG performance, respectively. It can be concluded that business digitalization and platform digitalization can improve enterprise ESG performance by promoting green process innovation and green product innovation. Therefore, enterprises should clarify the direction of development of their digital transformation strategy, emphasize green innovation, and continuously improve their ESG performance to create favorable conditions for achieving sustainable development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Information Technology and Sustainability)

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21 pages, 4569 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on the Structural Optimization of the Clean Energy Industry in the Context of Dual Carbon Strategy—A Case Study of Sichuan Province, China

by Pan Jiang, Hanwen Zhang, Mengyue Li, Yuhan Zhang, Xiujuan Gong, Dong He and Liang Liu

Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 2993; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15042993 - 07 Feb 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1738

Abstract

As a major province for hydroelectric power in China, Sichuan Province has witnessed a great amount of seasonal characteristics in its hydroelectric power, endowing the clean energy industry in Sichuan with the characteristics of unstable supply in different seasons, strong power transmission capacity, [...] Read more.

As a major province for hydroelectric power in China, Sichuan Province has witnessed a great amount of seasonal characteristics in its hydroelectric power, endowing the clean energy industry in Sichuan with the characteristics of unstable supply in different seasons, strong power transmission capacity, and low production capacity of other non-fossil energy sources (except hydroelectric power). In this study, the mathematical model method was used to construct a structural optimization model of the clean energy industry in Sichuan Province, and to enable a quantitative analysis of the rationalization of the clean energy industrial structure in Sichuan Province. The results are proved from the cost-effectiveness of low carbon emission that hydroelectric power > wind power > photovoltaic power > natural gas > coal > oil. This study shall find the theoretical structure of the clean energy industry in Sichuan Province in 2030 with a prediction of Sichuan Province’s total future energy output and a constraint of its industrial structure model of clean energy. This paper suggests that Sichuan Province should give priority to the development of non-fossil energy sources, increase the development and utilization of power transmission channels in wet seasons, and develop clean energy and high energy consumption industries and the construction of pumped storage power stations, so as to reduce and avoid the waste of energy resources. It is also suggested that Sichuan Province should focus on developing clean energy with the capability of peak shaving, such as hydrogen energy and natural gas, while developing smart grid and long-distance transmission technology to strengthen energy conservation and emissions-reduced power generation. On this basis, Sichuan will focus on the development and utilization of natural gas as an alternative to high-carbon energy, with a view to optimizing its industrial structure of clean energy and helping China achieve the dual-carbon goals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Information Technology and Sustainability)

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23 pages, 1312 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Chinese Currency Appreciation on Investments in Renewable Energy Projects in Countries along the Belt and Road

by Huazhang Wang, Daji Ergu and Wenjiao Zai

Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 1784; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15031784 - 17 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1122

Abstract

Foreign investment in renewable energy generation projects is a critical part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Under the background of the market economy, the electric energy will participate in power market competition among the countries along the line, and the sales revenue [...] Read more.

Foreign investment in renewable energy generation projects is a critical part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Under the background of the market economy, the electric energy will participate in power market competition among the countries along the line, and the sales revenue will be settled in the local currency. The exchange rate of the countries along the Belt and Road fluctuates frequently and widely, thereby posing significant risks to the investment income of the projects. To address this problem, this paper proposes the concept of Ek as the effective exchange rate expressed by the on-grid price, investment cost per kilowatt electricity generation equipment, and annual operating cost rate of unit power generation capacity. Moreover, this paper presents a model of power generation cost, income, and earning expressed by the real exchange rate. The flexibility formula of the fluctuation of power generation cost, income, profit, and internal rate of return relative(IRR) to Ek is derived, and the effect of exchange rate level and fluctuation on projects is analyzed. With the wind power projects invested by China in Pakistan taken as an example, the trend during the entire life cycle is calculated. The changes in net profit rate, IRR, and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) are calculated under Chinese currency appreciation of 10%, 20%, and 35% and 5% and 10% reduction of investment cost per unit. As the Chinese currency appreciates and the project IRR declines significantly, LCOE decreases slightly, but this decrease is not sufficient to compensate for the losses caused by the decline in IRR. The following effective measures are proposed to deal with the exchange rate fluctuation of foreign renewable energy generation projects: building energy Internet, reducing project cost, and using Chinese currency as the settlement currency. In this paper, a solution is provided for investments in renewable energy projects in regions where exchange rates fluctuate greatly. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Information Technology and Sustainability)

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19 pages, 970 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Analysis of the Dimensional Constructs of Green Innovation in Manufacturing Enterprises: Scale Development and Empirical Testing

by Siqi Li, Xintao Li, Qingqing Zhao, Jun Zhang and Haoyu Xue

Sustainability 2022, 14(24), 16919; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416919 - 16 Dec 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1944

Abstract

Green innovation has become an important way for manufacturing enterprises to achieve sustainable development. Existing research on green innovation mostly focuses on conceptual content, and relevant empirical studies only involve individual indicators. Systematic measurement tools are still lacking. Therefore, drawing on the theoretical [...] Read more.

Green innovation has become an important way for manufacturing enterprises to achieve sustainable development. Existing research on green innovation mostly focuses on conceptual content, and relevant empirical studies only involve individual indicators. Systematic measurement tools are still lacking. Therefore, drawing on the theoretical framework provided by the social-ecological system, a clear definition of the connotations of green innovation and an exploration of the dimensional structure and scale development of green innovation in enterprises are the core objectives of this study. Strictly adhering to the process of scale development, four core dimensions of green innovation in enterprises are identified, and a scale with 18 items was established. The results show the following: (1) The connotations of corporate green innovation should be expanded to include not only technology and product innovation but also internal institutional innovation and external environmental innovation. (2) Green innovation in enterprises should be measured in a rigorous manner, and such measurements should follow the logic from goals to behavior. (3) The scale of green innovation should be refined, and questions should be designed to characterize specific green innovation behavior indicators. In summary, this study lays a foundation for quantitative research on green innovation in enterprises and provides a useful reference for manufacturing enterprises to improve their level of green innovation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Information Technology and Sustainability)

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12 pages, 2605 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Applying an Intelligent Approach to Environmental Sustainability Innovation in Complex Scenes

by Hongjie Deng, Daji Ergu, Fangyao Liu, Bo Ma and Ying Cai

Sustainability 2022, 14(24), 16758; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416758 - 14 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1194

Abstract

Environmental protection is still a key issue that cannot be ignored at this stage of social development. With the development of artificial intelligence, various technologies increasingly tend to be widely used in the field of environmental protection, such as searching the wilderness through [...] Read more.

Environmental protection is still a key issue that cannot be ignored at this stage of social development. With the development of artificial intelligence, various technologies increasingly tend to be widely used in the field of environmental protection, such as searching the wilderness through an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and cleaning garbage by robots. Traditional object detection algorithms for this scenario suffer from low accuracy and high computational cost. Therefore, this paper proposes an algorithm applied to automatic garbage detection and instance segmentation in complex scenes. First, we construct sample-fused feature pyramid networks (SF-FPN) to achieve multi-scale feature sampling on multiple levels, to enhance the semantic representation of features. Second, adding the mask branch based on conditional convolution, introducing the idea of instance-filters to automatically generate the filter parameters of the Fully Convolutional Networks (FCN), to realize the instance-level pixel classification. Moreover, the Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (ASPP) module is introduced to encode the feature information in a dense way to assist the generation of MASK. Finally, the object is detected and the instance is segmented by a two-branch structure. In addition, we also perform data augmentation on the original dataset to prevent model overfitting. The proposed algorithm reaches 82.7 and 72.4 according to the mAP index of detection and instance segmentation while using the public TACO dataset. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Information Technology and Sustainability)

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18 pages, 1587 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect Evaluation of Ecological Compensation for Strategic Mineral Resources Exploitation Based on VIKOR-AISM Model

by Donglin Ren, Liang Liu, Xiujuan Gong, Pan Jiang, Shu Liu, Yirui Yang and Ruifeng Jin

Sustainability 2022, 14(23), 15969; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315969 - 30 Nov 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1179

Abstract

Energy security and ecological and environmental security are some of the most basic and important preconditions for national development, and ecological compensation is an important institutional guarantee for construction of China’s ecological civilization. The Chinese government has always made it clear that it [...] Read more.

Energy security and ecological and environmental security are some of the most basic and important preconditions for national development, and ecological compensation is an important institutional guarantee for construction of China’s ecological civilization. The Chinese government has always made it clear that it will “step up efforts to protect the ecosystem” and establish market-based and diversified ecological compensation mechanisms. However, the existing system and mechanism design of ecological environment protection has been unable to meet the needs of economic and social development in the new era. On the basis of the psychological account theory and prospect theory, this paper constructed an evaluation system of strategic mineral resources exploitation and ecological environmental protection effects in Western China using the VIKOR-AISM model. In this paper, the VIKOR-AISM model comprehensively considers the maximization of group utility and minimization of individual regrets, and conducts a cluster analysis based on the compromise value Q and its inflection

k

. The comprehensive ranking changes of evaluation subjects under different decision preferences and hesitation interval measures were studied according to the antagonist hierarchy topology. The research results provide decision-making support for China to formulate ecological compensation policies in line with regional characteristics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Information Technology and Sustainability)

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18 pages, 1390 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Challenges to Adopt Green Initiatives to Supply Chain Management for Manufacturing Industries

by Abbott Po Shun Chen, Yung-Fu Huang and Manh-Hoang Do

Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 13516; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013516 - 19 Oct 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2892

Abstract

Green initiatives have been widely introduced and have contributed to attaining sustainability and improving performance for supply chain management. However, only a few studies focus on green supply chain management (GSCM) practices in Vietnam. Hence, this work is the first study modeling the [...] Read more.

Green initiatives have been widely introduced and have contributed to attaining sustainability and improving performance for supply chain management. However, only a few studies focus on green supply chain management (GSCM) practices in Vietnam. Hence, this work is the first study modeling the challenges in implementing green initiatives in the Vietnamese manufacturing supply chain. The authors aim to identify the fundamental challenges and evaluate the cross-interactions among them. The Interpretive Structural Model (ISM) method has been employed, based on experts’ perspectives, to clarify which factor is the most potent challenge. Consequently, seven major challenge clusters have been identified, and they were divided into nineteen sub-challenges. Meanwhile, the authors evaluated their interrelationships based on the hierarchical structure diagram and the Matrice d’Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC) analysis. It is observed that the “Financial Costs” elements group is the most difficult, followed by the lack of the Vietnamese government’s green regulation and the lack of senior managers’ support. The “Information” challenges cluster is considered as the middle bridge between the strong and weak elements. At the end of the diagram, two challenges are a lack of training courses about implementing GSCM and a lack of customer awareness and pressure about GSCM. Hence, these findings will become valuable suggestions for the top managers of Vietnamese manufacturers to make blueprint decisions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Information Technology and Sustainability)

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14 pages, 956 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluating the Effect of Redundant Resources on Corporate Entrepreneurial Performance

by Lexin Yun, Xiaolin Yao, Wenlong Zhu and Zishan Zhang

Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7101; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127101 - 09 Jun 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2053

Abstract

Redundant resources are indispensable resources in corporate entrepreneurship. Nowadays, establishing how to evaluate the impact of redundant resources on corporate entrepreneurial performance has become a critical issue considered by managers. However, few studies have addressed this issue. Based on the perspective of resource [...] Read more.

Redundant resources are indispensable resources in corporate entrepreneurship. Nowadays, establishing how to evaluate the impact of redundant resources on corporate entrepreneurial performance has become a critical issue considered by managers. However, few studies have addressed this issue. Based on the perspective of resource bricolage and corporate resource interaction, this work constructs a theoretical model to analyze the influence of redundant resources on corporate entrepreneurial performance. Data were collected in Chinese enterprises. A structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was used. We obtained four valuable conclusions. First, redundant resources have a significant positive effect on corporate entrepreneurial performance. Second, redundant resources exert a significant positive influence on resource bricolage. Third, resource bricolage has a significant positive influence on corporate entrepreneurial performance. Fourth, resource bricolage plays a partial mediation effect between redundant resources and corporate entrepreneurial performance. The insights can provide theoretical and practical guidance for enterprises that intend to use redundant resources to carry out entrepreneurial activities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Information Technology and Sustainability)

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