ALBERT

Description: The evolution of human societies along with efforts to enhance economic welfare may well lead to the deterioration of the environment. Deforestation is a usual process throughout evolution that poses pressing and potentially irreversible environmental risks, despite the ecological and modernization processes that aim to limit those risks. The economic growth–environmental degradation relationship—namely, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis—is studied in alignment with the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach. The novelty of the study is attributed to the use of the carbon emissions equivalent derived by deforestation as an index for environmental degradation in Bulgaria as a new entrant into the European Union (EU). In addition, we use the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita as a proxy for income, being determined as an independent variable. Research findings cannot validate the inverted U-shape of the EKC hypothesis; instead, an inverted N pattern is confirmed. The implementation of appropriate policies aiming at the protection of the environment through the diversification of economic activities is related to the use of forest land and other resources, or related sectors (agroforestry, ecotourism activities, and scientific research), rather than only the direct utilization of forested areas; the limitation of afforestation processes and their negative impacts on citizens’ welfare are also addressed.

Description: A circular economy (CE) is conceptualized under different rounds of materials and energy cycling flows and is a matter of a three-level deployment: inter-enterprise circulation, regional circulation, and social circulation. Regarding them, the aim of this research was to get an update on the current technological advances and the perspectives of its implementation. Thus, a multi-parametric approach has been conducted to analyze the functionality of technologies in wastewater treatment, organic waste management, agrarian development, and food waste in the context of CE. Beside the narrative of the technological view, a critical approach assimilates the environmental, marketing, economic, governmental, and procedural viewpoints and leads to key indicators which are subject to positive and negative externalities. Due to this co-existence, we denoted the complexity of CE principle implementation and the need for specific envisage in each case, while proposing strategies are formulated in the light of social-environmental impact. Finally, further research gaps were proposed for deeper consideration.

Description: The evaluation and selection among the best production practices beyond the conventional linear models is, nowadays, concerned with those holistic approaches drawn toward environmental assessment in industry. Therefore, researchers need to develop an analysis that can evaluate the performance of industrial organization in the light of their environmental viewpoint. This study implemented a pilot co-integrated scheme based on an innovative in-house Holistic Assessment Performance Index for Environment (HAPI-E) industry tool while assimilating the principles of circular economy through the Eco-innovation Development and Implementation Tool (EDIT). For the latter, nine qualitative indicators were motivated and enriched the weighting criteria of the questionnaire. The decomposition of the complexity and preferences mapping was accompanied by a multi-criteria holistic hierarchical analysis methodology in order to synthesize a single index upon a need-driven scoring. This multi-criteria decision approach in industry can quantify the material and process flows, thus enhancing the existing knowledge of manipulating internal resources. The key-criteria were based on administrative, energy, water, emissions, and waste strategies. Subsequently, the HAPI-E industry tool was modeled on the food industry, being particularly focused on pasta-based industrial production. Then, the parameters of this tool were modeled, measured, and evaluated in terms of the environmental impact awareness. The magnitude of necessary improvements was unveiled, while future research orientations were discussed. The HAPI-E industry tool can be utilized as a precautionary methodology on sustainable assessment while incorporating multifaceted and quantification advantages.

Description: Measuring and analyzing public perceptions of the environment are becoming core elements in promoting environmental sustainability, which is a key goal to be achieved. The New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP) is used as a unidimensional measure of environmental attitudes as it is developed in order to measure the overall relationship between humans and the environment. A high NEP score is associated with high ecocentric orientation. This research aims to measure and analyze citizens’ NEP score in a Greek area. Overall, the statistical analysis verified the existence of the NEP subscales, indicated increased environmental awareness among the respondents and revealed that the respondents’ NEP score is correlated with the area of residence. Furthermore, the NEP score is correlated at a statistically significant level with respondents’ willingness to pay for renewable energy expansion.

Description: Nowadays, the conceptualization of circular economy is an attractive managerial tool among governments and businesses throughout the word, while ecosystem services are a contentious issue due to the particular needs of humans’ well-being. At this review the interactions between the principles of ecosystem services and the circular economy were investigated in the light of inter-organizational systems. This evaluation was based on more and more complex processes, while the integration of the growing circular economy concept within the shrinking parent ecosystem unveiled challenges and constraints for products’ end of life and quality. It was argued that: (a) The existence of social and people-related barriers can be considered under three groups, namely, the “sustainable provision and modeling schemes”, “socio-cultural appreciation and payment schemes”, and “regulatory and maintenance schemes”, (b) The impacts of circular economy—ecosystem services toward an inter-organizational functional stream model associated with distinguished proactive and post treatment risk values (c) The functionality and the accountability of the technosphere are the two critical components to support the restorative and the regenerative perspectives of the biosphere. The aforementioned findings unveiled new emerging paths to be further investigated, offering a deeper appraisal of circular economy under the inter-organizational perception.