Evaluating the efficiency of public expenditure in municipal waste collection: A comparative study of Portuguese municipalities

The move to sustainable development and building a carbon-low economy needs funding. In this regard, a new direction in finance – green (sustainable) finance – has emerged. One of the green finance instruments is green bonds, first issued by supranational financial institutions. This paper aims to identify the features of green bond issues and implemented green projects by the World Bank (the WB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the EBRD). Data were obtained from databases and reports of the WB, the EBRD, and the Climate Bonds Initiative. Data analysis was provided using statistical methods, particularly descriptive and comparative statistics. A positive trend in the issue of green bonds in the volumes and timing of the WB and the EBRD was revealed, despite the shift in emphasis caused by COVID-19. Renewable energy, energy efficiency, and clean transportation remain the primary directions of the WB, and the EBRD green projects amounted to more than 60% of total projects funding. The geography of green projects financed through the WB and the EBRD green bonds indicates that green projects are receiving significant funding from countries facing environmental challenges and demonstrating intent to green transition (the WB – China and India, the EBRD – Turkey, Poland, and Egypt). Supranational financial institutions were the first to come to the forefront of sustainable development funding and are now spearheading the creation of new financial instruments aimed at financing both green and social projects, leading to the emergence of sustainability bonds.

Acknowledgment(s)
The authors would like to thank the participants of the 1st International Conference on Sustainable Development (SDL 2021) for providing the valuable remarks and a fruitful discussion. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Environmental policies may have a negative side effect on employment, often in a specific industry in the short run. Workers in regulated industries can be affected by losses in job-specific human capital. The informal sectors in developing countries are often associated with environmental pollution and thus targeted by such policies. Welfare loss due to this side effect can be problematic in developing countries, since they often lack safeguarding schemes, including unemployment insurance. Inducing workers in informal sectors to change their jobs can mitigate these negative side effects. This study examines efficient methods of inducing informal workers to change jobs. An alternative job is offered to informal workers at a dumpsite in the Philippines and whether changing the scheme of wage payment increases the acceptance of the offer is examined. The impacts of changing payment schemes are evaluated by using a randomized field experiment. The sampled 112 waste pickers each randomly receive one of four offers for an alternative job, and the number of those who accept the offer is observed to evaluate the impact of less frequent payment (i.e., once every three days instead of daily). Piece rates and fixed wages are also compared. Those offered less frequent payment are more likely to accept the job offer compared with those offered daily payment. This preferred payment scheme can mitigate the side effects of environmental policy and workers’ self-control problem related to savings, while minimizing moral hazard.

Transforming the energy sector to provide universal access to reliable and modern energy services is an essential task for Ukraine, one of the Eastern Partnership countries with heavy energy dependence. It will help accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The paper is devoted to studying Ukraine’s readiness to generate sustainable energy compared to the EU and other Eastern Partnership countries and the development of an information base for monitoring the achievement of SDG7.
The data from the World Energy Council (WEC), the International Energy Agency (IEA), and the State Statistics Service of Ukraine are analyzed. Thus, the study proposed to expand the list of national monitoring indicators that more fully reflect the social, economic, and environmental results of SDG7 “Affordable and clean energy” in Ukraine. The development of an information monitoring base expands the opportunities to assess the availability, sustainability, and balance of national energy policy in green economic transformation. Furthermore, the indicators of energy intensity, carbon intensity, as well as access to sustainable energy for the population and business are emphasized. The findings are aimed to raise the level of awareness of government agencies and make balanced decisions to accelerate the achievement of SDG7 in Ukraine.